Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Way of the Jinchuuriki ❯ Arc 3, Chapter 20 - Chunin Exams Finale! ( Chapter 20 )

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

Fear.

Is it fear that causes one to hate? Perhaps but that would be too simple. Fear is the justification of hatred.

The truth about hatred is that humans are weak creatures. In their weakness they hate something that is beyond their understanding. If they just took a little time they would realize their hatred was baseless.

It was because of this hatred… Because of this fear that jinchuuriki were born. If one were to simply treat a vessel like a regular human being and not like an outcast or the demon in their belly they vessel would be just like them. Almost at the very least.

All of this he knew but it still did not change the fact that he was a jinchuuriki and he was feared. …He was hated like his fellow brethren. There was nothing that could ever change that. But there was one thing that would make him better than anything else.

Killing the son of the flash and the wielder of the legendary Flying Thunder God. And now he stood before him, shielding his opponent from the power of his demon. "Can't even let one of your own face a beast like one of us? Pathetic."

'Raiu… Don't do this.' A feminine voice echoed within his mind. 'Even if he may be the reason of your pain… It wasn't his doing. I've told you this many times before. He is like you…'

"Shut it!" Raiu growled out at the secondary voice in his head, the one that spoke the most as Nanabi really did not speak too often. "I'll do this right now!"

Chakra began to gather in his palms, forming almost a familiar shape to those that could see. Naruto narrowed his eyes for a moment as it seemed familiar to the Rasengan at first but it became obvious what it was when Raiu held it towards him. It was far worse.

The green chakra exploded towards him in a wave of force, blasting the very air away from the beam and creating shockwaves as it thundered towards Naruto. The blonde, however, simply stuck his left hand forward to intercept the blow much to Raiu's ire and seemingly caught the blast in his palm.

In the next moment the blast struck the wall of the stadium and a massive crater formed from the blow. Naruto's hand was slightly singed but nothing overall different besides the smoke that was rising from his hand and his dull blues piercing into Raiu's crimson.

Raiu's eyes were dilating in and out of proportion at this event. He had the ability to bend space and time to redirect his attack like that? If that was the case what else could he do with space and time?! This was a serious set back in his mind for there would have to be more training before he could stand before this man.

Yet before he could further react he his loudly as something was flicked onto his head and began to smoke. Nanabi's chakra began to drain from his being and he realized immediately what it was that he was hit with. A suppression seal.

Waiting until the demon's chakra left his being Raiu ripped the tag of his forehead and glared at Naruto with as much hatred he could muster. He cared not what Fuu had explained to him. This man was the very source of his pain and he would strike him from the earth.

Sooner or later.

"Winner, Raiu…" Kakashi didn't announce loudly this time for he was unsure if this would stand. Naruto had intervened on Shikamaru's behalf as soon as Raiu turned and the kid still attacked.

Keeping his gaze on Raiu as he headed to the contestant's booth, making sure he would try nothing else, Naruto sighed before he turned to Shikamaru. "Sorry for that… But he would have killed you in that state."

"No… You're right. He would have killed me." Shikamaru shivered at the feel of dread that still overwhelmed his senses. "Thank you… I could not have dealt with that."

Simply nodding, Naruto placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder before they appeared in front of the Konoha gennin not competing. The first to speak was Chouji as he sadly smiled at his friend. "You did what you could… No shame in that."

"But… Just what is that guy?" Kiba growled out all they while keeping his eyes focused on Raiu in the booth. "That power he summoned forth felt even more dark… and dangerous then what Gaara drew forth against Sakura and Sasuke."

"He's a jinchuuriki. A demon vessel of the seven tailed beast. Gaara is the container of the one tailed beast." Naruto answered Kiba with closed eyes before he stepped away from them and rejoined Yugito at the top of the stairs.

Shikamaru only nodded at this revelation, for he had been expecting as much. "It makes sense… It is no wonder why both were the favorites to make the finals. With the power of a demon at the exposal they must be difficult to defeat. …Sasuke was lucky."

Grimacing as she didn't want to believe that Sasuke's win was based on lucky, Ino had to defend Sasuke. "Maybe it was… Just a little. But it took an incredible amount of skill to be able to accomplish such a feat!"

"Yes… Yes it did. But now he has Lee and worst of all if he makes it through… Raiu will beat the winner of this fight and head to the finals. …Sasuke will have to beat two vessels to win this tournament." Shikamaru grimily noted for his fellow comrade and hoped he would get out of this alright.

"And I… Don't think that is going to happen." He finished leaving everyone in a somber mood.

Being called to the arena, Neji calmly gazed at the injured Satoshi. The idiot had refused to throw this fight and was determined to fight him. He would show him how foolish he was for now he had three strikes against him.

Neji was not going to show him any mercy.

So sliding into his clan's stance, the Hyuuga silently activated his Byukugan and waited for Hatake to give them the signal.

Sighing at what was unfolding here in the finals; Kakashi knew not to delay the battle any further. Both wanted to fight for their own reasons and they were ready for combat. "Seeing that both of you are ready, let the final match of the first round begin!"

For one of the few times in his life, Neji had no patience and went after his opponent. He had always been trained to rein his emotions in and use his opponent's against them to his advantage but he did not care for his right now. He wanted to cause this guy as much pain as he could.

Satoshi drew his ninjato quickly to cut off the Hyuuga's idea of engaging him in close range. No matter what the case, bringing a sword to a fist fight always was a good idea.

But this time it meant no difference. Neji struck Satoshi's hands soon as he drew the blade, the chakra in his finger tips flowing with almost perfectly. The Rock gennin hissed out as his hands spasmed and forced him to drop the blade immediately and Neji continued his assault.

He wasn't going to let him get away. Each hit was carefully aimed to maximize the damage done. For now he wouldn't care about sealing away his chakra. He would deal with that later… If this punk was still standing after this next barrage.

Surrendering almost seemed like a good idea for Satoshi. The fight against the weapon mistress was draining and now while he had chakra for another Flare Burst he would drain everything before he met Raiu. But at the current moment getting to Raiu seemed like a daunting task as the Hyuuga was spraying with blow after blow and he could hardly block his strikes.

Neji could see the chakra welling with Satoshi's coils and beginning to travel to his skin. Knowing what this meant, he temporarily stopped his assault before focusing on each chakra point in his body and smirked. "Hey… Did you know? You are in my field of divination!"

Feeling horrified after Neji's first four hits, Satoshi could feel his chakra depleting and rapidly. This was the legendary technique that made Hyuuga feared amongst the ranks of all ninjas. Their ability to seal of the chakra of others was a deadly ability.

After another four blows, Satoshi wasn't going to let this happened. Channeling all his chakra at once to his skin, his eyes burned heatedly as he crossed his arms over his chest and knocked Neji back while heat waves began to emanate from his skin. "I will not be defeated!"

"Katon: Flare Burst!"

Fire and ash scattered through the arena once more. It potency was far grander than it had been against Tenten for it seemed to have exploded around Satoshi when he released it.

The entire arena was quit so they could hear what was happening. But all that could be heard was the panting of the Rock gennin. And finally the ashes and flames dispersed and both warriors stood, one completely unharmed and standing in the middle of a small crater.

Neji smirked at the stunned Iwa ninja before him. His plan had worked and he forced him to drain the remainder of his chakra. Now he was just a sitting duck for him. Playing the waiting game now was his best option. Satoshi would strike soon.

Growling out in frustration for no one had ever escaped his flare burst like this before, Satoshi screamed as he picked up his ninjato and leapt towards Neji. He should have known that it was the last thing he would do for that day.

"Kaiten!"

Chakra swirled around Neji before he spun with it creating an almost impenetrable swirl of chakra. Satoshi crashed into the spiraling shield and was unceremoniously thrown from him and into the still standing tree. However it stood no longer and snapped on contact and finally the top portion fell onto the down Rock gennin.

"Neji is the winner!" Kakashi stated immediately after he checked on Satoshi's condition and found he was still breathing. "There will be a ten minute intermission before the next round starts for all those that have advanced to rest and give our spectators some time to recuperate."

"Well… That was an interesting first round. In the end three of ours made the semi finals. And two happened to be from Gai's squad." Yugito commented from what she had seen so far.

Naruto only shrugged for he expected it to turn out this way. "You have to hand it to Gai… He truly is the best jounin instructor. Not only did he train them well enough to make the finals there is the slightest chance that he could have two students in the final match."

"You don't honestly think Neji is going to be Raiu, do you?" Yugito raised her eyebrow at Naruto's claim before he shook his head. "That is what I thought… Neji unfortunately already revealed his trump card and I still feel Raiu has a few more left."

"Sensei…" Naruto turned around to see Sasuke and Sakura, the former speaking with a spark in his eyes. Naruto could only grin at this. Sasuke had something planned.

This would be interesting after all.

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"This is interesting… I would have to say." A dark figure emerged from the ground before her, his black and white adorned with a dangerous smirk. "There is a new vessel of the seven tails my lady. Shall I take care of him once this is finished?"

"No." Kushina spoke with her eyes shut so she could focus on the chakra sources around her. "Inform the leader of this development. Allow him to assign a team to capture him. Unless there is any other important details about him that would have Kisame or assign to him there is no need for us to capture him."

"He can bend time and space too." The other half of Zetsu's being spoke, his grin still plastered on his face.

Kushina's eyes snapped open at this revelation and narrowed them for a moment. Sighing and shrugging her shoulders, she turned to see Kisame entering their small hideout before waving Zetsu away. "Go inform your true master about this, Zetsu. He would most certainly want to know of this."

Waiting until Zetsu dissolved into the ground and was long gone Kisame looked at Kushina for a moment and shook his head. "You still are uncertain of this… Aren't you? Meeting your boy, I mean…"

"He is no longer my son… That demon has warped him!" Kushina snapped as her eyes flared in fury. "Minato was fool to ever believe that a child could hold back the will of a demon and now look at my child! He is a mindless drone that summons the beast into its true form! …Damn those fools for not allowing me to do what should have been done then…"

"Naruto should have been with his father… He never would have had to endure this pain!" Kushina spat out before standing up with a growl. "Take over for me here… I'm going out."

Not bothering to stop her, Kisame sighed before he sat next to the fire Kushina had started. Konoha was going to pay… It was going to burn when Kushina was done with it.

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Standing in the arena, which was falling apart at the seams from the first round, both Lee and Sasuke were in the middle of a starring contest. So far Lee was winning. There could be many reasons for this but it was just one in particular that was bothering Sasuke.

Those damn eyebrows were wiggling from Lee's effort to keep a serious face. That was creeping him out!

Finally breaking his eyes, conceding that Lee could stare him down, Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His body had taken a beaten but thanks to Sakura it was back near peak condition. The same couldn't be said about his chakra reserves. He had a little over thirty percent left from the looks of it and he would need to keep it.

So to his misfortune he couldn't use the Sharingan in this fight or he could risk burning too much chakra off and not having enough for one last powerful jutsu. He wouldn't use Chidori against Lee since they were, how much he hated to say this, friends… Or at least friendly with one another.

Okay… He could tolerate Lee. He was the only person besides Sakura that could destroy him in close range and he respected him for that. But he swore if he saw one more damn sunset he was going to shove Chidori down his throat!

"So… Who do you think is going to win this fight?" Sakura spoke with a torn expression for she wanted both to really win, Sasuke for he was her team mate and Lee because he had grown on her since she was reunited with Gai.

"Tough to say. Sasuke might be forced to use it and if he does he will win but… Unfortunately if he uses it in this fight he'll be a sitting duck against Raiu. I hate to say this but Lee looks the have the upper hand. Kerlya wasn't even able to wear him down." Naruto solemnly commented for going against his own student.

Seeing that Gai had joined them during the break, the taijutsu specialist frowned at Naruto for going against his own student. He knew why obviously but that still didn't feel right to him. "While I believe in Lee you do not give Sasuke enough credit. This fight will be close."

"Sasuke will win." Yugito hummed before pulling out her tourney bracket, making both Naruto and Gai twitch at her. "I never lose a bet and I have money on Sasuke here so he will win."

Hiding her bracket from Naruto, for he wanted to see the said perfect bracket and make sure she wasn't cheating somehow, Yugito smiled and pecked him lightly on the lips. "Just have faith like Gai says…"

Raising his eyebrow, Naruto shrugged as he leaned back against the wall. "We shall see. The fight is about to start."

Waiting for the signal from the Third, Kakashi nodded when the Hokage gave him the go ahead. "Everyone get to your seats! The second round will begin! Uchiha Sasuke versus Rock Lee commence!"

Sasuke knew he had the advantage immediately due to being able to walk on water and unlike Kerlya he could take advantage of it. He was much faster and while he knew Lee was faster then he… The water somewhat balanced the scale a little.

The only problem was that Lee was going to be a foot below him in each series of blows and that did not bode well. While he had the high ground… He could accidentally take a shot to the crotch and that would be a painful experience he did not want to happen.

But before he could reach Lee, the green suited gennin had a surprise waiting for him. Lee jumped up… And landed on the water. Taking a quick look at his feet, Sasuke immediately realized why he was floating. It was quite simple but effective.

He had two small flotation devices stuck beneath his feet and activate by seals to keep his weight from pushing them under. Sure Lee couldn't have been the one to make those seals due to the fact they needed chakra but still. It was pretty ingenious on Lee's part to get some help so he could fight on the water.

Deciding not to charge, Sasuke stood and waited for Lee to make the first move. He knew Lee wouldn't hesitate and come after him and the green beast did not disappoint him. Lee burst towards him with an unholy amount of speed that took Sasuke by surprise. Sure he knew Lee was fast but…

DAMN!

Diving into the shallow water to avoid being pummeled, Sasuke jumped out behind and locked his arms from behind. Fighting Lee in a striking contest would end up with him taking a brutal beating. But in a close range grappling contest… He could win. Lee's style was focused entirely around striking. His… Was not.

Lee was surprised by this tactic. He was used to everyone trying to fight a straight forward contest in hand-to-hand but Sasuke… He slipped behind him and now was successfully restraining… For now. He would break free of the lock Sasuke had on his torso but he had to keep his balance on the water as Sasuke was trying to push him to the ground.

With a grunt Lee lunged his body forward and flipped Sasuke over his back. Sasuke's grip loosened and he fell in front of him. Despite Sasuke still having a grip on his head, not wanting to let go and allow his speed to turn into a factor, Lee pounced on top of Sasuke only to take a knee to the top of his head.

This was a bad situation for Sasuke. Being in front of Lee was not the position he needed to be. His only chance was to lock out one of Lee's legs and force the beast to submit. The only problem was he wasn't sure if that would stop him thanks to the fact that Lee normally wore weights on his legs…

And today he did not. That tactic was now nullified.

Great… He could strike with Lee, he couldn't grapple with him and he couldn't submit him. No matter which direction this went Sasuke was going to lose in hand-to-hand.

Then a thought struck him. From the spars he heard from Itachi when he faced Gai, Gai always kept ear buds to block out sound and did not make eye contact with him to avoid being caught in a genjutsu. Lee most certainly was not doing either of those…

Sasuke smirked. Genjutsu it was.

Lee had to admit he wanted to learn a little about wrestling and grappling after this was over. He had always figured that striking was the most important factor in taijutsu but with his struggle against Sasuke he knew otherwise now. Sure the water did not help as he could not mount Sasuke and beat him, a fact Sasuke was using to his advantage, but the Uchiha refused to let Lee get far enough away to push this fight in the direction he wanted it to go.

Finally he managed to break away from Sasuke and put some distance between them. However he noted that Sasuke's eyes strangely turned red for a moment when his eyes glanced past them before turning back to normal. Now Lee knew about the Sharingan but why would he only activate it for such a short period of time?

Seeing Sasuke set up in a more combat worthy stance, Lee grinned. Now this was more how he liked it. Up close and personal.

Charging towards the Uchiha, Lee easily covered more ground and struck first. Sasuke managed ducked underneath it and throw a low jab to his sternum. Lee easily side stepped the blow and turned for a round house kick and seemingly missed. However there were those that see he did not.

"LEE! HE'S PUT YOU IN GENJUTSU!" Neji yelled out to his friend hoping that somehow that Lee might be able to see through it.

Illusions were the one thing Lee could not stop once they festered within his body. He hated that he had practically no way to defend himself once a genjutsu took over. There were ways to prevent it from ever being put under one but he apparently fell for one of the conditions.

He didn't hear anything odd so he doubted that it was an illusion based off of sound. It could be a genjutsu he had cast on him during their grappling session but he seriously doubted that. The concentration it must have taken for Sasuke to keep him mounting and punching him into submission was far too great to cast one.

Smell and taste rarely ever were used outside to manipulate someone in a meeting or something around that; Lee didn't pay much attention to those as he probably would never have to deal with them. So that left one… Sight.

At that moment Lee remembered Sasuke's eyes turning red for a brief second and he cursed. Their eyes met and he was able to use a genjutsu at that very moment. It seemed Sasuke wanted to win this and would do whatever he had to… And so would he.

"First Gate, Initial Gate Open!"

Those words sent chills down Sasuke's back he watched an aura began to coat Lee. Oh he knew about the eight gates and the one thing that could screw him over more then anything else at this exact moment was that Lee could open the gates. It just happened Lee wasn't finished yet.

"Second Gate, Gate of Rest Open!"

This was the worst case scenario for Sasuke. With two gates open this would be very bad it Lee hit him. He was sure his illusion could not withstand the amount of chakra that was pouring from Lee's body, something that must only happen when he opened the gates.

Ready for anything, Sasuke slid into a guarded stance when Lee dashed towards him and showed no side effects of the genjutsu. About to dash backwards to keep Lee from catching him, his eyes went wide as Lee started to encircle him and keep him within his range.

Looking side to side trying to keep up with Lee, which was difficult without his Sharingan active, Sasuke could not dodge the next attack. Lee was before him and his foot smashed into his into his chin and sent her airborne. Gritting in pain from the blow, he looked down to see what he would do next when a cold sweat enveloped him.

Lee was directly behind him.

Ready to slam his elbow back into his gut, his eyes went wide. The bandages Lee used to wrap his arms from his elbow to his palm began to wrap around him, restricting his body's movements. He tried his best but he was unable to find his way out of this blow once the Lee began the spin the two and head downward.

A resounding crack was heard when contact was made and a large cloud of dust covered over half of the arena. The water slowly began to flow to where the two crashed leading some to expect a massive crater had been formed in the center of the arena.

When the dust settled there was now a pool of water where the impact crater had formed and Lee was standing just outside the pool looking at a floating Sasuke in the water. He made no movements at all, no signs of life. A small amount blood poured from the Uchiha's lips and finally his body began to sink in the worry.

Lee's eyes widened at this turn of events. He had used the Front Lotus only to wound and defeat Sasuke, not to kill him! He would never forgive himself if he…

Feeling a hand on his shoulders, he turned back only to see red eyes.

Catching the now limp Lee, the Sasuke in the water turned into a plum of smoke. "Shit… I was lucky I used that clone earlier in the match. I couldn't have taken the full blow of that."

"Uchiha Sasuke is the winner!"

Hearing his name called, Sasuke sighed and relief and with the lightest amount of chakra he tapped Lee's forehead. The boy shot awake and looked horrified when he saw Sasuke before him. "Sorry Lee… I used a genjutsu to induce you into sleep. When you panicked over my dead clone it simply made its job easier."

Being put out by such a tactic, Lee felt a little angered. He knew his weakness and the fact that they were used against him by his own comrades… But seeing Sasuke hold out his hand the green beast only side and shook his hand. "Good fight… But next time I will win or I will do a thousand pushups on each of the Hokage's heads!"

Clearing the ringing out of his ears, Sasuke could only nod but felt a little bad about that. Then again if he won he would be treated to a good show…

"Told you so." Yugito smirked while she watched Sasuke and Lee head up the stairs before turning to Naruto and Gai. She busted out laughing at Gai's expression and Naruto's semi-amused grin.

Sasuke had used one of the few ninjutsu techniques that Naruto had actually taught him to defeat Lee. It was often over looked due to its chakra price but the Shadow Clone was one of the best clone techniques there was with the only exception really being the lighting style version of the technique.

Of course he didn't tell Sasuke about that one. He was still frustrated about not having mastered the first damn lighting jutsu he showed him. "Well… Sasuke is in the finals and he didn't have to use it. That's good. It will mean he'll have a surprise up his sleeve for Raiu."

"I just pray Neji gets out of this alright. I might have riled Raiu a little by interfering." Naruto solemnly finished, keeping an eye on Raiu this entire time and he had seen the boy had not calmed.

For once Gai didn't rise up to the defense of his student for he knew what dangers Raiu presented. Instead he simply nodded. "If I must I will intervene. I will not let him hurt Neji no matter the reason."

No other word was spoken as all eyes were on Neji and Raiu heading to the arena floor.

Neji wasn't too confident after what he had seen against Shikamaru. He already was leery of the boy from what Sasuke had told him, then hearing how easily he and Aschen dismantled that gennin team from the rain… Then there was that last fact. He was a vessel of one of the nine bijuu.

That alone was enough to be frightened of him heading into battle. He could only count a few Konoha ninja on his fingers that could stand up to the wrath of an angry jinchuuriki using their demon's power to the fullest. The Third Hokage, Uchiha Itachi, Jiraiya of the Sannin(possibly Tsunade) and Namikaze-Mitarashi Naruto.

That was rather elite company and he didn't even want to compare himself to those ninja. He wasn't even strongest enough to say he was on Gai's level much less THEIR level.

So to say he was a little nervous was an understatement. His entire body was screaming at him to run!

And this was the exact fear fact Raiu was expecting his display of his bijuu's power would lead to, at least those gennin with a good source of knowledge. And it just so happened his opponent was very knowledgeable.

He loved it when he could use an opponent's own knowledge to his advantage.

Sure after using Nanabi's power he was in a cool down phase but that was almost over now. He had excellent control of the beast as that was the other thing he was heavily drilled on when the beast was sealed into his belly. The only one that they had knowledge of that had better control of their demon was Kirabi of the Cloud, holder of Hachibi.

Raiu had nothing against that man nor did he want to test his control of bijuu against him when he obviously possessed the stronger demon. The only one he wanted was Naruto and thankfully it was known that he had practically no control of the nine tailed fox. There was just one little problem about that though…

Naruto could reverse summon their positions and Kyuubi would be on the outside world. A time and space jutsu at its finest and because of it Naruto was immediately put into every bingo book as a double S-rank shinobi. For not only could he use the legendary flash but summoning Kyuubi in his place and now from his insane sensory skills that seemed to outmatched the Red Haired Priestess…

Shaking his head, letting his own knowledge get to his head, Raiu calmly faced the branch house prodigy who despite his fears was preparing for battle. How commendable. Even if he couldn't overcome it he would not back down.

A trait that all Konoha shinobi seemed to share. A trait that was said to make them stronger.

He would put that to the test.

Preparing for a close range battle, Raiu slid into a peculiar stance that very few could recognize. However one of the few was the Third Hokage. The said Hokage narrowed his eyes at this development for there was only one person he had ever seen with a stance like that.

It was the stance of the former vessel of the Waterfall… The fighting stance of Lady Fuu.

Seeing that no one else recognized it, Kakashi was initiated the fight after carefully analyzing the two. "Both fighters are ready… Let's get it on!"

Activating his Byukugan, Neji winced at the sight of Raiu's chakra coils. He hadn't noticed before but they were far thicker then what they should have been for someone their age. They were comparable to the copy ninja near them and he knew that man had a lot of chakra.

This wasn't going to be fun.

Raiu was impatient and he wasn't going to sit idle and let the Hyuuga analyze him. He would allow him to have no advantages and he struck first with a lighting fast haymaker that struck home.

Reeling from the blow, having barely seen it, Neji began to duck in weave between Raiu's quick strikes. His flurry was fast, almost as quick as Tenten was with her weapons. And the strength put behind each felt like a blow Lee would deliver. These were not amusing combinations for Tenten had faster hands then anyone he had sparred against.

But he wasn't going to stay on the defensive. He saw an opening, a crack in the armor if you would, in Raiu's assault. He was fast that he put up almost no guard for he wasn't suspecting a counter attack. That would be his undoing. Neji was use to sparring with Lee and taking punishment.

Raiu almost gasped once Neji's fingertips made contact with her solar plexus. It would have been a crippling shot if it wasn't for the light pulse Nanabi flowed into his body. So the blow made little difference and allowed him to drive a painful upper cut into Neji's jaw.

Sliding back, having been sent reeling from the blow, Neji knew what he had seen and it had not pleased him at all. The damn demon's chakra was still in his system so it either meant he had recovered from his cool down or… Its chakra was constantly flowing in his coils. Neither was good in his opinion.

So attacking his nerves was going to get him nowhere. And if the demon was supplying him with chakra that meant shutting off his chakra points wasn't going to help him either. However… It would help Sasuke.

At this moment Neji wasn't fighting for himself. He knew he was beaten. He knew soon as he stepped foot in the arena with Raiu. But if he could cripple him just enough… Maybe it was even the odds for the Uchiha.

Focusing his chakra around him, he spun to repel Raiu from his presence and to give him enough time to prepare for his attack. With his Byukugan he never lost sight of the seven tails vessel and when he stopped the whirl he faced him. "Let's see you stop this! You're in my filed of divination!"

Striking out at Raiu, Neji's flurried through his blows. He passed sixteen and was quickly reaching thirty-two when it happened. Out of nowhere the Rock gennin simply vanished. He had disappeared from his sight completely… And then he saw nothing at all.

Watching Neji fall to the ground below after delivering a chop to the back of his neck, Raiu growled out. This wasn't suppose to be how this was to play out. He wasn't suppose to bend time and space until the final match to overwhelm his opponent and show off his superior skill to gather more attention to his home land and less from the ever growing demand of missions to Konoha.

But yet against both the Nara and the Hyuuga he was forced to do so. If this was any indicator of their strength Konoha truly deserve its mantle of strongest of the shinobi nations. And he hadn't even faced who was considered the strongest of the gennin, Uchiha Sasuke.

This was going to be interesting. And for once he couldn't give a damn about his village. These ninja were testing his capacity and giving him something to compare against the Prince of Konoha. If he couldn't beat these three he didn't even deserve the right to ever face the blonde on the field of battle.

"Crap… I was hoping Neji would last longer." Sasuke groaned while Sakura tended to his cramping muscles. "I hope there will be an intermission for this fight. I need a few more minutes."

Luck seemed to be on Sasuke's side when Kakashi turned to Raiu and spoke. "If you need it you may take five minutes to rest. If not we'll start the final match."

"I don't. I'm ready for this to finish." Sasuke's parade came to a crashing halt when Raiu announced that he needed no extra time to prepare for the Uchiha.

Hanging his head, belittling himself for putting all his chips in on betting his enemy would take the break, Sasuke slowly stood up and thanked Sakura. "Sakura… Thanks for your help. But I'm still going to need a miracle to pull this one off… You wouldn't happen to have a human summoning contract would you?"

Chuckling lightly at Sasuke's attempted joke, despite knowing that he was somewhat hoping she would, Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry Sasuke. All I can do is tend to your wounds and cheer you on. So get out there and win this fight. Win the promotion for me, Kerlya, sensei and everyone else that is routing for you."

"Yeah… You better win." Kerlya growled at Sasuke, finally being let out of the medical room, before smiling softly. "I would at least like to claim that the champion was from our team."

A poof caught all three of their attention before they all twitched and Naruto's smiling form. "I thought I'd come by and give you some inspirational speech but it looks like you already have one. So…"

"Show them who you are… And show them why they should fear your name, Sasuke, and not our family's." Itachi stated, appearing out of the blue and leaning against the wall, with a proud grin on his face.

If there was one thing that could be said to motivate Sasuke more no one knew it. His goal had always been similar to Miko's. They both wanted to be out of the shadow of their eldest sibling and known for who they were. Only know was Miko earning her name and this was Sasuke's chance.

He headed down with chip on his shoulder. He was going to prove it to the world that he was Uchiha Sasuke. He was someone to be feared and not because of what clan he belonged to but because of what he could do.

"There… That should do it. If there is anyone that can beat Raiu now… It is Sasuke." Itachi spoke with his prideful grin never ceasing. Just looking at how Sasuke stood in front of the Rock gennin told him one thing.

Sasuke didn't just believe he could win. He was going to win.

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"Everyt hing is in motion… We should head out now." Kisame stated, knowing the last battle of the chunin exam was about to commence. It would be easiest to penetrate the village's defenses as they would be at their weakest.

"No… This seems rather interesting." Kushina grinned, watching the battle about to unfold within her mind thanks to her sensory. "Besides this could bode well for us. If the Uchiha brat can weaken the seven tails we might be able to catch him underneath the Third Tsuchikage's nose for a consolation prize."

Kisame was slightly worried about not taking their chance and infiltrating the village now. Konoha was known for having strong jounin but you didn't just face one… You faced three at the very least. "But Pein hasn't given us the order to capture him yet. He wants the nine tails foremost…"

"Then he should have come here himself!" Kushina growled out, enraged at Kisame's insubordination, and with the slight glint in her eyes told Kisame to back off. "Even if Naruto is possessed by that demon he is still his father's child… My child. That boy will not fall to us if we do not have the most opportune situation."

"And when will that be?" Kisame frowned and raised his eyebrow at his partner. He did not like being order around. He was one of the strongest in the Akatsuki and while he knew he could not defeat the woman before him he knew he could make her feel pain like she never had felt before.

"Let me worry about that. It will show itself… Sooner or later. So for now we wait… We wait and enjoy what this land has to offer." Kushina finished and closed her eyes once more to watch the battle.

This was going to be interesting.

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Everything was so silent. A pin drop could be heard for miles and a kunai could slice through the tension.

Uchiha Sasuke was currently staring down the one opponent in this exam he felt he couldn't beat. Yet with the encouragement of his friends in the stands, his family and his own team he felt he could do this. He felt like he could win.

And Raiu didn't like that at all. The Uchiha showed no fear of him. Not for being a demon vessel and able to control its power. Not for being able to bend time and space to his favor. Not for anything… The Uchiha was not afraid of him.

This would be a problem for with this confidence meant his skills would dramatically increase. He would have to show how hopeless this situation truly was to the Uchiha and break his will to fight.

Sasuke had his plan already set and was ready for the worst. If Raiu called upon the demon he knew the fight was over. He could not get away with luck and a cleverly concealed kunai and explosive tag to win if it came down to it. He had to win this fight before he called for the demon's aid.

Kakashi sensed both were ready and the crowd's anticipation for the final battle. He smirked at this. This would be good…

"Uchiha Sasuke… Raiu of the Rock… Are you ready?!" Kakashi loudly announce, breaking the silence, and soon as he got the nod from the two he sliced his hands before him. "Then let the final battle of these Chunin Exams commence!"

There was no hesitation. Both Sasuke and Raiu sprinted towards the other, a kunai drawn in anticipation. And in classic style both caught the others wrist to keep the kunai from piercing into their flesh.

Neither moved from their spot, waiting for the other to make a move first and capitalize on it. However this was just what Sasuke wanted as his Sharingan blazed into life.

Raiu knew this was bad and he had to break this early stalemate or he would be caught in the Sharingan's famous hypnotism. He did not want to be mimicked by this gennin and give him more techniques to his arsenal. But this time he could bend space and time to get away. He would just take Sasuke with him…

Throwing up a knee to Sasuke's stomach, Sasuke countered with the exact move. Raiu already narrowed his eyes at this development. He was already under the hypnotism and it wouldn't be easy to break. It was unlike any other genjutsu he knew as the only way to break it was to slip the Sharingan's sight.

Getting tired of this, Raiu threw Sasuke's hand off but unfortunately Sasuke did not do the same and held him tight. This Raiu expected and a kunai shot from his sleeve and straight to Sasuke's face. The Uchiha ducked but he was forced to let go and allow him to flip away.

Knowing his chakra supply was limited Raiu knew what to attack. He may give up a few jutsu he knew to the Uchiha but once he drained the remainder of Sasuke's chakra this fight would be easy pickings.

Going through a series of hand seals, watching as Sasuke copied, Raiu brought his hands forward and a pocket of wind built in his palms before it burst forward. "Futon: Wind Bullet!"

The two collided with equal force, leaving Raiu to smirk before going through another set of hand seals. The faster the Uchiha burned his chakra the better as he had a lot to spare and then had the bug's chakra to rely upon. "Futon: Hurricane Shockwave!"

A massive gale, similar to the one he used against Shikamaru, tore from only Raiu's hands this time. While there wasn't much left to destroy, the gale certain finished the job. The already snap tree was completely uprooted and pierced into the wall. But the question was…

Where was the Uchiha?

That answer was revealed when a hand suddenly stuck out from the ground, grabbed his ankle and pulled him underground. His head was the only thing left as Sasuke burst out from where he now was with his hands in a tiger seal. "Katon: Gokakyu!"

The flames burst from his mouth and while Raiu knew he could easily withstand this blow it was what happened next that actually made his toes curl. "Futon: Daitoppa!"

Those two things did not bode well. Almost every ninja knew that wind jutsu fed fire and greatly increased their intensity and power. The great thing was that most ninja could not master both fire and wind jutsu this early in their life time. The Uchiha had a great benefit however…

He had the Sharingan. He could copy such techniques and use them with deadly efficiency.

Raiu knew that he had no time to dodge this once more he was forced to use to transport himself again. But this time he wouldn't just use it for defense. He was going to go offensive this time.

Sasuke knew the flames did not engulf his opponent unlike the majority of the crowd. The civilians did not see that he used his chakra in such a way that he had literally disappeared from the current plane of existence. And unfortunately he could…

And that was frightening as the only other people he knew that he could do such a thing was Itachi and Naruto.

Closing his eyes, acting on pure instinct, Sasuke rolled forward, turned as quick as he physically could and threw a handful of shuriken. The shock on Raiu's face was obvious as his kunai hit nothing but air and Sasuke's shuriken stuck into his rib cage.

Growling, Raiu ripped each out. He didn't care about the blood pouring form the wounds or the fact that many gasped in awe at how he did such a thing without wincing. "I see the flash being your sensei has taught you how to defend against attacks that bend time and space."

"Nope." Sasuke grinned at Raiu nearly shocking the vessel in the process with his answer. "I do not know of anyway to fend against such attacks… So I let my instinct guide me and it turned out to be right. Most ninja will try to attack someone from behind when they get the chance. That is our way of life after all."

Raiu closed his eyes and shook his head before a smirk graced his lips. "Fair enough… You're the first person that I actually can say this to but… I like you Uchiha. Now let's give everyone here what they came to see! An epic final battle!"

Sasuke knew the time was getting close. He had nearly drained all of his chakra and only a little remained. And with Raiu coming at him once more there would be no time to pull the one from his pouch. Good thing he though ahead and put it underneath his tongue.

Slicing at the Uchiha with his kunai, he tossed it at his abdomen when he dodged before he went through a series of hand seals and grinned. "Raiton: Thunder Flash!"

A lighting jutsu was the last thing Sasuke had expected from his opponent. From his name he should have seen it coming as Rai was the first three letters… But he digressed. This attack was going to hit him much faster then any he could have prepared for. This was going to hurt.

The electric waved washed over him, causing havoc on his nervous system and nearly frying it in the process. But he stood tough and used his chakra to coat his body and flowed the electricity through him as he did when Naruto activated his lighting affinity.

He would thank the bastard for that harsh lesson.

Somewhat surprised that his opponent was able to withstand the burst of lighting, Raiu had to grin. He knew the Uchiha had an affinity for lighting from what he seemed and it looked as if he used it to take such damage and survive. But something was wrong… Why was he smirking and why was he going through the same hand seals?!

He shouldn't have that much chakra left!

"Raiton: Thunder Flash!" Sasuke screamed out before the lighting built before him and spread out like a wave towards Raiu.

Raiu did not let his shock hinder him and countered with yet another Thunder Flash to counter act the one Sasuke had used. Narrowing his eyes at this, the rock gennin knew something was up and then it hit him what could give him such energy so quickly.

A soldier pill. He had hid it in his mouth. The tricky Uchiha. He was a worthy foe. Not his equal but worthy nonetheless.

Going through his options, not wanting to hand the Uchiha any more techniques for he could use them against him now, hand-to-hand seemed to be the way to go. But he would have to be careful for those with lighting affinities could bring their techniques into a fight.

E of the Kumo resistance was proof of that.

So he would just have to bring his strongest affinity into this fight. So drawing two kunais, he extended their own reach with his nature chakra.

Sasuke saw this and grinned. So he wanted to play like that did he? He could play that game to. So letting his nature chakra into a handful of shuriken, he tossed them towards Raiu and drew two kunai.

Avoiding them, knowing that those shuriken would rip through him if they made contact, the two exchange a fury of slashes. Most were blocked but a handful of slices made it through on both sides. His would tear into the Uchiha and cause deeper wounds while Sasuke's seared his flesh and felt more damaging as the electricity played havoc with his pain receptors.

Neither backed down. They kept wildly slashing at the other, letting more and more blows come through to earn another slash on their opponent. They only protected their vitals and sooner or later someone would leave an opening. But as time passed it seemed both were well guarded and that this was getting no where fast.

Sasuke knew this benefited Raiu thanks to his bijuu and if there was any way he was going to win this he had to hit a vital spot. Unfortunately it seemed that his opponent knew this as well and was letting him get a few more blows in for the sake of protecting his most vital spots.

Deciding enough was enough Sasuke kicked off the ground and flipped back. He kept Raiu from pursuing with a kunai stuck into the ground with an explosive tag. Once it went off, Raiu had to jump back to avoid getting caught in the blast radius.

This was all the time Sasuke needed. He went through the seals and lighting crackled in his palm. If he couldn't break his defense to hit a vital he would pierce through it.

Having seen this technique twice, Raiu was ready for it. That did not mean he knew how to stop it. From what he could see there was nothing that could stop the lighting once it hit. The only way was to counter it with another lighting attack, something he doubted as he heard of a legend of the copy cat ninja cutting a bolt of lighting with this technique.

So he would have to preemptively stop this attack and he knew how.

The one thing Sasuke did not want to happen did indeed occur. Raiu bent time and space just as he started his way towards him. The rock ninja waited and timed it perfectly. Now Sasuke had hundreds of options to where he would come from but he had to make the right one otherwise this would be it.

He first thought about thrusting it dead ahead but that would be a dangerous spot to pick and he doubted Raiu would risk such injury. The back came to mind but Sasuke had already proven with his instinct that he would protect the rear. So maybe the side or possibly above him?

Growling at this, he forsook all logic and threw it in front of him as his instinct told him to do.

The amount of luck Sasuke had was nearly amazing.

Raiu gripped the Uchiha's wrist soon as he returned to the plane of existence to keep the attack from destroying his chest. The damn Uchiha's instincts were top notch and neutralizing his greatest technique. This was going to cause him a lot of problem down the road for his jutsu was the reason they were brought here instead of waiting another six months and showing off at the exams in their own village!

Everything was riding on this attack and despite not being able to budge Raiu's grip, Sasuke couldn't help but like the situation they were in. Now he hadn't tried this before but Chidori was a lot alike Lighting Spree Naruto had taught him. So he wondered if he couldn't do the same…

A bolt of the Chidori ripped through Raiu's chest, tearing a hole straight through to the other side. His eyes widened at the sudden shock of the blow he let go of Sasuke's wrist.

Blood gushed from the wound and not even Raiu's hand could repress the torrent that was coming out. The bolt hadn't hit his heart but it was close… It clipped the aorta.

Falling to his knees, losing conscious quickly, Raiu threw his hand before him to stop his fall. Breathing heavily, trying to blink the darkness overwhelming his vision, his entire body trembled from his will to stay standing.

'Raiu! Hold on!' He could hear Fuu's voice trying to comfort him, doing anything she could do to keep Raiu awake. 'Nanabi do something! He's going to die!'

'Don't give me that crap! If he dies you know what will happen! You will just be sealed back into someone else here in Konoha! You aren't escaping!' Fu roared in his mind, screaming at the beast to save their host.

Darkness began to overwhelm him and he slowly began to fall to the ground below when a dark voice filled his mind with a deafening hiss. "FINE! I WILL SAVE YOUR PATHETIC LIFE YOU WORTHLESS MORTAL!"

Green charka erupted around Raiu, keeping his body just inches from collapsing onto the ground. It cratered the very ground and held his body firm before it started to slowly lift him, taking shape of the beetle demon within. One wing sprouted behind his back… Then two and another was on the way.

When finally stood at his full height, Raiu was no longer seen as violent eruption of chakra encircled his being and knocked Sasuke back. But once that charka faded, the green chakra formed a single humanoid beetle with four wings fluttering where Raiu had previous been standing.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he did not predict any of this. He had not expected his blow to be so serious and the lighting to just be absorbed by his body just like he had seen many lighting jutsu to time after time. But the bolt of the Chidori electricity did not… It pierced straight through.

And now he was standing before Raiu bonded with four tails of the demon's chakra.

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"I don't need to have your sensory range to feel that." Kisame whistled at the feeling of the seven tail vessel's release. "Whatever happened must have either pissed him of or he was in great danger."

"That Uchiha something special." Kushina commented having seen the fight despite the distance there was from them to the arena. "I can see why Orochimaru is interested in him. While both his brother and sister were stronger than he is at this point in their lives… But I don't sense a wall with their youngest sibling. It seems he may have unlimited potential."

Kisame tilted his head at Kushina for a moment before nodding a little. "That makes sense. The snake is cunning and knows exactly what he needs and he'll do anything to get it. Maybe we should set up a trap and bring the kid with us? Orochimaru would try something if he wants the kid so desperately."

"Possibly but this is Orochimaru we are talking about… While his strength is no match for our own his tactics are better then anyone else. That is why he has managed to elude us so far." Kushina stated, remembering how he managed to escape right under her watch… And take her daughter from her.

Opening her eyes and standing, Kushina's red eyes narrowed before a wicked idea came to her. Maybe she couldn't but… "Kisame… We will sneak in now. This is the opportunity we need and will give us the best cover for a few days."

Grinning, Kisame fingered the handle of Samehada in anticipation. Oh this was going to be fun.

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"Shit!" The Tsuchikage cursed under his breath seeing Raiu's transformation and knew this would be difficult to stop. "I hate to burden you with Lord Hokage but I'm going to need some help restraining him now. The way he is currently he can't be stopped until all of the demon's chakra is repressed."

Seeing the leader of the Rock ready himself for battle, Hizuren sighed and stood up for this was his home and he would defend it if he must. "You may be seated Lord Tsuchikage. We have a special unit to deal with situations like this. You could say that we specialize in defending our village from demonic attacks."

Narrowing his eyes for a moment before remembering hearing how easily Gaara was taken care of when he nearly lost control in the prelims, the Tsuchikage simply nodded. "I will accept your help but this is my responsibility. How quickly can you build the team?"

"They're already here." The Hokage smirked before turning to Yamato and nodding his head. "Naruto and Itachi's unit will corral him. During that time do what you must to drain the demonic chakra from Raiu."

"Yes Lord Hokage." Yamato dispersed into a swirl of leafs and went straight to the arena floor.

Sasuke suddenly found that he was no longer in the arena and was back in the contestants' booth with many of the other gennin. He absently wondered what happened at first when he noted that Kakashi was there and barking orders. "I want all of you to evacuate the citizens from this place immediately! That is your number one priority! The lords will be taken care of by their samurai and any available jounin so don't worry about them!"

"Get them out of here quickly for this could get messy and fast! An out of control vessel can cause massive damage in a hurry so move!" Kakashi finished barking, revealing his single Sharingan eye to get his point across, before diving down to help his unit.

No one argued soon as they saw who was surrounding the raging Raiu. They all quickly rushed to the stands to help in evacuation that was already in place. They simply had to pacify the situation.

On the arena floor, the Nanabi vessel screeched and bent over, preparing to lunge towards the two standing in its way. Itachi and Naruto were ready and jumped to the side just as the four tailed Raiu crushed the ground were they had been standing before.

"Sen'eijashu!"

Snakes shot out from Anko's outstretched arm and wrapped around the demonic Raiu, momentarily containing him. Yugito didn't give him a chance to break free and dropped an ax kick from below before driving her forearm into his throat and pushed him onto his back.

"Katon: Karyu Endan!" Both Kakashi and Itachi cried before the breathed out two monstrous dragons from their mouths. Yugito quickly leapt away before the dragons' engulf her along with Raiu.

The screeches of the demonic Raiu filled the air while the flames consumed his visible form in the fire. Each knew this wouldn't be enough and they were right when a powerful stream of chakra flared out towards Itachi and Kakashi. Both easily avoided the blow and Naruto finished his seals.

"Doton: Yomi Numa!" Naruto slapped his palms onto the ground and the earth turned into a muddy wasteland that everyone had to jump away from.

Raiu wasn't so fortunate and was caught by the engulfing swamp and was quickly being pulled under. Screeching out, chakra began to build around him in a furious display the bug's chakra disintegrated all the mud around it before taking flight.

Once more snakes flew towards the demonic vessel but this time he was ready. Slicing through them with his outstretched claws, he began charging for another blast when something grabbed his ankle. Looking down to see Yugito, there was no time to react before he was tossed to the ground. The only thing it could do was fire the blast at the airborne blonde.

But even that was meaningless for Naruto appeared before her in a flash of light and with his hands outstretched revealing the seals tattooed on the palms. Focusing his chakra he seemingly absorbed the blast before in flash of green light the demon's own blast struck it.

Screeching out, the bug took out straight at them and his claws extended straight for them. But his claw did not reach them when both disappeared in a golden flicker. Annoyed that he was unable to hit anything, the bug turned back to the ground and bellowed.

A power shockwave filled the arena to keep them still before the bug dove down towards them, focusing all of its chakra into the wings to increase its speed. But the increase of speed meant nothing when Itachi appeared above him out of a dark void and stomped his foot onto the bug's spine, crashing it into the ground.

Picking itself up, hissing at this turn of events, the four tailed Raiu narrowed his multiple red eyes before each widened. Four wooden dragons erupted from around him, wrapping their forms against his body and holding him still.

Everyone quickly added their own restraining technique to keep it from breaking free. With his feet sinking into mud, multiple dogs biting down onto his joints, a whip of fire and snakes wrapping around his body and the very air itself bending around him the chakra finally began to leave his system.

Seeing Raiu return to normal and passing out in the hold, the wound of his heart no longer visible, the restraints were dismissed and the wooden dragons crumbled into the dirt.

Naruto caught the incapacitated vessel and sighed. Turning to the Kages and their guards, who had appeared before them, he handed Raiu to the Iwa ninja. "His wounds should be fine. Nanabi took care of them and he'll be out for a day or two from exhausting so much of his and the demon's chakra."

Simply nodding at Naruto, the Tsuchikage turned to the Hokage before bowing lightly. "I'm sorry for this turn of events. I will take my leave once he recovers. Thank you for your hospitality and your help cleaning up this mess for me, lord Hokage."

Absently wondering what the elderly Tsuchikage was planning, not trusting him in the slightest, the Hokage simply bowed in return as a sign of respect. "Think nothing of it. It happened within my village and it is mine and my shinobi's responsibility to handle it and keep the civilian populace from being harmed."

Keeping his focus on Raiu and the Third Tsuchikage as they turned and headed to leave, Naruto inch closer to the Hokage before whispering. "I think this was intentional… Iwa up to something."

"We'll talk about this later." Hizuren commented for he had an empty void in his gut saying the same, he sighed and turned to the Kazekage. "Well this was most unfortunate… I believe we have some things to discuss so shall we head to my office to take care of them?"

"Yes… That would be most appropriate." The Kazekage stated watching the retreating back of the Tsuchikage too, not feeling comfortable with this at all. He wouldn't act on his gut suspicion, however, didn't mean he would lay back and let whatever Iwa was planning go unchecked.

He may not like Konoha either but the leaf was a good friend to have and one he did not want to get on the bad side of. If what he had seen from the five that subdued the demonic possessed kid was an indication of their strength…

He was afraid.

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"Dam n…" Yugito groaned sitting in her bed with her hands at her temples, hoping her headache would go away. "Cat if you can do anything about this migraine…"

Not getting a response, the eighteen year old blonde sighed before falling back onto her bed. The day had been hectic after the Nanabi went berserk. Nothing bad happened but still… The amount of panic that spread through the village was enough to deal with.

Calming people something she just couldn't do.

Hearing the door open, she raised her head to see Naruto enter the room. Forcing a smile for it seemed he wasn't doing too well either, probably because of the meeting with the Hokage and the Kazekage. "Do I want to know how the meeting went or is it something I rather not know about?"

"Bad and yes, you don't want to know." Naruto groaned as for one of those few times he felt truly tired. "But you need to know… You know the Sound has been exercising its power in the Rice and has attempted to stretch its borders… Well we've had enough. We will be declaring war on them in one year's time with this as a guise."

Yugito's perked hearing this but her eyes narrowed. War was the last thing that this village needed at a time like this. They had just recovered from their depression and now they were about to march into battle against another nation, a much smaller one but nonetheless…

"The real reason we are going after them is because Orochimaru is their leader and that he has secretly started a war with us already. He is amassing an army of both missing ninja and those from his newly created village. …However we cannot attack right at this moment due to the fact of Iwa's presence here in the exams." Naruto rubbed his temple and wondered how the old man could deal with this stuff on a constant basis.

"Suna will support our efforts and send troops to aid us. In return for their aid we will send more of our higher ranked missions to them during the duration of the war since most of our top shinobi will be out in the field. We will lose some money because of this but the Hokage accepted the terms for this should be quick… If other nations do not get involved." Naruto finished with an annoyed growl.

"Because we do not know what Iwa is up to we have to take this cautiously and build up a surplus during this next year while keeping a force here at home in case they get the idea to ally with the Sound and attack our home front." Naruto finished before almost collapsing on his bed.

Frowning at what she heard, ignoring the increasing ache in her temples, Yugito pushed herself onto her feet before plopping back down next to Naruto. "I know this is bad but… This is what is necessary. Orochimaru is a threat to the village and if he's gathering an army in a bordering country we can't let that be ignored."

"The job of the Hokage is a difficult one and sometimes you must make decisions that will affect the lives of your populace. I know this is draining for you but think of the old man. He has done this for many years and you know how this must eat at him knowing many of his shinobi will die from this decision." Yugito tried to explain despite feeling much the same.

Naruto only sighed. She didn't even know the half of it… "Yugito… He will be stepping down before this war begins. He will step down in six months time to act as a second Hokage to help ease the burden of the job to the next Hokage."

Yugito's eyes widen at this revelation. The Third was standing down? Then who in the world would be taking his place as the Hokage. There were only a handful of people and unfortunately the few that could did not want the job. "Naruto… Who will it be?"

"I don't know…" Naruto dragged his hand across his face, slightly grateful for Yugito's touch but even that could not calm his raging mind. "But I do know if I don't find Tsunade in six months that there will only be two candidates…"

"Either Itachi or I will become the Godaime if she will not."
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