Unsealed Scrolls II - Jiraiya trains Naruto (Patreon)

“Are you really serious about this? Hurry up and teach me!” The shirtless and impatient Naruto roared at the old pervert supposed to be teaching him.

The man in question turned from his research with an annoyed frown, “Kids these days…” He mumbled, “Before that, do you remember what we talked about yesterday? About the blue and red chakra?

Naruto paused and sat on his haunches, “Yeah…that actually seemed important when you talked about it yesterday, so I spent a while thinking about it, ttebayo.” He frowned, “It‘s that dumb fox‘s chakra, isn‘t it?”

Jiraiya twitched, ‘Oh great, he has a verbal tic too….’ He thought in exasperation. “Oho brat, I‘m surprised! I didn‘t think you would have figured that out by yourself!” Naruto twitched this time, but Jiraiya kept talking before he could yell out, “You said that when you used it, you felt incredibly powerful, didn‘t you.”

Naruto crossed his fingers behind his head as he was prone to do, “Yeah, but I don’t like using it!” Jiraiya’s chin slipped off his hand a bit at that, “According to Sakura-chan, I‘ve used that chakra twice, and I couldn‘t remember much about what happened either time! I didn‘t even realize I had used it against that snake-bastard until I asked Sakura-chan about it yesterday!”

‘He has problems with his memory when using Kyuubi? That might cause problems…’ Jiraiya thought, “Well kid, that’s probably because you‘ve been using it unconsciously every time you‘ve done it. Using it yourself, by choice, will probably make that little side effect go away. After all, with that overwhelming power, we’ll be able to bypass control for now. I‘ll be teaching you that, and to do it, I‘ll teach you to summon toads!” He grinned, awaiting the exclamation that was sure to come.

He was disappointed. He looked down, and saw Naruto with a grimace on his face. He was rubbing his non-existent chin hair, apparently in deep thought. In reality, Naruto was remembering something that had happened right after he had graduated from the academy. ‘If you want the Hokage title, beat me first.’ He remembered throwing that line at Konohamaru, and shortly after defeating Ebisu, ‘If you want the Hokage title…there ain’t going to be any shortcuts!’

Naruto chuckled to himself, ‘If I did as this old pervert wants me to do, I’d be just as Konohamaru used to be. Like hell…’ Naruto faced his new teacher, determination in his eyes, and simply said, “No.”

Jiraiya’s eyes widened, “What do you mean no, kid? Don‘t you want me to teach you how to summon?”

“Oh, I definitely want to learn that. It’s using the fox‘s power that I‘m saying no to!” Naruto crossed his arms and stared at Jiraiya defiantly.

Jiraiya actually growled, “Don‘t be so stubborn brat!” He yelled, but Naruto didn’t flinch. “Don‘t you know what kind of power that could give you? That chakra increases your speed, your reflexes, everything! This power was GIVEN to you! It shouldn‘t be wasted!”

“What good is any of that power if I still can‘t win? If it was as great as you say, shouldn‘t I have wiped the floor with that snake-bastard?” Naruto asked rhetorically, “You‘re talkin’ like I‘m supposed to rely on it!” He glared at Jiraiya, “Fuck that you old pervert! Any idiot could do the same thing that snake bastard did and just seal that power! Then what would I do?!” He looked to the floor, “I train every day, but everyone still says I suck. I don‘t get any of that brainy shit others do. I know I‘m not that smart… But I still try my damn best! There aren’t any shortcuts on the path I‘m on!” His fists shook as he clenched them, “I‘m going to be Hokage!” He yelled out, looking up at last, “What kind of Hokage has to rely on another person‘s power!”

For a second there, Jiraiya saw two people very important to him superimposed over Naruto as he practically shook with the force of his determination, ‘Well I’ll be…’ He smiled, ‘Your parents would be very proud of you, you stupid idiot.’ His smile widened, “No shortcuts, huh brat?”

Naruto stood again, “That’s right! I won’t use that damn fox‘s power for anything other than to back up my own. I want to get strong, myself!” His eyes were shining, causing Jiraiya to let out a full-belly laugh.

‘Jeez kid, I promised myself I‘d never be doing THIS again. Damn brat…’ Jiraiya stood as well, “No shortcuts huh? Don‘t want to take the easy way out then brat? I wonder, you have all of that bravado, but can you back it up? Can you actually handle the hard way?”

Naruto growled, “Damn straight I can!” He smirked, “What kind of Hokage would I be if I couldn‘t?”

Jiraiya laughed again, “Well then brat, you‘ve convinced me. Are you prepared then? Said your last prayers? Ate your last cup of ramen? Are you prepared to follow my orders? Are you prepared to be trained into the ground every day for the next month?” Naruto didn’t back down, “Once we begin, you’re my apprentice and you ain’t getting out of it. If you give me even a hint of wanting to back down, I will beat your ass into the ground and make you stand up and continue anyway!”

“Give up on making me give up!” Naruto shot back.

Jiraiya twitched, once again seeing images, ‘This brat is going to be the death of me, spouting off one-liners like that. Especially THAT one.’ He chuckled, “Alright then kid, it appears that the Gallant Toad Sage Jiraiya will be taking on an apprentice once again. One last time.” He grinned and ruffled Naruto’s hair.

-]|[-

“Bwah!” Naruto felt the air leave his lungs as a fist drove itself into his sternum and gasped. He attempted a roundhouse, fighting through the pain, which Jiraiya simply hopped over. He ducked under the returning fist, breath already back, and jumped away from the fray. “Kage Bunshin!” he yelled out, forming the familiar seals. Another Naruto formed quickly, and transformed into a giant shuriken. Naruto spun and launched it at his teacher, who simply laughed. He blurred out of sight and drilled Naruto into the ground again.

“You‘re getting better brat. Faster too. That was a flawless transition. Last week you dropped the shuriken when you tried that. Your Taijutsu has improved as well, though that isn‘t saying much.” Jiraiya commented absently, resting his foot on the panting Naruto’s chest.

Naruto snarled and tiredly slapped at his foot, “Shut it ero-sennin! I still haven‘t even touched you! And fuck you! I was ranked fourth in the academy in Taijutsu!”

Jiraiya laughed, “Brat if you could touch me as you are, I‘d retire! You‘ve got a ways to go before landing a hit on Jiraiya-sama!” Naruto growled as his breathing evened out, but he was still too tired to rise from his nice, comfy crater, “And if you were fourth best, that’s more an indication that your class sucked then that you were good!” He cackled, “You probably just outlasted the rest of them with that monster stamina of yours and your old brawling style.”

Naruto swore, so he chuckled again as he lifted his foot, “Don’t worry too much brat. You sucked because that Taijutsu style was way too incompatible with you. You don‘t think like most people do, which is a good thing. You come up with your own ideas; you‘re unorthodox. You need to come up with your own style to use that fits you. You need to take the various strikes and grapples I‘ve taught you and make up your own style that only you know how to use. Too many people can expect what’s coming from rigid styles like the Jūken you‘re facing in the finals.”

Naruto nodded tiredly, “Haa, I know ero-sennin. I was thinking about something really acrobatic, but with a lot of power behind it…” He grimaced slightly, “Hell, those limb-breakers you showed me were nasty too.”

Jiraiya nodded, “That would seem to fit your seemingly boundless energy. Plus, moving in that way is unpredictable in my experience. I once fought someone who avoided two fireballs by doing a butterfly twist in between them and kicking me in the teeth. Knocked one of ‘em out too.” He scowled as he rubbed his left cheek.

“Haha. You got nailed!” he laughed, even though his ribs hurt from doing it.

“And that can so be taken the wrong way, brat.” Naruto glared, so he grinned cheekily and wiggled his fingers at him, “Maybe I should give you some extra incentive and force you to use THAT Jutsu again.” Somehow, Naruto found the energy to spit a fireball at him. A tiny one, but it was one all the same.

“So, you appear to have a bit of talent for the fire type, at least. To be able to manage a fireball after only a day is a bit impressive. What else have you figured out?”

Naruto grinned, despite his exhaustion, “Hehehe, that clone trick you taught me is SO AWESOME. I can’t believe I never noticed before.”

“Doesn’t really surprise me. You’ve never really used them outside of a fight that you’re not personally participating in as well. Not to mention the fact that most of them would get dispelled immediately.” Jiraiya chuckled, “It all probably just blended together in your head. Now, Jutsu?”

“The wind ones and the earth ones were awesome! I got those two done in an hour!” He crowed, “The lightning one was the hardest really.” He pouted outrageously over the fact that he really sucked at lightning Jutsu. He was really looking forward to them too. “The water and fires techniques were easy compared to it.” He was extremely proud of himself for that particular accomplishment.

“Very nice brat!” He laughed, “Surprising little munchkin, aren‘t you? I didn’t think for a second you’d be able to figure out Jutsu from two of the elements, much less all of them. I wonder what your actual affinity is…” He trailed off, muttering to himself.

Naruto got his playful haughtiness back, “Well, I am damn awesome ero-sennin! And what do you mean affinity?”

Jiraiya rained on his parade, “Still haven‘t landed a hit on me, you know. And as for the affinity…”  Jiraiya rubbed his chin, wondering if it was too soon for that particular lesson. In the end, he just shrugged, “Your affinity is basically the element you’ll have the easiest time learning. It’s the element your chakra naturally wants to transform into.” Naruto had that glint in his eye, making Jiraiya’s smirk widen. He would enjoy bursting that bubble. “Well, it’s nearing the end of the day, so you know what that means!” Jiraiya sing-songed, and Naruto predictably groaned, but dragged himself slowly into a slumped-over cross-legged sitting position anyway. Jiraiya mimicked him, with much more grace and ease, and did a hand seal. A small square of earth rose up underneath the both of them, and then shot into the air on a ridiculously long, sharpened spike. The square slabs were balancing perilously on the spikes, and true to their experience levels, Jiraiya’s was completely still while Naruto’s was wobbling madly as he tried to balance himself.

“I still don‘t know what this stupid exercise is for!” Naruto grumbled as he tried to steady his slab.

“Idiot. This is going to teach you patience, balance, and finesse. All things you sorely need. I’m not going to waste a month of research training you just so you can get pissed off and bum rush a Hyūga. All of that wild energy you have can be bad for you if you don’t know how to control it, and if you don’t know when it’s the wrong time to use it. Any wrong move here will send you hurtling to the ground….like that.” Jiraiya sighed as Naruto fell, once again. He winced at the loud crash and the scream of pain as Naruto hit the floor.

“THE PAIN!” Naruto howled, “I think I can taste my right lung!” His crater was quite large.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, “Don’t be such a baby and get back up here.”  Another slab started growing from the rock provided by the spike. Jiraiya grabbed it and held it firmly in his right hand. Naruto groaned piteously and slowly tried to sit up. Despite his bone-weary tiredness, he soldiered to his feet and limped/crawled his way up the spike until he reached the top. Jiraiya held up the slab, and Naruto jumped on it and sat. Jiraiya, showing his great strength, moved Naruto and balanced him one handed. Naruto mumbled as he tried to get his slab steady once again, wobbling less this time. “As I was saying before your little…accident…” Jiraiya chuckled at Naruto’s glare, “One wrong move will send you to the ground. Remember brat, this is supposed to relax you. This is our way of unwinding and letting our tired bodies rest after a long, tiring day. Now let’s meditate.”

Naruto sighed, but closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing and his movements, as Jiraiya instructed. He felt the wobbles stop after a while, for the most part, and tried to relax. Jiraiya simply watched with a smile, before doing the same, but concentrating on the feeling of nature, unlike his student. This was training for him too. After all, he never did master sage mode completely.

-]|[-

Jiraiya watched, still impressed by his student’s chakra capacity despite having seen it in action so many times. Naruto had just created about two hundred-fifty clones, an absurd amount by ANY standard except his own. He shook his head, almost in disbelief, “Alright brat, I want fifty clones for each of the five techniques I showed you this morning. Afterward, when they each have almost run out of chakra, I want all of them to come together and try to work out ways to use these techniques creatively. Any idiot can launch a fireball at someone, just like any idiot can be dodged. Use that brain I know you have in there somewhere.” He laughed at his apprentice’s harsh glare.

“So, think like I did with the shuriken then?” Naruto asked. Jiraiya nodded, “Well, you heard him! Get going!” Naruto roared at his snickering clones.

Jiraiya laughed, “Only you, brat. Only you could make perfect clones and have them disagree or laugh at you.”

Naruto scowled, “Yeah yeah, so what’s next ero-sennin?”

The man grinned as he took a kunai from his seemingly out of thin air, “Now we‘ll be doing a little something I like to call…not dying!” He lunged at a cursing Naruto, intent on dragging a kunai down his arm.

“Fuck you, pervert!” a panicked Naruto screamed as he dodged, removing his own kunai, three in each hand. Remembering what Sasuke had done in the forest during the second exam, he launched four into the air, each succeeding one a bit lower than the preceding one, and kept the last two akimbo with reverse-grips. He swung his right arm and the two kunai clashed with a loud clang. He spun and threw a half-moon compass kick. Chakra flared, and the first falling kunai attached itself to the sole of his still-moving foot, extending his range (and deadliness) a bit.

Jiraiya’s eyes widened as he dodged, “You crazy brat!” He roared with laughter as Naruto caught the second kunai with his hand as he was spinning back up and swiped it at Jiraiya’s throat. Jiraiya simply jumped back out of range, and swore when Naruto did another compass and allowed the kunai to detach from his foot, launching it at him with the aid of momentum. Jiraiya knocked it into the air as the third kunai fell and stuck fast to his newly vacant foot. He took out a second kunai with a grin as Naruto flipped to a standing position and sprang at him with a battle cry. “NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!” He roared as he dove back into the fray, taking the offensive and increasing his speed to deal with Naruto’s unorthodox idea.

Naruto threw one of the ones in his hand, which Jiraiya dodged this time, rather than parrying. He caught another and jumped, catching the fifth kunai, and spinning it like a saw blade in an attempt to catch Jiraiya unaware. He wasn’t that lucky, and Jiraiya got through his technique and punted him in the chest. He fell, but even then, he launched the kunai on his left foot like a rocket through his chakra and back hand-springed to his feet. He jumped and front-flipped forward to catch the last kunai and try to slash Jiraiya.

Naruto’s eyes widened in horror as his foot missed the spinning weapon. This was the first time he had ever put this idea into action, and, due to his inexperience, he had fumbled. The kunai continued on its downward journey and just barely missed out on giving him a haircut. As he sailed past the side-stepping Jiraiya, he, for the umpteenth time, felt the two vertical pieces of Jiraiya’s geta dig into his belly as he was stomped into the ground. He croaked out in pain as the air left his lungs and spittle flew from his mouth.

Jiraiya shook his head bemusedly, “That was a good idea brat. A really good idea. If you were faster, or more experienced with that unorthodox style, you might have actually nicked me.” He started to laugh uproariously, “And to make things even better, I’ve seen someone who had a pretty similar idea back in the third Great War and he was a goddamn master at it.” Naruto started to grin back at his master, “I wonder if he’d be mad if you jacked his style.” He took his foot off Naruto’s gut and stopped laughing abruptly, “Just don’t start finding a fondness for rap, or I’ll end you.”

-]|[-

A week had passed since Jiraiya had taken on his latest apprentice, and the brat had improved by several orders of magnitude under his tutelage. “Man, that brat Kakashi sure has no eye for talent.” He commented absently to the shaking Naruto. Why was Naruto shaking?

Well, it probably had something to do with the wildly sparking chakra keeping him off of the needle he was balancing on top of by one finger. “Screw you and your damn chakra exercises ero-sennin!” The clearing shook as hundreds of voices belonging to one brat roared out. “This wouldn‘t be so damn bad if we weren‘t upside down!”

Jiraiya laughed, easily keeping himself balanced on a simple, and more importantly stable, half inch ball of chakra, which was what Naruto was working towards, “What’s wrong, brat? Can‘t take the heat?” Oh, and it should be mentioned that the needles were directly over a bed of red-hot coals.

One of the Naruto right next to Jiraiya started to wobble, chakra sparked wildly before sputtering out, making the needle stab his finger and his body fall into the coals. “FUCK!!!!!”

Jiraiya cackled. “Suck it up brat. With your dumb ass somehow fucking tripling your chakra capacity in the past week we’re going to need to get even stupider with these control exercises. How the hell did you manage to not double, but tripleyour capacity in a week?! Do you have any idea how many shinobi would kill to be able to do that? The scarecrow would probably rip out his Sharingan and hand it to you for that.”

Naruto grumbled as he wobbled on his needle, “Fat lot of good that’s doing me. I don’t see that bastard needing to do this shit.”

“Quit your bellyaching. You need chakra control to learn the move I’m planning on starting you off on. It was made by the Yondaime, you know!” He grinned, knowing that would light a fire under his apprentice’s ass.

Oh wait, that was just the actual fire under his ass. Naruto’s dropped jaw was the cherry on top as he wobbled precariously and tipped over, “MOTHERFUCKER!” Jiraiya laughed uproariously.

-]|[-

Jiraiya would never admit this to his apprentice, but he was honestly, legitimately impressed. What had started as him merely humoring the boy’s interest in Nature Transformation had turned into something else entirely. “Kid, if I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it.” Over the past two weeks he’d watched as Naruto smashed through every single lofty aspiration the sage had for him with nothing but sheer force of will. And armies of shadow clones. Can’t forget those.

They had started with wind, after testing the boy’s affinity. It was a pretty rare one, and he’d needed to enlist outside help on that one. He knew nothing of how to properly transform wind chakra. He and Asuma had both warned Naruto – all five hundred of him – that he was better off focusing his attention on other things. He only had a month to prepare after all, and there were other things he could be working on that would give him more bang for his buck. But Naruto had gotten that stubborn glint in his eye that Jiraiya recognized so well and so he waved the group of clones off with a groan. Jiraiya had gotten the more advanced exercises from Asuma and then said his goodbye to the bearded Jōnin  He had then resumed his second favorite pastime; beating the holy hell out of his favorite brat.

Later that same night, Naruto had split a leaf in half with only his chakra with that shit-eating grin of his almost splitting his face in half, and Jiraiya had been forced to eat his words. Naruto had smirked up at him, “‘It’s a waste of time’ he said. ‘You’re never going to get anywhere near proficient with it in time for the exams’ he said.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jiraiya had tried waving him away to deflate his head, but Naruto had seen through his act easily enough. And two days later when Naruto had split a waterfall, Jiraiya had gotten his own glint. No one who had ever known the Kage Bunshin had even close to the amount of chakra Naruto did, and Jiraiya hadn’t quite realized the implications until then. Previously, he’d had Naruto practicing things that were difficult, but possible to learn in a relatively short amount of time. Even without his clones due to Orochimaru’s seal, Naruto had become proficient in Water Walking fairly quickly. His clones had merely been speeding things up.

Nature Transformation was different. Even the best ninja needed years to make progress there. It was one of the most difficult shinobi practices, and one that most only took on after making Jōnin. Naruto and his five hundred clones – Jiraiya really had to stop in wonder every time he thought of that number, for it was truly absurd– had compressed two years and some change’s worth of training into three days. That was when it had truly clicked for the tall, white-haired man.

His godson was going to be the strongest shinobi in history, and he’d be dragging the brat there kicking and screaming if he had to. After a good night’s rest, Jiraiya had sat the boy down and started him on his next best Transformation: Fire. “Alright brat, so you got Wind Transformation down. You make sure you keep practicing it because you’re by no means a master at it.” Naruto had nodded sharply, “Now, we’re going to work on fire next, because now that I know how Sage blessed your stupid chakra reserves are, I’ll be damned if I don’t push you to the breaking point and beyond.”

“Bring it on, pervert!” Naruto smirked.

“Now, the first step to Fire Transformation is to burn a leaf.” He got a deadpan look, so Jiraiya shrugged, “What? We live in Hi no Kuni in Konohagakure. We have an abundance of the damn things. If we were in Mizu no Kuni you’d probably be learning to boil a cup of water instead. Or something. Anyway, burn the leaf by tonight you damn brat. I’m going to go do some research!”

“Oi! Get back here, you damn pervert!” Naruto had screamed futilely at Jiraiya’s outline, “At least give me a Jutsu to learn damn it!”

By the end of that week, Naruto had learned Fire and Earth Transformation…which was what led to today, “Alright brat, I’ll bite.” Jiraiya said dubiously, “What the hell are you doing?”

Naruto again had hundreds of clones sitting around the clearing, but this time they were paired off rather than practicing on their own. Naruto blinked, losing his concentration. Both he and the clone he’d picked as his partner sat back with their palms on the dirt, “Eh, what was that ero-sennin?”

A tic mark appeared over Jiraiya’s eye, “Getting ready to kick your ass from here to Suna you damn brat! I asked what you were doing!”

“Oh, well why didn’t you say so?” Jiraiya let out a strangled sound, “Anyway, I’m trying to make lava! No luck so far though.” He pouted outrageously.

Jiraiya’s jaw dropped and his eye twitched. He even had a bit of snot dribbling from his nose, then he twitched, “Pffffffffff!” Jiraiya started sputtering before he burst out into hysterical laughter.

“Oi?! What’s the big deal you pervert? And stop getting your damn spit on me!” Naruto wiped his face after Jiraiya accidentally sprayed him.

“How can I not laugh?” Jiraiya jeered, “Now I know you’re wasting your time. Come on, brat, we have better things to do.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto asked indignantly, “Haku could make ice!”

Jiraiya had heard that name a time or two from his godson. Apparently the ‘too-pretty-to-be-allowed’ boy (and hadn’t that thrown Jiraiya into hysterics. Naruto had to very firmly assure his unknown godfather that he was not gay, and upon seeing a Hengeof the boy Jiraiya had to admit it was a veryconvincing trap) he’d met on his ill-fated mission to Wave had very much impressed his godson. Either way, Jiraiya shook his head, “He was born with the ability, you idiot. Combining two different Natures into one new one is the stuff of bloodlines, kid. Haku had a Kekkei Genkai. You told me that yourself when you told me that story.”

“Someone had to have figured it out first right? The First Hokage had Mokuton but none of the rest of his family could use it.” Naruto said reasonably.

Jiraiya opened his mouth and raised his finger. Then his finger curled forward and he closed his mouth, frowning. He pursed his lips back and forth in contemplation, “You…may have a point there, brat.” He shrugged, “Well, if you make it, all it means is that I’m an awesome sensei! Bwahahaha!” He laughed with his fists at his hips like an idiot.

Naruto snorted, “Stupid ero-sennin.”

Jiraiya stopped clowning around, “Anyway, I’ll leave you at it for now. We start sparring in an hour.”

-]|[-

Naruto collapsed backwards, panting. Even his legendary chakra reserves had taken a kanabō to the head at this point. There were just five days left until the Chūnin Exam Finals, and Naruto had made it no closer to combining his earth and fire chakra into lava than he had been on that first day. Even he was being forced to consider the possibility that ero-sennin was right. He closed his eyes in sheer frustration as he lay spread eagle in the clearing. “What in the hell does it take to get a breakthrough god damn it?”

‘You’re doing it wrong.’

Naruto’s eyes popped open with a strangled gasp. The first thing he noticed was that the sky had gone from bright blue to not-a-sky in about three seconds. The second thing he noticed was that he was not laying down, but floating. “What?!” He leapt to his feet, taking note of the large gate in front of him. His eyes widened as he took note of the paper seal on the center of the double gate doors. And then two massive, burning red eyes opened themselves behind the bars. Naruto sucked in air in shock.

The eyes made way for a massive muzzle, as red-orange fur became visible. Its torso and especially its arms and hands were surprisingly human-like. Nine tails waved behind it, as a veritable miasma of power cloaked it. It grinned, “So, we meet at last, kid.”

“Kyuubi!” Naruto said, his eyes still wide. He blinked and shook his head, “What did you say?”

The great fox lay down with its head on its arms, “I said you’ve been doing it wrong, kid. You’re not going to get anywhere like that.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto asked, surprisingly calm for the situation. But he wasn’t feeling threatened. There was the gate between them, not to mention the fact that the fox didn’t seem to be making any threatening moves.

The fox snorted, “All you’ve been doing is mixing earth and fire.” It chuffed, “All you’ve been doing is smashing fire and earth together separately. Good training for them, but not your goal. You haven’t been trying to make lava.”

Naruto blinked, rather nonplussed, “I…I don’t remember a command of lava being a part of your stories. How do you know?”

Kyuubi snorted, “They weren’t. I had no interest in the elements. That was the purview of my idiot little brother. But I saw him practicing it more than enough times to get the gist of what he was doing, back then.” The fox smirked, its teeth gleaming, “It would amuse me more than a small bit to have something to rub in his nose.” The fox gazed down at him, “To create lava requires more than just smashing the two affinities together. Lava is far hotter than most fires, and has a different form. It is liquid. It has flow and it bubbles with trapped gasses. You must think on those qualities kid, otherwise you’ll never get it.”

“Little brother?” Naruto exclaimed, having gotten a bit stuck on that point.

The fox rolled its eyes, “Yes you idiot.” It said condescendingly, “I am but one of nine. The strongest, to be sure, but I am not alone. You’ve met the runt of the litter already. He’s sealed inside the redhead who looks like he hasn’t slept a day in his life.” Naruto’s jaw unhinged, “All the information I gave you and that was what you focused on. Why me?” The fox bemoaned.

“Oi!” Naruto exclaimed indignantly, pointing at the fox… who summarily ignored him. Naruto made a tiny splash, glaring heatedly at the cage. He pursed his lips in irritation before deciding to return the favor. He took a breath and centered himself. In here – apparently inside his own head, or perhaps his seal – it felt easier to feel his chakra. He started off by doing what he had been doing outside.

“You’re doing it again.” The fox pointed out lazily.

“I know!” Naruto snapped, “It’s easier to feel my chakra in here for some reason. I’m feeling it out for what I’ve been doing wrong.”

“Touchy.” The fox smirked, egging the brat on. Surprisingly, Naruto didn’t take the bait. He closed his eyes again and started molding Dotonin his left hand and Katon on his right. When he clapped them together, he urged them to mix. “Better, brat. But you shouldn’t necessarily mix them in equal amounts. Your fire chakra needs to be much hotter than that, and you need more quantity on the earth. Remember the qualities of lava. You can’t stop it. It’ll melt anything in its path. An unstoppable march. You can only use its liquid nature against itself by diverting it.” Finally, it was as if something had clicked inside Naruto’s head. He started shunting much more chakra to his left hand while he shunted more power into his right, compressing so that it burned so much hotter. The chakra started to feel different in his hands. His eyes snapped open as he shunted the chakra from his hands into his torso, and hunched over as he spat out a blisteringly hot wave of magma. “Heh…not bad, kid.” The fox started to laugh, ‘Take that Son Gokū!’

“I did it!” Naruto exclaimed in shock, “Why…why was that so easy after you helped me figure it out?”

The fox settled down, “There are very few bloodlines around that are true Kekkei Genkai. Your village holds two of them…the Byakugan you will be facing as well as that thrice-damned Sharingan. You were right when you told the pervert that someone had to have figured out how to use elemental ‘bloodlines,’ though your reasoning with the Mokuton was off. That one is special amongst the elements.” It chuckled, “Most elemental ‘Kekkei Genkai’ started off as a single person figuring out something new. Something innovative that gave them an edge. That person kept the secrets to themselves, telling no one but their immediate family, and usually only their offspring at that. Their children would learn after hard effort, and pass it on to the next generation. And then the next. And then the next.

Over time, that family’s chakra would start naturally leaning towards that special element, to the point where the children no longer needed to be taught. It became as instinctual as the need to breathe for them. And because the secrets were never shared outside the clan, the myth was born that they were impossible to learn. The fact that not even that damned Sharingan could copy them only added to that legend. As I said, it takes more than just smashing two elements together.”

“I…I don’t understand.” Naruto confessed, “You attacked Konoha. Every story of you said that you tried to destroy us. That you were a beast. But you clearly are more than that. Why are you being so helpful?”

The Kyuubi was silent and closed its eyes. Naruto stood there, waiting for a response. He actually waited so long that he started to think the fox had actually fallen asleep, “I’m tired kid.” The fox rumbled finally, “It’s been almost a century since I’ve felt the sun on my fur, or enjoyed a breeze. For centuries me and my siblings have been hunted by you damned monkeys to be used as weapons, as if we’re mindless beasts.” Naruto started to feel an actual wave of anger from the previously calm fox, “We were created by a man so far above you it is like comparing an ant to a mountain. He and his brother were the very first of your kind to be born with Chakra. He stopped the rampage of the Juubi, my progenitor. He ripped all of the chakra from it and sealed it into himself. He even created your moon as a prison for its husk. He was the Rikudō Sennin.”

Naruto stared at the fox, utterly slack-jawed. Why couldn’t Iruka’s history lessons be like this? “W-wow!”

Kyuubi snorted, “Indeed. Even when he was dying from old age, he still had enough power to split the Juubi’s chakra into nine parts and give them life. And so the Bijū were born. He told us of his desires and his dreams.” The fox had a faraway look in its eyes, “With his powers and abilities, he could have utterly dominated this world and subjugated the population. But he never wanted that. All he wanted was for his fellows to see the hearts of others. For there to be peace amongst you. To that end, he began spreading chakra amongst you and teaching you his philosophy; Ninshū. He wanted you all to see and feel each other’s hearts. So that you could connect to each other. So that you may gain understanding of yourselves.” Naruto was utterly entranced by the fox, and did not notice it get even angrier, “FATHER WAS NOT EVEN A CORPSE YET WHEN YOU DAMNED APES WEAPONIZED HIS BELIEFS AND STARTED FIGHTING AMONGST YOURSELVES!”

Naruto let out a gasp as a powerful blast of wind knocked him clean off his feet and onto his back. He groaned, having not been expecting that at all. The fox settled down, “Centuries of war passed, and we Bijū grew angry as more and more of father’s teachings were defiled. Anger turned to hate and disgust for your damned race, and your constant attempts to capture us earned you no favors. All of that culminated almost a hundred years ago. That cursed clan of Uchiha bastards were the second strongest clan behind the Senju. Their battles lasted decades, until two men were born. Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.” Not even Naruto was ignorant enough to not know who those two were, “Inexplicably, after centuries of fighting amongst themselves, the two of them came together to create the first ninja village. They were so successful that almost every single country followed in their footsteps. For a time, even I thought that maybe, just maybe, fathers dream would become a reality.”

Naruto looked down sadly, knowing this story at least. The fox’s words were striking a chord with him, “It didn’t last.”

“No. It. Didn’t. That clan of betrayers could never sit still for too long. Madara betrayed his village and tried to destroy it. He did so by using his unnaturally powerful Sharingan to ensnare me and put me under his control. Under him, I truly was a mindless beast baying for blood. We were defeated by Hashirama and I was freed from Madara’s control. His chakra was soothing, and it put me to sleep.” It then growled so loudly that the chamber shook, “But he decided with no input from anyone else that I was too dangerous to be allowed to roam free. Instead, he had his wife Uzumaki Mito seal me inside of herself.”

Naruto’s eyes bugged out, “What?!” He croaked.

“Did you think yourself the first, brat? No. You are the third.” Naruto stared at it in slack-jawed disbelief, “For DECADES I lived in utter isolation inside of her. Pitch. Black. Darkness. I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I had no one to communicate with. I was utterly. Alone.”

Naruto was trembling. He couldn’t even begin to understand what the being in front of him had gone through. “I…” The words caught in his throat.

“My second container was in some ways better and some ways worse. When Mito was about to pass, she sealed me inside another young redheaded woman. Uzumaki Kushina. Your mother.”

Naruto’s legs gave out from under him, “M-my mom? You… you knew her?”

The Kyuubi snorted, “Knew is a strong word. I could at least see the outside world in her seal. I was no longer in pitch black isolation, and she even talked to me on occasion. Perhaps if I hadn’t had a stake through my chest, feet, hands, and one for each tail crucifying me against a boulder I may even have been inclined to be civil with her.” Naruto cringed, “Then something strange happened. A female Jinchuriki’s seal weakens when she goes through childbirth.” Naruto blanched, turning as white as paper. The fox didn’t let him interrupt again, “I learned that during my one burst of light while inside Mito. With the Yondaime there and considering his expertise, I should have remained confined. With that man there, there was zero chance of the seal breaking. But for some reason, it did. Instead of remaining confined, I found myself in the outside world for the first time in decades under ANOTHER FUCKING SHARINGAN ILLUSION.”

“You got to be shitting me! Why is that stupid pink eye so dumb?! How can it control even you?!” Naruto growled.

“It originated from Father’s thrice-damned son. The damn thing practically has a backdoor into our minds. Only the strongest can overcome our will, but unfortunately, if you are that strong, there’s little we can do unless someone else snaps us out of it.” Kyuubi growled, “The mandate I was forced to follow was simple; destroy Konoha.”

“Bastard!” Naruto couldn’t help but bite out.

“Your Yondaime must have gotten the better of the accursed Uchiha who took control of me. He claimed to be Madara himself, but I knew better. His control faded from me, and for the first time in almost a century I. Was. FREE!” It roared again, its tails beginning to wave excitedly and smack off the walls, making the chamber shake. Naruto drew back and put his arm in front of his face to keep the spray from hitting him, as well as keeping him from being blown away.

Finally, it stopped, and Naruto peeked at the fox. The excitement was gone, and it just looked defeated, “And that was when I made my worst mistake. I forgot all of father’s teachings. I forgot the reason his two sons started fighting and kicked off centuries of bloodshed. All I wanted was revenge on the bastards who had locked me away and threw the key away. I could have left. Could have been free. But instead, I gave into my hatred and continued rampaging. And now we find ourselves here. I’m once again sealed away after a brief spot of hope, and this time I don’t even have the privilege of being whole anymore. Your Yondaime took my Yin half with him.”

The fox just sounded bitter. The most bitter Naruto had ever heard anyone sound in his entire life. “That’s why your chakra control is so shit, brat. You get my chakra filtered into your own via the seal, but you only get Yang. You’re unbalanced. Just like me.” It raised a paw, “I was twice the size I am now before your Yondaime stole half of me away.”

“I…” Naruto stalled out, “Really don’t know what to say. What can I say that wouldn’t sound stupid?”

“Hmph.” Kyūbi snorted, “Not much to say, is there? Nothing that wouldn’t sound like an empty platitude.” It sighed, “At least I’m not staked to a rock this time.”

“Do you get to see outside of me?” He asked curiously.

“I do.” Kyūbi stared at him. “Better if you use my chakra, obviously.”

“Then here’s a promise!” Naruto said, “If I meet the asshole who keeps enslaving you, you can watch me beat their ass!” He pounded a fist into an open palm.

Kyūbi stared at him for a moment, before it burst out laughing, “Shit kid, you can’t even beat the old man.” Naruto scowled, “But hey, a busted Sharingan is a good Sharingan. What the hell. You actually manage it, and I might even start to like you.”

Naruto grinned, “You got a name, fox?”

“Maybe one day you’ll even earn it, brat.”

-]|[-

Jiraiya swung at Naruto’s head, and the boy vanished. He reappeared behind Jiraiya, leg prepped for a kick. He swung his leg, aiming to take off Jiraiya’s head, but Jiraiya copied him and slammed his geta into Naruto’s back. Naruto was sent flying into the ground, and Jiraiya stomped on him. “Getting better brat. I almost felt the wind with that last one.” Naruto grinned, and Jiraiya vanished right before Naruto exploded, “Ahaha, I didn‘t think you‘d get that one so fast brat.” He absently reached behind him and caught the punch aimed at his kidney. “But, I didn‘t say you could use Ninjutsu.”

SLAM

Naruto groaned pitifully as his back hit the floor from his mentor’s throw.

A few minutes later, they were balanced on top of the slabs again, but this time Naruto only wobbled minutely even as he managed small, planned movements to stretch out the kinks. Jiraiya looked on fondly, “Alright kid. I‘ve shown you how to fight, I‘ve shown you techniques, and I‘ve shown you patience. Now, I need to tell you about your most important weapon. Your mind.”

“What mind?” Naruto snarked, so Jiraiya rolled his eyes.

“Don’t sell yourself short, kid. Sure, I doubt you‘ll ever be able to decipher a really complex cryptogram for me, or really get deep into Genjutsu, but you‘ve got a good head on your shoulder for battle.” He grinned, “And from what I‘ve heard, you‘re a King. Of PRANKS!” He laughed at Naruto’s shocked expression, “Remember this Naruto, because it’s one of the most important things you‘ll ever hear from me. If you can make a ninja question himself, he will lose. If you get in an opponent’s head; if you make them angry; if you make them doubt, you will have won your fight before it’s even begun. Never reveal your full skill set if you don’t need to. Everyone knows I‘m the toad sage and one of the foremost Fūinjutsu experts in the world, so they expect me to use techniques dealing with that. Everyone expects me to use a fire attack combined with a toad oil bullet. Not many know that I can bury a ten-story building in a swamp with ninjutsu. Practically no one knows that I can demolish platoons of ninja with a simple E rank Jutsu. Hell, I got information out of reasonably seasoned enemy ninja by tickling it out of them!” Naruto laughed, so he paused.

He waited until he had his apprentice’s full attention again, and chuckled himself at the memories, “Everyone knows that I go crazy over women, so they all expect to be able to get me out of the way by using that against me.” He laughed, “The last fool who tried that not only paid for my very pleasant time with ten young, beautiful ladies, but took a kunai to the gut by a ninja who he expected to be completely distracted with whoring around and drinking sake.”

Naruto grinned at that, “Now, remember this. Always make them underestimate you. If they‘re cocky, they‘ll make mistakes. If they‘re angry, they‘ll make mistakes. If they‘re afraid, you can be damn sure that they‘ll make mistakes. Prank them! Show them one completely obvious technique so that they‘ll never know they were fighting a clone the entire time! Throw a single shuriken, so that when they prepare to dodge, you‘ll either multiply them into a wall of death or release your henge and stick a kunai in their forehead! Get in their heads! Get them with a technique once, and then fake them out and watch as they jump around wildly trying to avoid nonexistent techniques! Let them think they‘ve won, and then come out and crush their dreams and their bodies!”

“Can you really take out full platoons with an E rank?” Naruto asked.

Jiraiya laughed the hardest he’d seen in days, “When I was a kid, I invented a Jutsu that would turn my body transparent so that I blend in with any surface. I used to use it for peeping, of course.” He cackled, much to Naruto‘s chagrin, “Hell, I invented it for that! It’s E rank because of its chakra requirement…or lack-thereof, and that a tap will make it fail, and you can‘t use any chakra during it, or any idiot will know exactly where you are. But none of that matters if you walk right into an enemy camp in the middle of the night and drop off a stack of Annihilation Grade explosive notes set with a five-minute timer.” He grinned at his godson’s look of awe.

-]|[-

Naruto tore the meat off of the chicken leg he was eating hungrily. He was already on his fifteenth one, which gave Jiraiya a bit of pause as he reached for one of the fish held over the crackling campfire, “Where the hell do you put it all, brat?”

Naruto simply shot him a deadpan look, “You haven‘t let me eat anything since last night ya perverted bastard.”

Jiraiya laughed and leaned back, staring up at the full moon with a grin, “Not my fault you suck so bad.”

Naruto shook his fist at him angrily and Jiraiya laughed again. They sat in companionable silence for a while, the only sound being the crackling fire next to them and the munching of food. Naruto finally had his fill of food, so he lay back as well, hands behind his head. “Neh, ero-sennin, you going to be watching me kick ass tomorrow?”

Jiraiya grumbled a bit, “I still say you shouldn’t call me that, brat!” Naruto only smirked at him. “I would, but the old man asked me to take care of something important for him.” He trailed off as he noticed the smirk fall from his apprentice’s face and sadness overtake his eyes.

“O-oh…” Naruto looked away, hating the way his voice sounded so weak at that moment.

Jiraiya clapped his hand on Naruto’s shoulder, “I‘ll send a clone, brat. I really wanted to be there to watch you win that tournament, but I still have to follow orders.” He smirked at his downtrodden apprentice, “But Sarutobi-sensei is insane if he thinks I‘ll miss seeing you stomp the Hyūga brat into the ground.” Naruto smiled a bit, “And don’t worry brat, when all this is over, I‘ll be teaching you a very powerful new technique.”

Naruto laughed a bit, “Thanks ero-sennin.”

“Just remember, if you do anything that costs you that vest, or, kami forbid, LOSE, I will make you…regret it.” Jiraiya paused, and Naruto watched as something flashed in his eyes, “One more thing brat, I can‘t tell you why, but be extremely alert tomorrow.”

“What, more than usual? Why?” Naruto questioned.

“Drop it brat. I shouldn‘t have even mentioned it in the first place, but I did. Remember, keep three eyes open and your ears to the ground.” He ruffled his blonde hair, “Now sleep.” Naruto didn’t even have time to protest as he passed out.

-]|[-

A couple people in the stadium stand were getting ready to pull out their hair. “Argh! Where are they!” Sakura screeched. There were only a few minutes to the start of the final exam, and not only was Naruto missing, but, more importantly, so was Sasuke-kun!

“Give it up forehead!” Ino chuckled, “It looks like Mr. Hokage got scared and isn‘t going to show up to fight that Hyūga kid.” Sakura shot her a glare, which was ignored, “It’s too bad. I was actually looking forward to the fight. Naruto looked so serious back then in the preliminaries.” Sakura held her tongue and looked down, studiously ignoring her old friend.

Down in the field, Neji was smirking arrogantly, “Looks like Uzumaki has acknowledged his fate as a loser. He won‘t show up.” Most of the other Genin gave the arrogant Hyūga disgusted looks.

Up in the stands, Sarutobi was greeting the Kazekage, who also commented on the missing Shinobi, “Well, it seems that there are only six there.” He took his seat, “I‘m not surprised that Uzumaki-kun isn‘t here. He is facing a Hyūga after all.” His haughty tone angered Sarutobi, but he held his tongue, “But that Uchiha-kun is missing surprises me. I had hoped to see him fight my Gaara.”

Sarutobi sighed, “I guess it can‘t be helped for now. After all, their sensei is Hatake Kakashi.” He tilted his hat down, “I had so hoped that they wouldn‘t pick up this habit from him, but I guess my wishes are in vain. But I‘m afraid you are wrong about Uzumaki-kun.” He grinned at his fellow Kage, “There he is now.” He stared at the sky, before a large figure hopped over the wall.

“What!” Sakura and Ino gasped as the figure rocketed towards the center of the stadium. It landed with a crash, throwing up a cloud of dust. “What is that thing?” Sakura exclaimed, to which Ino answered, “It’s so big!”

The surprised Genin jumped back, even as Genma chewed on his senbon absently with a dull look in his eyes. Neji glared at the smoke cloud, having seen the figure on top of it right before the landing. The smoke cleared, revealing Naruto standing there with his arms crossed and a large smirk on his face on top of a rhino-sized toad that wore two katana on its back. He had changed his clothing style, wearing a black pair of Shinobi pants that were bound to his legs by white and orange greaves, and tied up by an orange sash around his waist. Like his teacher, he had simple wooden geta on his feet with no socks, and was also sporting a new sleeveless jacket, black with orange flames down the sides, which was zipped up to mid-sternum. He had a pair of arm guards that matched his greaves as well.

Naruto stepped off the toad he was on, not bothering to uncross his arms, “Never fear, Uzumaki-sama is here.” He smirked specifically at Neji, “And he‘s about to kick all of your asses!”

-]|[-

Ino had her jaw dropped, Sakura was blubbering, and Hinata’s face was as red as a tomato, “Whoa, he actually looks kinda cool like that.” Ino muttered to herself.

Beside them, Kiba was laughing, “Looks like Naruto has some new tricks up his sleeves. He better beat that Neji for what he did to Hinata, or I‘m kicking his ass!” He studiously ignored the fact that Naruto had taken him out the last time they rumbled.

Hinata poked her fingers together shyly, “G-good luck Naruto-kun.”

Sakura finally regained herself and smiled, “GOOD LUCK NARUTO!” She screamed down at him.

He glanced up at her, surprise in his eyes, ‘She’s cheering me on…?’ He smiled, ‘Heh, looks like I’m already getting acknowledged a bit.’ He waved at her, before turning to Neji, as everyone else got off of the field except for Genma. “Hear that Neji? They‘re cheering for me.” He smirked, “I don‘t need to say it again, but I will anyway… You‘re going down.”

Neji scoffed, “Losers like you stand no chance against me.” He took his gentle-fist stance, “That is your fate. You won‘t be walking away from here.”

Genma stood between them, “Remember, there are no rules. You go until I say so, or until one of you forfeits and/or dies.”

Naruto waved him off confidently, “And it won’t be me.” Neji scowled at his declaration.

“Very well, BEGIN!” Genma yelled.

Naruto finally uncrossed his arms, “You ready to lose Neji? Kage Bunshin!” A cloud of smoke appeared, and when it cleared, all three of the Naruto standing there were holding windmill shuriken.

-]|[-

As Genma hopped out of the way of the two Chūnin hopefuls, Izumo and Kotetsu readied themselves up in the stands to take notes on the fight.

Kotetsu muttered, “Too bad for the Uzumaki kid. Bad luck on the draw, don‘t you think?”

Izumo chuckled, “Perhaps, but he is clearly more confident than he used to be. Let’s see if whatever he’s got will be enough for a promotion.”

“I doubt it. He was so unskilled during the preliminaries, and he barked about the same amount.” Kotetsu laughed outright at the thought. His smirk was wiped off his face at Naruto’s Jutsu.

“Huh, that’s a Jōnin level technique, and he doesn‘t seem even a bit winded. What a surprise…” Izumo said.

His partner scowled, “Looks like he isn‘t as hopeless as everyone said. And he looks like he‘s realized that Neji should be kept at range with that Taijutsu of his. I wonder if he is any good with those windmill shuriken?

-]|[-

All of the Naruto there threw their shuriken, but one jumped high in the air to get an angle on Neji. Neji dodged them all easily. Two lodged into the stadium wall, and one cut into the tree right behind Neji. Neji scoffed, “Fool, learn your place. Fate has decreed that I will be the victor today.” He said arrogantly.

Naruto laughed, “Fate, that’s just the excuse of someone weak! Don‘t look down on ME!” Naruto yelled as the windmill behind Neji poofed into another clone. Neji’s eyes widened in surprise as he quickly spun around, confidently catching the clone’s outstretched leg.

He wished he hadn’t. “Gah!” He yelled as he was sent flying through the air clutching his sore hand, ‘That was almost as strong as one of Lee’s kicks!’ He thought in pain as he dug into the ground and rolled to his feet. He shook his hand to get the feeling back into it, ‘I got cocky trying to do that because he is a loser. I won’t make the same mistake twice.’ He activated his Byakugan this time, so he could watch both marks and make use of his Tenketsu accuracy.

Naruto grinned as he held his fists up and bounced on his two feet, “Come on, Mr. Hyūga-sama! Where’s all that bravado now, you arrogant sonovabitch!” His clones took off, rushing Neji from all sides, including the two that had been the other windmills until now. They closed in, fists raised when Neji started to glow and then spun.

A perfectly contained, spherical whirlwind sprang up at Neji’s position, destroying all of the Naruto clones easily. “Kaiten! Fool, you can‘t get through my ultimate defense.” He held his hand out, taking his stance again, “Before the power of the Hyūga, all your tricks are worth-” Neji was forced to dodge out of the way as an absurdly fast, crackling beam of pure white lightning screamed towards him. He fell to the ground to avoid it, and saw it impact the tree behind him with his Byakugan. The beam cut right through the bark like a hot knife through butter. The tree tipped as it stopped being able to support itself, and started falling towards the downed Hyūga.

“Shit!” He jumped to his feet and dove sideways, just barely avoiding the falling trunk.

CRASH!

He stared in shock at Naruto, whose index and middle fingers of his right hand were outstretched in his direction and crackling with electric discharge, “Raiton: Byakurai.” The smirking blonde said calmly.

…

“Holy crap! Now he’s throwing out elemental jutsu too?!” Kiba gaped, “What the hell happened since the last month?!”

“I have no idea!” Sakura looked awed, “But I’m jealous! Where did Kakashi-sensei take him and Sasuke-kun, and why did he not even leave me some scrolls?”

“You don’t think he can actually…” She hesitated, “-win, do you? I mean… it’s Naruto!”

“Heh. I don’t think we should count him out.” Kiba grinned as Akamaru barked in agreement.

…

Neji scowled as Naruto spoke, “Ultimate defense, huh?” The blonde was grinning madly, “Why’d you dodge, then?”

Neji snorted, “Don’t be cocky, loser.” He stared imperiously down his nose at Naruto, “It’s plain that there is a small startup window for our Kaiten, or at least my relatively low mastery of it. Now that I know to expect your tricks, I’ll be more prepared. That was your one shot.”

“That so?” Naruto cracked his neck and held his right hand out, with his fingers slightly clawed. “You sure like telling me what I can and can’t do.” His grin got toothier, “So here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to use your little ballerina move, and I’m-” Dense chakra started to form in his palm, with a light whistling sound ringing as a ball of swirling blue chakra appeared in his palm. “-going to break it!”

…

In the stands, hundreds of shinobi stood up in shock, and Genma’s senbon straight up fell from his lips. In the Kage booth, Sarutobi sat stock still, staring at the blonde in shock. His outfit had already been quite a reminder, but this?! What in the world had Naruto been doing the past few years if a month was all it took to get him to this point?

Ino looked around, shocked, “What’s the big deal? Why is everyone standing up.”

“That’s…” Asuma wasn’t satisfied with just one. He had a second cigarette in his mouth. “That technique…”

“What is it?” Kiba asked cluelessly.

“That…” Kurenai breathed, “Is the signature technique of the Yondaime Hokage…” Even the Genin that weren’t from Konoha dropped their jaws.

…

“What-” Neji started to say, but Naruto cut him off.

“Here I come, Neji!” He took off, the ground cracking beneath his feet as he closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

“Kaiten!” Neji yelled, flowing into his spin. The whirling blue dome formed around him.

“RASENGAN!” Naruto yelled, and thrust his arm forward. His tiny ball of chakra acted more like a drill than anything, grinding into the Kaiten and causing Neji to expend chakra at a rapid rate. The ball destabilized the second it broke through Neji’s defense, and Naruto let the rest of the chakra dissipate as he clenched his fist.

WHAM!

Naruto’s fist pounded into Neji’s cheek, throwing him over and sending him sliding backwards into the dirt, his body digging a trench through it as he flipped and flopped. He finally slowed to a stop, and struggled to get to his feet, truly thrown for a loop. The crowd erupted into cheering. It was so loud that the ground started to quake minutely.

“W-what?!” Neji panted as he got to his feet, touching his face, and wincing from the pain.

“I told you, Neji! There is no such thing as an ultimate defense! I’ll break any wall you put in front of me!” He laughed, causing Neji’s blood to boil, “I said I would beat you, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen! And one day, you‘ll be calling me Hokage just like everyone else!”

Neji growled at the declaration and rushed at the blonde, “You damned fool!” He screamed, sounding almost deranged, “You can‘t fight fate! Only a lucky few are ever born into the role of Hokage! Having dreams come true through hard work is an illusion!”

Neji rushed forward, throwing palm strikes. Naruto stood there and blocked with his forearm. Neji’s eyes widened as he sprang back, ‘Those bracers of his are going to be a problem. Why can’t I get chakra through them?’ He rushed and attacked again, paying attention to the bracer this time, ‘No, the chakra is getting through, but it loses all its force and cohesiveness. There’s something weird about them, but now I know I have to hit him elsewhere!’

Neji started throwing wildly fast palm attacks, aiming to seal Naruto’s Tenketsu. Naruto dodged with blazing speed or blocked with his bracers when he couldn‘t, laughing the entire time, “You‘re the fool Neji! You give up without even trying! You think you‘re so good, that you‘re blessed by destiny! You look down on others who are trying their best!” Naruto’s laughter turned derisive, “You‘ve been passed by Neji! You don‘t carry any of that Will of Fire in you!” Naruto blurred from sight and drilled Neji in the side of the head. ‘Slow. Thank you ero-sennin.’

Naruto flipped six kunai out of his pockets and four into the air, springing forward. Just as he was reaching the recovered Neji, he threw his body into a roll and pushed up with his arms, thrusting both feet at Neji’s face. The genius dodged and barely avoided the incoming kunai as Naruto shot past him, spinning with his arms extended. He saw kunai attach themselves to his feet as Naruto sprang forward again. “Shit!”

He took a kunai from his pocket to block the hits coming from Naruto’s wild limbs. Naruto ducked, rolled, sprang up in weird corkscrews, and flipped his way towards Neji. He would come towards him and randomly switch kunai, trying to come in from awkward angles. Sometimes, he would spin them by the rings, causing Neji no small issue as he fought to read the strikes. His kunai danced in the air, never once hitting the ground as for each one that was knocked away from him, a new one took its place. Neji blocked one and knocked it into the air, but his opponent would merely flip, and he’d be faced with a new weapon on a new limb, even as new kunai were caught and tossed, sometimes into the air, and sometimes launched at him with chakra.

He was used to dealing with weapons due to his teammate, but this was on a whole other level. His person was already filled with paper-thin cuts from grazes and near-misses. He could barely read the attacks because the spinning of the blades disorientated his eyes slightly, and at this point his bloodline was doing more harm than good so he turned it off. He couldn’t afford to even try to use Jūken, because the second he let himself get close, he’d be hit. It was a constant game of dodging and retreating, trying to get distance only to be closed in on in seconds. Blades flashed and he ducked, and realized with a sinking feeling that he’d done the wrong thing. The flash had come from Naruto‘s right leg springing up and launching the kunai, so he‘d ducked. Now, his head was directly below an incoming heel. He only had time to mutter an exasperated “Crap.” as Naruto’s heel slammed into the crown of his head with a loud CRACK! Picture perfect axe-kick.

Neji saw the attack coming from a mile away, so it only made him feel worse when he couldn’t do a damn thing to block it. His face dug into the floor and caused a small trench as he scraped along the ground. ‘Gah, what power! Who is this kid? He’s nothing like he was during the preliminaries!’ He trembled a bit as he got to his feet, panting and a little hunched over. Still, he fought through it, determined to show this nobody that he was correct, “It doesn‘t matter! People‘s fates guide them through life! It is what binds us all and cages us! You can‘t fight fate, and fate has determined that I WILL WIN HERE!”

-]|[-

Up in the stands, both Izumo and Kotetsu were staring in awe, “Holy shit! What happened to that kid! Kage Bunshin? Byakurai? RASENGAN?! Who the hell taught him those? How did he get so fast? The Hyūga have some of the best Taijutsu in the village! I could tell that he was getting hit despite that! Those blades and his actual technique is so unorthodox!”

Kotetsu answered, “You‘ve noticed it too, haven’t you Izumo? He’s not only beating him at his own game, but he’s getting in his head too! This can’t be the same kid we saw a month ago! ”

“Oh yeah, if he keeps this up, he‘s going to be up for a promotion for sure!”

-]|[-

In another section of the stadium, most of the Genin were just slack jawed in awe. Sakura and Ino in particular were completely wide-eyed. Kiba was howling with laughter, saying “I told ya losers not to underestimate Naruto!” Hinata was blushing as she saw how much her idol had improved.

“H-holy cow, forehead! Why didn‘t Naruto show all of this skill off in the preliminaries?” Ino turned to Sakura, who was practically shaking in awe.

“H-he was never this good before! How the hell does someone get this good in only a month! I know he wasn‘t hiding his strength or anything like that! It’s NARUTO, so HOW?”

-]|[-

Neji sprang forward, spinning in the air and forming a bright blue sphere around his body in an attempt to catch Naruto inside of it. Naruto evaded, mentally thanking his teacher for the past month, ‘Man, I really got to get ero-sennin something nice. I would have been dead if he hadn’t been beating my ass around for the past month.’

Neji fell out of the aerial Kaiten and launched a heavy palm strike filled with chakra at Naruto’s heart. Naruto chopped his wrist hard with his forearm and spun. The parry had left Neji slightly off balance, and he only barely dodged the spinning-back elbow that hurtled towards him. He jumped back to avoid the follow up spinning back-kick and sprang forward again, aiming for the blonde’s neck.

Naruto simply laughed as he caught his wrist and kicked him in the chest. Neji released chakra directly from his diaphragm to spear Naruto’s foot, but again it failed to penetrate. He was sent flying, but landed on his feet. “Hey, quick question, Neji.” He grinned, “What do you call a guy who has super fancy eyes that can see everything, but they can’t see past their own nose?” Neji snarled in response, “Oh yeah, blind!”

People in the audience, especially the two arrogant Main House members who had come to watch Neji destroy the competition, stiffened in anger and shock. That was a very bad accusation to make towards a fellow ninja, especially one with a Dōjutsu based Kekkei Genkai.

Naruto started stalking forward calmly, the grin that had become a permanent fixture on his face no longer present, “All of that power of sight, all of the seeing capabilities that those fancy eyes give you, and you can‘t see what’s right in front of you. People like you are supposed to help others; help them grow as people; help them develop their skills so that they‘ll reach greater heights! But all I see from you so-called prodigies and geniuses is arrogance! You tried to kill own cousin! You tore her down emotionally, and with no regard for how she felt or how hard she tried! You put her down despite all of the effort she showed in trying to improve herself!”

He ran forward, acting like he was going to punch his opponent. The second Neji committed to a counter, he leapt back and fired a wind bullet that slammed into Neji’s gut, causing spittle to fly from his mouth, “You insult everyone and constantly put them down! You belittle Lee, who is one of the kindest and most determined people I‘ve ever met! He‘s your teammate! He is one of the strongest and fastest people I‘ve ever seen, and you can’t spare even a ‘Good job, Lee!’ or a ‘You‘re improving, Lee!’ You belittle him and put his dream down every time he challenges you, simply because you think he‘s a loser! Simply because you think he’s lower than you since he’s a no name! WAKE THE FUCK UP!” Naruto delivered a hard knee to his sternum, and then let him go, allowing Neji to try to stumble back.

Naruto didn’t let him go anywhere. He started slamming fist after fist into his opponent, cackling all the while as little droplets of blood hung in the air after each impact, every one of which Neji could see but was powerless to stop. “I don‘t know what happened to make you like this, but you‘re an utter bastard Neji! Main house? Branch house? I don‘t give a damn about any of that shit!” An uppercut sent Neji soaring into the air. Naruto spat on the ground and blurred, appearing above him and kicking him back down. Neji’s body hit the ground with a loud thud. Naruto fell back to the floor. “Pieces of shit like you, who call others losers, will never beat someone like me.”

Neji snapped, digging into his pouch, and popping a soldier pill. He felt himself get re-energized and he stood, brushing himself off with a bit of difficulty. “You‘ll never understand, dropout, but if it will make you realize the difference between us, then I‘ll tell you! I‘ll tell you exactly about the Hyūga destiny of hatred!”

…

Hiashi Hyūga sighed, catching his daughter’s attention. He looked sadly down at the field, ‘I truly am sorry, Neji.’

…

“The Hyūga main family has, for as long as can be remembered, passed down a special ninjutsu. A curse seal ninjutsu.” Neji reached up to undo the tie of his Hitai-Ate as Naruto looked on without an expression on his face, “This seal Jutsu represents our caged selves, our inescapable destinies.” He lowered his hands, revealing a Manji with hooked ends carved onto his forehead, “I was four when this cursed mark was etched onto me. That was the same day that Kumo had come to sign a peace treaty with us. Our Hyūga clan was the only one missing from the proceedings, because our heiress had just turned three.”

Neji scowled, staring up into the stands at his clan’s leader, “My father and Hinata‘s father were identical twins. Practically everything about them had been the same, but because Hiashi-sama was born first, he had the honor of being raised in the main house while my father was shuffled off to the branch house. The protectors of the main house. We are meant to be simple bodyguards, no matter the talent difference. And through this curse seal, we are forced to obey.”

Naruto took this in stride, not an emotion on his face, “But when my father was teaching me of this, while we were watching one of Hinata-sama‘s practices with her father, my father was tortured in front of me through this seal for no reason at all!” Neji had been young when this had happened. He had not noticed his father’s rage and killing intent, even if Hiashi had. “This seal is the absolute fear of death any Hyūga of the branch house faces, because with a single seal, our minds can be destroyed through pain. When we die, our Byakugan are sealed up through it, releasing us from the curse only then. It is a system created to protect our advanced blood from all those who wish to acquire it. Including those bastards from Kumo.”

Neji looked down, “Because of the incident that occurred not long after… hehe…” Neji couldn’t help but laugh. There was no mirth, but it was a laugh all the same, “My father was killed by the main branch! Hinata-sama was kidnapped one night, and the intruder was swiftly taken care of by Hiashi-sama. It was the leader of the Konoha-Kumo delegation. Kumo denied all involvement in any kidnapping, and threatened to restart the war if Konoha did not present Hiashi-sama‘s unmarked corpse.”

Neji broke down, laughing hysterically, “War was safely avoided, all thanks to my father, who replaced Hiashi-sama as the son of a former clan head given to Kumo. Hahaha! To escape this curse, this fate all of us share, there is only death. Their strengths were identical, but because my father was born second, his fate was sealed, just as mine was.” He had re-tied his Hitai-Ate, and he took his Jūken stance once more, “You know nothing of fate! Nothing of inescapable curses! That is why your fate was decided when I became your opponent.”

…

Other genin looked at Hinata in horror. Hinata refused to look away from the battle, no matter how many tears leaked from her eyes. Her hands were clenched and shaking, “Neji-niisan…” Her voice was too soft to be heard, but Kiba understood anyway. He clenched his fist in helpless anger.

…

Naruto stared, “You done?” Neji, as well as a lot of people in the audience, recoiled. For the first time in the entire match, Naruto sounded well and truly ANGRY. Sure, he had sounded like it when he had been smashing Neji into the ground, but that had been part of his ‘this is why you suck’ speech. Now, he actually looked like he was boiling mad. Quite a few in the stands muttered ‘heartless’ at him.

Neji shook in anger, “What was that?”

Naruto took a breath with closed eyes, and centered himself again as Jiraiya had taught him, “So your father died, died to protect his brother and your clan‘s secrets. Yeah, that sucks Neji, and it sucks that you have that little mark on your forehead, but that doesn‘t make you any less of a bastard.” He opened his eyes and crossed his arms, “But at least you have a family. At least you knew your father, and you knew that he loved you. I had no one growing up, Neji. Not a damned soul to comfort me or to tell me that I had done a good job in my training.” His eyes flashed, “And I can still say that I turned out a better person than you.”

Neji snarled at that, “You‘re just a fool who can‘t see the truth! You could never understand what it’s like to be burdened with a symbol you can never be rid of!” He roared at his enemy.

Practically the entire adult population of the stadium flinched. Sarutobi lowered his head in grief, ‘Forgive me, Minato, Kushina…’

Naruto stood stock still for a second, remembering days in the past, where he would be alone in a playground with parents looking down upon him and taking their children away. He remembered crying, as those people never saw him, but only a shadow of a beast where his own should have been.

He grasped the zipper of his jacket and yanked it down.

Neji stepped back as he saw black ink on Naruto’s stomach, “Wha-what the hell is that?” He pointed as Naruto shrugged the jacket off his body and held it in one hand.

“A seal, just like yours.” He threw his jacket, which, instead of floating in the wind like a normal jacket, fell to the floor with a crash. People in the stadium in the know were reminded of Rock Lee’s weights as the plume that rose was of a comparable height. Said Genin’s eyes flashed, along with his teacher’s, and a resounding cry of ‘YOUTH!’ was heard round the stadium.

Naruto chuckled as he bared his inked flesh for the whole stadium to see, “Can’t say I really think of it as a curse anymore, though back when I learned the reason for its existence, I certainly did. After all, the entire village hated me because of it. Who cared if I was a baby or a kid who couldn’t have been at fault for anything? I was the easy target.”

Neji actually flinched at that, though whether it was in surprise or anger was a mystery. Though he wasn’t the only one. There was a lot of guilt coming from a whole lot of people. “What the hell? What is that seal?”

“Ehh, who knows?” Naruto smirked, “I don’t really care if you figure it out, but I’m not about to say it. Don’t know if it’s actually allowed.” He stretched, “But the point is: So what if I‘m marked in a way that makes others dislike me? So what if people can‘t see past this seal? I‘ll never give up, and one day everyone will acknowledge me. One day, I‘ll be Naruto the Hokage, rather than that kid that everyone secretly fears. Now enough blabbering, Neji.” His grin returned full-force, “I have a can of ass-whoop right here with your name on it! If you can‘t take it, then take a break! When I‘m Hokage, I‘ll change the Hyūga my damn self!”

He rushed forward, and this time Neji was ready for him. “You are within my range of divination!” He roared.

…

Kotetsu groaned, “He‘s lost his mind! Even if you‘re faster and stronger, you NEVER rush a Hyūga. Man, and he was looking so promising too.”

Izumo chuckled, not taking his eyes off the fight, “But you heard him right? I think that by now, we should expect the unexpected with this kid.”

…

Neji waited for the opportune moment, before he leapt forward and through Naruto’s cocky charge. His speed, which hadn’t been all too impressive during the preceding fight, suddenly increased tenfold! “Two palms!” He struck Naruto twice and twin bursts of chakra exited the back of his opponent, “Four pal-” and that was when Neji realized that Naruto had his hand in a death grip.

Naruto smirked, throwing the Hyūga genius off with his confident attitude, “Boom!” And with that, Naruto’s entire body turned into electricity which converged on Neji, who screamed in agony. He fell to the floor panting as the lightning dissipated, and lay there, twitching.

Next to him, Naruto rose out of the rock under them, “Raiton Kage Bunshin, success.” He crouched down next to Neji. “You alive over there, bastard?”

Despite the shock he had received, Neji managed to wheeze out, “Yo-your main ninjutsu. How careless of me… Wh-when di-did you do that?”

Naruto chuckled, “I‘ve had that clone under the ground since I formed those windmill shuriken. All I needed was an opportunity, and an excuse, to use it. That was quite a nasty technique there, Neji.” He looked at his defeated, gobsmacked, and shaking opponent. “Now while you‘re lying there at my feet, I have something to tell you. I failed the academy a grand total of three times, right?”

Neji nodded with difficulty, “Ye-yeah, that is wh-what I‘ve heard.”

Naruto nodded, “Now, I wasn’t a good student. Honestly, I was a little asshole, doing little kiddie ninja shit thinking big techniques were all that mattered. School was boring and I hated it because it wasn’t interesting. And by my third go around, I had stopped paying attention to them tell us the same shit over and over again. But I wasn’t so bad that I was failing everything. Every time, it was one single part of the exam that threw me into the failing range. Do you want to know what that failing of mine was?” Neji only could rasp, and Naruto laughed heartily, “I could not then, and still cannot make a Bunshin to save my damn life.”

Neji slumped even further into the ground at this bit of information. Somehow.

“So don’t give me any bullshit about fate controlling your actions, Neji. Stop whining about stupid shit like that.” He got up and started walking away, “The only fate anyone should respond to is the one they make for themselves!”

Genma laughed as Neji was picked up by the medics and carried out of the stadium, ‘I’ve been completely defeated!’ Despite this, Neji smiled genuinely for the first time in a long while.

“WINNER, UZUMAKI NARUTO!” Genma yelled as Naruto slung his jacket over his right shoulder and looked up at the northwest wall of the stadium. A white-haired man was standing there with a thumbs-up and a cheeky grin on his face. Naruto grinned back, before the clone burst into smoke. He turned away and as he jumped up to the box containing all the other Chūnin hopefuls, all he could hear was the tremendous applause.

-]|[-

Naruto’s grin was infectious, as almost everyone in the Genin box smiled or stood to congratulate him, “Yo.”

“Yahoo!” Kiba yelled as he sprang up to him, fist out, “Man Naruto, where the hell was all that talent when we fought?” Akamaru barked in agreement.

“Er…hiding in a ditch somewhere.” Naruto shrugged helplessly before bumping fists with his old academy skipping buddy, “I had decent personal training for once, despite everything.”

“Did Kakashi take you and Sasuke for training Naruto?” Sakura came up to him, “Why didn‘t you take me too?” She half whined/half growled.

Naruto barked out some laughter, “Kakashi? Nah, Cyclops took Sasuke and ran off to prepare him to fight Gaara. Something or other about him having the more dangerous opponents or that Neji wouldn‘t kill me or whatever.” Naruto scowled, “Probably didn‘t think I had a chance, that bastard.”

The Jōnin in attendance blinked, “That was irresponsible of him. Neji did try to kill Hinata after all, and we had to jump in to stop him.” Kurenai scowled, “When I get my hands on that lazy ass…”

“So, he left you with nothing then?” Asuma’s eyes narrowed at that thought.

Naruto waved him off, “Nah, he‘s not that bad. He fobbed me off to that closet perv Ebisu-sensei, who at least showed me water walking before he got knocked out by my actual sensei.”

Suddenly, a light weight attached itself to his back, “And who was your sensei Naruto-kun?” Said weight was blonde, and her name was Ino. Naruto would have blushed if he hadn’t been spending the last month with Jiraiya.

“The super perv. And since when am I a -kun, Ino?” He laughed at the looks of incomprehension. Well, on the Genin at least. Said blonde colored slightly.

“Naruto…” Sakura shook her fist at him menacingly. “You better not have been perving around!”

Naruto shook his head, “Sakura-chan, I just curb-stomped the so-called ‘strongest Konoha Genin.’ after barely beating Kiba a month ago. Do you really think I was doing anything BESIDES getting trained into a nice comfy crater?” Sakura blushed and lowered her fist. When she looked away, Naruto let out a silent breath of relief, ‘Damn ero-sennin…’

A tic grew on Ino’s head at being basically ignored. She tightened her grip on Naruto warningly, “And does this super pervert have a name, or are we just going to have to guess?”

Naruto laughed, “Guess!” He took his seat, much to Ino’s embarrassment since he was now sitting on her.

“Ack! You’re heavy, jerk!” She shoved him, “Get off! Jeez, how do you weigh so much?!”

“Sorry, forgot about the weights.” Naruto scratched the back of his head as he took a seat properly.

“You’re still wearing them?!” Kiba shouted, “But you’re not wearing the coat!”

The blonde grinned, “The coat was extra. Most of the weight is on me via Fūinjutsu.” He showed his wrist, which had a seal on it.

“Damn,” Sakura huffed, “Wish I had gone with you. The past month was so boring.” The lot of them started to chat as they awaited the next match.

-]|[-

“Ah, Hokage-sama? It appears that the young Uchiha is not here yet.”

Sarutobi had to refrain from gnashing his teeth at the message from one of his Chūnin, ‘Damn you, Kakashi.’ He let out a sigh, “It would be favoritism if I pushed back his match. By all rights, an irresponsible brat like that should be not only disqualified, but punished as well.”

“Ah, but many of us in attendance, including myself, have only come to see this particular fight, Hokage-dono.” The Kazekage said to his host.

On the outside, he was the picture of tranquility, but on the inside, he was already analyzing the words, ‘So, now I know that you will not start this war without the young Uchiha here, Orochimaru. Very well, I’ll play your game. Besides, I’ll feel more at peace knowing Kakashi is here.’ He eyed his former student, “Well…” He drawled, “I don‘t know. The brat is being very disrespectful, and might have forfeited altogether.”

“I doubt it. That Uchiha pride is legendary even in Suna.” His former student, confident that his ruse was working, was nonchalant about it.

Sarutobi sighed, “So be it. Push the match back, but go and tell our graders not to bother with him.”

The Chūnin nodded and vanished, causing a smirk to rise to Orochimaru’s lips, hidden by his veil.

-]|[-

“Huh? The match is getting pushed back? Of course, Sasuke would get better treatment.” Naruto grumbled, and took a whap from Ino.

“Don’t talk about Sasuke-kun like that!” He may have gotten hotter, but she’d be damned if she let him badmouth her crush.

“Maa, Ino-chaaan, what was that for?” Naruto whined, though he was still grinning, “Sides, we get to see lazy-ass fight Ms. Wind over here.” He eyed Temari, even as Shikamaru mumbled something or other.

Ino smirked, “Get down there Shika, or I‘ll make Naruto-kun make you regret it.”

…

“Is it over yet?” Naruto whined from his present location, making the sleeping Yamanaka who had slumped onto him shift around. “It’s been hours!” All around the box, the Genin and their sensei were in various states of consciousness and boredom. He hauled himself up and looked at the two, who, after two hours, were still battling, “YOU GUYS SUCK! DO SOMETHING ALREADY!” He roared. He took another whack from the now sputtering Ino, as well as Sakura, both of whom were angry that their naps had been ruined.

“Quiet, Na-Naruto-kun. That was such a good nap!” Ino stopped halfway through his name to yawn, as Naruto grumbled about not getting any respect. She glared down at her lazy teammate down in the arena. Said teammate felt a shiver run down his spine, and wondered why he felt like someone was dancing on his grave and he lazily slumped to the side to dodge another blast of wind from an irate Temari.

A wind suddenly broke out inside the box, and everyone turned and sweatdropped as Kakashi waved with an eye smile, “Yo.”

Naruto laughed, “You‘re late, Cyclops-sensei! And you too, bastard! Be happy that they didn’t disqualify you!”

Sasuke glared daggers at Kakashi, who had to dodge a fist from his irate Genin. “Maa, how much did we miss?” He noticed Naruto’s new appearance, and the lack of any dirt on his person, “Maa, Naruto-kun, have you not fought yet? You don‘t have a scuff on you or any injuries. Don‘t tell me that you gave up.”

He got an uncharacteristic look of venom from his usually sunny student, “If I did it would be all your fault too, Cyclops. Ebisu? Really? You honestly thought he‘d be able to train me enough for Neji?” The other Jōnin nodded at that. Ebisu was fine for low rank Genin, or academy students, but not for Chūnin hopefuls and especially not against a Hyūga prodigy. Kakashi looked at his student in disappointment, and was about to speak up when Naruto cut him off, “Luckily for me, I found a real sensei, who actually got me ready for this. I broke my foot off in Neji‘s ass without getting hit once.” Kakashi’s eyes widened, and Sasuke’s jaw dropped slightly. Naruto smirked, “Yep, and I‘m still riled up to fight the princess here.”

He pointed at Sasuke, who smirked back, “Well dead-last, I‘ll be looking forward to- what did you call it- ‘breaking my foot off in your ass’ as soon as our match starts.” Lightning practically sparked between their eyes as they started the customary pissing contest, completely ignoring everything else.

Kakashi turned to his fellow Jōnin, “How did Naruto win his battle?”

Kurenai turned from him in disgust, and Asuma merely took a drag from his cigarette, so Gai had to come to his rescue, “Naruto‘s flames of youth burn brightly Kakashi!” Half the people cringed at the volume, “He made Neji angry and reckless during the fight, and used a very unorthodox Taijutsu style against him, as well as some ninjutsu!” He finished and threw a thumbs up, teeth sparkling.

Kakashi stared in disbelief.

-]|[-

Well, that’s it for this. Guys, I’ve had this sitting on my drive since 2011. Why did I suddenly remember it and feel the urge to finish it?

Fuck if I know. I haven’t so much as read a Naruto fic in years.

But yeah, cleaned it up. There was a load of shit wrong with it. It was very clearly 2011 me writing it, and there were some sections that were incomplete.

But yeah, just slamming my foot on the gas for this one. Full, whole hog, 100% gas. You know, what would have happened if Naruto didn’t need to be the perpetual underdog. Kishimoto had an excellent part one and then just crashed and burned from the first chapter of the timeskip. And then he introduced Kage Bunshin training.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Will I ever come back to this? Fuck if I know. But I needed to get it out of my system sooooo.