God of Storms

by sinisteruto

Naruto is defeated by Sasuke at the Valley of the End, however, little did he know that a Kumogakure jonin was watching the battle. Faced with a choice of whether to kill Konoha's jinchuuriki or kidnap him, she eventually decides to let the Raikage decide his fate. Stay tuned as Naruto becomes the God of Storms.

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

Origins: The Thunderer

"Seems I was right after all, kitten, this little kit is the host of the nine tails. I can sense nine tails inside of the kit. Though barely alive the kit may be, he won't die. He'll definitely live." The nibi said with intrigue. She is, well, a gigantic, 50 story wild cat that looks like a ephemeral being made entirely of blue flames with black markings, although she is in fact a solid being and not a ghost.

"What should I do? Should I take him? Is that wise? Or should I kill him? Konoha would be without a jinchuuriki for several years if I did, and even after the Kyubi re-manifests, they would need a lot of good shinobi trying to subdue and capture it. Killing him would weaken them considerably." Yugito asked desperately, the sixteen year old jonin not really sure what to do with this current predicament, and also hoping that she wouldn't have to kill this cute and innocent looking boy in front of her.

She had been sent on an S class solo mission by Lord Raikage. Everyone had heard about Suna's failed invasion of Konoha by now, but more intriguingly, everyone had heard about their allies for the invasion, the new Otogakure no Sato, lead by former Konoha Legendary Sannin Orochimaru.

This development had peaked the Raikage's interest, and as a result he had sent Yugito, the two tails jinchuuriki and jonin of Kumo, to Otogakure to assassinate Orochimaru and retrieve whatever heirlooms or bloodline limit holders that she could capture for Kumogakure, eliminate them if she couldn't retrieve them.

However, as she was scouting the borders of Otogakure, she had come onto a major battle between the Kyubi jinchuuriki and some Uchiha with a strange, unknown power. Intrigued, she had stayed and proceeded to watch and even enjoy the battle, and to her surprise, she found herself picking a horse in the race as she wanted the Blonde boy to win, although she was very quick to chop that off to the fact that they were both jinchuuriki as opposed to anything more than that.

Nevertheless, she now had a choice to make. Dispose of the jinchuuriki and proceed with her mission, framing the Uchiha in the process, which would be easy for her given that she also used lightning style just like the Uchiha kid, or abandon the mission and take the jinchuuriki back to Kumogakure with her. There were pros and cons to both decisions, and yet for both decisions, the pros outweighed the cons considerably, which ironically is what made the decision so hard for her.

"I cannot tell you what to do kitten, that is entirely up to you. You make decisions based on what you think would be good for Kumogakure, I make decisions based on what I want and what I feel is good for me. Those are two completely different decision making processes. However, I'll say this, I believe that this may be a situation where what you want to do and what is good for Kumogakure are one and the same." The Nibi replied somewhat cryptically, although Yugito was very quick to deduce what Nibi meant, which is why she proceeded to act fast, quickly grabbing the blonde jinchuuriki and making a run for it, heading for the Hidden Sound Village with the intent to circle back towards the Hidden Hot Water Village and then use the sea to circle around to Kumo, the same way that she came.

However, she made sure to erase her scent and her tracks to ensure that nobody realized that there had been anyone else at the scene apart from the Blonde Boy and the Uchiha, the intention of course, to make it look like either the Blonde and the Uchiha crossed over to the Sound Nation together, or the Uchiha boy captured the blonde boy and dragged him over to the Sound Nation, which of course, was the more likely interpretation.

Three Weeks Later: Kumogakure no Sato

"Oh hey, you muscle bound asshole! Have you come to play with me again?" Naruto asked sarcastically, all of his injuries from the previous day of torture a thing of the past now, as if it wasn't just hours ago since his last torture session, a session in which he had had all of his teeth beaten out of his mouth and his face looked like someone used him as a pinyata.

"I was mistaken, you're much tougher than I anticipated. I have decided to end your torture and interrogation today, not because I have given up on breaking your will, but because I hate the look on Yugito's face every time I come back from torturing you. She hasn't been the same since the torture started, in fact, I have a feeling she wishes she had killed you instead and spared you all of this suffering." The Raikage said earnestly, causing Naruto's bravado and obnoxiousness to disappear completely as he too had seen how much this was hurting his captor, internally chastising himself for caring so much about the feelings of the woman who was responsible for his suffering but at the same time unable to help but to be concerned about her, after all, despite what she had done, she was still not only the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but was also the one that had shown him the most genuine love and care that he had ever received in his life over the last three weeks. He couldn't hate or be angry at her no matter how much he tried.

"She's in pain because of you, asshole!" Naruto snapped venomously, if the Raikage was surprised at all by his genuine care for Yugito, doing well not to show it at all.

"…"

"I know…" The Raikage admitted after some time, subjecting Naruto to an intense stare before finally relenting.

"That's why this will be my last day torturing you. There will be no more of that, I promise." The Raikage said gravely, causing Naruto to swallow an audible gulp as he wondered if this meant what he thought it meant, that they were finally going to kill him.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to kill you. Despite what I said earlier, I do not think Yugito actually wants to see you dead. So here's the deal. For the next 12 months, I'm going to be the best father I can be to you, and my brother is going to be the best uncle to you that he can possibly be. That of course will include getting the best training from the two fastest and strongest shinobi in the world. After twelve months, if you're not happy or satisfied, you can leave and go back to Konoha, and I will ensure that you are not harmed by any Kumo shinobi on your way back home. This is the promise I make to you, and I swear to uphold my end of the bargain, on my life and those of the previous Kage, who are all my father, grandfather, and great grandfather." The Raikage said, causing Naruto to open and close his mouth repeatedly, not knowing what to do or say as he just couldn't comprehend how the conversation turned to this, the Raikage internally smirking with satisfaction because despite what Naruto thought, he had actually given him far more information than he realized during their interrogation sessions, which is why the Raikage knew exactly what buttons to press.

"…."

"Think about it. I'll give you another week to think it over. Meanwhile, I'll allow Yugito unrestricted access to you, meaning, unlimited visitation rights. Please have your decision in exactly seven days." The Raikage said as he got up and left the chakra suppression cell that Naruto was locked in.

"Oh, and Gaki, I've allowed my elite guard and my foolish brother each one day of unrestricted visitation over the next seven days, so expect more than one visitor." The Raikage said before slamming the cell shut and leaving the still dumbfounded jinchuuriki alone in his cell in order to stew over his offer, confident that he had played the best gambit that he could have possibly played, especially since he knew that the kid held promises with such high regard. If he could get the kid to promise to stay for twelve months and give them an earnest shot for twelve months, then he was sure that the kid would not break his promise, and that after twelve months, he would not want to leave Kumogakure.

3 Years Later: Kumogakure no Sato

"It's been three years since you arrived, two years since the terms of your agreement with Lord Raikage expired. Yet here you are, still with us, like the filthy conniving little spy that you are!" Karui said antagonistically, causing Naruto to release a heavy sigh as he couldn't believe that after all these years, and after all this time, she still didn't trust him at all.

They were at the Lightning Dragon Restaurant, they being Naruto's uncle, Killer Bee, and his former genin, now Jonin team, consisting of Karui, Omoi, and Samui. Naruto along with his team were also present, his team consisting of himself, Darui, C, and Kurama Yakumo, whom Naruto had rescued from her quite frankly lonely and miserable life in Konoha. Yugito and her team of Naruto's recruits was also present, the team consisting of Yugito herself, Guren, Yukimaru, and Bishiteki Ranmaru.

Initially, Naruto had recruited the four aforementioned shinobi to be his teammates, well, actually he had only intended for Yakumo, Ranmaru, and Yukimaru to be his teammates and for Guren to be a jonin in the village. However, Lord Ay had refused the proposition and declared that only Yakumo would be in his team and that Guren, Yukimaru, and Ranmaru would join Yugito's team as she was experienced enough to teach them the Kumogakure ways but also strong enough to protect them should Konoha or Otogakure come for them. He had thus declared that Naruto would be in a team with Darui, C, and Kurama Yakumo.

Of course, Naruto knew the real reason that Lord Raikage refused to allow him to be in a team with those three, because it would be a team of outsiders. There would be not a single indigenous Kumogakure ninja in the squad, which would make defection easy as there would be no one taking the village's interests into account. Yugito in a way was assigned as both their anchor to the village and their would be assassin should they decide to defect. Another reason for this arrangement was to separate him and Yugito as Lord Ay believed that having two jinchuuriki in the same team was both redundant and too dangerous a preposition. So it was with that said that the current teams were formed, and it had actually worked out pretty well as they had all developed strong bonds as teammates and it also helped that they were compatible in battle.

As for Naruto, well, naturally, he had gone through some changes over the last couple of years. He was much taller now, standing at 1.88 meters in height, and had the physique of a Greek god, spotting rippling muscles built for both power and speed. He was wearing dark grey ninja pants along with the standard red and white kumo shin guards and arm guards. On his upper body he was wearing a dark grey sleeveless top that extends into his face as a face-mask that covers the lower half of his face and was also wearing the standard Kumogakure one strap white flak jacket. His ninja sandals were also white and on his back one would find a large sword wrapped up in white bandages.

"Filthy conniving spy? Man will you give it a rest already! We all have a very stellar record for the village, Naruto-sama more than anyone else. He even recruited us for the village, and while the village already had some amazing shinobi such as you and others, you can't argue against the fact that we have made the village much stronger than it was before." Guren retorted.

She is a beautiful young woman with red lipstick, fair skin, dark eyes and light blue hair which she keeps in a spiky ponytail with long strands of hair framing her face. She is also wearing the standard jonin outfit with form fitting dark grey ninja pants with white tape around the ankles, black ninja sandals, a short sleeve grey form fitting top and a white flak jacket, customised to have two straps instead of the one strap flak jacket that was customary of Kumo in order to hold up both of her breasts. She has a weapons pouch on her left leg and does not appear to wield a sword or any other form of weapon.

"Yes you have a very stellar record, that you intent to use in order to take over the village and make us subservient to Konoha!" The redhead Kunoichi exclaimed indignantly.

"Well, I do want to become the next Raikage so your suspicions are not totally unwarranted. But you should know better than to think I want to have anything to do with Konoha. Besides, Yukimaru, Guren-chan, and Ranmaru have nothing to do with Konoha and Yakumo-chan hates Konoha even more than I do." Naruto retorted.

"Again with that stupid shit! You will NEVER be the Raikage you dumb ass! Darui will be Raikage, heck I will become Raikage before you do!" Karui said antagonistically.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to give up trying." Naruto said with a casual shrug of the shoulders.

"Besides, becoming Raikage is just a means to an end. My real goal is to become the most powerful and versatile ninja in the elemental nations, because that way, I can protect my village and my loved ones from any kind of threat. Becoming Raikage just makes it easier to become the protector of the village because it is a position that gives you power and influence beyond ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. It allows you to protect the village in more than one way." Naruto retorted, Karui gritting her teeth in anger when she realized that she couldn't use not becoming Raikage as a way to torment the blonde Uzumaki.

"W-whatever! I still don't trust you! R-right, Omoi?" Karui stuttered.

"Actually, I think Naruto would make an excellent Raikage, not only because his heart is in the right place but also because he seems to have a deep understanding of Kumogakure's cultural and political makeup. He is a dreamer and a philosopher, and has the most charisma out of anyone I have ever met. Of course you also need to meet a certain criteria in terms of ninja prowess. Typically in Kumogakure, the Raikage has always been the fastest and physically strongest ninja in the village, and of course, the Raikage has also been a master raiton user. Naruto checks all of those boxes. In fact, he does more than check all of them, he even has three bloodline limits, two of which are lightning based, and has a bloodline expansion too that he has mastered. They don't call him the God of Storms for nothing." Omoi replied eloquently, detailing all the reasons why Naruto was a top candidate to become the next Raikage.

"You forgot to mention that he is a perfect jinchuuriki." Samui retorted.

"And a lightning fast teleporter like his father, you know, the same father who had a flee on sight order placed on him and became the Yondaime Hokage." Guren said confidently.

"A jutsu creator like his father, and a master of a thousand techniques and fighting styles. Naruto-sama will be the next Raikage, and I pity anyone who would dare to challenge the might of Kumogakure during his reign." Yakumo said confidently, also wearing the standard kunoichi outfit of Kumogakure up except down at the bottom she had on a pair of black form fitting shorts along with a grey skirt at the top. She also had a weapons pouch on her left leg and was also wearing the standard black and red Kumogakure shin and arm guards. She also typically carried a sword that was strapped to her back but was currently placed on the side next to her as she was seated for a meal. Another difference was that her white flak jacket was custom made, not having a strap and covering both her breast and her torso like a corset.

"I can't imagine how much endless training it took to master not just lighting and wind release, but to also master earth and water release, the magnetic release, storm release, and swift release bloodline limits, and the electromagnetic bloodline expansion. That's a lot of work and a lot of muscle memory to develop." Ranmaru said in awe.

He is a fifteen year old young man with chin length purple hair which is parted in the middle. He also has red-coloured eyes that glow whenever he uses his doujutsu. He is wearing the standard Kumogakure jonin outfit complete with the red and white shin and arm guards and the one strap white flak jacket with a short sleeve grey top under the flak jacket. Fitting across his back are two dual swords known as the lightning Kiba.

"You forgot to mention sealing and barrier ninjutsu." Yukimaru replied.

"But no genjutsu talent whatsoever. Hn! A Kage who can't even cast an A rank genjutsu is no Kage at all!" Karui retorted.

"And what the fuck Omoi! Since when do you, the most paranoid motherfucker in the world, have such a calm and measured attitude towards trusting outsiders!" Karui exclaimed as she began trying to strangle Omoi, only for Samui to grab her and put her in a headlock before she could do any real damage.

"Cut it out! Idiot! And stop referring to our fellow Kumogakure ninja as outsiders! Besides, didn't Naruto help you and Omoi develop your individual prized jutsu? What kind of spy helps their enemies get stronger? Your paranoia makes absolutely no sense whatsoever." Samui chastised her friend and teammate.

"L-let go of me you big boobed bimbo! Your boobs are crushing me!" Karui retorted.

"Only if you promise to stop creating division and promoting conflict between us and our comrades. Kumogakure has groomed a golden generation. This is our chance to finally stand at the very top of the shinobi world. You need to stop trying to sabotage us, because to be quite frank, you're the only one acting like an enemy to our cause." Samui said, Karui's eyes widening in realization as Samui's words began to sink in.

"I….I'm sorry. I didn't….I didn't think about it like that. I just…I guess I'm a little scared. Everything that has happened over the last three years just seems like a dream. It seems like something that is too good to be true. I keep thinking that we'll wake up one day and realize that it was all an illusion, a big, long con." Karui said with a sad tone of voice.

"I understand, but that is an issue that you have to resolve for yourself. You can't put that on Naruto or the friends that have decided to support him in Kumogakure, that's totally not cool. If you keep acting like this, your fear might come to reality, but only because you made it impossible for any other outcome to occur." Samui said with wisdom far beyond her years on the planet.

"I know, okay. I know…" Karui trailed off, Samui finally letting go completely of the headlock that she had on her friend, comfortable that her friend had finally calmed down and would no longer cause any more problems, at least for the foreseeable future.

3 Days Later: Konoha

"Tsunade-hime, please accept our apologies. We have not been able to locate neither Naruto or Sasuke, nor even Kabuto. We have dismantled Otogakure as a Ninja Village, all of Orochimaru's henchmen have been either captured or eliminated, at least most of them have. We are aware that he has a six men cell that he keeps close to himself and goes everywhere with. Interrogations also reveal that these are the most powerful and elite of his lackeys, and that Uchiha Sasuke and Yakushi Kabuto are two of those people based on descriptions. The others however have no recognisable descriptions, certainly not ones matching Uzumaki Naruto. In any case, Oto is still dangerous ground. Orochimaru has released all of his experiments from their captivity and they are running around all over the land on murderous rampages. His ninja force may be gone but he has been able to keep us very busy." Kakashi reported, being second in command of the sizable task force that was sent into Oto, the commander being none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin himself, who was not present at the moment.

"Damn it! What the actual fuck! How hard can it be to find a loud mouthed, flashy ninja wearing a bright orange jumpsuit! He has whisker marks on his face for Pete's sake! You would think someone like that might be nothing but a big bullseye waiting to be found!" Tsunade exclaimed in frustration.

"The war has lasted three years, much longer than anticipated. We were not prepared for Orochimaru's gorilla tactics, or for the fact that there is no actual ninja village but rather dozens of hidden bases. It made it easy for them to prolong the war and fight us on even ground despite their inferior quality of shinobi. Just when we thought the war was over, we then had to deal with rampaging chakra monsters. Orochimaru has played his cards well, and the time draws near for him to take over Sasuke's body. If someone like Orochimaru gets his hands on the sharingan, I dread what might still await us." Asuma replied.

"Damn it! Do we still think that Naruto is even in the Land of Sound?" Tsunade asked with an almost defeated tone of voice.

"And have the bloody toads still not yielded Naruto's whereabouts? Those stubborn fools!" Tsunade said in frustration.

"The toad are firm in their stance. Naruto made it clear to them that he didn't want them to disclose any information about his whereabouts, and that they can't even give so much as a hint. We have also recently learned, thanks to Jiraiya-sama's persistence, that the toads actually wanted to severe their contract to Naruto. However, the contract cannot be arbitrarily annulled, it requires both the summoner and the summons to agree to a split. But, the summons are not obligated to teach the summoner any of their signature techniques, although they are obligated to fight for the summoner when summoned except if it is against another summoner or another summoner's interest." Kakashi explained in detail.

"Why are you explaining something I already know to me?" Tsunade asked confusedly.

"Because, why would the toads refuse to teach Naruto their techniques? Why would they want to severe their contract with him? Why would he refuse?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"I don't get it." Sakura said with a confused frown.

"They would refuse to teach him their techniques and seek to annul their contract with him if they didn't trust him anymore or didn't believe he represented the values that they stand for anymore. Naruto would in turn refuse to annul the contract because as soon as he does, the toads would no longer be obligated to keep his secrets and would therefore reveal his whereabouts and his presumably new allegiances. Furthermore, Naruto would want to keep the contract in case he ever had to go up against Jiraiya-sama in the battle field. Jiraiya-sama would not be able to summon his toads against Naruto as they are obligated by their code not to choose sides in battles between summoners." Shizune explained patiently.

"But that would mean that Naruto…that would mean that he willingly abandoned the village! No way! Naruto would never!" Sakura exclaimed hysterically.

"Calm down Sakura! It's possible that Naruto is being controlled or manipulated. That's why we have to find him!" Tsunade said forcefully.

"Y-yes, Tsunade-shishio." Sakura stuttered.

"As for Jiraiya and this lead that he is following…?" Tsunade trailed off with a questioning tone.

"Jiraiya-sama has received information from a source indicating that there is someone in Kumogakure who has a similar resemblance to Naruto. The informant could not confirm whisker markings but the person of interest is said to wear a face-mask similar to mine to cover the lower half of their face." Kakashi explained patiently.

"Kumogakure is on the other side of the Land of Sound! If you do not travel by sea, you would have to go through the Land of Sound to get there. We never once thought to go past the Land of Sound and look beyond there, after all, why would we, given the circumstances. But how did he even get there? Did Orochimaru sell him to the Raikage, are they in league? Did they cut some kind of mutually beneficial deal? It doesn't make sense." Tsunade said confusedly.

"The information is not confirmed, Godaime-sama. For all we know this could be someone else. Blonde hair is pretty common in Kumogakure. Besides, there are some things that the informant said that do not match with the current profile of Uzumaki Naruto. This person of interest is said to be around the same age as Naruto was, but his physical traits are the complete opposite. It is said that he is very tall for his age and that he is a very muscular physique. He is also known for his speed, agility, and reaction time, with rumours that he is even faster and stronger than the Raikage, who himself is known as the fastest ninja in the world and the strongest man in the world."

"He is also said to be the leading candidate to become the next Raikage and is suspected to be a descendant of the legendary Gold and Silver brothers and he is known as the God of Speed and the God of Storms. By that description alone, this person is an S ranked threat level. He cannot possibly be the notoriously incompetent dead last dobe that disappeared three years ago." Sai said, Tsunade narrowing her eyes dangerously at the new members of team 7, namely, Sai, Aburame Torune, and Yamanaka Fu, Sakura having taken a step back from the team in order to get the much needed therapy and training that she had required after losing both of her teammates, Tsunade having been forced to form a make shift team 7 for the war on the Sound and Danzo having forced her hand on the matter, with her not having any leverage to resist after having lost both Konoha's only jinchuuriki and the last Uchiha.

Besides, sending Sakura into a war zone at the time, right after losing both her teammates and with her very non existent skill set at the time would have been almost the same as tying her up, and taking a kunai and torturing her to death. She also, as much as she wasn't proud of it, had thought that Kakashi would be able to cope better in the war if he had teammates that he didn't necessary care about whether they died or not. It would allow him to focus strictly on the mission and thus, perform better than he otherwise would have.

"Naruto was a child who was clearly underdeveloped for his age. Despite that he did very well for himself, mastering the Fourth's prized jutsu and learning how to summon the boss toad Gamabunta. With proper care and training, and a proper diet, who knows what could have become of him." Tsunade said, though honestly trying to convince herself more than anyone else as she knew that the chances of Naruto advancing that much in just three years were nigh impossible. But she had to hold on to some hope otherwise she would not be able to carry on doing her job for the next hour, much less another day.

"We'll just have to wait and see what Lord Jiraiya comes back with." Torune said, closing the chapter before the volatile Gordaime got angry as he knew that Sai was utter trash when it comes to reading a person's mood.

"Very well. Get some rest for the next two days. On the morning of the third you return to the field. Otogakure must be crushed to the point that they can never function as a ninja village ever again, and Orochimaru must be found and assassinated. Whatever his involvement is in this whole thing, I will never forgive him for it." Tsunade said angrily, everyone saluting the Hokage before quickly departing from the office.

"…"

"Do you really think it could be him, Tsunade-shishio?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"I don't know. I have to agree with Sai that Naruto being essentially the strongest ninja in Kumo seems very unlikely. His parents were not short by any means, but they were not exactly tall either, and he was extremely short when he left. It does seem unlikely that this person is Naruto. But nevertheless we lose nothing from investigating. If there is someone that dangerous out there then we need to know as much as we can about them. The face-mask is a bit suspicious though. If Naruto had defected and wanted that to be a secret, it would make sense for him to find a solution for his whisker marks, and it's just like him to resort to something as simple as a face mask." Tsunade explained.

"Let's hope that Jiraiya-sama is able to bring him back then, if it is really him." Sakura said with a combination of hope and anger in her eyes, hope to finally get her teammate back, but also anger at the possibility that Naruto willingly abandoned her and broke his promise to her.

Meanwhile: Mount Uryako – Kumogakure

"You've been spying on me the whole day, so I thought I would take the liberty to give you a proper greeting. So why don't you stop hiding and reveal yourself, Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto said seemingly to no one, as it appeared as if he was speaking to the open space of the mountain range known as Mount Uryako.

"Jiraiya-sensei you said? And that voice too? You sound older and more mature, far less loud and bratty, and your voice is much deeper too, but there is no way I wouldn't recognize that cadence." A voice that Naruto recognized all too well reverberated in the mountain range as his former master came out from behind a large boulder that he was hiding behind, confidently walking out as he approached the blonde Uzumaki, who of course was facing the direction from which the toad sage came from, having sensed his chakra with his incredible sensory abilities.

"My my what have they been feeding you here in Kumogakure? You're almost as tall as me. Never in a million years would I have believed it if I didn't see it for myself." Jiraiya said in disbelief.

"Just a normal healthy diet. Nothing out of the ordinary." Naruto replied simply.

"So you say. Quite confident of you to lure me out here on the outskirts of the village, with no back up to protect you, not that anyone would be able to stop me from dragging your ass back to Konoha." Jiraiya said gravely.

"So high and mighty, for someone who took three years to find me despite me not even attempting to hide my location for two of those three years. If this is the best Konoha's finest spy master is capable of, then I fear for the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Naruto retorted, Jiraiya narrowing his eyes at the blonde Uzumaki, clearly taking offense to having anyone question his spy master abilities.

"A whole war has been fought over you! Countless people have died trying to find you!" Jiraiya said angrily, starting to get irritated by Naruto's cavalier attitude about his defection.

"You mean a whole war has been fought over the Kyubi jinchuuriki don't you?" Naruto retorted much to Jiraiya's utter shock.

"You really think that's the reason Tsunade started a war with Otogakure?" Jiraiya asked angrily.

"No, but it's the reason she gained any support to start a war over me. Konoha wants its military weapon back." Naruto retorted.

"You ungrateful imbecile! Do you have any idea how many people your defection has affected? That poor girl Hinata has been suffering from depression since you defected! She even attempted suicide, TWICE! Sakura has not faired better either! She probably would have ended up the same if not for Tsunade-hime and Shizune's support, or the therapy sessions that Tsunade-hime mandated for her! Tsunade has stopped drinking and gambling because she didn't want anything distracting her from finding you and making sure the village that you love and want to protect as Hokage is still in tact when you return! And you're out here acting like a selfish, entitled brat! You make me sick!" Jiraiya said with fury and disgust.

"Quite the hypocrite aren't you, acting all high and mighty while being a complete deadbeat God Father. Where were you during my twelve years of suffering? Where were you during the assassination attempts? When the teachers at the academy were sabotaging my development? Where were you when the shops were selling me defective equipment at unreasonably exorbitant prices? Where were you when I was kicked out of the orphanage as soon as I could walk on my own two feet and had to live on my own, teaching myself to wash properly, brush my teeth, wash my own clothes, do homework with no one to help me solve the problems? Where were you through all of that? And now you want to act all high and mighty because I found people who actually took the time and effort to be there for me every step of the way? You make me sick." Naruto said with disgust.

"Sarutobi-sensei and I had an agreement. He would raise you while I managed my spy network for the village and then I would take you on as an apprentice when you became a genin." Jiraiya said defensively.

"In other words, you wanted him to do the hard part, which he didn't bother to do, and then swoop in like a hero and take all the credit? You didn't even bother to check in and see if he actually kept his end of the bargain did you?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"He said you were doing well!" Jiraiya said angrily.

"He said? The so called greatest spy master in the universe could not be bothered to verify his information about someone as allegedly precious as his God Child? Don't make me laugh." Naruto said incredulously.

"W-what about Tsunade-hime? She's like a grandma to you. She sees you as her grandson. Think about how heart broken she would be if she heard that you willingly abandoned her and the village." Jiraiya said, trying to appeal to Naruto's emotional attachments.

"She's just as guilty as you. You think I don't know anything don't you? You think I don't know that Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato were my parents? That means that I'm literally Tsunade's last living relative and she still abandoned me, just like you. Not to mention that she herself abandoned the village for well over a decade. I don't recall her running and hiding from the Hunter Nin ANBU division. Yet I can already foresee the hypocrisy of her sending ninja after me to forcefully retrieve me when she hears of this, or even making demands to Raikage-sama that I be returned to Konoha." Naruto retorted.

"It's not like she would have a choice even if she wanted to let you go, which of course she doesn't. You're putting not only Konoha into a tight spot but you're putting Kumo in a very bad spot too. Both villages will lose thousands of shinobi when war breaks out, and it will all be because of you." Jiraiya said gravely.

"Hehehe! You think you I'm still the young impressionable kid I was three years ago? You can't manipulate me with mere words, or with any other method for that matter. Besides, Lord Raikage already broke the news to the entire village when I completed my twentieth solo S ranked mission. He told the entire village everything about me, and I do mean everything. Everyone was given voting ballots, even kids from six years old and above. Do you know how many people voted that I stay in the village despite the likelihood of war against Konoha?" Naruto asked rhetorically

"Everyone. There was a one hundred percent vote. Everyone, child and adult voted that they would rather go to war than lose me to Konoha or any other village. And, if you ever knew who I was, then you know how seriously I take that kind of loyalty and devotion." Naruto replied with a deathly tone.

"It's not loyalty you imbecile. Its power hunger. As you said yourself, you're the heir of the Yellow Flash and the Red Blooded Habanero, and you're also the Kyubi jinchuuriki." Jiraiya retorted.

"Are you going to sit there and pretend that that is not the reason Konoha will go to war for me? At least Kumogakure loves and appreciates all of that and more about me, unlike Konoha, who would rather see me be an incompetent, naïve, and weak idiot for fear of what I may become. Kumogakure, in contrast, relished the opportunity to see what I could become and gave me the support I needed to become my best self. Understand this, Jiraiya-sensei, I will never return to Konoha, not willingly, and not by force either." Naruto said uncompromisingly.

"If you didn't want to be returned by force then you should have never met with me alone on the outskirts of your sanctuary. You really expect me to just let you go and return to the village with nothing? You're coming back home with me even if I have to drag you by the scruff of the neck." Jiraiya said with a grave tone of voice.

"Heh, I see I'm being underestimated here. I'm next in line to become the next Raikage. You really think a mere Sannin is enough to take me down?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"A mere Sannin you say? Hohoho! A mere brat with less than four years of experience is underestimating me. I see now that all Kumogakure has done is sheltered you from the cruelty and reality of the world. Kid, you're still a hundred years too young to defea…" Jiraiya trailed off as Naruto, in the blink of an eye, closed the distance between them and bisected the Sannin at the waist, using his large, gigantic sword which turned out to be the Kubikiribocho, moving at such a high speed and with such quick lightning fast reflexes that Jiraiya didn't even get a chance to neither move out of the way nor activate his ultimate defense, the ninja art: needle jizo.

"I…impossible…!" Jiraiya, or at least, the upper part of him, said in disbelief.

"A mere shadow clone surprised that I made quick work of it? Don't insult me." Naruto said, Jiraiya, now identified as a shadow clone, involuntarily widening his eyes in surprise before disappearing in a puff of smoke, the clone's last thoughts being sheer disbelief at not only the fact that it was taken out so easily, but at the fact that Naruto knew that it was a clone all along.

"Come out, Jiraiya-sensei, Fukusaku-sama, and Shima-sama." Naruto said as he stared at the boulder that Jiraiya's clone had originally come from.

"Ho? So you knew it was a shadow clone from the start?" Jiraiya said as he came out from behind the boulder, looking significantly more menacing than his shadow clone did as he now possessed toad like features particularly around his face, his feet also transforming during his walk out as if in preparation for something. Those weren't the only changes however as, fused to his shoulders, were two small toads, one on each shoulder, and, both toads wearing long blackish-green cloaks but one female and the other a male, namely, Shima and Fukusaku.

"I'm the best sensory type ninja in Kumogakure, probably in the entire shinobi world, I knew where you ate, slept, and bathed since you entered the Land of Lightning." Naruto retorted.

"More importantly Jiraiya-chan, how does he know who we are? Did you tell him about us?" Shima asked curiously.

"No I didn't. I thought maybe some of the toads or you and Pa might have told him. He's a toad summoner, so is it that much of a surprise that he knows about the two of you?" Jiraiya asked confusedly.

"It's a very big surprise. Naruto-chan did not summon toads outside of battle prior to his defection, and after his defection, when he tried to come to Mount Myoboku to train with the toads, his proposal was rejected and in fact, an annulment was proposed. It's nigh impossible that any toad would have told him about us. Needless to say, that he called us by our names is incredibly suspicious." Fukusaku retorted, causing a deep frown to appear on Jiraiya's facial features.

"Don't look so surprised, of course I did my due diligence about you and the toads, Jiraiya-sensei. I knew some day you would find out about my whereabouts and my new allegiances, and I knew you wouldn't approve and would selfishly try to force me back to Konoha. The only thing I didn't anticipate is that you would treat me as a big enough threat to warrant the use of not only a probing shadow clone but the use of sennin mode from the get go. I was almost one hundred percent sure this battle would end in a mere matter of seconds because you underestimated me, though that could still happen regardless." Naruto said confidently.

"You're the jinchuuriki of the Kyubi, and you've been in Kumogakure for three years. Kumogakure are well known for training their jinchuuriki very well and putting them through the paces. With your work ethic and unyielding determination, and Kumo's relentless jinchuuriki training and lust for power, I would have to be an utter fool to have come here unprepared, not to mention that all the information I was able to get about you painted you as some kind of Thunder God who was all but gauranteed to be the next successor to the Raikage. I'm many things, but a fool is not one of them. I'm taking this battle very seriously." Jiraiya said with determination.

"Idiot! Why are you always so easily distracted! This child just talked about your sennin mode, the ability you keep closest to your chest and only use against high level threats. As far as I'm aware no one has ever seen you in sennin mode and lived to tell the story. The more important question then would be, how does he know about our sennin mode?" Shima chastised the Toad Sage, Jiraiya's eyes widening in surprise as it didn't hit him that Naruto was not supposed to know what his source of power was until now.

"Go easy on Jiraiya-chan Ma. This is no doubt a very emotional and painful reunion for him. It's understandable if he doesn't have complete control over his mental faculties at this point in time." Fukusaku said empathetically.

"You fool! This is a life or death battle against a jinchuuriki. This is no time to lose your mental faculties!" Shima chastised Pa this time.

"Jinchuuriki this jinchuuriki that. That's all you seem to care about. However, I don't need my jinchuuriki powers to win battles. They are just the cherry on top. You blind yourselves and put yourselves at a disadvantage if that is all you're worried about. As for my knowledge about Toad Sage Mode, I'll tell you how I know everything if you can defeat me, though before we proceed, I just have to ask, doesn't your reliance on Fukusaku-sama and Shima-sama violate toad clan summoning law? I was told that the toads have a strict policy against providing aid to one summoner against the other?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Hohohoho! Shows what you know. The clan law applies to the boss summon and all of the toads under his command, as the contract we both signed stipulates. The toad sages and the elder sage are not under Bunta's command, he is under theirs." Jiraiya retorted cheekily.

"Now that's one thing I had no idea about. Thanks for the information. Now, let us begin the battle of…" Naruto trailed off as Jiraiya went through an extremely fast sequence of hand seals and placed his hands on the ground.

"Earth Release: Great Swamp Of The Underworld!" Jiraiya exclaimed as the entire surface of Mount Uryako turned into a large and deep fast sinking mud pit, at least that is what should have happened, instead nothing at all happening, much to the confusion of both Jiraiya and the toad sages, that is of course, until Jiraiya paid attention to Naruto's feet and saw that he was releasing a stream of lightning based chakra into the entire surface area.

'He's utilizing the relationships between the five elements to full efficiency. Earth Style is indeed weak against lightning style ninjutsu, but this jutsu was enhanced by my sage chakra, therefore it is not a ninjutsu but a senjutsu. Despite the weakness of earth against lightning, it shouldn't have been possible for him to so casually nullify my technique, especially without even the use of any hand seals. To have mastered elemental ninjutsu to this level would take a life time even for a genius, but for him to have this level of mastery in just three years is quite simply insane.' Jiraiya thought warily.

"Jiraiya-chan, this battle could be more trouble than it's worth it we don't end this quickly. How about we use that collaboration jutsu." Fukusaku suggested.

"Good idea Pa. Jiraiya-chan you provide the oil, Pa you provide the wind and I'll provide the fire!" Shima said hastily, immediately beginning the hand seal sequence and so did Fukusaku and Jiraiya, Jiraiya spitting out oil that was propelled at an extreme velocity thanks to the wind style of Pa, creating a gigantic lake of scorching inferno when Ma ignited it with her fire style as both wind style and oil were fire enhancers, the lake of fire covering such a wide surface area and traveling at such a speed that dodging or avoiding it was literally impossible.

"Storm Release: Rage of the Storm Dragon!" Naruto said after running through a dozen hand seals in an instant, creating a gigantic dragon made entirely of blue energy that was neither water based or lightning based, but a combination of both, creating an entirely new and different, but more powerful chakra nature, too solid to be a liquid, but too energy based to be a considered a solid, something that defied physics.

The dragon was so large that it completely dwarfed the unbelievably large lake of fire and it was moving at such a speed that the super fast lake paled in comparison, the dragon completely destroying the lake and taking Jiraiya, Fukusaku and Shima with it, destroying a series of mountains before dissipating, not because it ran out of energy but because Naruto himself cancelled the jutsu. At the end of it all Jiraiya had been blown so far away that Naruto had to use a series of shunshins to close the distance again, arriving to see a completely warn out Jiraiya, clothes torn asunder and lacerations all over his body, Ma and Pa not doing too well either.

'I can't believe it! Me, defeated with just one jutsu? No one has ever stopped the sage art: goemon, but he not only obliterated it, but he also obliterated the combination barrier Ma, Pa and I tried to set up and the frog stomach that I summoned for defense. Just what the hell is he? I haven't been this badly hurt in just over sixteen years, since my last spar with the Minato.' Jiraiya thought warily.

"You finally look like your age. You look like you would fall over and die if I blew at you hard enough, though given my wind style affinity, I guess that's not a very good example." Naruto said sarcastically.

'He has wind style nature too? Storm Release is said to be a combination of water and lightning release. So that's three nature transformations, plus a fourth one in Storm Release. All this at just the age of sixteen? If he is allowed to grow any further, Konoha will be in serious trouble, especially because he still has his jinchuuriki powers to fall back on." Jiraiya thought with trepidation.

"Jiraiya-chan, that storm release dragon, it has the ability to absorb chakra. That's why it completely dissipated our attack and instantly dissolved our combination defense barriers, that's also probably why all three of us feel so depleted after just one attack." Fukusaku said analytically, not allowing Jiraiya to respond to Naruto's taunts but choosing rather to let him focus on the vital information that he just provided.

"That's just ridiculous! As if it wasn't a powerful enough attack on its own!" Shima said incredulously.

"We tried ninjutsu and barrier arts and it didn't work, which means that we have to go with Taijutsu. Ma, focus on healing and Pa, focus on replenishing my chakra reserves. We'll use frog kata to win this one." Jiraiya said optimistically.

"On it! But Jiraiya-chan, are you sure about this? We can assume that he has been trained by the Raikage and his brother. My information might be outdated, but I am quite certain that those two are arguably the best taijutsu users in the world, and they were fast enough to somewhat keep up with the fourth." Fukusaku inquired, skeptical about Jiraiya's plan while at the same time wondering why Naruto was content to just watch them and see what they are up to instead of finishing them off.

'That look in his eyes? He's analysing every little detail about us, almost as if studying us. Does he think he can replicate our sage arts by just looking and analysing, or is it just morbid curiosity?' Pa thought warily, though ultimately deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth and focus on possibly winning this battle, though if it was up to him, he would have ordered a retreat the minute that storm dragon disappeared.

"Jiraiya-chan is probably thinking that it is better to confirm his speed and taijutsu prowess rather than to speculate on it. Remember Jiraiya-chan is a master of espionage. Information is the single greatest asset for someone like him. He probably wants to return to the village with as much information as possible about Naruto-chain's abilities." Ma replied.

"….."

"It seems like you're quite pathetic at gathering sage chakra and even worse at controlling it. I thought you might have needed the toad sages in order to prolong its use, which of course I thought was a genius strategy. However, after watching this little interaction and analyzing the synchronization of chakra, it seems quite obvious that you literally need them to even maintain the form without getting overwhelmed by the sage chakra. You have no chance of defeating me. You might as well retreat before I change my mind and decide to kill you." Naruto said with an ice cold tone of voice.

"The biggest mistake you made was allowing me to recover instead of finishing me off. I cannot count the number of times an enemy has fallen simply because they were too arrogant for their own good." Jiraiya said, the wounds on his body completely healing thanks to Ma's medical ninjutsu and his reserves refilling to the maximum once again thanks to Pa's sage chakra infusion.

"Arrogance you say? I guess I can't fault you for thinking that. However, what you call arrogance I call benevolence. I didn't lure you out here in order to kill you, I did it in order to warn you. This battle is meant to serve as a warning to you and the rest of Konoha to stay away from Kumogakure and to stay away from me. If you go to war with Kumogakure, you will be annihilated. Considered this a last piece of mercy and advise from an old friend. After today, there will be no more mercy. All those who come after me or pose a threat to Kumogakure will be destroyed. All those who attempt to invade or spy on Kumogakure will also be destroyed. Consider yourself warned." Naruto said gravely.

"Counting your chickens before they hatch are we? You have not won this battle yet!" Jiraiya exclaimed as, with a great burst of speed, he appeared right above Naruto.

"Sage Art: Great Big Ball Rasengan!" Jiraiya exclaimed, a ginormous rasengan forming on his right hand, Naruto however managing to completely evade the attack as he moved moved out of the way with an incredibly fast shunshin technique, a large explosion reverberating all across the mountain range as the entire mountain side was destroyed by the technique, dust and debri flying everywhere.

"Did we get him? Pa, Ma, can you sense him anywh…?" Jiraiya trailed off as he was hit on his left side with a very powerful kick that sent him spiralling rapidly into the side of an adjacent mountain side, the whole side of the mountain collapsing due to the impact with which he landed on the mountain side. However, almost as soon as the mountain collapsed on him, Jiraiya came flying out of the debris and landed a few feet away from Naruto, acting like nothing happened even though two of his ribs were shattered from the impact.

"Ma, Pa? Did you see what happened? I'm in sage mode and moving at the absolute peak of my senjutsu enhanced abilities, yet he was able to evade my fastest attack and hit me with an attack from my blind spot. If that was all it would still be crazy, however, what makes matters worse is that my senses, reactions, and durability are also enhanced to the maximum in sage mode, yet he was able to damage this durable body with a mere kick and move fast enough to bypass my senses and reactions. This doesn't make sense to me. Can anyone of you give me an answer?" Jiraiya asked

"The only thing I can say with regards to his speed is that I sensed wind chakra in his shunshin. This is a technique I myself, as a wind style user attempted in my younger days. However, infusing elemental nature transfusion into a shunshin is nigh impossible. Up until now, the only people known to have managed such a feat are the Raikage of Kumogakure. But, since he is allegedly the Raikage's apprentice, it's possible that Naruto-chan was given the secrets to shunshin elemental infusion." Fukusaku replied.

"Great analysis Fukusaku-sama, and true. I am Lord Raikage's prized student after all. And yes, that was wind enhanced shunshin, the technique is known as wind release: flash step technique. It's a technique that requires me to me to simultaneously use wind style in two different ways, namely, to enhance my shunshin speed by infusing wind to it while simultaneously removing wind resistance in the space all around me, allowing for greater ease of movement and flexibility, and it is also one of my many speed enhancement techniques. In fact, it is the weakest of my speed enhancement techniques, though it is highly efficient." Naruto explained in detail.

"How does that explain your monstrous physical strength? Your explanation does not make any account for physical strength enhancement." Jiraiya asked curiously.

"That's just my normal strength." Naruto replied casually, Jiraiya and the toad sages involuntarily widening their eyes as they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"Jiraiya-chan. I think we've seen enough. We have more than enough information to report on. Any further probing is meaningless, and will likely lead only to your death. It's not like he is invincible, we just were not properly prepared to deal with this kind of enemy. Even victory, at this point, would come at a great cost that I am not entirely sure that it would be worth it at all. We can always come back later with a better plan." Shima said, fearing not only for Jiraiya's life but for hers and Pa's life as well.

"I must agree with Ma on this one Jiraiya-chan, and I practically never agree with her about anything." Fukusaku said with concern, hoping that Jiraiya's wounded pride would not pose an obstacle to his survival instincts.

"…"

"Naruto! You said that you have many other speed enhancement techniques. How many is it exactly, apart from this one?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Many. They don't call me the God of a Thousand Techniques for nothing." Naruto retorted.

"More than five?" Jiraiya asked warily.

"Yes." Naruto deadpanned, the toad sage in disbelief as he was unable to detect any lies from Naruto.

"What about teleportation?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"You mean like my dad? Let's just say I have more techniques than he did in that regard." Naruto deadpanned, Jiraiya and the toad sages unable to hide the shock and fear on their facial features.

"Jiraiya-sensei. This has been an interesting encounter, but I'm afraid I am no longer amused or intrigued. You're incredible, really, but you came here with no information about me while I had all the information about you. So in a way it was an unfair advantage on my part. However, irrespective of that, you would be dead even if I didn't know you and had no intel on you, because then I wouldn't have held back. I understand that this will wound your pride, but you never stood a chance here today. You're only alive because I need you to take this information back to Konoha. Understand that this is the first and last time that I will show mercy. Please make sure that this is made clear. I've chosen my people, and my people are the people of Kumo. I will kill anyone who poses a threat to them. I won't hold back, and I won't play games." Naruto said matter of factly.

"…"

"Jiraiya-chan, I know it's frustrating, but this is a great opportunity to prepare. You can allow this misfortune to break you, or you can see it as an opportunity to improve and come back stronger." Fukusaku said with concern, not wanting Jiraiya to test Naruto's patience any further.

"I'll be back, count on it!" Jiraiya said darkly.

"Weren't you listening, the whole point of this exercise was to create awareness to you and Konoha that fucking with me and Kumogakure is not a good idea." Naruto said incredulously, Jiraiya however not bothering with a response as turned and walked way, his pride wounded but his will not crushed as he refused to give up on himself, no matter how humiliated he felt right now.

"Wait, before you go! I have an offer for you and the toads. The deal is simple. I give you permission to use the toads in battle against both me and any allies of mine." Naruto declared, causing Jiraiya to stop in his tracks as his interest was peaked, after all, toad summoning was an intrinsic and significant part of his fighting style, and being unable to summon any was a monumental disadvantage to him.

"And what's the catch?" Jiraiya asked warily.

"It's simple. In exchange neither you nor I, nor the toads, can add anyone else to the contract until one of us dies, after which the toads may still not add anyone else without my consent, unless of course the toads become summoner-less because I also died before choosing a successor. It's a pretty fair deal is it not?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

'This child is very intelligent, and dangerous. He's betting on Jiraiya-chan dying long before he does due to their age and power differences in order to have full control over the toad summoning contract, and to ensure that happens, he wants to ensure that neither Jiraiya-chan nor us are able to check mate him by allowing another enemy toad summoner to join the contract. If Jiraiya-chan should indeed pass before he does, Naruto-chan and his chosen apprentices will be the toad summoners, and we the toads will have no choice but to switch our allegiances to Kumogakure. This is a very bad situation, he clearly has no intention of giving up on the toad summoning contract.' Shima thought warily.

"I cannot make that decision arbitrarily. Ma, Pa, what do you have to say about this offer?" Jiraiya asked humbly.

"There doesn't seem to be any other choice. If you don't accept then you'll have to go to war with a limited arsenal and without being able to summon any of the boss toads and their subordinates. Besides if things stay the way they are, the scenario we're dreading is even more likely to occur. Let us maximise our chances of winning by accepting this generous yet diabolical offer." Fukusaku said, Shima sharing his sentiments as she voiced her own agreement to the plan.

"Very well, you have yourself a deal." Jiraiya said as he disappeared with a super fast burst of speed, disappearing from Mount Uryako like he was never there to begin with.

"So you're really letting him go? Just like that?" Ay asked warily, clearly displeased by this turn of events, speaking to Naruto through his assistant, Mabui's mind communication jutsu.

"I owed him that much, and I owed us that much too. If there was a chance at peace, even be it a shaky one, I had to take it. Hopefully that display of power will be enough to dissuade Konoha from trying anything." Naruto responded.

"Imbecile! Did it sound like that is what is going to happen?" Ay said irritably.

'Well, regardless of what happens, we'll always have to stay vigilant. Even if the powers that be in Konoha decide to back off, Konoha will always be lying in wait for us to slip up. And they won't just go for the Kyubi, they'll take any Bijuu they can get their hands on.' Naruto retorted.

'In that case, they might just go after Takigakure no sato. They have the seven tails, arguably the third strongest Bijuu. They are also weak enough for Konoha to overwhelm them and take their jinchuuriki.' Ay retorted.

"Interesting. I never even considered that as a possibility. But it's none of our business is it?" Naruto asked.

"It could be, if Takigakure call on us for an alliance treaty in order for us to help them protect their jinchuuriki." Ay replied.

"Perhaps we should send them a warning about what might transpire." Naruto said warily, concerned for the jinchuuriki of the seven tails despite never having met her.

"I thought you said it was none of our business?" Ay asked knowingly, leaving Naruto completely speechless as he had no retort for that, after all, he did say it was none of their business.

"…."

"In any case, Naruto-kun, what are you planning to do about the other interlopers?" Mabui asked with concern.

"If they still want to confront me after they saw me defeat a Sannin then I don't know what the hell is wrong with them." Naruto said with a casual shrug of the shoulders.

Meanwhile:

"So, what will you do, Sasuke-kun? Now that you know that your beloved old friend is safe and sound, in Kumogakure no sato?" Orochimaru asked with a tone that was both amused and condescending, Kabuto's lips morphing into an amused smirk as he looked at Sasuke with intrigue and curiosity, needlessly pushing his glasses into place for seemingly no particular reason whatsoever.

His comrades, Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu also wondering what the hell Sasuke was going to do, trusting their team leader but at the same time concerned about what decision he was going to make as, according to what they had just seen, and according to Karin's chakra readings, that Naruto was a monster disguised as a human being.

"We're going to capture him and take him back to Konoha." Sasuke said the one thing that nobody expected, which was quite honestly typical of him his comrades had come to learn.

"What! You idiot! Did you fall on your head or something? Neglecting for a second that you want us to capture a ridiculous chakra monster like that damn Naruto, why the hell would we do it for Konoha?" Karin exclaimed incredulously.

"Kukukuku! I never imagined you of all people would want to aid Konoha to recapture a rogue ninja. Quite hypocritical of you isn't it, Sasuke-kun? Why the sudden loyalty to Konoha after not only deserting them but also after they made your life so inconvenient over the last three years?" Orochimaru asked, more out of amusement and curiosity than suspicion or distrust really.

"Don't be ridiculous. I hold no love for Konoha, only ire at the hypocrisy of that dobe. He hunted me down like a dog and tried to force me back to Konoha when I left, only for him to immediately do the same thing after I spared his life. It pisses me off just thinking about it. We're going to give him a taste of his own medicine." Sasuke said irritably.

"An eye for an eye huh? Divine judgement?" Kabuto asked rhetorically.

"That's not all he means to do. By Capturing Naruto, he can leverage his own freedom against Naruto's. He can give Konoha an ultimatum. That he gives them Naruto in exchange for letting him go without any repercussions, or for him to let Naruto go and return to the Hidden Cloud." Jugo replied.

"Kukukuku! Interesting. I can't help but find myself intrigued by this turn of events. Very well, I'll allow it. Do as you please, children." Orochimaru said, laughing amusedly as he did, unable to believe how life had become both so frustrating and yet so intriguing ever since Sasuke joined Otogakure.

"If we're really going to try and capture him, then we'll have to attack him as if we're trying to kill him. If we fight him like Jiraiya-dono did, then we'll get wiped out. With that said, please allow me to challenge him first. I'm going to have to go all out in order to win, but we both know that I'm not exactly a team player when I go all out." Jugo said with conviction.

"Jugo…." Sasuke trailed off, never having witnessed Jugo going all out before as he was always trying to hold himself back from going completely over the hill.

"If I go all out, I'll be able to match him in every way possible, whether it be speed or brute force, and I'll be able to pressure him enough to prevent him from casting hand seals. One thing we can not allow him to do is to cast any ninjutsu after what we just witnessed. If he is allowed to cast his storm release: rage of the storm dragon on us, then he could effectively end the battle in one shot." Jugo further elaborated.

"Bull shit! I should get first shot at him! He has the Kubikiribocho! If I don't retrieve the sword with my own two hands then it doesn't mean anything!" Suigetsu argued.

"Idiot! He is the Raikage's successor and we just saw him use storm release, which means he has mastered both water style and lightning style! He can match your water style with his own and his Lightning style is your main weakness. You'll be at a complete disadvantage!" Karin argued.

"If he's going to be useless in this battle anyway, then we have nothing to lose by letting him go first. Suigetsu, you go first! If you lose then Jugo will take over. I'll go last." Sasuke ordered, effectively ending the argument right then and there.

Suigetsu, not wanting to give Sasuke a chance to change his mind, immediately leapt into action as he pumped water into his legs, developing very big and define water muscle on his legs in order to propel himself far, completely leaping over the mountain they were hiding behind and jumping all the way to the battle field, Sasuke, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Jugo, and Karin following him as they scaled the mountain until they were at the top in order to get a nice vantage point.

Boooom!

That was the deafening sound as Suigetsu landed a short distance away from Naruto, who had a raised eyebrow as he marvelled at the feat that the guy just pulled off, knowing very well that no average shinobi could make such a giant leap the way that this guy just did. Naruto couldn't help but also notice something familiar about the guy that was now standing in front of him, as if he recognized him from somewhere but unable to quite put his finger on it.

"That's a very flashy announcement there, strange shinobi-san. I would have expected you to try some kind of sneak attack as would be expected of a shinobi, not to just announce yourself like that." Naruto said nostalgically, being reminded of himself when he confronted Kakashi just like this during their final genin exam.

"We already know that you're a sensor type. A sneak attack is pointless. More importantly, I'm going to give you the opportunity to peacefully hand over Zabuza-senpei's blade, or else…." The interloper trailed off with a dangerous tone of voice.

"Zabuza-senpei you said? I see now. I thought I recognized you from somewhere. You're related to Hozuki Mangetsu aren't you? One of the greatest seven ninja swordsmen, said to be the only one ever to master the use of all seven swords. A member of the Hozuki clan that has a hydro kinetic bloodline limit." Naruto replied as realization dawned on him.

"You certainly know a little too much about the Mist Village, especially about that organization." Suigetsu said with his right hand placed firmly on the hilt of his Zanbatou, staying ready for any sort of movement that Naruto might make, having witnessed just how ridiculously fast he could move after watching his entire battle against one of the Sannin, the Toad Sage Jiraiya.

"Of course I do. Zabuza-dono and his apprentice, Yuki Haku-dono of the Yuki clan, were the inspiration for my ninja way. I only knew them briefly but it is not too much of a stretch to say that they have had the most impact on the person that I am today. It's why I carry Zabuza-dono's sword, in honor of their legacy. It is also why I made it a point to research Kirigakure and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. I suppose I really had no choice since I went on to encounter another seven ninja swordsman in Hoshigaki Kisame-dono. He and kin slayer Uchiha Itachi are hunting me on behalf of Akatsuki. It would thus be foolish of me not to try and find out all I can about that organization." Naruto explained politely.

"So you fancy yourself as Zabuza-senpei's successor huh? But I'm the one that was dubbed as the second coming of the demon, not you. I'm the one that was inducted into the seven ninja swordsmen as a trainee and successor to Zabuza-senpei, not you." Suigetsu argued.

"That may be true, but I'm the one who defeated his apprentice, and I'm the one he acknowledged." Naruto retorted.

"Which means that if I defeat you, then the sword is mine." Suigetsu replied.

"Tell you what, since you want the Kubikiribocho so badly, how about this…." Naruto trailed off as he pulled out the sword from his back and threw it into the air, the bandages on the sword disappearing in a puff of smoke as the sword spun in the air until it landed exactly in the middle of the distance between Naruto and Suigetsu, the sword digging into the ground in a way as if just waiting for someone to grab it by the hilt and pull it out.

"If you can get to that sword and pull it out before I do, or if you can stop me from grabbing and pulling it out of the ground, then I'll let you have it." Naruto said with a confident smirk on his facial features.

"You think this is some kind of game don't you? I'll make you regret that." Suigetsu said with a cocky smirk.

"Are you just going to stand there and talk or are you going to…" Naruto trailed off as, in a split second, Suigetsu pumped a ton of water into his leg muscles and exploded into action, moving at a ridiculous speed as he went straight for the sword, trying to catch Naruto off guard by making his move mid sentence.

However, Naruto wasn't having any of that as his reaction was so great that he practically began moving at the same time that Suigetsu made his move, instantly activating his shunpo no jutsu and proceeding to beat Suigetsu to the sword despite Suigetsu's own insane movement speed, Naruto grabbing the Head Cleaver and parrying away Suigetsu's overhead slash with such power and ferocity that he knocked the sword clean off of Suigetsu's hands, sending the sword flying rapidly away and all the way to the other side until it was lodged deep into the mountain side.

Suigetsu, with his arms smacked upwards, and his utter shock from the sheer power and brute force of Naruto, was left completely open for an attack, Naruto not wasting any time at all as he proceeded to horizontally bisect the Mist native at the waist, only for his sword to pass right through the Mist native and proceed to get stuck inside the said Mist native, Suigetsu having turned himself into water and proceeded to solidify himself like a water prison in order to get the Kubikiribocho stuck inside of him.

"What the hell…!" Naruto trailed off, not even getting a chance to process his shock as Suigetsu pointed his index finger at him and proceeded to shoot an insanely fast water bullet at Naruto from point blank range, a sonic boom reverberating as the water bullet was shot at the speed of sound, yet Naruto somehow managing to dodge the bullet despite the fact that it was shot right at his face.

Not wasting any time at all and realizing just how dangerous his opponent was, Naruto proceeded to stream a rather large voltage of lightning chakra into the Head Cleaver, electrocuting Suigetsu so bad that he almost literally became puty in his hands. Seeing how Suigetsu was completely out of it from the electrical shock, Naruto proceeded to sweep Suigetsu legs, causing him to fall on his back, still with the Kubikiribocho inside of him, Naruto funnelling more lightning chakra into the Kubikiribocho in order to keep Suigetsu from regaining completely his bearings.

'This guy. He was able to instantly figure out the exact amount of lightning required to keep me completely immobilised without killing me or rendering me unconscious. Just what the hell is he?' Suigetsu thought in both pain and awe.

"That was both amazing and underwhelming at the same time. By that I mean that your level of talent is amazing, but your actual performance is, for a lack of a better term, trash." Naruto deadpanned, causing an angry frown to appear on Suigetsu's facial features.

"Let me explain." Naruto said with his right hand up in a "stop" gesture, effectively stopping Suigetsu before he could launch himself into an outburst of anger and embarrassment.

"Your chakra capacity is quite frankly amazing, easily Kage level. You also have an amazing bloodline limit. But your chakra is also untamed and unrefined, which means you either received little to no training whatsoever, or you neglected your training and decided to try and winge it with only raw talent alone." Naruto said, Suigetsu widening his eyes in surprise at the fact that Naruto was able to figure all of that out from their brief exchange.

"Take for example your body augmentation technique. From what it seems, you are using your hydrokinesis bloodline limit to pump water into your muscles, creating what is known as water muscle in order to improve your power and speed. However, your use of it is amateurish at best. Someone with that ability is supposed to study martial arts and human anatomy extensively in order to maximise their talent, but clearly you have done neither." Naruto replied.

"How do you know that?" Suigetsu asked with a deep frown on his face.

"Because you think that pumping everything into your legs in order to increase your foot speed is a good idea, or pumping everything into your arms to improve the power of your swing is a good thing." Naruto deadpanned.

"What the hell? That's stupid as hell. Why wouldn't I pump water into my arms to improve the power of my sword slash?" Suigetsu asked incredulously.

"Do you think that the arms are the only body parts involved in swinging a sword? What about your shoulder and back muscles? What about your lower back and your hips? What about your thighs and your carves? Do you not take on a different leg stance depending on the type of slash you execute? Do you not rotate your hips to increase the power of your swing? Does the power of your shoulders and the elasticity of your back muscles not play a role in the swing of your sword? Does the same not apply to running and evading attacks? Do you only use the legs to make those movements?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Suigetsu's eyes widening even further as realization dawned on him, wondering why up until this moment, no one had pointed out to him something that, in hindsight, seemed so obvious now that he thought about it.

"Rather than pumping as much water muscle as you can on a singular body part, you would be much faster and much stronger if you evenly distributed the water muscle all across your body. Develop efficient body augmentation as opposed to…whatever it is that you've been doing so far. It will also improve not just your speed and power but also your reflexes, agility, and reaction time." Naruto concluded his explanation.

"Heh! Stop acting high and mighty, asshole! Unlike you I didn't have Kage Level ninja like the Raikage and his perfect jinchuuriki brother to train me!" Suigetsu argued stubbornly.

"You had a Sannin training you though didn't you?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Heh! Like hell he did! That asshole kidnapped me six months into my seven ninja swordman training and had me locked up in a water tank for years while conducting experiments on me. It's only two months ago I was released thanks to Sasuke!" Suigetsu said with both anger and frustration.

'Only six months and he is this strong? That's actually quite incredible! This guy is a true genius. No wonder they called him the second coming of the demon.' Naruto thought in awe.

"Congratulations, Hozuki-san. You have truly impressed me. I won't give you the Kubikiribocho, but I do have a gift for you." Naruto said as he pulled out a scroll from his ninja pouch with the kanji for "sword" on it, Naruto unsealing the sword to reveal a very large, Kubikiribocho sized sword that had a blade that was black and silver. The black, vertical half of the sword possessing a silver grey dragon motif and the silver half of the blade possessing a red dragon motif on it.

"This is a sword of my own design. It's known as the Hell Razer. Infused into it is a powerful fire release and wind release affinity. The silver dragon motif represents the wind release and the red dragon the fire release. The blade also enables you to combine the wind and fire to use scorch release or use them individually. I think you are the perfect host for this sword because it makes up for your weakness to lightning release. You can use the wind nature of this sword to counter against lightning oscillations or just to protect yourself from them. If you really focus on your training for the next three to six months, and I mean really focus, I believe you can become a truly legendary shinobi whose name will be spoken of long after you're gone from this world. Use this gift wisely, and bring honor to this sword." Naruto said as he stuck the sword on the ground next to Suigetsu, pulling his sword out of Suigetsu's torso and helping him up on his feet.

"Why are you doing this? I'm your enemy?" Suigetsu asked incredulously.

"Because you've been dubbed the second coming of someone I deeply admire. I believe helping you become the best you will bring honor to that great man's name. Besides, I see a lot of myself in you. I know very well what it's like to have your talent and potential stunted and held back by the powers that be." Naruto said with a genuine smile, leaving Suigetsu speechless as he didn't know just what the hell to do with this guy, having never met anyone like him before, not even Sasuke.

"…"

"Damn it! Fine! I'll take the sword!" Suigetsu said in frustration, like hell he was going to reject such a wonderful gift.

"But this changes nothing! I'll recuse myself from this battle but I hope you know that the next time we meet all bets are off!" Suigetsu said with a cocky smirk.

"Hn! Looking forward to it." Naruto said with a confident smirk of his own.

Booooom!

That was yet again a loud sound as this time another one of Sasuke's teammates landed hard on the ground, a very tall and muscular guy, much taller than even Naruto, looking down at both Naruto and Suigetsu with a serious and no nonsense look on his facial features.

'This guy, he's no joke. I can't believe how big he is. Before I came to Kumo, I never thought I would ever see any shinobi bigger than Jiraiya-sensei. Then I met uncle Bee and old man Raikage and I couldn't believe that they made Jiraiya-sensei look small. But this guy, he looks like he is even taller than old man Raikage.' Naruto thought in disbelief.

'Not to mention his insane chakra levels. There's something familiar about his chakra, though I can't put my finger on it.' Naruto thought as he carefully analysed the new foe.

"Suigetsu, did you suddenly forget about our mission, or have you betrayed Sasuke for this guy? You seem awfully friendly with him, for someone who is supposed to capture him." Jugo asked with a calm but dead serious tone, not one that would tolerate any betrayal when it comes to Uchiha Sasuke, someone whom he considered to be a momento of Kimimaro, his best friend and brother in everything but blood.

"Don't be an idiot, Jugo! I only agreed to any of this because I wanted the Kubikiribocho. Now that I have something even more useful to me than the Kubikiribocho, there's no more reason for me to fight Naruto, that's all." Suigetsu retorted, completely on guard as he knew that, at literally any moment, Jugo could completely lose it and attack him and everyone else that catches his sight.

"I see. Well, I'd suggest you get out of my way. I haven't completely given in to my urges since I was ten years old. Even I do not know what is about to happen." Jugo said as he removed the cloth that he used as a cloak from his upper body and threw it away, Suigetsu not wasting any time as he high tailed out of there, not wanting to be anywhere near a fully insane Jugo unless he absolutely had no choice but to be.

"And who might you be, big guy?" Naruto asked curiously, warily observing the imposing figure that was his next opponent.

'They're coming at me one by one? Why? It must be obvious by now that I'm not an easy opponent to defeat. Are they trying to wear me down? No, they should know better. I'm a jinchuuriki, they should know at least that much. Even if they didn't, they have a chakra sensor in their ranks. Their sensor type would know that trying to burn me out of chakra is a fool's errand. Are they trying to collect data for Sasuke? Why does he even want to capture me?" Naruto thought with both confusion and incredulity

"My name is Jugo. Just Jugo. I don't have anything against you, Uzumaki Naruto, but Sasuke has ordered that you be captured and returned to Konoha as punishement for your hypocrisy, and I intend to deliver." Jugo said as curse markings began to appear all over his body, the colour of his eyes changing as his schlera turned completely black and his skin began to turn greyish brown.

'That's the curse seal. No, this is different. He doesn't have a curse seal on him. He's actually gathering the nature energy on his own accord. He's a sage, which means he must be the original, the source of the curse seal.' Naruto thought in awe.

"Forgive me Naruto, I'm about to completely lose it. I'm afraid you won't like who I become! Hehehe! Hahahahaha! Haaaaaaah! I'm going to kill you you bastard! Who gives a fuck about capturing you! If you die you die haahahaha!" Jugo exclaimed with rage, hate and elation all at the same time, his body completely changing colour and his eyes looking like he was a demon spawn. There were also some sort of chakra exhaust pipes on his back that were releasing a crazy amount of chakra, his chakra levels spiking up to unprecedented levels.

"Hehehehe! What an interesting change in personality! Won't like you? You must be completely out of your mind! I absolutely love this side of you! Let's go wild, Jugo!" Naruto said with elation, excited for the challenge that he was about to receive from Jugo.

"Die you bitch!" Jugo said as he closed the distance between himself and Naruto so fast that it looked like he was teleporting, Naruto'a eyes widening in surprise as he barely managed to get out of the way of Jugo's linear attack thanks to a combination of both his shunpo and his insane reaction speed, which was thanks to both his natural reflexes and of course his chakra sensory skills, which were so potent that they gave him a sharingan-like ability to predetermine the moves of his opponents.

However, Jugo was relentless as he continued to put the pressure on Naruto, not allowing Naruto any space at all as he wanted to make sure Naruto couldn't form any hand seals, well, his insane self didn't actually care about that strategy, though his sane self knew that it didn't matter because his insane self would try to put constant pressure anyway as that was the only way he knew how to fight, which meant that inadvertently, the plan he had in mind would be implemented regardless of his mental state.

'I see why he chose to surrender himself to insanity. The sheer power and speed of this form is enough to instantly kill most shinobi, and those with enough prowess to survive won't be able to form hand seals and will be eventually overwhelmed. The power and speed this sage mode provides is worth going insane for if you have no comrades to worry about. He's kind of like me when I used to rely on the Kyubi's power without being able to control it." Naruto thought as he and Jugo traded kicks and punches at lightning fast speeds all across the Mount Uryako canal, the shockwaves made by the connection of their kicks and punches enough to tear through boulders, hills, and mountain sides, the two of them completely re-designing the land scape as they went toe to toe in the most brutal a dance one could only dream to be a part of.

"This is impossible! They….they're not human! I've never seen anything like this before! Actually, I can't even see what's going on. But the chakra that they're releasing is far beyond anything any human should be capable of! They're not human, they're monsters…demons!" Karin thought fearfully, wondering just what the hell she would do if either of Naruto or Jugo turned their attention on her.

"It looks like they're evenly matched though. Jugo's natural speed and power, combined with his jet boost thrusters is enabling him to match Naruto at full speed. The way things are going, it looks like it will be a battle of endurance." Suigetsu said analytically.

"They're not evenly matched. Naruto has far more taijutsu skill than Jugo. Jugo has great instincts and adapts quickly. No, not quickly, but instantly. However, Naruto himself has always had insane instincts. He has both the skill and the instincts, while Jugo only relies on his instincts. Furthermore, even if the injuries healed instantly, Jugo has suffered from 14 clean bone breaks and 13 dislocated joints in the very short time they have been fighting. Naruto clearly has the advantage." Sasuke said tensely, unable to believe just how far the dobe had come since they last fought, especially seeing as the dobe had not used a single shadow clone nor had he used any of the Kyubi's chakra, completely relying on his own powers and abilities instead of hiding behind clones and using the Kyubi as a crutch.

"Kukuku! It does not really matter though does it, Sasuke-kun? Jugo has an infinite source of chakra. He could fight like this for three days and three nights of he had to." Orochimaru said amusedly.

"So can Naruto. His chakra is like an ocean. It has no beginning and no end, at least it feels that way." Karin said warily, not excited at all about standing around here for three-days.

"What's impressive is that Naruto could break Jugo's bones at all or dislocate any of his body parts when he is in this state. Punching or kicking Jugo in this form is the equivalent of kicking a six meter thick wall of stainless steel. To call this person right here in front of us Uzumaki Naruto seems like a very bad joke. The boy I met three years ago was a talentless clown. He could never have been capable of something like this." Kabuto said in disbelief.

"Well, I suppose we should be glad that Naruto-kum has grown so much. If he hadn't, we would be the ones burdened with stopping Jugo's rampage kukuku." Orochimaru laughed with a tone that was both full of trepidation and amusement at the same time.

"Liger Bomb!" Everyone heard before they could fully process what Orochimaru had just said, Naruto having caught Jugo in a submission move before quickly going for the finishing blow, lifting the mammoth of a monster over his head before smashing him head first into the ground.

The impact was so powerful that it created a literal earthquake, completely rearranging the entire landscape to the point that the surrounding mountains, including the one on which Sasuke and his comrades were standing, began crumbling, slabs of earth shifting off the mountains and falling down, forcing the group to migrate to a lower, more secure area.

"T-that was crazy! He changed the whole landscape! Was he still holding back when he fought me? There's no way even Jugo could have survived that!" Suigetsu thought in both awe and fear, wondering if there was even any limit to Uzumaki Naruto's ninja prowess.

"He's alive! I don't know how! But he's alive!" Karin said, both excitement and concern in her tone, concern for Jugo's health and excitement for the fact that he was alive.

"Naruto might have undergone a complete transformation, but he's no murderer. It's not in his nature to kill needlessly. He knew Jugo would survive due to both his insane durability and his instant regeneration when he is in this form, so he went for the head in order to knock him out. Instant healing or not, you can't fight if you're unconscious." Sasuke retorted.

"I knew this child would be a problem the second I saw him use the fourth's jutsu to earn an unlikely victory over Kabuto three years ago. But even I never imagined it would be anything like this. How terrifying. If he is this powerful after just three years of adequate training and mentoring, how much more powerful will he become in the next three years, no, even just one year from now." Orochimaru said warily.

"It will be hard for him to develop his skills any more behind a Konoha prison." Sasuke retorted.

"What? Baka! Don't tell me you're actually thinking about fighting that monster? Don't be an idiot! You'll die for nothing!" Karin exclaimed angrily.

"Hn. Don't compare me to the likes of you. I only recruited you for the purpose of distracting Hoshigaki Kisame while I deal with Itachi. It's not like I had high expectations of you to begin with." Sasuke said as he disappeared via a shunshin.

"Sasuke…" Karin said dreamily, unable to believe that she had even dared to doubt her Sasuke-kun.

'Sasuke is many things, but he is not stupid. If he's going in after seeing all of that, then he either has a solid game plan or he has a jutsu that can even the playing field, or both.' Karin thought with conviction.

Back on the Battlefield:

"Ah, Sasuke. It's been a while. I know you and I have history but I'm still surprised that you would come all this way just to get your ass kicked by me. You must love having me put my foot up your ass huh?" Naruto said tauntingly, carrying Jugo's unconscious body on his left shoulder.

"What's even more surprising is that you're already suffering from dementia in your teenage years. Just who was it that had their foot up who's ass at the Valley of the End?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.

"Ah yes, my one and only official loss as a ninja. I assure you however that that will never happen again." Naruto retorted.

"I'm not the same Sasuke you knew three years ago. Not only have I become infinity more powerful, but I am far more ruthless. If you don't surrender now and allow yourself to be captured, I will remove all of your limbs before I drag you back to Konoha." Sasuke said with a grave undertone.

"Hehehe! Big words, for someone who is as unprepared as you are. You have your sharingan active, which is good, but you should know better than to think that anything under curse seal level 2 would give you any shred of hope for defeating me." Naruto said confidently.

"I don't need you to tell me how to defeat you." Sasuke retorted.

"Very well then." Naruto said as he threw, very hard, Jugo's unconscious body at Sasuke, Sasuke attempting to catch his friend only to get pummelled hard by the force with which the body was thrown, both he and Jugo sent flying away as Sasuke struggled to try and stop their momentum, his feet digging a long tench into the ground until eventually he had no choice but to move out of the way and allow Jugo's body to pass him, the body eventually hitting the mountain on the far side with a loud explosion, dust and debris flying in every direction as a result.

'Four of my ribs are shattered from the impact alone. Just how ridiculously strong is he? Did Jugo really have to deal with this while they were fighting?' Sasuke thought as he subconsciously activated curse seal level two, his subconscious sending warning signs to his body that he would likely die instantly if he did not utilise his maximum output from the get go.

"No wings? What happened to them? Someone chop them off?" Naruto asked tauntingly, watching curiously as Sasuke removed the sleeves of his kimono top and allowed them them to hang on his sides.

'Or has he mastered the curse seal enough that he can shapeshift or unshift certain body parts? Best not to underestimate him then.' Naruto thought.

'My injuries are healed, but unlike Jugo, this is a once off for me. I should be fast enough to keep up with his speed in this form and my visual prowess should be enhanced enough that I can track all of his movements. However, if he touches me even once, I'll be in serious trouble. Best make it that he cannot touch me, and increase my speed until it's beyond even his.' Sasuke thought as he came up with a game plan that was guaranteed to secure his victory.

"Lightning Release: Chidori Stream." Sasuke said as his entire body became illuminated by lightning, more specifically, as he activated a full body chidori, a jutsu that made him untouchable as anything that even approached him would get electrocuted and sliced by the sharpness of the chidori, but also a jutsu that increased his speed and reflexes exponentially as his neural synapses become enhanced significantly.

"A full body chidori? How interes…." Naruto trailed off, eyes ever so slightly widening in surprise as Sasuke suddenly appeared before him, sword drawn already as the last Uchiha executed a perfect horizontal slash, Naruto somehow defying all logic as, at the very last second, he was able to move completely out of Sasuke's range, almost as if by teleportation, appearing again behind Sasuke as he executed an exact replica of Sasuke's move from behind, the only difference being that his sword was much larger and much heavier than Sasuke's, though one would swear the sword was as light as a feather given how easily Naruto was wielding it.

Nevertheless, Sasuke, at the very last second, managed to turn around and block the attack, and though that did save his life, he did not however escape without any damage as he was violently flung away by Naruto's sheer brute force alone, spinning around uncontrollably as he crashed on the surface like a rag doll, hitting the ground repeatedly as his body involuntarily travelled at a ridiculous pace. However, in a great stroke of genius, Sasuke manifested his claw-like wings and flew himself upwards, thereby avoiding any further damage from the surface and from Naruto too, who had just appeared behind him in order to land the finishing blow.

"By the skin of your teeth." Naruto said as he looked up in the air, a confident smirk on his facial features, a look that infuriated Sasuke to no end, not liking at all the feeling of being looked down upon by the dobe, even though technically the dobe was looking up at him.

'So he really can body shift to some extent. He truly is a genius amongst geniuses.' Naruto thought in awe of his former best friend.

"That was not your wind enhanced shunshin. That was something else. Your wind style shunshin is fast, but it's not fast enough to circumvent the enhancement of both level two curse seal and chidori negashi. What did you do?" Sasuke asked, though he sure as hell knew how to make it sound more like a demand than a request for information.

"Why don't you come down and play with me some more. I'd rather show you than tell you." Naruto said tauntingly.

"Sasuke! He's using both lightning and wind style simultaneously to augment his speed and reflexes! It's some kind of bloodline limit!" Karin exclaimed, using chakra to enhance her vocal cords so that her words would reach all the way to Sasuke.

"Hehehe! You have a really good sensory type there Sasuke. Not all sensory types can sense chakra with that kind of pinpoint accuracy. And yes, congratulations old friend, you were able to push me in enough of a corner to have to use my swift release bloodline limit in order to survive your attack. That means that you're really really, and I mean really fast." Naruto said with a thumbs up.

'So he managed to bypass my chidori nagashi enhanced blade by streaming wind style chakra into his sword, and matched my curse level 2 and chidori nagashi enhanced speed with his bloodline limit? I didn't want to believe that the dobe was the Yondaime Hokage's son, but it's undeniable now. He must have inherited this speed enhancing bloodline limit from the Fourth Hokage.' Sasuke thought with both realization and anger, refusing to believe that Naruto possibly had a better lineage than even he did.

"You think you can match the power of the Uchiha just because you have some low born bloodline limit? You're not a genius of ninjutsu! I'll show you what it means to…" Sasuke trailed off as Naruto levitated himself into the sky, flying up until he was face to face with Sasuke, who was too surprised to even react to what he was seeing, eyes wide in complete shock and surprise.

"If you're not going to come down and play some more with me, I can always come up and play with you up here. Just so you know, I can fly just as fast as I can run, maybe even faster…."Naruto trailed off darkly.

"…."

"What's wrong? Fox caught your tongue?" Naruto asked tauntingly.

"….."

"Listen, Sasuke. You'll have noticed I went out of my way to spare the lives of your comrades. It's a good team, talent wise, but you haven't trained them at all. It's a complete waste. The four of you could be powerhouses but you've focused only on yourself and your development and have neglected theirs. You need to do better by your comrades, and they need to do better by you…" Naruto trailed off, taking a small pause before continuing where he left off.

"I know you. You may not agree with that statement, but I do really know you. I know that you recruited them to deal with Itachi's teammates in Akatsuki while you personally handle Itachi, and I know that you have no intention of allowing Orochimaru to take your body. As far as Itachi is concerned, I think with your cursed seal level 2 and chidori nagashi, you can outspeed him and evade his super fast ninjutsu, the Amaterasu. You don't appear to have the Mangyekou sharingan, but you do have a mature sharingan and you have chidori nagashi, which alters and speeds up your neural synapses. It should be difficult, maybe even impossible for Itachi to trap you in his Tsukiyomi with those two abilities, not to mention your curse seal level 2, which amps up all of your abilities, including your sharingan." Naruto explained patiently.

"Why are you telling me this?" Sasuke asked with a frown on his facial features.

"I'm acknowledging your growth and your preparations. It doesn't mean you're gauranteed victory, after all, Itachi from what I have learned from Lord Raikage, was known to be a close associate best of Shunshun Shishui of the Uchiha clan. His shunshin was so fast that many people actually believed he was teleporting. For all we know, Itachi might be at that level of speed and reflexes too. Also, we don't know what other abilities he has developed over the years. But having said that, you're moving in the right direction. Being overmatched against me doesn't mean you have less of a chance of defeating Itachi. Styles make fights. There is no ABC logic in combat." Naruto retorted, causing a snarl to appear on Sasuke's facial features.

"I don't need your pity!" Sasuke said as, in the blink of an eye, he shot a long spear out of his right hand made entirely of lightning chakra, a spear so vivid and smooth that it almost looked like a real spear, the spear extending so far that it pierced, in an instant, straight into Naruto's chest, at least that is what was supposed to happen, Sasuke however surprised when the chakra spear did not even break Naruto's skin.

'Impossible! My chidori sharp spear is the ultimate assassination technique. It can pierce through anything!' Sasuke thought in surprise.

"A chidori extended into a long sword, or is it a spear?" Naruto asked curiously.

"…."

"No comment? You're wondering why you couldn't penetrate my skin huh? Tell me, how much do you know about the late Third Raikage?" Naruto asked curiously, Sasuke not responding as he continued to grit his teeth in both anger and confusion, wondering why nothing he tried seemed to work on Naruto.

"Nothing? Well, no surprise there. We grew up under Konoha propaganda, where we were made to believe that the only legendary shinobi come from the Leaf Village." Naruto retorted.

"In any case, he was known as the strongest shield and the sharpest sword. He had a jutsu not unlike the chidori but more powerful with more penetrative force than the chidori, it was called the Lightning Release: Hell Stab. His other trait was his iron skin. This was a testament not to a jutsu but to his toughness. Nothing could damage him and nothing could penetrate his skin. As a result, up until he died he was undefeated." Naruto explained.

"If he was undefeated how did he die?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"Kumo was betrayed by Iwa in the third shinobi war. The Third Raikage, to save his comrades, fought ten thousand shinobi on his own. He killed every last one of them before he died from chakra exhaustion after three days of battle." Naruto explained patiently.

"You're saying that you have the same impregnable skin and durable body of the Third Raikage?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"The doubt in your tone implies that you don't believe a word of what I just said? Yet your prized assassination technique has just failed to do any harm to me. Or do you think it an illusion? Wouldn't that be even more unlikely, for me to fool your legendary sharingan with genjutsu, me of all people for that matter?" Naruto retorted.

"Fighting for three days and killing ten thousand elite ninja is what is impossible." Sasuke retorted.

"It was not even the first time he fought for three days straight. When the eight tails went on a rampage, Lord Third would fight it head on by himself, and it typically took him three days to outlast and defeat it with sheer brute force." Naruto said with an amused smirk on his facial features, enjoying the look of shock and disbelief on Sasuke's facial features.

"If you think your tall tales will intimidate me then you don't know me as well as you think you do." Sasuke said stubbornly.

"On the contrary, my friend, the aim is to inspire you. At this point you might actually be the dobe if I have to spell it out for you. I spared the life of your comrade, taught him a better way to use his jutsu, and gave him one of the most powerful weapons in the shinobi world. I gave your other comrade some important taijutsu and battle experience and I'm trying to encourage and inspire you. Intimidation is not my goal here. I want the best for you, and the best for you, is to believe in yourself, find inspiration to further improve yourself, and to help your loyal comrades fulfill their potential so that they can better aid you. Even Itachi has super powerful and competent comrades." Naruto explained.

"All that would be a lot more believable if you didn't hunt me down like a dog and try to force me back to Konoha when I defected." Sasuke said, still feeling some kind of way about that whole incident, especially when the hypocrite was standing right in front of him in a Kumogakure jonin uniform.

"Come on now Sasuke, surely you don't hold that against me…"

"You're damn right I hold it against you. You're a hypocrite, a hypocritical, self serving bastard. Let me hear you say it, and let me hear you beg for my forgiveness!" Sasuke said angrily.

"I was a selfish, naïve, hypocritical bastard. Everything I did, in hindsight, was self serving. Even the so called bonds that I allegedly wanted to protect, was not for yours and anyone else's sake, but for my sake. I was lonely and desperate for acknowledgement, and I cared only about alleviating that loneliness and did not think about your situation. I only paid attention to the similarities and completely ignored the differences between our situations. For that, you have my sincerest apologies." Naruto said sincerely.

"…."

"How did you end up in Kumogakure anyway? Why did you abandon the bonds you so desperately tried to hold on to in Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"Initially it was against my will. The Two Tails Jinchuuriki, Nii Yugito, found me unconscious and close to death after our battle at the valley of the end. She had been watching the whole battle without our knowledge. She healed my injuries and took me back with her to Kumogakure, where I was imprisoned and tortured by Lord Raikage himself. Of course he was unable to break my will, so he cut a deal with me. He would release me and even provide housing and food allowance and elite shinobi training for me over a period of one year, in exchange, I had to promise not to attempt to escape and put one hundred percent effort in my training. After one year, if I still wanted to leave the village, he would allow me to." Naruto explained.

"And you believed that horse dung?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"Of course not. However, you know how obsessed I was with becoming Hokage. The chance to be personally trained by the Raikage and his brother, a jinchuuriki like me who had completely mastered the powers of his bijuu was an amazing opportunity and it would gaurantee that I become thee most, or at least one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. It would get me that much closer to becoming Hokage." Naruto replied.

"So you were planning to use the opportunity to get stronger and then escape after one year?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.

"I wasn't planning to escape. I was planning to become so powerful that they wouldn't dare try to stop me from leaving." Naruto retorted, Sasuke's eyes widening in surprise as he realized that that was almost the exact same plan he had in joining Orochimaru, after all, he never intended to hand over his body to Orochimaru.

However, Sasuke noticed that there was a fundamental difference between him and Naruto. Sasuke planned to defeat Orochimaru once and for all when he was at his strongest and Orochimaru was at his weakest, but Naruto's mentality was even greater than he was because Naruto intended to, in just 12 months, become strong enough that the Raikage and his brother, and the rest of the entire Kumogakure, would know better than to even attempt to attack him.

Sasuke liked to think he had a high self esteem and that he was a visionary and a dreamer, but Naruto, time and time again was able to raise the bar so high that he felt like a low life with small and irrelevant ambitions in comparison. It was the reason he simultaneously admired and hated Naruto.

'I thought Naruto was holding me back when I left Konoha. However, now I wonder, would I have become even stronger if I had stayed by his side?' Sasuke pondered.

'No! I don't need him to get stronger! I won't cling to him the way he clung to me! I'll get stronger in my own way and achieve my goals in my own way! And when I'm done, I'll come back and defeat him too!' Sasuke thought angrily.

"So you ended up clinging on to the Raikage, Nii Yugito, and the Raikage's brother the same way you hopelessly clung on to me, Kakashi, and the Sandaime Hokage? You haven't changed at all. You're still the weak and pathetic boy you always were." Sasuke said condescendingly, Naruto bursting out into a fit of laughter, and not the fake laugh that someone might have when they are trying to act like they are not hurt or offended, but a genuine, heartfelt laughter.

"What the hell is so funny, dobe?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Hehehe! It's just funny that you claim I haven't grown at all while still trying to use the same childish tactics you used to use to get under my skin." Naruto laughed, Sasuke looking at him with a "what the fuck" facial expression, having no idea what the hell the dobe was talking about.

"Listen, Sasuke, I know who I am now. I don't need others to validate my existence anymore. I am Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, son of the princess of the Whirlpool Tides, Uzumaki Kushina, and The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. I am the true heir to the Uzumaki Clan and the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool Tides. I am also the adopted son of Yondaime Raikage Ay-sama, and the adopted nephew of perfect jinchuuriki Killer Bee-sama. I am next in line to be the Raikage and I am the most powerful shinobi in Kumogakure no sato. Mere words cannot fell me, my friend." Naruto said matter of factly.

"….."

"So what now? You want to fight me to the death? You're severely outnumbered. You won't be able to take on all of us. And look, Jugo has already made a full recovery." Sasuke said as he pointed at Jugo of both scales.

"I'm willing to make that bet. After all, what is a mere six shinobi compared to the ten thousand shinobi that old man 3rd had to deal with? Even my dad took on one thousand jonin in the third war." Naruto said confidently, effectively silencing Sasuke, who was trying to use psychological warfare to get Naruto to surrender.

'I can't keep this up forever. Keeping an active sharingan along with curse seal level 2 and chidori nagashi takes a heavy tall. It's a form that's meant to end battles in an instant, not engage in prolonged battles. Just keeping all of that active for this long, even without fighting takes a tall on both the body and chakra capacity.' Sasuke thought, meanwhile noticing that Naruto did not seem to be bothered at all.

'His swift release or whatever is a combination of wind style and lightning style to form a new element entirely. However, it appears as though it also enables him to simultaneously but separately use both chakra natures. He is using wind style to fly and eliminate wind resistance, but is also using lightning style to exponentially speed up his neural synapses in order to induce lightning fast reflexes and reaction time. He is doing all of this as if it's no different to breathing oxygen in and out of his lungs. He'll definitely outlast me if I don't end this soon.' Sasuke thought as he tried to figure out a way to defeat the dobe, eventually coming up with only two possibilities given all he had learned thus far about the dobe, that the only way to defeat him was to poison him or to cast a genjutsu on him.

The former was impossible. If he couldn't penetrate the dobe's skin with his chidori spear, then there was no way any of his snake summons were gonna be able to bite him with their teeth. There was of course the possibility of just having one of the snakes swallow the dobe and poison him from within, or for one of them to blow poison gas and saturate the entire area with it, but that would have only worked if Sasuke had summoned the snake before he approached the dobe, because as things were, he was never going to get the chance to summon a snake, not with the dobe's speed to contend with. That left him with only one solution, genjutsu.

"Genjutsu: Sharingan!" Sasuke said as he focussed his eyes at Naruto, not proud of himself at all for being forced to resort to this to defeat the dobe but at the same time he realized that he would be even less proud of himself if he lost or conceded defeat to the dobe, so really, what other choice did he have. Besides, it's not like there was a rule against using genjutsu in battle and even if there were such a rule, he was a shinobi, shinobi are meant to lie, cheat, deceive, and break rules in order to win.

"Genjutsu huh? Did you really think, with Itachi hunting me, I wouldn't have a solution for genjutsu?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I figured out that part of the reason for running rapid lightning oscillations throughout your nervous system was in order to counter the effects of genjutsu, but given that I'm in curse seal level two, and that I too am also running rapid lightning oscillations throughout my nervous system, that my genjutsu would be able to adjust and match your rapid synaptic impulses. It was a solid plan and you know it. It should have at least given you a little trouble. It doesn't make sense that it didn't even have an effect." Sasuke said suspiciously.

"Who knows? Maybe I'm just that good." Naruto said with a sinister smirk, internally admitting that there was some merit to Sasuke's theory but nevertheless doubting it would have worked even if he hadn't used barrier arts to permanently seal off his mind from outside interference.

'Damn that dobe! I'm out of options. It's either we all attack him at once and hope for the best, or I admit defeat and retreat!' Sasuke thought angrily.

Normally admitting defeat of any sort to Naruto would have sent him over the edge with rage and outright madness, but after learning about the Dobe's lineage and heritage, the blow wasn't as bad as it normally would have been. He still believed the Uchiha were the superior ninja clan to the Uzumaki, bloodline of the Yondaime Hokage or not, but losing a battle to Naruto didn't seem as world ending as it did when he thought Naruto was a talentless, no name shinobi. It wounded his pride to lose to the dobe, but it didn't invalidate his own strength and growth like he once thought it did.

"I've decided that I accept your apology. I am no longer interested in returning you to Konoha." Sasuke said with a deadpan tone, Naruto resisting the urge to break into a fit of laughter at how Sasuke could lie so blatantly and yet with such a straight face.

"What you mean to say is that you accept defeat. I won't let you leave without saying it. We're not going to be 1-0 in your favor after today. Our record will be 1-1." Naruto said uncompromisingly.

"How very petty of you, for someone who allegedly does not care about mine or anyone else's acknowledgement anymore." Sasuke retorted.

"It's not about acknowledgement you fool. It's about status. I'm renowned as the strongest Kumogakure shinobi ever, and I'm considered to be an actual God of Thunder. My people believe that I am the undefeatable God of Storms. Therefore, I cannot have you or anyone else for that matter stand above me." Naruto replied.

"The people of Kumogakure must have all been dropped on their heads when they were little for them to put so much of their hopes on you. I don't care how strong you have become, you're still a dobe. Once a dobe, always a dobe. You'll find a way to screw all of this up for them. I gaurantee it." Sasuke retorted.

"Concede….now…." Naruto said gravely, not allowing Sasuke to avoid the real issue at hand by hiding behind insults and condescending judgement.

"…."

"If it means that much to you, then I guess I'll let you take this round." Sasuke said dismissively, cancelling out the chidori nagashi but not the sharingan or the curse seal level 2, the timing of it all implying that he no longer saw a need to protect himself with the chidori stream but the reality being that he couldn't in fact keep it active anymore.

"You'll let me take it huh? Hn, well whatever, I guess that's good enough. Only one more thing I need to do." Naruto said as he, quite literally, disappeared in a blue flash, using a technique that was passed down from the 3rd Raikage, to Yotsuki Mabui, to Naruto, a technique known as the Lightning Release: Heavenly Transfer.

However, there was a fundamental difference between Naruto's use of it and that of Mabui and even the 3rd Raikage himself, as for one, Naruto didn't need any hand seals to use it, and two, he didn't have to manually calculate the coordinates of both his location and the destination that he was going to, as all of that was done by a mapping and coordination seal that is directly linked to his brain, his nervous system, and his chakra system, the blonde Uzumaki immediately appearing behind none other than Orochimaru, much to his and of course, everyone else's surprise.

In fact, before anyone could even be surprised, Naruto had already touched Orochimaru at the juncture between his spine and his brain with his right index finger, sending a relatively strong voltage of lightning chakra into Orochimaru's nervous system. This was done not with the intention to fry his nervous system but with the intention to completely take over the Snake Sannin's nervous system, taking control over not only the sannin's brain but also his body too.

"O…Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto exclaimed frantically, activating his chakra scalpel technique as he tried to run up on Naruto and destroy his internal organs, however, much to his surprise, the Uzumaki clan's adamantine chakra chains bursting out of the ground and rapidly forming an impregnable barrier around Naruto, Karin, and Orochimaru, trapping Kabuto outside of the barrier while Suigetsu managed to escape outside of the barrier thanks to the fact he had started moving away before the chains were even activated in the interest of keeping his word to Naruto, as he had promised not to interfere in the battle anymore.

"You let your guard down, Orochimaru. Is arrogance and complacency a common trait amongst the Sannin? Did you think that I wasn't paying you any mind just because I decided to indulge your underlings?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Orochimaru however not responding to Naruto's condescending words, but not for lack of trying.

"….."

'I….impossible! Not even Itachi's paralyzing genjutsu was beyond my ability to eventually overcome. How could I of all people have been completely defeated like this? It's as if I'm a passenger in my own body. I don't even know where to begin to resist this jutsu! My own body is not my own! How is it that this child keeps coming up with one surprise after another! How did he even teleport behind me without so much as a marking? Even the Yondaime Hokage needed a marker to teleport to!' Orochimaru thought in disbelief.

"You're probably wondering why you cannot move, talk, or cast jutsu. It's because I've completely taken over your neural synaptic network. In other words, I'm in complete control over your body. With the Lightning release: neural subjugation technique, I could even read your thoughts and your memories if I wanted to. But I'm not going to do that. I don't want to be inside of your filthy mind. So I'm going to give you a chance to save your life. Tell me the pass code for the Konoha detection barrier, and tell me the true lineage of this redhead girl that you and Sasuke are traveling with. If you answer me honestly, I'll spare your life. If you don't answer me honestly, I'll kill you." Naruto said, releasing some of his control over Orochimaru in order to allow him to speak.

"Cursed child! I was right about you all along! I should have killed you three years ago in Tanzuki Town!" Orochimaru exclaimed angrily.

"You tried and failed, remember. Lady Tsunade whooped your ass. Now tell me what I want to know….or die." Naruto said gravely.

"Kukukuku! You may have trapped me in your barrier and immobilised me with your cursed jutsu, but I gaurantee that you cannot kill me! You are welcome to try though." Orochimaru said with the utmost confidence, confidence that he didn't actually feel at all as he wasn't sure if his snake shedding technique could be activated when Naruto had full control over his body, brain, and chakra system, banking on the hope that Naruto would lose control at the moment just before his death, enabling him to reincarnate via the snake shedding technique.

"You underestimate me, vermin sannin." Naruto said as he formed a one hand ram seal with his left hand, causing pitch black clouds to rapidly gather and completely cover the skies, dozens of gigantic storm dragons forming in the clouds as they released deafening roars amongst the deafening thunder claps.

"Storm Release: Wrath of the Storm God." Naruto said ominously, causing the anal sphincters of Orochimaru and everyone not named Naruto to involuntarily quiver at the godly display of power.

"Each one of those dragons can move at a speed greater than the speed of lightning, and each one of them is capable of evaporating you from existence, leaving not a single cell or molecule of you alive. Of course, I'm also capable of instantly teleporting out of the way while you remain paralysed and unable to do anything. So think carefully about the next few words that come out of your mouth, Orochimaru-san." Naruto said with a grave undertone.

'Curses! Curse this wretched child to eternal damnation!' Orochimaru thought furiously.

"You have five seconds to decide. Five, four, three, two, one…."

"Kukukuku! You're not sending any of those dragons anywhere near me, not with your precious Uzumaki cousin trapped in the same barrier as you and I." Orochimaru retorted.

"So she really is an Uzumaki. I thought as much." Naruto deadpanned.

"Kukukuku! And you don't need the code for the Konoha barrier, not when you've already bypassed it. I know this because you recruited Kurama Yakumo, the last heir of the Kurama clan, to join you in Kumo. To have pulled that off, you would have had to have bypassed the Konoha Detection Barrier somehow." Orochimaru retorted.

"You're quite well informed." Naruto said with narrowed eyes.

"Kukukuku! Information is power for a shinobi. You still have a lot to learn if you don't know even that much, Naruto-kun." Orochimaru said amusedly.

"Tell me then, do you feel powerful right now?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Of course I do. You may be able to teleport out of the way before your dragons descend, but you cannot teleport Karin away. Not with that jutsu of yours, the one that disintegrates organic matter. It's only due to your abnormally durable body that you are able to use it on yourself, which is why, unlike your dearly departed father, you cannot take others with you when you teleport." Orochimaru replied.

'He's quite well informed if he even knows about the cons of using the heavenly transfer technique.' Naruto thought.

"So her name is Karin huh? Uzumaki Karin…" Naruto said, allowing the name to roll off of his tongue.

"W-what the hell are you two blabbering about?" Karin asked with both indignation and confusion.

"I personally don't have use for the secret code for Konoha's barrier, but I know two people who might have use for it. As I said before, you can either tell me the information that I want, or I'll take all the information that resides in your mind, and I do mean all of it." Naruto said gravely.

"Kukukuku! Normally I would wonder why you wouldn't just take it if you really had the ability to do so, but after everything I've seen today, I know better than to doubt you, Naruto-kun. However, how do I know that you won't just kill me anyway after I have told you everything you want to know?" Orochimaru asked.

"You don't…" Naruto trailed off gravely.

"…"

"I suppose if I'm going to die anyway, then I'll show you. You're going to have to allow me to use my hands to show you the hand seals." Orochimaru said with a tone laced with both mirth and sinister intent.

"Hn, at least you told the truth, even if your intentions weren't sincere. But that won't be necessary, I've already taken all the information in your brain. I now know everything that you have ever known. I was just buying time to make sure I got everything. Don't worry though, I'm not going to kill you. I want to. I really really do, after all, you're arguably the biggest piece of shit in the entire elemental nations. Calling you a human is a gross overstatement. However, I'll let you and Sasuke settle things when you're ready. I want to see if he really is the kind of man I think he is, and if he is, who knows, I might invite him to rebuild the Uchiha clan in Kumogakure." Naruto replied, acting calm despite the information that he had just found out from Orochimaru about Itachi and the Uchiha clan, not to mention all the gross, evil, and disgusting things that he had seen Orochimaru do to thousands of innocent people, most of them children.

'Sasuke, I hope you know what you're doing, or rather what I think you're doing. There's no way you know the truth about the massacre, you would never have tried to take me back to Konoha for any reason whatsoever if you knew. However I doubt this is the right time to tell you, both for your sake and for mine.' Naruto thought, not willing to be the one to tell Sasuke in case he ended up changing his mind about killing Itachi. Besides, he had a feeling that Sasuke would likely rush back to Konoha without a game plan but out of sheer anger and hatred if he told him.

As much as Naruto would be the first one to acknowledge how powerful Sasuke had become, taking on the entirety of Konoha was something he and his comrades were not quite ready for as of yet. The potential was there but there was a whole lot of training and growing still for them to do, especially Karin, who Naruto had just learned from Orochimaru's mind that she was incredibly weak in terms of combat ability, not that he didn't already know just from sensing her chakra alone.

"Kukukuku! That bleeding heart of yours will be your undoing one day Naruto-kun." Orochimaru chuckled malevolently.

"No it won't, because it's not as bleeding as you think it is." Naruto replied, however not giving Orochimaru a chance to retort as he turned his attentions towards Karin.

"Karin, beloved cousin, leave Orochimaru's side and leave Sasuke. Join me in Kumogakure, and let us rebuild the Uzumaki clan together." Naruto said with his left hand held out for Karin.

"W-what! Idiot! Like I'd ever make children with you! The only person I would ever bare children for is Sas….!" Karin trailed off, her face turning bright red as she realized what she was just about to say.

'I can't believe her mind immediately jumped to baby making when I mentioned rebuilding the Uzumaki clan.' Naruto thought, however quickly dismissing the thought for a more urgent line of discussion.

"I'll be quite frank, your fangirl attitude disgusts me to an incomprehensible level. However, I'm not exactly in a position to judge you given my history. I too had just as unhealthy, if not moreso of an obsession for Uchiha Sasuke. So take it from someone who has been where you are, you'll neither grow as a person nor as a kunoichi for as long you're watching someone else live their life instead of living your own. That's why you're so weak and pathetic, and if you don't wake up and smell the roses, you'll stay that way forever, or even worse, you'll just die a painful and horrible death." Naruto said with a deathly tone, his blue cerulean eyes piercing deeply into Karin almost as if stripping her very soul naked.

"I….t-teme! W-who the hell do you think you are!" Karin exclaimed indignantly.

"One of your last living relatives." Naruto deadpanned, turning Karin into even more of a stuttering mess as she could not possibly come up with a credible retort to that.

"Here, take this." Naruto said as, in another blue flash, a rather thick book appeared on Naruto's left hand, Naruto holding out the book for Karin to take.

"What's this?" Karin asked warily.

"A book containing the general history of the Uzumaki clan. After reading this book, I want you to seriously look at yourself and tell me if you believe, as one of the last living Uzumaki, that you're bringing honor to the Uzumaki name as you are now." Naruto said with blunt honesty.

"Bastard! So you're only giving this book to me as a form of insult? Why the fuck would I want it then!" Karin retorted.

"First of all, if that really is your take on this, then I'm afraid you might actually be hopeless. Secondly, the other reason for giving you this book is so that you can realize your true potential. You're perishing because you lack knowledge with regard to your true potential. Take your object of obsession Sasuke for example. Is he not always preaching about the Uchiha name and the night of the Uchiha? Why do you think that is? And why do you think he is so much more ambitious and determined to be strong than you are?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Karin scrunching up her face as she wasn't quite sure what Naruto was getting up to.

"It's because he knows his past. You need to know where you come from in order to know where you're going. The feats and the legacy that his predecessors created is what gives him the pride, the mental strength, and the determination to reach even greater heights. Learning about the Uzumaki clan from Lord Raikage and about my father, the Yondaime Hokage, is the reason I became as powerful as I am now, it is the reason I was able to harness my true potential." Naruto explained, hoping that he had finally gotten through to Karin because he was done explaining this to her.

"I understand the words you're saying, and they make sense. However I do not feel what you feel. I don't know the Uzumaki clan and I don't even think I care about them. Up until now I didn't even know about an Uzumaki clan and I had no clan name. All of a sudden I'm supposed to have clan pride and try to honour ancestors that I don't know Jack shit about? Give me a break!" Karin said angrily.

"Read the book. If your mind hasn't changed or the book doesn't help you in any way whatsoever, then so be it." Naruto deadpanned, Karin surprised a little as she expected a little more push back from the blonde Uzumaki but nevertheless accepting the book as she took it into her possession.

"Kukukuku! I see now. The reason you didn't kill Sasuke-kun and decided to help Jugo and Suigetsu is not just because of your bond of friendship with Sasuke, but because you needed them to be stronger and more competent for the sake of your cousin's safety. Kukukuku, such a kind hearted child you are Naruto-kun." Orochimaru said amusedly.

'Sasuke, I hope I'm right about you and that you won't allow this evil creature to take your body. Though on the flip side, if he were to take over your body, then I wouldn't be conflicted at all about taking you out, and of course, in such a scenario, it wouldn't alienate me from my last living relative if I killed you, in fact she might even feel grateful towards me.' Naruto thought, quite honestly vexed by the fact that he found himself yet again in a three way struggle between him, Sasuke, and a woman, having thought that he had moved passed that stage of his life.

'In this case I don't have much of choice though.' Naruto thought with resignation, broken however from his lamentations by Sasuke's attempt to bypass his barrier with a chidori.

"Hn, as if a low grade jutsu like the chidori could ever penetrate a barrier formed by the Uzumaki Adamantine Chakra Chains." Naruto scoffed, causing Sasuke to narrow his eyes dangerously at Naruto.

'Uzumaki adamantine chains? Is this another one of his bloodline limits? Just how many does he have?' Sasuke thought, his heart burning with envy at the fact that the dobe appeared to be so much more talented than he ever could have imagined, so much more talented than even him.

'No! What am I thinking! There's no way he's more talented than I am! I refuse to accept it! Naruto, Ill defeat you even if it's the last thing I ever do!' Sasuke thought furiously, angry at the dobe but even more angry at himself for even entertaining the possibility that Naruto was more talented than him.

"I'm going to kill you…" Sasuke said dangerously.

"Hehe! I'd like to see you try." Naruto laughed amusedly.

'This is good. His hate for me will turn into hate for the Uzumaki clan in general….into hate for Uzumaki Karin. He'll inadvertently alienate her from him and inevitably push her towards me. I just hope she is able to survive whatever comes next.' Naruto thought as he prepared for his departure.

"I'm going to leave this place now. You have twenty four hours to leave the borders of the Land of Lightning. If you fail to do so within that time frame, Lord Raikage will send the Kumogakure elite to obliterate you. If you think that threat is meaningless, then bare in mind that those Kumo elite are all my sparring partners and each and every one of them can substitute for Lord Killer Bee as Lord Raikage's tag team partner. Suffice to say, they aren't your run of the mill shinobi. You'll all die if you go up against them, and I do mean all of you." Naruto said, directing the last part at Orochimaru as he cancelled the storm release: wrath of the storm god technique, the clouds disappearing altogether along with the storm dragons, the skies clearing up again as Naruto also cancelled the chakra chain barrier that he had set up.

"See you guys around….or not." Naruto trailed off as he once again disappeared in a blue flash.

"Wait! Cursed child! You can't leave me like…this…" Orochimaru trailed off as he began to get his mobility back, control over his body slowly returning to him as he began to move his limbs, Sasuke looking at him with utter disgust as he wondered what ever possessed him to think that this freak could actually help him defeat Itachi.

Of course, Sasuke already knew that Orochimaru was weaker than Itachi, much weaker actually, seeing as Orochimaru had been defeated easily and went after him instead of Itachi. However he had, for a period, entertained the possibility that Orochimaru, with his body and sharingan, would be able to defeat Itachi for the both of them. However, after seeing it happen first hand, seeing Orochimaru get beaten so easily and rendered as helpless as a new born baby, he couldn't help but to become disillusioned about every decision he had made since meeting Orochimaru.

'Granted he doesn't have access to a majority of his ninjutsu because of the Third Hokage, but how useless must he have been even with his hands if he lost them to that old fart?' Sasuke thought pessimistically.

"Come here, Karin." Sasuke said with a dead serious tone.

'There's no point in dragging this out any longer. In fact, this is the perfect opportunity. Nobody will interfere with our battle here, deep inside Kumogakure, where we have just been given a twenty four hour pass.' Sasuke thought diabolically.

"S-sas…"

"Give me your arm…" Sasuke said with a sinister undertone, cutting off Karin before she could finish speaking.

"Kukukuku! Such sinister intent, what are you going to, Sasuke-kun? Go for round 2 with Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked, sensing the overwhelming killing intent that was coming from Sasuke, watching with gleeful intrigue as Sasuke forcefully pulled the tentative Karin towards him and took a bite on her arm, sucking in as much healing chakra from her as he could as his reserves began to fill up again until they were full.

"Suigetsu, take Karin as far away from here as possible. Jugo, keep an eye on Kabuto!" Sasuke ordered authoritatively.

"What? Why? What are you planning to d…" Karin trailed off in shock as Sasuke stabbed Orochimaru right in the middle of his chest with Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear.

"C-cursed child! You dare…!" Orochimaru exclaimed with wide eyes, shocked to the core by the sudden turn of events, and quite frankly a bit embarrassed for not realizing that Sasuke's killing intent was directed at him instead of Naruto.

Shocked as well was, well, everyone else, Suigetsu however the first one to get over his shock as he, at an incredible speed, closed the distance between him and Karin, grabbed her and put her on his shoulder, and got the hell out of there, Jugo being the next one to get over his shock as he used three jet boosters on his back to quickly close the gap on Kabuto and tackled him out the battle vicinity, the two of them flying at a great speed in the direction 45 degrees from Karin and Suigetsu's direction, Jugo wanting to make sure that Karin and Suigetsu didn't get in the crossfire of his and Kabuto's show down.

"This little charade has gone on long enough. Consider this notification of the termination of our agreement." Sasuke retorted.

"Kukuku I must admit I didn't expect you to make your move so soon, here of all places. Kukuku! Fine then, let the rebirth ceremony begin…" Orochimaru trailed off with a sinister under tone, spitting out from his mouth a whole new body, a body that was not even remotely human looking, as what came out was very large white snake that was made entirely of other white snakes, the snake possessing a vaguely humanoid head that somewhat resembled Orochimaru.

"So this is the result of years and years of performing countless abominable experiments on yourself, a monster that likes to cosplay as a human." Sasuke said with disgust.

20 Minutes Later: Raikage's Office

"What's going on? Why is the Uchiha brat just standing there? Why did that snake freak just fall over and die out of nowhere?" Ay asked incredulously.

They were watching the battle inside Ay's office from a surveillance crystal ball that Naruto created, they as in him and the Kumogakure elite, consisting of him, Lord Raikage, Mabui, Yakumo, Darui, C, Naruto, Dodai, Atsui, Amaru, Isaribi, Samui, Karui, Omoi, Bee, Naruto, Yugito, Guren, Yukimaru and Ranmaru.

"It's Orochimaru's jutsu. He has transferred the rest of his soul into Sasuke and activated the living corpse reincarnation technique. Right now they are fighting for possession of Sasuke's body inside a soul dimension that Orochimaru created. Orochimaru has the overwhelming advantage in that plane, it's his dimension after all." Naruto explained patiently.

"How the hell do you know all of this?" Atsui, also known as Samui's hot headed brother, asked incredulously.

"Not cool bro. Weren't you paying attention? Naruto-kun used his Lightning Release: Neural Subjugation Technique to read all of Orochimaru's memories. He knows everything that Orochimaru ever knew now. All of his secrets, all of his jutsu, all of his scientific knowledge, everything." Samui retorted.

"Oh….yeah, I forgot. Man but that's a hot technique. Bastard, why haven't you taught it to me?" Atsui said enviously.

"Shut up, Atsui! That idiot has begun to move! Does this mean that the ritual is over?" Karui asked anxiously.

"It is." Naruto deadpanned.

"Who's in control, Sasuke or Orochimaru?" Darui voiced the question that was on everyone's mind.

"It's Sasuke, though there is a danger in the way he has gone about defeating Orochimaru. He has essentially turned himself into an Orochimaru Jinchuuriki." Naruto retorted.

"What! Hey wait, how do know that?" Atsui asked incredulously.

"Idiot! You're talking to the best sensory type ninja in the elemental nations. It's obvious how he knows!" Karui retorted irritably.

"You can sense and discern that much all the way from here? What kind of freak are you?" Atsui asked, his tone laced to the brim with shock and incredulity.

"Just shut up! More importantly what are we going to do about this? Should we kill him? I mean, you told us to back off because you believed your friend would kill Orochimaru. But if he is just an Orochimaru jinchuuriki, that means that Orochimaru is still alive inside of Sasuke." Karui said warily.

"Leave him be for now. Sasuke has his own way of doing things and his own reasons. Besides, Itachi will take care of our problem, I'm sure of it. And if it happens that we end up facing and killing Itachi first, then I'll personally take care of the Sasuke/Orochimaru problem." Naruto retorted.

"Why are you so sure that Itachi will take care of the problem, teme! He's an S class criminal aligned with Akatsuki. There is no telling what he will do!" Atsui asked incredulously.

"Because of the information I retrieved from Orochimaru's mind about Itachi and Akatsuki. You should all brace yourselves. You might want to sit down for this one…." Naruto trailed off as he went on to tell his comrades about the true story behind the Uchiha Massacre and about some of the members of Akatsuki, including the existence of a rinnegan user as the leader of Akatsuki and the fact that he and his right hand man (woman) were former students of Jiraiya, also telling them that Hanzo The Salamander was actually dead and had been killed by the leader of Akatsuki, who was now the leader of Amegakure.

By the time Naruto was done explaining the composition of Akatsuki, needless to say, there was a whole lot of chaos as everyone started asking all sorts of questions regarding the issue, others wanting to know more about the players in the Uchiha Massacre and others more interested in the story of the rinnegan user and Akatsuki, Naruto however shushing them all as he explained that there was a lot more that he wanted to share particularly with regard to Shimura Danzo of Konoha and his relation to the Uchiha Massacre and the late Uchiha Shishui. It took quite a while to explain the everything, but eventually Naruto was able to thoroughly go through everything of significance that he had learned by hijacking Orochimaru's mind, eliciting a deathly silence in the Raikage's office.

"…."

"A sharingan with a genjutsu that can take control over you without you even noticing, and Shimura Danzo has this eye? The Uchiha clan and their cowardly techniques make me sick!" Ay said irritably.

"You're a lot calmer than I expected, all things considered." Dodai said, confused by Ay's calm disposition as he would have expected A to order the immediate assassination of Danzo and retrieval of Shishui's eye.

'He has changed a lot since Naruto came into the picture. On the surface of it the change has been a good one not just for Lord Raikage but for all of Kumo. However, it's too early to tell if it will be a good thing in the long run.' Dodai thought warily.

"Hn! Why would I not be calm! I'm immune to genjutsu!" Ay said confidently.

"Only when you're cloaked in your lightning armor. What happens if someone catches you with a genjutsu outside of battle, when your armor isn't activated?" Dodai asked with concern, wondering why someone as intelligent and experienced as Lord Raikage would not think of something so obvious.

"Don't make me repeat myself! How many times must I tell you that I'm immune to genjutsu!" Ay exclaimed, smashing the table with his gigantic fist, fortunately the table holding its own as it was made of a chakra enhanced metal after he broke his first five hundred office tables.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but since when?" Dodai asked incredulously, knowing for a fact that that was far from true.

"Naruto-kun placed a defensive barrier on Lord Raikage's mind that wards against all forms of mental attacks, whether it be genjutsu or mind transmission jutsu." Mabui explained patiently.

"It was necessary. We can't even entertain the possibility of someone else controlling Lord Raikage's decision making." Naruto retorted.

"Why would you even think of such a thing? Has there ever been a case of a Kage being under the influence or control of an enemy shinobi?" Dodai asked suspiciously, wondering if Naruto had an ulterior motive for setting up the barrier, or if the genjutsu warding barrier was even what he had put into Lord Raikage's mind.

"The Yondaime Mizukage declared that all bloodline limit holders are demons or of demonic origin, and ordered a cleansing of all bloodline limit holders, considerably weakening his own nation as he murdered his most talented and most powerful shinobi. The Land of Wind Daimyo began diverting the most important and high paying missions to Konoha of the Fire Nation, which made the Hidden Sand Village poor as they began to have a shortage of revenue, which in turn caused them to pull back on financial resources geared towards shinobi development. Do these decisions seem like decisions made by people in their right mind to you?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"You believe that both the Yondaime Mizukage and the Wind Daimyo are under the control of an enemy jutsu?" Dodai asked in surprise.

"It's just speculation so far, but given that I too, without being a genjutsu or mind transmission specialist, am capable of doing such a thing if I wanted as you all saw from what I did to Orochimaru, what on earth would make me believe there aren't others who could do it, especially when genjutsu and mind transmission are their specialties?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"And you allowed him to fiddle with your mind, Ay-sama?" Dodai asked, surprised.

"Of course I did! Naruto and I are of one mind. The same hopes and dreams I have for Kumo and her people are the same ones that he has. Everyone in this room are the people I trust without question, Naruto moreso than anyone not named Bee."Lord Ay replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I see. Then forgive me for my insolence, Lord Raikage. I shall not doubt you again, and I shall not doubt Naruto-san either." Dodai said humbly.

"Apology accepted." Ay said dismissively.

"That still leaves the rest of us. We don't have barriers protecting our minds, and each and every one of us are extremely dangerous shinobi if I can say so myself." C said with concern.

"A barrier will be placed on each and every one of you, that is of course, with your permission. If you refuse there will be no repercussions." Naruto replied.

"No repurcussions my ass! If you don't agree then you become a loose end! Everyone will participate, no exceptions!" Karui said uncompromisingly, much to the surprise of Naruto and in fact everyone in the room as Karui was the last person anyone expected to approve this plan due to her notorious distrust of Naruto.

"…."

"I take it that your silence means that everyone is on board?" Naruto asked rhetorically, everyone voicing their agreement on the matter, even though the real reason for the silence had been confusion over Karui's outburst.

"What about Ranmaru and Yakumo-san? Do they also need the barrier? I mean, they have the Ryugan and the Ketsuryugan respectively. Surely their doujutsu can defend against a sharingan genjutsu or even reverse it against the sharingan." Guren asked curiously.

"As much as I very much doubt that a sharingan genjutsu or any kind of genjutsu could bypass my Ketsuryugan, I'm however not foolish enough not to take any precautionary measures just in case." Yakumo replied patiently.

"Same here. Failure to prepare is the same as planning to fail." Ranmaru retorted.

"Then it's settled. Danzo is thereby no longer a concern of ours. The matter is closed." Naruto deadpanned.

"What about the Akatsuki leader and his rinnegan? This seems like a really serious problem." Omoi asked warily.

"Unfortunately even Orochimaru had no idea what the true extent of the rinnegan user's power is. However, in the near future I will be drafting bingo book profiles for the Akatsuki and with Lord Raikage's permission, have them published to all of Five Kage Nations and the other smaller nations. I'll use the information that I gained from Orochimaru." Naruto replied so that everyone understood that they would have access to all the knowledge he had and therefore need not ask him questions one by one.

"Speaking of the bingo book. I think it's time we released a profile of you as well, in fact a bingo book profile of each person in this office is long overdue. What's the point of having the most powerful shinobi in the elemental nations if not to capitalise on it. Many of you are S ranked threat levels. Those reputations will bring in a large overhaul of customers to Kumogakure." Ay said strategically.

"Doesn't that just put a target on our backs?" Dodai asked warily.

"It does, but it also, like Lord Raikage said, will bring in more business for us. Customers look at bingo book ratings when deciding which shinobi villages to enlist for help. As things stand, Kumogakure is ranked as the third strongest ninja village behind Konohagakure, ranked first, and Iwagakure, who are ranked second. However, with the next bingo book release, and with my lineage disclosed on the book along with my recent victories over Jiraiya of the Sannin, Orochimaru, and Uchiha Sasuke, then it goes without question that Kumogakure will be catapulted to the very top of the rankings." Naruto replied patiently.

"Is all this because Jiraiya of the Sannin and Uchiha Sasuke found out about Naruto-senpei's defection to Kumogakure?" Yukimaru asked curiously.

"It is precisely because of that. If the secret of his defection to Kumogakure is no longer a secret, then we might as well capitalise on it." Ay said calmly.

"A-sama, I really do not think this is a good idea." Dodai said warily.

"You better let it slide because for lil nine'o there's no reason to hide! If anyone tries to attack him from behind or even from the side then Lord Eight Tails will make sure they become victims of homicide because an attack on my nephew is not something that I'll abide! Oh yeah!" Killer Bee said as he moved from side to side in a hip hop dance rhythm.

"There you go so just go with the flow. I trust that you know that nothing can surpass the thunder god lore because they'll be nothing but blood and gore til the enemy's no more, oh yeah!" Naruto added with his own hip hop flavor, him and Bee bouncing up and down and side to side to a beat that no one else could hear, causing the Raikage to massage his forehead, remembering why he hated having Naruto and Bee in the same room because of Bee's bad influence on his adopted son.

"You let em know nephew! We the boogie men and we make the enemy have a curfew and when it's over they'll be left with just a few! Ya fool! Ya fool!" Bee elaborated with another rhyme scheme, Naruto beat boxing as he and Bee danced to the self made tune.

"Aaarg! Will you idiots just shut the fuck up before you destroy my ears with that garbage!" Karui exclaimed angrily.

"Damn your soul must be heavy and full of luggage, girl work on your issues and get rid of that baggage cause this here ain't garbage and if you say otherwise than you gotta be smoking too much cabbage. Don't diss my style or I'll engage you with carnage cause if I get mad my rage will turn me into a savage. Oh yeah!" Naruto retorted, Killer Bee going crazy as he and Naruto fist bumped, causing Karui to lose herself to temporary insanity as she viciously attacked Naruto, chaos ensuring in the Raikage's office.

End of Chapter

Author Notes:

Naruto:

Naruto is stronger because he had Bee and Ay as his mentors, with others also chipping in like Yugito, Darui, C, and Mabui.

He was under a strict training regimen and with his hard work and talent, was able to develop super fast.

He received their undivided attention and guidance, something he had always longed for his entire life, which is part of the reason that he decided, well, to hell with Konoha.

Nevertheless, that is the reason why he is so powerful and strong.

Jugo:

You all might wonder why the Jugo that faced Naruto was so much stronger and faster than the one that faced Lord Raikage in canon.

The reason is simple and obvious, but apparently not that obvious as I have had countless conversations with people who failed the notice this obvious fact.

The Jugo that fought the Raikage was nerfed to the gills.

Yes, it's true.

Normal Jugo is the sixth tallest. character in the series, with only Kitsuchi, Akatsuchi, Han, Fuguki Suikazan, and Kushimaru Kuriarare being taller than him.

To give you more context, teenage Jugo is taller and bigger than Killer and the Raikage, who are both taller and bigger than Jiraiya.

However, the Jugo that fought the Raikage was significantly shorter and smaller than Karin, because he shrank into a kid version of himself after he healed Sasuke when they fought Killer Bee.

To further give you context.

Normal Jugo was 2.02 meters tall, Karin was 1.62 meters tall. The Jugo that fought the Raikage was shorter than this version of Karin. So yes, he was severely nerfed.

Am I saying he would have beat the Raikage at full strength? Probably not, but he would have definitely defeated version 1 lightning armour Raikage. The Raikage would have had to use version two to win, and even then it would have been a competitive fight until his superior skill took over.

Suigetsu:

I don't know if any of you noticed, but the battle between Naruto and Suigetsu was meant to sort of mirror the one between Yuji vs Todo in Jujutsu Kaisen, with Naruto being Todo and Suigetsu being Yuji. If you reread the dialogue again when Naruto teaches Suigetsu how to harness his true potential, you might make the connection if you didn't already.

Karin:

She is lucky she gets Uzumaki privilege from Naruto, let's just leave it at that for now.

Sasuke:

So you might be wondering why Sasuke is suddenly stronger and more skilled than his canon counter just because Naruto is a Kumogakure elite Jonin?

Well, it's a domino effect. Because Naruto disappeared after their battle at the valley, Konoha continued their war with Otogakure on the presumption that Naruto was kidnapped by Sasuke/Orochimaru. The war caused Sasuke to be involved in more battles than he otherwise would have and to develop his abilities further than he would have in that time frame, which is why he is so much stronger than before.

The war is also why Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo were recruited sooner than it happened in canon as both Sasuke and Orochimaru found themselves in need of talented, dependable allies, especially with the Sound 5 gone.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Ps, I've already finished the second chapter, I just need to proof read it before I release it.