A/N: Hello everyone and welcome back to One Year Early. Today, we finally get to our showdown with Tsunade. Well its obvious that there is a huge power gap and skill difference, with huge being an understatement. But still, for Tsunade to be so confident about taking down two jinchuuriki with just two fingers? Is she getting a bit too overconfident? Well, read on to find out.

Anyways, I forgot to mention, we just hit 500 favorites. Amazing. Cool. You guys are awesome. I really love you all. Thank you so much for the continued support, I hope that we will be able to keep you all entertained for a long...long time.

And with that, without further ado, let's get into the chapter.

CHAPTER 13: A BET FULFILLED AND SOME MORE TROUBLESOME ARRIVALS

When Hinata woke up next morning, recalling her words and actions of the night before made her begin blushing heavily.

She realized that she had talked like some 16 years old person, not the 12-13 years old girl that she actually was. Then her gaze fell upon her boyfriend, still peacefully asleep in her arms, with his head pressed against the crook of her neck.

'Looks like that's the way we are going to be…maybe…just maybe we are taking things a bit fast, but Naru-kun is happy and it's all coming to me naturally. This is the way it is supposed to be…hehe' The Hyuuga giggled to herself as she caressed her boyfriend's spiky hair a bit.

*An hour later*

The young couple was up now and before Naruto started his training, he wanted some answers from his sensei. And so now, he and Hinata were with the Nara.

Troublesome…so the Kyuubi told you about all this?"

"Yeah, and is it really true?" Naruto asked again.

Shikaku sighed. "Before I answer, I need to know: do you trust the Kyuubi and his words?"

"Umm…well…I don't see why not. What would he get by lying to me?"

"Despair, of course. By giving you hope that your hero is actually your own father, that you actually have a high social status that has been kept secret for you, this way he can manipulate you into distrusting the village and then obviously when your hope turns out to be for naught, you'll fall to despair and he will have a better chance to take over." Shikaku explained. "So, now tell me would you still trust him?"

Naruto closed his eyes in contemplation for several seconds.

"Yes sensei. When he told me the story last night, I'll admit I was a bit skeptical but something about it gave the impression that he wasn't lying. I am certain that he was telling the truth, but still, I want to hear from you."

The Nara let out another breath.

"Troublesome, so you have begun trusting the Kyuubi this quickly…fine. Very well then, what he told you last night was true, every word of it." Shikaku stated.

"T-Then, w-why was it kept hidden, sensei?" Hinata demanded.

"To keep him safe from the Fourth's enemies, which he had a lot of, both inside and outside the village. Many in Iwa hated the Yondaime for single-handedly turning the 3rd Great Ninja War against them and even if I can say for certainty that the Third Tsuchikage Onoki isn't a man who would try to exact revenge on the Yondaime by harming his child. However, there are many in Iwa with the means and the intention to do so, even without the Tsuchikage's approval. Then there is Kumo. They had attempted kidnapping Naruto's mother presumably for the Kyuubi's power, as well as her being one of the last of the Uzumaki. Had they known that Naruto is Kushina's child, they might have come after him as well."

'Kumo made a kidnapping attempt on Kushina-kaa-san too…like they did with me…' Hinata thought to herself.

"And there are many who hated the Yondaime's guts and opposed what he stood for, even within the power structures of the village itself. For example, there is a man named Danzo Shimura, it would be more surprising if you had heard of him before now but at one time, he was a close friend of the Sandaime and an inseparable ally, but today they are very firmly opposed to each other, ideologically, but Danzo still has a lot of clout and power. The closest they came to agreeing in the recent decades was that both originally agreed on Orochimaru being name Hiruzen-sama's successor. But that was before time took its toll on Orochimaru and when it came time for the Sandaime to retire originally: the two were split once more. Danzo wished for Orochimaru to be made the Yondaime, while Sarutobi-sama personally chose the student of Jiraiya-sama: Namikaze Minato. Minato was made Hokage in the end, but people like Danzo and Orochimaru were firmly opposed to him. Danzo lost a lot of influence and power during Minato's short reign, while the Uchiha police force was strengthened, Hiashi also got some more influence as he began handling the external affairs, while I was made the Jonin commander and his right-hand man. In essence, Minato took the power from the old and had a younger generation inherit it. So obviously those troublesome old men and women who lost power at our expense have no love lost for Minato. In fact, I am afraid, they might have secretly rejoiced in his and Kushina's passing. Today, the old guard once again holds power, some for better and some for worse, Danzo's influence is high again, and the Uchiha as you know well are all gone. Hiashi left his post after the Hyuuga incident, and then Kami knows what happened to him…he changed completely after your mother's passing, Hinata." Shikaku sighed again. "It would seem that I am the last of those whom the Yondaime appointed to lead Konoha to a new era still working."

"A-and why couldn't you or anyone adopt Naruto-kun, if the Yondaime and Kushina-sama were your friends?" Hinata asked again, this time in an accusatory tone.

"We tried. All of us. Fugaku applied three times for the adoption, Hinata's parents tried just as many times. I applied twice. Inoichi and Choza also tried and even your uncle Hizashi tried once too. Every time we were vetoed by the Hokage. Danzo and the Hokage's advisors supported this decision too." Shikaku said with another sigh and shaking his head. "In the end, due to their persistence, Mikoto and Hitomi were even banned visiting Naruto or interacting with him."

"But…why would jiji do that?"

"He didn't mean any harm to you Naruto…I can actually say with certainty that he sees you as his own grandson. But he couldn't allow you to be adopted by any of us because we were clan-heads who wanted to adopt. And in his opinion if one clan got the custody of the jinchuuriki, that clan's influence would skyrocket. And those without clan ties who applied for your adoption were in the council's opinion deemed unfit of parenting a child. The examples include Jounins Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai and Jiraiya of the Sannin, who actually is your godfather." The Nara explained further. "While I can't say that I agreed with the Hokage's reasonings, but that's how things stand today, and I can say that only one party involved with the mess acted in bad faith…though lack of evidence makes things hard to prove, just like with his other crimes, though he's a non-factor at the moment due to house arrest for probable cause involvement with the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto has enemies both inside and outside the village and hence his parentage is kept under wraps. Even I am forbidden from telling you anything about it, but since you are already aware of it, I think a little law breaking won't be that troublesome. Though, I would like you to keep it a secret from anybody else, for the time being." Shikaku explained/requested. His two genin nodded.

"Anyways, Naruto, you have some training to do. How is your training with the wind chakra control and the wind blade going?"

"So far so good, sensei. I am putting more shadow clones into it, to continue the chakra control exercises as well as the jutsu itself. Baki-sensei told me that using the same basics as the wind-blade, I can actually make other stuff like a 'wind spear' too; and I am practicing Drilling Air Bullets as well with some shadow clones." Naruto explained.

"Hmm…careful with how much you split yourself on, it could backfire terribly if done the wrong way. To win your bet, we need you to catch Tsunade-sama by surprise. Gaara's sand will be the key to achieve that. Although Tsunade-sama knows about Gaara's ability to manipulate sand, she doesn't know the specifics of how he does it. But to drive the surprise factor home, if Gaara avoids using the sand for some time in the fight, Tsunade-sama can be unnerved when he actually uses it. And also, I believe Gaara's sand can trigger something else as well to make your fight easier."

"But for that…" Hinata mused a bit.

"Yes, we need to have him use some sort of jutsu other than his sand, teach him the shadow clone jutsu too, he will be able to use it and with that he can learn and train quicker as well. However, given his unstable seal, tell him to not use more than 30 in emergency, ten otherwise, we can't risk Gaara rendering himself unconscious without some safeties to keep Shukaku from coming back out."

"Got it sensei and thanks for letting me know about my dad." Naruto responded with a smile.

"Honestly, I should be the one thanking you. This secret had been a troublesome burden on my chest ever since Minato and Kushina passed, thanks for taking it off me kid." Shikaku replied patting the blonde's shoulders before his students left.

*A few minutes later*

"So, cross your hands like this and put in chakra and some focus, right?" The red headed boy asked for confirmation.

"Right!"

"Okay then, cross your hands, put in the chakra…Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Gaara called out and immediately 20 copies of him appeared.

"Good job Gaara! You nailed it! Perhaps having done tree and water walking helped ya." Gaara nodded to Naruto's comment.

"Now do you know some wind-style or any other jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Just the great breakthrough and drilling air bullets." Gaara responded.

"And how good are you at that?"

"I can't say that I am very…proficient at using them, since I usually tend to just use the sand."

"Well…you see, my sensei said that…" Naruto explained Shikaku's reasoning to Gaara.

"I see…alright, I'll practice the leaf cutting with the shadow clones and then practice the two jutsus."

And so, the 4 days passed with two jinchuuriki training themselves to face the slug summoning sannin member and ensure that Naruto doesn't have to give up on his dream.

It was evening and the two boys were standing in an open field opposite to the Slug Sannin, who was looking at them with an intimidating grin. Shizune, Shikaku, Hinata, Temari, Kankuro and Baki were standing a bit further. (Hinata's sitting in her wheelchair…but yeah). Tsunade's assistant had a worried expression on her face and she was glancing both the sides nervously still hoping that somehow this confrontation could be avoided. Hinata glanced at her boyfriend and gave him a smile and a nod, while she internally tried to calm the part of her that was still unnerved about the fight. The others were all calm and were all mentally wishing for the victory of the two genin. After all they didn't have to actually win the fight, just force Tsunade to either use more than two fingers to attack them or land a blow.

'Troublesome, Tsunade-sama came to this fight sober, would have been better had she been drunk…but anyway…stick to the plan Naruto but also don't hesitate to trust your instincts if you ever feel that something is wrong.' The sensei of Team-6 thought to himself.

"So, brats, there is still time to back down if you don't want to make it painful." Tsunade said aloud as she let loose just a bit of her killing intent. The two boys took deep breaths and glared at their opponent.

"There is no backing down Baa-chan, Naruto Uzumaki never goes back on his words, for that's my ninja way!"

'So much like Nawaki…' Tsunade had to reminisce.

Naruto and Gaara glanced at each other and shared a small nod.

For some moments total silence and just the gust of wind followed and then suddenly, Naruto and Gaara dashed at Tsunade.

'Ha…so obvious…barging in like idiots.' Tsunade thought to herself.

The two boys dashed in and tried to punch the Senju from both sides, Tsunade bent herself to avoid Gaara's attack before quickly readjusting her position and immediately flicking index on Naruto's face. The blonde was thrown off violently and was slammed into a nearby tree.

Hinata had her eyes widened and was about to scream, when 'Naruto' stuck his tongue out at Tsunade and vanished in a puff of smoke. Just then Gaara who had steadied himself on the ground threw a kunai at Tsunade, who quickly dodged just then, a puff was heard as the Kunai was transformed into Naruto and the blonde quickly went through hand-signs.

"Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullets!" And Naruto launched a flurry of violent bursts of air towards the Slug Sannin, though unfortunately for him, Tsunade was agile enough to dodge with two backflips.

Just then Gaara launched an attack of Drilling Air Bullets of his own, but his attack also missed.

"My turn." Tsunade stated with a smirk as she hit the ground with two fingers. That was enough to cause a huge crack, lift off some small boulders, and sent shockwaves all over the place…throwing Naruto and Gaara off balance.

Using the opening that move had created, Tsunade rushed to her closest opponent (Gaara) flicked her index finger on the redhead's forehead, sending him flying into a nearby boulder, into which he crashed cracking it up. But then Gaara vanished into a puff of smoke as well.

'Another shadow clone? Does this boy also know Shadow Clones now?' Tsunade thought to herself as she alerted herself to lookout for the Ichibi jinchuuriki.

Just then Naruto made the infamous cross hand seal.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Roughly 50 Narutos appeared in the field and all quickly created wind blades on their hands and dashed at Tsunade. For some seconds the Sannin was able to keep dodging without getting cut up by the deadly wind constructs, but soon she realized that it was just a matter of time, likely seconds, before the blonde would inevitably land a hit. So, she once again hit the ground with two of her fingers, shaking the ground around her violently once again, but this time, Tsunade had hit the ground with much more force, so the boulders that got thrown up were greater in number and larger in size. She began throwing them at her two opponents one after another, the thrown rocks had enough force to dispel shadow clones and those who were not dispelled had to take hits from Tsunade's two fingers and get dispelled.

Gaara was hit by two or three rocks but was mostly unharmed due to the armour of sand he had, however, abiding by Shikaku's advice, he was keeping himself from using his sand to defend Naruto and himself by raising a wall. It took every ounce of concentration and control he could spare to suppress the automatic responses of the sand that protected him, like he was suppressing something separate from himself or Shukaku that held an intense desire to protect him. The sand was to be used as the trump card after all.

Naruto had already shown all his cards to Tsunade, his two wind techniques, the ability to transform into objects, and the shadow clones.

Gaara defended himself by making some shadow clones and substituting with them when Tsunade attacked him, still with two fingers. It wasn't yet the time to show their trump card yet.

Naruto again charged at Tsunade, making a wind blade and Gaara launched another set of drilling air bullets. However, this time, Tsunade managed to land a hit on Naruto and this time it was no clone. The jinchuuriki was thrown violently towards a tree and got slammed into it, full force.

"Naruto-Kun!" Hinata shouted in concern, she knew that that hit had to have hurt him, she could only crutch her chest in concern.

Just then, Gaara also tried to charge at Tsunade and land a kick, unfortunately for him, the redhead was quite new and sloppy at taijutsu, he got a hit for the trouble and was then slammed into another tree.

Tsunade dusted off her hands.

"That does it, no more Hokage dreams." She stated. Hinata's anger began boiling up and she wanted to declare then and there that she would be refusing treatment. But then again, she didn't want to be in the way of her beloved's fight, she knew he wouldn't be giving up so easily despite the pain and the hurt, which hurt her more than it hurt him, but if he wanted to endure, so would she. And she also had trust in the plan they formed just before the fight.

"You can do it Naruto-kun!" She cheered as loud as she could.

And just then, Tsunade also heard some cracks, glancing at the spots where she had thrown the kids, she saw them getting themselves up. Upon taking a more attentive look, she found that Gaara's skin was cracking and sand was falling off him, at the same time, she saw a bit of sand falling from the tree trunk Naruto had been slammed into as well.

'What…oh wait, this boy can manipulate sand!' Realization dawned upon Tsunade, she had momentarily forgotten about this specific ability of Gaara in her rush to quickly end the fight and win the bet for Naruto's own good in her opinion. And the realization came too late for the Slug Princess since sand immediately rose up and bound her legs, making her unable to move, it began moving up, till her waist as she saw Naruto charge towards her forming a wind blade.

Tsunade began charging up her chakra as she felt the sand taking hold of her hands. As Naruto got closer and closer, Tsunade managed to free her hand of the sand but it was at this moment that she picked up the smell of the sand, a very particular smell to be precise. Her eyes widened and she got almost paralyzed.

'B-Blood'

"Now Naruto!" Gaara screamed as he rose the sand a bit higher and strengthened his hold.

*Flashback*

"What would be triggered by Gaara's sand sensei?" Naruto asked.

"She has a problem: haematophobia, or the fear of blood to be precise. While Gaara's sand bears the smell of blood, in the heat of battle in Taki, you might have missed it, but it is indeed true. Gaara's sand has drawn the blood of many, its stained by the blood of its victims and that scent has become part of the sand he carries with him in his gourd, when Tsunade-sama smell it, her fear of blood will be triggered, giving you a small window to strike. I say a small window of opportunity because we don't want to trigger her haematophobia too badly." Shikaku explained.

"B-But that's…that's dirty sensei…that sounds wrong." Naruto protested, making Shikaku sigh.

"Troublesome, we are ninja, kids, not samurai. When we fight, there is only one golden rule in our rulebook, that is to use every trick and exploit every weakness of the enemy." The head Nara reasoned, but still Naruto and Hinata didn't look too convinced.

"Alright, I can understand where you are coming from, so I'll tell you about a golden rule I have set for myself regarding playing dirty in a fight. 'When you are fighting for your loved ones, your friends and your home, do not ever hesitate to play dirty. But on the other hand, if you are just fighting for your own sake, avoid playing dirty.' And this fight of yours Naruto…it's not just for your own sake." Shikaku explained.

"B-But…" Naruto tried to protest, since he knew that he was just fighting for his own dream, his Hina-chan was going to be treated either way. But then his gaze fell upon his girlfriend and then he glanced up at his sensei and thought of what the head jonin wanted to imply. Realization dawned immediately.

'I-If I lose, Hime will refuse treatment and make the bet void. Kami, this should be so obvious…dammit!' The blonde cursed himself inwardly.

"I got it sensei. I'll do my best!" He promised. Shikaku just returned a small smile in return. "Do your best kid."

*End of flashback*

Naruto saw that Tsunade had been stunned, this was his chance.

"Aaaaahhhh…Wind Style: Wind Blade!" Naruto screamed as he unleashed the charge upon Tsunade. Just then, Tsunade had recovered from her temporary daze, she quickly brought up her fist to throw Naruto off. But unlike usual times, the Senju wasn't drunk this time, before her punch could connect, she realized just what she had done. Naruto's attack stopped just as it touched her shoulder.

"You lose granny!" The blonde declared with a grin of victory.

'J-Just like Nawaki…just like Nawaki…and he convinced me about his dream too…and this boy, I feel like wanting to put my faith in that dream…just one last time…' Tsunade thought to herself as she got just a bit teary eyed.

"Yes…Yes boy…you…win" The Senju admitted.

"Told ya didn't I!" Naruto declared raising his fist before his grin faltered and he got serious.

"Now will you please treat my Hime? Please…" He pleaded again. The Senju could only nod.

"I am holding you to it baa-chan." Naruto stated in a serious but pleading tone, before he rushed to his girlfriend.

"It was an honour to have sparred with you, Tsunade-sama." Gaara came up and stated with a bow, before he walked towards his siblings…

The fight was over, Naruto had kept his promise. The bet was won by him. But just then, a rumble was heard as everybody sensed a new arrival with insanely high chakra reserves, alongside some more average level jonin arrivals as well.

"Senju Tsunade…we have some urgent business with you!" A heavy voice stated. And when Hinata turned to see just who had stated that…she began trembling with her eyes widened. Naruto's eyes also widened when he saw just who had arrived and he immediately positioned himself before his girlfriend and tried to put on the most defiant look that he could manage on his face as he clenched his fists.

Shikaku's eyes hardened and he remained cautious but not offensively so as to prevent an incident.

A group of three approached, all wearing Kumo's emblem. The two more average of the three were a light skinned man with brown hair and a dark-skinned man with spiky light blonde hair with a lock of orange in his hair.

A behemoth of a man with dark skin and a white long jacket stood in front of them and was universally recognized by everyone present.

The Fourth Raikage, Ay, stood before the assembled group of Konoha and Suna nin at the head of the Kumo party.

The Raikage spoke: "I need your services to heal one of my men. He has a micro-explosive inside his chest."

"Troublesome. Of course, someone would decide to pick a fight with the Nokizaru group today." Mumbled Shikaku.

The air stood at a similar tension with neither group making a move.

But promises to be fulfilled and business offers to be given were looking to conflict at a trying time.

A/N: And done! We come to a close with another chapter. Well, I am not really a specialist in leaving things off with cliffhangers, but that doesn't mean I can't try. And of course, GBAboy313, my wonderful editor has been an invaluable help regarding these nuances, just as usual, so thanks buddy.

So...we get the guys from Kumo and Ay the unruly entering the scene. Alright, I wonder what kind of trouble would they be bringing, not giving away anything. Answers in the next chapter only. Hehe. And with that, lets call it a day here.

Thank you everyone for you continued love and support. I really appreciate hitting 500 favs. Guardian of the Tailed Beasts on the other hand has gone over 1k favs and follows. I didn't know that my stories would be this successful. But this response makes me really, really happy. So from the bottom of my heart, a big thank you to all of you. And special thanks to my consistent supporter and beta-editor GBAboy313, without whom I don't think this would have been possible.

See ya all in the next chapter then. RaNK001 out. Cheers and Peace.