Like a Ninja

ps: I originally wanted to focus on Orochimaru in this chapter, but it went off track... and I ended up feeling down about it... so I'll just update once...

The evening class is with the counselor, so I need to go early to grab a seat... a seat in the back... that's why I'm posting early...

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The violent tremors and sounds spread in all directions. The examinees, scattered everywhere, all tilted their heads up, filled with surprise and uncertainty. > Yawen Bar＿ ．ｙ·ａ=ｗ=ｅ=ｎ=８．

"What's that noise?" The three black people from Kumogakure exchanged glances. They felt as if the ground had just trembled.

"Isn't that a bit much? Is it a fight?"

"Listening to the sound... it should be about 4 kilometers in the 7 o'clock direction..." The Sound Ninja Trio were still searching for Sasuke, completing the mission assigned by Orochimaru... to kill him.

There was no way they could have imagined that the terrifying Orochimaru they saw before them was currently surrounded by many powerful Konoha ninja, no weaker than himself, in a desperate situation.

Byakugan!

The veins around Neji's eyes bulged, and chakra surged into his eyes. He pushed his visual range to its limit in the single direction of the rumbling sound! His vision, with inverted black and white, rapidly flew forward. Closer, closer...

"That's..." Neji saw the "black" curtain wall of the Four Red Yang Formation, and outside the curtain wall stood Sasuke and Hinata. Both of them were looking motionlessly into the black curtain wall.

But Neji couldn't see clearly inside the curtain wall. He could only sense some shadowy human figures moving back and forth within the barrier, likely engaged in a fight.

"What's wrong, Neji?" "Did you see something?" Tenten and Rock Lee asked urgently.

Neji withdrew his gaze, deactivated his Byakugan, and said with closed eyes, "It's a barrier, a very powerful barrier. Sasuke and Hinata are standing outside the barrier... It's too far, and I can't see what's happening inside the barrier."

"Hinata?" "Sasuke?" Tenten and Rock Lee looked at each other.

Naruto Uzumaki, the newcomer they hadn't seen... was he inside the barrier? Neji thought to himself, opened his eyes, and said calmly, "Let's go. We need to get to the tower quickly, get the scroll, and prepare for the next exam."

Inside the tower were Gaara and his two companions, who had already passed the second exam.

Temari and Kankuro finished the food provided by Konoha and sat quietly resting. They had passed the exam too quickly, and there were still more than 4 days left for the exam period, so they had to stay here for the full 4 days...

Neither of them noticed the faint sound that had just come from outside.

Gaara leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, eyes closed, his fingers tapping restlessly on his arm.

That guy... I will kill him...

Gaara's killing intent surged within him.

[Hey! Brat!] Shukaku's voice suddenly rang out.

His finger stopped. Gaara coldly looked up, staring at the giant monster within his body with a blank expression: [What is it?]

[Didn't you feel it? The annoying chakra of that fox from before?] Shukaku grumbled. Compared to the Jinchuriki of that dead fox, his own Jinchuriki felt a level lower.

Gaara opened his eyes and quietly walked towards the exit outside.

"Where are you going, Gaara?" Temari and Kankuro immediately became nervous. Ever since they encountered that golden-haired brat from Konoha in the Forest of Death, Gaara's mental state had been unstable.

If he went berserk now, their plan with the Sound Ninja would be ruined.

Gaara was the most important combat power in this plan.

"If you babble any more, I'll kill you. Yawen 8 =．`ｙ·ａｗｅｎ８．" Gaara walked out the door without looking back, looking towards the forest. As expected... there was a fluctuation of a similar aura, was it that guy?

Mother, don't worry... I will make you taste that person's blood...

"This is..." Karin looked at Kushina, who was binding Naruto, with surprise. She looked at the Naruto shadow clone beside her for an explanation.

"Mom..." The Naruto shadow clone looked at the appearance of the main body with immense surprise. Then his brows gradually furrowed with anger. He gritted his teeth: "That bastard Orochimaru..."

Is that his mother? Yes, he said he was Naruto of the Uzumaki clan... is his mother also from the Uzumaki clan...

Karin thought this and inexplicably felt a sense of peace.

"I don't know where else to go... so I transferred here... You don't mind, do you... Mom..." The main body Naruto lowered his head and forced a smile.

Kushina lowered her eyes: "..." The chains that emerged from her back bound Naruto, restraining his power, especially the Nine-Tails' chakra within him. Moreover, she could clearly feel this restraining force continuously strengthening.

She smiled slightly and said softly, "Naruto... you've grown up..."

The main body Naruto, with his back to his mother, remained silent. The clone Naruto opposite Karin, enduring his sadness, forced a smile: "Mom, it's rare to meet... can we chat like a mother and son should?"

Crack! All the chains behind Kushina detached and bound the main body Naruto tightly, circle by circle. Kushina's body uncontrollably surged with a strong fighting tendency. She quickly formed hand seals, and a powerful auxiliary sealing jutsu was applied to Naruto's chains.

The chains tightened even more.

The main body Naruto's head lowered even further.

Karin was confused about the current situation. Weren't they mother and son? Why did it look like they were fighting? Were they arguing?

"Naruto, you learned Shadow Clone, you learned Rasengan, and you even learned your father's Flying Thunder God Technique..." Tears welled up in Kushina's eyes, but her hands uncontrollably condensed a ball of chakra!

"Mom is very happy! But..."

Rasengan! Kushina attacked the Naruto shadow clone.

Naruto stumbled and rolled to the side, narrowly dodging it. He gripped the ground tightly and begged, "Mom, I... I eat breakfast properly every day... Although I sometimes stay up late, it's unavoidable for training... I try to shower every day, but when I'm too tired from training, I really don't want to move..."

"I got along well with everyone too... Even though the textbook stuff was tough to get through, I really tried my best! I was always first in school... Mom, I finished the things you couldn't do... I listened to my teachers too, but Iruka-sensei can be really annoying sometimes..."

Kushina struck with a palm!

Naruto was sent flying, rolling a long distance on the ground.

"What in the world are you two doing?! Aren't you mother and son? What is going on!" Karin couldn't understand the current situation at all, but neither this mother nor son seemed to want to pay her any attention... This drove her absolutely crazy.

The clone Naruto pushed himself up from the ground. "Even though Pervy Sage likes to peek... he's a master I respect! Also, his novels taught me so much... And, I've seen Dad and you, Mom, inside my body..."

He wiped the corner of his mouth, suppressing his emotions, and forced a smile that looked worse than crying. "I'm so happy! Even though Dad and Mom are gone, they're still watching me! I truly feel so happy... I listened, my dream is to become Hokage, I want to become a ninja even more dashing than my dad! I work hard every day... I, I..."

"Stop talking!! You..." Kushina's palm hovered in mid-air, veins bulging on her forehead, her arm trembling violently in the air, struggling to control her attack...

"You..."

Tears streamed down her face, and she was already sobbing uncontrollably.

"Get up like a ninja, damn it!! Uzumaki Naruto!! You're the son of your father, the Fourth Hokage!! Didn't you want to become Hokage!! If so, fight like a Hokage, damn it!!!"

Kushina roared with all her might.

Naruto's shoulders, the original body, finally couldn't stop trembling. He raised his head that had been lowered all this time, his face already streaked with tears! His expression was like that of a helpless child!

"I... How could I possibly attack Mom!!!" he yelled, closing his eyes!

The attack command Orochimaru had issued during the Impure World Reincarnation forcefully controlled Kushina's body. Kushina's fist struck Naruto on the ground once again. She lifted the clone Naruto, staring intently at her son's azure eyes, which were just like her husband's. They were so beautiful, so worthy of her pride...

She growled in a low voice, "But I'm already dead! Don't you understand yet! Mom... I'm already a dead person!!"

Naruto's original body's face was contorted.

[Naruto! Your emotions are very unstable! Calm down! Was all your effort over these years in vain! Is your willpower really this weak! Where is your fortitude in the face of death! Do you want to be defeated by that bastard Orochimaru like this!]

The Nine-Tails within his body sensed Naruto's mental state. It was only now that it realized... the Naruto before it, and the Naruto it had recognized through "Future Naruto's" chakra within "his own" chakra, were ultimately two different people.

He was just a child.

Even though he tried hard to be strong, and he had almost succeeded, he still had a vulnerable side.

The reason he acted like a child in front of his parents and that version of himself... wasn't it simply because he really was still a child?

"So Naruto..." Kushina held the clone Naruto by the collar, and with her other hand, she gathered another Rasengan. Tears streamed down her face as she pleaded, "Please... don't... let Mom hurt you anymore... okay?"

"Aaaaaaaaah!!"

Naruto's original body finally couldn't hold back and roared up at the sky. A golden chakra like a storm surged around him, instantly shattering layers of chakra chains and seals.