Naruto of the Seigan, Emergence of the crimson blonde

by BLdaman

What if Naruto was a survivor of assinations like gaara? What if he became friends with hinata early? And What If Naruto carved his own path in the shinobi world? Naruto's highly gifted and will one day be the strongest. Follow Naruto's long, painfilled, Action packed, violent, and loving journey! Enjoy. still continuing and it only getting better!

28. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Namiuzu's back

He arrived at training ground 97 much sooner before dawn than he'd planned. He didn't like being teased, he'd killed too much in his life to be teased. He definitely didn't think the joke was funny either. He wasn't a damn performer.

Naruto figured he had about twenty or more minutes before the sun came up and likely more time before they were ready to fight. He sat on a high branch in one of the thick trees that lined the clearing and meditated.

He wasn't the first one to get there. Three shinobi he assumed were his opponents were sparing and preparing for a fight. By the way they stopped and began talking amongst themselves when he got settled in, he was sure of it.

He was impressed by what he sensed. Maybe it would be a performance afterall, Naruto thought. A crow settled onto Naruto's shoulder and he began feeding it chakra while he meditated.

The crow on his shoulder was always around, it was his personal crow, Tsubasume. The crow seemed like a normal crow except for its closed left eye. While it looked normal, it was anything but normal, even before Naruto had trained it for three years.

Naruto hoped his fight was too late of notice for many people to attend but he was wrong. Minutes before the sun appeared over the horizon dozens of shinobi had arrived and many more were arriving via shunshin.

The training ground was rather large as well as the forest surrounding it. Onlookers had gathered just far enough behind the treeline to have a good look but remain out of harm's way. They were all shinobi so they could get pretty close and have enough time to evacuate.

Members of the war council had gathered towards the center of the groundsf and were talking to Neji, Ten-ten, Lee, and Yakumo, his assumed opponents. It was nearly time so Naruto left his tree and walked over to the group. Tsubasume flew off but circled closeby.

Discussing things Naruto didn't care about was Hiruzen, Homura, Shikaku, Danzo, Raido Namiashi, and a couple others. He didn't see Tsunade but ,the day before, she'd told him she had a long morning briefing with first division leaders and couldn't attend.

"Good, I'll assume you're ready as well?" Homura, council elder, said to Naruto. "Let's just get this over with before the rest of the village shows up." Naruto replied.

"Naruto, where is your youth? Our fights will light fire in the hearts of our comrades as we go to war. Let my own flames spark the fire of youth inside of you too!" Lee said with a thumbs up. Naruto wanted him to go away, one way or another.

"Ok then, Naruto, this team was specifically chosen because of their proficiency in Taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu and weapons. We will have you spar with each, one at a time to adequately test your skill set for the position you've been given." Homura explained.

"I don't have time to fight them one by one." Naruto replied. Homura and his opponents looked ready to object so he elaborated. "Even If I did fight them one at a time, I don't intend to flaunt my abilities before a war. What the council needs to know is if I'm capable enough to make an impact in this war.

I plan on showing that as quickly as possible so I can start preparing root for deployment. I'll fight them at the same time." Naruto asserted.

"Are you sure? They were chosen for a reason. This is Konoha's best four man squad, excluding special op squads." Raido questioned. "Arrogance is not the sign of a great leader, boy. You're going to look foolish." Hiruzen added. Naruto said nothing, he wasn't going to relent.

"Naruto, we are not the genin you knew before, if you wish for a chance to show your abilities then I suggest you face us once at a time." Neji said, stepping forward.

"With all due respect and youth, Naruto, you do not have a chance against our full team, please be reasonable." Lee said. "Naruto, there really are a lot of people here. You're like a living legend and it would really be a let down to see you disappoint. We're really good. At least think about it first." Tenten added.

Naruto could see that they were really confident about themselves but he wondered why they were underestimating him so much. He guessed it'd been a while since his opponents weren't at least a bit afraid of him.

In New Wave, his wave cloak and blue mask was infamous. When he wore that cloak people not only knew he was the leader but that he was dangerous. Some had even called him a god. Coming back to being doubted so readily was a culture shock, still, it amused him.

Danzo walked over to him and whispered something so only he could hear it. "Most people in Konoha believe you've just been running from Jiraiya for the last three years. Your enemies have been spreading rumors and painting you as a coward.

Many believe you left all your problems with the hyuga heiress and are just emerging from your safe little hole. I convinced Tsunade that the village needed morale so that you can show them that you don't run from anyone. Not anymore. Do not disappoint me." The old warhawk said.

He then turned back to the others and told them it would be the full team Neji against Naruto and walked away. "So be it," Homura replied. before he walked away followed by the other council members too.

Naruto could sense amusement coming from the man, same as from the members of Team Neji, except for Yakumo. Yakumo was nervous and looking at him.

Naruto noticed he'd let his face slip into a scowl. He was too used to wearing a mask and rarely had to hide facial expressions around those he'd take it off around in New Wave.

Naruto fixed his face into a blank, somewhat peaceful expression while Yakumo stressed to their team that they needed to take it seriously. Shikaku had stayed so Naruto assumed he'd be the ref.

"I'll be overseeing this match today. Remember we are at war and can't lose shinobi in matches like these. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to kill or seriously injure your opponent. Nothing a good medical nin couldn't handle.

Other than that, fight as you wish until we've seen enough or the battle's been decided. With that being said, Naruto, do remember that this is about proving your abilities. Giving the shinobi watching something to boost their confidence by having you on their side would do wonders for morale as well.

Everyone's scared or nervous so anything helps. Begin!" Shikaku finished formalities and body flickered away. Naruto gripped his fox staff and sent furaijin back into its seal for the duration of its fight since he wasn't going to be using it.

The sword added to his bloodlust tenfold because it was created during the most blood thirst period of his life. It was blood thirsty and if he used it, it'd try to get him to kill and if he didn't it'd get too antsy and become a distraction. In friendly fights it had to go.

Lee and Neji appeared in front and behind him preparing to strike. Naruto thought about how they really thought they could catch him off guard just like that. He wondered who really was the arrogant one.

Lee landed a crushing punch, square in the middle of Naruto's back while Neji landed a palm strike cleanly in his midsection. For the smallest of moments, they thought they'd ended it just like that.

Naruto exploded just when they were sure they'd caught him. Both ninja were blown away by the clone's explosion but neither had much damage. Naruto could sense explosion release chakra in Neji's tenketsu and a thin film of void release chakra coating Lee's body.

Naruto thought it was interesting. They'd taken chakra shielding to a new level. Using chakra to strengthen your body to withstand attacks was difficult to truly master but they were well along the way, and with their own twist.

Neji and Lee instantly took defensive positions while searching for Naruto. Neji yelled Tenten's name just in time for her to jump away and avoid a pair of hands coming from the ground.

Thinking quickly, the kunoichi had tossed a kunai wrapped with an explosive tag towards Naruto emerging from the ground. Naruto intercepted the projectile by quickly tossing his own. He used an adamantine shuriken, a variant of his chakra chains.

The shuriken bounced the kunai back towards Tenten right as she activated it. The explosion blew her direction causing her to shield her face. Then, her senses screamed but she wasn't quick enough.

With a bone-breaking impact, Naruto's fox staff came down onto Lee's arms crossed together to form a defense. Tenten turned behind her to find Lee protecting her. He'd stepped in to block Naruto's flying downwards strike but didn't have the leverage and fell to a knee as Naruto pressed down trying to break his guard.

Lee felt Naruto's attention turn and suddenly the force bearing down on him lessened. Neji struck Naruto hard in the side of his chest. Naruto dropped his fox staff and promptly exploded.

This explosion was much stronger than the last and the three were rocketed away. Lee and Neji recovered gracefully but Tenten skidded to a halt, smoking. She quickly got up and removed two sharp boomerang shaped daggers from a sealing scroll. She looked angry.

Team Neji didn't have to look for Naruto since he was standing in the middle of the clearing. He was trying to find Yakumo. He knew she was close and even her general direction but he couldn't get a lock on her chakra signature.

He figured it was her genjutsu. For a genjutsu to work on him, even without his seigan activated was rare. Too bad it was obvious, the area with most affected and with the most chakra would be where she was hiding. It always was.

He didn't even waste the energy to dispel the genjutsu. Once he got within ten feet of her, there'd be no hiding even with the genjutsu. Naruto jolted to her direction and to where she was going to be.

To his surprise, when he appeared in one of the giant trees lining the clearing, he didn't sense Yakumo in his immediate area but he did sense seals. A moment later, he'd dispelled the genjutsu to find himself surrounded by explosive seal tags.

Instantly Naruto launched himself high into the air with a jolt enhanced jump. It was much stronger of a leap than he'd meant. The seals beneath him exploded in a very deadly and destructive fashion propelling wood shrapnel in every direction.

The explosion beneath him even propelled him higher into the sky. As he rose he was proud of Yakumo. That was close. He even had a few splinters in his ass.

She'd set a trap by using the typical weakness of genjutsu users using an illusion to hide. She was able to trick him because she didn't underestimate him. He was proud of her, but it wouldn't happen again.

When Naruto started to fall he'd already finished a set of hand seals to greet his ground welcoming party. Naruto cocked his right arm back and waited until he was fifty feet above the trees and screamed, "Kaze no Kami Tenohira, Palm of the wind god."

Naruto thrust his palm forward and a hand shaped gust of wind shot towards the ground, gathering wind, force, and speed. With every inch the palm travelled, it grew larger as more air was condensed into the shape of a hand. When the palm had descended halfway down, it was a massive force of nature large enough to level a building.

Neji had been watching the jutsu and hadn't left because he intended to fight the jutsu head on but he hadn't foreseen it growing to such a degree. He wouldn't be able to keep his team out of the backlash.

Lee's eyes widened when he realized they'd be crushed and he bit his thumb before running through hand seals. "Summoning jutsu!" The bushy browed genin shouted out. Tenten was about to hightail it and hope she made it away when she was suddenly in what seemed like a building that smelled like fish water.

From the tree line, Yakumo watched the giant palm of wind impact a giant turtle shell with a loud 'BOOM!' followed by the rushing sound of a roaring gust. The ground buckled and cracked under the turtle shell. Winds ran rampant throughout the clearing, washing over the ground like a flood.

When the dust settled, Lee's summoned shell had dispelled. Lee, Neji, and Tenten were spread across the clearing and picked themselves off the ground. They quickly regrouped and Yakumo joined them taking up a diamond formation.

Naruto stood dead center of the training grounds, holding his fox staff. "This might just be fun, but I hope you're ready to get serious." Naruto said, his voice echoing across the clearing.

Neji's byakugan bulged into existence and his eyes bore into Naruto. "I'm afraid you haven't given us a reason to." Neji responded. Naruto stabbed his fox staff into the ground in front of him. "I see, my mistake then." Naruto responded.

In the blink of an eye, he'd finished a set of hand seals and the fox head's mouth atop the staff opened. Team Neji tensed. "Katon, fox fire justsu," Naruto thought to himself. Then, dark, thick and billowy flames erupted from the staff's head and swept across the clearing towards team Neji.

Tenten jumped to the front of the group and removed a scroll from her pouch and tossed it on the ground in front of her, letting it unfurl. She ran through hand seals as fast as she could. Moments before they were engulfed in flames, she stomped on the scroll to activate it and screamed, "Suiton, water barrier jutsu!"

Hundreds of gallons of water exploded from the scroll just in time to meet the inferno about to incinerate them. Steam rose in the air and the water hissed while it formed a flowing dome around team Neji.

The staff's fox flames engulfed the front half of the barrier but it held firm. "I should be able to keep this up longer than him, it takes much less chakra once formed and It can handle a jutsu of this caliber." Tenten told her team confidently.

Naruto saw the barrier withstanding his flames and took in an inhumanely deep breath of air. With a ram seal, he condensed it and blew a powerful stream of wind right at the back of his staff, melding the two jutsu. "Futon, jetstream,' he thought.

The dark billowy flames began to concentrate into a light red jet of flames. The temperature in the clearing rose several degrees as Naruto increased his jetstream. The suiton barrier started to sway under the new pressure.

Tenten began to sweat and struggled to uphold her suiton barrier when flames intensified. In the center of the inferno, where the flames carried the most force, her barrier was beginning to boil and bulge inward.

"What about now, um, my youthful teammate?" Lee asked. At first he believed in the barrier but his belief was shaking more and more by the second. "NO, we have to do something, I can't hold on for much longer." She responded.

"Wait, just hold on, I'll get him to stop." Yakumo assured. "Good, now Lee, when the barrier's down we need to push him. We can't give him time to launch these kinds of jutsu anymore." Neji ordered. "Right," Lee confirmed.

Yakumo was going through hand seals relatively slowly because she had to focus. A few seconds later, she said, "Magen, Nietagiru Chikyuu, boiling earth."

Naruto was playing the long game willing to bet his flames could hold out before the barrier when he noticed something off. He sensed chakra invading his senses and immediately dispelled it.

Still, his feet started burning. He looked down and could see the ground start to bubble as if it was boiling. Naruto knew it was Yakumo and abandoned his jutsu to refrain from being cooked alive.

Her genjutsu was one of the most deadly things in the village even if you were somehow able to dispel it, you'd have to get to her to dispel the genjutsu placed on the surroundings.

Her genjutsu was so strong, it affected natural energy which in turn affected the natural environment. She had actually made the ground boil and that wasn't something he could dispel, not quickly enough to survive.

Naruto jumped away admitting that it was well played. Then, he sensed two of his opponents charging him with amazing speed. Neji appeared in front of him launching a flurry of jyuken strikes that Naruto used his staff to deflect.

Naruto could sense surprise from Neji since he could keep up with the Hyuga's strikes. Naruto's jolt-step worked for any kind of body movement so he could match anyone's hand speed.

When Lee appeared behind Naruto, the fight got difficult. Lee swept low with a kick to knock Naruto off of his feet. Naruto jumped over it before planting his staff in the ground to give him the leverage to kick at Neji.

The hyuga ducked under the kick before striking a few tenketsu in Naruto's leg. Naruto came to his feet and slashed his staff towards Neji forcing him backwards. Lee appeared beside Naruto and landed a liver shot before jumping and throwing a spinning head kick.

Naruto was able to eat the pain from the liver shot long enough to block Lee's kick with his staff. Neji appeared on Naruto's other side and attempted to end it with a knockout jyuken to the back on Naruto's neck but Naruto turned his body, making the hyuga miss.

Neji followed with a powerful airpalm, point blank range before Naruto had even finished fending off Lee's kick. Naruto went flying but righted himself in the air quick enough to spit out a bunch of leaves.

Neji and Lee darted towards Naruto but Neji pulled back when he saw familiar markings on the leaves. With a ram seal, Naruto made all the leaves, still falling where he spit them out, explode.

Lee was blown out of the way but Neji was able to shield himself. The explosions weren't big but together they were dangerous. Naruto placed his staff in front of him and tapped it on the ground twice before large black fan blades erupted from each side of the saff.

Naruto turned around and swiped with his newly changed gunbai. The giant fan knocked a boomerang shaped dagger away but it continued flying and circled back to its owner, Tenten. Naruto released a burst of chakra to reopen his tenketsu and smiled.

They were finally getting serious. Maybe he would soon too, he thought. "You always have fancy weapons, I'm jealous." Tenten teased as she hefted two of her special daggers and tossed them.

They took a wide ark before curving directly towards Naruto on opposite sides. Naruto waited for the last moment before jolting a couple steps back and swinging his gunbai precisely. The daggers ricocheted right back towards Tenten.

Tenten's eyes widened and she shuffled around looking for her other daggers. When the blades were a few feet away, they swirled around her and flew back towards Naruto. The kunoichi smirked, "Guide release, gale flock." She said.

She'd found her next two daggers and had dropped the scared act. She was in control of her projectiles and they didn't just fall to the ground anymore. She tossed two more daggers that got in line taking passes at Naruto.

Naruto dodged and swatted them away wondering why the girl was so confident. They had something planned, he thought. At first, dodging them wasn't an issue but he'd noticed Tenteni seemed to toss more and more daggers.

They'd begun to look like an actual flock swooping down to impale the Namiuzu. He could sense Neji and Lee just watching and Yakumo was up to something if her chakra was any indication.

Naruto moved to level three of his jolt-step. He'd classified it over his time in wave. Level 1 made him quicker and was just a mini shunshin. Level two extended to his limbs . Level three extended to his nervous system to enhance his reaction time too. Level four was everything enhanced tenfold or more. Level 5 isn't complete but could make him the fastest man ever.

Naruto enacted a series of jolt-steps that left 5 afterimages. Tenten didn't know which was the real one and divided her flock of daggers to attack each. The skin on her neck tingled and she instantly substituted with a log.

Naruto's staff crushed through the log and had even been able to catch Tenten although it wouldn't have done much damage. He found her nearby and was gone in a jolt just as a wave of spiraling daggers passed his position.

Naruto appeared above Tenten's position in a tree when the girl dissolved before his eyes. Naruto dispelled the genjutsu and was surrounded by a dozen spinning daggers hurtling his way.

Naruto released a barrage of chains that entangled the projectiles long enough for him to speed after Tenten again. He was once again cut off by more daggers, many more. He jumped back just in time to dodge dozens and when he looked up, there were hundreds in the sky.

The next thirty seconds were spent dodging and swatting for his life. Naruto narrowly avoided impalement an uncountable number of times. He'd been so preoccupied that he hadn't noticed something off about his surroundings.

Grinning, he activated his seigan and a bright swirling ball of fiery chakra appeared in his right eye. Naruto immediately dispelled the genjutsu to notice that there were only dozens of daggers flying around.

Neji and Lee were watching closely and Naruto realized they were trying to tire him out and wear him down. He'd turn it around on them. Naruto swung his gunbai in a horizontal ark to create a wall of wind surrounding him like a tornado. "Futon, wind wall," he thought.

The wall of wind deflected the spinning daggers but they always rebounded to swoop again with more force. His jutsu appeared to be strengthening Tenten's. Naruto ran through a series of one handed seals before slamming his palm on the ground and muttering, "futon, Kami's upheaval."

His voice carried on the wind like a secret message. His wind wall compressed to the ground before all the air in the area shot upwards with the force of a train. The spinning daggers flying in the air shot higher into the sky like rockets.

Dust, leaves, and chunks of ground shot into the air while everyone in the clearing had to root themselves to the ground with chakra, hoping it worked. The justu created an opening and a moment of distraction as intended but Naruto wasn't done.

Naruto placed the gumbai on his back and followed with more hand seals for, "Raiton, executioner bombs." It was a variation of his executioner's sphere. The ball was smaller, moved faster, and exploded on impact yet it didn't have the raw destructive power of the original jutsu.

A dark blue, purplish ball, cackling with electricity formed in each of Naruto's hands. He sensed Lee and Neji charging but it was too late. With a jolt, the red head was gone.

He reappeared a short distance away from where Yakumo was hiding and hurled an executioner bomb her way. The kunoichi's eyes widened in alarm before she abandoned the tree.

He followed by tossing another before reforming them again. Lee and Neji tried to cut off his pursuit but were halted in their tracks when Naruto threw the destructive raiton jutsu in their direction.

Yakumo fled from tree to tree, desperately trying to escape the barrage of executioner bombs that was demolishing the treeline. Naruto could sense their spectators retreating deeper and deeper into the konoha forest with every jutsu he used.

He forcibly led Yakumo's retreat towards Tenten but acted as if he didn't sense the other kunoichi while forcing Yakumo to dodge for her life. He wouldn't be giving her any time to perform a genjutsu.

If she stopped or ran into the open, she was his. The executioner bombs were painful so he hoped she'd keep running but it was healable.

When Yakumo and then Naruto passed Tenten, Tenten lunged at him attempting to catch him off guard. She attacked with a metal bo staff slashing it downward to knock Naruto out.

At the last moment, he jolted away and then jolted again to get behind her. He was about to knock her out when Lee knocked him aside with a spinning kick.

Naruto dispelled in a poof of smoke and reappeared above them swinging his gunbai while holding a half ram seal in the other hand. A massive gust of wind appeared sweeping Lee and Tenten off the branches they were on.

Neji appeared behind Naruto and launched a lightning fast flurry of jyuken strikes to Naruto's back. The redhead exploded Upon contact.

Lee and Tenten were separated but both landed easily after their fall. Naruto materialized four adamantine shuriken in his right hand and tossed them towards Tenten. He fanned the air with his gunbai and a gust of wind empowered his shuriken.

When Tenten landed in the clearing, she heard the whistle of projectiles and quickly jumped to the side. She'd barely avoided four blue shuriken that buried themselves in the ground where she just stood.

The moment she got to her feet, the shuriken exploded into tiny chains that rapidly lashed out towards her. For a moment she was surprised, and her ankle was caught. A second later and the chains had begun to restrain her body.

She fell to the ground and was caught by Neji while the chains continued to grow, further entangling her body. The hyuga did his best to yank them off but it only seemed to make them stronger. He even noticed the chains taking chakra from him and Tenten.

The chains had multiplied, nearly mummifying Tenten and trying to ensnare Neji. Neji was forced to jump away and was joined by Lee and Yakumo while they watched Tenten lose all her strength.

When she stopped struggling and fell asleep, Neji could see that the chains had ceased draining her chakra. He deduced it was a jutsu that used the targets own chakra against them.

"Adamantine restraints. She'll be out for a few hours due to chakra exhaustion." Naruto said as the chains faded away into nothing.

"You used me to draw her out," Yakumo said in a cross between a statement and a question. "More or less. I just needed one of you out of our little game and she came first."

"Do not think you've won because you've taken one of us down. We are still the most youthful." Lee responded. "Your team is still holding back. If you think you can beat me without your best then that arrogance will make this a quick little spar." Naruto chided.

"We'll show you who's been arrogant today. Lee, follow my lead. Just be careful, he's slippery." Neji responded. They took a good look at Naruto, he smirked and they charged.

"Doton, earth devil jutsu," Naruto intoned as he finished as set hand seals. Chunks of earth all around him started ripping themselves from the ground before grouping together in large mounds and spinning.

The earth devils took the shape of large rocky spinning tops that rocketed towards Lee and Neji carving deep trails through the ground. Neji jumped ahead of Lee and took a stance similar to his jyuken but even more balanced.

When the earth devils drew close, he gathered up explosion release chakra into his left palm before thrusting it forward with as much force as he could muster. With an echoing boom, a massive explosion extended from his palm reaching over twenty yards in front of him.

"Bakuton, explosive palm jutsu," He muttered to himself as he demolished the area in front of him.

When the smoke cleared, Naruto's jutsu was finished, a couple of the earth devils were still moving but quickly fell into a pile of rocks. "Yakumo! Get ready!" Neji shouted before launching himself into the air towards Naruto, Lee following.

Naruto saw Yakumo pull out her clan's keepsake, a dream catcher. It amplified her genjutsu which meant they were taking it up a notch. He assumed a defensive position and waited for his attackers.

Neji attacked from above with a point blank explosive palm. Naruto jolted away at the last second and came away smoking but unharmed. Lee appeared behind him with a Konoha senpuu, spinning kick.

Naruto grabbed the gunbai from his back and jolted his body to pivot around in time to block Lee's kick with the fan. Next he jolted to the side and then behind Lee before sending a sidekick to the youthful shinobi.

Lee hadn't even planted his feet but was able to raise his forearm in defense. He was knocked to the side but settled himself and came to a skidding stop.

Neji appeared beside Naruto with another explosive palm primed and firing. Naruto jolted towards Neji, placing himself on the other side of the blast and landing by Neji's side. He kicked low attempting to sweep Neji off of his feet but the Hyuga flipped backwards and adjusted his stance.

Neji fired off another explosive palm in the blink of an eye but Naruto was once again beside the jounin and out of the range of fire. Lee appeared behind Naruto and feinted with a right hook and sent a high kick to Naruto's head.

Naruto fell for the feint and was knocked off his feet. Lee jumped away just in time for Neji to fire off another explosive palm at their opponent. Naruto hadn't even recovered his footing before covering himself with his gunbai and blurring through one handed seals.

"Gunbai, mirror!" Naruto shouted just as he was caught dead center of the explosion. Naruto's gunbai sucked up the explosion, all the force behind it and the black fan blades glowed white.

Lee appeared above Naruto with his leg out dropping a heel kick. Naruto pointed the gunbai above him before muttering, "Reflection." An explosion, much like the one Neji had just sent towards Naruto erupted from Naruto's gunbai catching Lee square on.

Lee was rocketed away like a smoking projectile. Neji was caught in a moment of surprise which didn't slip Naruto's mind. Naruto materialized half a dozen adamantine shuriken and tossed them towards Neji.

Hyuga jumped away and tossed his own shuriken to intercept Naruto's. The shuriken all clattered to the ground and Neji had created too much distance for the restraints to target him.

For a moment Neji and his byakugan glared Into Naruto's single seigan and the Namiuzu glared back. His eye proposing a seemingly amusing challenge. No words were exchanged but Neji took offense.

"Naruto-sama definitely got much stronger. I wonder who'll win though." Mai wondered aloud while she watched with the others from as close as they felt safe. Ino, Shizuka, Rukia, and Konohamaru looked at each other as if they were a part of an inside joke.

"I'm sure Naruto will win. At this point, there's very few people in the same league. He's, amazing. It's like watching an artist create a masterpiece every time." Ino responded.

"I don't know about art but the gaki's good. Mama wants a spar," Anko said. She'd come to personally watch over their new clanmates. Their clan didn't have the time to deal with any abductions and there wouldn't be any with her around.

Naruto's stare off was interrupted when he felt his chakra system be bombarded along with most of the natural energy in the training grounds. He'd forgotten about Yakumo. Naruto didn't bother trying to break the genjutsu appearing before his eyes because he couldn't dispel something that'd become real.

Earth and rock rose up high all around him in thick pillars that multiplied. The pillars then began arranging themselves and combining into tall long passages. Naruto jolted back and forth to avoid being crushed and even tried jumping above them but was closed in.

A rocky ceiling formed out of nowhere and he fell down to find a short hallway with two openings. Naruto could sense some of the path forward and from what he could tell, the pillars were just the building blocks of something much larger. He was in a maze.

Naruto tapped his gunbai once and it returned to a staff then he began to run down the passage ways. He tried to map ahead with his senses but he couldn't make much out of what he sensed.

Naruto made a right and then a left, another left and then another right. He ran into a dead end and turned back to find a completely different passageway than where he'd come from. He didn't panic, instead, he marvelled at Yakumo's genjutsu prowess.

To trap him in a genjutsu of this magnitude was astounding. He doubted an uchiha could but then again, Uchiha's genjutsu didn't affect the real world. The only benefit he could see out of this is that Neji and Lee would be affected by it too. They'd be in the maze, even if Yakumo could guide them or just open a path to wherever they need to go.

When he thought about it more, the genjutsu wasn't offensive at all, it only trapped him. He assumed it took all her control and concentration to control what she was creating. If she did too much more she might lose grip over her own genjutsu.

That meant that it'd be up to Neji and Lee to take him out in a place where they could ambush him, and he couldn't run. He also wouldn't be able to use his staff in the passages because they weren't wide enough.

Naruto held the staff under the fox head and tapped the top of the staff with his other hand. The wooden staff started to burn away at the bottom moving towards the top. It stopped an inch away from Naruto's hand and had left a short black blade the size of the standard anbu tanto.

With a more serviceable weapon he started walking and preparing his senses for the eventual ambush. He didn't wait long. Behind Naruto, a hole opened up in the wall and Neji jumped out before sending an explosive palm down the hallway.

Naruto had been ready and jolted up the wall and behind Neji the moment he'd popped out. The redhead slashed at Neji's back but the jounin dived forward before stepping into a hole in the wall that opened just for him.

Naruto's senses barely alerted him when Lee appeared out of a hole in the wall to his right. Naruto raised his forearm to block a sidekick and was knocked hard into the wall on his left.

Neji came out of the wall behind him while Lee disappeared and struck some tenketsu in Naruto's back before hitting him with a strong jyuken in the back. Naruto slammed against the other side of the passage while Neji disappeared into the wall.

With a Jolt, Naruto was down the hall and away from the emerging Lee. Those hits had hurt. Naruto figured it wasn't a good Idea to stay still and started running through the passageways choosing directions randomly.

Lee popped out and swept Naruto's legs out from under him but the redhead caught himself from his fall by latching chains into the wall. When he lashed out at Lee with more chains, the bushy brow was gone.

Neji sent an explosive palm from down the passage. It caught Naruto by surprise, just as he'd dissolved his chains and sent him rocketing until a wall appeared in his way.

He crashed into it hard and when he bounced off a kick from Lee sent him right back. Naruto slammed his head and for a moment the world was fuzzy. Still, he sensed Neji sending another explosive palm and formed a rasengan into his hand.

He quickly aimed it at the explosion and destabilized it with a massive bust of raiton chakra. A powerfully erratic, swirling explosion of chakra radiated from his hand, combatting Neji's attack and cracking the walls of the maze.

When the aftermath died down, Naruto instantly jolted down the path and around the corner before dashing further into the maze. He moved quicker and moved more unpredictably. He'd acclimated and now weathered or avoided more attacks from Neji and Lee but he knew he'd actually be in trouble if he didn't do something soon.

He'd noticed the maze had begun to shrink. The walls were ever so slowly getting closer and the roof was sinking. At first he didn't realize it but maybe that was the point. Naruto could see he was actually in a pinch.

Lee finally caught Naruto by surprise and landed a devastating heel kick under the redhead's chin. Naruto was knocked off his feet and his head hit the ceiling. When Neji jumped out to attack from below, Naruto had already begun to slash his way.

The hyuga was able to move his arm from being cut off but received a nasty slash before cocking back his other arm and thrusting forward an explosive palm that rocketed Naruto down the passageway painfully.

Naruto felt burns over his arms even though he'd coated his whole body with his chainmail. He decided that was enough, he'd played with Yakumo's jutsu for too long. Mentally, he reached out to his reliable companion.

"Tsubasume, I need your help." He said mentally. "I'm here, Naruto-sama." the crow responded. "I want you to find a purple haired kunoichi, she'll be hiding and holding a circular object with string and feathers. It's a dream catcher. Let me know when you find her." Naruto said.

Naruto used his jolt-step to avoid a flying knee from Lee and used a chain to pull him away from the hole he was about to disappear into. His chain dispelled where it was in contact with Lee and the bushy browed special-jounin launched a flurry of jabs and kicks at Naruto.

Naruto weaved the jabs and knocked aside the kicks before feinting a sweep kick and jolting behind Lee and slashing at his back. Lee had jumped to avoid the low kick and Naruto caught him in the air.

Lee had seen his mistake and leaned forward into a front roll at the last second. Naruto's blade only left Lee with a light cut through his flak jacket. Lee flipped backwards right out of his roll, landing on his hands and sending backwards kicks at Naruto.

Naruto dodged then kicked at Lee but the green blurr flipped to his feet and jumped away into a hole in the wall. "I found her, should I kill her?" Tsubasume questioned mentally.

Naruto threw his fox tanto towards Neji appearing out of the wall and blurred through hand seals. His fox tanto multiplied into thirty identical black blades with fox head handles. Neji disappeared back into the wall and the projectiles sailed into darkness.

"Good and no. I want you to take her dream catcher. You'll have to be quick and precise because I doubt you'll have more than one chance." Naruto responded to Tsubasume as he jolted down the maze.

The walls were a foot away from his shoulders now. He raised his hand and his fox tanto returned to him as he ran. "Should I use the eye?" Tsubasume asked. "Yes, but don't let anyone see it. You should be able to move as fast as you want with it activated.""Yes, Naruto-sama," Tsubasume responded.

High above the maze Tsubasume opened her left eyelid revealing a three tomoe sharingan. It closed its other eye and honed in on Yakumo hiding in the brush between two small leafy trees.

Yakumo was crouched onto one knee holding her dreamcatcher and performing a half ram seal with her other hand. Tsubasume looped to gain speed and flew high in the air. Falling backwards, Tsubasume flapped her wings furiously until she was a blurr descending upon Yakumo.

Yakumo was sweating and her breaths were shaky. Performing such strong genjutsu with such precision was taxing without her inner demon but that was for emergencies only, something she didn't consider herself to be in. .

She was focusing on shrinking the maze until it was small enough that Naruto couldn't move and then Lee and Neji could disable him at their own leisure but changes had to be precise, any mistakes would be an opening for her opponent to exploit.

She felt a rush of wind and a crow appeared right in front of her before it was gone, just as quick as it came. It took Yakumo a moment to realize what had happened and she finally noticed her dreamcatcher was gone.

Immediately she felt her maze begin to weaken and unravel. She began weaving hand seals and pouring more chakra into her jutsu but her moment of distraction was costly.

Naruto had made it through more ambushes when he saw the maze weaken significantly. He didn't think he could break out easily before but now he had his chance. "Thanks Tsubasume." Naruto said to his crow while blurring through hand seals.

"Suiton, explosive water wave." Naruto thought before he pooled chakra around him using it to create a flood of water that exploded out in all directions pushing all throughout the maze.

"His jutsu had even caught Lee who no doubt felt Yakumo's jutsu weaken. By the time the water stopped rushing through the maze, the water was waist high. Lee and Neji were hidden beyond the walls of the passageways.

Naruto blurred through more hand seals and the moment he felt his opponents emerge from the wall, like he knew they would, he performed, "Raiton, electromagnetic death."

From his body, he pumped a vicious amount of raiton chakra throughout the water that flooded the maze, sending a deadly pulse of electricity throughout his trap.

Lee and Neji quickly abandoned the passage through their personal holes before they were shocked too bad. Naruto grinned and cranked up the amperage even more until the water exploded along with the maze.

Neji and Lee saw Yakumo's maze crumble back to the earth and fade away but didn't expect the electrified water to be shooting in every direction. They were both caught as they tried to escape and received the shock of their life.

Lee was able to curb the worst of it by using his void release chakra throughout his body and eventually nullifying the shock entirely. Neji eventually used a short rotation to clear away the water and stood in place convulsing for a moment.

Naruto kept up his charge for as long as it was effective before disappearing with a quick jolt-step before they could get their focus back on him. He reappeared behind Yakumo. They were both breathing hard, and Naruto had taken a bit of a beating.

She seemed to have been waiting for it and had a katana out. Naruto slashed towards her midsection with a reverse grip on his fox tanto. Yakumo parried his strike before quickly adjusting and sending a diagonal slash towards him with her katana.

Naruto ducked under the slash and spun to the side of Yakumo before slamming the butt of his fox tanto into the side of Yakumo's head. The girl fell unconscious and Naruto caught her.

He could see her chakra levels weren't lower than forty percent. Her coils were stressed but she hadn't exactly gone all out. She just didn't have enough time to recover from using the jutsu it seemed.

Tsubasume landed on his shoulder with the dream catcher in its mouth. The crows left eye was closed and the normal one was open again. Naruto took the dream catcher and Yakumo's sword before sealing them in her clan seal where she could find them later.

Naruto body flickered into the clearing and placed Yakumo on the ground. "You know, I've never encountered something like that, I guess your team is pretty good. Still, it's not enough. I hope I save the best for last." Naruto said casually.

"How did you do it? With Tenten, that combination attack took down 5th gate Guy sensei." Neji asked. "Yes, I would like to know as well, how did your youth lead you to escape the maze?" Lee added.

"A few reasons. First, like you said, Tenten wasn't there. I'd assume her projectiles would be able to move as freely past the walls as you two and that'd be troublesome to deal with even without the two of you. Next, the two of you are still holding back, I doubted you held back against Guy sensei.

And the last reason is Tsubasume here." Naruto motioned to the crow on his shoulder. "This little guy can fly faster than most people can see. He took the dream catcher and that more than likely distracted Yakumo.

In the maze's moment of weakness, I used water to conduct a strong electrical current throughout. Genjutsu or not, it was still made of earth and rock and raiton chakra did the trick." Naruto responded.

"I see. Well, I assure you, there will be absolutely no more holding back. We won't risk our health to win but you'll face everything we have to offer from now on, right Lee." Neji said. "Right, the real battle starts now," Lee confirmed.

"Yea, yea, let me guess you're gonna open a bunch of inner gates and Neji's gonna try to poke me three hundred something times." Naruto responded. Neji grit his teeth and all but growled.

"We New Hyuga are not restrained to the same techniques we've been using for decades. I myself have discovered abilities no other hyuga has obtained." Neji explained. This made Naruto raise an eyebrow.

"I'll admit, I initially wanted to achieve the same ability as Hinata-san. Instead I gained something of my own. Two Years ago, I went to the place where your team fought Miryo. The demon's chakra still permeated the cavern even then.

I meditated and trained there for 3 months until I started hearing voices." Neji continued. Naruto was now intrigued and listened closely. Neji continued. "A month later I began to take in the remnant chakra in the cavern and a month after that I was in a struggle for my soul against the demon's chakra.

It took me another month to reclaim my body and mind but when I did, everything changed. My body started producing a foul but powerful chakra so I used that chakra to hone my body, my abilities, even my doujutsu.

It was so unnatural that my body put a limiter on it. Now, similarly to Guy and Lee I can release that limiter. I call it the dark gate. Now, I will show you why they saw fit to make me a Colonel in charge of a battalion" Neji said.

Naruto could see the hyuga's chakra building up as if it was about to explode. He hoped this dark gate was strong or else that long introduction was for nothing. "I too no longer rely on the same techniques." Lee started.

"Oh god," Naruto muttered. "I only go beyond the third gate in life or death situations. I now have other youthful ways of defeating my enemies." Lee said proudly.

"You know they say seeing is believing," Naruto teased, hoping to egg them on into attacking more and talking less. This time Naruto was sure Neji growled. He watched as Lee went straight to opening the third gate, gate of life. And Neji opened the Dark gate.

Lee was overflowing with a bright green chakra to Naruto's seigan. His skin was red and his veins bulged. Unlike last time, Lee didn't look like he was in much pain at all and he seemed to be calm and in control on the third gate now.

Neji was overflowing with even more chakra. The chakra was dark, purplish black

and reminded Naruto of Sasuke's curse mark chakra. Neji's skin had taken on a dark tinge and his byakugan had gone black.

Neji was calm and in control too which was admirable considering how nasty that chakra was. The two across from him were sizing him up and he knew they were a dangerous pairing. "Tsubasume, mind eye link. Give me an eye from above and use that one." Naruto said mentally.

The crow on his shoulder shot into the sky before switching to its sharingan eye and linking its sight with Naruto's. Naruto tapped the butt of his tanto twice and it extended into a full Katana though the edge was blunted so he didn't kill anyone. .

Naruto wouldn't be the arrogant one and underestimate them now that they're going all out ish. He could see that they were waiting for him too, to see if he had anything else up his sleeve. He did.

Naruto used a half ram to focus his chakra as he prepared his body for his jolt-step level four. He infused pockets of chakra into hundreds of specific points in his body as if his body were a weapon. There was so much raiton chakra pumped through his body in preparation, it was visible even to Lee at times.

The chakra settled but Naruto's body still sparked on occasion. His opponents watched him carefully. "So you've finally gotten serious," Neji asked. "Serious enough." Naruto replied. Neji all but glared at him for a moment.

"No, you're still just playing around. You haven't used that sword or any bloodline abilities. This is your last chance to take us seriously, Naruto." Neji said.

"Yes, we wish to defeat you at your best. Our youth has been disrespected since you would not face us one on one." Lee added.

"Maybe I don't see the need to get serious. Maybe, I already know how I'll defeat you both. Either way this is about as serious as I'm going to get. If you want more, seems like you'll have to make me." Naruto responded challengingly.

Neji and Lee abandoned words and blurred away heading towards Naruto. The redhead disappeared in an explosion of speed before reappearing in between the charging Neji and Lee. He slashed horizontally as he passed Neji but Hyuga flipped over the blade, clearing it by mere centimeters.

Lee planted and lunged back towards Naruto sending a konoha senpuu, flying kick. Naruto slid under the special jounin and popped back up, slicing his fox katana in an ark towards the lunging Neji.

Naruto sliced through a log before stepping sideways to avoid a powerful punch from Lee. Bushy brows repositioned before launching a flurry of punches and kicks while sticking too close for Naruto to properly swing his sword.

Naruto flipped to a backhanded grip on his Katana and muttered, "Saikuro Surasshu." He slashed horizontally in a complete circle and a circle of intense flames erupted outward all around him.

Lee was Initially almost gutted but had taken the flames head on. He was blown back but the void chakra coating his skin, dampening the blow. He'd only taken some decent burns.

Neji had leaped high in the air the moment he saw Naruto release the sword technique. He could see the chakra and guessed the path of the blade by his stance. He didn't expect the justu to reach so far and nearly fell into the flames.

Neji didn't know how accomplished his opponents swordsmanship was but he'd developed a way to combat blades better than just dodging. Neji caught Naruto's eyes as the hyuga's arms took on a dark purplish, almost black tinge from the elbow down.

Neji blinked and Naruto appeared in front of him performing a powerful downward slash. Neji was lucky he could see through his eyelids because he had time to raise his arms and cross them to block Naruto's slash.

Naruto's fox blade was stopped with a loud resounding 'clang'. For a moment, he was surprised that Neji's skin was so strong. He thought he would've broken his arms, not come to a standstill.

Neji grinned and Naruto but Naruto grinned back. "I wouldn't touch this blade if I was you." Naruto said. Neji wondered what he meant but quickly found out when his skin began to smoke and burn.

Naruto jolted back to avoid Lee coming in with a crushing heel kick. Neji appeared next to him and performed a flurry of jyuken strikes but fired off mini explosions from his fingertips at Naruto's joints.

Naruto was prepared to take a few jyuken strikes but Neji's explosive jyuken was stronger than it looked and painful. He lashed out with his fox sword and Neji disengaged. '

Naruto immediately jolted his body into a pivot to avoid a high kick from Lee. Naruto slashed horizontally but Lee ducked and spun under the blade before landing a solid punch into Naruto's gut followed by two more.

Neji appeared beside Lee and unleashed a powerful explosive palm that Naruto was too stunned to move. He'd been able to cover with chainmail but the attack sent him flying with some annoying burns.

Naruto popped up and blurred through hand seals before they had a chance to try and overwhelm him but he stopped when he felt his chakra was disturbed. It only took him a moment to realize Lee had infused his void chakra with those punches. His body groaned in pain from the attacks too

"What about now, my youthful comrade? I bet it is hard for you to mold chakra because of my void release." Lee said. "For now, Naruto responded. "We won't give you the chance to purge it." Neji responded before charging.

Neji had seen Naruto begin to purge Lee's chakra from his system and wanted to press their advantage. Naruto slashed at Neji as he appeared and the hyuga risked grabbing the blade with his hand.

Even if it was sharp, his skin was strong enough to withstand it, he just couldn't have prolonged contact with whatever material the blade was made of, Neji thought.

Neji's momentum allowed him to keep the sword at bay while he thrust his other hand forward to loose an explosion in Naruto's face. Naruto released a hand off of his fox katana and used his jolt technique in his arm to slap Neji's wrist at the last second.

The blast exploded over his head and the pure force of it was still enough to knock him backwards. Lee appeared beside him sweeping low with a kick to knock him off of his feet, Naruto jumped over and could sense Neji in position to catch him in the air.

Naruto smirked internally and used futon chakra with his jolt step to kick the air, instantly dashing out of the way of Neji's explosive palm. It was an alteration of his level four jolt-step, air-step and provided another level of maneuverability with his speed by stepping on air.

With another airstep he was on the ground behind Neji before the hyuga's blast had even dissipated. Naruto assumed a stance with his fox katana horizontally in front of his face, blade upwards. "Sengiri," he muttered before slashing towards Neji once and returning to his starting position.

Neji only had time to feel a dull slash on his back before someone crashed into him, throwing him to the side. The hyuga looked back to see Lee where he was just standing. With his byakugan he could see wind chakra stirred into a frenzy.

He screamed for Lee to run but it was too late. The attack had begun and his teammate was trapped. Lee was being cut by hundreds if not thousands of invisible wind blades.

The green spandex wearing special jounin stood firm in a defensive position, focusing on his void coating to defend him as his body received cut after cut after cut.

When Naruto's attack ended, Lee was covered from head to toe with cuts leaking small amounts of blood. None of the cuts were fatal or fight ending but it was exceedingly painful for the bushy browed ninja.

Lee fell to knee but quickly pulled himself up after the brunt of the pain hit him. Neji launched himself between Lee and Naruto just as Naruto threw four of those adamantine shuriken at Lee.

Before Neji batted them far away, the shuriken collided with each other in front of him and ricocheted around Neji towards Lee. The adamantine shuriken landed in a perfect square around the bushy browed special jounin and Naruto blurred through hand seals.

"Four corner barrier jutsu," He said as a tall, dark blue barrier erected around Lee. Neji unleashed a devastating explosive palm towards Naruto in an effort to stop him. Naruto had anticipated it, or at least his crow had and he'd jolted to the side of Neji just as the hyuga fired it off.

With another jolt he was next to Lee's barrier sticking a blank tag on the side with chakra. Neji attacked Naruto, forcing the redhead away but by the time he was gone, the blank tag had a seal marking it.

Neji planted himself between his teammate and opponent while observing Naruto and the barrier at the same time. Naruto made no move to attack.

Neji had heard him say four corner barrier jutsu. While he was in no way proficient in sealing techniques, his teammate, Yakumo was. She'd once brought them the sealing jutsu to improve their versatility as a team.

From what he knew of the jutsu it took a shinobi in each of the four corners and a constant flow of chakra to maintain. He could see that Naruto had somehow channeled enough chakra through his blue shuriken to maintain the corners but how he was infusing chakra to the whole barrier, Neji didn't know.

After further observation, Neji realized that it was coming from the sealing tag the redhead had placed on the barrier. If that was the source of chakra then removing it would weaken or drop the barrier entirely.

Neji smirked and Naruto had the feeling the hyuga had just figured out his barrier. The moment Neji moved, Naruto jolted towards the seal he'd placed on the barrier and sliced downward with his fox katana.

Neji's arm was knocked down with an echoing clang the moment before he'd grabbed the tag. Neji fell off balance and Naruto took advantage by jamming the fox head hilt of his katana into Neji's face before turning his body and following up with a kick that knocked the hyuga off of his feet.

Neji went with his momentum and flipped backwards landing on his feet. "Looks like it's just you and me now, like you wanted," Naruto said.

"It seems to be that way. Still, you chose to fight us all. I can't let you have it easy, now can I. I'm going to make you move and release my teammate. Then, we'll defeat you together like, you, wanted. It will be the fate you decided." Neji responded seriously.

"Somehow I doubt that." Naruto responded with a smirk. Neji didn't know it but was playing right into his hands. His barrier was weak and Lee could eventually break out and maybe even quickly with Neji's help but they wouldn't have the chance.

"Naruto, this is most unyouthful of you. Fight me." Lee said from behind the barrier, his voice sounding as if it was coming from underwater. The bushy browed shinobi started punching and kicking the barrier with all he had.

Neji took a stance and said, "You will move, eight trigrams, 86 burst jutsu." He locked in on the redhead and launched himself to right beside Naruto who was in a defensive stance.

Neji built up small explosions in his palm and detonated them as he thrust his arm forward, propulsing the explosive force towards Naruto. He targeted points on Naruto's legs, arms, torso, head and everything in between.

Naruto materialized a thick chainmail and jolted his body time and time again in an effort to avoid the attacks. Even as fast as he was, Neji's attack had a decent range and there were so many at point blank range. Naruto started taking the hits more than he dodged.

Neji's flurry of explosive bursts lasted only a couple seconds but he'd sent 86 explosive palm bursts. His last two were the strongest and sent Naruto rocketing away. Neji stood by the barrier breathing heavily but triumphantly.

The technique he'd performed always took a lot out of him. It was a lot of chakra and a lot of speed. He could see Naruto slowly getting up and quickly ripped off the sealing tag. It began to dissolve and Lee thanked him.

Naruto grinned while taking stock of his body. The force of the explosions definitely broke his clavicle and a few ribs. He had burns that had progressed past annoying but otherwise his chainmail had protected him. Next time he'd infuse suiton chakra in the chains, he thought.

Neji and Lee were preparing to go back at Naruto when the seal tag in Neji's hand glowed. Neji threw it aside and jumped away. The tag smoke and then another Neji appeared from the seal tag exactly identical to the real one.

"You activated a special trap seal the moment you released your teammate. Have fun." Naruto said with a mocking smile. "A copy will be easy to defeat, Lee, I'll leave him to you until I handle this imposter."

"Right, Naruto, I will be your youthful opponent." Lee said with a nice guy pose that looked demonic with his red skin, cut, and tattered body. Naruto had finished hand seals while he spoke. "Multi shadow clone explosion jutsu," he thought to himself.

Dozens of clones appeared around Naruto while Neji began fighting with himself. Lee charged at Naruto but was intercepted by clones. The green spandex shinobi ducked under a katana slash and landed a solid uppercut to a Naruto clone.

The clone exploded and almost knocked Lee off of his feet. He weathered the explosion with his void chakra and went to the next clone. He dispelled it with a kick and the explosion knocked him off of his feet.

After repeating the same thing again a few more times, Lee jumped away to create a bit of distance. He thought for a moment and realized this wasn't a fight he should charge right into. He had other options at his disposal now.

After destroying another exploding clone, he ran through hand seals and screamed, "void release, void zone."Then, a wavy barrier of green chakra began to surround him and expand in a ten foot radius around him.

Naruto could see it was a projection of his void release. It would nullify chakra in some way and he was curious what it'd do to his clones.

Lee prepared himself for the other clones. When they came close, their movements slowed and when he hit them, they didn't explode anymore. Instead they faded out of existence as his jutsu and strikes nullified their chakra.

Lee dispelled the clones one by one and much quicker than he'd expected before waiting for the real Naruto to face him. "You will not be able to use your speed around me with this technique, it will nullify your chakra," Lee said proudly.

"I'll still win," Naruto responded before jolting towards Lee and slicing with his fox katana. Lee quickly pulled out nunchucks and used both handles to block the strike. He forced Naruto back and began to swing his weapon in his special rhythm.

Lee attacked from constantly varying angels, testing Naruto's swordsmanship. His nunchucks were quick, versatile and powerful. Only a true kenjutsu master could keep up with him when he used them.

Naruto blocked and parried Lee's relentless chain of attacks, trying to keep up without his jolt step. Lee's void zone didn't infiltrate his system but did nullify chakra exiting his body. He probably could've overwhelmed Lee's jutsu but it would've required him to release most of his chakra which was something he didn't plan on doing.

Naruto and Lee danced back and forth in a dazzling display of weapon skills but Naruto was beginning to be overwhelmed. Much of his technique and mannerisms were built off of his jolt step and fighting without it was a big handicap.

Lee finally got the upper hand by using his strength in powerful strikes that would knock Naruto's guard to the side just enough for Lee to slip in attacks. Naruto received a few crushing blows that would've broken bone had it not been for his chainmail.

Finally, Lee caught Naruto across the side of the face and sent him spinning to the side.

Lee sped to underneath Naruto and sent a powerful kick launching the red head into the sky. He launched himself off of the ground after Naruto while unleashing his arm wrappings.

Lee rose until he was beside Naruto and reached out to grab him for his hidden lotus. At the last moment, Naruto air stepped out of Lee's range, the special jounin's arms and wrappings missing him.

Lee's eyes had just widened by the time Naruto had air stepped to behind him. Naruto unleashed a barrage of chains that wrapped around and restrained the youthful shinobi just as they began to fall. Naruto wrapped his arms around Lee too because bushy brows was still leaking void chakra.

Naruto angled them into a tight spin while they plummeted to the ground. Naruto's chains had dispelled by the time they were ten feet off the ground and at the last second, Naruto tried air stepping away but it's effect was minimal.

His momentum was still directed sideways and would've had a tough landing but Tubasume caught him. Still, his fall would've been nothing compared to the human comet that Lee had become. Lee's impact had left a crater and his bowl cut and green spandex were nowhere to be seen above the rubble.

Neji had seen it happen but couldn't get past himself long enough to help. He was perfectly evenly matched with himself and would have to grow stronger just to win. He wouldn't shy away from the challenge but he needed to do it sooner rather than later, the hyuga thought.

Naruto got up sorely and walked to where Lee had crash landed himself. Slowly, the youthful special jounin pulled himself from the rubble. "How. You turned my technique against me but your technique shouldn't have been able to work." Lee said.

"Unlike your void punches, your void zone doesn't infiltrate my chakra system so the moment I'm out of it, I'm unaffected. Also, when you move too quickly, you leave your void zone behind until you're able to expel enough chakra to reform it around your current position. Your chakra control still needs work.

And lastly, you attempted to use the same technique that'd failed over three years ago. I wouldn't fall for a technique twice, let alone one I'd gotten out of before. I had two more plans to get out of it that would've worked if my first one had failed." Naruto responded.

"Ah, I see. I promised I wouldn't go beyond the third gate to preserve my body, so I will have to defeat you with the gate I have open, my youthful opponent. This battle is not over yet." Lee said. He didn't look like he was in the best condition to be saying that. Lee was cut and battered all over.

"No, the battle is just about over for you. I'm impressed how you've turned your void release into the ultimate ninjutsu defense. You should've been out of commision a long time ago but here you are. I want to see just how well your void release holds up though. Do your best, Lee. " Naruto responded.

As he spoke three more Naruto's appeared around him. A second later they were surrounding Lee with some distance between them and their target.

In the woods surrounding the training grounds, members of the war council watched on with mixed emotions. "Perhaps this team wasn't as strong as we thought them to be. The boy is picking them apart one by one." Homura said.

"I can personally assure you that this team is every bit as good as they're said to be. Neji and Lee themselves are A rank shinobi, I've fought them myself." Shikaku Nara said.

"He's right, that kid's impossibly fast, like his father, and his versatility is hard to deal with. They've essentially nullified his ninjutsu yet he still has his speed, kenjutsu, and ingenuity with seals. We may have another S rank shinobi in our rankings." Raido said, wondering what Minato would say if he was around.

"Neji's team haven't and won't show their best to preserve themselves for the upcoming deployment. The Yakumo girl can perform much stronger and more expansive genjutsu if she wishes, and Lee can open 6 gates without much trouble. They were holding back." Hiruzen added.

"We can all see that Naruto is using the minimal required effort and will still defeat your golden boy team. I will hear no more of his qualifications and abilities. His appointment is hereby final." Danzo said before leaving via shunshin.

"He's right in the fact that Naruto isn't walking through this fight but he also doesn't seem to be having too much trouble. I'm satisfied, we should probably end the fight now," Shikaku said.

"No, It's too soon. If he's to be such an important piece of this war then we need to thoroughly vet his abilities." Homura said. "Agreed." Hiruzen added.

Lee looked around and saw he was surrounded and they'd already finished their hand seals in the blink of an eye. He could see a ninjutsu coming and quickly ran through three hand seals to perform, void release, void shroud.

The four Naruto's inhaled before exhaling a powerful flowing flame towards Lee. "Katon, blazing fountain." Naruto thought. Lee expanded the layer of void chakra coating his skin beyond his body a few inches and increased its potency.

A thick green coating of chakra appeared around Lee just as four powerful gouts of flame hit him from all sides. Lee tried not to panic when the temperature around him rose to scalding. He couldn't breathe because he knew the air would burn his lungs.

Lee's hair and clothes singed but he was more or less fine. Naruto grinned internally and stopped holding back knowing his clones would follow. They all adjusted the angle of their flames slightly to the left.

The torrent of flames began to swirl clockwise around Lee, increasing the intensity of the flames in the center where Lee stood. Lee began to sweat and temple as the flames swirled faster and grew hotter by the second.

Lee was sweating from every part of his body. He held the ram seal, struggling to focus as much void chakra as he could into his shroud without overloading his own chakra system and losing access to chakra again.

His shroud grew, and then shrunk before flickering and then coming back stronger. The bushy browed special jounin poured everything into his technique. He'd trained endlessly to be able to withstand the strongest Ninjutsu attack and couldn't fail now.

The flames had taken on a light orange, whitish tinge at the epicenter of a flaming vortex storm. Naruto and his clones turned up the flames so much that the clones dispelled and Naruto was forced to jump away.

The jutsu raged on as the heat in the training grounds rose significantly. When the flames died down, Lee was in the middle of a large patch of scorched earth.

He was smoking and his clothes had all but burned off but he was otherwise unharmed. His cuts had healed, likely because of the gate of healing but the spandex wearing shinobi still wasn't in great shape.

His gates were closed and he'd fallen to his knees breathing heavily. In the end there was still a toll Naruto figured. "Lee, you're strong and when you develop your techniques, It'll be nice fighting you again. For now, your part in this fights over." Naruto said.

"Hey, I'm, not, done. I will defeat you. You, you are not that fast um, youth." Lee said. He was exhausted, worn, and out of chakra. Even worse, the side effect of too much of his void chakra was kicking in. He was getting dizzy and losing his balance, he felt drunk.

Naruto looked at Lee and he was starting to look intoxicated by his rosey cheeks and sway when he stood up. Then Naruto remembered an old rumor about Lee being a master of the drunken fist.

Naruto was done fighting Lee, he was going to end things there. Naruto took a standard offensive stance with his katana facing the stumbling shinobi. Naruto's figure shimmered and then there were two Naruto's side by side.

The two Naruto's shimmered and then there were three. Then the process repeated itself until there were 18 Naruto's in the same offensive sword stance lined side by side and forming a perfect circle around Lee.

Whenever the special jounin stumbled into an attack or dived at a Naruto, the circle just moved with Lee at the center. "Eien no Zangeki," the Naruto's said in unison.

Lee was looking around for an attack when he felt a blunt slash on his back. He turned around then felt one on his chest, then another on his side, his back again, and then his other side.

Lee was struck again, and then again, and again yet never once saw his attacker. He only saw the 18 Naruto's surrounding him in the same stance they'd always been in. The attacks continued and they were relentless. Still, from what he could see, the Narutos never moved

He tried to run but didn't make a single step before his foot was struck in four different places. He couldn't scream because the air had been slashed out of him. He felt nothing but the pain of a blade and when the attack stopped he fell to his knees.

He could still feel every slash and if Naruto's sword had a blade, he'd be in pieces. He'd been defeated soundly, Lee realized. He could barely move his body, and it was probably only because Naruto had still pulled his punches in that last attack.

Naruto looked at Lee who was in the realization that he'd lost. "I found a pattern that I could repeatedly run while building up to unseeable speeds and I could attack as if there were multiple of me. I'd leave multiple after images to distract my opponent while picking them apart, unseen right in front of their eyes.

That was one of my best sword techniques Lee. I showed it to you out of respect for your um, youth. This was a good fight." Naruto said. "You are truly fast and youthful my friend, I could not defeat you but hopefully Neji can." Lee said.

Lee then quickly took out three shuriken that lit up green with void release chakra and threw them. Naruto prepared himself but they weren't at him. The shuriken sailed across the training grounds towards Neji and his clone.

The clone raised a dark purplish forearm to block the shuriken but was surprised when the shuriken stuck in the arm. Neji smirked, he had a habit of blocking projectiles with his forearms whenever his dark gate was opened and Lee's chakra could negate his tough skin.

Neji took advantage of the clone's surprise and performed his eight trigrams 86 burst jutsu. Neji's clone tried to combat the attack but wasn't prepared to use the same jutsu and was defeated.

Lee smiled at Naruto as the red head tossed a few adamantine shuriken his way. Chains erupted from the shuriken, entangling Lee and draining the rest of his chakra until he passed out. Neji appeared next to Lee just as the chains dissipated.

"Do you still think I was arrogant?" Naruto asked. "You're strong, I'll admit that but yes, you're still arrogant. You haven't won yet." Neji grabbed Lee and removed him from the area via shunshin and returned.

"Don't die." Neji said as he gathered himself into his fighting stance and focused his chakra. He looked like an evil hyuga ghost with his black eyes, dark, purplish arms and gray skin that had gotten darker over the last few seconds.

"Yea yea, come face your fate." Naruto replied. Neji blurred away and appeared before Naruto faster than he'd moved the entire fight. His arm was poised to fire and he loosed a massive explosive palm, three times as strong as his normal blasts.

Naruto had known what was coming and was gone before Neji's arm had fully extended. He wasn't far away and Neji just turned his direction to fire off an even stronger one. Naruto blurred through hand seals the moment he'd gotten there and was ready with a doton, great earth wall jutsu.

The earth wall shuddered under the attack but held firm. Neji fired off three more in quick succession. The last one crumbled Naruto's wall to dust but he was gone. "Whats wrong, can't use your bloodlines anymore? Was it the eye?" Neji taunted with a chuckle, obviously influenced by his chakra.

Naruto didn't like the eye comment and decided to show Neji he was wrong. He jolted away to avoid a lunging Neji and then again when Neji shot another explosive palm at him. He dodged another one and then took on a sword stance while waiting for the next one.

"All that confidence and all you do is run, haha." Neji said before he fired off three quick explosions towards Naruto. "Fusshoku Kiri," Naruto said calmly before slashing the air three times.

The three explosions propelled to Naruto's directions were split apart and dispersed as if cut by powerful gusts of wind. Naruto followed up by tossing his fox katana in the air before jumping and delivering a precise kick that propelled the blade towards Neji.

Neji barely had time to move his head to the side as the blade came slicing past his face. After it whistled past, he was left with a tiny cut, even with the blade dulled.

Naruto had used the moment and was blurring through hand seals for Shoton, crystal release, nine point fox star. In each hand grew a five feet wide crystal star with nine, sharp fox tails spread evenly creating the points. They resembled giant fox themed shuriken.

Neji raised an eyebrow, having been corrected rather quickly. He came back to his senses and delivered another powerful explosive palm in Naruto's direction. Naruto tossed his crystal stars and jolted away. He sent one more from another angle and jolted away again.

Neji tracked the first two as they curved high and around his explosion before falling back towards him with impressive speed for something so large. He waited until the right moment and thrust both arms out towards their target at the same time releasing two explosive palms at his incoming projectiles.

The two crystal stars exploded in a shatter of crystal while Neji flipped over the last one thrown by Naruto. Naruto had a ram seal and thought, "Shatter' when Neji flipped over his star.

The giant crystal projectile exploded sending shards of crystal into Neji's back. The black eyed hyuga grit his teeth and Naruto felt his chakra grow as if it fed off of his pain. Raising his hand, Naruto's fox katana appeared into his hand.

Naruto quickly brought it in front of him to block what seemed like a claw strike from Neji. His hands had gone completely black and were much sharper than they should be. Neji's hand clanged against Naruto's blade while he thrusted his other forward.

Naruto removed a hand from his fox katana and knocked Neji's wrist away causing the explosion to go off away from him like before. Neji pulled his arm off of Naruto's katana before jumping back and preparing another explosive palm.

Naruto raised an arm towards Neji and created a rasengan. When Neji fired off another explosive palm, Naruto destabilized his rasengan with a potent burst of raiton chakra.

The jutsu exploded into a storm of destructive lighting that met Neji's explosion head on.

Both destructive techniques collided and created a larger explosion that rocketed them both away.

Naruto skidded to a stop and wondered what Neji would do next. He assumed it had to do something to do with explosions. Neji popped up and looked around. He'd destroyed a good chunk of the training grounds and could see remnants of his chakra all around.

He could use one of his two last jutsu, the stage was perfectly set, he could even use the special ability his black byakugan gave him but he doubted he'd win. All he'd likely do is allow some spy to get more information on his abilities.

"One more attack, both of us. We'll let that decide the winner." Neji said, settling to unveil one of his secret jutsu knowing he'd get to see one equally as amazing.

"Finally see that I wasn't just arrogant huh. Fair enough though, I could use a test run for something I've been trying out anyway." Naruto responded.

Neji ran through only a few hand seals before grabbing his left wrist with his right hand. Naruto saw him gather explosion release chakra into the center before condensing it in his palm.

Intrigued, Naruto continued to watch as Neji pumped more and more chakra into the jutsu that looked as if it was struggling to get out. The hyuga himself looked nervous at the prospect of holding such a jutsu.

Naruto smiled and formed a rasengan in his hand and added raiton chakra. The jutsu in his hand wanted to run amuck but he formed a chakra shell around it that gave it form and allowed him to crank up the power of his jutsu.

The jutsu in Neji's hand looked like a dangerous black and red gyrating blob of destruction. Naruto's jutsu was a perfect glowing ball of cackling electrical chaos.

As scared of his own jutsu as he was, Neji was ecstatic at being able to use it against someone who he thought it wouldn't kill. Naruto was hoping he didn't kill Neji, his jutsu wasn't a play thing.

They looked at each other and accepted the silent challenge. Neji aimed his arm at Naruto, and fired off his destructive blob that shot towards Naruto. Naruto slung his jutsu like a ball and it rocketed off to intercept Neji's.

"Explosion release, secret technique, Shometsu boru!" Neji screamed. "Namiuzu secret technique, Raitensengan!" Naruto answered.

"The two attacks came within a few feet of each other and detonated with an ear shattering 'boom zzzggt'. Rocks, dirt, dust, electricity, fire, and explosive force rocketed out from the collision point rolling through the training grounds leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.

When the fallout faded, the majority of the training grounds were demolished and burnt black or torn into rubble. The center of the collision point was ten feet below the original surface of the training ground and it was smoking.

Neji's side had more blowback and right at the treeline he lay twitching on the ground groaning in pain but still very much alive. He didn't looked to have taken too much damage and could probably continue but stayed down.

Naruto glided down to the ground on the back of a giant crow with its left eye closed. Naruto jumped off when they were low enough and Tsubasume shrunk back to normal crow size and perched on Naruto's shoulder.

He had no intentions of being around for the fallout of their jutsu and used his trusty companion to quickly escape above the explosion.

The redhead could see the members from the war council coming to see him. Most likely to bitch about what happened to Lee, the training grounds, or complain about one thing or another. He didn't wait to find out and disappeared with a body flicker.

His job here was done and he had a busy day ahead of him.