Naruto was drenched in sweat and panting heavily. His clothes torn and the body cut on multiple places. His limbs were getting heavier by every minute. Still, he forced himself to stay focused despite the pain his body was feeling.

"Do you think that such slow use of earth wall jutsu will save you from me, rookie?" An Iwagakure Chunin ranked as a B-class threat by Konoha asked Naruto in amusement after kicking him in a tree trunk.

Naruto knew that his opponent was taunting him. She had already used his temper multiple time to hurt him. Still, he was reacting on every taunt the kunoichi hurled at him. Deep breathing, telling himself to calm down, even minorly hurting himself didn't help him control his impulses.

Kyuubi was making the matter even worse for him. He knew that Kyuubi always tried to make him use its chakra because if he lost control, then Kyuubi could take over his body. Jiraya, Tsunade and even Kakahi had always told him this. That was why he regularly tried to defeat his enemies by his strength and only using Kyuubi's chakra as a last resort.

So he again forced his body to get up. He took the last remaining kunai out of his weapon pouch and got into a defensive stance.

"You're a very impressive brat. Even though your arsenal of ninjutsu is trash and you struggle against genjutsu, you still forced me in such a long battle. But, you chose the wrong ninja professing given your strength". The kunoichi told Naruto before taking out a tanto and getting into her offensive stance.

For a while, she observed the rookie hunter-nin from Konoha. She still didn't understand why the boy in front of her, was classified as a B-class threat. He even had an A-class bounty placed on his head by Iwagakure.

She wanted to see how capable of a ninja her target was, so she followed him as he targeted a C-class Kumo ninja. What she found out was that the boy was sensible and always went for the kill. He never gave his opponent time to breathe much less talk to him.

The peculiar thing about her target was that he had been hunting low-to-mid C-class threats for the past six months. He also never failed to kill his chosen targets. The result was that he successfully killed 7 ninjas Konoha considered as threats.

She understood why Iwagakure considered this boy a threat. He was practical, sensible, and despite his lack of strength, he was still able to deal with ninjas stronger than him. So not wasting any time, she went in for the kill.

(A week later in Konoha)

Kiba was running towards the Hyuuga compound to find Hinata. An hour ago, he heard his mother talk to Shikamaru's father about how Naruto ran away from a battle during one of his hunter-nin missions two weeks ago and had been practising maniacally since then.

He knew his teammate had a massive crush on Naruto for some reasons for a long time. Still, she never tried to act on her feelings because she was extremely shy and timid.

But now she had a chance. Naruto had got past his obsession with Sakura and currently had no real friends. He knew if she couldn't get his attention now, she would probably never get it. He, Shino and Kurenai-sensei could help her get back on track if Naruto rejected her feelings or their relationship didn't work out, but he didn't want her to regret never even acting on her feelings.

(A few days ago in Iwagakure)

Ohnoki was waiting for Han and Roshi in his office. The old Tsuchikage was nearing his late eighties and hated the fact that he still hasn't found his successor. Compared to them, their hated enemy even found themselves a fifth leader in Tsunade. He knew he couldn't last much longer and his body was showing its age. His joints hurt, his strength was waning, and his body was too old to handle such a demanding job.

His chosen successor died at Kannabi Bridge at the hands of Yondime Hokage Namikaze Minato. Roshi never wanted the position, and Han was just not suitable for being a leader of an organisation as big as Iwagakure.

Now everyone in Iwa, including him, was waiting for his granddaughter Kurotsuchi to grow up. She was a prodigy in ninjutsu and had even started mastering her Kekkei Genkai of lava style ninjutsu under the guidance of Roshi. She had a calculative mind and possessed the ruthlessness to handle such a big organisation.

Still, her life was in constant danger. All the major hidden villages except for Suna were continuously trying to assassinate her. Konoha used their ROOT ANBU, Kiri used their hunter-nin, and Kumo just hired elite rogue mercenaries to try to get rid of her. That was why he let Roshi train her. Though he seems to torture her in the name of training, the results were great. Also, with him as her bodyguard, very few people tried to hurt her.

Kurotsuchi became a jonin at 15. She completed many solo A-class missions and was now learning to tackle S-class missions under the guidance of Roshi. Currently, she was the youngest A-class ninja in the history of the hidden village system at 18.

"Why are we here, old man?" Han asked Ohnoki in annoyance.

He was enjoying his hobby of creating weapons and armours when the ANBU knocked on his door and told him that Ohnoki requested his presence in his office to annoy him. So, he had to postpone completing the katana which he had been working for the last two weeks.

"Konoha's Jichuuriki has started moving to gain experience". Ohnoki told the duo, and they immediately got interested.

"How are they training that brat?" Han asked Ohnoki.

"Rather than saying Konoha is training Uzumaki Naruto, it is better to say, Konoha is forcing Uzumaki Naruto to survive at all costs". Ohnoki answered with a troubled face.

"What's the difference?" Han questioned.

"Unlike every other ninja village, Konoha hasn't trained their jinchuuriki as a weapon of war. He is weak, impulsive and hot-headed. Still, his battle instincts are very scary. He uses these instincts to get the most out of his little arsenal of ninja skills. He is even causing troubles to ninjas more powerful than him.

When he faces a weak opponent, he kills. When he encounters an enemy way beyond his league, he runs away. When his enemy is just a little more powerful than him, he confronts them in a battle of attrition and identifies areas where he could improve himself. That is while completing solo missions and gaining valuable combat experience.

Recently, I sent a B-ranked hunter-nin to assess him, since Danzo and his army always keep an eye on that boy when he does his solo hunter-nin missions. She dominated the entire battle, but he threw multiple smoke bomb laced with pepper and itching powder at her to slow her down before running away". Ohnoki told the duo.

"What is Konoha's view of the boy?" Roshi questioned.

"A large per cent of the adult population hates him. A minority consisting of high ranking ninjas either act neutral towards him or favour him. The kids of his generation remain impartial towards him. Their council wants the boy under their thumb. On the other hand, Tsunade and Jiraya let the boy run wild as long as he takes care of himself and doesn't try to hurt Konoha in any manner. So what do you both think?"

Ohnoki explained Konoha's stance on their jinchuuriki to the Iwa jinchuuriki duo.

"Eliminate the boy before he forms any real attachment to Konoha or else he will become their pillar of support for a long time. Also, if he is a few of the last remaining Uzumaki then, Konoha could even gain a pillar of support for the next at least the next 150 years if he doesn't die". Roshi told Ohnoki.

"You're worrying far too much Roshi-sensei". Han told his mentor.

"The boy is talented Han. If we let him grow, in the environment Konoha has provided him then, he will become another Killer Bee. Maybe less eccentric and powerful than him, but a huge menace for the future". Roshi explained to his student.

"You both are worrying too much about a single kid who has not even become a Chunin". Han told them.

"This is Konoha's way of training their forces, Han. They have never focused on innately talented people to turn them into their elites like us. They let their ninjas do whatever they want. As long as one shows a willingness to improve themselves and loyalty to Konoha, they slowly arm them with skills and techniques protected by Konoha and carefully nudge them to turn them into their elites.

That was a system created by Uchiha Madara for strengthening Konoha overtime before he went rogue. For this arrangement to operate, there are a demand extremely good scouts to determine talent within their organisation. That is where Nara and Yamanaka Clan show their true worth.

Nara's record and analyse every Konoha ninja's performance while considering the ninja's attitudes in the highest regard. Once they find candidates they think are suitable for development, they send them to the Yamanaka clan for a mental evaluation.

Though the Yamanaka Clan is extremely busy all year round with them being interrogators, providing psychotherapy to whose who need it, and developing their poison industry; the mental evaluation of the candidates sent to them is the highest priority of the clan.

Once the candidate passes the psych test, they become Konoha's highest priority. They receive the hardest and most well paying missions after ANBU. They get the chance to learn skills and techniques prized and protected by Konoha under its current practitioner. Among these, those who survive generally reach A-class at minimum. The last person who survived this process became the Fourth Hokage Hokage.

Now Tsunade and Jiraya are taking a huge gamble and training the boy who has never once passed the Yamanaka psych test since childhood despite the council's fears.

He already has a contract with Jiraya's Toads. He knows Shadow Clone jutsu and Rasengan. Maito Gai taught him the Eight Inner Gates technique recently. Tsunade's apprentice is overseeing his chakra control development while educating him about basic medicine. His original Jonin-Sensei Hatake Kakashi has never taught the boy anything but basics, and I don't think a man like him won't see the boy's potential in ninjutsu and leave that potential to rot.

Now, do you see it, Han? Konoha has already placed their bets on the boy even though they are unsure because Tsunade and Jiraya believe in that boy. If Konoha wins this bet, they will have a force like Killer Bee supporting them, but if they lose, that boy will become their biggest nightmare.

We can't sit back and wait for Konoha to lose this bet because if they somehow win this bet, everyone will get screwed because Konoha will get back their deterrent to support their strong core".

Roshi explained to his students while Ohnoki was marvelling at Han's dense nature. The man was a beast when it came to combat. He even forced Killer Bee to fight him on the backfoot when they were both not using Bijuu chakra. Still, his carefree attitude and straightforward nature always made it seem like he was a samurai and not a ninja.

"This is the reason I'm going to issue a bounty of 40 million on his head and reveal his status of being a Jinchuuriki to the entire world. Let's see how far Uzumaki Naruto will go when the world is out to hunt him". Ohnoki told two of his most trusted subordinates with a malicious smile gracing his face.

(Hyuuga Compound)

Kiba entered Hinata's room without permission to see if she was okay or not. He had been calling her for the last ten minutes, but she was not responding.

Upon entering the room, he found her standing in front of her open closet, staring at a torn orange muffler without noticing anything around her.

"Hinata. Your chance has come. I think you should tell Naruto how you feel about him".

As soon as Kiba said that to Hinata, he saw her crying silently as she showed her face to him.

For a while, both observed each other before Kiba turned very angry.

"It's your sister, isn't it? Has she been bullying you again?" Kiba asked Hinata in a cold voice full of anger.

Hinata didn't say a word to her teammate and just handed him a paper.

At first, he didn't understand what was going on when Hinata handed him the sheet of paper, but as he read it, his mood took a turn for worse.

Name- Uzumaki Naruto

Affiliation- Konohagakure

Rank- Genin

Threat level- A

Bounty- 40,000,000

Speciality- Jinchuuriki

Wanted- Dead