Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fuinjutsu ❯ Sparring ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 4.

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Outskirts of Konoha; Training-ground Five; 06:50 GMT.

Training-ground Five was a huge clearing of hard-packed dirt surrounded by trees that were once part of the forest now residing beyond the Great Wall of Konoha.

The largest training-grounds belonging to Konoha; like the Forest of Death and other large enclosed training-areas made for practical simulations of C-, B- and A-rank missions, were located outside of Konoha's walls and Konoha proper.

Smaller training-grounds; like training-ground Five, were located at the outer edge of Konoha proper, but not outside the Great Wall. Konoha proper was what people referred to when they were talking about the living-, shopping- and administrative-districts of Konoha.

When Naruto arrived at the agreed upon training-ground, he wasn't prepared at all for what he saw. If he didn't know better, he would guess that half of the genin and chuunin in the village were present. He could even see a couple of jounin and the Hokage himself standing in the back of the large crowd.

What the hell?

Recognizing Obito and Rin, he approached them silently, wary of all of the unknown the people surrounding him.

What's going on here? Did I remember the wrong time or the wrong place? Naruto wondered silently to himself.

It seemed as if a great event had been planned for this particular training ground. Maybe the Hokage was going to demonstrate a jutsu or something; Naruto reasoned as he finally reached the two genin he'd been angling for.

“Hello Rin-chan, Obito-kun,” Naruto greeted as he nodded to them in greeting.

At the sound of his voice, the two genin turned around to properly address him. “Rei-san!” they both said at the same time. It sounded as if they were surprised about the fact that he was there.

Smiling uneasily at them, Naruto rubbed the back of his head absently. “Could you tell me what's going on here?”

Their eyes widened. “What do you mean; what's going on? You should know. You're the one about to fight sensei.” Obito exclaimed accusingly with a finger pointed at Naruto.

Naruto frowned in confusion and aggravation at Obito's loud voice. He didn't want anyone to bring attention to him. “Well, yeah,” he answered, “I thought so too, but then why are all these other people here?” Naruto asked.

Obito blinked, clearly not seeing anything out of the ordinary by the appearance of all the people. “Well, you're going to spar with sensei, right? Why wouldn't they want to come for that?” Obito finally asked.

Naruto was nonplussed. Clearly he was missing something.

Maybe Rin would give a better explanation. He looked at her expectantly for enlightenment.

Rin sighed in exasperation. “Sensei's fights are legendary. No-one sane would give up the chance to see sensei use his techniques. Most of them were developed and perfected by sensei himself. He's a genius in more fields than sealing.

“Frankly, when word got around that a chuunin had agreed to spar with sensei, most thought it was either a joke or that you would chicken out. You'd have to be suicidal to willingly agree to meet sensei at the sharp end of his kunai.”

Naruto frowned. “But it's just a spar,” he defended himself.

Obito snorted. “There's no such think as just a spar when it comes to sensei. Lately the only ones willing to spar with him have been his own sensei; Jiraiya and the Hokage himself, and even Jiraiya is wary at such occasions.”

“You forget Kushina-san,” Rin interjected, “She's willing to fight him too.”

Obito snorted again. “Yeah, well! She doesn't count on the grounds that she's his fiancÃ©. There's no way sensei would ever hurt her and besides, she's crazy anyway… always turning into a berserker when the situation gets too hot. Not even Jiraiya is willing to spar with her.”

Naruto blinked. Huh! He'd never seen Kushina as a possible threat. She was so short and cheery all the time. There's no way she'd be able to… hmm… hold that thought. She kind of reminds me of someone… hmm…

Before he could find the answer to his own inner dialogue, he finally understood the implications of what the two genin had told him.

“Wait a second!” he exclaimed, “Do you mean to tell me that all these people are here to see me spar with Minato?” Oh Kami, he hoped not.

Both of them nodded, completely nonplussed.

Fuck.

He was about to call the whole deal and do what most people expected of him - to flee - when a tingling at the back of his mind warned him that someone was coming.

A flash of yellow light later and he was standing face to face with the person he was coming to think of as the bane of his existence.

“You're here! Excellent,” Minato grinned excitedly.

People turned to watch them at the sound of Minato's voice.

Double fuck.

“So, what are the rules going to be?” Minato asked far too cheerfully as he dragged Naruto to the centre of the enormous clearing. People were already backing away to the tree line, presumable to get out of harms way and to get a better view.

The only approaching person was the familiarly dressed Hokage and for a brief, blessed second, Naruto truly believed that the old coot could get him out of the situation.

It was not to be.

“I'm willing to referee,” The Sandaime said, equally as cheerfully as Minato.

Naruto groaned aloud.

Minato's smile only widened. He seemed like a hyped up kid in a candy store who'd recently gotten his allowance.

“So, rules?” Minato asked again, addressing the Hokage this time for suggestions.

I'm doomed. Naruto realized as he noticed the mischievous gleam in the old man's eyes. Somehow, Naruto got the feeling that someone had blabbed about Naruto's role in the village-wide prank that had been pulled some weeks ago.

“Oh, I believe an all out would be appropriate. It's been so long since you've had the chance for a real work-out and my researcher has been spending far too much time in the library lately. Some action will be good for him.”

Naruto choked.

“Of course,” the Sandaime continued. “Try not to kill each other. Third blood wins.”

Oh swell, Naruto thought. That meant that the winner would be the one who managed to make his opponent bleed three times.

After agreeing to the rules - very reluctantly on Naruto's part - the Hokage drew beck a little as he raised his hand in an all-clear signal. When he dropped it, the fight would commence.

As he readied himself, Naruto vaguely noticed that Kakashi had arrived too and that he was perched on a tree not far from his two team-mates. Under him again, leaning casually against the tree-trunk, Kushina could be distinguished by her fiery, red hair and her shit-eating grin. She was obviously enjoying this far too much.

“And begin!” The Sandaime's voice rang out loudly and clearly.

Naruto moved, running for all he was worth in the opposite direction of his adversary

His surroundings blurred.

At the speed he was going, Naruto barely managed to throw himself to the right as a tree-pronged kunai whizzed passed him and instinct told him that Minato was right in front of him.

Skidding to a crouching stop, one knee and one hand supporting him on the ground, Naruto locked gazes with his opponent. Minato seemed mildly surprised that Naruto had managed to avoid him. Evidently he'd forgotten how Naruto had acted against him with great speed when they first met.

Silence reigned from the audience. They were all apparently too much in shock to do or say anything. Naruto's actions were unheard of. No-one had been able to avoid Minato's technique by mere speed alone. Even the Sandaime used underhanded tactics like traps to make sure that Minato wouldn't take him down by the use of his Flying Thunder God Technique.

Slowly releasing a pent up breath, Naruto steadied himself as he rose completely from his position on the ground.

Minato didn't move. His gaze was assessing, weighing heavily on Naruto's many secrets.

Naruto barely managed to keep back a grimace. He knew that sparring with Minato hadn't been a good idea. The large audience they had only made it worse.

Loosening his kunai-holster, Naruto grabbed one as he continued to meet Minato's harsh gaze. They both tensed simultaneously.

Naruto was moving in the opposite direction again as soon as the kunai left his hand.

Using the Replacement Technique with a nearby log to get out of the kunai's path, Minato emerged from the tree line on the farthest end of Naruto's location.

Noticing this, Naruto sighed in relief as he stopped his mad escape. Just how was he supposed to go about sparring against Minato of all the people in Konoha? All he had at his disposal was speed, projectile weapons and some rudimentary seals.

The audience seemed to sense the temporary cease-fire from the two people sparring and then they all erupted in a cacophony of noise as bets were placed on the winner.

Naruto felt that the on-lookers were taking this spar with far too much aplomb.

Ignore them. He admonished himself. You are Uzumaki Naruto. There's no way you'll let him take you down without a fight. You never give up, remember!

He kind of though it was a bad sign that he was pep-talking himself.

Before Naruto could come up with a viable plan, Minato made another move, this time rushing towards Naruto by use of pure speed. Naruto couldn't help but be impressed - and preoccupied - as he quickly brought hishand up to block a downwards thrust that his opponent had made with a regular kunai.

Normally, it would be unadvisable to block powerful thrusts with only one arm, but Naruto had mastered the trick of enforcing his own muscles with chakra long before he ever landed in the past.

Bringing up his own kunai to attack, Minato was forced to jump back as steel met steel in a clash of bright sparks.

For this part of the fight at least, it seemed that Minato was willing to only use taijutsu.

Naruto refused to acknowledge the relief he felt.

They went at each other again; spinning, kicking, blocking, evading, somersaulting, stabbing and hitting at each other until they worked up quite a bit of sweat.

Even Naruto with his insane amount of stamina was beginning to feel some strain in his muscles.

Naruto ducked under a high kick made by Minato, and then he followed the move up by swinging his own leg around in a low arch in an attempt to kick the jounin off balance. Minato predicted the move and was already moving backwards, throwing a kunai at Naruto's head even as he retreated.

Naruto cursed mentally and pushed himself flat to the ground as the kunai whizzed by an inch above his head. He was far too preoccupied to notice the second kunai hidden in the first's shadow.

“First blood to Minato.” The Hokage called out as Naruto felt the harsh sting of steel biting into his left cheek.

Panting lightly, Naruto pushed himself to his feet again, trying in a vain attempt to figure out where his opponent disappeared to. Wiping the perspiration on his brow away with his sleeve, he carefully kept his attention on his surroundings.

The clearing he was in seemed to be abandoned if he didn't count himself and the peanut-gallery that were watching avidly from the sidelines.

The clearing was silent; no sound was made as Naruto carefully scanned it once again.

He'd been sparring with the blonde jounin for nearly fifty minutes now and he couldn't for the life of him understand why he was still standing and why he'd only received one cut. (The wound was already healed.)

If it hadn't been for that nifty instinct he had to sense when Minato used his teleportation technique, he'd have been done for within the first second of the match. It had also helped a lot that he had focused on a lot of speed training when he was training by himself in the mornings.

With the help of his chakra and his own insane healing abilities, he'd developed a technique to work his muscles much harder than what was normal. He'd essentially made his chakra work against his own muscles when he trained. This had led to the muscles tearing and then being healed up better than before. If he had to make a guess, he figured that he was about as fast as Lee had been without weights when they'd first taken the chuunin exam.

He still couldn't even compare to either Lee's or Gai's future speed - meaning the speed they had achieved by the time he went back in time - but he hoped to reach their speed records sometime in the near future. Maybe he'd reach his goal in a couple of more years if he trained diligently.

There was still no movement to be seen or sensed in the clearing.

It made him nervous.

Minato had never let up on his attacks for as long as he was doing now.

Channelling chakra to his nose to increase his sense of smell, Naruto finally caught a trace that might give him a clue to Minato's position.

The scent was emanating from the ground.

Naruto twitched a finger in agitation, but didn't otherwise move. Any movement he made would send vibrations into the ground, thus alerting the future Hokage about Naruto's position. It was a weakness of the techniques dealing with subterfuge from underground. It was great for sneaking unannounced up on an enemy, but it couldn't really help you at all if you weren't sure about your enemy's position. The ground didn't exactly allow for great sight or smell.

What really disturbed Naruto was not the thought of Minato hidden underground, but the fact that it was his blood he smelled.

More specifically, chakra enchanted blood.

Shit. He's grafting a seal. That's got to be it. Naruto paused that train of thought. How the hell does he graft a seal while he's underground?

Ah, it doesn't matter. It's better to have him above ground and attacking, than under ground sneaking around planning who knows what. So moveUzumaki!

Naruto acted a nano-second too late.

He was locked to the ground as angry red lines that turned into black began to spread in a circle from the point of his location.

As the sealing characters spread further and further, Naruto couldn't help but feel nervous. The array for the seal was huge, but not really complex.

Using what time he had before Minato appeared again above ground, Naruto began to study the seal intently.

What was its purpose and how did he break it without blowing himself up?

In his agitation, he began to mutter to himself. “Character of release… where's the god-damned character of release? Oh, right, there! Well, that's certainly far away.” He grouched as he spied the mentioned character at the far side of the seal. It was way out of his reach. “Never mind… What's the purpose? There are the Characters governing some kind of time limit… Hmm… Those over there to the right are for governing the stability of the seal, I better not touch those…”

As he continued to mutter, the ground just beyond the seal began to buckle as Minato slowly began to emerge from the ground. Naruto barely noticed, far too occupied with finding the purpose of the seal. He did register that Minato couldn't have used a conventional jutsu to hide underground with. If he had, he would've emerged quite a lot faster. The slow pace would defeat the purpose of surprising you enemy if it was used to attack from under ground.

“Okay then,” Naruto concluded his examination of the seal, “It's some kind of seal to temporarily lock your opponent to the ground, but what happens afterwards? The seal has another purpose when the time limit for the lockdown has run its course. Hmm… The secondary effect has to do with time as well,” he said to himself.

Evidently, he didn't talk low enough because Minato heard him and deigned to answer him.

“Brilliantly deducted; I knew you wouldn't disappoint me,” he praised Naruto before he started to explain more about the seal, “The time limit that keeps you grounded and unable to lift your feet lasts for five minutes and is designed to give the user both time to emerge from the ground as well as time for eventual allies to surround you when you're immobilised. It can work on more than one person at the time and as long as the target is within the perimeter of the seals edge, he will get caught in it. The only downside is that nothing may enter the seal as long as the time limit is in effect.”

Naruto frowned, but continued to study the characters keeping him to the ground. “And when the time limit is up?” he prompted.

Minato's smile widened. “Then the seal will make the movements of those originally caught in the seal exceptionally slower as well as allowing the user and his allies to enter the seals perimeter unaffected so that they may finish the enemy off.”

Naruto nodded absentmindedly as he calculated how long he had before the time limit was up. If he could do something to the seal before the time limit was spent, he might just be able to escape.

Two minutes left. Well then, no gain without any risks, he silently assured himself as he brought his thumb up to his mouth.

If there was something Naruto knew, it was theory on seals dealing with time. At least he had above average knowledge. What he was about to attempt should work.

“What are you doing?”

If Naruto didn't know better, he would think that Minato sounded worried.

Ignoring the blonde jounin, Naruto focused solely on his task as he began to place secondary seals on the ground surrounding his feet. If he could time his actions just right, he would be able tie his own seal into Minato's structure in the moment the time limit had run its course.

In the brief seconds after finishing his own rudimentary seal, Naruto began to focus more and more chakra into his blood-stream. Then he carefully bit his healed thumb again as he calculated the precise moment needed to connect his own seal to Minato's.

Now! He thought as he quickly swiped his bloodied thumb from the anchor point in his own seal and across to a character in Minato's seal that governed the circle of characters that surrounded his feet and kept him anchored to the ground.

There was a spectacular bright flash as Minato's seal was infused with Naruto's own chakra. The glow in the seal's characters began to dim as the seal accepted and integrated the new information and instructions that Naruto had added.

Letting out a breath of relief because his idea had worked and he wouldn't get blown up this day by malfunctioning seal, Naruto finally brought his gaze up to meet Minato's worried, but still intrigued, eyes.

Naruto smirked, daring the blonde jounin to cross the perimeter of the new seal.

Minato was rightfully cautious as he warily regarded Naruto in his crouched position.

“What did you do?” He finally asked. He didn't have a clear view to properly study the new seal Naruto had added and therefore he couldn't even guess at the alterations Naruto had made.

Naruto's smirk widened. “You'll have to figure that out by yourself,” he answered cryptically.

Minato frowned even as he moved his fingers into a cross-shaped seal that Naruto knew better than anything else in the world.

Shadow Clones, he thought to himself. Then he snorted. It wouldn't matter. With what he'd done to the seal, Minato would be hard pressed to lay a finger on him, let alone draw his blood.

Their area of the clearing was suddenly filled with dense smoke as Minato's fifty clones crowded around Naruto at the edge of the seal.

It was an intimidating sight, but Naruto refused to feel nervous.

That quickly changed when each clone brought out two three-pronged kunai each.

Well damn, Naruto admitted to himself that he might have underestimated Minato's deviousness just a tiny bit.

He pulled out two kunai from his pouch as he straightened himself to a ready-stance.

Minato noted that Naruto didn't seem to be affected by the slowing of movements that the seal should be enforcing on the cocky chuunin right about now. In fact, he could swear that he'd actually seemed to be faster in his movements now than before he placed the seal.

He decided that the safest course of action would be to stand back and see how his clones fared against the wily, blonde chuunin.

Naruto could practically see the decision his adversary had just made as he suddenly noticed an urgent tingling in his spine again. Behind. Faster than the eye could see, Naruto twirled, his kunai clashing down on the three-pronged kunai of the attacking shadow clone. To Naruto's eyes, the clone was moving exceptionally slow, even a toddler would be able to predict the clone's movements. Naruto smirked to himself, pleased with the results of his seal. A second move and a flick with the kunai and the clone disappeared in a cloud of dispelled smoke before it even registered the attack.

Naruto slid back into the ready-stance he'd been in before the clone had attacked.

The watching crowd gaped.

To the audience, Naruto hadn't even moved. It had simply looked like the clone had exploded on its own without even coming close to the blonde's position in the middle of the seal array.

Three puffs of smoke later, another three clones dispelled without any visible movement from the blonde chuunin, and the audience was at a loss in figuring out what was happening.

Naruto's smirked widened.

He loved to show people up even if he'd done his best to keep a low profile since arriving in the past.

A small chuckle broke the tense silence in the clearing, prodding everyone to turn their attention back to the jounin standing at the outer edge of the seal.

“Clever,” the future Yondaime complimented as he began to circle the seal slowly. The clones backed up a couple of feet to give their creator more space to move about in. “You changed the objective of the seal. In stead of slowing you down, it's speeding you up. Ingenious.”

Naruto smiled wryly, still not prepared to let his guard down. “Thanks.”

Minato nodded politely, a small grin playing over his features. “I wonder…”

Naruto kept his silence, waiting for Minato to finish speaking.

“…Does the new objective of the seal limit you to the small circle you drew that's surrounding your feet?”

Before he'd even finished the sentence, a new clone was rushing into the circle, this time without the use of Minato's teleportation technique.

Naruto tensed; dismayed that Minato had figured him out so soon. Still, he should be able to hold his own if only he managed to keep his concentration when the attackers entered the limited space he had to move in.

When the clone finally got close enough for the newly grafted seal to take effect, Naruto finally moved again. The clone went poof! And then Naruto was finally swarmed by the remaining clones.

It was the strangest experience.

As had happened before, Naruto was witness to how the clones practically seemed to stop in mid-leap as they crossed the new array that he'd drawn up. Then they came, seemingly floating towards him. And in the centre of them, Naruto moved at a speed beyond what the eye could see as he cut them down like puppets frozen in the moment of a time he alone controlled.

It was an intoxicating feeling.

Until it all came crashing down.

Literally.

“Fuck!” Naruto didn't know what had happened, but he had a pretty good idea as he was suddenly swarmed by clones moving at a regular speed.

Minato must have activated the character that controlled the release of the main seal. This resulted in the immediate dispelling of the seal that Minato had grafted, including the seal Naruto had grafted and tied to Minato's.

Effectively, Naruto was back at square one again. He could only move at his regular speed and as a result he was pummelled by all the incoming clones.

When he was effectively forced down to the ground and unable to move (because of the five clones sitting on his back), Naruto had the dubious honour to be approached by an openly laughing, blonde, future Hokage.

…A future Hokage holding one of Naruto's kunai no less.

Naruto scowled, eying the kunai with dread.

“You're smart, but not smart enough,” Minato teased lightly as he bent down to trace a shallow cut on Naruto's cheek (the one that hadn't been cut earlier). “Last chance,” he said as he backed away again, dispelling the clones as he disappeared from view.

“Second blood to Minato,” the Sandaime called when he finally got out of his own stupor of what had happened.

Naruto scowled as he straightened from the ground, cracking his back as he fingered the last couple of kunai he possessed.

So that was how Konoha's Yellow Flash wished to play? He wanted to drag the spar out as long as possible instead of landing the final blow when he had the chance…

Naruto couldn't help but find it a bit insulting. It was as if Minato wasn't the least bit worried that Naruto could even lay a finger on him; it kind of reminded Naruto of Sasuke's attitude in the Valley of the End.

Well… we'll see about that. He swore to himself. He'd managed to scratch up Sasuke's forehead protector with just one finger; he'd damn well manage to put a scratch on Konoha's future Hokage. Even if it was just one, it was the point that he'd managed at all that mattered.

C'mon, Uzumaki! You can do this. You willdo this! He promised himself. He never backed down from a challenge. He wouldn't be who he was if he did. He wouldn't be worthy of becoming a Hokage of Konoha if he did.

He cracked his back one last time as he scanned his surroundings. Minato was gone from view again, but a quick search with his enchanted sense of smell revealed that the wily jounin wasn't hiding under ground this time.

The cheeky bastard was actually chatting up Kushina at the edge of the clearing where the audience were standing.

Naruto's ire skyrocketed.

That's it. He's going down.

When no immediate idea came to him of how he was going to accomplish his goal, Naruto could quietly admit to himself that he could kill for the ability to create shadow clones right about now.

Kami, I miss being able to create those buggers with barely a thought.

In his own time, Naruto had been widely recognized as a leading expert and Master of the Shadow Clone Technique. No one had been able to best him when it came to a contest - or battle - involving the sealed technique.

Now though, just because his chakra coils weren't cooperating, he'd never be able to make his beloved clones unless his coils were fixed.

…Or could I? It was a thought to ponder on later, he finally decided as he fingered a kunai absentmindedly. At this moment in time, when he was busy with a spar, the crazy idea he'd gotten wasn't really relevant at all. It needed some careful thought and preparations. Not to mention some research.

Inwardly, Naruto groaned. He was beginning to loath the word `research'.

Finely honed instincts warned him of the incoming projectiles at the same moment as the now familiar tingle raced along his spine.

Naruto ducked.

Minato and his attack went flying over his head. The rest of Minato's thrown kunai impacted the ground in a perfect circle surrounding the two fighters.

“Daydreaming?” The blonde jounin teased as he passed.

Naruto could literally feel an eyebrow twitch in irritation. “You're the one chatting up your girlfriend in the middle of a spar,” he groused, barely managing to keep from screaming out his irritation.

Minato chuckled, “I thought you could need a break.”

Naruto didn't answer this time, far too aware of the feeling of another of Minato's special seals activating behind him.

He ducked again, this time angling his movements towards the kunai bearing the seal that had been activated.

Minato flew over his head again.

Naruto calculated.

The blonde jounin had thrown ten special-kunai when he'd attacked. Two of those had now been activated, and if Naruto understood the technique right, then the same seal couldn't be activated twice unless Minato recharged it with the needed chakra.

Another small tingling warning and Naruto jumped. Barely scaling Minato's outstretched hand.

Another. And another. And another.

Naruto panted as he was finally allowed a reprieve from the constant attacks. It was exhausting to keep dodging at the speeds the two were moving and Naruto had been working himself ragged long before this spar even started.

He still had great stamina, but even he managed to exhaust himself once in a while. He passed out plenty as a child because he'd worked passed his stamina. The only difference between him and other shinobi (who didn't have tailed beasts sealed up inside them) was that his stamina replenished itself at an astonishing rate if he only took a break to let it. Naruto had had a pet theory that part of Kyubi's chakra had been reconfigured (by the Yondaime's seal) into stamina to fill up his reserves when they got too depleted.

“Do you want to give up?” Minato's voice seemed to reach Naruto from a great distance and he blinked dazedly to focus his vision.

“Not way!” He finally exclaimed when he managed to catch his breath again. Naruto forced a grin. “I'm having too much fun.”

Minato grinned back. “I hoped you would say that. I'm having fun too,” he admitted as a charged anew.

If Naruto had had breath to spare, he would've groaned. Instead, he dodged again. It was easier this time, seeing as Minato hadn't used any of the seals he had left yet.

They circled each other now; back to using pure taijutsu again.

Naruto attempted to escape the circle of kunai that Minato had planted, but he was forced back at every turn. It seemed the blonde jounin was determined to keep Naruto trapped inside the circle until Naruto became too tired to dodge the use of the last four kunai used for the teleportation technique.

With a sinking feeling and growing resignation, Naruto finally realised that he would have to do something completely stupid and unexpected if he was to keep the promise he'd made to himself.

Sakura would no doubt bash his head in with her fists if she ever got word of what Naruto was about to attempt.

Naruto smiled fondly at the thought even as he sensed the activation of the last seals.

He gripped his last kunai tightly as he desperately dodged the three first attacks. At the fourth and final attack though, he moved deliberately towards the attack with no intention of dodging.

A piercing pain flared in his chest.

Naruto grinned victoriously as his eyes met the startled blue ones of his opponent.

In the background, Naruto could hear the Sandaime calling Minato as the winner, followed quickly by a call for a team of paramedics.

The silence that had ruled the clearing during the spar was now suddenly broken by the loud roar of surprised, horrified and worried shinobi.

The sound of three pairs of worried feet approaching could barely be heard over the cacophony of noise.

All of this Naruto ignored as he continued to meet Minato's startled - quickly becoming horrified - eyes.

“Why didn't you dodge?” Minato finally asked, his eyes furrowing in sudden anger.

Naruto coughed up a dribble of blood even as he continued to smile. He'd done it, damn it! He'd kept his promise.

A thin prick of blood was blooming in the middle of Minato's forehead where Naruto's kunai had ghosted across Minato's skin.

“Are you nuts?” He wheezed out between breaths. “There's no way I'd let you beat me unless I'd gotten at least one hit in on you.”

When Naruto suddenly staggered, Minato was quick to release the hold he had on the three-pronged kunai buried in Naruto's chest lest he aggravated the injury. Then, Naruto was caught carefully by two pairs of concerned hands as he was lowered slowly to the ground.

Naruto glanced behind him in surprise, catching a glimpse of black, brown and red hair.

Obito, Rin and Kushina.

Obito and Rin released their hold on him as soon as they were certain that he was safely laid out on the ground.

Kushina bounced in the background. Obviously conflicted in her emotions. She seemed to be both ecstatic and worried.

Looking at her, Naruto couldn't keep from chuckling even as fresh pain tore through his lungs like liquid flames.

At the chuckling sound, Kushina couldn't seem to hold herself any longer.

“That was awesome!” She exploded as she bounced over to Naruto's left side. Minato had settled himself on the opposite side of Naruto's wounded torso and seemed to alternate between scowling angrily at his surroundings and at Naruto and Kushina. “I've never seen a chuunin landing a hit on Minato ever since he invented that stupid Thunder-What'cha-ma-callit-Technique of his. Brilliantly executed.” She praised.

“Thanks,” Naruto smiled brilliantly back at her even as another painful cough wracked his body.

“No way!” Obito exclaimed. “He landed a hit on sensei?” He asked loudly, completely unable to believe it.

Minato blinked, bewildered. A brief second later he brought a hand up to touch his forehead, searching for any wound. He was baffled when his fingers came away coated in a thin smear of nearly non-existent blood. “Huh.” He said, dumbfounded. “I didn't feel a thing.” Then he turned an annoyed frown back on Naruto. “It was still no excuse for doing what you did. What kind of idiot deliberately moves into an attack unless he's intent on committing suicide?”

Naruto coughed tiredly. “The kind of idiot that has an amazing ability to re-generate and heal himself. Now get this fucking kunai out of me!” He whined.

All those present blinked.

“You can't be serious,” Rin objected. “That kunai is the only thing keeping you from bleeding out before the medics get here. If we take it out now, you'll drown in your own blood.”

Naruto rolled his eyes.

…Then he coughed heavily again. Blood splattering the surrounding audience.

“Eww!” Obito complained as he pulled his goggles off to clean them, “Disgusting.”

“Just…” Naruto stopped to wheeze in more air. “Just get the damn thing out. I promise I won't die and I don't ever break a promise,” he finally managed to get out.

“The medic team is on the way,” a new voice broke into the argument before it could really take off.

Naruto glanced over at the Sandaime, noticing at the same time that Kakashi was standing off the side, scowling at his general surroundings.

The rest of the crowd seemed to be contained and held back by various jounin and members of the Uchiha-clan. It was obvious that the Hokage hadn't wished for them to get in the way by crowding Naruto.

Naruto closed his eyes tiredly. “Oh, fuck no,” he muttered to himself, momentarily ignoring the listening ears surrounding him, “I hate hospitals.”

Sarutobi's mouth twitched briefly in quickly contained amusement as he regarded Naruto with curious eyes.

“Your ability to heal is really as good as you claim?” he finally asked.

Naruto coughed and nodded.

“Very well then.”

With that said; the Sandaime reached over - ignoring the other's vehement protests - to grasp the offending kunai tightly. Then, with a mighty, but decisive tug, he pulled the kunai out.

Naruto would've cursed (or screamed) at the pain, but for some inexplicable reason, he was completely out of the needed air.

Then the pain made itself known again as nerves decided that they hadn't really done their job before and now they had a lot to make up for. Naruto arched up off the ground, not even noticing the many hands struggling to keep him down as the massive amount of chakra locked up inside him began to work in overdrive.

To anyone in possession of advanced blood-lines affecting the eyes, Naruto practically glowed with power.

…And in front of the eyes of a startled six-man audience, Naruto's wound began to close rapidly. Tissue appearing from seemingly nowhere knitted the gaping wound together again until a thin pink scar was the only evidence of the serious wound that had been there moments before.

The collected assembly blinked as Naruto relaxed completely to end up resting peacefully on the ground again He was asleep within seconds as his body finally registered the desperate need for rest.

“So, who's in need of a team of medics?” A young, feminine voice broke the stunned silence.

Sarutobi turned to greet the new arrivals.

“Ah… Tsunade-hime. I have the most extraordinaire news for you, but first we need to get my researcher to the hospital. He's been through a strenuous ordeal and I greatly fear he's in need of some bed-rest.”

Tsunade raised an unimpressed eyebrow in enquiry even as she motioned for her underlings to pick Naruto up.

“And you absolutely needed the best medics to be found in order to carry an exhausted shinobi back to the hospital?” she asked in disbelief and with no little amount of irritation, “I swear Hokage-sama, if you are pulling my chain, I'll…”

The Sandaime raised a hand to stop her rant. “Calm yourself Tsunade-hime. All will be explained.”

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