A/N: This chapter contains what is, by far, the longest fight I have ever written, and I'm not really too sure about how it turned out, so be sure to leave me a review when you're done, enjoy!

Blood of the Demon King 4

The next morning found Naruto with his two lovers standing before Tsunade, Shizune and the entire Konoha 12 and their sensei, excluding of course Sasuke, who was still in the hospital despite his protests that he should be allowed to participate in the match. They had all arrived early and, for the most part, were engaged in friendly conversations, catching up after having not seen each other for so long. The only exceptions were Ino, who looked to be fuming over what he had done to her husband, Sakura, who couldn't bring herself to look in the eyes of her former teammate after what she had done to him and some creepy pale guy that Naruto had never seen before.

The conversations quickly ceased when the village council arrived, Danzo and the elders leading them with an air of absolute confidence and smugness that left Naruto caught between laughing and growling.

"I'm surprised you actually showed up Namikaze-san." The crippled veteran sneered, drawing laughter from everyone that knew Naruto.

"Did you lose your brain with that eye, hop-a-long? My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I have never backed down from a fight in my life, regardless of the odds. Why would I start today when there is so much on the line?" the red cloaked shinobi replied, causing the man to narrow his visible eye.

"You insolent little de-"

"That's enough." Tsunade interrupted, silencing the old man instantly. "We didn't come here today to talk, we came for a battle. Now, the match will be conducted under the standard chuunin exam rules. That means anything goes, however I will be acting as referee and if I step in, you will stop immediately, is that understood?" the blonde Hokage asked, getting nods from all the participants. "Okay, we will be starting in a moment, so everyone not a part of the fight, please leave the arena floor now." she continued, getting nods from the council and Shizune, Akai and Tayuya, who then proceeded towards the stands, the three ladies each wishing Naruto luck, though two of them knew he wouldn't need it. Once the floor was cleared of everyone but the competitors, Tsunade turned back to them, as they had now taken up lines, or rather one line of 14 facing the confident looking Naruto.

"Everyone ready?" she asked, getting silent nods from everyone as they put their business faces on. "Begin!" she called, leaping back to a safe distance.

"Wow this is pretty nostalgic, hey guys? Shame Sasugay couldn't make it though, he's so much fun to whoop." Naruto laughed, getting an outraged cry from Ino.

"Don't you dare call him that demon scum! I'll kill you for what you did to him!" she yelled as she charged towards him, pulling a kunai from her pouch as she did. Naruto easily caught her wrist and gave it a hard squeeze, shattering the bones and forcing her to drop the weapon. She let loose an agonized scream, but was cut off when Naruto delivered a simple chop to her neck, knocking her out instantly before he tossed her casually to Tsunade, who caught her limp form and passed her to the medical team she had ordered on standby.

"Well now that that has been dealt with, we can start the actual fight, who wa-"

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba yelled as he and his transformed partner charged, becoming spiraling tornadoes. Naruto smirked as he pulled on his blood, forming his cloak, mask and other superfluous clothes into a barrier. Most of the younger ninja were forced to look away as the two jutsu sent up a large cloud of dust and debris. After a few moments, it cleared to reveal two feral Kiba's standing in front of the unmarred wall of blood.

"Again Akamaru!" one of them called before they charged again with the same result, this time though, they continued their assault, striking the wall repeatedly in an attempt to pierce the powerful defense. After more than a dozen attacks, the wall seemed to have been broken as one of the cyclones began to tunnel through, it was revealed to be a trap however, when the hole collapsed around the spinning form, quickly putting a stop to the rotations as it began to constrict, revealing a desperately struggling Kiba trying to escape the increasing pressure of the bloody restraint. The other Kiba stopped its attack and ran to his trapped partner's aid, barking loudly and revealing that the captured one was the genuine article.

Naruto smirked as he gestured with his hands, guiding his blood as it began to change shape, shifting from the solid wall into two separate portions, one quickly swallowing the flailing Kiba, and the other pouncing on the distressed Akamaru-Kiba, consuming it in a matching crimson sphere.

Having no desire to kill the boy or his companion, Naruto made another motion with his hands, causing the blood prisons to spin rapidly before suddenly liquefying, sending their prisoners flying into the arena walls at tremendous speed, rendering both unconscious but without serious injury.

"Kiba-kun!" the distraught Hinata cried as she ran to their sides, accompanied by Sakura, who, to Naruto's surprise, began using medical jutsu to tend to her wounded comrade.

Naruto looked over to Tsunade questioningly, but the blonde woman shook her head. "Not me. Soon after you left, she started volunteering at the hospital, claiming she was eager be of value to her village. Apparently she is quite good, but it's not really surprising since she has apparently always had perfect chakra control." The Hokage explained, getting a nod from the younger man.

Naruto started to reply but stopped when he found that he was unable to move his body. Shifting his eyes, which were pretty much the only thing he could move, he was able to see Shikamaru standing with his hands held in his family's seal, his shadow stretched along the ground till it met with the blonde demon's.

"Kagemane success. And with your body frozen, you can't use that blood shield of yours. Chouji, you're turn." He strained his eyes further and managed to make out the chunky form of the shadow user's best friend standing next to him and preparing a jutsu of some kind. The blonde demon, despite all of the things he had seen and done during his bizarre life, was still somewhat put off when the Akimichi's arms suddenly grew tremendously and swept towards his immobile form. Had he been pretty much anyone else, this may have troubled or even worried him, but Naruto had a few tricks of his own. In the space of barely a second, his blood wall had diverted from where it was after having thrown the two canine opponents and reformed, intercepting the chubby shinobi's attack and catching his hands.

Naruto let out a closed mouth chuckle as he saw the shocked expression on everyone's faces.

"B-but how?" Shikamaru muttered, shocked that not only did he not have to gesture to control his blood, but also that it had the brute force to stop Chouji's Bubun Baika no Jutsu.

His time for considering these new revelations was cut short however, as the blood wrapped tightly around his friend's hands and forearms, before actually picking him up with ease, despite the impressive increase the technique gave to his total mass.

"Chouji, cancel the technique!" the genius shinobi yelled, but it was too late, before anyone had the chance to properly react, the blood casually tossed the misshapen chuunin, sending him careening into his friend and forcing both of them to release their jutsu.

"Man, that is a weird feeling, not having control of your body." Naruto declared with a shudder. "Lucky I don't have to do anything to control my blood, eh guys?" he taunted rhetorically.

His joking ended quickly as he felt a release of chakra and turned to see a large cloud of weapons, bugs and what looked like 3D drawings. He quirked an eyebrow at the strange combination before everyone lost sight of him as the wave-like attack overcame him, kicking up a rather significant amount of dust as a result of the impact.

For a few moments, everything went silent, but it wasn't to last as there was suddenly a deafening roar and a release of chakra pressure that brought many of the audience and participants to their knees. The torrent of chakra blasted away the dust cloud, revealing Naruto, or at least, what most of them assumed was Naruto. For crouching where the blonde had been, was now what could only be described as a monster or demon.

It was huge, easily more than 6 and a half feet tall and its broad, muscular build put even Gai's to shame. Its general shape was that of a human's, with a few differences. Its hands, for instance, rather than having blunt, human fingers, had 2 inch claws growing from the end of each digit. Its head had no ears or nose and its eyes were more like flat, white, ovals than eyes in the traditional sense. The most terrifying thing though, was its mouth. Whereas an average human mouth would struggle to fit the fist of an adult man, this mouth looked like it could fit his entire head. The impressive gape was only made more horrifying by the presence of dozens of razor sharp teeth, that could only find rivals in the mouths of prehistoric carnivores. Just when its mouth seemed to be out of tricks, a long, round tongue lashed out freely, literally dripping with what looked more like venom of some kind, than regular saliva.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Tsunade stuttered, shocked by the transformation despite the description she received during his debriefing.

"Hai Kaa-san. Damn it feels good to be back in my true form." He declared, standing to his full height and rolling his joints like they were stiff.

"Run, he's let the Kyuubi have control!" the only conscious member of the civilian council screamed hysterically, drawing hearty laughter from both Naruto and his girlfriends, one of whom was literally drooling as she looked at her mate's demon form.

"Do I look like the Kyuubi, you pathetic little worm?" Naruto taunted.

"What...what the hell happened to you Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, having finally managed to move his chubby friend's body off his and stand up.

"16 years ago the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked this village, everyone knows this. What most people our age don't know, is that a higher demon, like the Kyuubi cannot be killed by humans, so the Yondaime did the next best thing, he sealed her into his newborn son, me." He explained, getting shocked looks from most of those present, though Shino, Neji and Shikamaru didn't seem as surprised as the rest.

"But as you said, you don't look like the Kyuubi, so what is that?" Shino asked.

"A little while after I left, I was in a particularly nasty battle with some S-rank missing nin. I managed to catch one of them by surprise with my blood technique, but the other one completely destroyed me, in the end I only survived because one of his techniques backfired and the Kyuubi was able to save me." This drew more shocked gasps and expressions of disbelief at the thought of a demon doing anything helpful, which caused Akai to mutter under her breath about stupid judgmental humans.

"After that, me and the Kyuubi actually started to become friends, and eventually...more." This drew even more gasps and even some cries of outrage from the council.

"Does that mean you're gay?" Tenten asked, causing the massive red demon before her to face-vault, a unique image to say the least.

"No! Akai-chan is a woman!" he yelled, causing everyone to look at the woman that had been introduced earlier as Akai. Said woman grinned foxily and waved, causing many of those present to also face-vault.

"Are you saying that she is the Kyuubi?" Shikamaru asked, getting a nod from both Naruto and Akai. "But how is she outside of the seal?" he asked, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow...or at least he would if he had them in this form.

"That's your question? Not, 'Why isn't she a gigantic fox?' or 'Why isn't she eating puppies and terrorizing children?'"

"Hey, I only did that a few times when I was really hungry, and you know damn well those bastard children started it!" the redheaded demoness shouted defensively, causing those who had only just recovered to face-vault again.

"Well it's obvious that both you and her a more than powerful enough to do whatever the hell you want, and since you haven't done anything overtly threatening yet, it's only fair to assume that you don't mean us any particular harm. And since you've apparently just changed forms, it's not much of a stretch to assume she can too."

"Riiiight. Well uh, that's the next part of the story. After we had been together for a while, I decided that I should see if I could release her, so I ripped off the seal. Basically, it didn't go as planned and the influx of demonic chakra activated an ancient demonic heritage, which transformed me into a full demon. Apparently I'm descended from demon royalty." Naruto explained with a shrug and an innocent expression, which just looked freaky when displayed on his demonic features.

"Does that mean you're like a prince or something?" Lee asked, seeming more excited than surprised about all that had been revealed.

Naruto tilted his head to the side and looked at Akai. "I've never really thought about it, Akai-chan?"

The foxy woman struck a thinking pose for a few moments before shrugging. "I guess so. I never thought about it either, but you are descended from the demon king, so I guess that does technically make you a prince. Look at that, I'm dating a prince! And ma said I would never amount to anything, I'm glad I ate that preachy bitch."

After a few moments of awkward silence where everyone stared at the strange demoness, who was doing what was apparently a victory dance, Tsunade cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention.

"As much as this little pause has been...enlightening, there is still a match going on and some of us have other things planned for today, so if you wouldn't mind continuing, that'd be great." She declared, getting sheepish looks from the participants, though Naruto's looked more like a mortifying scowl.

Without further ado, the battle resumed, with Tenten, Shino and Sai sending another combination attack at their foe, though this time it went very differently.

As soon as the barrage was launched, Naruto slipped into a crouch, similar to the position a sprinter takes before the start of a race, with both hands on the ground and one leg extended behind him. Once he was into position, more than a dozen whip-like appendages grew from his back, each ending with a 12 inch curved and serrated blade. The new 'limbs' were only stationary for a moment, before they all extended away from his body, moving faster than most could follow, they began to tear apart the incoming attack, deflecting Tenten's projectiles and slaughtering Sai's ink beasts. Shino tried to command his Kikai to attack the connecting parts of the appendages, but the bugs refused to go near them, having quickly learned that the demonic chakra was fatally toxic to their systems. After only a few moments the attack was defeated, as all of Sai's creatures were killed, all of Tenten's weapons were harmlessly batted away and Shino was forced to recall his rebelling colony.

"So this is the defensive mode he's been working on, eh?" Tayuya asked, getting a nod from Akai, who had guessed the same, neither of them having seen this strategy before.

"Of course, with his healing he could have just let the attacks hit him and he wouldn't have been much worse off." The demoness stated, making Tayuya snort and shake her head.

"So he's just showing off again. Typical. It just goes to show that, whether demon or human, all men are the same."

"Maybe in some ways, but there are defiantly differences. Think about the Uchiha, are you suggesting he is the same as Naru-kun?" This quickly made the younger woman's eyes widen.

"Oh Kami no! That little shit stain is nothing like Naru-kun!" she declared, getting an agreeing chuckle from her female lover.

Things remained active back in the battleground, as Naruto's blades went on the offensive, one catching Tenten by surprise and knocking her out with the flat side, whilst others lashed out at Shino and Sai, both of whom had moderate success in dodging but quickly started to become overwhelmed. This resulted in Shino forfeiting, stating that his main offensive ability was useless and it was obvious he could not keep up his defensive approach. Sai, on the other hand, had been given strict order by Danzo prior to the match that he could not surrender under any circumstances and must try to kill the demon if possible. This plan was cut short however, when one of the blades managed to score a hit on the agile boy, leaving a debilitating stab wound in his abdomen that resulted in Tsunade immediately pulling him from the match so he could get medical attention.

With the immediate threats taken care of, Naruto pulled back his blood blades and reverted to his upright stance. As he looked around, he noticed team 8's sensei, Kurenai, frustratedly going through several sets of hand seals, with apparently no effect. Realising what was happening, he turned towards the woman, getting her attention.

"If you're trying genjutsu you might as well conserve your chakra, in this form, my senses work differently to those of a normal human, so your techniques designed to disrupt them, are completely useless." As he began to turn around, he once again found himself locked in Shikamaru's Kagemane.

"Neji, Hinata, try your Jyuuken!" the Nara heir yelled, getting nods from the two Hyuuga, who leapt forward and slipped into mirroring stances.

"Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho!" The cousins declared in sync before launching their rapid assault on the immobilised demon. For half a minute they repeatedly struck at his red flesh with their chakra enhanced pokes, before they each finished with a chakra loaded palm to his chest and back respectively.

The pale eyed ninja stood, panting slightly, Neji in front of him and Hinata to his back, they, and everyone else were shocked to see however, that their combined assault using their clan's most powerful attack, seemed to have no effect at all. Naruto stood, just as he was before they started, as he calmly looked down at his chest, where the majority of their attacks had been focused, and brushing it gently as if to remove some dust.

"Well, whatdya know? Seems my demon form is impervious to the Jyuuken. Isn't that interesting?" he asked rhetorically, as all the present Hyuuga gaped as the complete uselessness of their feared technique. Before either of them could regain their composure, Naruto raised his arms parallel to the ground, extending both considerably and moulding the hands into large hammer shapes, before rapidly spinning in a circle, successfully nailing both pale eyed warriors in the side of the head and instantly knocking them out. He finished his spin and smirked. "How do you like my new technique? I call it the Makyo Kaiten." He let out a chuckle at his own joke, but it was cut short when he was suddenly rocked by a powerful fist colliding with his cheek.

Shaking off his stupor, he was able to make out two green blurs circling him. His grin spread as he realised he would finally be getting a challenge from the two taijutsu masters.

"Konoha Daisenpu!" Gai and Lee announced as they both leapt forward and delivered a powerful spinning kick, with Gai aiming for Naruto's head and Lee going for his thighs. The attacks landed at the same time, and, due to their impacts in opposite directions, resulted in the demon doing a full cartwheel in the air before managing to land in a crouch on the ground. Now in his defensive position again, Naruto's blood blades emerged from his back and began to lash out at the "youthful" pair.

For a few minutes the fight continued in a stalemate, with Gai and Lee too fast to be caught by his blades, but not fast enough to bypass them, despite whatever techniques or methods they tried, even after removing their weights. Finally, the two "green beasts" pulled back and paused, momentarily looking into each other's eyes before giving a slight nod and their infamous, toothy grins. "Kaimon, Kyuumon, Seimon Kai!" they yelled, both becoming enshrouded in powerful chakra auras as they opened the first three gates.

If anything, Naruto's grin grew even bigger, he hadn't faced anyone this powerful in years and now he was battling two of them at once. "Let's do this!" he yelled as his own aura increased, rising to match those being released by the Taijutsu specialists, both of whom had matching grins, their thoughts mirroring the demon's perfectly.

In an instant, all three of them vanished, and the arena was swept up in green and red blurs as the three powerful shinobi engaged in a vicious taijutsu battle. It soon became apparent however, that Naruto was being overwhelmed. His current speed and power may have been comparable to the two training fanatics, but there was a significant disparity in skill, and even his form shifting abilities were not enough to make up for the fact that it was two on one. After a full minute of most of the audience being able to see nothing more than three coloured blurs, Naruto suddenly reappeared as he went flying into the arena wall, impacting with such force that he didn't stop until he was in the fourth row of seats.

Soon after he came to a stop, Gai and Lee also reappeared, both with numerous bruises and cuts marring their bodies and breathing heavily from the strain of the intense battle. Despite this, both had happy grins adorning their faces, obviously enjoying the rare challenge of a foe that could keep up with their released forms. The grins slipped slightly as they looked over to Naruto, only to see him stand up and roll his shoulders and neck before leaping back into the arena.

"This is awesome! I haven't had this much fun since last time me and Akai-chan played volleyball with the Uchi-ass." He declared, getting a chuckle from some and angry glares from others.

"You are truly impressive Naruto-kun! To be able to keep up with me and Gai-sensei with three gates released is amazing!" Lee exclaimed, getting a nod from many of the audience who agreed that it was a very impressive feat.

"Heh, thanks Lee, you guys are pretty good yourselves, I haven't been challenged like this in a very long time." Naruto replied with a grin. "Shall we continue?" he asked, getting nods from the green clad duo before they all vanished again.

As before, all that most of those present could see were green and red blurs and the occasional violent collision that kicked up dust, unlike last time however, it was not Naruto that reemerged first, this time it was Lee, who was found to be laying in a deep crater after a particularly large collission.

Moments later, Gai appeared crouching by his student's side and checking on his status. Shortly after the jounin emerged, so did Naruto, standing on the outer rim of the crater.

"Sorry, Gai-sensei, but using the gates caught up with me." Lee admitted, his voice obviously strained by severe pain.

"It's okay, my youthful student. You have already proven that your flames of youth burn brightly!" Gai declared, pulling Lee into a tearful embrace.

"Medics, get Lee out of here, he is unable to continue." Tsunade ordered as several medical ninja swarmed into the crater and carefully pulled the boy onto a stretcher to be taken away.

"I'm sorry about Lee, Gai. I didn't want to hurt him, but I didn't want to disrespect him by holding back." Naruto confessed, getting a nod from the spandex wearing jounin.

"Do not worry Naruto-san, most of the damage done to Lee was because of the gates, and shouldn't be too hard for the medics to repair. I'm sure he would appreciate you doing him such an honour though, so for that I thank you." Gai declared with a respectful bow.

"Shall we continue?"

"Of course. But first, Shoumon, Tomon, Kiemon Kai!" the taijutsu master yelled, releasing a tremendous amount of chakra as his body turned red and his eyes became pupil less.

Naruto's grin spread even wider than ever as he, once again, raised his chakra output to match his opponent, causing all but the strongest of the surrounding shinobi to wince under the pressure that the two powerful warriors were outputting. Without another word, the two opposing shinobi vanished, leaving not even the blurs that were visible before, even those using doujutsu to monitor the fight were having difficulty keeping up with the obscene levels of speed that they were utilising. The only things that let the majority of those present know that the fight was continuing, were the radiant chakra presences and the near constant sound of powerful impacts echoing throughout the arena.

After several minutes of shock and wonder for the audience members, the sound of laughter caught their attention. Turning their collective heads to the source, they found Akai, recently revealed to be the Kyuubi no Kitsune, laughing.

"What are you laughing at, demon?" one of the council elders spat.

Akai didn't turn around and instead kept her focus on the centre of the arena. "You're about to find out, human." She replied, with just as much distain on his species as he placed on hers.

Before the outraged elder could do anything that would likely result in his death, a loud gasp drew everyone's attention back to the arena. The council members were shocked to find that Gai had reappeared, but it was obviously not by his choice. The flamboyant jounin was on his hands and knees, obviously straining to stay conscious, and when they looked at his body, it was not hard to see why. His garish spandex suit had been all but shredded, and the flesh underneath wasn't in much better condition, every visible inch being covered in cuts or bruises to the point that it looked like the powerful shinobi had been passed through a meat grinder. His skin, or at least the unmarred sections, had returned to its natural colour, indicating his forced closure of the celestial gates. To everyone present one thing was painfully clear, Gai, one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha today, had been utterly destroyed. The council's apprehension and worry were only increased when Naruto reappeared, seemingly completely unharmed. Of course, this was due to his body's unique composition which allowed him to recover even serious damage in moments, but the council didn't know this, from what they could tell, it seemed as the boy hadn't even been touched as he ripped one of the village's strongest apart.

"You might wanna get those medics over here Kaa-san. His wounds aren't too serious by themselves, but collectively he might be in trouble soon." Naruto declared, getting a nod from the shocked blonde woman, who shook herself off and called for the medics, who took the now unconscious man away.

Naruto sighed as he once again felt his body go stiff and refuse his orders. "This same trick is getting old Shika." He declared as he turned and looked at the Nara, who was worried as his technique should have prevented him from doing that. His worry turned to fear as a blood blade slowly emerged from Naruto's shoulder, aiming in his direction.

"I forfeit." He announced, releasing his technique as Naruto smiled and reabsorbed the blade back into his body. Tsunade would have been upset about him giving up without taking any damage, but she really couldn't blame him under the circumstances. She nodded to the slouching chuunin and he gave a slight bow before going up to the stands to watch the rest of the fight.

Naruto turned to look at his four remaining opponents, Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi and Asuma both drew weapons, obviously still reasonably confident in their chances. Kurenai also drew a kunai but was visible troubled by the uselessness of her specialty. And then there was Sakura, who was a quivering combination of terrified and ashamed.

Naruto was forced to push her out of his thoughts as the three jounins attacked together. Remembering Kakashi's preference for Ninjutsu, he decided against his defensive mode, knowing that whilst it was extremely effective against taijutsu or weapons, it had limited capabilities against ranged ninjutsu. So, with a wide grin, he shifted to what he had labelled his offensive mode.

He had gotten the inspiration for this form from a strange movie he had seen once about mutated turtles that fought like ninja. The villain in the film, had worn a suit of armour that was practically covered in blades and, whilst Akai rebuked him for getting inspiration from such a stupid source, even she couldn't deny the effectiveness of his 'shredder armour'.

The idea was rather simple, put blades anywhere that could be used for attacking. For effect and because he was a natural showman, he started the transformation at his feet and let it spread up his body. The first blades to manifest, sprouted from the front and back of his ankles. With three running along the top of his feet and out passed his toes where they curved into claws, and another three relatively short hooked ones coming out the back, that ended touching the ground a few inches behind his heel. The next ones came from his shins, four, short, upwards hooking spikes in a diamond formation. After that were his knees, which each sported one, thick, six inch spike with a slight upwards curve. His thighs and torso were completely bare, purely because it was extremely difficult to actually strike someone with anything he tried to place on them. The next to emerge were four, three inch spikes in a diamond formation on each shoulder, long enough to do damage if he shoulder tackled someone, but not long enough for him to stab himself when he rolled his neck (he learnt that lesson the hard way). The last features to emerge were the same ones that he had used to break into Sasuke's room all that time ago, a pair of three foot blades running across the top of his forearm to a foot past his fist and six inches off his elbow.

All three of the jounin quickly halted in their approach as they took in Naruto's new, even more terrifying form.

"Holy shit." Asuma muttered as his cigarette fell limply from his mouth. Kurenai, who usually would have rebuked him for both his swearing and smoking, could only nod in agreement of his statement.

"Are you guys coming or what? I've been waiting to test this form out against some decent opponents for a long time." Naruto whined, though with his current features it seemed more like a vicious snarl than the immature whinging of a teenager.

"Uh, right, let's go guys." Kakashi declared, getting reluctant nods from the others, who got back into their ready positions and charged the walking blender.

The demon prince blocked the two shinobi's strikes with his arm blades whilst snapping off a kick towards Kurenai, forcing her to leap back. Hoping to catch him off balance, Asuma and Kakashi pushed hard against his arms, it backfired though, as he used the momentum to do a back flip, lashing out with his legs and scoring deep gashes on both men's forearms. Capitalising on their flinches, Naruto leapt forward as soon as his feet hit the ground, charging the momentarily defenceless men.

Kakashi, having managed to retain the reflexes he built up over years of using the Sharingan, was able to avoid the follow up attack by dodging to the side, Asuma, was not so fortunate, and was caught by the demon's left wrist blades. The razor sharp appendage tore through his flak jacket like tissue paper, and dug into his flesh, leaving a gaping diagonal wound from shoulder to hip.

Kurenai screamed as she saw her lover gravely wounded, but her shock left the usually composed woman unguarded, and Naruto took quick advantage, vanishing in a burst of speed and reappearing behind her, holding one blade to her throat and poking another into her spine.

"Surrender." He stated simply, getting a tearful nod from the woman, who ran to her lover's side as soon as the blades were removed. She was immediately joined by Tsunade, who began to work on healing his wounds. After a few minutes of concerned silence, the blonde woman sighed and stood up.

"He'll be fine, it looks like Naruto-kun managed to pull back in time, so no serious damage was done." She announced, getting a relieved sigh from the man's friends and especially Kurenai, who stayed with him as the medics arrived and carried him away from the arena.

"I think there has been enough violence for one day, perhaps we should call the ma-"

"Wait Kaa-san, there hasn't been a result yet. And we both know those fuckers on the council wont except this as a conclusion, then they will continue to pester us about this CRA bullshit. Let us finish this once and for all." Naruto interrupted his adoptive mother, who reluctantly nodded, unable to deny the truth of his words.

"You ready Naruto?" Kakashi asked, getting back into his ready stance. Naruto grinned and gave a slight nod as he mirrored his former sensei's motion.

Up in the stands, there continued to be mixed reactions to the battle that continued before them.

"Now that Kakashi is alone, he's probably going to start using ranged ninjutsu, since that would have been difficult before with his teammates nearby." Akai stated, getting an agreeing nod from Tayuya.

"You sound worried demon filth. Not so confident in the brat's abilities anymore?" Danzo taunted.

Both women turned to the man with confident grins. "Not in the least flamingo boy. Naru-kun is still going to destroy the foolish human, it may just take longer than it did with the others." Akai replied confidently before her visage darkened considerably. "You would also do well to remember your manners. I am not yet a citizen of this village and as such, have no responsibility to obey its laws." She threatened, unleashing a torrent of murderous intent at the crippled man, who visibly paled, as did the elders who were sitting next to him.

For the last few minutes both competitors had been locked in a stalemate of sorts, Kakashi, having decided that going anywhere near Naruto's blade covered body would be a very bad idea, started going through his extensive jutsu library and launching every mid to long range elemental jutsu that he knew at his former student. Naruto, having learnt a while ago that his healing did not work as well on fire or lightning based attacks, was forced to remain completely on the defensive, dodging every attack lest his genius sensei figure out his weakness and capitalise on it. His luck ran out however, as Kakashi used one of his more powerful techniques, Raiton: Ryouken, and managed to land a solid hit on his right leg, sending a powerful electrical current through his body. To everyone's shock, and the council's delight, Naruto's body convulsed lightly as all of his blades retracted against his will and would not return regardless of his commands.

Kakashi, being one of the very few true genius ninja, quickly noticed his opponent's weakness and moved to capitalise on it. Forming the three handseals faster than most people could follow, the silver haired man formed his only original jutsu. Everyone's eyes widened as they saw the former copy nin's hand become encased in lightning as he charged quickly at the demon prince.

Naruto, for the first time since his demonisation, became concerned for his health, as he realised that his regenerative abilities would not reactivate in time for him to avoid taking damage from the feared technique that was bearing down on him. Had he been hit by the jutsu any other time, he would have taken mild damage that would have quickly healed, but since he was currently unable to manipulate his body, it would be just like taking the attack in his human form.

Steeling his reserve, Naruto focused all his control into reforming one of the blades on his right arm and charged to intercept the incoming jounin. Tsunade, realising the danger in the situation, tried to intervene, but she was far too late and the two powerful shinobi collided, raising an enormous cloud of dust from the impact.

After a few moments of everyone waiting on baited breath, the dust cleared to reveal both men standing in a deadlock, Kakashi with his hand sticking out of a large hole that passed clean through his opponent's shoulder, and Naruto, who had his wrist blade pressed firmly against the jounin's throat, drawing a slight trickle of blood.

"Wanna call it a draw?" Kakashi panted between breaths.

"Not a chance. Surrender or die." Naruto replied, his voice cold as ice.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "If I hadn't diverted that attack you would be dead right now, it's a draw." He stated firmly.

"I don't think so Kakashi. Had we both gone for the kill your head would be lying on the ground and I would be repairing a hole around my heart, rather than the one in my shoulder." Naruto explained, and before Kakashi could object, he felt a pressure building around his hand. Looking at the wound, he was both shocked and amazed to see that the tissue was reforming and actually starting to constrict his hand quite tightly. The former anbu captain was smart enough to know when he was defeated, so he nodded his agreement, letting out a weary sigh as Naruto released the pressure on his wrist, allowing him to pull it out of the rapidly healing wound.

"I don't understand though, my lightning attack clearly upset your manipulation abilities, why didn't it affect your regeneration too?" the jounin asked as he stepped away, rubbing his aching wrist.

"It did. And for all intensive purposes, I took that hit without my regenerative abilities, meaning I felt it like any human would. The difference is, as soon as my regeneration recovered, even a direct strike to my heart would have been repaired. You simply would not have been able to kill me fast enough for it to occur before my manipulation reactivated and healed me." Naruto explained, though he spoke in a low voice, not wanting such potentially damaging information to be known by those he couldn't trust and, his choosing not to take his chance to kill him, proved that Kakashi was worthy of such trust.

"Well, with Kakashi defeated that means that Naru-"

"Hold on Kaa-san, you're forgetting someone." Naruto interrupted, getting a confused look from the busty blonde.

"Who?" she asked simply, before a terrified gasp was heard from behind them, drawing their attention. Simultaneously everyone present turned their attention to the one competitor that everyone seemed to have forgotten about, the violently trembling Sakura Haruno.

Everyone held their breath as Naruto slowly started walking towards the frightened girl, all of them apparently too shocked to actually intervene and save the defenceless kunoichi. The tension only grew as he finally stopped, standing barely a metre in front of his former teammate. Sakura tightly squeezed her eyes shut as he raised his clawed hand, knowing that she could do nothing to stop him and accepting her fate. She flinched violently when she felt his hand come into contact with her shoulder, but her fear turned to confusion as she felt no pain. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into the sapphire blue orbs of the man that she betrayed, but rather than the rage or hurt that she expected to see, she saw only happiness and compassion.

"N-Naruto?" she stuttered confusedly.

"Relax Sakura. I am not going to hurt you. It is obvious that you have taken my advice and become a true kunoichi. I am proud of you." He declared before pulling her into a comforting embrace. Feeling his warmth and hearing the words she longed to hear for so long, the pink haired girl broke down and began to cry, weeping openly into his muscular chest.

"Naruto-kun?" Tsunade asked, having overcome her stupor at the sound of her son's voice. "Aren't you mad?"

"For a long time I was. But eventually, I realised that it wasn't helping anyone, so I let it go. Besides, she was just going along with what the teme told her to do, and she has obviously rectified that situation and grew into a fine kunoichi, just like I always knew she could be. No, I'm not mad. I'm just happy to see that she is finally reaching the potential that I always saw in her."

"Well that's all well and good, but technically we still have a mat-"

"I forfeit. I'm a medical ninja, not a fighter, and even if I was, I wouldn't stand a chance against Naruto." Sakura interrupted, getting a nod from the Hokage.

"Sakura Haruno has forfeited the match, that means that the undisputed winner is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze!" Tsunade declared with a cheerful grin, drawing applause from Akai, Tayuya, Shizune and, surprisingly, several of the clan heads.

"What are you fuckers clapping about?" Tayuya demanded suspiciously.

Shikaku Nara, who, along with his former teammates and the heads of the other major ninja clans had been applauding, turned to her. "It is painfully obvious that Naruto could have slaughtered every single person in that ring the moment the match started, yet the only people that were seriously injured were Gai, Asuma and that creepy pale kid, all of whom will be fine in a week or two. He had the means, motive and opportunity to kill all of our children and there would have been nothing that we could have done about it, but instead, he chose to only knock most of them out and leave them alone as soon as they surrendered. Regardless of whether or not he is a demon, he clearly means us no harm, so we have no issue with him." He explained, getting agreeing nods from everyone but the elders, Danzo and the civilians, all of whom looked even more pissed than ever.

'You may have won today demon brat, but soon my day will come, and when it does, you and your demon whores will bow at my feet.' Danzo thought with a wicked sneer written across his face.

Chapter End

Makyo Kaiten = Demonic Rotation

Raiton: Ryouken = Lightning Release: Lightning Hound

A/N: I know it stopped kind of abruptly, but I honestly couldn't think of anything to put there so I just ended it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I am predisposed towards short fight scenes, which is why it was more a collection of short battles than one drawn out one. Next chapter should be up within the next week or so, till then, let me know what you think.

P.S. For those who are interested there is a link to a pic of Defense Mode on my profile page.

Mr Chunk