Writing is hard. Enjoy!
Naruto was uncharacteristically tired when they arrived at the tower. He chalked it up to having been unconscious and for all intents and purposes, nearly dead. Hinata, despite barely being physically functional, was the one to figure out the riddle. They unfurled the scrolls and Naruto immediately recognized the seals written within the scrolls as summoning.
On his command his team flung the scrolls across the room. Smoke billowed out of them, but they relaxed when it was none other than Iruka-sensei.
"Congratulations! To think I would end up with your te-" Iruka was cut off by Hinata collapsing, apparently having only been conscious through willpower alone until they passed.
"Oh Hinata!" Iruka moved to catch her before she could hit the ground, but Naruto beat him to it.
"We need a med-nin Iruka. She's been through a lot. I need to speak with Jiraiya-sensei and Jiji immediately too." The darkness on Naruto's face told Iruka everything he needed to know. The upbeat, cheery boy was gone in that moment. While Naruto had clearly been taking the last several years of training extremely seriously, he still had that childish spark in him at all times. Iruka could not see that spark now. He hesitated only a second, worried about one of his favorite students, before he needed and sped off.
"You should get some rest, Sasuke." Naruto ground out.
Sasuke felt fine, felt good, actually. Really good. He had to bite back the urge to argue with his best friend, but managed to hold his tongue. He too sped off with only a grunt.
That left Naruto alone in the room, holding Hinata in his arms.
"Hinata…" Naruto trembled as his fists clenched on her jacket. "... Thank you." He finally settled on. It wasn't enough. Nothing would be.
It was only a few more seconds before a familiar ANBU member snuck up on him. It was a monkey masked ninja. Naruto often caught glimpses of him or sensed him during his times with Konohamaru. He was followed closely by two medic nins in their tan uniforms. He handed Hinata off to them with a grateful nod.
"Uzumaki. You made it." The tone was bland, but Naruto got the strange feeling that he ANBU had been hoping he would. He quirked his head in question, but was completely ignored. "The Hokage has granted you an audience. Top floor. They're expecting you."
Naruto nodded quietly, and began his trudge to the top of the tower.
He pushed through the doors, paying no mind to the ANBU guard. They, in turn, pretended as if he didn't even exist. An oddly familiar feeling for the young blond. He shrugged it off. The Hokage had his back turned to him, something only a truly powerful shinobi could afford to do, and was looking out the far window of the tower.
"Ah, Naruto-kun. I'm glad to see you are up and about so soon after your fight." His tone was light, but there was a seriousness hidden behind it. A hint of worry.
"You know I heal fast, Jiji. Where's Jiraiya?" Naruto clearly was not in the mood for games, though he kept his voice even.
The Hokage sighed, a puff of smoke floating and swirling up over his hat. He turned slowly, whether from old age or to buy himself time, it was impossible to tell. "I sent him after Orochimaru."
"You did what."
"Naruto, you know he's the strongest ninja I have at my disposal."
"He's not a tool!" Naruto said, anger finally leaking into his voice. He was having flashbacks to Haku. "He's not yours to use! He might be a powerful shinobi, but he's a person too!"
Hiruzen sighed again. "Naruto-kun, day by day you become more powerful, and therefore more exposed to our society and how it works." He paused, carefully considering his words. "It's a dark world we live in, and sometimes we have to do things we do not wish to do. As Hokage, I have to set my feelings aside."
Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but was silenced by a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Other times, I have to consider them. Do you know what Lord First told me being a Hokage was?"
Naruto shook his head, anger forgotten in the moment.
"He told me, that being Hokage made the entire village your family, and you were the head of it." Hiruzen began pacing around the room, puffing on his pipe.
"Everything that happens in this village lands on my shoulders. Prosperity, and famine. Success and failure. That means that every ninja of this village that dies, dies because of me."
"But that means every ninja that lives, lives because of you too!"
The Hokage chuckled, a deep, gravely sound from his chest. "Ever the optimist. An admirable trait… My point is, there are very few ninja that I can send after my lost student. Kakashi and Gai stand a chance, but they are watching over their team, and there's a good chance that they will not survive the encounter. It is because I am so close to Jiraiya that I had to send him after his former teammate."
Hiruzen saw the questioning look in the genin's eyes, and chose to elaborate, and speak of things he long since had tried to push away, even from his own eyes.
"Orochimaru was a genius, much like Sasuke-kun is. Every jutsu I showed him he took to immediately. He was smart, cunning, and devious. The model shinobi, or so I thought. Jiraiya was a failure, simply put. He had plenty of potential, and no place to focus it. I spent much of our team's training time focusing on Orochimaru and Tsunade…" a sadness crossed the Hokage's face as he thought about his past. "...but I spent even more of my free time working with Jiraiya. The boy needed to be challenged. He couldn't learn a jutsu immediately, but given the proper incentive, he would spend weeks training, working until his hands had chakra burns and his whole body shook.
As time passed, he began to catch his two teammates, slowly at first. When he signed the toad contract, it was like he took on a whole new purpose in his life. Never have I been more proud of a shinobi of our village." He paused, and let those words sink in to Naruto. The boy was battered, covered in dirt and blood, skin still pink from the burns he had freshly healed from. Yet, there was a look of wonder plastered on the boys face. In that moment, Hiruzen admired him too, for his ability to see the wonder in the world, even after all he had been through.
"By his late teens he had become a powerhouse for the village. As he grew strong and steadfast, Tsunade, and especially Orochimaru began to waver. Orochimaru began to grow darker and greedier, though I was blind to it. Tsunade lost her loved ones, and with it, her love for the village. Jiraiya's love of the village has only grown stronger though. Tsunade left us. Jiraiya trained our strongest Hokage. Orochimaru turned traitor, and he too, left us. Jiraiya went after him, and created the strongest spy network the world hasn't ever seen. Did you know he holds the record for most completed missions?... None have served this village better than Jiraiya. We tried to make him Hokage. Do you know why he turned it down?"
Naruto could only shake his head, eyes wide and glinting.
"Sometime between Chunin and Jonin, he and Orochimaru developed a friendship. Some would see it as one sided, but I know Oro felt at least close to the way Jiraiya did. When Minato paid the ultimate price for the village, we decided Jiraiya would become Hokage. He turned it down. He said, 'How can I become the protector of this village, if I can't even save my best friend?'"
A heavy silence hung for several seconds. "The moral of this long rant, by a senile old man, is this: Jiraiya must be sent, not only because he's the only one that can do it, but because he has earned the duty and responsibility, to be the one to take down his friend. He didn't want to leave, and he argued with me, another right he has earned. Yet he still took the mission, because he feels the same way I do, whether he'll admit it or not. The village is his home, the people his family, and he will go above and beyond the call to service to protect it. Do you know what I call that?"
Naruto, holding his breath now, could only shake his head again.
"The Will of Fire, my boy. The Will of Fire."
Naruto felt a warm feeling swell up in his chest, forcing him to let go of his breath. Pride. He was proud of Jiraiya, so proud. He'd wanted to be like him since the week that he'd first left the village with him, but that was a child's dream of a hero who was larger than life. Now, as an adult and soldier of his village, he'd never wanted to be like his father figure more.
Hiruzen allowed him several moments to collect his bearings, perhaps doing the same himself, before he continued. "Now, Naruto-kun. You came for Jiraiya, what did you need?"
Naruto finally snapped back to reality. "Orochimaru left a seal on Sasuke's neck. Looks like the tomoe in his sharingan kinda, seems to be leaking a ugly chakra. My fuinjutsu isn't high enough to get rid of it yet. I was hoping Pervy Sage could take a look at it."
Sarutobi's face seemed to grow a few more lines in the seconds before he spoke."That is… troubling. Hmm… We have another who has been marked similarly by my old student. I will bring her and Kakashi-kun to see him, and we will have a look at it before the preliminaries."
"Preliminaries?"
"Ah, yes. We have a particularly strong crop this year, and more are making it through the forest than anticipated, so we will have a series of 1 on 1 fights to determine who moves on to the final round."
Naruto looked troubled, but held his tongue.
"Speak, Boy." Hiruzen said, with the sternness of a Leader, but the kindness of a Grandfather.
Naruto debated saying anything for another second and then two, before he spoke. "There's another… like me. A jinchuuriki, I think. Gaara from Sand. I don't want anyone else fighting him."
"Naruto, I can't select who fights-"
"We're a shinobi village, Jiji. You can. You have to. He will kill whoever he fights. Hinata and Sasuke are in no shape to fight an enemy that strong right now. The rest just aren't ready. It has to be me."
"You'd ask me to put one of the village's strongest Genin in danger. The container of our only biju no less?" Sarutobi had to hold back a grimace at Naruto's ever so slight flinch at his words. The boy quickly found himself overflowing with anger.
"You'd ask me to let one of my friends die? I can't do that. I won't do that."
"That's not your decision to make, Naruto." There was a pressure starting to build in the room as Hiruzen's voice gained a sharpness Naruto wasn't very familiar with. He forged on anyway.
"You're right. It's your decision, and you need to make it!" He was nearly shouting now.
The Hokage let loose his chakra, bearing it down on Naruto. It would have been enough to make a lesser chunin fall unconscious. His voice boomed as he spoke. "I will make the decision that is best for the village. I will not be bullied into it by a Genin."
Naruto responded by flaring his own chakra and bringing it down on the Hokage. It wasn't much in comparison, but it got his point across. "How can you sit here and tell me about Jiraiya having to do missions because of his strength, but then try and let me sacrifice one of my friends!?" he shouted. "I won't do it. I will fight Suna's Jinchuuriki." The last words were calm. Eerily calm compared to the anger the boy had just shown. He gave his Hokage one last look somewhere between pleading and pissed off, before storming out of the room, breaking a door off its hinge as he did so.
Sarutobi could only sigh yet again. He took another puff of his pipe before uttering to himself, "More and more like your mother and Jiraiya every day. Determined like your father as always." Another puff of the pipe. "If only I could stop myself from failing you like I failed them." he lamented.
The next few days passed slowly. Naruto cooled down after a while, Hinata was released from medical care, and Sasuke seemed to lighten up, if only a little bit. Kakashi-sensei and the purple haired proctor who they'd fought in the forest, Anko was her name, came to see Sasuke, though the Hokage was absent. Kakashi took Sasuke and Naruto to a dark corridor, and proceeded to 'seal' the 'curse mark'. Naruto had a hard time paying close attention, something that was abnormal to him. His head still felt foggy, though he was sure any concussion he had should've been healed by now. Sasuke would be okay though, if Anko was any indication. He just had to have a strong will, something Naruto knew he had in spades.
Team 10 and 9 wandered in at some point (Team 8 had managed to be the first team in, behind the Sand trio) as did an older team from Konoha, with that Kabuto guy they'd met in the first part of the exam.
Eventually the time limit ran out, and all the surviving teams were assembled in the basement of the tower. It was a large room made mostly of stone, with balconies on either side looking down on what Naruto supposed would be the stage for the fight. In front of them, the hokage and jonin sensei were standing on a stone platform, lifted a foot or so above the rest of the floor by the Hokage himself.
Jiji gave them the spiel about how the exams were a substitute for war, and that a good showing would bring prosperity to the their village. Naruto barely heard him. He was focused on the red head who was staring daggers at him, as if he was trying to kill him with his eyes. His face was oddly calm despite what his eyes said. It was terrifying.
The Hokage kept going, and announced there would be a preliminary round. Shouts of indignation came from the Genin. Naruto paid it no mind. At some point Kabuto dropped out. Probably for the better, he looked like hell.
The Hokage left, important matters to attend to he was sure. A new voice spoke around coughing fits. The jonin proctor he supposed. He recited the rules, not that anyone here would truly follow them. Especially Gaara.
He finally snapped back to attention when he announced that first match would appear on the board. He looked to the digital screen in time to see names begin to flash. He spotted his flashing through, spotted Gaara's, Hinata's, Sasuke's, and a few he didn't recognize. Finally it slowed to a stop.
Sasuke vs. Yoroi. Good. One bullet dodged. The old man had never actually agreed to let him be the one to fight Gaara. Each name that was called off the board would be a relief to him.
Sasuke's fight happened quickly. He was well rested, better than his opponent at least. The curse mark didn't seem to hamper him in anyway, and when it was discovered that his opponent could steal chakra, Sasuke zipped one way and then another. Activating his sharingan as he moved in, he avoided the open palm of his opponent and quickly delivered a blow to his temple, knocking him unconscious completely.
He cooly put his hands back in his pockets and leapt back up to join his teammates on the balcony. Yamato-sensei seemed to relax at that, however minutely. It had taken a while for Naruto to learn to read his sensei, ANBU trained as he surely was. He knew him well enough to know when he was tense though, and that was the worst he'd ever seen it. To be fair, he himself had been quite tense going into it. As much as he trusted Sasuke, he didn't trust a thing about Orochimaru. His whole team was relieved that the curse mark didn't seem to have any adverse affect.
While they waited for the medics to carefully remove Yoroi from the battlefield, Ino and Sakura came trotting over to them.
"Nice fight Sasuke-kun!"
"Yeah! Great job Sasuke!" They chirped.
Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, clearly irritated. Naruto rolled his eyes and flicked them at their fellow genin. Sasuke sighed.
"Ino, Sakura. Thank you. And good luck in your fights." He smiled, though it looked pained.
Both girls flushed and Sakura might even have squealed before returning to their respective teams.
"Why do you make me do that?" Sasuke questioned.
"You mean be social and get along with your comrades? Hmm, I wonder why." Naruto said sarcastically.
All he received was a half grunt half sigh from his teammate, to which he grinned.
The names began to roll again, and Naruto held his breath. This time they landed on Sakura and Lee. More relief came to him, though he was sure this was going to be a painful fight for Sakura.
He was not ready, however, for Lee to declare his love for Sakura before the proctor could start the fight. Even more surprising, was Lee declaring that he would not hold back out of respect for her. That was probably going to be good for Sakura in the long run, and very bad for her in the immediate future.
The fight started, and Sakura made some textbook maneuvers. Thrown shuriken to force Lee to move from his spot. Regular clones to cause confusion while he was moving. Typical stuff, but generally effective. If your opponent is of similar speed. Lee was fast. He took one step to the side and flew past the shuriken and struck Sakura with a fierce punch before she could finish her jutsu.
Sakura barely managed to get a forearm up in time to take the blow, and she was sent rolling back by it. No doubt her forearm was damaged. Possibly broken. To her credit though, she gritted her teeth, and smashed a smoke bomb into the ground. 5 pink heads emerged from the smoke in different directions, and Lee, ever the vigorous one, hunted them down one by one, smashing punches and kicks through their intangible bodies.
5 clones had been dispensed off, leaving a clueless Rock Lee standing in the middle of the floor as the smoke began to clear. Suddenly he was dodging attacks and projectiles that were too fast for Naruto to see.
"Ah, genjutsu. The sneaky little witch." A lazy drawl said. Out of nowhere Kakashi-sensei seemed to have materialized, leaning against the wall with one leg up, his lone eye focused intently on his book. There was no way he could see the fight from the angle he was at.
Naruto rolled his eyes yet again. For his nonchalant act, Kakashi sure had a flare for the dramatic.
Turning his attention back to the fight, he saw that Sakura had remained in the smoke and cast her jutsu from there. It gave her the precious moments she needed in a fight where there would be few. She began to move as smoothly as possible towards where Lee was erratically dodging nonexistent attacks. No doubt she was trying to get a kunai to his neck so he would have to forfeit.
Before she could get to him though, Lee dodged smack into a wall, seemingly jarring his entire body with the force of his well trained muscles. It took him a second to readjust to his surroundings, before he sped at Sakura. He landed a kick to her ribs, no doubt cracking them, then turned, pivoting into a punch. Sakura shifted out of the way just enough that his fist glanced off her jaw more than it caught her. Still, she flew back, holding her jaw as she landed on the concrete and skidded. Lee was on her in a second, kunai produced from who knows where, and inside Sakura's guard. The proctor declared him the winner.
"I am sorry, Sakura!" He exclaimed. "I did not wish to hurt you but I had to show the world that I am a splendid shinobi!"
Sakura, who looked much like she was on the verge of tears, shook her head and flashed through a few of the general shinobi hand signs. Of course she would know those. 'Good Fight' 'Thank you'
A few of the genin on the balcony seemed confused by what had just happened. Kakashi sighed. Kurenai took the time to explain. "The physical pain of running into the wall broke the genjutsu. She did a great job casting it but she lost focus when she tried to end the fight, and ended up leading him directly into the wall."
Naruto wasn't paying much attention to her. Jiraiya had taught him all about breaking genjutsu on his 9th birthday. He was more focused on the digital board that was once again flashing with names.
It stopped on a Hyuga. He inhaled. Neji Hyuga. Exhaled. His opponent would be Dosu of the sound. A team that was conspicuously missing their sensei.
Before Neji could meet his opponent on the battle grounds, Hinata stopped him, whispering in his ear. He scoffed at her, shooting a glare her way as he leapt down. She quickly returned to her team.
"Why do you help him, Hinata? You know it's only going to grow his ego. He's already bad enough." Sasuke shot at her.
"I do not wish to see any harm come to my cousin. He is family." Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Hinata allowed a small smile.
The fight was over nearly before it started. As the proctor dropped his hand, both contestants lunged for each other. Dosu with his gauntlet drawn back, Neji leading with a two fingered point typical of the gentle fist. Neji was quicker.
The Hyuga completed his lunge by striking at the shoulder of Dosu's gauntleted arm, jamming chakra in what Naruto was sure was a tenketsu point, affectively making the arm useless for a short time. Dosu grunted, and tried to use it anyway, but it was clear there wasn't any chakra coming from it. Neji dodged his swing deftly, long hair flowing in the wind of the strike, a smug look on his face. He brutally added ten more strikes to essentially shut down Dosu's physical capabilities. The sound ninja crumpled.
"Neji! Your youth is admirable! But you should have some respect for your opponent!" His sensei shouted.
"Why should I have respect for such trash. He was destined to lose to me."
Gai frowned at that, and Rock Lee began an enthusiastic argument with his teammate, but Naruto had drawn his attention back to the board once more.
The digital board that decided their fate. He found it odd. All thoughts were dismissed when Hinata's name was landed on. Followed by Kabuto's other teammate, who he didn't recognize. A huge sigh of relief. His highest priorities were relatively safe.
Hinata's fight was easy, despite the fact that she wasn't quite fully recovered from all her injuries. The older genin could turn his bones to rubber or something of the like. The gentle fist attacked soft tissue. He stood no chance.
She politely put him down with the necessary force, apologized, and then returned to her team. She received a hug from Naruto, a high five from Sasuke. Yamato-sensei gave her a bow, which she returned. Finally, she received an eye smile and head pat from Kakashi, who had somehow managed to maneuver his way over to them without anybody noticing.
Temari from the Sand and TenTen from Team 10 were drawn next. The Leaf Kunoichi put up a brave fight, and while he arsenal was vast, it was too pigeon holed. The wind user defeated her soundly, letting her land bent over her fan cruelly as she succumbed to her cyclone like jutsu. Another safe, although minorly injured, comrade.
Temari's brother, Kankuro was drawn next to fight Shikamaru. The Nara looked like it was the last thing in the world that he wanted to do, but made his way down regardless.
The fight was the most drawn out by far, both choosing to fight longer range. The problem was that Shikamaru was too far to reach the puppet user. He would be able to catch the puppet in his shadow and freeze its chakra, but then he would also be stuck while Kankuro was free to move and throw projectiles at him. Eventually he maneuvered his way close enough to catch the puppet user, but was caught in a cloud of poison just as he completed his jutsu. He tried to hold his breath and make it out, but no doubt ingested some. He tactically retreated and decided that a forfeit was in his best interest. He immediately made his way to the medics so they could treat him, as Kankuro had claimed to have "forgotten" the antidote.
Shino faced Zaku from Sound next. An uncharacteristically bloody fight for the bug user. He used his allies to plug the holes in Zaku's arms, and the genin foolishly had tried to use his jutsu anyway, and lost both arms below the elbow because of it.
Four Konoha Shinobi left. Three more fights. The board flashed through the remaining names. Naruto, Gaara, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Kin. He saw them all.
Kin vs Choji. A sigh of relief. He'd only have to deal with the anxiety of waiting one more time. Choji lost, which was tough, but hopefully he'd learn his lesson. He'd been too hesitant to hurt a Kunoichi who hadn't done anything to him. She ruthlessly put him under a genjutsu and shot him full of senbon until he was temporarily paralyzed. Better to happen now when he would be okay within minutes than out in the real world where he would surely be dead or captured.
The final drawing of the big digital board began to play. Ino's name appeared, and he decided right then that if she or Kiba had to fight Gaara he would interfere with the match.
Kiba. Thank the Toads. Kiba vs Ino. They were safe. Konoha was safe. His family was safe. His comrades made their way down to fight each other. A fight he subconsciously predicted Kiba would win, with his superior speed and strength.
His conscious mind was focused on his opponent already though. Gaara of the Sand. Jinchuuriki of undoubtedly what was the One Tailed beast. Jiraiya had given him the basic rundown of the other jinchuuriki. He would control sand. The rumors said his bijuu won't let him sleep. Naruto was worried. The look in the red heads eyes told him a lot. They told a story of what he could have been. Perhaps what he would have been if it weren't for Jiraiya and Iruka and Jiji.
At some point, Kiba won the fight. He wasn't paying it any attention though. For the first time in his life since he'd started training to be a shinobi, a real shinobi, he was scared. He'd asked for it though, shouldn't he be more calm if this is what he wanted? His heart rate was speeding up, he tried to take a deep breath but if it helped he didn't notice.
"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. She and Sasuke were looking at him. They could always tell what he was thinking. Sasuke's eyes flashed red. Naruto stared into them and let the minor genjutsu take hold.
Why he and Sasuke had first started doing this, he wasn't sure. At first he was just helping his friend work on his genjutsu, but when he learned that they could communicate through it, a possibility arose. The mind, and by extension, chakra, worked faster than the real world. Just like when he entered his seal, time was slower in here. How much slower he wasn't truly sure, but it seemed as if they could have a short conversation with only a moment passing. Most wouldn't even notice it, and those that did would have trouble reacting in time for it. Hinata and Yamato knew of course, as did Kakashi, but there wasn't any reason for them to interfere.
"You're scared?" Sasuke thought to him. He could hear the voice, could see Sasuke, but Sasuke wasn't moving. It was as if the reality had frozen.
"Yes… he's like me."
"I know."
"Then why aren't you worried."
"Because he's like you, but he's unstable. He won't be able to analyze and think and react the way you do. You'll win." Sasuke said.
Naruto ignored his comment for the moment. "I could have turned out like him, you know."
Sasuke nodded, though Naruto felt the action more than saw it. A strange thing genjutsu were. "Yeah I know. I feel the same way."
"If it weren't for those closest to us, we could've been a wreck. Who knows if we would even be friends." Naruto said.
"I do." Sasuke replied, a rare showing of emotion leaking into his voice. "Better get going, the proctor is about to call you down."
Naruto nodded, somehow certain that Sasuke would know that he did even though he couldn't move, and suddenly time seemed to resume.
He turned to Hinata. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a bit of an adrenaline rush before my fight. Be back in a flash." He winked at her and flipped into the arena, but the bravado didn't quite seem genuine to his team.
"Gaara of the Sand." The proctor called out between coughs. "Naruto Uzumaki. Are you two ready?"
Naruto looked at his opponent, then nodded at the proctor. Gaara sat stone cold staring dead ahead at the blond.
Hayate rolled his eyes, but raised his hand anyway. "Alright then. Fight!" His arm dropped with a sharp whoosh.
Sasuke vs. Yoroi - Sasuke
Rock Lee vs Sakura - Lee
Neji vs Dosu - Neji
Hinata vs Neck guy - Hinata
Temari vs Tenten -Temari (Canon)
Kankuro vs Shikarmaru - Kankuro
Shino vs Zaku - Shino (Canon)
Kin vs Choji - Kin
Kiba vs Ino - Kiba
Naruto vs Gaara - Next Chapter
Sorry for Sarutobi's rant if you didn't like it, it was fun to write, and I felt like Jiraiya deserved something like that. Also has the potential to foreshadow or set up quite a few things, but I'll never tell what they are.
Remember, Naruto didn't see Sasuke fight with the Curse Mark energy, and neither did Hinata, so while they're concerned, they don't know exactly what it does and is doing to him.
Also, nothing has been done about Naruto's seal, because he's unaware of it. He was in an enraged state being nearly overtaken by the Kyuubi's chakra, pushed to his limits in the heat of battle, and getting the shit kicked out of him, all while worrying about the lives of his teammates, he's noticed things are off, but he doesn't know what's causing it.
Sound doesn't have their sensei because Orochimaru is obviously well known and after Sasuke, and its highly likely Naruto would be able to sense him from so close, so he wouldn't risk going that close. Seems odd that he did in canon when the Hokage was right there at one point.
Not gonna lie I wrote this over the course of three sessions, all while quite tired, so there will likely be an inaccuracy or two, and certainly will be typos, but I wanted to get it out so it could be read. Feel free to kindly (or neutrally. Don't be a dick) point out any flaws. I enjoy improving.
Big fight next chapter. Get ready for it to go down. It's already written, and will be released on Wednesday. (It's Saturday night as I post this one.)
Enjoy, and please comment if you do! Last chapter only had 1 comment which was really disheartening.