Naruto 1. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto****

**Chapter 1**

As the days passed after the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, Hinata Hyuuga seemed to have gotten a new drive and purpose. She was already approaching her thirties while looking as regal and fresh as a teen in their twenties. Whatever had happened during the last moments with Naruto Uzumaki, her crush and love interest from an age of six years old had made the previous shy and timid Hinata into a fearsome and dangerous person. The betrayal of Sasuke Uchiha, again, had managed to claim the life of her crush and she had brutally slaughtered him in front of the entire shinobi forces. His pleas for mercy had made even the most battle hardy and ruthless people flinch as she used the training under the Godaime Hokage and World's Greatest Female Medic to personally shatter every bone and tear apart most of his muscles as she destroyed his Sharingan, while keeping him alive and allowing him to die only after she destroyed his genitals with a chakra enhanced strike that caused them to blow like an explosive tag.

Sasuke had entered the camp under the pretence of surrendering. When he was alone he had managed to attack Naruto from behind and used Reverse Summoning to send Tsunade Senju and Naruto to Madara. Hinata had managed to disable two of the arrays but Naruto had been already taken and his Bijju extracted. The Toads had managed to once again Reverse Summon him but the damage had been done. Naruto had died the next day using the same jutsu both the Sandaime and Yondaime had used, the Shiki Fuiin while sealing the incomplete Ten Tails. He had died with a smile on his face while lamenting to Hinata that he was unable to marry her and keep his promise to her. Naruto had managed to transfer his entire chakra into her giving her nearly three tails of chakra due to his vast reserves making her an Uzumaki in terms of Chakra. For Hinata that was as good as marriage.

That day the second Aka No Shi (Crimson Death) was born where she had bathed in the blood of her enemies including traitors and Zetsu Clones. Her entire youthful frame was crimson red with the blood she shed and even though she had not gotten to kill Madara or fight him, she had gotten both Kabuto and Orochimaru in a two on one fight where she had secretly managed to knock them out and sealed them using Fuinjutsu she had learned from her beloved Naruto and his customised fuin tags on making a person or a corpse to be kept in suspended animation in a separate dimension. To prevent people getting suspicious she had used their blood to create Blood Clones to simulate their dead bodies to the people.

Hinata now had only a single purpose, that was to go back in time and take what was denied to Naruto and in turn her. That was why she had taken both Orochimaru and Kabuto. She needed their knowledge and medical expertise. And for this purpose she was living. Her moniker from the war had scared the old coots on the Hyuuga Council, who remembered the dangerous Kushina Uzumaki and her prowess and they had decided in all their wisdom to challenge her authority over the clan and insult her devotion to Naruto's memory. She had simply slaughtered them all leaving only the moderate factions alive and her actions had caused her to gain notoriety in the entire Konoha as the Ice Maiden. No one had since that day questioned her devotion to Naruto's memory and even the Godaime Tsunade Senju had given her the title of Honourable Uzumaki, as she was one of the last relatives of Naruto but never told him that.

Hinata had over the period of last several years had commanded the use of Root Tunnels and Hideouts that were located deep underneath Konoha and even few of the labs of Orochimaru that had not been discovered till this day. She had broken both missing nin using torture and Fuinjutsu and then disposed them by drowning them into an Acid Bath. From Tsunade and Orochimaru she had learned about medical knowledge and poisons and their antidotes, while from Kabuto she had learned his self healing technique and his vast experiments including the improved Edo Tensei. Naruto had left her several scrolls that he had gotten from Sandaime and Jiraya on Fuuinjutsu and she had learned all of them and using them, removed the Caged Bird Seal and abolished it. She also managed to learn the Hirashin but the Yondaime had cleverly tied the formula activation to Uzumaki blood. He himself had been injected with both Senju and Uzumaki blood and hence able to use the much feared technique. She also crafted a new taijutsu style using Jyuuken and Chakra Scalpels and her chakra control was finer than Tsunade and Sakura Haruno, both renowned as best female medics which included Shizune Kato and herself.

Hinata had also tried to recreate the Chakra Chains that Kushina Uzumaki was famous for but she had failed to form more than three chains which were deadly when she was using Taijutsu. She had from raiding the Root Hideouts managed to learn several secrets about Konoha and about plans crafted by Danzo-Orochimaru Alliance which had resulted in the death of Saindaime Hokage and several other horrifying things that had been done by Root.

She knew that the jutsu she would use would only send back her memories and half of her chakra back to her younger self. She had to time it correctly so that no one would get suspicious and in a clan that could see chakra coils and tenketsu that was next to impossible. She then created several plans and backups in order to prevent herself from failing to save Naruto. She had vowed to make things right for her beloved and even though she had to raze Konoha to the ground she would do it. Her plans and preparations were complete including her affairs which were all sorted and now she had only to wait to visit him last time.

**The Next Day**

Hinata Hyuuga woke up at five, a habit she had ingrained in herself since the day she had been saved by Nauto from the bullies during her academy days so that she could go out early and stalk err.. observe her hero before coming back to her clan compound for breakfast. Her father had never questioned her about this habit of hers and she had learned many things about her crush. She had got up while looking the same beautiful deadly woman that Naruto had admitted her to be while dying and posed in front of the full length mirror in just her lacy undergarments and imagining Naruto being with her while he did several naughty things to her. She had gotten a clothing set from Naruto during the war that was lined with seals which was a marvel for several shinobi and kunoichi and even blocked Byakugan and Sharingan. Those clothes had saved her life many times in battles and she had after the War decoded those seals and applied on her most clothes.

She dressed herself while looking over her room leaving no traces of her experiments and presence. She hid her will under several Genjutsu and locking seals that would disperse when her experiment would end and she would no longer be in this world. She thanked Kurenai Yuhi for teaching her subterfuge and patience to deal with others.

Casting a single glance she wrapped herself in the cloak that Naruto gave her and she decided to go face the music. As she left her room and compound, she found several of her clansmen waiting for her at the gates. She sighed to herself softly while cursing mentally for forgetting that today most would come to visit the place where Naruto was buried on Konoha Grounds in the Hokage Crypts as a honour for saving the world from destruction. The procession moved and after half a day Hinata came back while muttering to herself about people wasting her time. She knew that both Tsunade and Shikamaru suspected her due her unexamined disappearances from the village and she took all the precautions she could take. That was why she knew that Shikamaru and her old team mate Kiba had to be neutralized for her experiment to work without interruption. Shino had already been out of the country with his wife on her insistence as a wedding gift to them after the war. Also the act had gotten her scrutiny to lessen from Tsunade but not Shikamaru. He was as clever as Danzo and more paranoid than him. He was known as the advisor to Hokage but in reality, he was the head of the ANBU Black Ops Division.

Walking to the gates of Training Ground 44, she found Shikamaru waiting for her as she had instructed him to meet her at the ceremony for Naruto's Memorial. She flared her Byakugan before coming into his view and found his hidden guard that included 4 ANBU. Sighing to herself, she released her Shadow Clones to dispatch them and focussed on what was going to be her biggest hurdle.

"Why have you called me here Hinata on such a troublesome day?" came his lazy voice where he was leaning against the locked gates.

"You don't have to act now Shikamaru, I know what have you been planning for me." spoke the cold voice of Hinata Hyuuga.

"So you admit to it huh... . Why confront me then? What are you doing Hinata and how would this end? I hope you have not been doing what is wrong." spoke Shikamaru while going alert and signalling his guards to get ready. His mind flashed through several scenarios but for once what Hinata had been doing had been eluded him completely. She was doing something dangerous and reckless that he knew from her obsession in Fuuinjutsu and Kinjutsus. Hinata had been known after the War ended as a scholar who craved for the knowledge just like Orochimaru. Wait a minute.. Orochimaru. She didn't.

Hinata chuckled a cold mirthless laugh that sent shivers up his spine and chilled him to the bone. She smirked at him like she knew what conclusion he had arrived at and he gathered Chakra for his techniques. If she truly was that serious then he knew he was not going to survive the day, no matter who helped him or came in her way. She was known as the Aka No Shi for a reason and he wished again that Naruto had not died by the traitorous fool Sasuke's hand that day. He swallowed at the look she levelled him with her Byakugan enhanced eyes and swallowed the fear that appeared due her monstrous Killing Intent (KI) washing over him. His guards had still not arrived and he grew worried.

"You know Shikamaru, your guards won't come here. They have been indisposed for a small period of time. Now we talk and let us fulfil your curiosity about what I have been doing." she spoke making him tremble at the pain he knew was coming.

The reason was simple. Hinata was a gorgeous woman but a deadly ninja with a frozen heart that had been encased in ice due to the loss of Naruto. No one had been more affected than her and everyone knew it. Now he managed to fit the puzzle that had been plaguing him since last seven years. It was Time for the truth to be released. Hinata made a single hand seal and Shikamaru froze in his place at the unexpected use of fuuinjutsu and cursing to himself at being caught so easily. Two shadow clones of Hinata appeared behind him and bound him up using ninja wire and then delivered a series of jabs making it impossible for him to move and mould chakra.

She nodded to them and then walked up to him and whispered sweetly in his ear making him tremble at her tone, "I have been making research to travel back in time and save my Naruto from his death. Now then goodbye Shikamaru and I hope to see you again when we are children. "

Shikamaru's eyes had widened at the end of sentence and he only had time to grunt in pain before Hinata struck him twice in his head and chest knocking him out. She nodded to her clones who took him to secluded place before she activated her last phase of plan.

Entering the underground lab of Orochimaru in the forest of death, she formed clones which went to destroy all traces of her experiments and the records of her final seal. As she stood in the middle of the massive sealing array she looked heavenwards and spoke, "I am coming Naruto kun. Just wait for me." Flashing through the seals at a pace that even a Sharingan would find insane, she intoned softly when she completed her last hand seal, "Uzumaki Kinjutsu: Gyaku taimuwāpu" (Kinjutsu Reverse Time Warp ) and in a flash of light she vanished to her past.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Pale lavender eyes snapped open as a rush of memories and a tail worth of chakra poured into her body from the time stream. Her young body arched as her mind travelled to her mindscape. There she watched with wonder as a woman looking like an older version of her appeared in a whirl of crackling chakra but what truly was going on with her she was not able to comprehend because she was too young. The young Hinata watched as the older woman smiled at her and spoke in a voice that was cold yet melodious, "I want to help you my dear Hinata. Tell me do you desire power to protect yourself or your family? Answer me truthfully and I shall help you."

"Yes. I do want to be strong. Can you help me? What I must do? " Asked a Painfully shy and young Hinata to her older counterpart.

"Ok. Accept me as you and we will merge. My skills and knowledge will become yours but some changes will be there, that I must warn you about. Think carefully as we two will become as one. And let me tell you about myself and why I am here... "

"Yes, I accept your proposition." replied an ecstatic Hinata after talking with her counterpart for few hours. Unknown to both this declaration had sealed the fate of one Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and his rise to prominence that would eclipse that of the any shinobi. A light erupted from the body of Hinata as both the old and young became one. Her body aged by a few months and unnoticeable to others including her clan members, her chakra became more potent instead of increasing as the older counterpart had feared. Taking control of her new body, she got up and began meditating in order to accumulate her memories into her mind seamlessly and using the mindscape techniques learnt from one Ino Yamanaka she hid them from view of any mindwalkers and as a precaution, hid the entrance by making the mindscape more childlike. More she thought about her plan, she removed several plans due to the fact that Sandaime Hokage would catch on them and not even including the Hyuuga council and the Village Civilian Council that though stupid were very observant if it pertained anything to Naruto.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, it seems you have to suffer the village hatred for a few more years. Though they would teach you your morals and get rid of your naivety. Till then, I will try to get the samples for experiments that will make both of us stronger." thought Hinata while gazing at the moon and flaring her Byakugan periodically to get used to its strain while doing stretches trying to get a feel for her body. Several extra plans and hidden gifts for her beloved were planned as she did not want him to be the same naive fool that had allowed others to walk over him and became the cause of his untimely death. Till then she would plan and plot while keeping eyes on the village that had no idea that a vengeful Goddess was going to rain hell upon them.

**4 Years Later**

The last few years had not been very different for Hinata and by extension Naruto. Though for Sandaime Hokage, a puzzle had appeared and he had been no closer to solving it since the day that Kumo Ambassador had been caught by a three year old Hinata Hyuuga who had been almost kidnapped by the same man and had been almost sold to Kumo. Till this day no one knew what really happened but the basic gist from what they had managed to recover from the man's damaged mind was that when he had entered the room to kidnap the sleeping Hyuuga heiress, the girl was not asleep and sitting at the balcony gazing at the moon. Cursing his luck, the Diplomat had tried to grab her before she raised any alarms but there had been an explosion of uncontrolled chakra around the girl and she had leapt at him while unleashing what seemed to be a hand covered in dense chakra strong enough to cut through metal. She had torn off half his face and an eye before the other Hyuuga's arrived and subdued the attacker. Sandaime himself had seen the face of the Diplomat and had managed to stop himself from wincing from the brutal mangling of the man's face.

The girl had become cold and withdrawn after that day and seemed to look at the world with a frozen outlook that seemed to be on par with the Ice Queen of Konoha, one Kurenai Yuhi. She had not calmed down when the attacker had been subdued and had even attacked her own father using the same technique that had been dubbed by others as Hakke Tamashī tanken [Eight Trigrams: Soul Dagger]. Hiashi Hyuuga had entered the room of her daughter immediately after hearing the cries of the Kumo Diplomat and tried to stop Hinata from further attacking the man. The Girl had leapt at him with a mad look in her eyes and managed to score a palm slash across his face giving him permanent scars in the form of five diagonal lines while thankfully not damaging his eyes. Hiashi had managed to knock the girl out and save his dignity or whatever had been left of it. Hiruzen himself had snickered at the annoyed look on the face of the Hyuuga clan head when he had given his report.

This had resulted in a cold war with Kumo due to their refusal to believe that the diplomat had been caught and had practically demanded from Konoha that they hand over a Main Branch Hyuuga or in their words the person responsible for the attack on their honourable Diplomat. Kumo had even the gall to threaten Konoha with war if their demands had not been met. Before the Sandaime would have done anything to prevent the war but one look at the girl's scared and dead looking face and Sandaime had broken all talks and himself had went to Kuminari no Kuni with Danzo and Jiraya and told the Damiyo in no uncertain terms what he thought of Kumo and their demands. He even had challenged the Raikage with his bluff of war and told him that Konoha was waiting. The cold war situation had increased and only since the last year when the new Raikage had taken office the tensions lessened if not vanished.

Sandaime Hokage had also a different source of headache. One Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune. He made a mistake in announcing the council Minato's wish to see Naruto as a Hero for keeping the Kyuubi at bay but the people of Konoha blinded by their anger and hatred disregarded those wishes and soon he was trying to keep Naruto at arm's length from people who would do harm to him. The decision of informing people backfired and Naruto became a social pariah in the village. People in their hatred and anger attacked the young boy and soon the boy became a goofball and a socially inept child making him a target due his ignorance. Abandoned by those whom he could count on him to teach him something, Naruto was made to suffer untold cruelties and hardships. Kicked out from the orphanage at the tender age of four, Naruto was found in by Hiruzen himself scrounging the trash for food full after a year of his abandonment while he was going to visit Hinata Hyuuga so as to check on her after the traumatising incident.

Hiruzen appalled by the callousness of the people of his beloved village had went into a towering rage whose effects were still felt by all including the Village Council, especially by the Civilian side and his advisors including the War Hawk, Danzo. He himself had broken the arms and legs of seven drunks who had assaulted Naruto in front of him while the boy had been eating from the trash. The poor boy had passed out from the KI exuded by the angry Shinobi no Kami, and he had executed three of his ANBU, seven Chunin and two Jounin publically, who had falsified reports of Narutos welfare and his finances as a warning to all. He had gotten the boy an apartment and then sent one of the best ANBU, Tenzo and Neko who were assigned to teach the boy social skills and techniques needed for his survival. He had also introduced Hinata to the boy in order to get him a friend in his age group. To his delight both had become friends even though Hiashi had first protested the decision but seeing the cold, unfeeling Hinata smiling slightly in the boy's presence had forced him to reconsider his decision.

The people of Konoha had been warned by the Sandaime had taken to ignore the boy silently but they had never untreated him badly or glared at him due to the fear of Sandaime who had tightened the reins over the village getting grudging respect from his rival Danzo.

Both Naruto and Hinata had decided to fast track from the Ninja Academy taking only a course of three years instead of the standard five years but they had put the condition that they would start the academy when they were ten years old so that they may get to know the children their age and not be put on same teams so as to prevent the Sandaime to be showing favouritism to them until they had no choice but to be paired together. Sarutobi Hiruzen was a old man and a veteran of three shinobi wars but he did not know that he had been manipulated by a girl who had only one thing in her mind, a certain blond haired boy whom she had already decided to spend her entire life and make sure he lived to a ripe old age unlike his previous one.

**Hinata's Prospective**

The day had come for Hinata who had waited and trained for this day and carefully manipulated her plans since the day she had arrived in the past. She had trained rigorously and brutally such that even her father had asked her to lay of training for a while so that she would not damage her body. Also the cold, unfeeling persona had worked wonders in making her the entire Hyuuga Council nervous as hell around her so that she would get no chance to damage them like she had done to the Kumo Diplomat and her father. Hinata had in order to put her act more solid and to take the heat of her had decided to take the route of a getting traumatised even though she had not anticipated the effects her actions had on the world politics. She had also made trips to the Root headquarters using the seals remembered by her, engraved on her clothes and had even raided the Orochimaru Labs in the village. Her quest to get the DNA of First Hokage and Madara Uchiha had gone of successfully but she had been unable to get the DNA of Kushina Uzumaki and Mito Uzumaki as their crypts needed the blood of a Uzumaki along with freshly given blood willingly so as to open them.

Her plan of getting Naruto attention from Sandaime had taken a while but she had managed done so after careful plannong and considrration. All she had to was to cast a small genjutsu on Naruto that made him wander the alley she knew Sandaime frequented from asking him to get her Cinnamon Buns that were available from only one shop in Konoha and it was even more easy to get those drunks to beat up her beloved but no true gain comes without pain, she reasoned to herself. She had under a henge gotten them to drink a lot and then gotten them to lie in wait for Naruto and egged them till they were literally seeing red. She had winced when one of them had smashed a bottle on his head and another had used a pipe to bash him in the ribs but Sandaime had responded immediately and she had shed several tears that night at her actions but then told herself to suck up. The bonding had made her emotional balance out of whack and she needed to reach the teen age to be a true master of her emotions.

Getting Sandaime to meet Naruto had been easy as she had mentioned the incident to him and even commented that the boy was like her. The Hokage had been over eager to get them to meet so as get Hinata a hold on her sanity and in the process, Naruto a friend. The old man's guilt made him easy to manipulate. Sentimental old fool! His actions had nearly divided the village into numerous factions before he had gotten it all under control.

Then it was easy to get Naruto to open up to her. All she had to do was to make him shed away the mask and he bared himself to her. That day she decided that she would never break his trust. She got him several books on Psychology, Etiquette, Calligraphy, Human Anatomy, Emotional Control, Politics and History. The Sandaime had issued him an apartment in the Shinobi District near her caretaker's apartment of one Kurenai Yuhi. He had also gotten security seals engraved so as not to take chances. To make Naruto read those books had been easy. All she had to was to make him understand that they were necessary for a Hokage to know such things throughly and he had been hooked into them. Also she studied with him and then subtly pushing him towards books that were needed for a shinobi and she had then introduced him to Maito Gai, the Taijutsu Master of Konoha. Before leaving him in the Jounin's care she had taken him aside and threatened him with making him an eunuch if he turned her beloved Naruto into his mini clone. The man had shivered at the mad look in her eyes before she had managed to rein in her KI so as not to make anyone suspicious. Say whatever you want to about Maito Gai but he was one clever ninja if one managed to overlook his eccentricity and weird fashion sense.

The most difficult and mind numbing tasks that Hinata found she had to undertake was to break that stupidity and naiveté out of Naruto who believed that ninjas were a group of cool people who saved princesses, defeated bad guys, helped the poor and all that rot. This thinking had led him into an early death and she would be damned if she allowed him to develop that attitude again. And boy wasn't that hard. The first task she had done was to give him the Rabbit Test. He had blinked cutely at her when she had given him a rabbit as a pet and asked him to care for it for six months. At the end of his time she had given him a knife and told him to kill the rabbit. Poor Naruto had cried and whined and tried every single thing his seven year old brain had managed to come to stop the killing. She had gotten very frustrated in order to make him understand what being a ninja entailed and giving him several of those tests had managed to break his naive and childish persona while exposing him to the dark truths of the world. He had gone into shock when he had killed the rabbit and it took him three weeks to get rid of his fears and shaking. Hinata had in clear words told him what was going to happen to him if he allowed himself to be delusional to the truth of the world and even though it was cruel of her to say as such, she made him remember what the villagers had done to him when he was younger.

The Naruto that emerged from that talk was a serious one and had cold look similar to what Hinata had cultivated. Both of them understood , especially Naruto who had been made to read several journals of ninja including First and Second Hokage. Naruto had learned several things and Hinata had made sure he had lost his exuberance, inability to stand in one place and his hyperactivity. She had introduced him to meditation to calm him and Shogi to sharpen his mind. Also she had gotten him books on strategy and tactics. All in all Hinata in the period of four years had changed one Naruto Uzumaki into a boy fit to be called a leader of a clan with a very sharp mind and several ninja skills with extremely good basics. In all it was what she wanted but now she wanted Naruto to know about his heritage and that entailed a trip to the ravaged grounds of Uzu no Kuni and Uzushiogakure. But even Sandaime would know if Naruto simply disappear for a year. She needed to persuade him when she remembered the letter from one Uzumaki-Senju Mito to her great Grandfather. Smiling devilishly to herself, she went to her room while her mind began to plot for the upcoming meeting with the Sandaime Hokage next afternoon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 3**

**9 Years After the Kyuubi Attack**

Two children, a boy and a girl, were seen walking hand in hand with each other while the civilians along the road moved aside to give them space as several ninja's walking the road and rooftops gave them solemn nods of respect. The children themselves looked very beautiful and according to several young mothers and ladies who cooed to themselves seeing such a nice couple at such small age, they were like a Kami blessed couple. These were no ordinary children. One of them was Hinata Hyuuga, heiress of the Hyuuga Clan and famous in the village as the Ice Maiden of Hyuuga and the other was Naruto Uzumaki, resident Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and unknown to him, a Namikaze and son of Yondaime Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina of the Royal house of Uzushiogakure.

Both were wearing matching clothes from the Warring Clans Era. The girl was wearing she wore an elaborate, high-collared crimson red kimono with the Hyuuga symbol on the back of the obi which was tied around her waist and black sandals. Her blue hair reached up to her mid back and her lavender orbs looked at the world with cold and calculating manner. The boy was wearing Black leather ANBU style clothes which melded to his body like a second skin, showcasing his entire body and showcasing a powerful and tall torso built for speed and grace. Above his clothes was a Bluish-silver plate armour worn by shinobi of old era and had a Crimson red Uzumaki swirl on the back showing his allegiance to the feared Uzumaki clan. His face was covered by a crimson coloured facemask leaving only his cold ice blue eyes and upper part of his face visible. He had long blond hair which were spiky and wild giving him the look of a noble. Both of them looked part of dangerous shinobi and cut through the civilians as they drew closer.

As they reached the end of the road, a massive building was seen that functioned as the Hokage Tower. Both of them entered the building and traversed the building, moving up the floors as they walked hand in hand. Reaching the highest level they entered the office after asking the secretary if the Hokage was free. Seeing the famous Ice Duo of Konoha in front of her caused the secretary no discomfort as she was already used to their presence and she smiled at them when they entered the Office returning her smile with one of their own.

Entering the office they were greeted to the sight of Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen who was sitting behind the desk wearing the Fire Kage robes and smoking his favourite pipe while looking out of the window towards the Hokage Mountain which contained the faces of the previous kages and his late successor the Yondaime Hokage who was lost his life while sealing the Kyuubi in his son.

Turning towards them with his grandfatherly smile, he nodded to them to be seated and he himself made himself comfortable and then spoke.

" Good Morning to you two. How are you on this fine day Hinata Hime and Naruto Kun? What can this old man do for you? I hope you have no problems with the civilians?"

"No Hokage sama, it is nothing like that and though we are in good health, however we would like to discuss something with you. But before that I would like to personally thank you for helping us till now and we both are incredibly grateful for that. Right Hinata Hime?" replied Naruto while Hinata simply nodded with a smile on their face. Before he had met Hinata, Naruto had a really brash and outgoing personality. But she had nearly beaten those out of him using her stubbornness and simple hard work. Even though he still called the Hokage as Jiji and Old Man due to the fact that that the Hokage really acted as the surrogate grandfather.

Sarutobi Hiruzen himself had seen the effects of the company of Hinata on Naruto. The young brash boy had become tempered and more social able, while his intelligence increased and hyperactivity was reigned in. She was really good for her and though it appeared on the surface that Hinata had affected the boy more but the fact was Hinata herself had become more outgoing and expressive than what she was before the Incident. It had been really a good decision to introduce them to each other and it made him happy that he had saved two souls while keeping his interference to the minimum.

" Ok then. The office is secure. What do you both want to talk to me about?" he asked making a hidden signal with his free hand discreetly that made all the ANBU in his office leave the room but were kept on high alert. Hinata shook her head while flashing her Byakugan and pointed towards a particularly dark corner on the room's ceiling while palming her senbon in her other hand and saying," It seems that there is still one."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she had leapt to avoid a hail of kunai at her which were imbedded in the chair. The Sandaime had leapt across the room towards the assailant while the other ANBU had attacked the intruder while keeping the children safe. After a few minutes of tussle the young, unassuming shinobi had been captured and tied but before he could even twitch, he had a seal slapped across his chest which locked his chakra and movements.

"Take this shinobi to the ANBU cells and keep watch over him. And save myself no one, including the elders or ANBU are to approach him. Those who do are to be captured and brought immediately before me. Otherwise get ready to be executed for treason." Barked a seriously angry looking Hokage causing the jaws to drop and eyes to widen from everyone. He looked back where Hinata and Naruto were being kept by the other ANBU and raised his own eyebrow at their calm and collected faces. Maybe the relationship had more effect on their childish mentality and innocence than he first believed. After the intruder had been taken away and he himself had used a sealing technique to cast a cone of silence he turned towards the children while noticing them both stowing away the senbon they had in their hands while they were walking towards the chairs causing him no small amount of regret seeing the young children act more like veteran shinobi.

"This office is now secure so what was that you two had to discuss before this fiasco? I hope what happened a few minutes before is not mentioned to the others because it is a village secret. I hope you understand?" he asked receiving two nods from both of them.

"Lord Hokage, we both have come to talk about a woman named Mito Uzumaki-Senju and this letter that she wrote to my great grandfather which in essentially is a marriage contract between the clans and a treaty for support of one clan to another during hardships. But since the letter was misplaced whether intentionally or not and my great grandfather died soon after caused the terms to be postponed to next generation as agreed upon by both the parties. We both did our research and found out that Naruto Kun is a true Uzumaki and his mother is no one else than Uzumaki Kushina also known the S ranked ninja of this village called as Aka no Shi or the Crimson Death. But the letter also states that the couple that is supposed to marry is supposed to go towards the Uzu no Kuni for receiving a special inheritance. Also the other terms and conditions are in the letter which you are no doubt reading right now. But first we want to know why did you hide the truth from Naruto about his parents and why the history of Uzumaki Clan and their roles in the foundation of Konoha forgotten and not taught to children in the academy. All my friends and other children tell that the nonexistent Uchiha clan is praised for many things and the other clans are glossed over or just not told enough. Has the memory of this village has gotten that bad that they would leave out a Cousin Clan of the Senju Clan out of history or the fact that they were our allies and not the least the reason of spiral in the leaf and on the back of our jackets has been forgotten. Maybe I should talk to the other clans as this village which can forget the relatives of the founders of the same village will not take long to forget us too no matter what we do and how much blood we may shed for this village. Is this how we take care of our culture and our history, Lord Hokage? Answer me this or maybe act more like you ought to Lord Hokage for I cannot see how much hypocritical we all are acting. By your leave then and please have a nice day." Spoke Hinata while showing how much she was affected by the discovery of such a secret.

Sarutobi Hiruzen when he had awoken this morning had hoped that he would have a very non eventful day. But this morning and day was turning out anything but normal. First he was surprised to see both the Ice Duo of Konoha in his office in what he had recognized as the shinobi clothes from the warring clan era especially the design which was that of the Senju Clan. He had both seen preference of Naruto and Hinata both and he had wondered the day that if it was a quirk or something from his genetics as his Uzumaki ancestors preferred the traditional clothes, like Lady Mito and Kushina used to do.

When the girl had spoken about the intruder he had been stumped as to how a girl only 9 years old could penetrate an exceptionally well done A rank Genjutsu which he himself had not noticed due to his old age and complicity that he allowed himself to be lulled in after the Kyuubi Attack. His decisions lacked his methodical touch and he had allowed too much power in the hands of his formers teammates and Danzo which made them arrogant and hard to control. But what sent his rage into a true inferno was the fact that the civilian council had the gall to remove such an important part of the village's history and he inferred that his teammates and rival had not done anything to save that part of their history. Hashirama sensei and Tobiraima sensei would flay him and the whole village alive if they knew the village had spit on its former allies. And the less said about Mito sama more better for anyone. That woman scared the hell out of both the first Hokage and his rival Madara Uchiha. The less known fact was that Lady Mito though being a very kind and caring person was really a terrifying taskmaster and her mind cooked up new ideas on using fuuinjutsu that was frightening in it's application. The loss of Madara Uchiha to Hashirama Senju was due to the fact that the Lady Mito had been helping him to neutralize the assaults of the Mangekyou Sharingan and had even subdued the Kyuubi with a seal.

Hiruzen remembered the day when Lady Mito had been asked to train them when Tobiraima sensei had been busy for doing to them. The lessons that had been beaten into them so thoroughly when both Danzo and Koharu had mouthed off to her and called her an old hag still sent shivers of dread through them due to their effectiveness and brutality. Sarutobi had spent the next two weeks in hospital and he was the least beaten out of all of them. Homura often had complained later in his life that his arms still felt off till this day.

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt that it might be better for him to take care of the stupidity of the civilians and his team mates least Lady Mito go after him in his afterlife. But before that he had to deal with the new head ache that appeared due to the letter he was reading. This letter had opened a can of worms for him and the Uzumaki and Hyuuga clans. This letter also had been sent to the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni of that time and the ruler of Iron Country as a record for both the clans and it involved a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. But the basic gist of the letter and contract could be written down as the following points:-

**1. The Heirs of the Hyuuga Clan and the Uzumaki Clan could not be forced into the marriage nor they could be persuaded to break it. Doing so would result in the breach of contract and the loss of honour for the clan doing so by the offending Clan being declared as the Oath Breakers.**

**2. If the Hyuuga Clan uses the Caged Bird Seal on the marrying party then it would give the Ruling Daimyo the right to interfere and the Hyuuga Clan will be forever marked as Traitors to the Shinobi and Clan Code of Hi No Kuni. Similar conditions apply for the Uzumaki Clan as they are forbidden to perform any seals on the Marrying Party under the same penalty and punishment. Any mind altering seals are strictly forbidden and the applying person or clan can be punished under the authority of Iron Country and its Ruler.**

**3. All the grievances if any are to be resolved under the joint ruling of Hi no Kuni and the Iron Country.**

**4. The Above terms are not negotiable and cannot be overturned under the Blood Oath of the respective Clan Leaders.**

The Sandaime simply huffed to himself and then looked again at the letter with a careful eye while ignoring the terms about return of money and all that terms in case the contract was not fulfilled for the next ten generations. He took out a sake bottle from Kumo he had kept for such reasons and then downed a healthy gulp of the potent liquid and relished the buzz of sake while contemplating the oncoming headache when the Daimyo and Lord Mifune from Iron Country arrived to see whether the terms of the contract were fulfilled when the children reached the age of eleven. Sarutobi was mentally exhausted at this point. Hinata and Naruto had let on just one startling revelation after the next. Thinking about the blonde boy he felt a sense of shame when he remembered the boy eating from trash and living in filth in the red light district before he had been shifted to the Shinobi Apartments.

Sighing to himself, he seemed to be doing that a lot, he told his ANBU to summon Danzo at once. It was time to reign the War Hawk before he did something damaging to Konoha in his zeal to act more in the interests of Konoha.

Hinata and Naruto were now in his apartment while Kurenai Yuhi was with them. Kurenai had decided to teach both of them the fine art of Genjutsu due to the fact that Hinata herself had asked her to teach her speciality and the reason she wanted Naruto to have perfect control over his chakra reserves due to the fact that he had massive reserves due his heritage as an Uzumaki but also due to the fact he had a bijju sealed in him. Kurenai felt that she had to teach Naruto due to the fact that she knew Kushina Uzumaki and felt that she owed it to her that she teach it to her son the fine arts of genjutsu as Kushina had taught her kenjustu.

"Get ready Naruto san. I am going to introduce you to the practice of senbon balancing. I know you have already mastered that step but still your chakra control is just at the level of a Jounin, but these senbon are special and made from a special metal that needs a specified amount of chakra needed to lift them upwards. They were given to me by a very special kunoichi, your mother. She added special seals to the senbon that helped in chakra control for me. She wanted me to reach my potential and encouraged me by giving me tips. I want to give it to them for they are a part of your legacy. So do you like them?" she asked while keeping her emotions in check at how adorable he looked when he was not employing his poker face.

"Really Kurenai san, were these senbon given to you by my mother?" When she nodded with a small smile gracing her face, he continued." Then I am grateful for you to for helping me. I will strive for you to feel proud of me for I shall strive to get better at genjutsu even though my chakra reserves are massive, nor shall I forget your instructions." He finished by giving her a heartfelt bow.

Hinata who was watching the entire scene felt giddy that someone was taking good care even though she had to pull up some strings and do some manipulations. Today also she decided that her plans regarding Danzo should be brought into play due to fact that he had been making his Root shinobi follow her and spy on their training sessions. She knew she had to curtail his influence or make Sandaime more alert regarding his actions or she would not be able stop him from making his bids for power, Danzo and his warmongering policies were not needed for Konoha as he would definitely try to attack Naruto so as to make him his weapon. That she would never allow or even remotely allow to pass. Hell would pass over before she would allow her Naruto kun to be turned into a drone for the War Hawk.

Also, next week she would try to talk Sandaime or maybe guilt him into the trip for Uzu. That needed to be done for she had to test Edo Tensei on Hashirama, Madara and Mito Uzumaki. She also needed for Naruto to take care of the Uzumaki sealing crypts for her to get DNA of the Uzumaki's. Maybe she could get some summons for herself till then. The archives of Hyuuga clan had a number of hidden secrets and taijutsu styles that rarely someone practiced. She could find something there.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 4**

It had been a week since that fateful morning and Sarutobi Hiruzen was already at his wit's end on how to deal with the issue of training trip that Hinata Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki had requested that too in the far reaches of Uzu no Kuni. However, he couldn't refuse them as the letter clearly stated that a part of their inheritance was situated in that ravaged country and since the island was deserted after the destruction of Uzumaki clan, as no one had managed to move through the whirlpools that surrounded the island. Kiri had itself lost several thousand of its invading force when they had managed to stop the whirlpools temporarily but all the shinobi who had a hand in the jutsu had died due to the chakra exhaustion. He was worried due to the fact that these whirlpools would not recognise Naruto as a heir to the Uzumaki as he was only half blooded due his father being a Namikaze.

But going on his faith he simply decided to send Yuhi Kurenai and Anko Mitarashi along with them on the two year old training trip as they both would help them and Kurenai had strong bonds with both Hinata and Naruto and Anko had already been on the hit list of Danzo due the fact that he still did not trust her after Orochimaru had abandoned her. The stigma of being associated with a traitor still followed Anko and she was already being secluded by many civilians and few shinobi.

This allowed him to take care of two problems at once. It gave him an in with both Naruto and Hinata while it gave Anko the much needed closure she needed. When both the children entered, he smiled at them while asking his ANBU to get Anko and Kurenai. At the deadpan looks both gave him, he chuckled while internally marvelling at the perception shared by both of the prodigies, yes they were prodigies as he kept watch over them and their secret training using his crystal ball.

When both the women entered with Anko being her usual boisterous self and Kurenai in her Ice Queen mode, he spoke," Hinata-san and Naruto-kun, they both are going to accompany both of you to Uzu no Kuni and will assist you in your training. I have faith in both of them and hope when you come back, you would be even better than you are now. Naruto-kun, I am sorry about the fact that the council and my team mates went behind my back and tried to erase the role of your clan in the village. I have taken steps to ensure it does not happen for any clan. I hope you do forgive me."

"it is not your fault, Jiji. Though I would be more concerned at the fact how easily the elders and the council jumped at the chance to become hypocrites. I hope when we return, things and situations will be different. You are a Hokage, so you must be strong and vigilant. That old mummy Danzo gives me the creeps, especially his covered eye. I always sense some kind of foul and twisted chakra from that eye. I hope you can see what tingles my senses whenever I pass by him." Answered Naruto, while making Sarutobi and Anko surprised at the ability to sense chakra and it's differences. Hinata and Kurenai both knew his ability to sense anyone's mood slightly from the chakra when one was actively using it. But, Hinata had asked him to use it actively when they found that if one was suppressing one's chakra and tested it on Danzo and Naruto had been disturbed by the feel of chakra and told both of them about his findings.

Naruto did not know that Hinata had asked him to do so because she had known from her memories that Kyuubi could sense the Mangekyou Sharingan with ease due to the fact it was a corrupted form of chakra and twisted one's mind who was unable to resist it's effects. Madara Uchiha had fallen prey to it's maddening effects long before he attacked Konoha. It had made sense in a twisted sort of way due to the fact that Sasuke had also shown increase in his madness after he gained the Magekyou after killing his brother, Itachi who himself told Hinata that he felt a sort of burning sensation in his eyes whenever he used his Mangekyou when she had summoned him using Edo Tensei.

Hinata had concluded that Mangekyou sharingan damaged one's psyche and sanity over the period of prolonged use, for the people with emotions such as greed, anger and madness in them. That explained how Itachi and Kakashi showed no signs of damage even after using Mangekyou for long periods as both of them had good control over their emotions. Hinata shook herself mentally and looked back at the Sandaime Hokage as he gave them the signed documents that allowed them permission to leave Hi no Kuni. Also he asked that they give him monthly reports so that he may share them with Hinata's father, Hiashi who had jumped at the chance of getting Hinata away from the clan as she had attacked another main branch elder who had insulted both Naruto and Hinata's mother when Naruto had been visiting them last week. The elder had barely survived the match as Hinata had clearly broken his ribs and arms while shattering his left leg. According to the doctors, the elder would now always walk with a limp and this incident had raised the tensions in the Hyuuga household. Hiashi in a bid to settle those tensions had gladly agreed that it would be better for Hinata to leave the village for a trip.

The emergence of the old letter had raised some serious hackles for Hiashi but the terms and the fact that both the rulers of Iron country and Hi no Kuni were involved and knew about the alliance had made him ready to faint. The terms and conditions in the letter were harsh and if the Hyuuga clan broke even one term, there would be hell to pay and the disgrace that would come would be even more devastating. Hiashi had known for a while that Hinata had chosen Naruto as her husband and a potential suitor. Even though his hands had been tied till she reached twelve, Hiashi had approved of Minato's son as they were close friends in the academy. He did not tell the Hyuuga elders and council about the letter as many were vocal detractors against Naruto and wanted them no chance to prepare for the shit storm that would follow when the news would get released.

Two Days Later...

Hinata and Naruto were standing at the gate waiting for both their companions, Anko and Kurenai to arrive so that they may go on their trip. Theyw ere dressed as always in their traditional shinobi era clothes. Hinata in her Kimono and Naruto in his armour. Only thing they both had added was a large sealing scroll slung on both their backs. They had already been half an hour late and Hinata was already feeling that this was all Anko's fault. On the other side of village in Anko's apartment, Anko and Kurenai were rushing about packing their things in the sealing scrolls and putting their clothes on when Anko suddenly sneezed. "Damn, I hope no one is talking about me. Especially, the brats, for I do not want them to think I am like Kakashi." She pulled her trench coat over her mesh shirt and then looked towards Kurenai who looked a bit angry, scratch that, very angry.

"Anko, you and your impromptu parties. I did not want our impression to be this bad, especially, when we are going to spend nearly two years with them. I don't know what they must be thinking right now." You ready. Then let's go." And they both vanished in a shunshin and appeared in front of their two charges.

"I'm sorry. We were late because..." spoke Kurenai while adjusting her bandages on her chest area giving all nearby males nosebleeds. She was wearing her bandage-dress with a crimson red blouse wrapped in bandages. She had long, curly black hair and cherry red lipstick. She showed enough skin to tell all that she knew exactly what type of effect her appearance had on people, or men rather, and that she was willing to take advantage of it where she could — a pragmatic woman.

She also seemed to favour the colour red. Shades of crimson and scarlet where present beneath her bandages, most prominently displayed on the sleeve of her left arm.

Anko was wearing her usual clothes that consisted of a mesh body suit and a short orange skirt that reached only to her mid-thighs. Her usual trench coat was open giving everyone a very nice view of her chest and her perky DD size melons that looked extremely bouncy. Her purple hair was in a ponytail as usual and she was wearing grey arm and shin guards alongside her clothing. Her headband was on her forehead and she was currently eating a Dango stick and gave them both a half hearted wave before going back to her breakfast.

"You were lost on the road of life" spoke Naruto getting raised eyebrows from everyone." I thought that someone was emulating Kakashi. Only thing left was if they were lazy as hell and two and a half hour more late." He replied getting a sigh from Kurenai while looking over both their appearances especially the large scrolls. 'So they know fuuinjutsu' she made a note to herself.

"Let's move out. We all can talk on the way." She said while they all moved out. After getting the documents signed at the gate they jumped into tress and began their journey while Anko looked surprised at their grasp of tree jumping that was at least a genin level skill in her eyes. 'Maybe this mission won't be boring at all' she thought to herself while scanning the area for hostiles. After reaching a respectable distance, Anko spoke, " What will you both brats would be learning from us? I mean, Lord Third gave us no specific instructions or orders for both of you and I just want to know why. He also seemed to think that you two had a plan for this training trip of yours."

"You will need not to teach us as we are going to have a three or maybe four teachers if we are lucky when we reach Uzu. You both can leave us alone on the island and we will not be in your hair for two years. You can go on a vacation. It looks like you need one." Spoke Hinata getting Anko's and Kurenai's interest in who would be teaching them.

"What do mean by that? No one lives in Uzu ever since the Second Shinobi War, when it was destroyed. We will not leave you and even if someone is there, we would both like to meet them first." Spoke Kurenai while Anko nodded along.

Naruto looked at Hinata and sighed when she nodded and spoke quietly but firmly," Ok, but you two have to swear on your life, honour and headband that you will not share this knowledge with anyone. Even with the Hokage, until we say so. If someone knew what we are doing and whom we are going to learn from, it will be problematic for us as it is a clan secret of the Uzumaki's and Senju's. And as an incentive, you can learn from them. Those people are legends and you will be surprised at what we know." He finshed getting raised eyebrows from both their baby sitters. Both of them looked fairly indecisive but then Hinata spoke," We can wait until we reach the shores of the sea. Till then you can decide over it and then tell us."

After a one and a half days of travel they reached the shores of the sea. Both Kurenai and Anko were surprised at the stamina that Hinata showed due to the fact that they stopped only twice the entire time, once for a break and other for night's sleep. Though they suspected that due to the Kyuubi being sealed in Naruto, he had massive chakra reserves that gave him almost jounin to ANBU level stamina. Seeing the question in both their eyes, she shrugged and said," I train with Naruto-kun every day. And he always outlasts me. I have been training to increase me reserves and control long before I even met him after reading in Hyuuga library about how an excellent kunoichi should have better reserves and good chakra control. Enough about me. What is your decision? Are you with us or not? We have to hurry up for we have to reach Uzu before the night truly starts."

Both of the kunoichi looked towards each other and with a slow nod Kurenai spoke," Ok then. We are with you on this but remember if we find something dangerous, we will bring both of you back regardless of your feelings for this." At this both spoke as one," We both swear on our life, honour and our headbands that we will never reveal what you will show us, nor the identity of your teachers until you say so."

"Ok. Let's get to Uzu. And here is an incentive for your friend Anko-san, Kurenai-sensei. If we are lucky we might get that curse seal removed from her." Spoke Hinata, getting the eyes of both women to widen in shock.

Naruto was standing on top of a boat he had rented with others, looking at the ruins of the country his mother came from.

In front of him were the whirlpools that had protected the island until its fall, threatening to suck everything into them as soon as they approached.

His icy blue eyes watched the island and swirling waters with a steely gaze, the boat rocking with the tide, yet staying anchored in place.

He stepped out of the boat, a knife ready in his hand. He started walking towards the ruined island, the steel never leaving his eyes.

When he got to the whirlpools he cut his palm, letting the blood fall in to the water,before anyone could speak, Naruto cried out," This will last till I am on the water. Cross quickly and we will talk later." At his insistent voice, all three of them moved out and began crossing the ocean that was calm now.

The whirlpools had contracted some, allowing him and the others to pass between them. When he was a safe distance towards land, the swirling waters widened again, closing everyone from leaving.

If one were to look at the island of Uzu no Kuni from the sky, they would see a forest covering the outer parts of the island, with gray and brown being predominant towards the center and a river crossing the island through the middle.

The part where Naruto and others had landed was near the mouth of the river, which led, much like in Konoha, to the main village. His ears were twitching every second at the sound of wildlife: boars, deer, wolves, even the occasional rabbit and fox.

As soon as they all were on the Uzu no Kuni, and Naruto stepped off the water, the whirlpool began again. Naruto dropped to his knees and all of them rushed towards him.

"I am alright. The stopping of whirlpools took a massive chakra from me and I feel I have only twenty five to thirty percent chakra left in me. Now I know how those Kiri-nin died when they attcled Uzu.. The whirlpools are made due to seals engraved on the sea floor. Only the freely given blood of an Uzumaki with its saturated Chakra will allow safe passage. The jutsu used on the whirlpools may have slowed the speed of the whirlpool but the chakra cost was abnormally high. Those ninja's died from the fact that every single drop of chakra was sucked from them."

As they neared the village he closed his eyes and climbed over one of the few standing walls, waiting until he was at the top to open them.

The sight that greeted him and others was not pleasant at all: building reduced to nothing more than rubble, pillars leaning to the side, roofs cave in, corpses of Kumo, Kiri and Iwa lying on the outer rings of the city, corpses of his kinsmen near the centre, where a Kage tower could be seen, but it too, was semi destroyed, having only the two bottom floors.

Naruto felt a great amount of sadness seeing the state of his homeland even though he was never born here. Hinata gripped his hand in a show of support and even Kurenai and Anko had tears in their eyes seeing the grim scene. With a muted pop, nearly thirty Kage Bunshin popped, each one having the same cold eyes as the original. They needed no instruction and moved quickly and efficiently through the destroyed village where they began gathering the bodies of Naruto's deceased clansmen so that they could be burned and their ashes buried in a mass grave. Anko and Kurenai themselves made three Kage Bunshin each so as to assist them in their grim work. The bodies of other ninja's were gathered so as to burn them and scatter their ashes. Few kage bunshin moved through the village and they scouted out few less damaged or still standing structures and also make them a campsite for the night, so that they would get some rest. Seeing the destruction was very heavy on Naruto who was already suffering from chakra loss and then emotional loss from seeing his dead kin. After a few hours during which Hinata did not leave his side, Naruto and his clones made a camp near the open square a few distance away from the fallen Kage Tower.

They all ate in silence and then went to sleep so as to get up in the morning early to begin their day. Hinata and Naruto shared a tent together and so did Anko and Kurenai. They went to sleep together, thinking about the morbid and grim side they had seen together with a heavy mind and heart. Sleep came to each one late in the night and their dreams were uneasy for more secrets were to be revealed tomorrow.

The Next Morning

Anko woke to the heavenly smell of cooking breakfast and she stretched herself while forgetting the fact where she was right now. Her action caused her bed mate, Kurenai to be awoken rudely from a very nice dream in which she has getting on a date with a very hot man. A very cranky Kurenai awoke to the sight of an almost nude Anko and her tits which were restrained only by a very transparent and lacy looking purple bra. Her eyes followed their movement as her tits bounced with every movement she made. Anko stood up giving Kurenai another view of her fantastic and toned body. Her pert and round bulging ass cheeks were snugly wrapped around her matching purple G-string of her mini thong, telling Kurenai that her friend preferred to sleep almost in the nude.

Kurenai forced her eyes away from the luscious sight, while swallowing the lump that had appeared in her throat. Though she had a more curvy and lush body, Anko had a grace and sway in her movements that drew one's eye towards her.

"It was really nice sleeping with you Kurenai. Never took you for a cuddle person though. It was very interesting. Now let's get up and have the breakfast." Anko spoke when she had gained back her mental faculties and even though she noticed Kurenai ogling her, she did not mind for she took pride in her body and had worked hard to get such a nice and sensual body.

Kurenai blushed and after controlling her hormones she gathered her day clothes while shedding her night gown. Anko also wore her normal ensemble and they both got out of the tent they had shared last night, to the sight of Naruto and Hinata cooking breakfast over a small fire. Seeing both of them, they smiled and nodded towards them and began pouring out stew and bread, along with a cup of tea. After the breakfast had been done, they packed their camp and began moving towards the centre of the square where Hinata and Naruto had already made preparations for Edo Tensei. Well more like the fact that Hinata knew while Naruto only helped in preparing the Kanji for the Kinjutsu. Naruto had already been told about the plan few weeks before and he was excited at learning from such legendary figures and his Uzumaki ancestor, Lady Mito herself.

Hinata had gotten three live sacrifices and using stasis seals kept them in the scroll. Just now she was only using three sacrifices while keeping the other two bodies for other Resurrections. The persons she had kidnapped were one the most vile and filthy people, for they all were criminals and though they were civilians each one of them was responsible for several rapes, killings and crimes in the Red Light district. Hinata had simply used Genjutsu and a potent Sleeping Gas on them to knock them out and then sealed them after applying the restriction and stasis seals on them.

Kurenai and Anko saw a massive array on the ground in which three coffins were lying each marked with the Kanji of 1st, 2nd and the last one had the Kanji for Sealing on it.

"This technique is a Kinjutsu and uses massive chakra and knowledge to be able to use perfectly. Since you are here, let's get started for we are wasting our time." Spoke Hinata, while Naruto simply stood beside her and began pumping his chakra into her. Both the Kunoichi saw as the young girl went through more than a hundred hand seals at a pace that was fast for a person of her age group and in the end cried out," Kinjustu: Edo Tensei". While chakra poured out from her and the kanji glowed, the three coffins rattled as a fine dust or ash like grey substance poured into the coffins and then everything was silent as a graveyard.

Slowly the coffins opened outwards and the figures that were inside them stepped out causing both the Kunoichi felt their eyes widen at the two of figures standing in front of them. They did not know who the woman was but her look was as intimidating as anyone you would have ever seen.

"They are... ..You... What... How..did... you..Hinata?" stuttered Kurenai while Anko seemed to have gone stiff with shock at the legends standing in front of them.

"Meet the ones who are all knowing, powerful and if they accept then our teachers. Meet the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, along with Lady Mito, wife of Senju Hashirama." Spoke Hinata in a cold and powerful voice while Naruto seemed to have fixed his eyes on Lady Mito and seemed to be lost in thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I have taken the description of the training from another fanfic... so please everyone write constructive critisism and reviews. Thank you for reading this story...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 5**

**Konoha, Hokage Tower**

Danzo, Homura and Koharu were all standing in front of the Sarutobi Hiruzen and each one seemed to be tense as hell. In fact the tension was so thick that it could be cut with a chakra enhanced kunai. The Third Hokage seemed to be extremely calm but they had spent years with each other and knew his body language well enough to know that Sarutobi was anything but calm. The atmosphere was the same as the day Sarutobi had found Naruto eating from trash cans outside the shops while going to visit Hinata. The look in the eyes of Sarutobi was practically the same if one ignored the calm and almost relaxed look that he was projecting.

Danzo knew something had happened and it was something big. His ROOT shinobi that he had sent to spy on the jinchuriki and Hyuuga heiress had reported that they had left the village with Jounin Kurenai Yuhi and Special Jounin Anko Mitarashi. He had cursed the fact that Hiruzen had allowed and unsealed Byakugan and the jinchuriki of the Kitsune no Kyuubi outside where they may be kidnapped by any other hidden village. But before he could ponder further on the news, he had gotten summons from the ANBU that Hokage had summoned him as soon as he arrived in the village. And now he was here waiting for Hiruzen to make a move so that he could ask about the decisions he had taken.

"You know, it has been a very long time since we have been together. I may say it was for some good reason but I can't say it was for that. Genma!, your squad is needed, now!" he roared.

Five ANBU arrived in the room and three of them directly behind the Elders and each of them felt the cool length of ANBU's ninjatos resting with their tips poised a hairsbreadth from each of their necks and crackling with tightly leashed chakras poised to end their lives in an instant.

"What is the meaning of this Hiruzen? Have you gone mad? Why are we being treated as criminals?" Koharu asked looking incredibly angry.

"Enough. You will call me Hokage-sama. I am no longer your friend. You all have crossed your limits years ago and make it abundantly clear that you had chosen your paths. But first, let me secure this office." He said while unleashing his own chakra and KI at them and freezing everyone in their tracks and went through several hand signs and the room darkened and several sealing arrays spread became visible in the room before vanishing.

Danzo cursed at his own laxity at being caught off-guard and now he was here without his usual Root guard defenceless. He was nevertheless surprised at the anger and power he felt that Sarutobi was exuding and remembered why was his old friend and rival called the Shinobi no Kami after the death of Hashirama-sama.

"The thing is this that you all have gone too far and I have felt that it is better to rein in you fools before you bring down the wrath of the entire shinobi continent on us and we are crushed. First, tell me Homura, shall I kill your grandson Udon and your daughter in law for your stupidity. I seem to remember that is what you said when deleting the entire role of Uzumaki Clan from the village academy and curriculum. Even the Uzumaki's Clan Noh Mask Hall located on the outskirts of the village has been abandoned and never repaired. Explain this to me Koharu, you were made in charge of that duty a long time ago. And you Danzo, I ought to simply seal your chakra, rip every memory out of your mind and then publically execute you and your henchmen, Fu Yamanaka and Torune Aburame, shall I. Oh! Yes. I know. About your ROOT, Fu and Torune, your stupid plans and your selling out S rank secrets to the public about Naruto. Remember, the first and second chose me for this very reason."

"Damn You! Hiruzen. If only you had allowed me to do what I asked of you years ago, it could have been avoided." Danzo roared, while but Homura and Koharu paled before they hung their heads in shame but any further thought was simply stopped by the fact that the ninja holding him had tightened the grip on the ninjato and it had cut very minutely into the irate elder's skin. Danzo stopped before the overzealous ninja took off his head.

Sarutobi simply sighed to himself before he came to a decision and then snapped his fingers. Immediately the two left members of the ANBU team arrived in front of him and Hiruzen made a few hand gestures but for the life of all they knew no one else knew what he was talking about but then he felt himself being forced to his knees while the other two ninja's simply arrived and took up killing postions around him and his robe being cut. Danzo gulped to himself when Hiruzen spoke in a cold menacing voice that chilled all to their bones," I already gave you a lot of lee way Danzo but know I must do whatever I can to keep you from ruining the peace and plans I have for Konoha. This will be your punishment and remember that what I am doing is for the good of Konoha. Prepare him, now!"

The Elders were both horrified at what their ex-teammate was going to do to his rival and old friend. This was not what they expected when they woke up this morning and were worried if this was what Hiruzen had in store for them after Danzo was done. If so, they could not even protest as it would be effective as signing a death certificate for Hiruzen was really angry and seemed to have really tightened the reins over them.

**After an Hour of Intensive Sealing on Danzo**

Hiruzen hated Danzo for what he had just made him do to him. If several years ago he had taken the advice of his student Jiraiya and simply cracked down harder on Orochimaru and Danzo's shady operations, this day wouldn't have come. He hated the caged bird seal variant that he had ordered to be placed on the small of Danzo's back, interwoven with the nerve endings of his spine. He hated (albeit to a lesser extent) the seal to be put on the bottom of his tongue that would keep him from speaking of village secrets and the kill switches that were to be implanted on three separate parts of his body with the everyone watching him. This is what he hated at how far Danzo had decided to fall and now he was a virtual slave.

"This is your punishment Danzo. I am ordering you to tell me the entire operations of ROOT and your history with Orochimaru. Homura and Koharu, you are not to speak of this to anyone. If you do, this is my decree for all of you. You all are going to be branded as traitors and your entire families killed and their bodies will be scattered to the wind after being burnt to ash. Your records will be erased as even the Fire Daimyo will be advised to issue a kill on sight order for you and your associates. The bingo books will carry S- Rank, KILL ON SIGHT orders. Your choice. I have, for too long allowed you to dod a you please and I am sick of it. I am the Hokage and you will all refer to me as such. Though I am ashamed as what you all have done. And Danzo, if I find there were any other stupid actions you took after I finish interrogating Fu and Torune, you will pay with your blood. Am I clear?" Hiruzen spoke without any mercy or emotion visible on his face. All the ANBU had taken position behind Elders and Hiruzen himself was flanked by two of them.

They all nodded even Danzo who looked to be in massive amounts of pain after the seals had been applied.

"Your ROOT ninja will be given rehabilitation training, while their seals that inhibit their ability to speak and think freely will be removed. I will be personally overtaking the command of ROOt and you will be introducing me to them. Though you will be their commander but you will be reporting to me. I will be making sure of their loyalty to the village and heaven help you, Danzo if there are any children in the black ops. Now, that is over. Let's talk about your roles in allowing Uzumaki clan and the history of this village to be altered. Let's talk." He spoke and the talks began that would shape Konoha into a better place.

**Uzushiogakure no Sato, Uzu no Kuni**

There was silence in the grounds of Uzu no Kuni as the three legendary ninja's stepped out of their coffins and stood in front of the persons that had revived them. Hinata Hyuuga who had used the technique in the future before she came to the past was intimately familiar with the ins and out of the technique but that was when she had massive and superbly fine controlled chakra reserves. Right now her body was feeling incredibly strained due to the chakra requirements of the technique was glad Naruto-Kun was there to keep hold of her for the duration of calling the people through the use of Edo-Tensei.

Kurenai and Anko were arguably in shock. Here in front of them were the two figures of the Shinobi Era who were widely recognised for their power and strength. Both were the previous kages of their village and the woman if they had read one's history would know of her prowess and strength in battlefield and politics. Both women shuddered at the cold and much refined and noble look Mito Uzumaki was wearing that both the kunoichi were envious of albeit they were more in awe than jealous. Looking at the woman who was looking as if she was going to rain hell upon them at any moment and knowing the woman's prowess in fuuinjutsu, it was not impossible for her to do so.

"Shodai-sama and Nidaime-sama, it is an honour to meet you both, though we are sorry for not recognising Mito Uzumaki due to the fact that the history of the Uzumaki clan was nearly wiped from the archives of the Konoha after the destruction of Uzu and you can thank your protégé Danzo Shimura along with Sandaime's ex-teammates Koharu and Homura for helping him to suppress the truth of Konoha's ties with Uzu. We are Kunoichi of Konoha Shinobi forces and My name is Kurenai Yuhi while my companion is Anko Mitarashi. She is a Special Jounin and works in Torture and Interrogation Department. We are in the ruins of Uzu no Kuni for training two Heirs of Clans. They are Naruto Uzumaki and his childhood friend Hinata Hyuuga. They both were the ones who summoned you but we are at a loss at how they brought you back to life as we know that you are dead." Spoke Kurenai while suppressing her fan girl personality at seeing the two of the most widely recognised figures in Konoha.

Anko was even worse as she was licking her lips at seeing such dangerous ninja's in front of her. Though it had taken her a while she had recognised the woman immediately from the pictures that Kushina Sensei had shown her once when she had gone to learn kenjutsu from her. The woman in front of them was no other than the legendary Mito Uzumaki-Senju, wife of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju and the most advanced fuuinjutsu user in her time and many times better than the Yondaime, Sandaime, Jiraiya and even Kushina Uzumaki. She suddenly thought back at what Hinata had said before coming here, that there might be someone who could remove her curse seal and her eyes became wet slightly at the chance of finally being free of the snake bastard that had ruined her life.

Mito Uzumaki was not a woman who could be surprised easily. The last thing she remembered was feeling the sweet release of freedom while sleeping in her bed at the age of hundred and twenty. She remembered a bright light and then nothing. A few moments before she had felt a pull and then the feeling of suffocation as if she had been put into a small box and the feeling disappeared as soon as it came. The door opened and she found that the box was nothing more than a coffin and her keen eyes caught the sight of the seals written on the coffin. She also saw her husband and his brother being present with her and immediately knew that something was wrong as they were supposed to be dead. Like her they also seemed to be a bit confused at how they were suddenly alive but she saw something like a realisation pass on Tobirama's face before he schooled his features and looked resigned to himself.

Her eyes immediately looked in front of her and she found an odd group in front of her consisting of two beautiful and young women in their late teens or early twenties. The Konoha headbands they were wearing made her relax but then she saw them, a Hyuuga girl and a boy with bright blond hair and ice blue eyes. Those eyes immediately looked into her and she caught the sight of several emotions including pain, sadness, hurt and hope. Her emotion sensing ability activated and she found that he contained a very familiar source of chakra though it seemed to be diminished and incomplete. Her mind went into overdrive at the thought of the boy in front her being a jinchuriki and that of the Kyuubi no Kitsune of which she was the very first container.

But it couldn't be because he looked nothing like an Uzumaki. When the introductions were being done her hands clenched at the thought of Konoha wiping out the history of her clan with the village and making their roles nonexistent. Even her husband and her brother had been angry at the news they heard, for her negative emotion sensing had managed to find out the spike of anger and she knew both were itching like her to go to Konoha and unleash hell upon Sarutobi and the others. She was about to speak but her husband stepped forth and spoke," It seems that we have been recalled into the world of living because I remember dying in the battle field during the first shinobi war. What about you two, Tobirama and Mito, how was life after I passed on. Did the village remain stable?"

"I died after I was attacked by Hanzo of Ame. He betrayed me and attacked me after I had been attacked by the Kumo forces. I helped my team to escape and was severely weakened. It led to my defeat. Though I can understand. It was foolish of me to believe that Hanzo would not take advantage of the fact due to the pact we had made, but he was rather ruthless and cunning." Spoke Tobirama Senju.

"You cannot talk about ruthlessness, for you are the one who practically created ruthlessness for your own agenda. In a battle you are a quite fearsome and brutal opponent as witnessed by your battle tactics: taking advantage of any lapse in defence of your enemies, crudely and calculatingly attacking them at moments they were vulnerable.

It seems that you recognise the technique used to bring you back. How can you not, for you were the one who created it in the first place." Spoke Naruto earning surprised looks from Anko and Kurenai at his knowledge.

"Yes. I recognise it though I am surprised that you managed to perform an Edo Tensei. I sense a great chakra in you, you are the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi aren't you and at least a half blooded Uzumaki. Also you have minute traces of Senju chakra in you. But I think we all want to ask how a child can know a kinjutsu and perform it without flinching. You know the requirements for the jutsu, a living sacrifice. How does a child know about this technique which was sealed in the Forbidden Scroll. And don't even think about lying to me." He commanded while leaking a minute amount of his Killing Intent at them causing both Kunoichi to look alarmed at the knowledge of needing a sacrifice for the kinjustu. But before they could say anything, Naruto answered while keeping calm.

"You can switch off your intimidation tactics Lord Second because it was the only way that we both could talk to you about several things. All of them are important for the coming future but it would be better if less persons know about it. So if Lady Uzumaki would be so kind to raise a barrier between our teachers and you that would block all sound and sight, it would be beneficial to us all. And Please, Anko-san and Kurenai sensei, do not attempt to say otherwise. We will discuss about jutsu and its requirements later." Naruto finished on a commanding note.

"Yes. Both Hashi-kun and I would like to know more about the village and it's state and also how you possess the Kyuubi. What happened to Kushina and our family? And what do you mean about the coming conflicts in the future?" asked Mito Uzumaki while she raised a Fuuinjustu barrier that hindered sight and sound while making a hidden sweep for any bugs or summons that could be used for spying.

In a flash, Hinata had moved behind Naruto and using her Jyuuken gone for a blow that immediately knocked him out."Sorry Naruto-kun but I think that you are not ready for this talk right now." She spoke apologetically as she lowered him on the ground slowly while this action startled the un-dead summons but all relaxed at her words.

"Gomen-sai but it was necessary for he is not ready for what I am going to tell you all. My name is Hinata Hyuuga and I am using the contact Lady Mito and my Great grandfather cooked up to save myself from the barbarian rule of the Hyuuga Elders and I love Naruto-kun with all my heart. Though I look like I'm only eight years old but it is not true. My mental age is close to being forty years old and that is due to the fact that..." she told as far as she was interrupted.

"Because you travelled back into the past. Don't look so surprised for it was one of my unfinished and fancy ideas that were based on the things that Mito's father showed me. I presume that my diary was lost and you found the research for the jutsu and finished the incomplete Uzumaki technique. I had planned to go back and change the way my fight ended with Madara but fate had other plans for me. If you don't mind me asking how many years it took for you to complete the jutsu?" said a jovial looking Hashirama, ignoring Tobirama face palming and Mito muttering some not very nice things that she was going to do to her baka of a husband if she got the time.

"Nearly ten years Shodaime-sama but please listen what I have to say and the reason I came back..." spoke Hinata while all three listened to her tale of the terrible future that was to come if they were unprepared.

She told about the survival of Madara Uchiha after his fight with the First Hokage and his mad Moon Eye Plan. She told about Akatsuki and their goals. The attack of the Kyuubi on the Village Konoha and the truth behind the failure of the seal of Kushina. The treatment of Naruto in the village before she met him and took him with her. The plans of Danzo that he did using ROOT shinobi, Sarutobi's failure of killing Orochimaru and Orochimaru's mad quest for immortality. The attack on Konoha during the Chunin exams and many other things including the Massacre of the Uchiha clan and it's truth. She specially told about the Fourth Shinobi War and Madara's role in it and Naruto's death and why she had come to the past. In the end all three were wearing grim looks at the chaotic and problem filled future that was to come in time. They were worried about many things but before anyone could say anything else, Tobirama spoke," You mentioned the Uchiha's were wiped out. And you say that I am responsible for it. Can to tell me how and why?"

"Lord Second, during your reign you were primarily responsible for establishing Konoha's organisational system and You established various organisations such as the Academy, the ANBU, the Chunin Exams and the Konoha Military Police Force, the latter of which you created as a sign of trust towards the Uchiha who made up the majority of that organisation. However, many of your policies and jutsu that you developed ended up causing problems later down the line. Danzo believes and I know you also believe that the rebellious elements bearing Madara's will would always be smouldering in the Uchiha clan.

But you are the one who drove the Uchiha to it, Lord Second. It could be said that the seeds got sown with the Uchiha Police Force you created. People who crack down on crime are often easily disliked. The more authority such a group has, more conceited it can get. You conspicuously shoved them away to the outskirts of the village, next to the prison under the pretext of closely monitoring the criminals.

A few members of the Uchiha clan would later come to believe that this was just an elaborate way to ostracise them from the village, and its government. This led them to secretly follow the will of Madara Uchiha and decades later, be massacred after plotting to stage a coup d'etat. Though that is a matter which is not important right now." Answered Hinata without flinching at the glare and power surrounding Nidaime Hokage during her explanation.

"Tobirama calm down now! I understand your worries and I am even more worried at what the future holds for my descendant. He already has faced such pain at a young age and will be hunted later in his life. Though I want to thank you on his behalf for taking him under your care. I hope you will continue to help him and I have decided that I will help him to best of my abilities," spoke Mito and turned a sickly sweet smile at both Hashirama and Tobirama, both who began sweating under her crazy look bordering on insane and spoke with her voice sending shivers down their un-dead spines and an Oni peeking out from behind her," and these two will also help all of you in the training for the next two years. Won't you Hashi-kun and Tobi-chan?"

"Yess... w..w...e..ee will help. Say it Tobirama won't you?" spoke a madly sweating Hashirama with a very enthusiastic Tobirama nodding like a bobble head.

The sickly aura disappeared and Hinata breathed out a sigh of relief. She went to Naruto and using her knowledge woke him up.

Naruto woke to a pounding headache and he asked the first thing that came to his mind," Mind telling me how I have this killer headache, Hinata-chan?" he asked with his frosted smile, which was just a quirk of his lips at the edges but suited him just fine. She blushed while silently wondering when she would see his wide foxy smile of his, again.

"Ano.. Naruto-kun. You were so excited that you slipped and cracked your head on the pavement and became unconscious for two hours. I discussed everything with them and they have decided to help us and our minders... oh... I forgot about them. Lady Mito will you please drop the barrier. I will have to calm them about the Kinjutsu and maybe you can help us. I told you everything, didn't I?" Hinata asked while pleading with her eyes, a gesture not lost on lady Mito who could feel the turmoil within the young Hyuuga heiress.

"Yes, you did. Now let us drop the barrier and tell them what we have decided for you all. Fuiin Kai!." Lady Mito said while making a ram hand seal. The red barrier around them dropped and Anko and Kurenai rushed towards them and Anko snarled at Mito and said," What the hell, you old hag! Couldn't you warn us that you were going to take that much time. We were waiting for many hourr,,,,ss... " she trailed off as a massive and terrible KI fell upon them. Lady Mito was standing in front of her looking ready to punch the daylights out of her with a terrible aura behind her looking just like an Oni which looked like it was going to rain hell upon them. The sky had darkened and storm clouds broiled behind her making her an intimidating sight.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME JUST NOW! LET ME JUST TELL YOU I AM NOT OLD. GOT IT CHILD!" Lady Mito roared while Hashirama and Tobirama had face palmed at the loss of composure and the hot headed angry temperament of the Uzumaki woman. Everyone cowered from the obviously bipolar woman who then smiled sweetly at them making all of them at the edge. It was not a 'I am happy to see you smile.' But rather it looked more like a 'I am going to skin you alive and then pour salt and acids on your bare skin' type smile and sent shivers down everyone's spines. Anko felt that she had just signed her death certificate at her mad and insane look. Kurenai and Naruto shot her a look that had her feeling a bit worried while Hinata's reaction had her sweating bullets. The girl was looking at Lady Mito with what could only be interpreted as awe and a healthy dose of hero worship. Anko shivered at the feeling of disturbance in the natural order of things and then apologised to all.

"It is all right. Now we have decided to train you all but only on certain conditions that are as follows. Break them and we will kill you and dump your bodies in the sea as fish food. Got it or not." It did not look like the woman was joking and both Kurenai and Anko nodded immediately at her glare. Naruto looked amused but with his ice cold expression it was really hard to say.

"Oh yes. Now the conditions and the rules. The rules are simple and easy.

· Never be late.

· Proper respect must be shown to us at all times when we are your teachers and to your companions while in formal occasions.

· No one is allowed to try and persuade another not to leave.

· Training uniforms will be worn at all times except when bathing and sleeping and they will be given to you tomorrow.

· No complaints.

· Expect the unexpected.

· After your training is complete you may train whoever you deem worthy but you must take responsibility for that person's action

Finally, you must never reveal the location of the place or the source of your training. Even if that old monkey Saru- chan asks, you are all going to lie. This is essential as we want to keep this technique a secret and why is that I will tell you all later.

Burn these rules into your memories and never forget them, write it down if you must, but so long as you are here you will be governed by these rules. After which, you are free to make your own decisions. I want an oath on that, on your blood and your headband." She spoke seriously.

"Hai shishou," they all answered at once and recited the oath.

"Good," she said with a smile coming across her lips, "now, the guidelines we are about to give you is for your benefit and following them will help you greatly in your training so pay close attention and feel free to ask for clarification on anything when my husband is done."

They all nodded their heads with varying degrees of excitement with the prospects of finally beginning their training under the legendary ninja's. Hashirama stepped in front of them and spoke in his own soothing voice. "Take everything one step at a time, have patience with yourself and rest when you are supposed to rest," and he turned serious, "and most importantly never let your emotions guide you, let them strengthen you and motivate you but a decision made solely on emotions such as hate, anger, jealousy, greed and vengeance is a poor decision and in the end will only lead to suffering."

Hinata suddenly had a feeling of sadness wash over her; the words the Hokage spoke had a profound effect on her as she knew from firsthand experience what he was talking about.

"Now that that has been said, remember it and hold fast to it. Are there any questions?" This time Kurenai was the first to speak up. "when we will begin our training sensei and for how long will we be under your care.?"

This time Tobirama who had been standing in the corner, straightened and then spoke," Two days after today at the dawn of the first ray of light, we will begin our training and it will run for nearly five years. Do not worry for Hinata had told us that we have only two years. Fortunately for us, Lady Mito will be opening a Special Training Chamber in Uzu, which was sealed by her before she came to Konoha. It was a project that she lost interest in but she completed it and sealed it away for the future use of Uzumaki Clan. The Chamber can slow down time and we can adjust the chamber setting so that the next one and a half year will be equal to five years. But remember that you will also age accordingly inside. Outside the time may be one and a half years but you will lose five years of your life. Tell me do you find this acceptable?" when they all nodded he went on," Ok then you all get your supplies and we will get food for the time frame in our sealing scrolls. Lady Mito will unseal the chamber and repair any damage that has been done to it. My elder brother will help you in making a Monument for the fallen Uzumaki brethren and also help in the repairs for the village. Don't worry for it is our way of atoning for the failure of the village not helping its allies." He sighed and then looked out towards the ruins of the buildings of the village that was once home to one of the most feared clans in the Elemental Nations.

All of the present persons moved towards their respective tasks and soon the town square was empty except for a bird or a rabbit.

**Two Days Later**

All the seven people were standing in front of the underground caverns that were beneath Uzu that had been hidden by using seals and several genjutsu. The entire pathway had several traps and other security seals present. Lady Mito had taken the last two days combing over the entire island with Hashirama and Tobirama cleaning the island and the whole security seals of the island were activated and then the entire island had been filled from the trees from the Hashirama's Mokuton. The entire trees were kept close to the village boundaries. It was done to remove the cover up of the battle of Uzu and the invasion marks left on the land. He also created a huge tree as a monument for the fallen Uzumaki's. The last two days were easily the most hectic for the living as being un-dead summons all of them worked tirelessly to make Uzu habitable again and to serve as a base of operations.

Lady Mito went through several hand signs at a rapid rate that were practically a blur from all even to Kurenai and Anko. The cavern wall rippled as several seals flashed into being with each vanishing at a very fast rate one after the another. Everyone seemed to be enthusiastic at seeing such high level fuuinjutsu and suddenly a part of the wall vanished into nothingness and a path became illuminated with torches burning all along the way.

"Follow me and keep to the path. And please don't go on anywhere without anyone with you or you might get lost forever." She spoke making others oddly spooked though no one noticed the slight smirk adorning the corner of her mouth.

The party of seven persons moved through the caverns and then suddenly there was a ripple of movement that encompassed the entire group and they were suddenly walking on lush plane complete with green grass and plant life. Everyone except Mito had their eyes widened by the sudden change in scenery when suddenly both Hashirama and Tobirama stiffened and shot Lady Mito an incredulous gaze filled with awe and fear.

"Is this a summoning plane? You found or created an entire summon plane by yourself, Mito. I am so proud. I got a real ass kicking wife of mine who knows what her stuff..." Hashirama was promptly bashed on the head by her slightly blushing wife who looked everywhere but at her companions.

"Yes. This was a summoning plane for an ancient creature called Kraken but it died many thousand years ago. My Uzumaki ancestors found this plane and began experimenting to try to become sages here. However, one of them was more interested in making this plane a perfect training ground and he created several seals to change this plane. It is located in a pocket dimension accessible only by a certain path that we took located underneath the land of Uzu. I managed to create a time seal on this plane that allows me to manipulate time with respect to the real world but the only drawback is that our bodies age like we would have if we spent time in the real world. Whatever we need, this plane can become and don't take it as an illusion. It is very real. The seals created by my ancestor change the landscape by manipulating the seals and all we have to do is know the correct sequence to do so. This is our training ground and we will begin it from now. Get ready for this is the last time to back out. After this there is no turning back." Spoke Lady Mito.

Naruto, Hinata, Anko and Kurenai all nodded with serious expressions on their faces and with a final hand seal, the cavern became shut sealing the persons inside for the next one and half years in real time but inside it was going to long and hard five years underneath the ninjas that were once legends of their time frame.

All the three un-dead ninja's were looking at their four students for the next five years. This time frame they had gotten was enough to make them into decent ninjas of old time. From what they had managed to find out the standards for the ninjas had fallen very far. Today Jounin was equivalent to the Warring Era's Elite Genin. This was all due to the fact that the ninja's of this age had become complacent due to the long era's of fake peace and that is why they had been slaughtered in the Fourth Shinobi War. This attitude was what they had to break and by the gods they would do so.

"Now follow me outside so that we can begin, and do not keep me waiting." Said Hashirama in his happy go lucky voice and went out of the Mokuton House he had made using his bloodline.

Forty five minutes later the four students were finally outside, it took them fifteen minutes just to stand up due to the gravity and resistance seals that had been planted on their bodies by Lady Mito. They were more difficult to work with due to their intricacies and complexity.

"Now that you are finally here start running and don't stop till I tell you to stop," Tobirama said, "I need to see where I need to start with you."

They ran all morning nonstop until one by one they each began to drop from exhaustion one by one until finally Naruto came to a crashing halt after seven kilometres worth of running. They had covered a distance that would be considered reasonable for a Genin with the exception of Kurenai and Hinata who couldn't make past two kilometres.

"Alright meditate for 15 minutes and when you're done I will teach you how to conceal weapons so you don't have to go about with that pouch and holster all the time." Lady Mito said calmly, "and I have already taken the liberty of burning your weapons pouch and holsters."

After they meditated she began to demonstrate the art of concealing weapons.

"Now you try," she said as she made an entire box of senbon, thirty Kunai, fifty Shuriken, a pair of Kamas, a pair of sais, a short sword and two Fuma shuriken appear from her clothing and then making it all 'disappear' back into her clothes. She then unfurled a scroll which she pulled out from under her kimono and unsealed an arsenal three times as much as what she was currently carrying. The best thing about the weapons was that they were all made of chakra metal. She looked at their amazed and awed faces and sighed to herself. These tricks were taught to herself and her generation of all Shinobi such little tricks and this was nothing for them. It made getting one's weapons being unable to be seized and one couldn't to be unarmed even after getting caught. She often wondered how much the standards the village and the academy had fallen now-a-days.

Later that day, Naruto and the others, after getting the hang of concealing weapons were treated to a meal of rice, fish and vegetables. "Now that you have learnt the art of concealing weapons, I must increase the level of this art. For now these are your weapons. In Uzu, we were given these grade of weapons in our clan house after we learnt to be dangerous with the training weapons but before we were even not even allowed to touch the metal. So taking that in mind, I will teach you all to be deadly with nothing but a pair of chopsticks, paper or even your food." Said Lady Mito while others looked suitably scared or in case of Hinata, awed. She then took away their metal weapons and unsealed their new ones. Anko had pouted a bit on relinquishing the weapons but one KI enhanced glare later, she practically gave the entire armoury she carried over to Mito-sama.

The funny thing about the new weapons was that they were all made of construction paper.

"These are your new weapons, and until you are able to use them like real weapons you are forbidden to use real ones," she said noting the incredulous faces of her three students, "reason being, a ninja must be able to make anything in his hands a deadly weapon from a stick to a peanut as I want to you all to be. Now start concealing these weapons, when I return there must be nothing left in your piles and I must not see any unusual bulges."

But before she was gone in to the house she paused. "And don't bend them. When you get the hang of this you may wash up, eat and rest, your mental training begins tomorrow," she began to walk away with one last thing to say before she disappeared in the door way, "Enjoy this freedom while it lasts for tomorrow your new life truly begins and your old life ends. We will forge you to be the best and that is our promise to the world."

After dinner they all returned to their common room where they were asked to sleep side by side on futons, but not before showering first. Their sensei's locked them all inside the room saying it was for their own good and that they needed to become less distracted by the body of the opposite gender and that Naruto was lucky to be getting such good training and need to grow up and stop acting like a child and that he would get used to it. They eventually did become accustomed to seeing such sights but that did not mean Anko did not stop teasing others with her body. She even groped Naruto's crotch before giving Hinata a sly grin while the said girl glared at her heatedly. Kurenai often tried not to ogle Anko like a piece of meat. Poor Naruto had the worst. To him every female body was like a dream goddess. Anko's groping had made turn redder than a Tomato. He had just tried to ignore the feelings that erupted in his stomach at the sight of beautiful nude females.

After they were settled Tobirama came in and made them aware of the three charts on the ceiling of their sleeping room, one of which was chart of pressure points and their effects – death, paralysis and unconsciousness –and the other a chart of striking point and their effects.

"Memorize each and every one of these points and their effects as well as combining consecutive pressure points or striking points. Make them second nature to you."

With that he left, leaving three very tired students staring at the ceiling, trying to memorise the charts with diligence. He grinned to himself for tomorrow was going to be the beginning of true hell for these cute little students.

**THE NEXT DAY**

It was five O' clock in the morning and our four Ninjas in training were all snug and warm on their futons dreaming happy dreams until a torrent of ice cold water was dashed on them immediately jolting them from their slumber –they're not accustomed to the water on that cold as freezing ice.

"You have twenty minutes to get ready and eat breakfast, after that meet me behind the house." Said Lady Mito and Tobirama nodded while lowering his hand which was how they knew he was responsible for their impromptu bath.

With that they disappeared in the shadows of the room.

All of them complied even though reluctantly as they hastily washed up, put on their clothes for training and ate breakfast but they soon felt ill as they saw what their sensei had set up for them at the back of the house.

The back of the house was like a forest and got darker the further you looked and there was a lake to the right but that was not the cause for their sudden illness. The back of the house looked like something out of a war movie except with a lot more traps that actually worked. There was an obstacle course starting with a twelve foot wall and a single ninja wire spanning fifty feet attached to the top of the wall and a poll of similar height. From that there was more poles scattered haphazardly about in different heights leading to the lake and from the lake thin slabs of either cardboard or sheeting ply on the surface in an arc leading back to the land where rows of swinging blades awaited them to pass through then through a jungle of ribbons and soft material all with a large sheet of foil paper underneath and a second twelve foot wall with a board perched on a stand on the other end, not to mention everything had bells on them. The scariest thing was… that was the things they _could_ see.

As they stared wide eyed at the Torture machine, Tobirama cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Before you begin, first warm up by stretching then do fifty push ups, seventy five sit ups and a five kilometre jog. Get going." He barked

To some that sounded like exactly what it was, a warm up, but when you are not accustomed wearing seals, while wearing a weighted suit that resists every motion you make and adds fifty pounds to your body this warm up was more like having a run up a mountain while carrying a heavy slab of stone on your body.

Two hours later they were finished with their warm up. Naruto didn't know how much more he could go, Hinata and Anko didn't know how they made it and Kurenai being the only ninja with the least stamina was in tears as Lady Mito had practically forced them all to finish and yet she did not give up even though she was taunted, ridiculed and belittled all the way at random intervals.

With all resting, Tobirama was explaining their assignment or torture or whatever you want to call it.

"Firstly, I forbid the use chakra in this exercise," that seemed to take the wind out of Naruto's sail, "you must scale the wall, move across the tight wire while killing or incapacitating the hidden targets, if you don't they attack back, hop from poll to poll without falling while dodging the weapons we will be throwing at you, next, you run across the sheets on the lake and kill or incapacitate the targets in the boat without falling in, make it through the blades without getting sliced up and through the ribbons and sheet without disturbing it, go over the second wall and land on the board without breaking it or making a sound."

Each of the four students were as pale as ghosts now, unfortunately it did not end there.

"Oh, if here a bell, the sound of the foil, I see the ribbon or sheets move or you get hit by a weapon you start over immediately and you will do this every day except Sunday until you can do the entire course in thirty seconds or less," the grin he had on was almost sadistic, "hey no need to worry, this is only level one. Oh, by the way, and no blood line ability. Begin."

**And they were moving towards their destiny...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: I have taken the description of the training from another fanfic... so please everyone write constructive criticism and reviews. Thank you for reading this story...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 6**

**Uzumaki Training Area, Summoning Plane,**

**Uzushiogakure no Sato, Uzu no Kuni**

**Two Months after entering the training plane **

Naruto and the others were standing in front Lord Hashirama for their training in ninjutsu. Last two weeks had been worse than hell for the four ninjas-in-training. Both Anko and Kurenai had been in tears to find out that their hard earned skills were nothing important to their teachers who had belittled them and their teachers in the academy or their sensei's back in village for poor and substandard training. Lady Mito had asked the girls and Naruto about seduction training and their first kills. While both Hinata and Naruto got her approval for doing the Rabbit Test back when they were young, the older Kunoichi were lambasted heavily for neglecting their all round training. Kurenai was given more training on improving her Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, while making sure her Chakra control and stamina was increased by using more fine tuning methods for those exercises. Anko on the other hand had gotten an earful for her weak seduction training and in words of Tobirama-sensei, Mediocre Taijustu using a weak version of Snake Style and just above average skills in Ninjutsu. Anko's pride and ego had gotten very easily bruised at the brushing off of her skills, especially those she had worked her ass off to improve after being abandoned by Orochimaru. Lady Mito had told her after testing both of them for Seduction Techniques and hentaijutsu that they were atrocious at the best and needed to learn the basics again and she would teach them all including Hinata and Naruto but after one month of their training for they needed better chakra control and physical conditioning to learn them.

Today they were supposed to learn Ninjutsu from Lord Hashirama and how to harness their elemental chakra. They had been tested for their elements with Naruto being the most surprising of them with three main affinities of Earth, Water and Lightning, with a medium affinity for Wind and Fire. Lady Mito theorized that Naruto might be able to utilise Mokuton later but with massive practice. Hinata had two main affinities of Water and Lightning with a medium affinity for Earth and a very minor affinity for Fire. Anko had two main affinities of Fire and Earth with a minor affinity to Wind while Kurenai surprised others with her two main affinities for Fire and Wind and medium affinities for Lightning and Water.

Lord Hashirama began speaking," Earth Chakra is the most dangerous and the hardest to master out of all the elements." He was interrupted when Anko failed to conceal her scoff at the notion. He sighed to himself and then spoke," Let me guess, like most others, you thought that because there was no obvious benefit, like cutting or burning, you thought earth chakra was useless, am I right?" Anko and Kurenai nodded dumbly, gaining another sigh.

The first Hokage started his explanation. "First and foremost, earth chakra is possibly the most versatile chakra. While we who have earth natures cannot cut like wind, burn like fire, shock like lightning, or flow like water, we have several things to our advantage."

"But earth is considered the weakest element after water, after all the earth nature control exercises are the easiest to master, even if you have an opposing element." This time it was Hashirama who snorted at his students' ignorance.

"Wrong. What most people don't seem to realize is that it's damn near impossible to master an element. The first two exercises are to master _manipulating_ an element. There is a third and a fourth exercise that are a great deal harder. For example, earth's third exercise is to be mastered using iron. Once I finally finish teaching you that, You'll be able to make weapons in the middle of battle, your jutsu will be so much stronger, and other benefits." All of them were stunned, they had never even heard of these.

'_I guess it wasn't their fault after all. They have been taught nothing just the basics and those are also much different from what we have been taught.'_ "Earth's fourth element seems damn near impossible to me, seeing as I do not have a bloodline related to it." All of them looked at him, curious to why he would say that.

"For most of Earth's techniques, one needs to be calm, cool, and collected. This set of techniques brings out the heat in everyone. Once even I complete the fourth exercise, I will be able to use lava which unfortunately I was never able to due to the wars and conflicts." everyone felt like they had been punched in the stomach.

"Admittedly, I will never have the control over it that someone with a bloodline would, but that won't really matter with lava now will it?" their eyes gleamed for a moment in anticipation and Hashirama smiled to himself in his mind.

"Once all four exercises are mastered, something that takes several _lifetimes_ mind you, only then can someone claim mastery over an element. However, I'm getting off topic. Earth jutsu, when used correctly, are more defensive in nature than offensive. In fact, even the more offensive ones are best used to counter attack, such as the **hell zone rock shard,**or **stone spear.** Also, to make up for this, we have a multitude of the more offensive "Dragon" type jutsu, such as mud dragon, mud dragon bullet, Earth dragon, Earth dragon blast, Earth dragon god blast, and the most powerful Lava Dragon Explosion technique." everyone felt like their heads were spinning. No one had never even heard of four of those jutsu. Hashirama just sighed before taking out a kunai. He charged it with Doton chakra and threw it into a tree.

Everyone's eyes followed the kunai, widening in shock as the kunai, instead of penetrating as it should of, left a massive dent in the tree, the wood exploding away from the kunai.

"Now, for channelling Earth chakra into weapons, it can do one of two things, like wind can either cut or penetrate. The first, as you saw, would cause an explosive amount of blunt force trauma, the amount one is able to channel depending on the person's skill and the weapon used. Like kunai caused that, whereas a senbon would only break a bone." '_Break a bone? Only?'_ Anko and Kurenai were beginning to regret not experimenting with the various chakra natures.

"The second choice, depending on the way you form the earth chakra, allows…" "Wait, wait, wait…form the earth chakra?" Hashirama looked annoyed at the interruption. "Yes, formed. You do know the two types of jutsu? The ones where you can channel a set amount of chakra and then let it go and the other one where you have to channel a continuous amount of chakra for the entire duration of the jutsu? Same principle."

Anko nodded in understanding.

"This one takes up more chakra to use, but that's not much of a problem for me. With continuous channelling of Earth chakra, well, I'm not really sure how to describe it. Basically, the penetrating power is increased because of added weight to the weapon. I'm not sure how it works, or just how the extra weight doesn't affect the throw or stab, but there are still a lot of things I don't know. Besides that, Earth jutsus are used to control the battlefield. If I have the time to use the jutsu, in an area I'm not afraid of modifying, I can control the entire pace and pattern of whatever fight I am in." Finished Hashirama.

Anko felt like an idiot. In fact she felt like most of the shinobi world was made up of idiots. So much can be done with chakra, and apparently they have barely scratched the surface.

"How did you learn all this Lord First?" asked Naruto. "I learned some of it in a few books I found. And the rest of it I learned from experimenting. I even used my clones for that, so there is no reason for people not to know this."

"Well, let's get started." And the training began.

**TWO WEEKS LATER**

Naruto and Hinata were standing with Hashirama sensei alone in a secluded part of the training plane. He had requested these two to accompany him this morning after finishing the exercises for the Earth Manipulation. Naruto had progressed a lot on this front and chakra control due to the fact that he was using nearly three hundred Kage Bunshin to increase the times of doing a single exercise. As Tobirama sensei had told him that the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu could be used for various chakra exercises due to the psychic link they all possessed back to the original. He even made him revise the technique until he could do it without the hand seals and now he was training to make the clones appear without the puff of smoke or without pausing in his movements to concentrate on making the clones appear. He and Hinata had finished the following chakra control exercises and their sensei's' were most impressed at their fast mastering of control.

Leaf Balancing Technique

Advanced Leaf Balancing Technique

Tree Walking Exercise Technique

Advance Tree Walking Exercise Technique

Water Walking Exercise Technique

Advance Water Walking/Swimming Technique

Chakra Armour Exercise Technique

Chakra Enhanced Muscles Exercises/Senses Technique

Now they were waiting for Hashirama sensei to tell them why he had them secluded from others.

"Chakra in its simplest and purest form desires one thing; balance. Push and pull. In and out. Ying and yang. Such is the principle that the world is based on and it is what keeps it functioning. In my meditations I have found that therein lies the greatest potential for shinobi. By utilizing what I like to call 'true chakra', a human can unlock a new found power and untapped potential. The difficulties, however, is that humans, over time, have come to develop elemental affinities through constant use of jutsu. A single person becomes fond of a certain element and utilizes it throughout their life. This causes elemental chakra to build up within the body which, becomes an inheritable trait to any offspring produced. I speculate that is also the source of those abilities that are unique to bloodlines.

However, the elemental affinity is both a curse and a blessing as it gives way to techniques of respective affinity while, at the same time, converting 'true chakra' into elemental chakra. It is a great loss because 'true chakra' can be so easily tainted and difficult to store within the body, yet its effects and benefits are astounding. I found that it greatly enhances the physical being, resulting in an increase of overall performance; strength, speed, stamina as well as superior senses.

I have also found that it increases ones growth, even when said person is well into the prime of their life. Aging process is also significantly diminished, evident by the fact that at the age of thirty-six I look barely twenty-five and, if I manage to die a natural death, I believe that the human lifespan will also be increased a great deal. I theorize that perhaps the Uzumaki clan somehow has a hidden reservoir of 'true chakra' within their bodies, hence their great vitality and unnaturally long lifespan.

The only way to unlock 'true chakra' is through intense meditation and excellent chakra control. The process is not unlike the one used for senjutsu however, whereas natural energy requires an open mind to commune with nature, 'true chakra' can only be found by turning one's sight inward. The chakra within the body must be refined by having the chakra circulate through the body at rapid speeds in fine and highly compressed waves. This is extremely dangerous as if it is not done with the proper amount of control the body will be torn to shred from the inside and is guaranteed to result in death.

After two hours of circulation the elemental chakra will be forced out of the body. Slowly cease the circulation of chakra and allow it to spread to every cell in the body. One the body is saturated, continue to meditate and allow body to gradually adapt to the 'true chakra'. Once the process has been repeated for several days and the body as become accustomed to it, you can seal 'true chakra' within your body, allowing you to utilize in battle without fear of having it tainted by elemental chakra." Finished Hashirama and looked back at his two spell bound students. He smiled at their expressions before adopting what they called his teacher mode.

"Now you two will be learning to harmonise the true chakra in your body. I believe that your young age will help you in getting more benefits from it. I will help you in doing this along every day for the next week or so and until I say so do not attempt to teach the others. It is very imperative, for this will allow you an ace in the coming conflicts in the future." They both nodded at his words and sat down cross legged on the floor for their training. Hashirama smiled at their enthusiasm before he looked at the horizon and saw the storm clouds gathering at the far end of the plane. He mentally wished his students strength before he too became engrossed in their training.

**Two Years Later**

**Uzumaki Training Area, Summoning Plane,**

**Uzushiogakure no Sato, Uzu no Kuni**

The last two years had been very interesting for the four shinobi in training. They had been put through hell and other unmentionable tortures in what their un-dead teachers dubbed as light and day-to-day training. Both Anko and Kurenai had been very thoroughly trained in the aspects they lacked in, though Kurenai had become a trained assassin in the ways of the Uzumaki clan. She had pledged herself to the service of Uzumaki clan and Naruto after she had found out that the Yuhi's were primarily a clan of assassins and unlike most Kunoichi, the Yuhi clan back in the times of Warring Clans Era when they were living in the Whirlpool before moving out and settling in Konoha was made primarily of women. They had embraced the more underhanded path of Kunoichi. They were tricksters and seducers in its purest form – they would stab you with a dagger in your back while giving you a sweet embrace - and a secret kinjutsu of their clan which allowed their salvia to become like poison. It took a great amount of control and a lot training to properly learn this technique, and as a result of this training they were prized as one of the most dangerous assassins. Now Kurenai had a spectacular control of her ability which allowed her to control the poison in such a way that she could poison a man with just a kiss and still not let him die. Yuhi's were employed by the Uzumaki clan as their primary retainers and often worked in secret as their hidden hand in the village.

Kurenai had lost her family in the Kyuubi attack and her house had been destroyed, otherwise her mother would have begun her training when she reached twelve years of age. But now she knew her heritage and had whole heartedly embraced it. Her training in hentaijutsu and seduction had been completed by Lady Mito who knew several scrolls and journals of the previous Heads of the Yuhi Clan and had been left in Uzu. She had finished her elemental manipulation of Fire and Wind, while she was finishing Lightning and her water manipulation was going to be begun under both Tobirama-sensei and Lady Mito. Her next goals were getting her Chakra capacity to low Sannin level from her current High-Jounin level, after reaching ANBU capacity. Her Chakra Control had reached to Elite ANBU level and she could unleash several genjutsu including the Temple of Nirvana technique without any help and using only one third hand seals for thrice times the original time frame. She even learnt the Tobirama's Bringer of Darkness Genjustu but she had managed to only bring down it to half the hand seals.

Now she was aiming for the next three years to be able to use her elements using only a single hand seal and using two elements simultaneously with using single hand seals with her two hands at the same time. She had learnt the secret Taijutsu of the Yuhi clan, which was very difficult to utilise as it required a very flexible and nimble body to work with and it was more like a dance in which she could use daggers, kunai, senbon and even chakra scalpels to land strikes on the opponent's nerves, muscles and even blood circulatory system. She was now at mid- jounin level at taijutsu but for her mastery in the Taijtsu Style she needed to add any of chakra natures in the strikes to cripple the enemy.

On the other hand, Anko also had gotten her curse seal removed in a year in her training. Her chakra levels had reached up to Mid-Kage level after the seal being removed but her Chakra control had been shot to hell. She trained her ass off to reach Mid-Sannin level of chakra control and abused the hell out of Kage Bunshin. She could not make hundreds like Naruto but she could easily make over thirty and less than forty five. Also she had to be careful as her mind could not take the backlash of twelve or more clones getting dispelled at once unlike Naruto who had a tailed beast sealed inside him to take care of him. She was given scrolls on the true Snake style and her Body Elastic Technique was found to easily useful in helping in the katas of the style. The style timed her movements to aim for vital spots. Punches that targeted the temples of the head, tensile fingers with elongated fingernails that tried to gouge out eyes, strikes aiming for pressure and tenketsu points, grasping, cobra-like lunges at the oesophagus to tear apart the delicate organ, kicks flying towards the crotch or to savagely damage ligaments, the style was all about incapacitating and killing through the weakest parts of the human body. She also learnt the taijutsu style of the Goken to complement her Earth Nature and used Earth Chakra in her strikes to shatter the defence of the enemy and she was extremely proficient at it.

Anko's two main affinities of Fire and Earth had been finished and now she had reduced the hand seals to five or four to unleash any technique. Her minor affinity to Wind was at a level where she could unleash her jutsu using half the hand seals. Like Kurenai her goal for the next three years was the same. Get to a level where she could be able to use her elements using only a single hand seal and using two elements simultaneously with using single hand seals with her two hands at the same time and launch collaboration jutsus.

She also had trained with Lady Mito in the use of Katana and a Tanto simultaneously, who was kenjutsu master on par with the Kiri's Swordsmen like Kushina Uzumaki was in her time. She had learnt the art of kenjutsu from Kushina Uzumaki but after her death had prevented her from learning the full style. But here she was pushed to levels that were insane and right now she could safely say she could handle both Yugao Uzuki and Genma Shiranui, which were the leading kenjutsu practisers in Konoha without any problem. Even Hashirama-sensei had complimented her on the use of two weapons simultaneously.

She had also had been trained in the art of Seduction and Hentaijutsu with Kurenai but she found her true calling in Torture and Interrogation. She was given several books on the subject by her sensei's who wanted her to become very best at her arena of ninja arts. She was very good and had learnt many torture techniques and arts. On the other hand, Anko's secret training had several unintended side effects. She had seen the way her summons had looked at her, so she took the initiative from Lady Mito to form a rapport with them. Fortunately for her the snake summons had grown tired of the arbitrary rule of Manda over them, so most of the snakes were planning a coup under the leadership of new leader of Snake Summons. Last she heard the coup would be done till the end of the nest year and till then she had been asked not to use summoning as it was messing up their schedule. Only her personal summon by the name of Ami was allowed as she was playing no specific role in the coup.

When Hinata Hyuuga had used the Edo-Tensei to bring out these three, she hadn't imagined her life changing by this much. Now she was a fully fledged Kunoichi who in the words of Lady Mito was 'nothing like the women she had gotten the impression of from their talks who were more interested inbishounen looking boys and going on diets and other rubbish.'

Hinata was now at Mid Jounin level with her Chakra capacity and her Chakra control was at High Jounin level. She was proficient in the two main affinities of Water and Lightning and her Manipulation had only finished was of Water. She had been trained to the ground by Tobirama-sensei and now she was able to use most of her Water jutsu with a single hand seal except for those with levels above A rank and more. The Lightning affinity of her was along ANBU level and her hand seals were reduced to about one third. She had along with Naruto tried to learn seal less ninjutsu but the attempts had failed due to the jutsu getting destabilised before launching it.

Her medium affinity for Earth had progressed to the level where she was able to reduce the hand seals to half and her very minor affinity for Fire was along Jounin level. Even her goals for ninjustsu in the next three years were the same as Anko, Kurenai and Naruto. Get to a level where she could be able to use her elements using only a single hand seal and using two elements simultaneously with using single hand seals with her two hands at the same time and launch collaboration jutsus.

Her taijutsu training was one of the most harshest and frustrating period she had ever gone through. All the three teachers had their own inputs and several ideas for her taijutsu but she had informed them about the style she had developed in the future. They had agreed to reform the style after asking her to demonstrate it but had asked her to learn multiple styles and had even complimented her on breaking the Hyuuga tradition of sticking only to Jyuken. She had learnt Goken with the same principles as that of Anko while she also had begun using a modified version of Jyuken which was not rigid as the traditional version but used her limber and lithe body into consideration. She also learnt the snake style that Anko had learnt but due to the fact that she had not affiliated herself with the Snake Summons and had no intention of doing so, she slipped those stances inside her own Taijutsu style that she had developed in the future. This style was called by her as the Raging River style and utilised stances from Jyuken, Dances of the Kaguya Clan, and many others to create a hybrid style that used the same principles as that of the Yuhi Clan taijutsu to use weapons and chakra scalpels to injure the enemy but the main difference was while the Yuhi Clan used dance like movements, Hinata's Taijutsu was more along the lines of flowing water.

Last but not the least was Naruto, who had grown the most and even then it was by leaps and bounds. He had been taught several chakra control exercises and till now he had finished the following exercises:

Leaf Balancing Technique

Advanced Leaf Balancing Technique

Tree Walking Exercise Technique

Advance Tree Walking Exercise Technique

Water Walking Exercise Technique

Advance Water Walking/Swimming Technique

Chakra Armour Exercise Technique

Chakra Enhanced Muscles Exercises/Senses Technique

Chakra Pulse Technique

Chakra Sonar (Advance form of Chakra Pulse) Technique

Rapid River Walking Technique

Kunai Balancing Technique

Advance Kunai Balancing Technique

Waterfall Walking Exercise Technique

Advance Waterfall Walking/Swimming Technique

Rapid River Walking/Swimming Exercise

Senbon Balancing Technique

Advance Senbon Balancing Technique

Advance Chakra Armour Exercise Technique

His Chakra Capacity was at Mid-Kage level while his Chakra Control was also at Mid-Kage Level. For Naruto it was a real accomplishment due to the fact he used at least a Hundred Kage Bunshin for these exercises and his chakra capacity was due to his heritage as an Uzumaki and a Jinchuriki on top of that. Hashirama had theorised that due to the Kyuubi, Naruto would possess Bijju level reserves at the end of his five year training. He had been tutored in all the subjects that included the following:

Shurikenjutsu

Politics

Tactics and Strategy

Deception

Body Language

Torture and Interrogation

Chakra Sensing and Emotion Sensing

Multiple Weapon Usage

Hentaijutsu

Seduction

And many other fields. Naruto was exhausted every night and it was only due to the Kyuubi's regeneration powers that he would be ready for the next day.

He had learnt five different Taijutsu styles at the insistence of his teachers. This included the Goken, Snake Style, Humming Bird Style, Hashirama's personal Taijutsu style, Lady Mito's Water Fist Style. Right now he was Learning Tobirama's Lightning Fist style and after wards he was going to learn the Hinata's version of Jyuken too.

His Ninjutsu and Elemental Manipulation was coming along nicely. His three main affinities of Earth, Water and Lightning were all mastered with his ability to launch their jutsu's with a single hand seal till he reached A rank jutsus. Above the A rank he needed at least one third hand seals to do use the justu's effectively otherwise his attacks used more chakra than required.

His medium affinity for Wind and Fire was at Mid-ANBU level and he had cut the need of hand seals to half of the original limit. He had been able to take several tips from the Uzumaki Journals and his Un-dead teachers to learn how to make his jutsu's more potent and less time consuming. Also his genjustu training was going along fine till he reached the A-Rank ones and he needed time and concentration to use it in the middle of a battlefield. Till B ranks he could use them easily but after wards he was practically useless in battle of genjustsu casting. However like all he could detect and dispel multiple A-Rank Genjutsu's and even several S-rank Ones.

Right now a heated debate was going on between Hinata and Tobirama on the topic Hinata had broached, the use of medical procedures to implant DNA of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha in the body of Naruto to give him more power. Hinata had theorised and even shown them several scrolls containing the experiments that she had managed to test in the future using the DNA of Naruto, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. All she wanted was confirmation by all of them that how the procedure would be undergone and since he was also an extensive researcher and would use the bodies of other individuals to further comprehend their abilities and possibly develop new ones. One such case was in Uchiha, whom Tobirama learned the inner workings and mechanics of the Sharingan. This gave Tobirama some expertise in the medical field and Hinata wanted all of them to supervise the operation. Hashirama was also able to use medical ninjutsu, being able to heal without forming seals and thus was also included in the overseeing of operation.

Hashirama had agreed but on the condition that all of the teachers and Naruto himself would voluntary agree to the proposal. Lady Mito was quiet on the issue and was going on the details of the procedure without a word. Tobirama's argument was that Naruto would not be able to get both DNA's assimilated and even if it does were there any chances of him manifesting Sharingan. If Naruto manifested Sharingan then who would teach it to him about the abilities of the said eyes, because they knew how to counter those eyes and their effects but how to use them like a master of Sharingan does.

"Madara Uchiha. Just like I did for you, I have his DNA and can use Edo-Tensei to revive him but in the future when he was revived he looked closer to his prime age and strength. However I have modified the seals a bit and given them to Lady Mito for cross checking. If she says okay, we can revive Madara but with his memories up to the part in his life before you fought and he went rogue. It is the only way. I know Lord Second that you are vary of him but Naruto knows instruction in the arts of Sharingan from the master of those eyes and it is Madara and no one else." Pleaded Hinata to Tobirama.

"Okay but let us check what your experiments and findings show. Lady Mito, are the seals that Hinata has modified is in working order or not?" Tobirama asked Lady Mito.

"Yes, for a few things but I will change that. Also the findings of the experiments are written from her Future self's memory. I would like to do these tests again with fresh samples. It is fine by you Hinata. Because according to these reports that we have we are going to have Naruto as weak as a Chunin for the three months after the operation and that is with taking Kyuubi into the account." She replied while Hinata nodded in acceptance.

"Ok then, it is decided. Till the next week we shall go over the reports and do the experiments and we shall do the operation if everything goes as planned. Till then Hinata-san you can return to the training. We will meet next week." Finished Hashirama and concluded the meeting. All three un-dead teachers sat together to discuss while Hinata went back to where Naruto and the others were practicing Ninjutsu along with Kenjutsu.

**A Week Later**

**Uzumaki Training Area, Summoning Plane,**

**Uzushiogakure no Sato, Uzu no Kuni**

Naruto was waiting alone in a room where Hinata and his un-dead teachers were going to come and then he was going to undergo medical procedures to get the DNA of First Hokage Hashirama Senju and his Arch Rival Madara Uchiha to be implanted in his body. A week before he had been taken aside by Hinata who had told him in great detail about her idea and getting the operation done. In the end Naruto had consented to undergo the operation but he had asked that whether the entire procedure would not give him any unintended side effects.

Both Lady Mito and Lord Second had assured him nothing like that was going to happen and they had checked the entire procedure. Tobirama had even calculated that the probability of him awakening the Sharingan was less than forty percent. Naruto was really happy that he was not going to become a red eyed, power hungry bastard in the words of Tobirama himself, not that he did not share that opinion himself. The Uchiha had been one of his main tormentors before the Massacre and they even allowed the drunks and civilians to harm him and when he defended they would try to pin the blame on him for all the trouble.

Naruto though understanding the need for the operation was a bit nervous because he was goimg to be very weak for the next three months and after that he would be trained by an Edo-Tensei Madara Uchiha. That Madara who betrayed Konoha and his childhood friend and rival Hashirama over a set of ideals. Naruto always knew Madara had put the unhealthy fear of Uchiha in the mind of Tobirama and even Kyuubi would growl and rage in the seal at the mention of his name. But as Hashirama put it, 'One has to make sacrifices for the small good that comes out of a bad picture.'

The door opened and his resurrected teachers and Hinata entered the room. All looked a bit grim but what they were attempting it was dangerous and never done before. On paper the tests and the calculations might match but there was a lot of difference in theory and practical. Naruto nodded and lied on the table, while Lady Mito prepared a sedative for him during the operation and then Naruto knew more except for just the everlasting darkness.

**Eight Weeks Later After The Operation.**

**Uzumaki Training Area, Summoning Plane,**

"Kuchoise: Edo-Tensei no Jutsu" cried Hinata as she finished the last hand seal and placed her hand on the ground. The coffin in front of her with the Kanji of Uchiha written on it lit up with a brilliant white light causing the seals on it and on the ground to glow brightly. The coffin shuddered as before the fine dust or ash like grey substance poured into the coffin and then everything stopped. Hinata panted as this heavily modified and severely restrictive Edo-Tensei was finished. Even after that much training she was ready to drop dead on the ground to near chakra exhaustion. Her eyes strayed to the massive sealing scroll that was lying open at the ground at her feet. This was a masterpiece Lady Mito had cooked up when they found out that Hinata would be dead of chakra exhaustion if she attempted the use of the variant of the Impure World Resurrection of Madara without the use of Naruto to provide her chakra. This scroll was a chakra storage and release scroll that contained chakra needed to fully power a Kage for two S rank fights. It was clearly finished after she performed the technique and she was glad for Lady Mito to provide such an excellent solution for her problem.

The coffin opened and Hinata fought back a shudder at seeing the same red samurai armour worn over the body of the resurrected Madara. She stopped herself from moving in front of the ancient Uchiha and blast him with every technique she had in her arsenal.

"It seems that I have been summoned back to the living and by a Hyuuga brat no less. Clearly something is very wrong with the picture as she should not be able to use such a technique and even I don't remember dying. You girl tell me where am I?" Madara asked. Hinata clenched her hands as she desperately tried to control herself after hearing the Uchiha Leader speak in the same arrogant tone as she remembered from the war.

"It seems that you have not been fully revived Madara. I seem to remember that you would sense me immediately if I had Benn within a few miles of your location. Tell me was your betrayal your own action or an act done in rage and anger?" Asked Hashirama as he stepped in and with him arrived Tobirama and Lady Mito herself.

Madara stiffened at the voice before whirling to face the speaker and his face contorted in to a visage of rage and madness as he nearly jumped to beat down the person he believed to have betrayed him. He stopped himself with difficulty and then listened to the words of his rival and on realising the meaning of the words that Hashirama had spoken caused him to turn around and give a rage filled glare to the Hyuuga who had the audacity to summon him from the dead and then seal away half his powers.

"Don't Madara. We have to talk to for a bit. I had thought that you died at the Valley of the End, but how managed to trick me I don't know. What I now want is that you are going to help us and if don't help us, we will, I'm sorry, I will make it so." Said Lady Mito with a sweet smile on her faces that sent fear crawling up the spines of all the males present. Madara sweated a bit. He knew that the crazy woman must have something up her sleeve. He knew Mito for the woman was an important part of his defeat at the hand of Hashirama even after he had summoned the Kyuubi in the fight. The woman's prowess with fuuinjutsu was known to be the best in the world and that was saying something.

"Ok, then but I must ask why and for whom you need my help? I will not lower myself to help you without you all keeping me in the dark. Tell me and I will answer you on my honour as an Uchiha." He spoke with a grim and serious tone causing Tobirama to twitch slightly.

Lady Mito sighed and then Hashirama stepped forward and began explaining things in a short summary to his once called friend.

**After Two Hours of Long Explanation**

"... ... and that is why we had chosen you to help us. "Hashirama finished and then sweat dropped at the sight of Madara nearly going to faint. Actually now he looked closely, Madara and others had swirls in their eyes and what the heck, why was Tobi-Kun and his cute little student Hinata sleeping.

Madara was now frothing at the mouth and looked ready to fire off some Katon jutsu. He, Madara Uchiha never knew that how had he managed to get to bear Hashirama when he was alive. Or maybe the death had made him even more annoying. Well he was ready to train this Naruto Uzumaki and if he was not lying really excited to see the what will happen if the student that he was going to train would meet his fully powerful self in the future. Hashirama had told him that he would not remember this time when he would be resurrected again in the future. Oh yes, he was sold on the idea of getting a student even though he would have to share him with Lady Mito and take the responsibility of three other brats in teaching them Katon ninjutsu and Fire Elemental training.

Madara Uchiha lived for a good fight and he really wanted to dance with his student after he managed to train him. Maybe, he might teach him some of his Uchiha ways and his own art that he was the master of. The boy was at least one fourth an Uchiha and though he had left the clan when he left the village, in reality he had been betrayed by his clansmen first. But first he was going to clear the air between him and Hashirama. Also he had to convince them to allow him more of his power, so that he would properly train the boy. After all this one was going to be what he had always wanted to leave behind and he might have failed in that regard if his memories were right. He wanted to leave behind his very own legacy just like Hashirama and Mito wanted to do and it seemed that he had chosen the same as those two, **the boy Naruto Uzumaki.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 7**

**Two Years Later (Real Time World)**

Izumo and Kotetsu who were standing at the gates and were talking to each other, for the two persons known to others as the Eternal Chunin were bored of the guard duty that never seemed to end. The day was clear after a week of heavy rainfall which was strange at this time of the year but not uncommon in the Fire Country. Izumo was talking about some woman he had talked with last evening with at the bar to Kotetsu who looked at ready to beat his partner with the glares he was shooting Izumo. The reason being that the woman was no one but their ex-teammate who had joined the ANBU after she had become a chunin and retired after seven years. The woman Kotetsu had a massive crush on but he had never the balls to propose to her even after chasing after her for four years. The way Izumo was talking, it seemed that he had managed to score with the brunette.

"... the way she was moving and her legs were so graceful, Kotetsu, you should have seen her man. Hey! You listening to me, Kotetsu or not?" asked Izumo on seeing that his partner was looking elsewhere. He turned and saw what exactly had captivated his partner.

Four figures could be seen racing towards the Konoha Gates and they seemed to be ANBU with their black cloaks and masks on their faces. But Izumo remembered that there were no missions that were given out and no ANBU teams that had been sent out and that included the ROOT. So who ever these were either they were fakes or from other village.

Suddenly, a team of ANBU were in front of the gates forming a perimeter around the booths through which the coming persons would pass through the gates. As soon as the figures arrived through the gate, one of them, a female by her extremely developed body flung a scroll towards the ANBU leader and without even seeming to pause all of them moved towards the Hokage Tower. The ANBU had relaxed on seeing the official scroll with the Hokage's insignia on it. As soon the they passed the others blurred away to tail them but the speed of the persons who had entered the village wasn't less than High ANBU level.

The Captain passed the scroll to Kotetsu after reading it and he spoke into his earpiece," Team fall back. They are two leaf shinobi with their students back from a sanctioned training trip. Move towards the village east to continue perimeter. Boar out!"

" Whose names were on the scroll, Kotetsu?" asked a very curious Izumo to his partner who looked ready to faint after reading the scroll. After a minute or so of awkward silence, Kotetsu replied in a strangely croaked voice," Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki-**Senju** Naruto."

Izumo choked on something invisible as he heard the sentence that had been uttered and silently mouthed, Senju to his partner who nodded looking really ill and then grinned a wide mischievous smile and then held out his hand and spoke happily," You owe me 5,000 Yen. I won the bet. Pay up now Kotetsu."

Kotetsu glared his friend and said," Not now. In the evening when we are free of this duty." Izumo nodded and then started humming a song," So, did you see the legs on the two women, huh Kotetsu?" he asked after a while.

"Shut up! Izumo" replied an annoyed Kotetsu.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not a ninja who could be surprised easily. After he had dealt with his old rival and friend Danzo and pulled his act together, he had taken the reins of village with iron hands and Konoha had prospered once again under his rule. Even his old teammates Koharu and Homura had supported him fully after seeing how much they had been damaging the village by their useless agenda. He had changed the routines of the ninjas and made several changes to the ninja lifestyle. The only thing he had not fully managed to control was the influence of the civilian council. Though they had been managed to hold a bit of power but that small amount of power was enough to give headaches to him when they went out of their way to cause problems for the military.

As his most trusted and capable soldiers stood before, Sarutobi gazed upon them with pride. They all were Danzo's ROOT shinobi that were now under his command. After three to six months of breaking the robotic tendencies and the seals that were on them, ROOT shinobi were allowed to join the village. It was difficult and he had to even recall JIraya for help. But, he could not deny the efficiency of Danzo's training and command structure.

He cleared his throat. All of the ANBU stood at attention and waited for his commands. He inwardly smiled to himself. Order, discipline and respect, that's how the hierarchy in Konoha was built now a days. The chain-of command was direct with no possible circumventions.

"As of now we have four persons in ANBU attire that passed the gates this morning. As Boar told me and the as the scroll suggests they are some persons that were sent on a private training by me. They have yet to report to me till now but that should not allow you to panic. However, I have gotten some intelligence from them that was dropped this very morning by a hawk. Teams five, eight and ten are to be deployed at the borders of Iwa. There are reports of a mercenary group working there under the Tsuchikage. It is reported the ninja's are of S rank. I want to know about their movements and their plans. No engagement with them, this a recon only mission. I want all of you to put in a good amount of effort. Am I clear?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," several voices chorused at once.

The ANBU vanished in a puff of smoke. Sarutobi smiled to himself and sat back in his chair before he spoke seemingly to the air," I know you are there. Why do you linger in the shadows?"

The air in the office rippled around to show four figures that were reported to have passed the gates in the morning. Both of the Eternal Chunins had reported about the pressure that seemed have sensed by them when these four had passed the gate and Hiruzen himself was no slouch in the Sensory Ninjutsu. As he could sense when they dropped their camouflage technique, all the four figures had high and potent chakra. In all they gave an air of seasoned ninja ranging from High A level to nearly Mid Kage or S level. He was floored as he had never expected this much increase or growth in the potential of these four. Not that he had no faith in them all, but he had not expected them to increase this much till they were all Elite Jounin or more. The Chakra he could sense were very tightly controlled and seemed to be restrained by all but he was certain that all of them had crossed Mid ANBU level and that too in two years of training. He made a mental note to ask about the training as this was very good for the village if shared.

However, one thing he noticed was that all of them were wearing dark black cloaks with their hoods up so he couldn't see any identifying features of them. The cloaks seemed to have been seen by him before but he couldn't place their origin. He looked again and was suddenly struck by the fact that the cloaks seemed to suck the light from around them, deepening the shadows and allowing them to appear as if their shadows had been melded into the cloaks. Suddenly he was struck by a long memory from the time when he was a young teen with his teachers Lord Hashirama and Lord Tobirama, with Lady Mito also present with them.

"Shadow Cloaks!" he whispered stunned. These cloaks were a personal creation of Lady Mito's grandfather who was an accomplished seal master and a brilliant inventor and a scientist. He along with his summons of the Karasu (Crow) clan had created a masterpiece of cloaks with using seals with the moulted feathers of the Crows to form a literal camouflage cloth that could with the effects of seals and user's chakra and will would allow them to mimic the surroundings. But they were not called Shadow Cloaks because of that but due to the fact that these cloaks could literally allow the user who had been synced with these cloaks to allow them to drop them into their own shadow or the shadows of any kind just like the Nara clan could do but with a lot of practice. In fact Nara clan had the idea from this very cloak for their Hiding in the Shadows Technique that required very fine control and concentration. Also these cloaks had several seals hidden in them to make them virtually silent and able to hide from all types of detection. Since Hiruzen had detected them with his Sensory Technique, it meant that the seals had been deactivated.

"It has been a while hasn't it, Naruto-kun, Hinata-san, Anko-san and Kurenai-san. Can you remove the hoods please. I would like to see what changes have happened to you all over a period of two years that you all were away from the village. I can sense the chakra flowing inside you and can honestly say that I have been surprised by the growth all of you have out there."

"It seems that you live up to your name of The Professor, old man. It is nice to see you too." Came a male voice as cold as the dead of winter as all of them removed their hoods and the masks they were wearing.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a good judge of character, and just by looking at someone, he was able to piece together much about that person. All of them especially, Naruto had become extremely beautiful and in Naruto's case handsome; their faces seemed to have been carved by angels themselves. Every one of their features, their movements, even the way that they now carried themselves held within them an air of regality and grace, as though each one of them was some sort of Nobility or Royalty.

It was then truly he noticed Naruto's eyes, and was taken aback by the sight. His eyes were cold indigo, twin chips of ice that burned darkly in the cool air. It was said that eyes are windows to a man's soul, and yet in the eyes of his pseudo grandchild, he could read nothing. They were guarded and harsh, revealing nothing of the boy's heart that lay beyond. There was only emptiness, a void, stretching before him, threatening to consume him in its freezing grasp. The blonde who now watched him and the ANBU with marked disinterest which was cold and aloft. It was though all of creation mattered not to him. He watched the world behind those cold and dangerous blue eyes, missing nothing, but liking nothing.

The blonde child reminded Sarutobi of Itachi in so many ways. But there was some difference as he noticed. Naruto looked like he was someone the third Hokage could tell right then and there, that he should not mess with. The boy had similar blonde lock to his own father but , though the spikes were notably subdued. His face, though still young, was already taking on a handsome appearance, and in a few years, his grandchild would be quite the heartthrob.

Next to Naruto was a beautiful and exotic looking woman who looked like some divine art come to life. Creamy white skin, with dark, lush black coloured hair that had a beautiful wave to it. Her figure was more like that of one seen in fashion magazines. Her long legs accentuating her already lavish curves and of course her eyes. Her dazzling ruby red eyes. Sarutobi hadn't thought that Kurenai could get even more beautiful and but this woman would shatter all the female pride of his Kunoichi's. He made a point not to send her on any missions regarding female nobles as he did not want a cat fight regarding the women of nobles getting jealous over her exotic beauty.

Next to Kurenai was Anko looking the same as ever with her violet hair in a short ponytail and light brown eyes. She was wearing a pair of shin guards, a mesh suit, a mini-skirt and a tan trench coat. There was something else that had changed. Hiruzen felt her reserves and was surprised that her chakra had no taint of the curse mark in her chakra. He looked at her and said," It seems that you have lost your mark. Haven't you Anko?"

"Yes. The process was long and painful but it was removed in the end. I will explain it to you later. But I have to warn you, don't tell anyone about it for I don't want Orochimaru knowing about it and attacking me on how I managed to get it off me. When he attacks me the next time, I will not be helpless and would take good care of him." She replied in her boisterous voice while chuckling to herself. Hiruzen cracked a smile at that and mentally observed the behaviour with the girl who before would have shouted the news from the top of the Hokage Monument complete while dancing along. 'The trip has made them more mature I guess. But the only thing that worries me is the cold dead look in the eyes of Naruto. I will ask him about the trip later.' He thought to himself.

Then Hinata spoke up, and the Sandaime was broken out of his thoughts. " Hokage-sama, Naruto-kun and I would like to ask you about the Uzumaki's Clan Noh Mask Hall located on the outskirts of the village, which has been abandoned. Since the Mask Hall is a part of the Uzumaki Clan heritage, we would like to get the deeds for the forest area around the radius of five kilometres from the temple. We both have decided to create a clan compound with the Temple as the base. I know that such things that need permission from the Daimyo and we both have gotten it while coming here to Konoha." Making his eyes widen in surprise and giving a little bit of humour at the situation.

Hiruzen was totally tied up in military matters and the fact that there were several missing ninjas vanishing from the Elemental Nations especially around the Rice country. He suspected that his old ex-student and traitor of the Leaf, Orochimaru had a hand in this. He had gotten other troubling reports that the Tsuchikage was amassing weapons and getting academy curriculum to increase. Kiri had fallen into a civil war with the Mizukage declaring war on his people with bloodlines getting executed. He had no time to deal with the headaches back at home as the foreign front was on constant upheaval.

"Ok, but I will first check the deeds. Also, your father Hiashi-san has talked with the Fire Daimyo and gave both of you his blessings even though the Elders of your clan, especially your grandfather raised quite a fuss over it. However, seeing the scroll and the signatures of your ancestor made them all shut up and the terms were quite enough to make them steam. However, there is a message from Hiashi which is,' The White Lotus is free but the Vultures do not like the Swirl.' I hope you understand what he was talking about. On the other hand, Hanabi has been made the Heiress after your departure. The Elders of your clan wasted no time in trying to demand that on your return, you would be branded with the caged seal. This situation nearly resulted in a civil war in your clan but the Fire Daimyo was informed of the situation along with Lord Mifune. Two of the Elders were executed on charges of treason and other were given a fair warning resulting in your victory."

Naruto nodded while both Anko and Kurenai smiled. Hinata giggled into her sleeve. "Lord Daimyo had told us about that when we visited him. Here, this scroll details all the information you want, while this second scroll here contains all the formalities for the land transfer. You might want to know that we are going to use heavy ninjustu for remodelling so ask your village barrier team to keep the barrier protection to the maximum. Also, I might use that Chakra so the warning is in advance. We don't want the panic of October Ten to appear again." Spoke Naruto while handing over two scrolls.

Sarutobi had narrowed his eyes at the mention of heavy Ninjutsu and Kyuubi's chakra but thought better to ask now. All of them had just come from a heavy training and they would surely need to rest. The rest of the questions could wait till the next meeting. He also had to test both Naruto and Hinata on the results of their training. He spoke his thoughts and Anko replied," Lord Hokage, we both would rate these two as Elite Jounin and almost all the fields of Shinobi, but we can offer you a better deal. Why don't we test our students against a team of ANBU say two days afterwards. Till them we can wash off the tiredness and also create the clan compound. Also, I would like to ask you the permission of being Naruto's guardian. Kurenai wants to take Hinata under her wing. I hope you understand that we have formed nice bonds while we were away and consider the request."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded to himself as he went over Anko's proposal. This was good as he always had wanted someone to keep watch over both Hinata and Naruto but could not do so due to interference of the Civilian council. Now that he thought about it, this was a golden opportunity for him.

"Ok, but I will give you the decision two days later. Now go and have a nice day. It was nice seeing you all, especially you Naruto-kun. Maybe someday we can sit and discuss more about this trip. And happy rebuilding. I will inform the Barrier teams about that. Good bye."

Naruto with a soft smile to his face, spoke a bit warmly, a change from the dead ice voice of his he had used till now," I would like that, Jiji. Thank you for your help and do take care." With that said all of them put their masks and hoods back and one by one they all sank into their shadows that vanished.

Sarutobi lied back in his chair before he noticed the paperwork, though it was far reduced than what he used to do, but he was still detested it. He ignored the piles in front of him and pulled out an orange book and for the next few hours the only sounds coming from the office were perverted giggling of the Third Hokage.

**Uzumaki's Clan Noh Mask Hall**

**Konohagakure no Sato, Outskirts**

The shadows rippled around the entrance of the Uzumaki Temple and four figures jumped out of the shadows like dew droplets on a leaf. The entire forest was silent as the four figures removed their hoods showing their masked faces to the world.

"Can't we just remove the Henge now? I feel like we are on secret espionage mission. And why we have to hide our appearance now? We did not do so in Uzu." Asked a sultry female voice identified by a woman wearing a modified ANBU type mask depicting a Snake on it.

"Hebi (Snake), you know why we can't do so. And we are not talking about it till Usagi (Rabbit) makes sure that the entire area is empty and free of bugs and other monitoring devices. Then we shall talk and I think to make you understand that we can't talk about it in the open." Scolded a woman wearing a white mask with distinctive crimson streaks on it with the shape of a peacock.

"Area Clear!. We have not been followed till now. Let us do this. We have half an hour before the barrier team is informed and they raise the barrier so that we can do the remodelling. Shall we do this Naruto kun?" asked the young girl wearing the Rabbit mask.

"Not now, Hinata. First let us enter the Temple. I will send some Kage Bunshin to plant the barrier and detection seals and to do some recon of the area. We need to make the entire area is marked completely." The last of them, a boy wearing a black mask with depiction of a Okami (Wolf) on it spoke. Hinata nodded and all of them moved towards the abandoned Temple of the Uzumaki Clan. As soon as they entered the Temple, Naruto looked out at the empty clearing and created thirty highly charged shadow clones and all of them departed for the tasks without him speaking.

As Naruto's Kage Bunshin left the Temple, they spread out and by the time they had stopped moving after moving more than five kilometres from the point of origin, each clone stood in front of a tree. From above, the formation of the clones would have looked like a circle with thirty points placed at regular intervals. Moving in sync, each clone held up a finger and forged a small vivid blue chakra blade. Together, they began to carve seals into the trunks of the trees they stood in front of.

Having already given the important all steps for securing the clearing and the area they needed to the clones, Naruto waited for fifteen minutes and then sat down on the floor back at the Uzumaki Temple and assumed a meditative pose to prepare himself for the next step. Back at their positions, his clones were hard at work inscribing seals in increasingly complex patterns on ten trees. Meanwhile Naruto had begun his own portion of the task. Very carefully he gathered and moulded a huge amount of chakra and kept a firm hold on it. Reaching out with his senses he examined the chakra of the trees, plants and animals around him – essentially getting a read on the exact frequency, if you will, of the background chakra of the clearing. This technique had been a result of his training with Lord Hashirama and Lord Tobirama to learn the True Art of Sensory Ninjutsu unlike the modern ninjas did using shortcuts and learning only the basics. Then with absolute focus he began to mutate the nature of the chakra he had moulded. Step by step, the chakra began to change from one that was unique to Naruto until finally it was indistinguishable from the chakra that saturated the surroundings – and right in time too for he sensed through the link he shared with all his clones that they had just finished inscribing the seals. Now came the next and one of the most difficult step.

Reaching out again, he grasped all thirty chakra links to his shadow clones and gave the shadow clones the go ahead to do their parts. With the active chakra link between themselves, the clones were able to act in sync – simultaneously, they moulded all their remaining chakra into neutral natured chakra, placed their hands on the seals they had just carved and activated the seals they had just carved, making sure to halt the activation process just before its conclusion, essentially leaving the seals in a state of suspended animation – much like drawing a circle and stopping just before closing it off. Now for the most delicate part of the entire procedure…with his clones' minds right there with him, Naruto portioned the carefully prepared chakra into thirty equal parts and after making sure that all his clones were ready, sent them out along the chakra links – with each chakra packet travelling at a speed that ensured that all the clones received them at the same time.

As the clones felt the chakra packets arrive, without interrupting the flow, they fed the chakra into the suspended seals and just as the last of the incoming chakra was sucked into the seal they closed the loop, completing the charging and activation of the seals. Owing to the neutral nature of the chakra used, no ninja sensed the chakra spike and the hidden nature of the area needed that ensured that the resulting light show went unseen. After the chakra eruption had died down, Naruto dismissed all his clones.

Getting up out of his meditative post, Naruto probed the newly made barrier around the clearing he was in – checking to make sure that all the features he had intended were present in the barrier and that nothing went wrong. He was satisfied with what he found. Now, no one but him and those he would synchronise with the seals personally, would be able to find any part of the area he just sealed and even those who might have known about the existence in the past would just conclude that the trees must have re-grown after they realised that they can't find the entire area just like it was in the Core Area of the Forest Of Death – after all, who knows what the trees grown by the Shodaime Hokage are capable of.

With all that done, Naruto could then get around to finally get to remodelling the area as they wanted and as discussed by him with his teachers before he left Uzu.

He stood back up and then nodded to others. All of them nodded back and then they all began removing their masks and the Cloaks. Naruto waited for a moment before creating fifty clones and leaving them to scout the area for training grounds that would be used for proper training in the use of the five elements and their various combinations. With that done he prepared to return to his companions and then to get some rest. Now that he had taken care of all the necessary preparations, they could start having fun. Just before closed the door of the Temple watched the clones disappear into the Woods and mused absently to himself that he should build a blacksmith's forge in one of the many clearings in the area he had sealed to make custom weapons, and then with not as much as a whisper, he turned around and was gone back into the depths of the Mask Hall.

All of them looked at each other and then simultaneously raised their hands in Ram seal and muttered a soft," Kai!". The result was four different persons were present in the room and their forms rippled to show their true appearances.

Kurenai Yuhi, the last member of the Yuhi Clan of Whirlpool. Yuhi's were primarily a clan of assassins and unlike most Kunoichi, the Yuhi clan back in the times of Warring Clans Era when they were living in the Whirlpool before moving out and settling in Konoha, were partners of the Uzumaki Clan as their primary retainers and often worked in secret with them as their hidden hand in the village, the one of the last ninja clans in the old country of Uzu. She looked like a goddess of pure beauty among mortals. Her black, slightly wavy hair flowed gracefully to the small of her back and framed her face. Cherry red pouty lips and a pair of the most soul piercing seductive eyes that could possibly exist, they were an enchanting shade of crimson like her name sake and the pupils had a ring of light red around them but it had nothing to do with them being a dojutsu but it was simply to increase her beauty and give her an untamed exotic look that would drive any man crazy.

One gaze from her and most men would now be putty in her hands if they saw her new and definitely dangerous look. Her body was a magnificent specimen of the female body, with an ample single E-cup bosom, small waist, round and bulging buttocks and wide hips. To put that body into the White and Crimson dress she now wore that was modified to expose her cleavage and shortened so that her thighs were always in sight was almost sinful. To top it all off she wore laced up sandals reaching her calves. Her beauty was as deadly as a tiger with her twin blades each a foot and a half in length from tip to tip and curved with an ornately crafted handles. She had taken up Kenjustu after she mastered the Taijutsu of the Yuhi clan, and incorporated the use of daggers, kunai, senbon and chakra scalpels to land strikes on the opponent's nerves, muscles and the blood circulatory system. All in all she was a very dangerous ninja who had embraced the more underhanded path of being Kunoichi. She was a trickster and a seducer. She took a lot of time in learning to properly learn the kinjutsu technique of her technique, and as a result of this training Kurenai had a spectacular control of her ability which allowed her to control the poison in such a way that she could poison a man with just a kiss and still not let him die.

She had finished her elemental manipulation of Fire, Wind, Lightning and Water elements and was at High ANBU level reaching almost borderline S-Rank in Ninjutsu. Her Chakra capacity was now nearly low Sannin level. Her Chakra Control had reached to Mid Sannin level and she had almost a true Genjutsu Mistress. All she needed now was more experience and refining her control over her techniques.

She was now able to use all her elements using only a single hand seal till Mid A Rank techniques were concerned and was still learning to use two elements simultaneously with using single hand seals with her two hands at the same time.

Anko Mitarashi had light brown pupil-less eyes and black hair which had a blue tint to them, giving them almost a violet shade, which was styled as always in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She was wearing a dark metal mesh body suit that stretched from her neck to her mid thighs, show casing her lush womanly and hot sinful figure. The mesh suit was covered by a grey overcoat with purple in-seam and also wore a black mini skirt just barely above indecent and that too stretching the limits of it. Her assemble was finished with dark grey wrist and shin guards. She too was wearing high laced up sandals like Kurenai but they were black in colour.

Her body had matured in last two years and after removal of the cursed seal, her body had been allowed to fully develop. Her tits had reached to nearly a whopping EE-cup and her waist had become narrow giving her a hourglass figure almost like Kurenai. Her ass was more plump and a bit more massive than Kurenai's. But where as Kurenai was more like an exotic fruit that drew everyone like bees to honey, Anko oozed nothing but seduction and sultriness, like a succubus on a hunt.

After she had gotten her curse seal removed, her chakra levels had reached up to Mid-Kage level but now she was High-Kage level. Her Chakra control had reached to High-Sannin. Her Taijutsu was at Mid-Sannin level in the True Snake style and in the Goken.

Anko's two main affinities of Fire and Earth had been mastered and now she could use only one hand seal to unleash any technique up to Mid S-Rank. Her minor affinity to Wind was at Low-Sannin level. However she was capable of using single hand seals with her two hands at the same time to launch collaboration jutsus.

She also had trained with Lady Mito in the use of Katana and a Tanto simultaneously. In the art of Kenjutsu she was High-ANBU level only and had vowed to learn and master her two weapons.

Hinata Hyuuga had become one of the most beautiful women any of them had ever seen. Her body had become more mature after she had come back from six months of training with Lady Mito and her body had been changed. Her breasts had grown larger, her hips had curved. She gained a thinner curved waist, and her legs were longer and sleeker too. In short she almost looked like the perfect supermodel. After her seduction and hentaijustu training, she had become more bolder and outgoing and even began flirting with Naruto.

Both the women knew they had a slight crush over Hinata and Naruto after they had matured during the training trip and where ever Hinata went during their return trip, every male onlooker stopped and stared at the sublime creature, whose silky dark hair with a blue tint to them, fell down past her shoulders to the small of her back just above her perfect ass. The way she moved her hips was a seductive, almost hypnotic way, as if to say 'You know you want it'. Hinata had truly started on the path of seducing Naruto during the end of their fourth year in the training plane but the boy was still a bit dense towards her feelings for him. And her eyes had become a lovely shade of lavender that melted any one's heart when she smiled at them. What both Anko and Kurenai did not know was the fact due to the Secret Training in Pure Chakra that both of them had done with Hashirama sensei, they both had matured early and their bodies had developed to be more beautiful, yet deadly and stronger than others.

Hinata was now at Mid ANBU level with her Chakra capacity and her Chakra control was at Low Sannin level. She was had mastered the two main affinities of Water and Lightning. She had been trained to the ground by Tobirama-sensei and now she was able to use most of her Water jutsu with a single hand seal except for those with levels above Mid S rank. The Lightning affinity of her was along Low Sannin level and her hand seals were reduced to about four or five for most of her techniques. Her medium affinity for Earth had progressed to the High ANBU to Borderline Sannin level where she was able to reduce the hand seals to less than ten and her very minor affinity for Fire was along High ANBU level after their training with Madara Uchiha. Like both her friends, her ninjutsu was the same as that of Anko, Kurenai and Naruto. A level where she was able to use her elements using only a single hand seal and using two elements simultaneously with using single hand seals with her two hands at the same time and launch collaboration jutsus.

Her own Taijutsu style that she had developed in the future was mastered by her and she was truly at the level of Maito Guy when he was without his weights. This style was called by her as the Raging River style and utilised stances from Jyuken, Dances of the Kaguya Clan, and many others to create a hybrid style that used the same principles as that of the Yuhi Clan taijutsu to use weapons and chakra scalpels to injure the enemy but the main difference was while the Yuhi Clan used dance like movements, Hinata's Taijutsu was more along the lines of flowing water. She was able to go toe to toe with both Anko and Kurenai in Taijutsu and her Medical training was at Mid Jounin levels.

Hinata had also taken up Archery on the insistence of Lady Mito who had told her that she would be a very good long range combatant, and her skills gave her a small amount of invulnerability. How can you attack a person, if that person has the ability to kill you from over half a kilometre. With or without her Byakugan, Hinata had been truly dangerous foe. Adding a truly long range speciality added a whole new level of possibility to Hinata's arsenal. Lady Mito had also told her that if Hinata reached the level where she could shoot targets moving at Low to Mid Sannin speed while herself running at those speeds, she would teach Hinata herself Onmyōton (Yin-Yang Release) that she had mastered in her later life.

When most people talked about the Byakugan they mentioned a user's ability to see nearly 360 degree, ability to see through surfaces and observational skills in that order. Hinata's Byakugan also seemed to allow an almost preternatural eye for detail at extreme ranges. Lavender-eyed Hinata could put any throwing weapon on target ten times out of ten from fifty meters away and do the same at one hundred meters if she used chakra to enhance the strength of her throws when she had reached the age of seven.

With the Byakugan and her own eyesight strengthened with the use of pure chakra, Hinata never missed… _ever_. After the days and weeks of practice time she pegged a butterfly from nearly a kilometre away, Lady Mito was convinced on the fact that the idea was fully intended for Byakugan users like Hinata who diversified and broke traditions, instead of allowing them to rust and become complacent. It took enhancing her arms with chakra to draw the practice bow properly and she wouldn't easily be able to make a shot like that in a forest but Hinata was getting some fiendish ideas when she thought about enchanting the bow and the arrows that she used to be soundless, unbreakable and the like using seals. From the looks of her sensei, Lady Mito was having ideas of her own.

Lady Mito had Hashirama make a special wooden bow set consisting of three different types of bows and several thousand arrows using his own Mokuton Jutsu but enhanced each and every one of them with using his Sage Mode. The resulting masterpieces were an Art of their own. Hinata had named them as Sage Bows in the honour of the skill and strength possessed by each of the bows. Each bow was an ornately crafted bow in the shape of falcons or birds of prey. The arrows were divided into several categories. Lady Mito had spent two months applying seals to both the arrows and bows. Each of the three bows were made to be nigh indestructible, silent and being able to summon to her on using her chakra like a summoning. The arrows were made to be of multiple variety from exploding, ninjustu release to capable of unleashing a fog of posion. The entire project had taken three to four months but the results were worth it. The bows could take direct attacks from any type of chakra nature and if damaged as Hashirama demonstrated using his Sage mode to scratch the bows, they were self repairing. The arrows were a bit more complex but the most exotic ones had reverse summoning seals on them.

A different Naruto stood still, waiting patiently for his clones to dispel with news of the seals he had applied just now were working perfectly while they tested them and the defences while two other clones were sent to check whether the Barrier Team had been informed or not. The difference between the old Naruto and this one was significant to say the least.

He was wearing a Black Leather ANBU pants and a Mesh shirt combination complete with distinctive long sleeves. His fore arms were covered by Guards similar to Anko but his were a bright crimson and had two symbols on them side by side of the Uzumaki clan and the Senju clan. He was wearing an armour just like Madara Uchiha but his was Pale blue with distinctive pattern of Grey streaks in the form his clans on both front and back. The armour was with thick black streaks running along the arms, chest, back, and thighs in the same places as Madara's did, i.e. armour that covered his chest, the sides of his thighs that conjoined to cover his crotch, and top half of his arms that extended upward to cover the sides of his face with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to the mid part of his forearms. He had black gloves on along with black boots. He also wore a mantle under his leg armour.

He'd grown to fill out his clothes nicely over the years, though it was hard to tell just by looking at him. To most he would look quite skinny, but the appearance was deceptive. A trained eye would notice that there were plenty of extremely strong muscles on his body, as each one of them were lean and extremely taut. Whenever he moved his muscles rippled and flexed with each movement. His body was built for speed, flexibility and acrobatics; there wasn't an ounce of bulk or wasted weight on it.

Unlike the henge, he was noticeably pale, almost pure white, a consequence of spending almost all his time in the last two years (Real World Time) in the training plane and using the Perfect Chakra extensively. Also the DNA implants of Lord Hashirama and Madara Uchiha had some physical manifestations. His usual pale blonde hair had grown thicker and wilder with deep red, almost crimson colour seeping into their roots. His features had become more angular and he even took on Madara's jawline.

To him, his most significant change had been his eyes. Eyes, which were once a brilliant and shining sapphire, were now cold glaciers. Though his eyes retained that ocean blue colour, but where the old Naruto's eyes were simply striking his present eyes were as cold as ice with a sharp, calculating gaze that attested to a cunning mind. The henge's trade mark spiky blonde hair were also gone, instead the hair were grown out and tied back in loosely in a ponytail. The blonde and red hair and pale face would make him look stand out on the streets of Konoha, his appearance was simply exotic to say the least. His loose blonde bangs framed a handsome face that was starting to adopt the first lines of adulthood, losing all of the youthful roundness that characterized most youth. The only real similarity this Naruto shared with his clone was the whiskers marks on their cheeks but they too were fading and had become very thin and hard to make out at a glance. However they reappeared in more feral manner whenever he was using Kyuubi's Chakra above two tails.

He had learnt and mastered eight different Taijutsu styles at the insistence of his teachers. This included the Goken, Snake Style, Humming Bird Style, Hashirama's personal Taijutsu style, Lady Mito's Water Fist Style, Tobirama's Lightning Fist style, Hinata's version of Jyuken and last but not the least the Uchiha Madara's personal Taijutsu Style.

His Chakra Capacity was at Bijju level while his Chakra Control was also at Mid-Kage Level. For Naruto it was a real accomplishment due to the fact he used at least a Hundred Kage Bunshin for these exercises and his chakra capacity was due to his heritage as an Uzumaki and a Jinchuriki on top of that. Hashirama-sensei had been right in the regard of his chakra control training along with Lady Mito's advice on his negative emotion sensing.

His Ninjutsu and Elemental Manipulation was at Mid to High Sannin Level already. His three main affinities of Earth, Water and Lightning were all mastered with his ability to launch their jutsu's with a single hand seal till he reached Mid S rank jutsus. Above the High A rank he needed at least one third hand seals to do use the justu's effectively otherwise his attacks used the normal chakra as required. He had been able to take several tips from the Uzumaki Journals and his Un-dead teachers to learn how to make his jutsu's more potent and less time consuming.

His Genjustu at High A-Rank to borderline S-rank. He could detect and dispel multiple A-Rank Genjutsu's and even several S-rank Ones.

When Naruto had been trained, he was given his very own sickle and chain and could go toe to toe with his Uchiha-sensei within months of his training when it was sickle and chain only. Lady Mito had personally given him a katana she had forged in the training plane. It had been an old blade called as Muramasa, but Lady Mito had used chakra metal and re-forged the old katana and inscribed several invisible seals on it including a seal that caused the blade to vibrate at insane speeds, increasing its cutting power a hundred fold and could channel any type of chakra nature through itself, further increasing its lethality. His Kenjustu at the level of Low level Sannin and Madara Uchiha had nearly lost an arm in a battle. He was now training to learn to use both weapons at the same time but he had made very little progress on that front.

"It seems that the Barrier Team has raised the strength of the village. My clone has just dispelled. We can now begun on remodelling the land before I begun the construction of the clan compound. However we will need the help of Hashirama sensei as my Mokuton jutsu is not very advanced. Hinata, will you be able to summon him again or shall I do it?" asked Naruto in his usual ice cold whisper.

"No need Naruto-kun. I will be happy to help as it is going to be our own clan house after we marry. Or do you not find me beautiful enough?" she asked while using the dreaded Puppy Eye Jutsu making her eyes big and watery. Naruto kept his dead pan stare at her making her visibly pout and she stuck out her tongue in a rare show of childishness. Both Kurenai and Anko smiled at her rare show of innocence which was what these two deserved, not the fact that they were making decisions like seasoned war veterans. Even the ever stoic Naruto gave a minimalistic smile, just a turn of the corners of his lips that drew the attention away from his piercing blue eyes.

Hinata stared at Naruto as it was rare for him to showcase emotions this freely without any care of the world even though it was the bare minimum. She sometimes cursed herself and wallowed in guilt of the decision of making Naruto grow up fast and take away his naive view of the world, with which was what she had fallen in love with him in the first place. But it was that or allow him to become a doormat for the others who would simply use him and then throw him away like trash. And she had chosen to make their own happy memories later in the life when the storms that were going to plague the shinobi world were just waiting to unleashed around the corner.

"Anko-san, come with me. Kurenai-san you may join us or would you like to stay with Hinata and watch over her for me?" asked Naruto with his usual monotone, all traces of emotion vanishing making it feel like a dead breeze in harsh winter. Kurenai simply smiled her predatory smile like a succubus on a hunt and then spoke in a low husky voice," I will stay with Hinata if you don't mind Uzumaki-kun. I have to ask her a few things myself. I will join you later on."

"What I have told you to call me Naruto-kun? It is either Anko-chan or Anko for you. You don't have to be so formal with me. Of course I am just Itching to try out a few justu. I have been bored the entire way back to the village. You know this seems awfully like you are trying to take me away so that you can have my body to ravish. Is that why you are asking me to go with you, Naruto-kun? Do you want your sweet, innocent Anko-chan to be your first? " She then blew him a kiss and resisted the urge to grin at the challenging scowl that formed the Hyuuga's face.' Gods messing with her is so fun and I have to admit she is quite a ferocious tiger. But I must admit I am attracted to him and I won't allow any chance to go out my hands. But if I have to be with him, I will have to fix that icy exterior of his.' Anko thought to herself while remembering all the training she had done in seduction and hentaijutsu.

Naruto didn't even blink and walked off with Anko grumbling after him about young, good looking studs who were too emotionless for their own good. Hinata glaring daggers at Anko's back willing herself to incinerate the woman with her eyes alone. Kurenai watched them go with a barely concealed amusement and then turned a predatory eye on Hinata who mentally gulped at the pure sinful look on her one time mentor's face.

"Hinata-san," she purred in her husky voice sending delightful shivers down the young girl's spine," We are going to have a talk."

Naruto walked outside with Anko following him, pouting at the cold guy that Naruto had begun using around the end of second year in their training. She never voiced it out loud but she missed the old but carefree Naruto who would always smile and freely express himself. Naruto had suddenly gone one day without telling any of them for training with both Hashirama-sama and Lady Mito for three months and when he returned, he had changed a lot. He had seemed lost like a leaf in a wind and had refused to talk to anyone of them except for his teachers and even then it was in yes or no three of their sensei's had known but never spoken a word about what had happened with Naruto though Tobirama-sensei had been a bit grim after Naruto's return. All three of them had discussed what had happened as none of their teachers would say even a word though Hinata had an inkling of what might have happened but she refused to tell them anything saying that it was Naruto's choice to tell them about his change.

Naruto stopped after a moving through few paces around the Uzumaki Temple. He could feel the turmoil that was currently engulfing Anko as his Negative Emotion Sensing ability was always active as a result of his training. He knew what Anko was thinking but the truth was he did not want to burden anyone with his pain and what he almost thought was the betrayal of the highest kind.

**Flashback Start**

The vast emptiness in front of him was a bit overwhelming. Both Lady Mito and Hashirama-sensei had spoken that it was necessary for him to do this and after a few weeks of debate with himself, he had agreed. Though he suspected it was his stubborn aspect of him, the one that coined his Never Give Up Attitude, had managed to screw him one final time in the end.

"I am speaking from experience," Lady Mito replied after a moment of his query that was it truly necessary as they approached an end to the dark corridor they were travelling through which ended in the vast empty plane in front of them, "No matter how much you wishes for deny it or hope to return to the simplistic naive view, you once held. Hashirama knows that it is not going to happen if the desire is only one sided. His own history with Madara is proof of that. With doubt comes anger and that was what anyone would have planned to exploit to escape. It has nearly worked every time too when the seal is loosened the seal in the future using the key Minato left for your seal. I have myself just barely managed to restrain the Kyuubi long enough to retighten the restrictions on its chakra during my trial. Although yours is different due to the fact that the Yondaime still left the seal in a weakened state. I don't know what he was thinking and as a result…"

"Naruto and Yondaime both created me," a fourth voice called towards them as the door at the end of the passage way swung open. Naruto gasped as a person looking exactly like him to the very last detail, stood in the doorway although he had red pupils surrounded by darkness. "Although perhaps creating isn't the right word exactly, more like gave me enough chakra for me to manifest."

Both Lady Mito and Hashirama-sensei nodded at him before saying, "Yes…although what you hope to achieve now is impossible to say."

The dark version of Naruto smirked as he said, "My dream is the same. I'm going to become the real Naruto and then I'm going to teach the stinking village a lesson for all the hard times and pains they've given to me."

All three of them shared a look before Lady Mito said, "Yami-Naruto… you don't…"

"Shut-up," the dark aspect shouted causing the red-head to take a step back, "You weren't there. You have no idea of the shitty life I had. Sorry, we have had but I will rectify it soon. Do you really think that smiling buffoon you met is who your legacy really is? He's just a mask that became real."

Seeing her descendant's face twisted in such a furious veneer as it spit its ire at her had caused tears to appear in the woman's eyes as she said, "I-I so never wanted a child to bear the burden put on y-you...… to give you…"

"But you weren't," the Dark Naruto said coldly, each word layered in unforgiving ice, the words stabbing Lady Mito like a knife making her wonder if that was how her descendant had truly felt truly felt about her and her legacy. She began to hug herself as she felt on the verge of sobbing.

Hashirama placed a comforting hand on her shoulder though as he said, "Don't let its words bother you. It is merely acting as it was wished to be. But this is why Naruto has been so… withdrawn lately. It is merely using his own doubts against him."

"It… that is so very cold of you, Hashirama," The dark Naruto said, "There was a time when you would have called me the real Naruto."

"But you aren't," Hashirama replied calmly. "You're merely a construct of his negative emotions given a semblance of life due to his and Kyuubi's chakra and are no doubt using the platform that had been sustained by the weak seal to maintain your existence."

Dark Naruto smirked saying, "You're only partly right. True, although you ripped the access from the dais where it was lying dormant but there was enough chakra present to sustain me. But in all honesty do you think I've been able to influence him to such a degree off of the scraps of chakra that were left to me." The dark Naruto raised his hand and suddenly the corridor disappeared to be replaced by the Falls of Truth.

"How!?" Hashirama exclaimed looking around in shock.

"Why you were just talking about it?" Dark Naruto said smirking, "You know you have some rather dark memories of this temple. I have been able to access the memories of this place ever since both of you have been trying to heal his damaged psyche. Ah…betrayal, it's such a beautiful emotion, why it almost feels as good as when the villagers slammed that blade into my chest and tried to rip my heart out. I was just four years old." Both of them gasped upon hearing that causing the dark version of Naruto to say, "Oh I'm sorry did the fool failed to mention that to you. Makes you wonder what else he's hiding from you doesn't it." Focusing back on Lady Mito, he said, "Come on Lady Mito don't pretend you truly give a rat's ass about this child's dream. These are the same people that forgot you and your country and their sacrifice for nearly half a century and you really want to be reunited with your brethren. Why I imagine Konoha was snickering for years after abandoning your clansmen and country to the death…"

"Shut up," Lady Mito shouted losing her composure, "I will not be lectured by some puppet that took a false aspiration to become real."

The dark Naruto chuckled saying, "There you go again acting as if I'm not the real Naruto. If all it takes to be considered real is to be flesh and blood then once I break the child's will I'll be the one calling the shots because as you well know being considered real is a matter of perspective."

For a moment Lady Mito and Hashirama were confused as to what the construct of Naruto was alluding to. However a memory flashed of Madara confronting the Shodai Hokage saying, "Hashirama, you are merely a single life, an existence of energy…energy that once was a under an ultimate form's submission." Hit by a revelation Hashirama thought towards the Dark Naruto, "Is that how you see the world?"

The dark Naruto smirked as if it had heard the silent question. But then a pair of arms wrapped around it from behind and Naruto who had been crying silently ever since he had been forced to see his memories from this age to his date of birth and had recovered, whispered softly, "I'm not sure what to think of what you are at the moment… but I do realize that you are an aspect of what I must feel on some level and since you are a part of me… I care for you too as I would for my own self."

The dark Naruto's eye shot wide open at Naruto's words. It shouted, "Let go of me," however despite its words the construct of Naruto's dark emotions seemed to melt into the embrace. But then it felt as if the existence it had fought so hard to maintain was beginning to slip away and surprised the boy by pulling loose of his grip. Spinning it formed a wind blade in its hand shouting, "Do you think that's all it would take, you spouting some nonsense about existence and co-operation to make me go away? I want…" The construct trailed off as it began to bring the blade forward and Naruto could see tears appearing in its eyes.

Yet, before it could strike Hashirama grabbed it by the neck from behind and almost before it had time to react the dark Naruto burst into red and blue chakra as it slowly was absorbed by Naruto slowly. Lady Mito who was shocked by the sudden end asked, "W-what did you two do?"

Hashirama brought the hand he had gripped the dark aspect of Naruto with, towards Naruto's stomach saying, "He merely reabsorbed the chakra he had managed to gather since the day of the sealing or his birth. I just temporarily calmed it for Naruto to do so."

Lady Mito could sense that both of them were holding something back so asked, "But what about…well him. I-I think he just wanted a chance to exist to experience…"

"Lady Mito, the matter has been resolved," Naruto said, "It was only a single small aspect of my personality unable to feel anything but the negative emotions that I needed to crack the seal. Those emotions exist in me, yes, but not to the extent it would have wanted you to believe."

Lady Mito wasn't sure if Naruto and Hashirama believed what they were saying. However as the alternative would be to once more let a darkness loose inside Naruto, she nodded and accepted their words.

**Flashback End**

Naruto let out a sigh. He knew that the problem hadn't been sorted fully but partially. He was going to face his inner darkness once again. He had been lucky as he had allowed his instincts to guide him rather than go in with guns blazing. They had saved him from going over the cycle of fighting with his aspect and then realising the truth later. It was so clichéd that it wasn't funny. That is why he had simply tried to keep a lid on his emotions. He though understood that he needed to ease the worries of his friends. Or rather as Naruto preferred them as his precious people. Looking at Anko, he fought the urge to smirk as the woman was glaring rather heatedly at him. Some of his mirth must have shown for the woman's face softened and she said," Reminiscing again, aren't you Naruto-kun? I hope you have finished your wool gathering for we still have work to do."

Naruto nodded before he fell back into his stoic mode once again. He raised a hand seal and moulded the chakra he needed and visualised what he wanted. He did not want to damage the Uzumaki Temple as well. "Doton: Retsudotensho (Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm)." He intoned softly, his voice just above a whisper. Just as he visualised, an entire area over half a kilometre flipped over and turned around leaving no traces of the overgrown vegetation that was around it, leaving a bare and unblemished clearing. Though the land piece he had turned was nearly square in shape, the land around the Uzumaki temple was untouched as was the monument. He exhaled softly as the technique came to an end and he let the rest of his chakra flow back into his system. He looked back and saw Anko grin at him while giving him a thumbs up.

He then heard slow clapping and turned around to see Lord Hashirama clapping softly, looking at him with pride. Looking at his protégé, Hashirama smiled before he looked his handiwork once again." Good work, Naruto. Though you initially moulded more chakra than necessary but you will reach that point with practice. Rest all seems to have been done perfectly. Though, it seems that I have some work to do. Stand back and let me show you something unique."

Hashirama stood for a minute absolutely still and then suddenly opened his eyes. A set of markings appeared on his face showing that he was using the Sage Mode."Senpou: Mokuton: Shichuuka no Jutsu" he intoned and both Naruto and Anko watched stunned as the area before them changed dramatically. Hashirama grinned to himself, seeing the expressions on his cute little students. He was so awesome that he would have loved to shout it from the top of the Hokage monument.' Take that Madara.' I still have it. He cheered to himself mentally.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

**Two Days Later**

**Hokage Training Ground 4**

**Konohagakure no Sato**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was standing in the training ground where he had seen many important legends perfect their signature techniques. His teachers both Shodai Hokage and Nidaime Hokage had helped in the creation of this ground and its compatriots. It boasted of a large ground covered by many terrains and seals to make it perfect and more realistic. Barrier and silencing seals that were powerful enough to mask several S rank techniques inside the grounds. Also a very strong aura dampening seal had been applied by Lady Mito when more than half the village had been scared into submission by her when she had gotten angry at Tobirama for wrecking her garden.

The grounds could be opened by using a specific set of hand seals that were known only to the Hokage, ANBU Commander and Head Medic along with a few special persons. Also, it was known only to the Hokage and the Commander that the grounds could be accessible to only those who had been added to the seal matrix.

He had woken yesterday morning early when he had felt a spike of huge chakra for a moment originating from near the Uzumaki Clan Temple. He had rushed off thinking it was some kind of attack on Naruto. He had failed Naruto once and looked at that moment as one of his greatest failures and regrets. The sight of a filthy, malnourished boy with wearing only rags and searching amongst the trash for food had been seared into his mind forever.

However, when he arrived near the clearing, he found that he couldn't remember the area and the location of the temple. He was greeted with Naruto and Hinata emerging from the tress making him jump. He had talked to them about the chakra spike and the fact that he was unable to find the temple or the surrounding area. Hinata had giggled and Naruto and smiled that minimal smile of his and told him the answer in one word -Seals.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had been stumped that two children in their early teens could create such a complex array that could hide the entire estate from his senses and that was no mean feat. He had expected Naruto to be a middle level seal user not a high class master unlike Lady Mito after his return. That woman knew her seals and he was terrified of what her mind could cook up with those seals. He had returned to his home more than a little intrigued and a lot deal sceptical about the challenge Anko had thrown- the fact that both of her two students were going to wipe the floor with the ANBU. Hiruzen had smiled and told her that if that happened, he would teach Anko a few of his personal collaboration jutsu. Though, the fact that both Kurenai and Anko had been so much sure of their victory had brought a lot of wool gathering for him.

The Third Hokage shook his head to clear the thoughts and looked back at the training grounds to see that there were two teams of ANBU he had requested along with the ANBU commander. Also, Danzo and the two Elders, Koharu and Homura were present. Danzo had changed a bit after his sealing. He had begun to understand that his methods at several junctures were questionable and wrong. But, still he maintained his rigid unforgiving persona in front of all. Sarutobi hated making Danzo his puppet but he had steeled his heart and soldiered on.

He arrived with a classic Leaf Shunshin between the elders making them all smile at his dramatics. Even the hard ass Danzo gave a ghost of smile to him. Sarutobi knew that was the most he was getting out of Danzo now. And speaking of the devil, Danzo tapped his cane on the ground and spoke," Hiruzen, I have a proposition for you for today's match or you can say recruitment. I have a ROOT team on standby. I wish for these two upcoming Genins to be tested against my ROOT with your approval, I might say." Surprising both the Elders but Hiruzen barely batted an Eye.

Anko and Kurenai had arrived till then and Anko being the brash, normal self spoke out," That is fine. I might say it good enough for them. If these two are to go out then they should know the situations where the odds are heavily stacked against them." Hiruzen stopped himself from denying the request to Danzo and was a bit worried at Anko's confidence or as he felt-overconfidence.

He made a show of thinking deeply before nodding, "Granted! No killing or life threatening situations though." Danzo smiled and nodded to the shadows. A team of four Root shinobi arrived wearing white porcelain masks and carrying tantos.

After a few minutes both Naruto and Hinata arrived in the clearing in a shunshin, getting a raised eyebrows from everyone. Both of them were wearing their Warring Clan Era Armour and both cut a striking picture with their striking dresses. It is not every day you see a pair of children yet to be Genin using a Chunin level technique and dressed for war. They bowed their heads slightly and nodded to the Sandaime making him smile.

Sarutobi moved to another part of the training ground along with his entourage while making hand signs to seal the training ground. He straightened up and faced the audience, projecting his voice to be easily heard, "Ladies and gentlemen of Konohagakure no Sato, today we have a special attraction for all of you. You will get to see some of the most prominent ANBU in this village pitted against two lone students in today's battles."

He pointed out to the tree where Naruto and Hinata had long since stood up and begun loosening up, "The students in question are Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga!"

A chorus of gasps rang out among the audience until Anko used the technique Sarutobi had used, to project her own voice, "Aww shut the hell up! You miserable bastards… Yes, he is back and he is not dead. Show some respect and faith in the Sandaime's and the Yondaime's knowledge and wisdom."

Hiruzen sweat-dropped at Anko's method of the crowd control, "Right… Well then, the rules will be as follows. A Team bout between these two and one of the ANBU teams to be selected by Danzo out of the thirteen teams present here. If they can defeat the opponent they are matched with they will be matched up with the next team and last there will be a surprise team, until they are either defeated or run through them all." He finished with a smirk.

He motioned for someone to walk over, "The proctor for the bouts will be Nara Shikaku and Inochi Yamanaka." Both the men came from the back looking at the ANBU whose fights they would be refereeing. Inochi turned to look out at Naruto, who was still stretching, 'Alright Uzumaki-san, you've been the talk of the Shinobi since you have returned and Sandaime seems to trust you, let's see what you've got.'

Naruto and Hinata stared back at the first ANBU team in front of them. Naruto could sense the scepticism and the barely hidden glee from the team members. Hinata looked at him and he nodded slightly. She gave a minimalistic smile and her face turned into the Ice Cold mask that raised an eyebrow from Sarutobi and Danzo, while Naruto's face looked as if carved from stone. Both of them allowed their pure chakra to leak and mix in the environment. Inochi felt something in the atmosphere due to him being a sensor but he didn't see or feel anything.

"Hajime!" he spoke and both of them leapt back. Naruto and Hinata unleashed their combined Killing Intent and pressure on the ANBU. To others it felt as if a cold wave of death had slammed down hard into the ground, making all the shinobi and other ANBU teams tense visibly. Naruto's and Hinata's faces had hardened and their entire bodies were leaking a murderous aura that was pulsating menacingly. The ANBU team looked ready to drop as the visible strain on their masks showed, from the oppressive aura in the air. And as soon it was there, it disappeared just as quick. Several of the Shinobi present glanced nervously at each other, disturbed at how easily two twelve year olds could unleash such thick killing intent.

Hinata disappeared from position and arrived between the paralysed team members. She lashed out with her hands and almost all of the team scattered except for a lone member who wasn't fast enough to dodge Hinata's nimble fingers. He gasped as his entire left shoulder became numb from the glancing blow and soon the feeling spread to his hand. He leapt back with a strangled cry and another appeared in his place to cover his retreat. The second ANBU used a bokken to attack the girl who weaved in and around his strikes dodging them completely. He turned around as he heard someone come behind him only to receive a powerful punch that broke his bokken and jarred the bones in his arms and sent him rocketing back due to the force behind the punch.

The now arrived Naruto looked at Hinata who nodded and he did ten hand signs at a blistering pace," Suiton: Baku Suishouha" he called out and expelled out a large volume of water towards the startled ANBU member. Before the ANBU could do more than blink, he was being swept away from the duo in the torrent of water. Hinata went through ten hand seals of her own and spoke," Raiton: Gian" and spat out a strong beam of electricity from her mouth into the flowing water.

The ANBU member could only watch in horror as the crackling water swept him into its embrace and his body sizzled as the combination attack fried his entire body and his nervous system. His screams rang out in the training ground making all the spectators wince. The rest three members of the team winced in sympathy and the leader looked at both the children with calculating eyes behind his mask. He went through his own hand seals and unleashed his own technique at them, sod the holding back, he wasn't going to get humiliated in front of all the top brass of Konoha," Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu". Several of the dragon head fireballs with enough strength in them to punch through concrete were launched towards the two children who did nothing but disappeared into thin air. The leader cursed and all of the three members entered into a triangular formation with their eyes shifting from one point to another.

Naruto and Hinata appeared into their formation startling the three ANBU and everyone watching the beat down. All three of them leaped back from the two definitely dangerous ninjas. It was a wise decision as both of the children had punched through the places two team members were standing leaving craters in the ground. Hinata leapt in the air using Naruto's back as a stand before going through five hand signs and unleashing her own jutsu," Suiton: Sensatsu Suishou". A veritable rain of water needles were launched towards the grounds peppering the ground with minute holes making the hidden ANBU leap out of their hiding places. She arrived back on the ground gracefully like a dancer. Naruto leaned his head back as a fist passed where his head had been. He used the Goken to deal with the person attacking him. He improvised and used non telegraphed moves instead of the textbook moves his opponent was using.

Naruto's use of Goken did not unnoticed by anyone. He won points for using improvised katas of the taijutsu and both Danzo and Hiruzen noticed that Naruto was much better than the ANBU he was fighting with. Naruto ducked and unleashed a powerful combo that broke through the hasty defence that his opponent had put up. At the last moment before touching his opponent he intoned softly," Raiton: Hirashin". The ANBU had frozen on hearing the name of his technique and his body seized up after it was socked rather painfully. The last sight of the fallen ANBU member was that of the blonde haired boy being overlaid by the image of the Yondaime Hokage. He only managed out a weak sorry before unconsciousness overtook him.

* * *

><p>Danzo looked at the state of the ANBU teams and asked Hiruzen," Don't you think it is a little boring? How about adding the second team too? It will certainly give them a challenge at the very least." Hiruzen nodded slightly at the ANBU commander who motioned for the second team to enter the ground. The second team entered the ground and were immediately attacked by the both Hinata and Naruto who saw the two teams together as more danger.<p>

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" both of them intoned softly getting more than a few raised eyebrows and dropped jaws at two academy level students using an A-rank kinjustu. Six clones materialised into existence, two from Hinata and four from Naruto. The clones leapt directly in front of the teams to engage them and bring the pressure on the ANBU. Naruto looked at Hinata with a smile and asked her in his cold, melodious voice," Shall we end this, Tsukihime?"

Hinata flushed a bit and nodded," Hai! Naruto-kun"

Both of them drew out two kunai's each launching them at their chosen targets and went dashing at high speeds towards the team leaders of the ANBU teams. The leaders cursed and moved forward to confront the originals.

* * *

><p><span><strong>With Hinata and the ANBU leader of Team 1<strong>

Hinata drew herself in the opening kata of her personal taijutsu style. She then channelled her Lightning Chakra into her fists, making them take the shape of two lion heads. Without giving the time for her opponent, she launched herself at him and began attacking him using powerful yet precise strikes at his chakra network making the obviously unprepared man to leap back in order to prevent getting pummelled. For a few minutes both of them danced, well more like Hinata danced and her opponent tried to hop around like a frog to prevent getting hit but it was futile.

Every movement he made seemed to allow the young Hyuuga girl, new opportunities and openings to exploit and he winced when her hands made contact with his body, shocking him and making that part numb. He tried every trick and trade but the girl was relentless in her pursuit. She never allowed him to create a distance between them and allow his hands to be free except to try to block her attcks with his own kunai.

Hinata knew that her opponent was getting tired and she was also getting tired of this fight. She wanted to go home and snuggle with her Naruto-kun and now she was being forced to fight for others like a performer. Flaring her Byakugan, she noticed the man trying to channel chakra into his hands for some genjutsu. This, she was not going to allow to happen. Channelling her chakra to her legs, she arrived in a burst of speed that left her opponent wide open for her attacks. Switching her Raiton chakra for her more favoured Chakra scalpels, she drew them over his right shoulder and across his stomach. The effect were instantaneous.

The ANBU released a breath in relief that he had been holding when he noticed the girl appear in front of him but without her hands covered in the Chakra that had literally shocked him at every interval, she touched him. He smirked behind his mask. The girl was talented but she had small chakra pools. Now, he would show her the strength of a Konoha ANBU. So lost in his thoughts that he absentmindedly raised his hand to parry her next strike and never noticed the slight glow of her hands showing the usage of Chakra no Mesu. However, Koharu who had become very interested when the girl began using ninjutsu, noticed it immediately due to her own little training as a medical ninja and was mightily impressed by the young girl's ability to use medical techniques and change her attacks on the fly, in between her strikes. She began watching even more carefully to see what happened next.

Back in the fight, the relief and smugness that the ANBU member was feeling turned to panic when he felt as if someone had cut the strings of his right shoulder as the muscles failed to respond to his commands. As he felt the girl, brush her hands across his stomach, he felt first nothing and then suddenly he was struck by the most powerful pain in his abdomen that he had ever felt. As if someone had charged every nerve clusters in his stomach to burst open at once. He dropped to his knees with a strangled cry and then proceeded to vomit the contents of his stomach on the ground. Hinata took her chance and with a twirl appeared behind him and knocked him out from a simple chop to the neck, thankfully using only her bare hands and not the chakra scalpels, otherwise she might have beheaded him internally. The man dropped unconscious into his own vomit, getting chuckles from many present.

* * *

><p><span><strong>With Naruto and the ANBU leader of Team 2<strong>

Naruto arrived in the ground with the ANBU member following him without taking into account that she might be going into an ambush. The team commander allowed ten Doton Bunshin to form as soon as the boy stopped and then dispersed in a poof of small smoke signifying a Kage Bunshin. "Shit! I have walked into a trap." The ANBU cursed to herself and then stiffened as a cold melodious chuckle was heard and the boy whom she was seeking, emerged from the shadows looking calm and unruffled. The woman watched him carefully as well as paying attention to her surroundings in case this was part of the set up. Naruto paused in his stride when he felt that the woman could all see him well enough. However, the clones and the woman all stiffened as he made a swift movement and bent at the waist.

"Good morning, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, please treat me well," he raised his head and smiled his cold emotionless smile, "and for this fine morning I shall be your opponent."

The woman looked at him as he took out his chain and Sickle and got into the Whirlpool stance. The woman blushed to herself thanking the gods that her face was hidden behind the mask as she knew without a doubt that her face was cherry red. The boy had removed his face mask and allowed her to get a glimpse of the now handsome face of Naruto Uzumaki, resident Jinchuriki of Konoha who had disappeared two years ago. She never hated the boy, only she had been indifferent to his existence. The smile made her feel all mushy inside as it drew attention from his piercing blue eyes that looked like frozen glaciers. For a moment she thought that he was a ROOT ninja as he hadn't shown any emotions since the fight began.

"Do you mean to tell us that you are going to fight me and my clones alone?" Naruto nodded his head, "hahahaha, what kind of confidence you have?"

He was not fazed one bit as he continued to wait for the woman to draw out her sword.

"Whatever," said the woman who laughed again, "are you here ready to fight and loose?"

"As you wish, Let us begin!" Naruto spoke and vanished from the eyes of the woman and her clones.

He arrived directly into the formation shocking the woman by his action, before she could react he was already on the first group of four clones. They split up as they had confirmed that there was only one enemy, and that he was a foolish one. How stupid can one man be if he charged straight into ten persons with nothing but a Sickle and chain? She would show him the error of his ways and then maybe have some fun with him later.

Naruto reached the first clone, as she swiped at Naruto's face with a kunai he ducked under the weapon and swung his Sickle around the clone's wrist, and as soon as the manoeuvre was completed, he shifted at the same time the clone swung the kunai again and slashed around the clone's chest in a manner that the chain at the end came back at the clone as he flipped over another offending opponent who was approaching from the back only for the Sickle to plunge into her gut, disembowelling her as Naruto pulled on the chain also cutting the last clone in half and taking off her hand. He did not stop there as he brought up the chain to block an incoming downward strike with a sword and in the next instant used his left foot in to tension the chain to block a kunai strike from his left and whip the other end to deflect shuriken from the right and with that same movement he whipped it around his head as the Sickle at the end tore into the throat of the clone wielding the sword and with a flick of his wrist wrapped the chain around the neck of the last clone in the group who he blocked at his left taking her head off in a swift jerk.

The remaining five clones disengaged and regrouped as Naruto settled in a different stance, this time the chain was on the floor behind him still connected to the Sickle as he held it upside down in his left hand at his hip and the chain over his left shoulder as his fore arm shielded his face with his body turned so that only his side was shown to the enemy.

"What the hell is this?" commented the woman "we can't get at him from any direction or angle and if we attack in groups it makes little difference."

"Alright listen up," said one clone, "I have an idea. His chain is not long enough for a long distance..."

"Get down!" shouted the other clone when she heard something humming through the air.

The Sickle that rotated through the air barely missed them as it harmlessly made its way back to its owner who effortlessly caught it and reconnected it to his chain.

"Damn," exclaimed the first clone as she got up of the ground and got into a defensive stance, "he can detach that sickle and throw it?"

"Shit, that means he can cover close, medium and far range," Said the Original.

"Heh, I guess I underestimated his strength," admitted the first clone, "he can fight at far, close and medium range."

"So what do we do?" asked the last clone while hopping over Sickle, "He has already killed five of ten clones."

"We attack at all three distances."

"What?"

"His attack is flawless with those things, but they don't allow for much defence."

"I see, if we attack from all three distances and at all directions he can't possible defend against all the attacks."

"Right," the original acknowledged in a whisper, "reform on me."

"May I ask you a question, Naruto-san," The Original to but more time for her manoeuvre.

"You may, but depending on the question I may not be able to answer."

"That is fine," said the ANBU, "Where did you learn such skills? I have never seen a person change in two years that much unlike you."

"I am an Uzumaki." He answered simply while smirking on the inside.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I cannot answer that."

"It was worth a try," she said under her breath, "That's fine," she smirked, "now get ready to lose you fool."

A stone dragon came flying from a far distance off behind him and at the same time the woman who was speaking with him launched a flurry of kunai and shuriken at him. From the left and right came simultaneous stone covered fists and from above a shower of tennis ball size stone. They were timed so that they would arrive on targets mere moments before one another.

Quicker than the eye could see Naruto went down on one knee and began going through one handed seals shocking the woman who was watching everything with wide eyes. He channelled his own chakra as four clones simply stepped into existence without any hand seals and spoke softly," Shishi Enjin". The four barrier clones created a rectangular box made of violet flames. Once it had been created, the formation simply allowed all the ninjutsu to be disintegrated and the clones to be burned by the walls of flame. The woman could only watch as her strategy failed.

"What the hell is that," said the Woman stopping her assault , "It looks like it is a Barrier type ninjustu."

"What will you do, there are only two of us now." Naruto said ignoring the question.

She threw down a smoke bomb to cover her hasty escape and managed to make a few distance away until a Sickle halted her progress while the chain erupted from the ground wrapping her up and anchored her to the spot.

"Please accept my apologies, but until this is over you are my prisoner," he said walking up from ahead of her, "You shall remain harm free if you refrain from struggling and comply with my words"

"How did you get here before us?" she asked as she tried to get out of the chain futilely.

"There is no mystery," he said, "Just a simple substitution. Now sleep." He knocked her out and allowed one of his clones to take her away.

* * *

><p>Danzo nodded to his team who immediately jumped into the fray. Hinata looked like she was expecting them a bit earlier. However, before anyone could even move Naruto arrived between both of the parties with a shunshin. Over his shoulder he looked back at Hinata and whispered a few words at which Hinata nodded And then turned to look back at Danzo's men. Their clones had managed to defeat their targets and till the ROOT shinobi reached the grounds, it had been very late for the ANBU teams. The clones then looked at their creators and then dispelled just like they were never there in the first place, giving back their memories to their creators.<p>

Naruto knew that these ROOT shinobi were more dangerous than the regular ANBU. His sensor abilities told them that almost each one of them were at mid Jounin levels and from the emotions he could sense from them, well versed in working with each other. He decided to end the fight immediately and then go talk to the Hokage for an idea that had appeared in his mind last night.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu!" he whispered and the ANBU were suddenly paralysed. Hinata on the other hand went through few hand seals and called out," Nehan Shoja no Jutsu" getting impressed looks from everyone by using an A-Rank advanced Genjutsu. Since all the ROOT ANBU had been paralysed by the Kanashibari, they were unable to dispel the genjutsu and fell asleep ending the exam. Naruto had intentionally put a heavy amount of pure chakra augmented by his own Uzumaki chakra making it impossible for any normal ninja to break out of the technique except for the Sannin or Kages and a few other exceptions.

"Winners are Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga!" spoke an awed Inochi while Shikamaru let out a quiet Mendokusai from beside him but was watching both the so called prodigies with narrowed eyes.

"Well done! Excellent! You two have made me very proud, Naruto-kun and Hinata-san. Come stand here in front of me." Called out Sarutobi Hiruzen in a very happy voice and obvious pride colouring it. Everyone looked amazed, stunned and even awed at the skills showcased by two yet to be shinobi. Anko looked really happy and ecstatic if her beaming was anything to go by. On the other hand Kurenai was making a small pouty face at the abrupt end of the match. She was hoping to see more of her students in action.

Hinata and Naruto vanished and arrived in front of the Third Hokage making him chuckle at their antics. Others were not so much able to hide their surprise at the strength of these two.

Koharu was interested in knowing how much they increased their growth with only two years of training. Homura was also on the same boat but was more worried about the civilian council's asinine demands. Danzo on the other hand looked almost in deep thought and not angry at his team loosing that fast. The ANBU commander was interested in making them join the ANBU corps. Morino Ibiki was studying both of the children with deep concentration and was interested in their behaviour. Whispers went around the present ANBU teams about the skills and abilities that these two must possess so as to beat three ANBU level teams so easily. This much was certain that the reports of their performance would be known to all by mid noon.

"You have made me and your teachers proud, both of you. I hereby declare you two-" Hiruzen stopped speaking as Danzo Tapped his cane on the ground and disrupted whatever Hiruzen was going to say.

"I would like that our Hokage may confer on them the title of Elite Genin and permission to either skip academy and maybe join ANBU. It will be a waste of such talent to be squandered in Academy." He spoke getting raised eyebrows from everyone at his favouring the not so new genins. Both the Elders, Koharu and Homura also nodded in agreement of Danzo. The ANBU commander also nodded. While both Anko and Kurenai looked at them as if they were insane. Jounin level or not, young children should not be put on battle lines at such a young age. Itachi was an example of this kind of stress.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Danzo and wondered whether his old friend was making a play for these two. Danzo seeing the stare of the Hokage simply shook his head no making others look between both of them at their non verbal talk. Hiruzen sighed and then nodded to himself, even though Danzo was Shinobi no Yami, his reasoning was correct.

He nodded but gave a look at Danzo that basically meant that they would be talking later. Danzo noticed and nodded back with a slight smirk.

"Yes, I agree with Danzo. Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga, both of you are granted the title of Elite Genin and may choose to skip academy and join the ninja forces. Also, both of you can apply for apprenticeships under any person but after consulting your guardians. You may inform me of your decisions next week. Till then, I believe that you had something for me, Naruto-kun." Spoke Sarutobi. Naruto nodded and spoke while the ANBU teams began moving back, all talking about this latest development. Koharu, Homura and Danzo all moved out but Danzo gave an almost quizzical glance at both Naruto and Hinata.

"Yes. I and Hinata would like to welcome you to our new clan compound and add you into the seal matrix. So will you be willing to join us for a late lunch today?" spoke Naruto in his cold voice.

Hiruzen smiled and nodded at them," Lead the way, Naruto-kun." Anko, Kurenai and Hinata were just behind them, talking to each other with in whispers. Kurenai looked a bit put out for some reason. Naruto ignored them and vanished in a Shunshin with others following their movement with their own shunshins.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Uzumaki's Clan Compound<strong>

**Konohagakure no Sato, Outskirts**

Naruto arrived with Sarutobi Hiruzen behind him by a few seconds. The venerable Third Hokage looked around the surroundings and tried to remember where they were but was cut off from his own observations when Hinata, Anko and Kurenai arrived after a few seconds.

"I would like a sample of your blood and need you to pump your chakra into this seal." Spoke Naruto, while bringing out a large scroll from a seal on his forearm. Sarutobi Hiruzen looked over the kanji and saw that it was a small key that would key him into the Barriers of the clan compound. He nodded and compiled with his pseudo grandson's demands and further watched as Naruto nodded seemingly satisfied before making several one handed seals at a very fast pace that looked like a blur even to him. A dome of chakra was visible for a few moments which pulsed and flashed three time alternatively and then briefly glowed. The Third Hokage felt a shivering sensation pass through him and then was gone. And suddenly like a veil getting lifted from his eyes, he could see pass the trees towards a high wall and a set of large gates with the Uzumaki Clan symbol on them. He looked around more closely and then felt the powerful barriers of the Clan Compound. Not even the Hokage mansion had such powerful barriers and they seemed to be extremely complex. Naruto smiled at him and then spoke formally," Welcome Hokage-sama, to the Uzumaki Compound, my own home!"

Chuckling at the formal tone that Naruto was using, he walked forward with Naruto and entered the clan compound. Just when he was starting to think that he'd seen enough, he came to a halt when he suddenly realized that there were not many trees in front of him. He was now looking out over a beautiful forest clearing, dominated on one side by a large crystal clear lake, and in the centre by a sprawling clan compound surrounded by high walls, another fairly large building at another end along with several large training yards and a small sheds nestled in several different corners of the vast grounds, Dotted by various trees of rare and exotic variety and that of fruits. There was also a garden that looked like it had just been planted. All in all the entire place was very warm and welcoming, even the buildings seemed to have an allure of their own. It just looked like a place where one could just arrive and chill, letting out one's tensions and all burdens at the entrance. Unconsciously the Hokage had relaxed himself instead of the usual, high strung and worried countenance that he was used too.

This place was almost as large as the Hyuuga and the Uchiha compounds! And there at the door was Naruto whom he'd been following all this time. He did something to the door, and unless his eyes were playing tricks on him he was positive that the entire compound had just _shimmered,_once the phenomena had passed Naruto opened the door and disappeared within the large place he called home. Naruto was extremely paranoid because he looked to have even more security than ANBU HQ. He definitely needed to talk to him. And maybe get few security barriers for his own office too.

Moving deeper into the house, Sarutobi Hiruzen soon found himself admiring the traditional decor, both Naruto and Hinata definitely had good taste at the very least. When he found himself standing in a large sitting room, he immediately took notice of the large paintings that seemed to be from the Uzumaki lands, if he guessed right. Naruto gestured at the large cushions and asked him to be seated and then excused himself with Kurenai following after him.

When he did as instructed and took a seat in a pile of cushions only a few paces from both Kurenai and Anko and engaged them in small talk. He noticed that both the women were sitting in Seiza and looked extremely comfortable. A glance at the architecture showed the building to be well designed and created to provide an atheistically good look. Naruto arrived and the Hokage shifted his position to observe his pseudo grandson closely.

Naruto was wearing a high collared crimson and white streaked coloured kimono with a mesh undershirt and white pants. He cut a striking figure and was carrying a tray with several cups and few bottles of what appeared to be sake. Behind him was Kurenai wearing a bright crimson Chinese dress (Cheongsam) with a high cut up to her pelvis drawing one's eye towards her beauty. She was also carrying a tray with what appeared to be tea. Both of them sat down and silence fell on the room. Naruto smiled and offered them all tea first and then sake.

Hiruzen took the tea before seeing both Naruto and Hinata following his examples, while Kurenai and Anko both took up a saucer of sake each. He took a sip and his eyes widened at the particularly special flavour that Lady Mito was so fond of. He looked at Naruto with questioning eyes and the boy in question smiled before gesturing to Hinata, who looked regal and every bit of a royalty sitting amongst them. Her eyes were glittering with happiness and she looked really relaxed while looking at Naruto who was also smiling not as openly as when he was young but still much more widely than before. This was a far cry from a young girl with frozen lavender orbs for eyes and an attitude colder than ice. Sarutobi had a epiphany that maybe these two were made for each other as he could oversee the images of Lord Hashirama with Lady Mito and Minato with Kushina over the present young couple. A few minutes passed in relative silence before Naruto spoke," Thank you Jiji for giving me a chance."

To which Sarutobi replied it was no problem and he owed it to his parents.

"I and Hinata would like to get enrolled as secret ANBU working underneath you only for the next three years. We know that you are against the idea of child soldiers but we both need money for our new clan treasury. I know I have a lot of inheritance money from my parents and clan savings but I would like to earn my upkeep. Same is the case for Hinata. What do you think of it, Lord Hokage?" he spoke getting a bit pained look from Sarutobi and ignored it.

"Don't you think, it is too early for you to know blood and guts, Naruto-kun. I know that I might be speaking a bit harshly but I would like you to have a bit of childhood. You should be making friends and playing with children. Not making career influencing conditions. I do not deny your request but I would like you two to consider my words. " He spoke sadly.

Naruto smiled and Hinata Giggled into her sleeve. Seeing the Hokage looking at them strangely, Anko spoke up," It is not that Hokage-sama but both of these two are going to join the academy and also work as ANBU. I know it will be a bit hectic but these two will only do twenty missions per two months and they can decline or accept the missions. Also, no report of their activities as ANBU are to be known to anyone. They are going to be your personal shadows and assistants. Naruto has often told you that he wishes to be Hokage. This is how he will be trained for the job, by observing you and learning to emulate you. Hinata has wished to be an advisor and she will be helping you as an Advisor while she is learning about politics from you. These activities can be hidden as Clan Issues just like the Uchiha and Hyuuga do. Last two years were eye opening for us. This is our decision for what you have prepared for us. And we are ready for our presence to be felt."

Sarutobi looked a bit astounded but immediately caught on to what they were saying. Since Naruto was not well liked by civilians, he would have to work hard to earn their respect. But that would take time and large effort, which they did not want to waste. Naruto and Hinata were preparing for their future. It astounded Sarutobi that he never thought of that for his own son and grandson. He recognised the benefits of their planning and far sight. Now a days, everyone made hasty and unprepared decisions. But these four had already thought about their future and their responsibilities. Looking at them all, he could see the Will of Fire burning brightly in them. He looked back and saw that they come a long way from their problems. This is what he always wished to see in his ninjas. He thought a bit more about it and then said in a commanding voice," Hai! Permission Granted!" at which all of them simply smirked.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Author's Note:**

**Before we start this, I want to tell you that I have been reading both fanfics and paid mainstream literature for the last several years. This story is the culmination of ideas that have been infesting my mind for months. There are a lot of ideas used in this story that come both from other fanfics and from mainstream books, TV, etc. So I request not to be told that things which I already know.**

**I just want to clear several things before the start of next chapter and put to rest several issues that some of my readers have put up in my reviews. But before that, I would like to inform you that I am right now extremely busy in my college with my studies and projects as this my last year and I have no intention of goofing off like I did before. I will be updating my stories but they will be very sporadic and with lots of gaps between them. I apologize for this inconvenience but please bear with me as this will be all finished in seven to eight months period.**

**Also, I was unable to get any real ideas for the Academy exams. Thereby I took the words from the fanfic Little Things. I humbly say that most of the academy exams is not my work, so please no flames or unnecessary demands. Enjoy the story everyone and give better suggestions for my next chapter.**

**Coming back to the issues and queries raised by my fellow readers and writers and of course my avid readers, I will explain that:**

**1. Hinata Hyuuga who is right now in my story is a very practical woman and suffering from mild PSTD and depression caused by Naruto's death. Before she arrived back in time, Hinata was a woman who could even beat Orochimaru in his prime and her skills never dulled or became rusty. She had gotten a very powerful boost from the transfer of Chakra to her system by Naruto as his gift to her. Granted she has lost most of those abilities by travelling back to past to change the future. However, before she came back, she was the mixture of best qualities of Danzo, Orochimaru and Itachi. After combining with her younger self, she has now the memories of older Hinata, but with some of the innocence and characteristics of a pure child. She is manipulative and secretive but all she wants is the best for Naruto.**

**2. ****For those who believe that I am changing Naruto too much from the cannon character he possesses, I would like to tell them to politely think and answer me this very clearly.**

**Don't you all think that Naruto Uzumaki who is the son of Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and the Aka no Shi, Uzumaki Kushina, a loudmouth and weak person, with almost no techniques and special ability (except of being the jailor of Kurama) to change the hearts of his enemies with words and even he defeats them, he never kills them?**

**I mean is this a joke? They all are shinobi for god's sake, killing is their profession. How can a person like Naruto be a leader when all he can do is talk about peace and ramen and dattebayo? I would be better make Sasuke Hokage, because a person who cannot be serious on battle field and who tries to reason with their enemies, who are trying to kill him, will get his / her village sunk further easily than one drowns in quicksand. A person who is to be a hokage needs to understand politics, how to make hard decisions, send his friends to death, be perceptive and last but not the least be well versed in manners and discipline. Is the cannon Naruto like that? He is a loudmouth with almost no social skills, no discipline, no manners, and no techniques except for Kage Bunshin, the Rasengan, summoning (which I don't understand why he uses it so sporadically) and some wind manipulation. After three years of training with a Sannin, he just knows is using kage bunshin and its memory effects; use Kyuubi's power and few other variations of rasengan which are incomplete. He was an uzumaki so the boy should at least try to know some fuuinjutsu. How can an orange wearing person who pins after a girl beating him, allowing himself to be abused and keeps himself so weak and yell making himself a fool beat guys like Madara, Raiga, itachi, kisame and others . Kishimoto should have made this entire concept in Samurai world rather than shinobi. He has gotten lost what his concept was and who is the hero of the story. This Naruto is different and this world is shinobi world. The concept of the cycle of peace and war is just like the cycle of phoenix and its flame. It can never end and neither can exist without the other. Maybe this makes it simple - YIN AND YANG - THE CONCEPT OF DUALITY.**

**3. For those who believe that Naruto is getting too powerful, I will like them to read and think about this. Who were the First Hokage, Second Hokage, Uzumaki Mito and Uchiha Madara in the shinobi world? For those who are googling their answers or thinking of what this has to do with this story, the answer is this….**

**they are the legends of their time. They were the persons that carved their names in the history of the world and that was done by making their enemies cower in their wake, by leaving bodies and death in their wake, not by talking and posturing unlike some ninjas in Naruto series. Let us compare cannon Naruto with this Naruto. Differences can be easily told. And those who think Naruto is getting too strong, I just wanna say that, of course he is insanely strong because unlike the cannon Naruto this boy has been trained by the legends for five years. I think that must be good enough for any weakling to get strong till jounin or ANBU level. If not then that person is worse than Shikamaru and Mizuki combined. Naruto has gotten DNA implants from the Shodai and Madara. This operation will show the powers late in his life and will emerge later in the story. Also, if no one has read the story carefully, the Yondaime Hokage has already undergone an operation like this for tying Hirashin into his blood. This Naruto already can use Mokuton but not at the level of Hashirama but later he will be as proficient as the shodai. Right now he is almost like Yamato but better than the ANBU due to him being part Senju and Uzumaki.**

**For all Fights all I have to tell you this: (This is from a fanfic I read long ago…..) this is how the fights of the various levels in my story will go on…. Except for some notable fights:**

**Fights between genin can be intense, but they are usually longer than any other. The lack of skills and strength wind up with a long-lasting fight, turning into more of an endurance fight than an intense fight to the death. There are exceptions, but the rule is that a genin fight typically lasts more than forty minutes.**

**Chunin level fights are shorter, not often taking more than thirty to forty minutes. By this point the ninja involved have had intense training, and as such know how to end a fight quickly, and why it is important. In a world where you can be attacked at any time, waste was not something that is wise.**

**Jonin fights rarely last more than thirty minutes, more often around twenty. A jonin has undergone intense training, and as such has mostly no movements wasted. Mistakes are costly, often causing loss of life, but if you survive your mistake, you gain in experience and skill, knowing not to do it a second time.**

**ANBU fights vary, for it depends on the skill of those involved, varying from twenty minutes to a half hour.**

**Kage-level fights only last more than ten to fifteen minutes if they are playing around for the better part of it in an attempt to wear the other down. By this point taijutsu, Ninjutsu, genjutsu, and other attacks are engaged at a level of speed and strength that is simply incomprehensible to normal humans. Even high chunin could often only see the reaction of the jutsu, not the jutsu themselves unless it is a massive attack. Every mistake is costly, and most are fatal. Every movement is at a great speed, speed that would take a fully developed Sharingan to begin to see, unless the owner of the eyes is close to that level themselves.**

**4. Emergence of Naruto's romance will arrive when he is put into his teams but serious relationships will emerge during the later chapters. Also, some warnings, this story is a harem so I would like you all to give me a poll on who will be entered but this harem is not all for Naruto. Others too need girls for their lives and not more than seven to ten girls will be in the harem. Please give your suggestions to me or message me your views with a little bit of description and reasons.  
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**5. Yes about those who think that how a five year old girl can give off killing intent and scare Maito Gai, I want them to remember Hatake Kakashi and other ninjas who became chunin at the age of five. If they could be taken seriously why not Hinata. Also, this girl has the memories of a war ravaged Hinata and her hardships along with a small amount of the potent Uzumaki chakra. And if I remember, Killing intent (KI) showers a person with emotions of rage, hate and grief along with bloodlust. That I think Hinata already has from her memories.  
>And for those who think that people cannot say aww how cute for two nine year old couple of Hinata and Naruto- not all civilians hate him. A majority does but some are not dumb as rocks. Also, this Naruto wears a face mask like Kakashi but crimson-red in colour. It makes identifying him difficult. So some of the civilians may not recognise him immediately and hence their comments. Maybe when you guys see someone like kakashi, you go right into face and stare at him hard and long and then decide to hate him or not but I am not like that….. at least you can laugh now …..( Just a rhetorical question )<br>Those who think there was a lot of training, how can I say that Naruto uses this technique and that technique without even explaining some of the basics. I know I have been very descriptive on those parts and I will try to tone them down but these things also are an important part of the story. Some readers like to know the technical know how of the story as much as I believe, I am one of them. So one can skip these parts if you find it boring and my deepest apologies for boring these guys.**

**6. Last but not the least, Anko and Kurenai have become retainers for Naruto and Hinata respectively. Hinata has already left her clan unofficially, with permission from her father who is the clan head. Till her marriage happens with Naruto, she can be considered as a Hyuuga clan member. The marriage will happen after Tsunade comes back to Konoha after the chunin exams. Also, the Daimyo of fire country and Lord Mifune of Iron country's roles will be told during the marriage. The Hyuuga council has been neutralised temporarily but they will strike at Naruto and Hinata later in the story. **

**Till then folks and let us start the story….. I will be waiting for your reviews after this.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

**A Year Later  
>Somewhere in the lands of Yu no Kuni<strong>

Five figures ran along the forest grounds like the hounds of hell were after them. Each of them was wearing a stylised mask with lightning symbols all over it along with the dress up of the ninja village of Kumogakure no Sato. If that wasn't enough, each of them was wearing a headband with the symbol of Kumo decorated on it. The figures were running from their failed mission of stealing an information scroll that contained some classified details on the Fire Daimyo and his court.

They stopped at an open clearing after what seemed like hours of endless running. Suddenly one of them stiffened but before he could even utter a word, all of them were moving away from their previous positions as seven highly dense and compressed balls of water travelled across the clearing, leaving craters and breaking trees with their strength, after missing their targets. All the Kumo ninja immediately drew into a formation and what seemed like an eternity, three hooded figures wearing ANBU masks and Konoha headbands arrived in the clearing. The two figures were small, barely looking like teenagers, a boy and a girl from their figures, but the last figure was clearly female from her lush and curvy body. More than one male in the group had to hold their breaths to prevent an erection. The leader spoke up, his stance cautious and weary," Why are you after us? We don't have anything for you, nor any of us attacked you, so will you allow us to leave peacefully?"

The older female spoke up, her highly amused and crazed husky voice sending shivers up every male's spine except her own teammate," Oh! How bold of you? Do you take us for fools? We know that one of managed to copy a part of the document and it's code and we will retrieve it at all costs. Surrender it peacefully and we will allow you to go, but I want to fight and hope that you don't co-operate. I just want to shed some blood from you all." The second shorter female face palmed and then smacked the women on her ass getting a small squeal of delight from the older female and an audible sigh from their only male companion. The older female spoke up, her voice mischievous and sultry," Oooh! Usagi, if you wanted to play with my older body, all you had to do was ask but I want him too with us." She said pointing her finger at their only male companion who sighed again.

The female now called as Usagi growled a little, sending dread shooting down everyone's spines as a short burst of an extremely potent killing intent erupted from the young female. The ground around her cracked and cratered a little, with an unnatural silence spreading in the clearing and spoke in a voice seeming like frozen glaciers," Not here, Hebi- Taichou." She looked at the Kumo nin who all took a step back from the now definitely angry female.

The male in their group sighed and moulded a single hand seal. In an instant the entire view for the Kumo ninjas vanished and they all were victims of the Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no jutsu (Bringer-of-darkness technique). The ninja's of Kumo immediately began throwing out various elemental jutsus along with some using their chakra to cancel what they seemed to be a small illusion. This Genjutsu was created by the Nidaime Hokage and was nearly impossible to break.

"Do your work Hebi-Taichou and let us go. We will deal with you after wards. Also, get ready for running back immediately for I sense a jinchuuriki or a kage level person along with two other persons, both of them mid ANBU level, arriving at our location in fifteen minutes. Let us go for the trapped are going for a massive blind attack from their gathering of chakra." Spoke the male in their group. His crimson and red streaked mask looked at the figures trapped in front of them and then turned in the direction he felt the reinforcements were coming from. Usagi nodded while she went through few hand seals and nodded at their leader who gave a slow but breathy sigh and then jumped directly into the fray unsheathing her katana and tanto simultaneously.

Both of them watched as their team leader made short work of three persons slashing and cutting into their bodies giving them clean, precise cuts that killed them immediately. It also mattered that, she had used a rare type of poison made from three different types of snake venom along with belladonna and few other mixtures. The poison was a neurotoxin that damaged all the nerves in the immediate area and paralysed the nerves and stopped the heart within five minutes after injection.

The male stopped his genjustu and making another hand seal unleashed another justu at the remaining members of the Kumo team,"Fuuton: Kaze Senbon" he spoke and unleashed two senbon at their heads. Both of the Kumo ninjas were heavily disoriented from the genjutsu and hence unable to defend themselves. The invisible and deadly senbon of wind pierced through their foreheads killing them instantly. Their bodies crumpled to the ground.

As Hebi leapt back after removing all the scrolls from the slain ninjas, Usagi unleashed her technique," Katon: Dai Endan" and exhaled a steady breath of hot flames on the bodies of the Kumo ninjas to remove the evidence. Their work done, all the three ninjas vanished in a blur, leaving behind a desolated clearing and five burning bodies of Kumo ninjas whose reinforcements arrived to find only ash and five separately kept headbands as the proof of their fallen comrades.

The jinchuuriki of Matatabi no Nibi let out a roar of frustration on finding her comrades dead. She vowed to find those responsible and exact her vengeance for the fellow fallen ninjas. Her squad simply lowered their heads as they mourned their deaths. In the end they simply collected the headbands and went back to their Kage to report the failure of this mission.

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><p><strong>Two Days Later<br>Konoha, Hokage Tower**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was battling one of his greatest enemies right now. He was sitting in his office and being held hostage by stacks of paperwork that seemed to have grown again this week due to an influx of demands from various countries, villages, influential people and many other persons and quite a few nobles. Most of these requests would be simple for the Kami no Shinobi to be paying attention to but on closer glance, one would understand why he looked a bit miffed.

Several demands for Squad One to be present on the missions and requests were the most common of all. However, some requests that looked very genuine had been processed and filtered by Danzo and his ROOT division and found to be fake that is, forged requests in order to eliminate his most promising squad. Squad one had been the brain child of Tobirama sensei during the early days of the second shinobi war. They were a team of highly trained shinobi whose existence was kept a secret from all people and even the commander of the Ninja forces. They answered only to the Hokage and one other person whom Hokage deemed fit for trust, usually the next successor for the Hokage seat.

They were never held accountable and never answered any authority. All in all they were the processors of ROOT. They took mainly high level missions and acted as Hokage's personal assassins.

Hiruzen had discontinued the practice after the end of the third shinobi war and the position had remained vacant till both Naruto and Hinata had given him their requests along with several other forms of bribery. The five bottles of one of the most intoxicating sake that he ever tasted along with a bag of specially made tobacco that he smoked now a days were under several security seals that rivalled even the hidden collection of privately given books of Icha Icha by Jiraiya. Like any other man Sarutobi loved his comforts and all four of them knew about it and usually took full favour from it.

Squad One as of that day consisted of Hinata Hyuuga, Anko Mitarashi, Kurenai Yuhi and last but not the least Naruto Uzumaki- Senju. The Senju part of Naruto had him choking on his pipe as he found that Naruto somehow was the direct descendant of Hashirama Senju, the Shodai Hokage and founder of this village directly after his granddaughter Senju Tsunade, his second student who had left the Leaf Village vowing not to return.

Since Tsunade the current head and seemingly the only survivor of the Senju clan, had not been in Konoha for nearly over fifteen years, Naruto was to take her place as clan head until her return. All titles, rights and property were transferred over onto his name. All lands and holdings the Fire Daimyo had in his guardianship that belonged to Uzumaki clan until a proper heir could be found, were also filed under Naruto's name. Naruto's name from that day and confirmation after medical tests was to be known as Naruto Uzumaki - Senju and he was to be granted a senior position on the Konoha council as the Senju and Uzumaki clan heads on reaching the age of fifteen which in turn gave him two votes on the council. Of course, all this by the order of the benevolent Daimyo of the Hi no Kuni with whom Naruto had already discussed and gotten blessings from.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remembered that day fondly and chuckled to himself. He found that Naruto was eagerly waiting to make the lives of the civilian council hell when he took the seats after he reached fifteen years of age. Right now he thought of the works and the dual lives that both Naruto and Hinata lived. They both were attending academy but barely participated in any forms of testing. He had already several complains from several teachers about them but he had simply asked them about their assessment. Whatever might happen both Hinata and Naruto could beat any of the teachers and Chunin any day so defeating any simple academy student was no tough work for them. They always trounced their opponents making them look like they were not even making an effort. In fact one Sasuke Uchiha had already been admitted to the hospital with several broken bones and ruptured muscles after a Taijutsu fight with Hinata Hyuuga who had made a short work of him and gone extremely brutal on him after he had used a ninjutsu in the spar.

Since her position as the Hyuuga heiress was known to all before the trip, none of the teachers had said anything except for adding a short note for a disciplinary action for her.

Thinking about his squad, he smiled in satisfaction at both of them managing their lives and not losing their sanity after nearly two years of being in ANBU. They took care of his personal summons and tasks including the unpleasant Black Ops. He had been first hesitant in them going on assassinations until Kurenai had told him that these two had already been bloodied and made their first kills in a secured environment.

Hearing four soft poofs and four tattoos that burned in recognition, he smiled and then spoke softly after blowing the smoke from his new pipe, a gift from Naruto.

"I suppose something happened didn't it?" he turned around and looked at whole squad one in their complete glory. Their masks gleamed and their Konoha Hitai-ate's gleamed in their black colour. They nodded and one of them went through several hand seals and then placed his hand on the floor. Kanji spread through the floor and every single space in the office glowed white. The office secure, all four of them removed their masks showing their faces to their leader.

Anko stepped forward and spoke after bowing to him," The scroll was recovered safe and sound. However, a specialised team of Kumo shinobi managed to reach the objective first and copied a part of the scroll. Thankfully the scroll was encrypted and they did not pass the message to anyone. We pursued and eliminated the team and recovered the scroll. However, Naruto found some troubling information from a clone he allowed to stay back for spying."

"Well, care to tell me Naruto-kun, your findings?" spoke Sarutobi.

Naruto smiled his minimal smile that broke his ice cold and impassive mask. Hiruzen sighed inwardly that Naruto still retained his emotions but it still hurt him to his surrogate godson like this.

"Kumo's second jinchuuriki is a female by the name of Nii Yugito and she is already a jounin and if I am not wrong, a tactical analyst for her village despite being only seventeen years old. She is the seventh in command after the list we have found on first three and is very close to the current Raikage along with his brother and the Guardian of Kumo, Killer Bee. She is going to be present in the Chunin exams that are being held in Konoha with the Raikage in the finals." He replied in his cold, soft voice.

"Hmm, this is troubling indeed. Get some rest, tomorrow is your graduation and Iruka has been asking about you both since three days ago. I also have something for you two, a new mission, an A rank one to be done in the academy. Details will be given in the evening, at five. Till then you are dismissed." Replied Hiruzen going over the report given to him.

"Hokage –sama, I would like to give you this scroll as it contains some other observations I found while in the area. Also, I managed to get some details out of few of the nobles in the area. I would like you to keep a close eye on the fourth report. You might find something worthwhile in it. Thank you for the time, Lord Hokage. A very nice day to you." Said Kurenai before sliding over several scrolls and then using a Shunshin to get out of the office who sighed and began to read over the reports looking pensive and bit worried.

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><p><strong>Uzumaki's Clan Compound<br>Konohagakure no Sato, Outskirts  
>Secret Vault of Uzumaki Clan<strong>

Naruto looked over the maps with Hinata who was sitting over on the table reading a scroll on medical ninjutsu. Anko was browsing through some of the more exotic poisons in the medical section, looking a bit gleeful while Kurenai was lounging besides Hinata and allowing her gaze to flit from one person to the next. She looked the most relaxed out of all.

Naruto had a small frown on his face as he gazed almost impassively at the maps of the Elemental Nations in front of them. Since the day he had entered Squad one with Hinata and his minders, they had been put under heavy stress due to all them living dual lives every day. Naruto who himself had a large amount of chakra after getting his already humongous Uzumaki reserves boosted by the addition of Kyuubi felt himself tired and exhausted now a days.

Every single day (Whenever they were in Konoha and not out on missions.) they had to create three sets of reinforced Kage Bunshins who would guard the Sandaime Hokage while he and Hinta went to the Ninja Academy to learn those things that they had completed in a month of training. Anko and Kurenai themselves went to the Hokage Tower where they did guard duty over the Hokage in his village till afternoon after which Anko went to the Torture and Interrogation (T & I) department while Kurenai went to the Jounin lounge and did some D rank Missions along with possible C ranks in the village.

When they were not in the village, they left behind a set of three modified Blood Clones that Lady Mito had taught them. The Sandaime had never known about it and simply thought them to be Reinforced Kage Bunshin with modifications done by seals as Naruto had told him when the Hokage had asked about those clones. Apparently using such reinforced clones caused a person to be connected more closely to his / her clones. The Sandaime was worried that they all were overexerting themselves.

Naruto had told him to worry more about his own old age and paperwork. The old man had shut up after that and gave what looked like a sullen pout. Hinata had giggled and Kurenai had told him that he shouldn't pick on old persons and his elders.

Naruto looked at the map and nearly sighed in irritation. The last six months of their training with his teachers before he came back to Konoha had been simply travelling with his undead teachers asking all of them to show case all of their skills and get experience in the real world. After all what good is a sword if it is never used.

They had travelled over many countries except for Ame and Tsuchi no Kuni. Ame was in a lockdown and the Shodai Hokage had found that someone was using a sensory jutsu involving rainfall to monitor the whole region. They did not go in Earth country simply because even though several years had passed since the Third Shinobi war, Iwa always nursed a strong hatred for Konoha and its Yondaime Hokage. And they did not want to cause another Shinobi War by simply pissing off Iwa which had grown to be even more intolerant of Konoha and its ninjas.

They had killed several hundred bandits along with quite a few ninjas of lower levels. Their bounties had gotten them money for their future running into quite a few million ryo. Naruto had then invested the money in few villages and places to create few businesses, which gave him some part of their yearly income to the fire lord who then transferred the money into a vault in the royal capital from where he could access it any time. And the rest money he had sealed it in the vault beneath the Uzumaki Clan compound which was protected by several thousand of interlocking seals that were created by Lady Mito herself. It was now a place which was safer than the Hokage Vault which was saying something.

During his travels Naruto had created a small network of spies using persons who gave him information in an encrypted code that he taught them. Most of them were people that he saved and had agreed to tell him monthly reports of any happenings in their area. Tobirama sensei had told them the value of a good spy network. No one knew about anyone else and he certainly never showed any person his true face. Since most of the persons he knew were civilians, ninjas paid them little to no attention.

Naruto used his Karasu summons to get the messages from them. Every month, Naruto summoned a great number of his crow mates who travelled all over the Elemental Nations and reached the messengers or his spies who would pass on the information to the summons who would then fly away and then dispel after travelling some distance. Naruto got the reports from his messengers without travelling long distances or leaving Konoha.

However, right now he was worried by the troubling reports from the region of Ta no Kuni and Yu no Kuni. He suspected it to be the work of the Snake Sannin and one of the worst traitors, Orochimaru. However, he had no proof but only sightings and rumours that hinted at his presence in those two countries and it was a problem since the Snake was near Konoha and would easily strike at it.

"You should give the Hokage your findings along with your suspicions Naruto-kun. He will decide what to do and what not to do. Also, get some rest for tomorrow is our graduation and Hokage Sama's mission is not going to be simple to execute. My suspicions on who is the traitor is either Mizuki- san or that secretary, Suki- san. Either way, we will know it tomorrow. Now let us go back to the house and have some dinner, for I am starving." Spoke Hinata in her soft voice.

Hearing her speak, Naruto smiled to himself and looked towards the girl whom he had tried to push away, fearing she might see him as a monster but had been surprised when she had told him in very firm and passionate tone that no matter what he did or what he thought, she would stand by him. That very day he felt that this girl was a part of his life and he would be damned if he allowed himself to fall without caring for himself. She was his light and he cared for her very much.

He smiled at all of those who were present and then spoke," Ok. I will talk to Hokage- sama about this tomorrow after the exam. I just have a very stressful day and am very tired. Come on Kurenai-san, Anko-san. Let us go have some food. I think my clones must have made something for us." All of them moved out of the vault, back to the clan compound ready to have some food and then rest after their mission.

* * *

><p><strong>The Next Morning<br>Uzumaki Clan Compound**

The next day early morning Naruto dressed himself after his training and warm up he did every day, after he woke up at five the morning. He had been trained extremely well by his teachers to function on minimalistic sleep and keep vigilant. Yet, he was overly fond of using seals to act as detection barriers for him. His seals around the clan compound had never been triggered since the day he activated them.

He looked at himself in the mirror. He looked no different outwardly than every day but he felt different today. Maybe it was the nerves or the anxiety of the mission they all finished and returned from yesterday, Naruto felt that he might make a statement today. Last night before they went to sleep, Anko and Kurenai had urged him to not hold back in his exams and even Hinata who knew about his desire not to create too many waves in the academy as she herself was doing except that they both were miles ahead of all these children.

He decided that he would do something different today but first he had to get ready and prepared for his day and hence he gathered his chakra and intoned softly," Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

Seven clones appeared into existence, each without the customary puff of smoke showing his impressive mastery of Kage Bunshin. All the clones went to do their work as their instructions had been already delivered to them when they were created, Naruto began changing into his normal clothes that he wore to the academy. Today was the graduation exam and they were going to ace it fully.

He wore black mesh shirt with ANBU styled Black pants with ANBU issue shoes modified with a steel base. Over his mesh shirt, he wore a heavily modified grey trench coat reaching up to his mid thighs. In fact, this coat and three sets of it were a gift from Anko to him last year. She had asked Lady Mito about most of the seals on the coat and then had gotten the work done by a craftsman in Tetsu no Kuni when she was there on a solo mission. His face was hidden under a crimson face mask just like one worn by Hatake Kakashi.

He then entered the armoury of his clan compound where he kept all the weapons for all four of them. They had bought weapons for two months from the weapons store before Kurenai suggested that they could pick up discarded weapons from the training grounds and especially from the Forest of Death, which was a training ground that doubled as an examination arena for various types of exams and ANBU exercises.

They had first sent their summons to map the area and then sent reinforced shadow clones to pick up every type of metal they found and seal them in sealing scrolls designed especially for this purpose. Then, Naruto who had learnt Forging and creating weapons from scrap steel on his arrival from the Higurashi's and several books and scrolls from the Uzumaki library, used several clones which forged them their weapons of all types and needs. Naruto even supplied the Higurashi's some of the more common used weapons such as Kunai, Shurikan and Tanto's for a small amount of payment.

He stocked up his weapons and then saw that the senbon were getting low. He decided to make the next batch next week. He also stocked pouches for Hinata and Kurenai. Anko was on leave for today, last night he remembered her saying that she had to do some personal work for today so refrained from taking her weapons pouch but he stocked it rather the same. He then moved to the dining room, where the large table was in the process of getting set up. His clones had made up a large number of dishes that he had picked up on his travels over the Elemental Nations and from his various cookbooks he had collected.

Within moments of setting the table, all the clones vanished and Naruto began waiting for others to get down as pushed down his face mask. He was right as the heavenly smell of food roused Anko who was still drowsy but had already been awake. All of them entered the dining room and sat on the table.

Hinata was already dressed in the same dress theme as Naruto except that her clothes were more conservative and had a colour tone of Lavender and white. Naruto looked at Anko and Kurenai both of them were in their night clothes and looked bleary eyed, Anko more than Kurenai.

Kurenai was wearing a sheer black silk gown that looked like it was hastily thrown over her lacy undergarments which were easily visible. Kurenai liked to sleep in her undergarments while Anko who was wearing only a purple bra and thong (both a size too small) liked to sleep in the nude. Naruto had gotten used to both their habits. Hell even Hinata who disapproved of their habits only glared at them sometimes but had stopped nagging them over what she called as seduction attempts on her Naruto-kun.

Without speaking Naruto passed both Kurenai and Hinata the weapon pouches with a smile as they said nothing but their eyes revealed their feelings and then they all began digging into the breakfast without speaking to each other. No encouragement was needed as Anko and Kurenai both knew how powerful their charges were.

After a medium, breakfast of eggs, fruits, milkshake and French toast for both Naruto and Hinata while Kurenai had coffee along with sandwiches and cream with some buns and scones. Anko had just gulped down the green tea and then eaten a full medium sized plate of Dango with red bean paste and all. She was hopelessly addicted to it just like Hinata was to Cinnamon Buns and Naruto to Ramen.

They moved out of the clan compound and then vanished in a Shunshin to the academy.

* * *

><p><strong>Ninja Academy<br>Konohagakure no Sato**

Both of them arrived early at the front gates of the academy just to be able to witness Naruto and Hinata materialize out of nowhere, startling the few early comers and their parents and few of which recognised Naruto and muttered so very not things about him even though, Naruto had hidden his face under his facemask. Hinata looked a bit angry and leaked a small amount of Killer Intent glaring at those who were badmouthing Naruto which stopped all whispers and people immediately began giving them a wide berth.

Naruto sighed at Hinata's over protectiveness and passion. He knew the girl was head over heels for him. At first he thought that it was the contract that was the reason that Hinata was so much caring for him but a few days under his Karasu summons had disabused him of this notion. He know knew that Hinata was with him not because of the contract as he first thought but due to the fact she genuinely cared for him.

He had been humbled that day and vowed never to leave his Hime alone ever. Today he had a surprise for her and he was waiting for the evening to be able to give her the gift he felt that she deserved.

As both of them walked inside the Academy, Naruto ignored the muted whispers from his peers and the others standing around the school's entrance. They arrived at their assigned classroom and entered to find that they were the first ones there today. Shrugging to himself, he along with Hinata proceeded to the single pair of seats at the back; both of them having no intention of ending up seating next to anyone especially nearby Sasuke Uchiha and thus suffering the horrendous voices of his fan club. He pulled out a chair for Hinata who smiled at his sweet behaviour and then when he was seated snuggled up to him.

Deciding to kill some time, he took out a book on A rank Genjustus and began to read it, with Hinata giving her input along with what Kurenai had taught her.

His sharp senses and Hinata's Byakugan which she flashed every few minutes, detected the approach of a few classmates and thus they didn't even twitch when the door opened to accept four people into the room. The sounds of dragging feet and chewing preceded Shikamaru and Chouji, while the muted sound of buzzing heralded the entrance of Shino. The last student was from a civilian family and, from what they had observed, would probably end up being cannon fodder down the line.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino took the seats in front of Naruto and Hinata, who hadn't looked up from their book since their entrance. Shikamaru threw a quick and considering glance at Naruto, then just shook his head and mumbled, "Troublesome." Shino, on the other hand, actually turned and was about to address Naruto, but the door opened again to allow more students to pour in.

Naruto put away his book by sealing it into a storage tattoo on his arm while Hinata began running her hands through his long hair which she often braided into a ponytail.

Naruto looked at the now nearly full class and like every single day began cataloguing each one into the categories he made for them.

The class consisted mostly of clan heirs and few civilian's children. This was the only class from which the Sandaime had very high hopes and expectations. Naruto also had been a given a side mission of finding out a traitor in the Academy as T & I Department had found out from a captured ninja. Sarutobi had already been worried about the fact that someone had managed to infiltrate the village forces and his suspicion had been on Orochimaru who had been making a few appearances rather close to the borders of Hi no Kuni.

He dropped out of his thoughts as Hinata nudged him with her elbow and he noticed that all the students had arrived, even the banshee Haruno Sakura and the resident gossip, Yamanaka Ino. Both of them were sitting next to Sasuke Uchiha who looked ready to run out of the class at their ever present bickering. He looked at the Yamanaka heiress again and had to roll his eyes at her fake act. It was good enough to fool most genin and few if not all low level chunin but Naruto who had worn many masks and could read the body language well, had detected it on the very first day. He looked at Hinata who was also staring at the girl with her Byakugan activated.

Iruka finally arrived and the students quieted down in nervous anticipation. Quick on his heels was the assistant instructor, Mizuki, carrying in his arms the written portion of the academy exams. Naruto's sensor ability picked up a veritable amount of negative emotions from Mizuki who was wearing his normal polite smile.

Iruka promptly began, "Well then, I see you're all quiet and eager for your graduation exams, so we'll start right away. The graduation exams will have five parts of 10 point each: a written exam, a weapons accuracy test, a stealth test, a taijutsu spar and finally a ninjutsu evaluation. Now, as has always been the case, all portions of the exams save the written portion will have allowances for students to gain extra credit if they wish. As each portion comes up, I will let you know how the extra credit part works. Now, for these written exams, you have fifteen minutes to answer all one hundred questions correctly. Now, don't feel too bad when you can't answer everything in the time given; the exams are made to be unbeatable and the record for this part of the exam has been held for over five decades by our very own Sandaime Hokage."

Many students broke out in hushed murmuring at that little titbit. Smirking to himself, Iruka signalled Mizuki to hand out the exams and when he finished, he gave the students the go ahead to begin. Naruto glanced once through the exam and began filling in the correct answers without hesitation – having lived with living or as Anko would say, undead sadistic teachers who lived in that time, had made him knowing his history and he had memorized the academy books on top of that, it was a trivial issue for him to know the answers. Coupled with his body's impressive speed and hand-eye coordination, he easily blazed through the written exams and finished a few minutes before the time was up. Iruka noticing that Naruto was done, as did Mizuki, frowned in confusion. He knew how difficult the exams were and though they were multiple choice questions, they still took time to finish.

Hinata was also finished within few minutes of Naruto and began looking out at the competition. She sighed to herself as she saw the disbelieving looks that many students and both their examiners shot them. She was treated to a rather weak glare from one Haruno Sakura. Not knowing what the pink howler monkey's problem was, she simply brushed off the glare causing the girl to get even angrier than before.

"Just what is the demon-brat up to?" Mizuki thought to himself. His plans were mainly dependent on Naruto bombing the exams. He was a new person and had joined the academy in only last three months, in majority of which neither Hinata nor Naruto came to the Academy much as they were on some pretty tight schedule of missions and travels. He believed the bullshit about Naruto that was spread in the village about him being weak and a no good loser by some civilians who had been trashed by the blonde over some stupid form of extortion by the name of Demon Tax. This oversight about not taking his time to investigate the rumours and verify the truth was going to be his fall.

He quickly calmed himself by thinking that Naruto must have either filled in absolute rubbish or just skipped a whole lot of questions – the plan was still on and soon, Orochimaru-sama would bestow on him unimaginable power.

At the fifteen minute mark, the timer went off and Mizuki collected the papers for Iruka to start grading. He had tried to change the paper of the demon brat but he couldn't find the paper itself. Unknown to him, Hinata had put a very high rank Genjutsu on the paper and Mizuki himself on analysing the behaviour of the angry looking man. As soon as the papers were in the hands of Iruka, she removed the Genjustu which altered the perception of the user.

A lot of the students grumbled about how they couldn't finish the exam and how most of them never got beyond the 70th question. Haruno Sakura, lauded as the smartest student in her year, turned to Iruka and asked,"Ano, Iruka-sensei, you said that the Sandaime had the record for highest score in this portion of the exam, but you never told us what he scored."

Iruka smiled at her and replied, "I had wondered when one of you would ask. I told you not to expect too much on the exam because the highest recorded score is an 89."

Most of the students were visibly startled at that. Then Iruka continued, "Now, the next portion is the weapons accuracy test. I want you all to follow Mizuki who will oversee the test while I get to grading your exams, I'm sure it won't take me long."

* * *

><p>Mizuki led the students outside to the weapons range. The range had two lines at a measured distance from the targets – the closest line was at 100 yards while the second was behind it, at 150 yards. The ten targets were man-shaped cardboard cut-outs with special red kill spots marked on them.<p>

Turning to the students, Mizuki began instructing them on the next portion of their exam, "For the weapons and accuracy test, I will call your name and you will step up and receive five kunais and five shurikens from me. You will stand at the 100 yard line and throw at the targets down the range. Your goal is to hit as many red marked fatal points as possible. For each kill point you hit, you get one point. As Iruka mentioned, there is an opportunity for extra credit here. If you want to try for extra credit, you must step up to the 150 yard line and try to hit ten of the kill spots with only the use of shuriken. Each point you hit properly grants you two points, but each one you miss costs you one. So, if you try for extra credit and hit only six points, you get eight points in total. Oh, and before I forget, the targets will be in motion for the extra credit part. Now, let's begin, Aburame Shino."

Shino stepped up to the 100 yard line and, receiving the weapons from Mizuki, began to throw them one by one at the targets. He got four out of five of his targets using kunai and three out of five with shuriken. Mizuki noted his score down and called the next person up. This continued for a while, with all the students so far opting to forgo the attempt at extra credit.

When Hinata's turn came she walked forward ignoring the burning glare of the females, especially the Uchiha Fan Club as they noticed the well developed and lush womanly figure of the Hyuuga Heiress. Kiba leered at her from the side-lines and Naruto wanted to beat his ass down. Kiba had already been almost castrated by Hinata when he had tried to force the non-assuming Hyuuga Heiress for a date even after her repeatedly telling him no. She had almost lost her control and was about to kill the young Inuzuka but then Kiba's mother had been there to save the fool's hide.

Hinata walked towards the 150 yard line and launched the five shuriken first, getting five perfect kill spots. The next time, she hesitated before launching the second set of shuriken but only got four kill spots and intentionally missed the last one. Her score was the highest right now and her Byakugan flashed in lieu of her habit. She noticed the Uchiha heir looking angry and then just to be sure, she threw him a challenging smirk that only he caught.

Murmurs about her being given training and Hyuuga prodigy were being raised. Hinata scoffed inwardly, these fools did not even know that she was no longer affiliated to the Hyuuga clan and had already left it unofficially.

Next, Mizuki called forward Kiba, who decided to try for extra credit after seeing Hinata's performance and trying to impress the girls of the class.

Strutting forward to the taunting calls of his classmate, Kiba accepted the weapons from Mizuki and stood at the 150 yard line. At this point, most of the class was quiet and focused on Kiba. Mizuki activated the mechanism that set the targets in motion and Kiba began. He threw the first five shuriken in quick succession and got four kill spots. The students watching cheered him on and bolstered by his success, he got too cocky and launched the last five weapons faster than before and only scored three out of five. Still, with a total score of eleven points, he was the current highest scorer. He threw a smug smirk at Sasuke and swaggered back to his place in line. The other students after him were encouraged by his success and started trying from the extra credit line. None however were able to do as well as Kiba, until it was Sasuke's turn who had calmed himself after what he perceived was being shown up by some Hyuuga girl even though she was the heiress of the clan.

The students immediately focused on him, and his fan club began to cheer him on. Sasuke calmly stepped up to the 150 yard line and accepted the weapons from Mizuki. He quickly launched five shuriken so close together that it seemed like he threw them simultaneously. To the amazement of the watching students, he got four out of five – missing the last one only because the target shifted at the last moment. Repeating the same thing with the last five, he got the same score, putting him at the top of the scoreboard so far with a score of 14 points. Mizuki marked down his score, glanced at his board and called the next student, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto nonchalantly made his way forward and received all ten shuriken from Mizuki. He then turned towards the range and as the students noticed he was making his way to the 150 yard line, the Sasuke fan club began to jeer at him, telling him not to bother making a fool of himself. Paying them no heed whatsoever, he stopped at the line, glanced at the targets and launched all ten shuriken simultaneously.

A single sound of metal shredding through cardboard echoed through the clearing, quickly followed by gasps of shock as the students noticed that each of Naruto's shuriken had gone through the red spot on the head of each of the targets. Silence spread through the clearing as the students and Mizuki attempted to understand just what they were seeing – a perfect score, using shuriken launched simultaneously at moving targets 150 yards away. Finally snapping out of his shock, Mizuki smiled and congratulated Naruto while internally seething at this new endangerment to his plan. Yamanaka Ino went next and choosing not to attempt for extra credit, scored seven out of ten.

Mizuki finished tallying up her score and led the students to the next exam – the stealth test. Arriving at the obstacle course set up for the students, they discovered Iruka waiting for them.

* * *

><p>"Well then, why don't we continue with the tests. As mentioned previously, this test allows you to get more than the allotted 10 points. The objective of this test is to make it through the obstacle course, bypassing all the traps and obstacles set up for you and all without triggering any of the bells strung up in there. You will be graded on your speed and ability to make it through without using any chakra, triggering any bell or getting injured. Each student starts off with 15 points and if you make it through in less than 3 minutes, without using chakra, ringing any bells or sustaining any injuries, you get to keep your full 15 points. Every 30 seconds after the 3 minute mark that passes, you lose one point. If you use chakra, ring a bell or sustain an injury, you lose one point. The record for this particular test is actually held by the Yondaime Hokage who took 4 minutes and 19 seconds, and rang no bell to get a score of 13 points."<p>

When Iruka had mentioned the time limit, a lot of students began to think that the course would be relatively short and that they could easily make it through. Their hopes were ruthlessly crushed when he mentioned the Yondaime Hokage's time. If a legend like him could only get 13 points, then obviously the course must be insane. Iruka motioned Shino forward to begin and stepped back.

Taking in a barely perceptible breath, Shino ran into the sectioned off obstacle course and since the students couldn't see what was happening inside, they all fell silent to listen carefully. One minute in, they heard a bell ring, followed by another about 45 seconds later. They noticed Iruka making a note in his scoreboard – undoubtedly penalizing Shino. The 3 minute mark passed and Shino was still nowhere in sight. Then 5 minutes after he went in, they heard the sound of a trap go off and many surmised that he must have gotten injured. Finally, after one more bell rung, Shino emerged, a full 5 minutes and 27 seconds after beginning. He had one injury from a surprise trap and just barely scraped a score of 7 points. After Mizuki had reset the course, the next student went in.

When Hinata's turn came, she ran into the course and then cleared the entire course by finishing the test in a record shattering 3 minutes and fifteen seconds after ringing a single bell, getting the highest score and shattering the Yondaime's record while getting 14 points. Her performance started another set of murmurs and whisperings from all those present who began looking at the girl with respect, awe and some even with fear. The Uchiha prodigy was now revising his options and impressions of the Hyuuga Heiress whom he had foolishly believed to be weak after getting into complacency with her shy and unassuming nature.

One by one, the other students made a pass at the obstacle course, with most getting times of over 5 minutes and 30 seconds and scores of 6, 7, 8, and in one case, 9 points – earned by Kiba. When it got to Sasuke's turn, the students once again gave him their full attention. When he started, they all focused, waiting to hear if he rung any bell or encountered any traps. After 3 minutes, people had begun to think that he might make it through without ringing a bell. Then at the 4 minute mark, they heard the distinct tinkling of a bell, quickly followed by another. Sasuke emerged after 4 minutes and 23 seconds without a single scratch on his body – he earned a score of 11 points and looked thoroughly angry with himself.

As Sasuke returned to his place in line, he threw a blatantly challenging sneer at Naruto, obviously still miffed by Naruto's performance in the weapons accuracy test. Naruto obviously caught the look, as did practically everyone else, and then nonchalantly dismissed it as he walked passed Sasuke to the starting line. This action did not sit well with Sasuke who had to calm himself before he did anything unbecoming in such a public place. Sasuke's fan club did not hesitate to act in his place though and quickly hurled insults at Naruto – loudest of all coming from Sakura and Ami. Blatantly ignoring them, and thus angering them further, Naruto glanced at Iruka to give him the go ahead to begin. At Iruka's nod, he was off.

The students listened and, despite Naruto's showing at the weapons range, most of them expected to hear bells going off as well as expletives. After the first minute they had heard nothing – eyebrows were already being raised and disbelieving glances being shared. After 2 minutes and 58 seconds, Naruto casually strolled out of the exit of the obstacle course – not a single scratch on him, clothes unruffled and bells remaining silent. After Iruka had gotten over his surprise, he marked down Naruto's time and record shattering score of 15 points. Calmly walking passed a bewildered Uchiha Sasuke and gaping Inuzuka Kiba, Naruto returned to the tree he was leaning against before his turn and sat down on a raised root. Iruka called the last student, Ino, forward and she finished with a score of 8 points.

* * *

><p>After collating their results, Mizuki and Iruka led them to the taijutsu sparring grounds. Iruka turned to the students, most of whom were now eyeing Naruto and Hinata with something other than scorn and haughty contempt, and began his instruction,"Now, I want you to listen up carefully. The next portion of the exam is a taijutsu spar between you and Mizuki. The time limit for the spar is two minutes and your goal is to either defeat him or last the full two minutes. Each student will start out with 10 points and here's how the scoring will proceed: If a student wins before the time limit, by either knockout or knocking Mizuki out of the ring, then the amount of time left on the clock will be divided by 20, rounded down to the nearest whole number, and added to their 10 points for their final score. If a student loses before the limit, the same math occurs, but with a deduction from their 10 points for their final score. Once a student lasts past the two minute mark, they get their full 10 points whether they win or not. The record for this portion of the exam is a win in a time of 45 seconds, held by the Yondaime hokage. Now, let us begin with Shino."<p>

Shino stepped impassively into the ring with Mizuki and at Iruka's signal, the spar started. From the get go it was obvious that Mizuki was not going all out; for how could he, an academy student could ordinarily never hope to match a Chunin. Using his higher than average clan taught taijutsu skills, Shino was finally able to knock Mizuki out of the ring after 1 minute and 37 seconds, for a final score of 11 points. After congratulating him, Iruka called out the next student. And so it went, the students matched up against Mizuki and only the clan children ever managed to win before the time limit was up, even if Mizuki went easy on them.

Except for when Hinata Hyuuga entered the ring getting increased mutterings and whispers about her impressive performance. Even both the teachers, Iruka and Mizuki looked a bit interested in her performance.

When Iruka started the match, Hinata moved forward, her hands already in motion in order to impale the person in front of her. Her speed was at mid Chunin level getting raised eyebrows and whispers from everyone. Iruka looked highly interested in the match and was already making a mental note to talk to the Hokage just after the exams were finished about what he noticed about his two students who already looked very advanced for this class. He was not a fool not to notice, even though both Naruto and Hinata missed the classes, they never lost any spar or gave any wrong answers. Focusing back on the match, he noticed just in time that the young girl had already managed to defeat Mizuki who had increased his speed in order not to be humiliated in front of all others. However, Iruka already had given the girl extra points for finishing the spar at I minute time frame.

When the girl left, Mizuki asked for a break citing phantom pains in his arms and ribs (where Hinata had managed to score her hits) increasing the rumours about her strength and skill. Iruka guessed that the girl was so used to using Jyuuken that even without chakra, she managed to damage the chakra network of Mizuki or rather the muscles of the attacked region.

For the civilians, most were able to last the 2 minutes, while the rest lost before it. Kiba, being the second best student in Taijutsu – on paper – was able to win after 1 minute and 13 seconds. Eventually, Iruka called out Sasuke's name.

Determined to be the best scorer in this portion of the test, Sasuke kicked it into high gear as soon as Iruka started the match. Noticeably moving faster than any of the other students before him, he engaged Mizuki in a ferocious taijutsu encounter. Landing more blows than he received, he ended the match with a brilliantly executed acrobatic manoeuver that had his leg propelling Mizuki out of the ring after a hard impact to his chest. Iruka stopped the timer and noted his time of 1 minute and 2 seconds. He looked angry and humiliated by getting defeated by a Hyuuga and a girl on top of that. His brooding was noticed by his fan club who began throwing insults at the Hinata. She did nothing but levelled a Byakugan enhanced glare on those girls getting them to shut up. Shikamaru looked at her grateful for shutting up those annoying harpies and letting him rest in peace.

Waiting for Iruka to finish recording Sasuke's time, Naruto calmly observed Mizuki standing opposite him, taking particular notice of the well hidden malice in his eyes. Knowing that Mizuki would probably not hold back in the first few moments of their spar, he prepared himself to crush the traitor swiftly and ruthlessly. Naruto and Hinata had determined that the newly appointed assistant was a traitor to the village and if the information was correct, he was working with Orochimaru of the Sannin.

Hinata already knew due to her memories from future but wanted Naruto to work out this problem himself. Her reasoning was that she would never be able to hold Naruto's hand always in the future. He had to stop depending on her and she had decided that she would only nudge him in the coming times when she felt that he was going in the wrong direction.

The other students, Sasuke in particular, quickly focused on the spar that was about to begin, hoping to see if Naruto's previously hidden skills included Taijutsu as well. Mizuki just wanted to kill two birds with one stone and diminish Naruto's chances of graduating while getting to beat him down. The moment Iruka gave the signal, Mizuki was off.

Blurring across the arena, faster than any of the other genin could ever hope to follow, except for Hinata and few selected others, he appeared in front of Naruto, his right fist already rocketing towards the boy's head. So confident was he in getting in the first strike that he overcommitted to the blow, and so, when his hand passed through the space where Naruto's face used to be, he found that he had overextended himself. Before his brain could put together what the lack of impact meant, his body was already folding over the right knee that Naruto had ploughed into his stomach.

Blood left his mouth as Iruka and the students watching gasped in shock when they noticed the foot sized crater created where Naruto had pushed of the ground. Naruto's leg came back down just as physics caught up to Mizuki, whose body had begun to leave the floor. It was not to be however; Naruto's right hand was suddenly gripping his hair as he drove his head back down to meet the left knee that he had just raised. The spectators winced when a crack resounded through the clearing, quickly followed by blood spraying out of Mizuki's nose and mouth as he slipped into blissful unconsciousness. Numb fingers clicked the button on the timer and Iruka slowly gazed at the clock's face

3 seconds

This led to series of gasps and stunned faces with their jaws hanging loose of several students. Iruka himself couldn't believe that his assistant would be beaten so badly that he was knocked unconscious. On the other hand, he thought Mizuki deserved it as he started off the spar on a rather high level and when he patched the man, he was going to give him a stern talking too.

The students had begun to whisper as soon as Naruto had been declared the winner by knockout. Many of them were wondering just when the supposed goofy boy and class bunker had gotten so strong and why he had kept on avoiding coming to classes during the academy school year.

Hinata smirked to herself as she saw the seeds of dissent and doubt planted in the minds of all students. However the angry and stunned visage of the last Uchiha was rather entertaining for her who looked ready to go and demand answers from her Naruto-kun. She thought it was hilarious that even with most of the civilians and some stunted ninja falling head over heels to help the boy, the Uchiha had reached only a level of high Genin and borderline Chunin when he pushed himself.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was mentally reconsidering everything he thought he knew about Uzumaki Naruto and making plans to corner him for questioning later. He did not know that his arrogance was going to get him in extremely hot water later.

Back on the sparring field, Iruka had propped Mizuki against a tree and used what little battlefield healing jutsu he knew. Since his partner was out for the count, he faced off against Ino himself, winning the spar after 1 minute and 50 seconds.

After the students had gotten over their shock at seeing the usually laid back Naruto demolish their teacher, Iruka herded them back into the class room for the final portion of the exam. Being that it was a fairly straightforward process, his instructions were short; you hear your name, enter the next room and do what we tell you, and when you're done, move on to the room across from you and wait for the rest to finish. He started with Shino as always, and continued down the list. Mizuki, who had recovered, joined him halfway through. Sasuke walked in when it was his turn and then Naruto's name was called.

Hinata had already passed the ninjutsu section with flying marks. She had scared both the Academy teachers with her henge of Mito Uzumaki. Mizuki himself had born the majority of brunt of her harsh glare and had almost ready to faint. Iruka himself had stuttered a barely audible pass to the Hyuuga heiress. She had taken a crimson coloured headband after passing all the sections of the exam and was now waiting for Naruto's turn.

As Naruto made his way towards the connecting door, his acute hearing easily picked up what was being said in the room that contained those who had already finished their exams. Smirking to himself at successfully stirring up the hive, he entered the connecting room to see the two instructors seated at a table. He walked to stand in front of them, absently noting that the hatred in Mizuki's eyes was more visible, probably due to his humiliating injuries.

Smiling proudly at him, Iruka spoke, "Well, Naruto, you've gotten to the last portion of the exams. This ninjutsu test is fairly straightforward; you will be tested on the use of the basic three jutsu – the kawarimi, henge and bunshin no jutsu. We will begin with the kawarimi. Now, sometime in the next 15 seconds and with no prior warning, I will launch a blunted kunai at you, which you must obviously avoid by switching out with something else. Mizuki will take care if I am using any real weapons. Extra points will be given for demonstrated mastery of the jutsu. The 15 seconds starts now."

Naruto had kept his cool gaze on Mizuki throughout the speech given by Iruka and thus easily made out the lust for vengeance in his eyes when Iruka mention the blunted kunai. Fully aware that Mizuki would attempt to get him back for his previous humiliation, he subtly went on alert for any tricks, while appearing calm, unconcerned and wide open. Seven seconds after the start of the exam, he felt a very low level genjustu invading his system which he dispelled without any effort or movement. Mizuki thought that the genjustu had taken place and rested back in his chair satisfied. It made the victims unable to see any projectiles coming towards themselves and had been taught to him by Orochimaru himself before he came to Konoha on his assignment.

Also, he switched Iruka's blunted kunai with his own regular kunai and began waiting for the inevitable accident.

Nine seconds after the official start of the testing, Iruka launched a kunai with no prior warning at Naruto, whose eyes easily tracked it – even if it was travelling faster than an academy student could handle it. The kunai travelled the gap in an instant and, to the horror of Iruka and barely hidden glee of Mizuki, it plunged into Naruto's chest. Iruka watched –devastated and confused as to why he had used a regular kunai– as Naruto's eyes widened in pain and his body began to fall backwards. He was on his feet in an instant, about to rush towards Naruto, to give whatever aid he could when Naruto's body burst into smoke and revealed a chair with the kunai sticking halfway out of it. It took a moment for Iruka to understand what he was seeing and he slumped in relief. A chuckle behind him had him turning to see Naruto standing there with an amused air about him.

Mizuki immediately realised that the genjutsu he cast was a failure while Iruka realized that Naruto had successfully performed the replacement technique. He noted with interest that the kawarimi had been pulled off without any hand seals and with the kind of mastery only found in high level chunin ninja and above.

After he had calmed his heart rate, Iruka turned to berate Mizuki for not telling him about his own use of a real kunai. Mizuki acted sheepish and was able to somewhat fool Iruka into believing that it was a simple oversight on his part. Iruka however was now quite suspicious of Mizuki as he felt that that his new assistant was hiding something. Also, he distinctly remembered that he had kept only blunted kunai with him today because of the exams. Slowly, but surely the seeds of suspicion were being planted in Iruka's mind about the loyalty of the new teacher.

Mizuki even apologized to Naruto, who wasn't fooled for an instant, for not seeing that Iruka was not using a blunted kunai. Mizuki was aware, that at this point, Naruto had already passed his graduation exam. So, he privately began to revise his plan for stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. After things had calmed down, and Iruka had marked Naruto extra for performing a seamless kawarimi with no hand seals and with enough mastery to leave a decoy afterimage, he resumed with the tests.

"Good job on the kawarimi Naruto. Now, you simply have to henge into another person, and then create at least three clones."

With only a nod, Naruto's form simply shimmered and in his place was the Sandaime Hokage in full hokage robes and his pipe in hand. As the figure before them looked up, Iruka and Mizuki subconsciously straightened when they met that ancient and penetrating gaze. Calmly, the figure of the Sandaime breathed out a small stream of fire and lit his pipe. Taking a few puffs, he exhaled some tobacco – which Iruka could smell – and spoke in the mellow and soothing tones of the Professor,

"How are you, Iruka-kun?"

For an instant, Iruka was about to reply as he had always done when the Sandaime asked after him, but then he reminded himself that this was Naruto under an eerily realistic henge and said, "Very good Naruto, that's another sealless, smokeless and obviously mastered jutsu. At this point in time, you already have passing marks, but if you want to continue, you can attempt to create at least three bunshins."

Once again – with neither smoke nor sound – the room was suddenly containing twelve Narutos placed at regular intervals in a circle around the room. Looking around, neither Iruka nor Mizuki were able to determine which one was the real Naruto. Chuckling as he wrote in his clipboard, Iruka awarded Naruto full marks with extra credit for mastery of the three academy jutsu. He then said, "Okay, Naruto, you can disperse them now."

All the Narutos in his sight – including the one standing where the original had been – faded out of existence without a trace. Turning in surprise, the instructors found the original standing at the back of the room, obviously amused at their surprise. Shaking his head, Iruka said, "You never cease to amaze me Naruto" then beaming with pride at him, Iruka tossed him a hitai –ate and told him, "You pass, Naruto, with distinction. Congratulations."

Smiling at him, Naruto caught the black clothed hitai-ate and bowed to the two teachers. He made his way out of the room and to the room across him, where the students who had finished were waiting. When he walked in with his hitai-ate displayed on his forehead, none of the students were surprised anymore; Naruto had apparently already desensitized them during the earlier tests. Naruto sat at the back as he often did and about ten minutes later, Ino entered with her own head band, followed by Iruka and Mizuki.

Iruka beamed at the students and began his closing statements, "Well, it's all done now. Though some of you might not have done as well as you expected, I am still proud of the progress you have all made. Those of you who couldn't make the passing grade can retry next year, I have full faith that you will be ready by then. For those of you who received your hitai-ate, you have my congratulations. Make sure to be here tomorrow morning for team assignments. And without further ado, the announcement I know most of you have been waiting for; the rookie of the year. This year, the rookie of the year position is awarded to Uchiha Sasuke for a consistently outstanding performance throughout his attendance."

Most of the students applauded, having already expected as much, with members of the Sasuke fan club screeching loudly. After calming them down, Iruka continued, "There is still one more thing to take care of however. Uchiha-san earned the title of Rookie of the Year because all six years of schooling were taken into account. Taking only the graduation exam into consideration however, the results are quite different. I will now list the top three students with scores in each of the exam sections. Uchiha Sasuke, with scores of 8.1, 14, 11, 12 and 13, earned a total of 58.1 to come in third place."

The Uchiha Fan Club immediately cheered at Sasuke doing so well in the exams, before quieting down as they realized that two persons had obviously scored higher than him. Many of the students reached the proper conclusion about the identity of the second place and the winner at the same time and turned to gape in shock at the persons they had derided as lazy and uncaring for the past two years.

Speaking into the bewildered silence, Iruka announced Naruto and Hinata's score, "Hinata Hyuuga is in second place with scores of 9, 14, 14, 13 and 14 and is given the title of Kunoichi of the Year. Last but not the least, Uzumaki Naruto, with record shattering scores of 10, 20, 15, 15 and 15, earned the highest possible score of 75 points to come in in first place. Naruto is now the current holder for highest score in every portion of the graduation exams. Congratulations Naruto and to the rest of you as well. I will see you tomorrow."

And with the rest of the class gaping at the disinterested Naruto and Hinata, Iruka and Mizuki departed from the classroom. Both of them smirked at each other as they stood up and meandered outside, while the rest of the students looked on in stunned silence. The sound of the door closing behind him roused them from their stupor and Hinata smirked as she heard a banshee cry of outrage and anger that originated from Haruno and Kiba. Chuckling to herself, she took Naruto's hand as he smiled at her and they both vanished from the hallway – disappearing as though they were never there leaving behind chaos and panic.

* * *

><p><strong>That Evening,<br>Hokage Tower, Konohagure no Sato**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was walking towards the Council room with a determined gait in his steps. All the persons in the Hokage Tower who saw the Third Sandaime was instantly reminded of the fact why the old man was once known as the Kami no Shinobi in his younger days. The venerable old Hokage was leaking a murderous Killing Intent and looked extremely angry. Two figure were walking behind him taking up flanking positions behind him, both wearing hooded cloaks which allowed only the lower half of their face to be glimpsed which in turn was found to be covered by ANBU masks, denoting them as the members of Hokage's personal ANBU Squad. The more experienced and high level ninjas immediately took notice of the predatory walk of the two ANBU and the fact that both of them were not flinching from the palpable aura around the third Hokage while they themselves were sweating slightly.

Also, both of them on closer inspection were found to be just teenagers looking close to the age group of fifteen to seventeen which begged the question of who they were, for Konoha had stopped allowing youngsters in ANBU after the debacle with Itachi Uchiha who had massacred his entire clan one night alone and had escaped marking him as one of the biggest traitors from Konoha after Uchiha Madara and Orochimaru.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was hoping for a quiet evening that day after Naruto and Hinata both had reported to him about their findings about the new assistant Mizuki as a traitor to Konoha. Naruto had also reported his suspicions of him working with Orochimaru from the reports of Jiraiya's spy network and their Intelligence department which hinted about the Snake Sannin being seen in the same area as Mizuki before team's accident in which all were killed except for Mizuki.

However, Hiruzen found out that the civilian council in its infinite wisdom had changed the team set ups and the information in the ninja records about Naruto and his stellar performance as cheating and had demoted his hard earned rank as a mistake. Some of them even had the gall to demand from the Hokage that Naruto be forced to give another exams which would be checked under a committee given by the council.

When Hiruzen had read the demands, he had nearly blown up his office from his anger explosion alone. That is why, he was going to show these fools why they shouldn't piss him off for today he was not going to show them any mercy.

The doors to the council chambers opened with a deafening bang making all the civilian members who were in attendance jump while the shinobi section had already sensed the approach of their angry leader and were ready for the upcoming explosion did not even move a muscle. But each and every one of them noticed the angry killing intent rolling off their Hokage and as one cringed in their seats.

Hiruzen stalked to his chair with his two ANBU following him like shadows. Shikaku Nara subtly narrowed his eyes as he felt the chakra levels of both the ninjas and stiffened as he felt the massive levels of chakra in one and other had highly developed chakra network which was controlled even more than Tsunade's. He subtly signed to Inochi who nodded and signed back.

Hiashi Hyuuga activated his Byakugan and hissed in pain silently as he felt his eyes getting blinded by a flash of light. He turned his head and tried to gather some information about the ANBU accompanying the Hokage. The flash did not come again but he noticed that he couldn't pierce the clothing material being worn by both of them he wondered the new development as a civilian member stood up and addressed the Hokage while looking fearful of Sarutobi's narrow eyed glare on them all.

"H-Hokage-sama why a-are you-u here in the Council Chambers? The Council hasn't-t summoned you yet." The Shinobi section cringed as one as Sarutobi's Killing intent grew even further. It seemed that this day was not going to get any better for them. Even the brash and blunt spoken Inuzuka Matriarch felt that the civilian member had already stepped on a landmine and they all would feel its brunt.

They were proven correct when the Sandaime Hokage roared at the civilian member who let out a small whimper of terror and then fainted.

"Who the hell do you think that you are to demand that from me? Are you the Hokage of this village? I always allowed you all to have too much leeway. This stops now. This is not a democracy but a dictatorship. Too long I have allowed you to do as you wish. I thought Tobirama Sensei had done a good thing that he allowed civilians to vote on the council but time and again you have proved that you cannot be trusted to help this village."

"B-but-but, Hokage-sama, you do not have that kind of authority." Spoke a particularly fat merchant who had used a vast amount of money to secure a seat on the council and used it to further increase his agenda. The man's fate was already decided. And all the persons who were able to see the impending explosion were not surprised when the man was punched into the wall, where he curled up crying pathetically.

"Mind your tongue councillor. Do not insult the Hokage like that. Do you understand or not?" spoke one of the figures that was now identified as a male, unleashing a thick Killing intent on the civilian council who shrank back in their seats.

"Y-you c-cannot assault us. We are the civilian council." Spoke another of these fools. The male sighed and spoke in a bland tone, "Tough luck, bitch. We answer only to the Hokage. Even if you are Kami's shit we give to more care to you than to listen to our orders. Got it?"

The civilian who had spoken looked at like he had a spike shoved up his ass. Perhaps someone had never dared to talk to the civilian council like that. However this person, whoever he was didn't acre and even assaulted one of their members. This meant that putting pressure on such persons was bound to backfire in a spectacular manner.

Sarutobi watched and listened as the civilian council exploded and then bickered back and forth, some for demanding for demoting the ANBU and some wanting to kill the ANBU for assaulting a council member. The Shinobi no Kami trying to keep his anger so as not to create more problems for the village and his patience was running thin.

Even for one of infinite patience like Sarutobi.

He'd never had to raise his voice before to get a point across. One does not attain the title 'God of Shinobi' by being loud and spontaneous. Ninja are calm, collected, silent, and deadly. All these things encompassed what Sarutobi stood for. What set him apart from the pack was his high level of intelligence. And that intelligence would grant him a successor and save the village in this war torn and chaos filled era and in future times. No one noticed as he rose from his seat, except for his two shadows.

"Enough. Be silent."

Perhaps it was his anger or the self-preservation senses of the people in the room as each and every one of them quieted immediately and even the ever lazy Nara Shikaku woke up and looked at him in complete silence and concentration. There was no sound made by anyone except for the cool breeze and the tempers running high. He thought back to the days when he had passed the hat to the Yondaime and after reminiscing about how much he had failed his successor. He turned his gaze back to the council.

"I have sat and listened to your nonsense long enough. This day I am ruling that your interference in the ninja matters will not be tolerated. As for your senseless laws and demands against Naruto Uzumaki, they will not be listened to or even thought about by the shinobi unless you have a damn good proof of his so called wrong doing. Also, your favouritism towards the Last Uchiha will cease from this day. I am not saying that you don't have do this by not helping him but you will treat all the Shinobi the same. If I hear more stupid demands, I will send you to Ibiki and Anko. Do you get it? The Yondaime did not want him to be treated like a pariah but rather like a hero. You all spit on the sacrifice of my late successor. He will not be used. He is a child of Konoha and he holds within him the most powerful of beasts. He deserves our respect above all."

A nameless council member, one of the civilians rose.

"But Lord Hokage, the Kyuubi could break free at any moment. Knowledge of the seal says that its soul is bound to the boy's and that upon the boy's death it will die with him. Would it not be best to kill him now and avoid any future issues?"

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the civilian and spoke in a level voice. "Naruto shall not be killed. His own life is a sacrifice. As I have told you time and again and you have still not managed to get it into your fear addled mind that the Yondaime chose him to hold the Kyuubi and he believed that his people would see this boy for what he is."

"And what is he?"

"A hero. A jinchuuriki. He is a living sacrifice and a living testament to a human's tenacious hold on life. I myself ensured that this boy serves Konoha. I might love the people of this village, but if the leaders or the those chosen by the people to be their leaders, themselves can't tell the difference between a harmless child and the most murderous of all demons then how can I trust the villagers to let him live a peaceful life?"

"Now then, I want to ask you all. Look upon your actions against Naruto and tell me where the malice is. Where is the unbridled hatred and rage that the Kyuubi exuded? Where is the fear that should be present in all of you if he were the Kyuubi?"

"But it could be a trick of the Kyuubi to lure us into false hope. It could be pretending to be harmless." Spoke another of them.

Sarutobi frowned and reined in his anger, "And how exactly is that Naruto different from any other children of his age? That boy was born into a cold, harsh world on the worst night of our village's history. For this, he was foolishly ostracized and hated whenever he was allowed to mingle amongst the villagers and I will not have that from now on. As I have told you again and again, I have ensured the boy has grown to be a ninja of exceptional quality. I have seen that he is pure of heart and loyal to the village."

"And how do you mean to ensure all that?" asked another of these fools and Sarutobi growled back in his throat at their pig headedness and foolish behaviour.

"Naruto is my chosen successor possibly or will be the Godaime. I will train him in the ways of a Hokage. He will lead the village when I step down or afterwards." He spoke sending whispers and mutterings all along the chamber.

After what seemed to be an eternity of arguments and counter arguments, the more moderate faction of the civilian council stood up and spoke to the Hokage,"Should the child ever prove dangerous, we, along with the rest of the civilian council, will not hesitate to bring him down. This we swear. The village must come before a man's wishes. Till then you have our support, Hokage –Sama." And this ended the entire argument.

Sarutobi nodded and all of them began to leave the chamber without another word or discussion. He had said his piece and all knew they were no longer needed. He knew what he had to do so did his ANBU.

"You know what you have to do. Get Mizuki and extract all priority information from him as you can after disabling him. Leave the rest for Ibiki. And Sorry for the mess I made for your early life. I hope you can forgive an old man for his mistakes." He spoke to the male ANBU who had defended him and the ANBU simply gave him a short bow in return to his query.

Sarutobi nodded to his escorts and then made a hand sign. All three of them vanished as if they were never there.

* * *

><p><strong>That's all folks... I am waiting for your reviews with eagerness... vishalddarkside signing out...<strong>


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