The third fight was something Naruto was somewhat curious about. It wasn't a battle between incredibly strong people, rather, it was Ino and Sakura.
When the two stepped up, they gave each other a friendly smile
"I hope you haven't been slacking off" Ino giggled
"Of course not" Sakura replied
Naruto frowned a bit when he witnessed the two start using simply taijutsu against one another as Ino couldn't properly land her body swap jutsu, and Sakura didn't have any ninjutsus that she can use.
'Perhaps I need to train Ino'
[How perverted]
'...f**k! Not like that dammit!'
He felt that Ino was simply too weak at the moment, and though she isn't meant for actual combat, he still got worried at the thought that she could be in danger because she lacked the ability to defend herself.
"Sorry Sakura, but I can't let you win against me" Ino smiled as she suddenly slapped her palm onto Sakura's arm
"Mind body disturbance!"
Sakura felt her entire body stiffen instantly as Ino's chakra invaded her body.
"Hah!" With her restrained, Ino struck Sakura's back, knocking her to the ground.
"Winner, Ino Yamanaka"
Naruto lifted a brow
"That's interesting, I don't think she knew of that jutsu before" He muttered
"It's because of you" Shikamaru said lazily
"Hm?" Naruto turned over, confused
Shikamaru sighed, regretting having answered him as he had to explain now.
"After she stopped chasing after Sasuke, she decided to train harder to keep up with your efforts since you always seem so tired after training, so she had her dad teach her something more reliable" He said
"Oh" Naruto's eyes lit up, with Ino learning the mind body disturbance, it improves her roster of abilities drastically.
The next patch was Tenten against Temari, the oldest sibling of the three who came from the sand village. Kankuro being the second child, and as for the youngest brother...
Naruto shifted his gaze as he felt a strong killing intent land on him. A pair of cold eyes from a boy with short red hair.
[I feel the Ichibi's chakra from him, seems like he has my youngest brother sealed in him] Kurama said
'That's Gaara of the sand, he's sort of a crazy psycho at the moment because of the Ichibi, maybe we should have a talk with him'
[Maybe, it would be good to see him after all this time] Kurama nodded
'Aw, look at you being a big brother'
[Fufufu, I take pride in that]
The fight between Temari and Tenten wasn't exactly a fight, more like a one-sided windfall as Tenten could only throw weapons at her, whilst Temari simply waved her fan, instantly blowing away everything she could summon.
"Hm, pity that" Naruto sighed
The next fight however, turned out different to what he remembered. It was actually him against Hinata.
When he walked up, he saw the nervous girl facing him tremble.
"Nice to meet'ya" Naruto smiled as he reached out one hand
"A-Ah, s-s-same" She shook his hand hesitantly before getting into position
She turned her head right before it, and saw Ino throw her a wink, which made her instantly narrow her gaze.
'Is it just me or does she look more determined than usual?' Naruto wondered
He knew that Hinata liked the original Naruto, but he wasn't the original, and didn't want to step into her life like the original did.
"Begin!"
Naruto didn't hesitate, and instantly exploded forth with incredible speed. Hinata almost couldn't see him, if not for the byakugan allowing her to track him. However, even so, being able to keep up with her eyes didn't mean her body could keep up, as he flashed behind her, and chopped down on her neck.
'Plus side to this, at least she won't get beaten up by Neji later'
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki"
After Hinata was taken away, Naruto returned to his seat, and glanced towards Neji, who had a deep frown on his face.
"Don't like her?" Naruto asked
Neji clenched his fists
"More than that" He muttered
Naruto slumped an arm over his shoulders
"Buddy, how about we go have dinner after the prelims? My treat" Naruto grinned
It was a blatant attempt to change topics, but Neji smiled and nodded.
"Mind if I join" Ino hopped in an asked
"More than welcome" Naruto grinned
"Your treat" Ino added
"....on second thought, how about-"
Pfft
Ino laughed
"I know how poor you are, my treat today" Ino grinned, feeling very pleased that she passed the preliminary round.
"Phew"
The next round was a matchup he didn't expect either. It was actually Gaara against Choji, which made Naruto frown. Before Choji went up, Naruto grabbed his shoulders.
"Choji, I know the exam is very important to you...but please surrender when you go up" Naruto said in a low voice
Choji stared back at him, and saw his eyes filled with concern, so he understood something.
"Is there something wrong with him?" He asked
Naruto nodded
"More than that, there has been deaths during the second part, and all the deaths relate to him" Naruto replied
Choji's heart trembled, he knew that there had been a few deaths, but he didn't expect that all of it linked to Gaara. Seeing Naruto's expression, he nodded and decided to give up once he entered. Though the Chunin exam is important, could it be more important than his life?
When Gaara stepped up, he was prepared to kill as his craving to murder increased.
"Mother wants blood..." He muttered under his breath
'We definitely need to a talk with him' Naruto thought
[Most certainly] Kurama agreed
Gaara's killing intent soared, but the moment Choji gave up, his eyes widened as he gnashed his teeth. His murderous desires shot up, barely contained if not for the gazes of the jonins around.
The fight after this was Kiba against Neji. He put up a fight, but Akamaru and him were unable to land a good hit on Neji before they were taken out.
The last fight was Lee against Misumi, whilst Shikamaru was able to move up due to the odd number of participants.
"Begin"
Misumi could hardly react when Lee began overwhelming him with his taijutsu. Initially, he thought he could win with ease as his jutsu allows his body to become soft and flexible.
But he was very wrong, as the force behind Lee's kicks and punches were beyond his expectation. Although he could only use taijutsu, the immense training he has obtained has pushed him beyond the limits, allowing him to overwhelm Misumi with ease.
It wasn't long before his bones were broken by the kicks from Lee, as it contained not just the force of his attacks, but also held the weights of the training weights on his leg.
Each impact was like getting hit by a boulder!
"Winner, Rock Lee"
With this, the preliminaries were over, and the genins got two months break before the finals take place. Like he promised, he treated Neji to a meal along with Ino and Lee. After eating, they separated, and Naruto went back to study seals.
-A few days later-
"Done, now I just need a test subject" Naruto chuckled to himself
After a few days of testing, he understood everything that Kushina has left him. Perhaps it's because he has the Uzumaki bloodline, or perhaps because of his past life's knowledge and skills to analyse. Perhaps both, but he grasped the key to the guide, and began experimenting with seals that he thought up himself.
He glanced at the fox in his mind scape, then shook his head
'Too fat, the seal won't work well'
[Brat, what'd you say about me!]
'You're very handsome and fit'
[Humph]
He decided that he didn't necessarily need to use a living being, so he took a rock, and threw it at the seal.
*Bang*
Ropes emerged and wrapped the rock up tightly, if it was a human, it would bind them in a very specific way. After that, another seal activated above it, which is supposed to seal off chakra.
It was a simple trap, but the effectiveness was rather good.
He fiddled a bit more with the seal before throwing another rock at it. This time, the rock was instantly bound up, before puffing into a coin.
"Seems like the sealing jutsu worked" He nodded in satisfaction
But his experiments didn't end there, he continued to make the seals more and more complex, to the point that if Kushina was here, she'd be stunned as his progress was more than just fast.
It was monstrous! Who has seen anyone learn about seals in just a few days!? Even with her guide, she would have expected at least a few months!
*Bang*
He heard something at his front door and ran over in a hurry, seeing a rather...unexpected sight...
He didn't think there'd be a day where Orochimaru is tied up in his house in the reverse shrimp knot...
"Um...how are you?" Naruto coughed
"I'd be much better if you let me down" Orochimaru replied
Naruto's ears perked up
"Let you down? Wait, can you get out?" He asked
"I can if I forced it, but it seems you have quite the peculiar sealing jutsu, my chakra is sealed away" He replied
"Interesting, so this thing can even hold back one of the three sannins for a short period of time" He rubbed his chin and grinned
"Let me down already" Orochimaru snapped
"Oh, right" He snapped his fingers, and the seals were undone, releasing the pale man.
Orochimaru looked around, and narrowed his gaze...why can't he see any seals anywhere? He took a step forward, but was suddenly stopped by Naruto.
"Wait, there's another seal there, um...one sec" He snapped his fingers and deactivated all the seals in the room for a moment so Orochimaru could enter.
And after he deactivated them he caught a glimpse of the seals...there were hundreds of them in this small room! How is he supposed to feel safe now that he knew there were that many!
He no longer felt safe...if Naruto were to activate the seals while he was inside...wouldn't he be trapped in this room???
"Come in" Naruto invited
"N-No thanks" Orochimaru coughed, he couldn't even sense where the seals were!
Just one had him bound and sealed his chakra, he couldn't fathom what the hundreds would do if they all activated...
[Think you scared him]
'Did I?'
[You did]
In the end, Naruto had to drag Orochimaru into his house, and promise not to activate the seals while he was inside...
[Kid, why are your fingers crossed]
'No reason'
[...]
When they entered, the first thing Naruto did was activate all the seals again without Orochimaru's notice. When he deactivated them, he intentionally showed Orochimaru the amount to warn him.
He still cannot fully trust this man with his personal safety at the moment, so the best he could do was show that he has a way to threaten him.
"So, why are you here?" Naruto asked
"To see if you are willing to help with a plan of mine" He replied
Naruto sighed
"If you're going to kill Hiruzen, then I can't let it just happen" He replied
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes
"Is this how our cooperation falls through then?" He asked in a low voice
"Nah, I mean, why do you want to kill him? Oh wait, nevermind, I know" Naruto sighed as he leaned back
"Damn, you hate Konoha, and the old man, while I live here..."
"You can always just join me" Orochimaru said
"That'll be a no...hm, how about I have you become the fifth Hokage" Naruto snapped his fingers and asked
"...are you messing with me?" Orochimaru sneered, after the feeling of betrayal Hiruzen left him by picking Minato, his resentment towards the village wasn't shallow.
"Tch, jeez, what then?"
"I want to kill the old man" Orochimaru snarled
"..." Naruto sighed, but if he had to pick...
He threw a scroll over to Orochimary, who was confused and opened it up.
"There are two shinobis inside, Zabuza, the demon of the mist, and Haku, his so called weapon, I used a specialised poison to halt their body's motor functions so they are in a false death state, I have nowhere to keep them at the moment except this scroll, so I'll leave them in your care, don't do any experiments on them" He said
"And why are you giving them to me?" Orochimaru asked
"Take care of em, on the day you attack, I'll be elsewhere, I won't be able to help you, but I will try my best to not interfere with anything" He replied
His response was a little disappointing, but since he will not intervene either, it wasn't all bad, at least they won't fall out completely.
"Also, take this" He threw something else over, a talisman that had a strange seal drawn on it.
"What is this"
"A gift"
Orochimaru stared at it for a bit, and...
*Swoosh*
The seal suddenly lit up, and Orochimaru was suddenly covered in a white smoke. He waved his hand and cleared it, but sensed that nothing happened.
No, something did happen, he felt some extra weights around his chest...
"Bwahahahaha! It worked!" Naruto was suddenly rolling around on the floor as he held his stomach
He looked down, and...what are these two mounds on his chest!?
"Naruto! What did you do!" He roared, but even his voice has become high pitched
Naruto controlled his laughter and sat up
"Don't worry, it's temporary, why are you angry anyway? You dress up like a woman all the time, not to mention, you look pretty good" His lips were still twitching upwards as he stopped himself from laughing.
'I need to use this on the others at some point, this is too funny' His first thought was actually Neji, the usually stoic and expressionless one.
He couldn't help but wonder what he would look like. He has considered Sasuke, but he was scared that Ino would misunderstand and think he wants to turn Sasuke into a girl for his own desires.
Orochimaru was in disbelief, he has never heard of a seal that would force someone else to turn into a woman before. One one hand, he was amazed, on the other, he was gnashing his teeth and seethed in anger for this humuliation...
"Well, see you next time, hope your plan works out" Naruto waved
"Do you not care?" Orochimaru controlled his anger and asked
"The old man? I do care, however, I also need to think of benefits" Naruto smiled
If one is to ask whether he cared or not, he did care as Hiruzen is similar to a grandfather to Naruto, and has done his best to help him despite Danzo's constant interferences. But just because he promised to not intervene, it doesn't mean he wouldn't, after all, the person on the other side is the least trust worthy person he knows at the moment.
"I see...if you ever feel this village cannot contain you, I will always welcome you with open arms" Orochimaru said
"Hahaha, maybe in the future, until then, take care...and if you can, tell Danzo to stop spying on me before I decide to send a beast bomb at his hideout" Naruto added near the end with a cold tone
Orochimaru frowned
"So he's still after the nine tails huh? Well, I no longer have contact with him, but I can get rid of the ones spying on you"
"If you can't contact him, then there is no need...I'll do it my way" Naruto replied
"I see...I'll leave this to you then, this is the entrances to his hideout" Orochimaru muttered and left the room, but before leaving, he left a note on the table
Naruto picked up the note and his eyes flickered with interest
"Interesting...I'll need to pay his lair a visit when I can" He licked his lips and said
He tucked the note away and stretched
"Well, time to improve my seals" He had thoughts of working on the jutsus that Minato has left him, but after some contemplation, he needed more versatility, which is exactly what the seals have.
Not to mention, he has Kurama's chakra, which can make up for lots of things attack related.
'But I guess the rasengan would be good to learn' He rubbed his chin, but decided to continue working on seals for now.
The fact that he was able to hold down Orochimaru with his seals meant that they hold greater potential with him compared to what the rasengan can do at the moment.
It wasn't until a few days later when Naruto was called to the Hokage's office that he stopped his research, which made him more than annoyed as he was still working on improving his seals.
"What is it" He yawned
He looked around, and saw a man with white spiky hair, and wears geta.
"This is Jiraiya, one of the three sannins" Hiruzen said
"Mn, o~kay, and let me pretend for a second that I care...why am I here?" Naruto asked with a sigh
"Well..." The two didn't expect him to act this way, but tried their best to maintain a smile
"I have requested Jiraiya to guide you in-"
"One sec, isn't this the old man who I saw peeking into the girl's bath house from my window? I see him quite frequently the past few days just by looking out the window" Naruto interjected and asked
"..."
Hiruzen threw a glare at Jiraiya, who laughed awkwardly with his hand behind his head
"It's not peeking, it is research! Get it right" Jiraiya coughed
"Mn, su~re, and pray tell, what will this old perv teach me?" Naruto asked
"Oi oi oi, drop the old perv part"
"Sure, so, pray tell, what will this above average aged horn dog teach me?" Naruto nodded and asked once more
"..."
Jiraiya pinched between his brows, he just can't win, can he? He let out a groan as he walked over and placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders.
"Naruto, listen, there is something within, a dangerous beast, my training is to help you maintain control if you were to ever lose control of it" He said in a serious tone
His gaze was firm, with no hint of lies, however...
"Yeah, I know, the old man behind you probably already knows that I can use a small amount of its chakra already" Naruto said as he pointed at Hiruzen
"..." Jiraiya turned to Hiruzen with a blank face, in which he coughed and...nodded
"Well, Kakashi has informed me of that, yes" He said as he shifted his gaze aside...
Jiraiya suddenly felt like an idiot, why was he even here then!
"Wh-Why do you even know how to use its chakra!?" Jiraiya gasped
"Just cause" He shrugged
"Th-Then, do you feel any discomfort when you do it? Do you feel negative emotions? Rage? Any of that?" He asked
"Nah"
"...dammit, sensei, why am I here then!" Jiraiya yelled as he turned to Hiruzen
Hiruzen coughed
"Well, initially, I wanted you to teach him about chakra control and possibly the summoning jutsu, but you went ahead and started talking about the kyuubi" He replied
Jiraiya felt like fainting, why didn't he inform him beforehand then!?
Naruto nodded as he tapped the table
"Sure, the summoning jutsu sounds interesting, at least this won't be a complete waste of time, also, Hokage-sama, I left a gift for you" Naruto said
"Oi wait, what do you mean complete waste of time!" Jiraiya flared up
Hiruzen chuckled
"What gift?" He asked
Naruto grinned with a devilish smile as he suddenly snapped his finger
"Hm?"
Hiruzen suddenly saw a seal on his table that started glowing, and before he knew it...
*Poof*
"..."
"NARUTO!!!!!!"
*Crash*
Naruto already jumped through the window as he laughed maniacally, whilst Hiruzen was fuming as he stood up.
Jiraiya stared at Hiruzen in disbelief
*Urgh*
He covered his mouth and almost threw up in that instant...Hiruzen became a woman!? But that wasn't the worst part, he looked like he was in drags! Damn! He wished he could dig out his own eyes at that very moment!
*Poof*
The jutsu wore off quite quickly, only for a few minutes, but Hiruzen was most shocked by the fact that he couldn't dispel it during the few minutes!
"That kid...when did he become so proficient in seals? Could it be his Uzumaki blood?" Hiruzen muttered, if so, then Konoha just gained a future seal master.
His mood lightened a bit, but at the thought of him becoming a woman, in front of Jiraiya no less, made him feel extremely foul...
"Uh, s-sensei, I'll be leaving to catch up with him now" Jiraiya coughed
"You-Saw-Nothing! Got it?" Hiruzen growled at him
"Yes sensei!"
With that, Jiraiya ran off the chase Naruto, leaving Hiruzen sighing to himself as he drowned in deep confliction...