Chapter 13: The end of chunin exam.
Enjoy The Fic
Jiraiya was stunned as the kunai was replaced by a grinning blond; his godson wasn't the one to shy away from challenges.
"Hey, Ero-oji san! Need help? I knew you were too old to fight," Naruto taunted his godfather.
"Shut up, brat! I have told you to stop calling me that and I can still wipe the floor with you, so keep your mouth shut." Jiraiya bolstered his point by smacking him on the back of his head.
"Hey! Don't start yelling at me, you old pervert. I never get how you got the title of Sannin. Hokage-jiji would've been drunk when he did that." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, I didn't give him that title, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen chuckled beside Jiraiya.
"Of course, Hokage-sama," Naruto said quickly, noticing his teacher standing beside Jiraiya.
"Even Tsunade struggles to make him call her anything but 'Baa-chan'. How do you get him to do that?" Jiraiya stated, shaking his head.
"Did you really call Tsuna, 'Baa-chan'? She must be really pissed, even in her adult years she was overly conscious of her looks," a voice said from some distance.
Naruto followed the voice to come face to face with Mito, his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Even if he hadn't been very interested in history, he knew who this woman was. With long red hair and a large scroll tied to her back, she couldn't be anyone else but Uzumaki Mito.
The woman was a legend in her own right. It was said that she was one of the strongest fūinjutsu users, even by the standards of the Uzumaki clan. But she couldn't be alive; it was pretty common knowledge that the wife of the first Hokage had died of old age.
"M-Mito-sama!? I've read that she died decades ago of old age, are you her g-ghost?" Naruto asked as a shiver ran down his body.
"What's the matter, brat? Afraid of ghosts, aren't you?" Jiraiya teased, forming a series of hand seals.
"Fūinjutsu: First form restriction!" Jiraiya bellowed, slamming his palm on the roof as a seal array sped toward his opponent.
Before Mito's body could react to the matrix, kanji started crawling up her legs and stopped just below her knees.
Hashirama chose that moment to crash-land in front of Hiruzen, who didn't get a chance to defend himself as a solid kick connected to his jaw. He soared back toward the barrier wall, knowing he would burn to crisp if his body collided with the barrier, he quickly formed three hand signs.
"Suiton: Water Bullet!" he directed the jutsu beneath him to change the direction of his propulsion.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya grasped Naruto's shoulder and looked him in the eyes seriously. "You have a single mission. Fight one of these reanimated shinobi and keep them from harming others. Move toward that giant mud wall over there."
Jiraiya pointed toward the wall on the other side of the roof. "You'll find a reanimated redheaded kunoichi there. You're to engage her and keep her from interfering with other fights. Go!"
Naruto nodded without asking any questions; he knew what should take priority.
He bolted toward the towering mud wall, his face a tight-lipped mask of determination.
"That's Kushina-chan's son, isn't he? He's so young and cute." Mito squealed as she deciphered and broke the seals of the matrix holding her in place.
"Yep, he's Kushina's son. It's a pity he doesn't look like her; a little redhead would've been quite the heartbreaker, if you ask me," Jiraiya said with a sigh.
"Your remarks... I remember you being this naughty forever," Mito snorted, drawing her sword as she moved to strike.
Jiraiya's whine died down in his throat as he deflected her strikes with a kunai; it seemed that the woman had really taught Kushina if her kenjutsu was any indication.
Jiraiya knew the risk of pitting the blond against the redhead. It was quite possible that Kushina would reveal her relationship with Naruto. But Jiraiya wasn't too worried about that.
Despite Kushina's notoriety, her ability, as she'd told them, was more suited to pass down to a daughter, than a son.
What truly bothered him was her immediate utterance of Minato's name upon seeing their son. Minato, after all, was as dear to her as Naruto.
Still, he was unable to act. His opponent, too fast and formidable to ignore for a second, could kill him. He would have to trust Kushina to understand why they hadn't told Naruto of his heritage.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Kakashi walked forward with his katana drawn, a trail of blood dripping from his blade. He had officially lost count of the victims when he reached 136.
"Hatake Kakashi, the bloody copy ninja!" A voice chuckled from behind him. He spun on his heels, a jutsu forming on his lips.
However, before he could ignite the shinobi, a sword plunged into his abdomen. It seemed the Copy-ninja had at last made a mistake.
As soon as that thought left his opponent's mind, his face twisted in pained shock.
He looked down at his chest, where a bloodied, black sword protruded.
"H-How?" The Shinobi choked on his blood and fell off the roof, dead.
"Looking into my eyes was your mistake," Kakashi's voice echoed as he vanished from his vantage point.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
The Konoha General Hospital was in disarray. Senju Tsunade was coordinating with several doctors to treat the injured brought to the hospital as effectively as possible.
Although the notice had already been received to follow the war-time protocols for the duration of the invasion, Tsunade found herself stretched thin.
It was already tiring to handle several departments at once, but Suna had increased that pressure by attacking the hospital building.
Several chunin and genin teams were trying their best to secure the building, but the attackers were relentless. It seemed Suna had sent nearly two-fifths of its force, and adding that to three-fourths of Oto's full army, the devastation was immense.
Something glinted through the window of the corridor. She glanced outside; a few Hyuga were coming to help the tired protectors.
However, that wasn't what caught her attention. Behind those Hyuga, nearly fifty enemy shinobi advanced.
Something yellow peeked from behind the enemy shinobi. Tsunade squinted, seeing nearly fifty clones of her godson in pursuit of the enemy shinobi.
It was a continuous game of cat and mouse, and despite the seriousness of the invasion, Tsunade chuckled to herself. Her godson was the perfect combination of his mother and father; observant and driven like his father while stubborn and a true menace like his mother.
She observed as the clones caught up to their enemies. Three clones jumped down from the roof slamming their hands hard on the ground, "Doton: Earth Wave.".
The earth beneath the clones rumbled before rising like waves.
"Doton: Earth-style spikes" Three more clones yelled dropping on the ground, the clones vanished out soon as they finished their chakra ran out.
Tsunade recognized the jutsu from her spar with the brat. It seems Sarutobi sensei had taught him to increase the chakra output, as the wave that rose were higher and had bigger spikes than she remembered.
A group of Oto shinobi jumped forward, firing streams of water and shattering parts of the spike wall that was about to fall on them. Though it still took out three of them, the blond's clones weren't backing down from using full force.
Four of the clones separated to fight the Oto shinobi head-on but didn't succeed. Faulting the eager clones, a group of ten clones moved forward in perfect sync. Working through the same long series of hand signs, while the ten clones behind them distracted the enemies by throwing kunai.
"Suiton: Water pellets" The clones cried out in unison, firing several water bullets the size of a volleyball
The reaction was instantaneous. The shinobi at the front shrieked and scurried back, letting the most experienced among them take control.
"Fuuton: Drilling Air bullets" Two Suna jonins intercepted his attack, neutralizing it.
Naruto's clones were so focused on the shinobi in front of them that they failed to check if anyone was in pursuit; that proved disastrous as three Suna chunin silently caught up to them.
The number of clones decreased to twenty in mere minutes; the Suna jōnin cleared the crowd meticulously.
The clones looked behind them morbidly at the massacre of their own kind before jumping off in different directions, attempting to flee from danger and create distraction.
However, only half of them could flee from the attack, but it was enough. Their main motive was to secure the hospital. Coincidentally, they saw Hyuga clan members reaching the hospital to secure it.
In a last-ditch effort to take as many enemies as possible with them, the clones began overcharging their bodies with lightning chakra. It was a good tactic, as the overconfident Suna and Oto shinobi, due to their recent victory against twenty clones, rushed forward to finish all the clones.
Hinata and her clan-mates shielded their eyes as a bright flash exploded from Naruto's clone's position. His enemies screamed and writhed as lightning tore through them, electrocuting most.
As the light faded, only burnt corpses were strewn across the area. It was a brutal massacre of at least thirty shinobi.
"That's brutal, but satisfying." One of her clans-mate said coldly.
"Yeah, it is. I think the Uzumaki kid is really ready for the post of chunin." Hizashi said from beside her, while her eyes were fixed on the scorch marks on the ground.
It wouldn't do good for her to be left behind; she couldn't repay Naruto like that. She would have to become strong enough to stand beside him in his battles, which was only possible if she trained as hard as him.
"Are you kidding me?! He's clearly above chunin level. I bet the corps will take him up as soon as the Hokage gives them permission." One of the seasoned Hyugas said, shaking his head.
Coincidentally, Hizashi couldn't agree more with the shinobi.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Ibiki hissed as the field medic applied a bandage to his arm hastily. His duty had been to aid the Mokuton user in securing the perimeter of the village. And although it had been going well until a moment ago, now a giant three-headed snake was looming over them.
Yamato was already busy fighting a masked nin on the other side of the wall. He was a Suna jonin, infamous for his spoils in the third great war.
They were hard-pressed. Unfortunately, the Morino clan didn't have any summoning contracts, and Ibiki had never looked for those beyond his duty as an Interrogator. He could fight regular or seasoned jonins, but a summon was just above his pay grade.
He was waiting for his colleague to show up, Anko wouldn't miss a chance to pit the snakes against their own kind. But it seems she was busy somewhere else, he was probably doomed.
However, against all odds, a figure rushed toward the giant snake. And before Ibiki could understand anything, four tentacles collided with the snake forcing it back, while a fifth tentacle wrapped painfully around its neck.
The figure's hand moved into a series of hand seal before finally settling at Dragon, "Raiton: Electromagnetic Murder". Lighting surged through the tentacles to the giant beast, electroducting it to crisp.
"Yo! Welcome the mighty Killer Bee, comin' here by crossing million sea, fool ya fool!" The man rapped without any rhythm, and the Cloud sign on his forehead protector was as clear as day.
"Killer Bee, one half of the A-B combo!" A shinobi said from beside Ibiki. Yes, everybody knew about the awful rapper of a jinchurikki from the Kumo.
Ibiki and the other jonins of the village were advised against underestimating Killer B, despite his goofy personality he was the second strongest shinobi of Kumogakure, and a perfect jinchurikki, whatever that meant.
"A snake? You couldn't take me down with that, you fool!" He rapped jumping away from the second snake that had appeared suspiciously out of nowhere.
The snake lunged at the Kumo jinchūriki, but he rolled out of its way, sending a flurry of kunai toward the giant summon. Lightning crackled around the weapons as they sped toward their target; however, the snake slid sideways to avoid them before focusing its attention back on Bee.
"This is a drag, but I'll beat this snake without any tag, Oh Yeah!" Ibiki sweat dropped at the man's erratic rapping, though he knew the most powerful ninjas tend to be off. Kakashi and Guy were a perfect example, or that new guy, Zabuza.
Bee formed a distinctive hand seal before spitting a large glob of ink at the beast blinding it in the process, with a quick movement he unsheathed three out of his six swords and launched them toward the giant creature.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Kushina's vision blurred due to two smoke bombs, suddenly dropped on either side of her. She lashed out reflexively, yet only hit air.
Suddenly, two windmill shurikens were coming her way at blinding speed. She ducked beneath them, believing she had avoided them, but instantly regretted it as they unfurled, revealing two identical blonds.
Both jumped on her with kunai in their hands, she weaved between the attacks of first one and grabbed the jacket of the second. Without any hesitation she brought her knees to his sternum, but instead of a grunt of pain or the sound of breaking ribs, the blond disappeared in a puff of smoke.
She moved reflexively as a roundhouse kick struck the jaw of the first blond, who also disappeared into smoke, revealing a clone. A shadow clone, and this young? And why did the blond look familiar?
Two copies of Naruto stood beneath the massive mud ball, observing the struggling clones. One of them formed two hand seals before launching a fireball at their opponent. The clone beside him formed a hand seal, exhaling a compressed ball of wind to combine with the fireball.
"Katon: Exploding Fireball jutsu" They chorused. The Fireball collided with the redhead before exploding into a tornado of wind and white flame.
To the surprise of his clones, a figure jumped out of the tornado leaving a trail of smoke behind them. One of clones tried to climb the wall hastily while the other one rolled to side to avoid any attacks, but both got impaled by chains that seemed to be made of chakra.
Naruto observed the fight from the top of the wall, his clones were being decimated like insects. Jiraiya was right, this reanimated kunoichi was pretty strong. He would have to make his next move swiftly and cautiously. Another clone took the place of the ones destroyed and charged at the redhead.
Naruto took out two shurikens from his storage tattoo, and threw them toward the kunoichi, who had already dispatched his lone shadow clone.
He formed cross-shaped hand seals before flaring his chakra. "Shuriken Shadow clone jutsu!" Two shurikens multiplied into twenty as they sped toward her.
Kushina quickly side stepped, and brought one of her Katanas to bat off the remaining shurikens. She looked up to see the shinobi jumping down toward her from his vantage point on the wall.
Naruto threw two kunai toward his opponent in the mid flight before copying the hand seal from before. "Kunai Shadow clone jutsu!"
Kushina jerked forward, the kunai got swatted aside by her blade. Before she could understand what happened, someone grabbed at her shoulder from behind.
She looked up to the face of Minato smirking down at her, with those cursed blond locks and gravitating cerulean eyes.
"Katsu!" A voice whispered behind her. he explosion blasted her back several meters; she skidded a few meters before regaining her balance.
Such natural use of shadow clones, elemental ninjutsu, and taijutsu. He was surely Naruto; he could only be her and Minato's son.
Naruto landed in front of the redhead and got his first real look at her, she was beautiful to say the least and he felt a sort of connection to her. What it was he didn't know, but it was strong and calling to him.
Kushina subconsciously began gathering chakra around herself; without her consent, her lips and voice box moved on their own. A sudden, intense heat spread through her veins. Her muscles tensed, a raw power surging within her. Unconsciously, she tapped into the first gate, the Gate of Life. Her eyes widened, a fierce determination replacing the confusion. She felt a surge of adrenaline, a primal energy coursing through her, pushing her beyond her normal limits.
"Gate of Life: Open!" she yelled as her red hair began to sway, her purple pupils disappeared, and her skin turned red. Veins bulged across her body as she exhaled red chakra.
"That's Lee technique—" Naruto's voice was cut off as a knee collided with his abdomen, he grunted in pain and spittle flew out of his mouth.
Kushina followed with a high kick that collided with the side of his face, he soared back like a Frisbee toward the mud wall colliding with it.
"Fucking hell is this woman!?" Naruto grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on his cheeks.
"Language, young man." Kushina reprimanded, looming over his still form.
"Shit!" Naruto yelled, substituting himself with a log, as a fist met it, turning it into a shower of splinters.
Naruto unsealed his bō and blocked her next punch with it. This woman was too strong to not be a kage-level kunoichi.
"What did Ero-Oji put me through? This is clearly out of my level," he muttered, jumping over her with the help of his bō.
"Ero-Oji? Did you call Hiruzen a pervert?" Kushina scoffed, twisting on her heels.
"Sensei? No—No, not him. It's Jiraiya Oji-san, he had summoned me," he said, jumping back from her kick. Her speed had doubled after opening the gates.
Kushina looked at Naruto blankly for a second before breaking down into hysterical laughter. "Jiraiya, really? It's so fitting, "ttebane! The pervert deserves that name."
Naruto smirked at her; if he ignored that she was trying to kill him, then the woman was relatively likeable.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Orochimaru tched as he saw the Uzumaki take on Kushina, his plan to overwhelm his sensei was falling apart by every second.
His finger paused at the Tiger seal as Katon chakra coiled around his mouth, ready to unleash and consume everything in its path.
"Katon: Flame Bullet!" An enormous ball of fire rushed toward his opponent. Although his Katon affinity wasn't as good as his Doton, but there were certain advantages of fighting alongside Jiraiya through two wars.
Orochimaru looked on in satisfaction as the white flames of inferno consumed Shisui's body, however his glee turned into horror when a green-luminescent shield appeared around the Uchiha at the last second.
Shisui's Susanoo materialized, a towering figure of green, its spectral hand gripping a flaming tantō. The ethereal armor shimmered, casting an eerie emerald glow across the rooftop. Wisps of green chakra swirled around its form, enhancing its already formidable presence. The flaming tantō pulsed with intense heat, its fiery aura threatening to incinerate everything in its path, a stark contrast to the Susanoo's cool, calculated demeanor.
Suddenly, the flames disappeared, and Orochimaru jumped aside reflexively to avoid Shisui's inflamed tanto.
"I cannot burn the fire itself like Itachi, Orochimaru. But I am certain that apart from him and Jiraiya-sama, I have the strongest Katon mastery," Shisui stated with a smirk; without further delay, he launched into a series of sword strikes.
Orochimaru had cuts and gaping wounds all over his body by the end of Shisui's onslaught.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
"You called Hiruzen 'Sensei', didn't you? So you've learned something from him, correct?" Kushina asked a bit curiously, still without any pupil her expression looked a bit odd.
Naruto looked in her direction with narrowed eyes before shaking his head. "Fortunately, you're dead so I don't have any objection to telling you this, but nobody else must know it. I'm his fourth student till date, and only apprentice."
The redhead looked at her son for a second before smiling beautifully, or atleast that's how Naruto saw it. "Really? Hiruzen took you in as a student? I mustn't be surprised, especially considering your parentage but I am."
"Hold on a minute! Does that mean you know about my parents? Can you tell me about them?" He asked with a hungry look directed toward red-skinned woman.
Naruto dived under a stream of water as her body moved on its own, a fist collided with his face as soon as he stood up, his nose started bleeding. The pupil-less woman moved for a high kick but Naruto grabbed it with his both hand, before she could understand anything she was being spinned around rapidly.
Naruto gave a last spin before throwing her toward the mud wall, she collided with it forming spider webs behind herself.
"Are you being controlled, 'ttebayo? I mean you sound like a very nice lady, but you're helping that Hebi-teme." Naruto said, forming two clones beside him. The three of them began making identical hand-signs.
"Doton: Earth Flow river." One of the clones shouted as the ground around Kushina turned into a mud river; it swept her away and encased her in mud.
The original blond threw ninja wires in the mud, and the last clone worked through some hand signs.
"Katon: Fire stream!", the clone yelled.
"Ninpo: Solid Earth Coffin!"
As suggested by the name, the fire stream was directed to the mud with the help of the wire. As a result, it solidified instantly constricting her within it.
"That's easy, way too easy." Naruto was on guard, it was never easy to defeat an experienced kunoichi like her.
He reflexively flared his chakra, and the scene in front of him changed. The redhead wasn't constricted behind the mud prison, instead she was racing toward him at full speed.
"Hey! How is that even possible? You're no Uchiha, so you couldn't cast a genjutsu with mere eye contact. And even then, I'm immune to those. How did you accomplish that?" Naruto demanded, pointing his finger at her.
"Oh, you've come back to your senses. Excellent. Except for Minato, no one has ever recognized my genjutsu so quickly," Kushina said proudly as her body moved around the blond's guard, punching him squarely in the face.
Again, instead of blood or gore, the figure of Naruto morphed into a log.
Naruto looked down at the redhead from his place on the wall; behind him, the fighting showed no signs of stopping. Instead, Jiraiya had a massive mane of white hair around him, while Danzo had unwrapped his bandage to reveal a fully healed arm, albeit pale white.
"I still haven't grasped how you cast a genjutsu on me; you never made a hand sign or any other visible action." The blond stated rubbing the back of his head.
Before he could get the reply something massive hit the wall, shaking it to core. Soon, Naruto found his foot slipping as the mud wall started falling apart beneath him.
He quickly unsealed his special kunai and threw it to the other side, vanishing in thin air without a trace before a Kunai took his place.
Kushina eyed the kunai with wide eyes, her posture was rigid as she squinted at it. Could it be possible that their thirteen old son was using a jutsu so reminiscent of Hirashin? Has he developed a jutsu so similar to the legendary technique of his father?
She got her answer as a tanto was placed on the back of her neck, she looked in front to see the mud wall crumbling under the force of Nindaime Hokage's mighty 'Water Colliding wave'.
"I didn't want to show you this jutsu; Sensei had forbidden me from using it repeatedly. But it seems you're strong enough to draw it out," Naruto whispered with a steely voice.
"Can I at least get your name, Kunoichi-san?" He asked lightly.
Kushina snorted to herself; she should have bet with Minato that their son would be a prodigy just like him. But she wasn't a legendary kunoichi for nothing. Before he could move, she sliced his tantō in half with one of her katanas.
She had not lost her transformation until now, but she knew she wasn't as adept as Might Guy was with this technique. She was feeling it wane; she would lose it in under ten minutes.
Before she could do anything, Naruto touched his left arm discreetly, and a paper with designs, which she recognized as seals, appeared in his hand. He slipped past her defenses for a second, sticking the seal on her stomach. Jumping away, he formed two hand seals before pointing his finger at the seal paper.
Instantly, Kushina lost the flare of the gate with all its advantages. Try as she much, she wouldn't get back into that form again. This weakened body couldn't handle other gates, and she had only learnt that much from Guy.
At least the seasoned chunin was ready to pass on that much knowledge for a constant supply of restrictions seals, she was still surprised that the taijutsu specialist could burn off her seals within a week.
"Fūinjutsu? I never knew Hiruzen had knowledge of seals. The old monkey was good with elemental ninjutsu, but I always thought he lacked proficiency with seals," Kushina stated with a narrowed gaze.
"He still does, Kunoichi-san. Ero-Oji San taught me fūinjutsu, I was always interested in them after I saw him use seals so fluidly." Naruto accepted with a smile.
Kushina's heart melted at that smile, her son was the perfect combination of Minato and hers. Her body had to physically restraint her from hugging Naruto to death, no matter if he finds it a bit weird.
"As for you genjutsu question, I used a seal matrix to cast it on you. Look at your left sleeve." Kushina explained as she unsheathed her second katana.
As she said, there was a seal paper stuck on his left sleeve, that by the look of it was burned out. He had probably shut it off when he flared his potent chakra, it was the same reason why Uzumaki Seal-masters were so feared; some of their seals couldn't be disabled by anyone but another Uzumaki.
"You're an Uzumaki." Naruto stated narrowing his eyes to slit. "These seals could only be used by an Uzumaki, I am still unable to make head or tails of them."
Kushina nodded with a smile, her gentle gaze making Naruto squirm. He had only seen similar emotions from Tsunade, and it was weird to get the same feeling from an enemy.
"You still didn't tell me your name." Naruto asked, blocking her strike with his kunai, but before their conversation could go forward a body collided with Kushina's.
"You holding good there, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked landing beside him in a crouch. Mito Uzumaki's chain were tangled around Kushina's form, who was trying her best to get out of those and fight her opponent.
"Do you know who she is, Ero-Oji San? I knows she's an Uzumaki, but am—" Naruto stopped as he peered at her curiously. "—I related to her somehow ?" He questioned.
"She didn't tell you anything." It was more of a statement than a question. Kushina's continued silence was truly surprising.
As much as he knew of her, she would've jumped at the chance to meet her son. She would've told him everything with a proud smile, that woman knew no bounds when it came to Minato or Naruto, even before his birth.
He still remembered the dismembered parts of Iwa's Anbu that had attempted to kidnap Kushina, there was a reason that the redhead was repeatedly invited to join the ANBU corps.
"Nope, but she seems nice by the way she talks. She also gives me that weird look Baa-chan gives me sometimes." Trust Naruto to misinterpret a look full of affection as weird; the kid was emotionally... delayed, and he wholeheartedly blamed Hiruzen for that.
"Don't say that in front of her. You wouldn't like it when she gets angry," Jiraiya warned, a shudder running down his spine.
"Whatever, couldn't you just stick an anti-summoning seal on their body? They've been summoned here, aren't they?" Naruto asked without any value to his word.
"An anti-summoning contract, that's indigenous."Jiraiya muttered rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He glanced at Naruto for a second before nodding his head. "It could definitely work, I will instruct you and you'll draw them with the help of your clones"
"Why me, though? You're perfectly able to draw seals on the move," the blond whined, glaring at his godfather.
"Yeah, that's true, except when I'm fighting a fūinjutsu expert. Orochimaru must have summoned Kushina at a quarter of her power, but he didn't do the same with the others," Jiraiya snapped back.
Naruto nodded feverishly. No, annoying the sannin wouldn't be a good move right now. Although he didn't fear Jiraiya as much as Tsunade, his godfather was truly terrifying when angered.
"Multi-shadow clones technique" Naruto shouted forming the required hand-seals.
Twelve clones materialised out of familiar white smoke of the technique, every one of them tapped on their storage seals to reveal their respective sealing supplies.
"Naruto clones at your service!" They chorused.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
"Raiton: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang" A bolt of lightning morphed into a large canine, with red eyes and barred teeth the beast pounced forward with great speed.
His victims weren't given proper time to response before they got electrocuted by his technique, it was truly a marvelous sight for the onlookers.
Kakashi pushed more chakra into his technique and the size of beast increased marginally, eventually he let go of the technique as the lightning wolf ran a final lap before succumbing to chakra shortage.
A purple blur landed beside Kakashi as gracefully at it can. "You know Hatake, you're a terrifying opponent to fight against. I'm glad you're on our side."
Kakashi glanced to his right at Mitarashi Anko, clad in her usual trench coat, but with a grey T-shirt and trouser underneath. He liked her better with less clothing, but he wasn't gonna speak his mind.
"Ma...Ma, Anko Chan. You'll spoil me with all these compliments," He replied with a eye smile.
Anko snorted shaking her head. "Don't give me that attitude, scarecrow. I know you're a sucker for compliments, how else could you sustain that over-inflated ego of yours."
"Huh? Did you say something?" Kakashi asked sheathing back his blade.
Anko narrowed her eyes at the last Hatake before grabbing his collar. "Ignore me again, Kakashi, and I'll let my snakes poison your balls blue."
"You two lovebirds should get a room. I don't want to see you shagging each other out in the middle of the street," a voice said from the rooftops.
"Fuck off, shark-teeth!" Anko snorted.
Kakashi looked up lazily to see Zabuza smirking at them; behind him stood a shell-shocked Haku, looking elsewhere.
"Your daughter seems more interested in something else than being with you, Momochi," Anko replied with a grin.
Zabuza turned toward Haku, following her line of sight. He gaped at the scene before him. Kakashi, noticing the shocked look on the ex-Kiri nin, vanished in a shunshin, reappearing on top of one of the lighting poles for a better view.
His lips curled upward in amusement as he observed his student's clones firing exploding fireballs at enemies. Each blond clone was partnered with another, using a combination of "Great fireball technique" and "Bursting Air pockets".
It was clear that the blond's clones wouldn't stay for long as they're dispersing quickly as their chakra ran out, still they were doing a good job of keeping the Suna forces from reaching the underground bunkers.
But what caught their attention most was Might Guy, in his fully glory with red-skin and green aura around him. The spandex-clan shinobi was on the fifth gate, clearing enemy shinobis left and right without much effort.
In sudden turn of events, a figure flew past them, it was Morino Ibiki, beaten and bruised, his whole body covered in blood.
It put all of them on guard, although Ibiki was a tokbetsu his battle prowess were on par with his skills in interrogation. Their suspicion was proved right when they saw a two-headed snake heading their way, his fangs glinting in the sunlight.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Sasuke gasped for breath as another scream left his lips, the shrapnel embedded in his back were being removed by his pinkette teammate.
"Shut up! Don't you fucking scream like a wimp, it's all your fault we're stuck here." Sakura admonished glaring at him.
"Hey! I didn't *gasp* knew that the sound shinobi would collapse this building on us." Sasuke bit back with a grimace.
Sakura snorted. "What else did you expect? You're taunting him, Sasuke."
Lee grunted in response removing the last of the shrapnel from his right leg, his spiky nun-chucks were placed beside him carefully.
"Sit down, Lee. I'll be coming for you after this, it's good that Haku taught me about medicinal herbs." She sighed pulling the last shrapnel from the Uchiha's back.
With careful hands she opened a vial of yellow cream, a quick dip of her fingers and the cream was spread on Sasuke's back, who hissed in discomfort. She bent down to pick up a packet of regular shinobi bandage and wrapped it around his torso, covering all his wounds.
"I need to learn medical ninjutsu, at least for you. Naruto's wounds heal up on its own, no matter how strange that is, it's still a promising thing," Sakura muttered to herself, tucking in the bandages before turning toward Lee.
She handed him a vial of yellow cream before retrieving a plastic pinscher from the sealing tattoo on her arm, she still had to thank Naruto for that gift.
Without further delay she started working on the face of the green-clad boy, who was sitting still to not exaggerate his already bleeding wounds.
"You're an idiot, lee. You shouldn't have jumped in front of me to take the blunt of shrapnel. You're fortunate that I've some medical knowledge or this would've been a problem." Sakura scolded him lightly but her voice didn't held any malice.
Lee smiled cheerily at the girl without any hesitation, "I couldn't let those unyouthful shrapnel hurt you, could I? That'd would make me unworthy of your love, Sakura-san."
"Shut up, idiot!" Sakura yelled back yet one could see faint blush covering her cheeks.
Sasuke smirked in her direction shrewdly. Yes, the 'strange' Lee was leaving a lasting impression on his teammate. However, his smiles turned into frown as he recalled their predicament, they're stuck beneath a whole roof.
"We need to get out of here, Konoha is still under attack." He reminded them.
Sakura shook her head sadly, but her expression brightened suddenly. "Hey, I think I know a justu that can get us out of there."
"Then, what are we waiting for? Try it." Sasuke snapped back.
"Keep your snark away from me, Uchiha. Use that tone again with me, and you'll know firsthand what most of the vials in my seal contains." She bit back quickly.
Sasuke glanced at her wide eyed, she was becoming bolder by each passing day. What was that Kiri-guy teaching her, or was it his little apprentice? Whatever it was, the girl in front of him wasn't the same Sakura that was assigned to their team months ago.
Sakura huffed before working through a long sequence of hand seals, at the end of she slammed her palms on ground forcefully. "Doton: Earth-style wall".
A wall purely made of rocks raised from the ground lifting the collapsed roof with it, the wall wasn't too high as Sakura's chakra reserve weren't as big as Naruto or even Sasuke but it was high enough.
Sasuke jumped out of rubble quickly followed by Lee and Sakura, the scene that welcomed them was unexpected. A horde of blond shinobi were fighting against the enemy forces in conjunction with a strange looking guy, the man was dressed into a horrid green spandex and wore orange leg and arm warmers to make it look worse.
Although, aside from his horrible taste in outfit and haircut he seemed quite competent. This guy was probably an elite Jonin just like their sensei, but unlike Kakashi who wasn't offering any mercy to his victims the spandex clad jonin was merely incapacitating his opponents.
Naruto's clones on the other hand were doing their best to keep the enemy shinobi out of the sensitive parts of the village, albeit at the cost of their own short life.
Sasuke looked beyond the scene in front of him to see a group of Suna shinobi rushing off toward the gates, group after group of shinobi followed them. It seems most of the invasion forces had accepted that it was hard to crush Konoha as it was, the village hidden in leaf wasn't as clueless of their treachery as they wanted it to be.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Hinata rounded the last corner to the hospital to come face to face with a grueling scene, the Legendary Sannin Tsunade was plopped on the ground with a fearful look in her eyes.
In front of her was a hospital staff, fully dressed into the garb of a medic complete with face and hair mask. He was standing upon her with his wrist slit, drops of blood falling on the white ground.
Hinata eyed the scene before her with furrowed brows. Though not widely known, Tsunade Senju of the Sannin suffered from haemophobia, a fear of blood, due to her traumatic past. It seemed the medic was attempting to exploit the Senju princess's weakness.
"It's pitiful that the person considered as the best medic in the whole elemental nation is afraid of blood. Ironic, don't you think." The medic drawled with a sadistic laugh, it was clear by his posture that he wasn't going to let Tsunade recover.
Hinata steeled her resolve before morphing his fingers into familiar signs of Summoning Jutsu, "Summoning Jutsu: Kenshi.".
In a poof of smoke, a white tiger appeared beside her. It was slightly larger than average tigers found in the forests around Konoha. Black stripes contrasted against its white fur, and yellow eyes with round black pupils glared at the scene before them.
"Please support me, Kenshi-san." Hinata spoke unsealing her twin daggers, she rushed forward determinant.
"Of course, Hinata-sama." The tiger was beside her as she pushed forward one of her daggers, which was unexpectedly caught by the medic.
"Ah, the Hyuga princess. How nice to see you here." The medic said with an evil glint. "You can't expect me to be caught short by your feeble attempt to be stealthy." He continued with a laugh.
"I was never trying to be stealthy, Medic-san." She said before spinning on her heels, from behind her the white tiger pounced on the enemy medic.
He was irritated by the sudden turn of events, he had noticed the girl a few minute ago. Although, he wasn't that concerned about her, regarding her as only a genin.
But the tiger was an unexpected surprise, he didn't know that the Hyuga princess had a summoning contract. That too of tigers, one of most powerful summons after the Monkey clan and legendary three of leaf.
It was probably one of the best kept secret of clan, considering his status as a spy. Orochimaru-sama needs to know about this, but before that he would've to subdue the girl.
He grit his teeth as he felt the tiger's canines pierce his skin. His natural healing attempted to knit the wound closed, but the white feline prevented it.
Hinata took a advantage of her opponent distracted state, and shoved her dagger into his another shoulder. Her victim screamed in agony but she didn't let it affect her.
Before he knew, Hinata morphed her free arm into a claw shape and directed it toward his heart, it would kill the man or at least incapacitate him for a long time.
The medic kicked it aside before coating his palm with chakra scalpel, he swung the scalpel toward the tiger which jumped away at the last second to save itself. But it was for nothing as the Hyuga quickly stepped into the shoes of her summon, though she didn't bite the medic, her approach was more of daggers and taijutsu.
The medic quickly fell into a defensive pose but Hinata was having none of that, without any warning she threw her dagger at the medic with force.
The medic tried to cut off the dagger with his chakra scalpel but the tiger stopped that arm with a firm bite, her dagger met it mark on his injured shoulder, and he screamed in agony.
The attack was brutal and to the point, it was easy to see that Hinata wasn't holding back. She activated her Byakugan with a simple command, and moved into the guard of her opponent. It wasn't easy to do so even if the medic was injured.
Hinata had to reveal her trump to subdue this man, she quickly took note of his tenketsu points, which were slightly bigger than average medics. That meant he wasn't any ordinary medical staff, he was probably a combat medic.
"Eight Triagrams: Eight claw marks" Two claw marks on the medic's chest tore his shirt to shreds, revealing three deeper claw marks that bled profusely. It appeared an animal's claws had inflicted them, likely a wolf or, more likely, a tiger.
The next two strikes were directed at his injured shoulders, tearing the wound apart. The agony Kabuto felt was unreal, and unfortunately it wasn't the end of it. Two more strike on pecs deepened the claw mark, and the last two fell on his shoulder making it nearly useless.
"You're arms are gone medic-san, I've also tore up your shoulder blades and shattered the socket." Hinata said neutrally.
The medic gasped for air; the agony he felt was unreal. Not only had the girl damaged his tenketsu, but her strike had also left deep, claw-shaped gashes on his body.
Her Byakugan allowed her to see the damaged tenketsu, and she felt his conviction waver. Her taijutsu style, combined effectively with her bloodline, made her a force to be reckoned with in taijutsu.
The medic collapsed on the floor, bleeding profusely. Hinata turned to check on Tsunade, confirming the man was incapacitated.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Three of Naruto's clones were working on a small scroll with patches of sticky notes attached to it, a specialized scroll used by experienced fūinjutsu masters. It let them create seals on a whim, and then stick them on surfaces to get the preferred results.
The real Naruto was fighting the redhead Kunoichi at a distance; the woman had her twin katana out and was parrying the blond's bo attack with equal ferocity.
"I have to admit, Kunoichi-san, your skills with swords are unmatched. I've never seen someone be so versatile with blades." He huffed, ducking a strike that was intended to decapitate him.
"Thanks, Naruto-kun." The woman beamed, and Naruto suddenly found himself stuck in his spot. Her smile reminded him of his own, strangely so.
It proved to be a mistake to remain at a single place; the woman moved with lightning speed and thrust her katana forward.
Naruto's eyes widened, but he quickly tossed one of his special kunai into the air. It took him the briefest of moments to vanish from his spot, replacing his kunai with practiced motion.
A clone materialized beside him in the air, and started forming hand seals in quick succession. Meanwhile, Naruto formed two hand seals quickly.
"Katon: Fire Dragon Jutsu!" His clone yelled.
"Katon: Two-Headed Hydra!" Naruto fired his own Fire dragon into his clone's jutsu, and a dragon with two faces sped toward Kushina.
"Suiton: Water Torrent Technique!" Kushina yelled, and the pooled water from Tobirama's technique got pulled in. Forming a large torrent of water, that collided with the Fire dragon, and vanished into steam.
Jiraiya eyed the ninjutsu battle between the mother and son, and smiled to himself. Kushina must be proud of her son, it wasn't a secret that Kushina was efficient in both Katon and Suiton ninjutsu. Her immense Uzumaki reserve made sure that she didn't fall behind Minato when it came to Ninjutsu battles.
But it seems Kushina had pushed in a lot of chakra in that technique as she found herself kneeling, and Orochimaru on the other side of the roof winced, as it took a toll to keep the Redhead under his control.
Meanwhile, Naruto didn't have any such problem and came out of steam with his fist cocked. His punch was halted by Kushina, but he instead gripped her hand and latched on to it.
"Katsu!" The explosion echoed around the roof as Naruto's exploding clone took off one of Kushina's arm in the blast.
Kushina eyed her arm, shocked, she was a good sensor but even she had been pushed thin to notice she was fighting one of her son's clone. On one side she was proud of her son battle prowess, on other she felt Orochimaru push in more of control on her.
"Yatta!" One of Naruto's clones yelled from his place, as he held up a familiar-looking seal. An anti-summoning seal, in a hybridized style of Uzumaki and Konoha sealing techniques.
Jiraiya flashed in front of Naruto with a shunshin, and took that seal back to fight with Mito.
"Hey!" The boy exclaimed with a scowl.
It was clear that the fight wasn't for too long, as Mito got herself freed and her soul rose from the ash that was her host's body and rose in the sky, before vanishing into thin air.
Kushina pushed herself forward, gaining some control over her body. Not fully, but enough to hold a viable conversation without being interrupted.
"It seems my time is up, Son." She said with tears falling down her cheeks.
"Son!?" Naruto gasped is shock.
"It seems Hiruzen and Jiraiya have not told you about us, but believe me they would have to answer me in the afterlife." she said with conviction, her fist twitching to curl up.
Jiraiya winced on the sideline as he picked another seal from Naruto clone, and went to relieve Hiruzen of his opponent.
"But believe me, I am so proud of you, Naruto. You look just like Minato, he wouldn't shut up about that, 'ttebane." She said controlling the body, that wanted to tear into the blond in front of her.
"Minato? Do you mean Yondaime?" Naruto asked his eye glistening with unshed tears.
"Yeah, he is your father, you know. He was so happy when I told him about my pregnancy," She said with tears still streaming down her eyes, even though she had a smile on her face.
"I am the son of Yondaime." Naruto asked, not believing the words leaving his mouth. It felt surreal to hear his mother say that.
"Yeah, I think he was far more happy than I was. He always wanted a family, as he was a orphan." She said sadly.
"Just like me?" Naruto asked as tears flowed down his own eyes.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Hiruzen had succeeded in sealing Hashirama and were aiding Danzo to seal off Tobirama.
The Raikage was still holding his own against the Kazekage, but till when, nobody knew.
"Damn you, Hiruzen. You destroyed all of my plans!" Yelled Orochimaru working through seals of his own.
"Summoning Jutsu: Inferno of the Snake Sage!" The man yelled as a long dragon, at least twenty feet in length, lunged toward Shisui. He shunshined away, but the dragon followed his trail.
"Shit!" The man cursed, shunshining away repeatedly to avoid the fiery beast.
"You'll rue this day, old monkey!" Hiruzen's wayward student cursed, melting into the rooftop.
"Naru..." Kushina's body disintegrated into ash. Her beaming soul rose into the air.
Tobirama's body had already turned to ash by then. It seemed to Jiraiya that his treacherous teammate had abandoned him and fled as soon as he saw the Second Hokage fade away.
"Mum," Naruto muttered his eye watering, before he could hold it in.
Jiraiya appeared beside Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder, meanwhile Kazekage found himself confused, as the strong genjutsu casted on him by snake sannin lifted.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Meanwhile in the Hospital premises, nobody noticed when the body of medic vanished in a poof of smoke.
Hinata was too busy with Tsunade, who didn't have the slightest inclination of her whereabouts.
"That damned medic! He was a crafty one, wait till I get my hands on her." She muttered to herself.
(_-_-_X_-_-_)
Naruto looked at the fleeing enemy shinobi, as the barrier was brought down.
It seems the invasion has ended, the village looked like a mess. He could see that the Suna and Oto forces had failed to dominate the leaf, but the infrastructure, and civilian populace had taken the brunt of attack.
Hiruzen eyed the boy proudly, his training has shown great results. Naruto was able to handle Kushina, whom Orchimaru had summoned at Jonin level it seems. As a version of Kushina of above that level would have decimated the Snake sanin.
You're under arrest," Jiraiya and Shisui stated, holding down the Kazekage. "For breaching the agreement between our two villages, and planning an invasion against Konoha."
"Are you out of your damn mind, Hiruzen? Do you want a war on your hands? I am the Kage of another village!" Rasa retorted, his golden sand swirling upwards.
"Even if I conspired against the Leaf, the most you could demand is compensation. Arresting me is tantamount to declaring war against Sunagakure." Jiraiya and Shisui backed away; it wasn't that they weren't strong enough to handle Rasa, but they didn't want to provoke a war with another major village.
"Kazekage Dono is right, Hiruzen Dono. It's beyond your jurisdiction to arrest him." Raikage said.
"Kuma and Ant, escort Kazekage dono to his room in hotel. Find his children and make adjustments for them to stay with him." Hiruzen said as two kneeling anbu appeared.
Suddely in a bright flash appeared Hatake Kakashi, his gear painted red with the blood of his victims. "Hokage-sama. My mission was completed,"
"Rise up, Hatake. You've done a great job, please search for your team and report their status. We will talk about this more privately." Hiruzen replied.
Kakashi glanced at Naruto for a second before vanishing again, Jiraiya and Shishui were given similiar mission to scout out their close ones.
"Naruto, go back to Hospital and check on Tsunade. Keep her secure, we'll talk about what you've learnt soon." Naruto nodded jumping down the roof.
"He is an exceptional shinobi, Hokage-dono. Nothing less to expect from an apprentice of yours," Raikage said.
Hiruzen didn't reply as Danzo joined him, "We need to gather the council, I don't think with our current economic prosperity renovation would be an issue."
Hiruzen nodded and signalled him to go forth, he stayed with the Raikage.
"Gather your kin, Raikage-dono. The Leaf is thankful for your help, we will draw up an agreement between our villages in near future. Till then enjoy the hospitality of my village." Hiruzen said signalling a group of Anbu to escort Ai.
Disclaimer: All rights are reserved for Kishimoto.