Chapter Twenty-Two: Salamander's Heir Part One

Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Naruto or any of its Characters!

Pervious on Hope of the Senju Clan

Upon hearing all these screams and destructive noises, many of the Genin were starting to get scared, while the Jonin started to worry fearing they were being attacked.

The Sandaime though, already knew who was coming, although it did not lessen his worry, in fact it increased it, where he was starting to have flashbacks to the events at the Hokage mansion thirteen years ago.

"What's going on, are we under attack?" cried Kiba

"Sort of" replied Naruto with a sigh, as like the Sandaime he'd immediately realized who was causing all the mayhem.

"What do you mean by that Senju-san? Do you know who is causing all this?" asked Shino, since like everyone else he was concerned at what was happening.

"I'm afraid so" Naruto answered with another sigh.

"Who is it? Is it an enemy Ninja?" asked the frightened Ino.

"No something much worse than any enemy Ninja" Naruto answered.

"Then who is it?" cried Sakura, as she became more and more worried.

"It's my…" Naruto spoke, but before he could finish a massive crashing sound was heard, where the large double steel doors that allowed entrance into the hall were blown open, and nearly off their hinges. Upon which when everyone turned to look at the perpetrator, they saw that the person was a tall beautiful blonde haired woman, with two large mounds on her chest and furious look on her on her face"…Kaa-chan."

"SARUTOBI-SENSEI!...WHERE IS MY SON?!" cried the angry Senju mother.

-Battle Arena-

After Tsunade broke the doors open, the female Sannin slowly marched towards the two groups, with her eyes ablaze with righteous fury and fixed of her former Sensei the Sandaime, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

Right behind Tsunade was Jiraiya and Shizune, (who was still carrying Tonton), who looked to be a lot calmer that the famed slug princess, although had concern looks on their faces.

As Tsunade marched towards her Sensei, killing intent emitted from the blonde haired woman in a manner that impressed even Gaara, as she marched forward. Spider cracks started to appear on the floor every time her heels hit it, furthering the fact that the woman wasn't in a good mood.

The Genin quickly broke part so to allow Tsunade to pass and have a clear path to the Sandaime. As they could practically see the dark red murderous aura that now surrounds the elder woman.

Naruto of course remained hidden in one of the two groups, since he knew that it was best for his mother to vent her frustration out, before going up to her. Although that was if the Sandaime survived her venting.

The Jonin sensei's that stood behind the Hokage quickly followed their student's example, where they slowly started to back away from the Sandaime, since they knew well enough not to get in the way of an angry Sannin.

"Cowards" muttered the Sandaime, although wished he could the same thing himself right now.

"So that's Naruto-kun's mother…She's beautiful" thought Ino, before looking at Tsunade massive bust, and became slightly envious. She then wondered if there was some kind of secret method or something she ate or drank to make them grow that big.

"So that's Konoha no Namekuji Tsunade-hime (Konoha's Slug Princess Tsunade), I'm beginning to see the similarities between the two" thought Zabuza. Given how Naruto had a similar look as her when he was angry, not to mention they both had the same destructive tendency.

"Whoa, are those things for real…? They're definitely the biggest, I've ever seen, she's gotta be an E" thought Killer Bee as he stared a Tsunade's chest.

"I can't believe it, I'm actually seeing Tsunade-sama herself in person" thought Tenten with glee and stars in her eyes, when she saw her idol.

"So that's Naruto's mother and that other guy must be Jiraiya the Gama Sennin" thought Sasuke, as he stared at the two legendary Shinobi with narrowed eyes.

"Damn, Naruto's mom is pretty scary" thought Omoi. "What if she goes postal and kills the Hokage, does the exam get cancelled? What if instead she destroys the entire tower, should we get out of here now or wait and see what happens? Or should we simply quit now before she does something?"

"Kukukuku…Well this is an unexpected surprise, I'll admit I expected Tsunade to show up, but I didn't think Jiraiya would, this certainly makes things more interesting. Not to mention it seems that Tsunade hasn't lost any of her monstrous strength, and I dare say that her temperament has increased" thought the disguised Orochimaru in amusement.

"Holy cow, she's hot and her boobs are a HUGE! I would so bo…"stated Kiba as he stared at Tsunade's chest as she marched by them. But stopped in mid-sentence when he heard the clicking sound of a blade being drawn and felt the edge of a blade right next to a certain valuable body-part.

"If you know what's good for you dog breath, you'll not finish that sentence and will remove your eyes from my mother's chest. Otherwise I'll be neutering you here and now", stated Naruto in a very deadly tone and look, which made the young Inuzuka gulp in fear.

Quickly following Naruto's instructions, Kiba stopped what he was about to say and removed his gaze from Tsunade's chest. Upon which Naruto, removed his Katana from Kiba's manhood and sheathed it back onto his back, but not before he gave Kiba a cold glance, telling him to watch it.

Once Naruto removed his Katana, Kiba let out a sigh of relief at not losing his most valuable asset, and as much as he hated to say it, he had to admit, Naruto could be pretty scary when he wanted to be.

"Damnit, this could jeopardize everything, we knew to expect Tsunade-sama, but we never considered Jiraiya-sama would appear with her" thought Baki with a frown. Since the appearance of the two remaining loyal members of the Sannin could ruin the entire invasion.

"I-t g-good to see you back in the village Tsunade, I ho-GAH!" spoke Sarutobi nervously, as it was obvious that Tsunade knew or at least had an idea of what happened to Naruto when he was in the forest of death. But before he could finish speaking Tsunade grabbed him by his robes and pulled him right to her angry face.

"Cut the crap Sensei, I know what happened…What kind of fucked up exam are you running here? Now tell me where my son is now, or so help me I will…" stated Tsunade angrily but before she could finish here threat. Naruto stepped forward out of the group of Genin, so to save his surrogate Grandfather from being pummelled to death by his overprotective mother.

"Kaa-chan, you can let go of Jiji, since I'm fine."

As soon as Tsunade heard her son's voice, she quickly turned to see him, where within seconds she dropped the Sandaime onto his rear and then cried out "Naru-chan!" and "My Baby!" before enveloping Naruto in a bone breaking hug and preceded to smoother the boy in her amble bosom.

Naturally upon seeing this, everyone minus Jiraiya and Shizune all had large sweat drops on the back of their heads, as they weren't exactly sure how to judge this scene. Although some of the male Shinobi couldn't help but slightly envy Naruto's situation. Since even being suffocated to death in Tsunade's ample chest was a way many of them wouldn't mind going. Jiraiya himself stated that he often envied Naruto's position whenever he was enveloped in one of his mother's hugs, especially for the first two years of his life when Tsunade was breast feeding him. He even once asked Naruto what it was like to be rest his head in that Heavenly Bosom of hers.

Naturally he never got his answer, since as soon as he'd asked Naruto the question; the young blonde did a perfect imitation of his mother and punched the Gamma Sennin right into a wall, while crying out "Pervert!"

At the same time as everyone was watching the scene of Tsunade smothering her son, a certain Nara heir couldn't help but find the whole situation "troublesome". Although for once he was actually glad that he had the mother he had, since he had found a woman that was actually more troublesome that his own mother. Something that he thought until just now was impossible.

As Kiba watch the scene he couldn't help but snicker slightly at scene, especially when he heard Tsunade call Naruto her "Baby" and her "precious little Naru-chan".

Kiba was of course tempted to shout out "Moma's boy", but decided against it for now, in case Tsunade turned her wrath on him for teasing her baby.

Eventually though Jiraiya decided to intervene and "save" his godson from being smothered to death and from anymore embarrassment, where he had Tsunade let go of Naruto.

Once Tsunade had let go of her son, she then turned to the Sandaime who had just picked himself.

"You and I need to have a little chat sensei…now!" stated the slug princess with forceful look that said she would accept no excuses.

The Sandaime could sigh, as he knew that there would be no going around this, where he then told Hayate that they would halt the exam for a little.

At this the young man just nodded, after which, the Senju family along with the Sandaime, Kushina and Yamato departed.

Soon after leaving the battle arena, the Sandaime Hokage led Tsunade and everyone else to a small room where they would have some privacy. But as soon as he shut the door behind him, Tsunade once again grabbed the Sandaime by his robes and held him up into the air.

"What the hell has been going on here Sensei!" cried the furious Tsunade.

"I come here racing at top speed for four days, fearing that something had happened to Naru-chan and when I arrive. I hear that you just let Orochimaru walk right into the village and then let him place his curse seal on MY SON!"

"I'm sorry Tsunade, but we didn't know what was happening until it was too late. Orochimaru had somehow infiltrated the village without us knowing. By the time we realized that he was in the village he had already placed the curse seal on Sasuke and Naruto" explained the Sandaime. After which grunted in pain, when Tsunade tightened her grip on his robes nearly choking him.

"What kind of fucked up security have you got here! Has the village become this lazy and lax in the past twelve years, that they let an S-class Nuke-nin waltz into the village and attack children without so much as fight!" yelled the furious Tsunade.

"Hey easy hime, I know you're angry and all, but it's not Sensei's fault. You know as well as I do how crafty Orochimaru can be, where if there is a way around something, he'd find it" Jiraiya.

"No! It is his fault, as much as it is yours" rounded Tsunade, "If you and Sarutobi-sensei hadn't let him go when you each cornered him and had just killed him when you had the chance. Naru-chan wouldn't even be in this situation."

At this both men lowered their heads in shame, as they had indeed let Orochimaru go and it was because of this weakness that Orochimaru was able to do the things he did afterwards.

Eventually though Tsunade let the Sandaime go, where she then turned to her son and asked him to tell them what happened in the forest.

For the next half hour, Naruto recounted the events in the Forest of Death from when he was separated from his team to when he fought Orochimaru and how he placed the mark on him.

When Naruto finished the elder shinobi remained silent as the mulled over what they had heard. The Sandaime was of course very proud of his surrogate grandson; at how he was willing to put himself endanger to save his comrades. After hearing the story, the Sandaime could not help but be reminded at how Naruto's ancestor the Nidaime Hokage had done the exact same thing as Naruto and sacrificed himself to save his comrades. It of course showed that Naruto truly inherited the will of his ancestor and was a true heir of the Senju Clan.

Tsunade unfortunately did not see it that way, as she was quite angry at her son.

"Naruto, why on earth did you do something so foolish, you should know that you stood no chance of defeating someone like Orochimaru" spoke Tsunade angrily.

"Then what should I have done, run and hide like a coward?" retorted Naruto angrily.

"If it means that you survive then yes!" replied Tsunade.

"I won't do that Ka-chan, you didn't raise me to be a coward, who runs away and hides when my team-mates are in trouble. Hashirama-hii-ojiisan, Tobirama-oooji, Jiji, Ero-sannin and Tou-san would never do something like that either. Beside even if I had run and hid, do you really thing I wouldn've gotten away from him?" fired Naruto back fiercely as he felt his temper rising, since he wouldn't apologize for what he believed to be the right thing.

Tsunade of course would have commented on this, but before she could Jiraiya intervened, knowing that things could get out of hand, if he didn't.

"Alright you two that's enough! You both made your point" stated Jiraiya where he turned to Tsunade. "Hime I know your upset, but regardless of how you feel, the kid was only trying to do the right thing and you should be proud of that. Besides he's here alive and relatively unharmed and that's is what counts and even if he was ran or hid, Orochimaru would've still found him"

At this Tsunade just huffed, but slowly calmed down, as she had only reacted the way she did because Naruto could've been killed.

"As for you brat…" said Jiraiya as he turned to Naruto "…you mom isn't angry at you. She just upset, since she has been worried sick about you for the pass four days and she only acting like this because she loves you, and doesn't want anything to happen to you."

At this Naruto calmed himself down, before letting out a large sigh, where he then apologized to his mother, who in turn did the same.

Once the mother and son had apologized to one another and calmed down, Naruto then went on to finish his story.

When Naruto told them how Haku and her team had found him and treated his injuries and protected him from the Ame team who were seemly targeting him.

When Tsunade heard this she frowned slightly, and began wondered what the Ame Genin were up to, by targeting Naruto. She also made a mental note to thank Haku and her team for helping her son and treating him when he was injured. She already knew a bit about Haku from Naruto's letters, where Naruto had mentioned his mission in Nami no Kuni (Wave Country) where he encountered Zabuza and Haku. Something that Tsunade had not been too pleased about when she heard, where she had planned to have a stern talking to her Sensei, about sending her recently made Genin son to fight a wanted A rank nuke-nin.

Naruto of course continued with the story and explained to the others how during the fight he woke up with his curse seal activated, causing him to go out of control and attacked Haku and her team.

Naturally Tsunade and everyone in the room were concerned at what happened. But their concern quickly turned to surprise, when Naruto told them that he had stopped himself from killing Haku and forced the seal to recede by sear willpower. After which Naruto then went on to explain how after regaining control of himself. He and Haku along with her team went to look for Sasuke and the others, where he eventually found them and fought and defeated Sasuke.

Once Naruto finished his story, the room once again remained silent, as everyone digested what they had learned. Eventually Tsunade spoke up and asked Naruto to show her his seal, which her son obliged, where he pulled away the bandages on the side of his neck so to show his mother the seal, which still throbbing a little.

When Tsunade saw the seal, she narrowed her eyes angrily and silently swore revenge on her former comrade.

Soon after though, she looked away from the seal and even though she was skilled in sealing, she couldn't make much out of it and so turned to Jiraiya, who was much better at the art.

"Jiraiya is there anything you can do to remove it?" Tsunade asked where the Toad sage just shook his head sadly.

"Sorry hime but I don't, as my knowledge on the seal is limited. But I do know for certain that if I were to try and remove without fully knowing what I'm doing it could kill Naruto. Since the seal is closely integrated into Naruto, the best we can do for now is seal it off from him. But I swear, I will do everything I can and I won't stop working until I find a way to safely remove it from him" answered Jiraiya.

Tsunade was of course not happy to hear this but understood, as she knew Jiraiya wouldn't stop until he found a way. "We should then use Fūja Hōin (Evil Sealing Method) to seal the mark away make and add some extra things to make sure that it doesn't affect Naruto."

At this Jiraiya just nodded "That sounds like the best option"

Once it was agreed, Tsunade then narrow her eyes and cursed her former team-mate. "Damn you Orochimaru, I swear when I find you, I make you regret the day you were ever born."

"If I may Tsunade-sama I would like to volunteer placing the Fūja Hōin on Naruto, along with any other seals that may be needed, since I'm his sensei" spoke Kushina as she stepped forward.

At hearing Kushina volunteering Tsunade just looked up at the red headed women with a blank face. She of course knew that Kushina was Naruto's sensei as he had mentioned her several times in his letters to her (Tsunade) and Shizune along with Yamato.

When Tsunade first heard this, she had naturally been surprised at the news, even though she expected Yamato to be Naruto's sensei, given how he had her grandfather Bloodline. She hadn't expected Kushina to be his sensei as well, but she soon realized given how Kushina was a skilled sealer and had a unique ability in restraining Biju. She was an excellent choice to be Naruto's sensei, where she could help restrain him, should he ever use the Kyuubi's Chakra and go out of control.

Tsunade had also been slightly concerned at Kushina being Naruto's sensei's given the relationship between her and his father. But her concerns soon faded in Naruto's later letters, where he spoke of the female Uzumaki fondly and how well they got on.

"With all due respect Kushina…" spoke Tsunade "…although I trust you to be my son's sensei. There're only two other people I trust my son's safety without question and given what happened here, I will let no-one other than myself to do the sealing."

Normally at hearing something like this, Kushina would've taken offense to the comment. But given recent events, she couldn't blame the older woman for feeling the way she did, for if she was in Tsunade's shoes, she probably do the same thing; hence she nodded in acceptance.

"So when should we do the sealing?" asked Jiraiya.

"We'll do it now! As the sooner we seal it up the better" responded Tsunade.

"Wait what about the preliminary matches? If you do the sealing I will miss them" stated Naruto.

"Naruto this sealing is more important, than the Chunin exam, the sooner we seal the curse mark from you the better. Since as long as that mark remains on you unsealed, you cannot use your Chakra. Not to mention the longer you have it the more likely it is to affect you and cause you to lose control of yourself like before" chide Tsunade.

"That won't happen this time, I won't let it, besides you can't order me around, since I not a little kid anymore" Naruto retorted.

"Like hell I can't! I'm your mother! And there's no guarantee that you'll be able to stop the curse mark from making you go out of control" responded Tsunade angrily. For the next few minutes, mother and son argued over the sealing, where neither of them were willing to back down to the other.

Seeing that this was getting no-where the Sandaime decided to intervene, where he coughed loudly enough to gaining everyone's attention.

"Tsunade, although I understand where you're coming from, Naruto is correct, he is a shinobi of this village now and has the right to decided what he wants to do. Besides I don't think arguing with him on this will change his mind. Since he is quite determined to do the exam" stated the Sandaime.

"LIKE I CARE!" cried Tsunade, "He's MY son, not yours, and I say he's doing the sealing now!"

"Yes you're correct, but he still has the right to make his own choices, but for the sake of less arguments, I suggest a compromise" the Sandaime responded

"What sort of compromise?" Tsunade asked.

"You let Naruto continue the preliminaries and if the seal should activate and cause him to go out of control, then we'll stop the match immediately and have the Fūja Hōin placed over the curse seal along with the other seals, regardless of him forfeiting his match."

Tsunade did not respond at first, as she thought long and hard about it, but soon enough she accepted the compromise. Since she knew like her, Naruto could be very stubborn about some things and not let it go.

"Fine" grunted Tsunade, "But I want one condition, and that is the very moment that preliminary fights are done with, Naruto is to have the Fūja Hōin and the other sealsplaced on him."

"I believe that is reasonable" answered the Sandaime, where he turned to Naruto. "Do you agree with the compromise Naruto?"

Naruto just nodded, as he knew this was the best possible deal he could get out of his mother.

"So then shall we move back to the exam now?" Sarutobi asked.

"Before we do Hokage-sama…" interrupted Kushina, "…There is something I think Tsunade-sama should know. Like Naruto's relationship with a group of Kumo Genin and their sensei, one which he developed before he came here."

"What?" asked a confused Tsunade, who was joined by an equally confused Jiraiya and Shizune.

At the mention of Yugito and the others Naruto cringed slightly, knowing what would happen next, where she turned to look at Kushina. Who just gave the blonde boy a stern look that said "You knew this was coming, sooner or later."

"Naruto what is she talking about?" demanded Tsunade, where Naruto sighed inwardly where for the remaining half hour he explained what had happened when he met Yugito, Killer Bee and their team.

When Naruto finished his story, Jiraiya and the others were naturally shocked that of all people Naruto would run into it would be two jinchūriki like himself. They were further surprised at hearing how Naruto defeated an out of control Yugito withouts using his Mokuton Bloodline or his other abilities. Sure they understood the fact that the girl didn't have full use or control over her demon's power. But it still didn't take away how incredible Naruto's victory was especailly when he was only ten years old.

The Sandaime and the others of course couldn't blame either Jiraiya or Shizune for being shocked, since they themselves were stunned by the news when the first heard the story, since it wasn't everyday they heard about an ten year old boy defeating a out of control jinchūriki.

Tsunade although, was far from pleased with her son after she heard the story. "Senju Naruto, of all the foolish things that you have done this…this…this is the most foolish. Do you have any idea of how much danger you put us in? How much danger you put yourself in? What if they had found out about you, they could've kidnapped you or worse they could've killed you!"

"But they didn't Kaa-chan, as I never revealed who I was or revealed my Mokuton Bloodline or any of my other abilities, the only thing they know is that I've four nature affinities naturally. They only recently found out who I was, when they were sent here in the exam."

"So they were the ones who showed you, that you have four nature affinities", stated Jiraiya with realization dawning on his face. Since he had never fully believed Naruto's story when he asked to be tested for his nature affinities and had always wondered why Naruto had asked. But after hearing his story, everything started falling into place.

"That is beside the point Naruto, since it doesn't change the fact that you put yourself in grave danger. Who knows what they could have done to you or try to do?" stated Tsunade fiercely.

"They won't Kaa-chan as they are my friends just like Haku!" Naruto responded.

"Are you so sure of that Naruto? As from what I saw you were only a step away from fighting that Kumo girl" spoke Kushina with a serious look.

"That's different, Karui may have her problems with me, but I trust Yugito, Omoi and Samui. Omoi was even trying to stop the fight, you saw that" said Naruto, when he turned to Kushina and Yamato.

"That is true Naruto, but it still doesn't change the fact that they are Shinobi of a rival village" spoke Yamato.

"Not to mention Kumo isn't above using underhanded means to get what they want" Kushina remarked with slight venom.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"Nine years ago a brief conflict between us and Kumo, erupted. The war ended with both sides agreeing to peace treaty, where Kumo sent their head Ninja here, to sign the treaty. The treaty was of course was just a ruse to allow the head Ninja to enter the village, so that he could kidnap the heiress of the Hyuga Clan", stated Kushina.

"Hinata!" spoke Naruto is surprise, where Kushina just nodded and continue.

"The plan of course failed, where Hinata's father Hyuga Hiashi stopped and killed the head Ninja. But even after being caught red handed, Kumo denied that they had any knowledge of it and tried to make us look like the ones who broke the treaty by killing their Ninja. In fact we had to sacrifice one of your Shinobi to prevent a war from breaking out" stated Kushina rather bitterly.

"And if that isn't enough…" spoke Kushina "…back when I was not that much older than you, Kumo tried to kidnap me for my unique ability to restrain Biju. The only reason I didn't become slave or breeder for them was because your father saved me."

After hearing all this Naruto didn't know what to say, as he had no idea about any of those things

Sandaime although just lowered his head, as he could understand Kushina bitterness given her personal experience. Not to mention her sentiments were shared by many of the high ranking Shinobi in Konoha after the Hyuga affair. Despite the fact that Kumo had suffered a severe blow to their reputation and many of the other Shinobi villages weren't as trusting towards them afterwards. The incident had still left a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of many people in Konoha, especially the Hyuga Clan.

"I will admit what Kumo did was wrong, but Killer Bee, Yugito-chan or any of the others had a hand in what happened to you or Hinata-chan. Besides Yugito-chan and the others never told the Raikage that they knew me or revealed any of my abilities that they knew to him" Naruto responded Naruto.

"So they say" said Kushina not really believing that. "But still, it doesn't change the fact that the reason they're here is because it involves you. Since it's far too much of a coincidence that Kumo would enter one of their "prized possessions" into the Chunin exam, at the same time you are in it."

Naruto of course could not argue with Kushina at this point, since what she said did make sense. But even still Naruto refused to believe that his friends were out to harm him, since if they wanted to kill or kidnap him they could've done that in the forest of death like the Ame Genin.

After a minute or two of silence though, Naruto did speak, although gave Kushina a cold glance and spoke in a calm but equally cold tone.

"Their names are Killer Bee and Yugito and they are people not things. But if you want to refer to them as possession again Sensei, then you might as well refer to me as a possession as well. Since I am like them or did you forget?"

At this remark, Kushina cringed, as she had let her bitterness and anger towards Kumo get the better of her.

"Naruto I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that I ju-" stated Kushina only to be stopped by Naruto.

"Save it Sensei, before you make things worse" Naruto interrupted, where Kushina just sighed and cursed herself for her poorly chosen words, but planned to apologies better to Naruto later on.

Eventually though the Sandaime, decided that it was time to end the little meeting and get back to the exam, before anymore arguments could began. The others of course agreed, although Tsunade did state to Naruto that they would talk further about him keeping secrets from her.

-Battle Arena-

After the unexpected hour long rest period, the Chunin exams recommenced, with the return of the Naruto and all the others.

Although when Naruto and the others arrived they found that a few more people arrived in the battle arena when they were away, these people were none other than the Hokage's advisors Danzo, Homura and Koharu.

Naturally the group had been surprised at their appearance and when asked. The Shinobi elders simply stated that they were interested in seeing how Naruto would fair in the preliminaries. Not to mention, they'd heard that Tsunade and Jiraiya had appeared in the village.

Tsunade and the others of course did not believe this was the entire reason, since Naruto had informed them that Sai had left Sakura alone with Sasuke for a period of time, under the guise that he was searching for Naruto. The group of course figured that Sai had gone off to send a report to Danzo on what had happened in the forest.

When Naruto eventually re-joined team seven, Sakura had asked if they had talked about the curse seal and Orochimaru. Naruto of course just nodded, but before Sakura could ask further, she was interrupted by Hayate, who began to finish explaining the rest of the rules of the preliminary round. Given how he had been interrupted by Tsunade unexpected entrance.

Hayate went on to explain, that given how there was an odd number of Genin, and for the interest of keeping an even number of Genin for the finals. One of them would have to fight twice.

Many of the Genin of course did not know what to make of this. Since on one hand, should any of them lose their first match, one of them would get another shot of making it to the finals. But then again the opposite could just as likely happen, where if they won their first match and lost their second, then they would lose their spot in the finals.

Several of the Genin like Kiba complained about this, stating it was unfair. But Hayate simply retorted that if they had a problem then one of them can quit. That way the number of Genin would be even and no-one would have to fight twice.

Naturally after being given this option, those that complained remained silent, since none of them wanted to give up their chance of making it to the finals.

Once that matter was settled, Hayate had Anko bring down the selection screen, where the screen would randomly pick two Genins names, who would face off against one another.

When the screen activated it started to randomly go through names, eventually though it stopped on two names.

"Senju Naruto vs. Hattori Mai"

Upon seeing the name Hattori many of the more senior Shinobi let out a small gasps of surprise, while others eyes widened slightly.

"Perfect" thought the Ame team leader named Mai.

"Shit! Looks like the brat did inherit a bit of your bad luck after all, hime. As he is the opening match and is facing against a Hattori" commented Jiraiya to his team-mate, who just frowned.

"Well it seems that we get to finish off our fight sooner than I expected to Senju" spoke Mai as the Ame team leader walked forward.

"That's fine by me" replied Naruto with a slight glare, where the two stood opposite one another, while everyone walked up to the catwalks above.

As Tsunade walked by Naruto, she told him to be careful, while at the same time reminded him that if his seal started acting up, she would stop the fight. Naruto just nodded at this, after which Tsunade went up the catwalk on the left and side, along with Jiraiya, Shizune, Tonton, teams seven, eight, nine (Gai team) and ten, joined by Haku's team. While the remaining other teams went up the catwalk on the right hand side.

Once up on the catwalk, Tsunade was also joined by the Sandaime, who was accompanied by Ibiki and Anko.

At the same time, Kakashi, Kushina and Yamato were joined by Zabuza.

"It's been a while Kakashi", spoke Zabuza.

"Nice seeing you too Zabuza", greeted Kakashi, with his traditional eye smile and wave. "Although I have to say, I surprise that you of all people are a jonin-sensei now."

"Tsk! Not by choice, since the Mizukage didn't give me many options in the matter, but I guess I could've gotten worse brats to train", replied Zabuza.

Upon hearing this, both Saito and Chōjūrō" smirk at one another, for although it didn't sound like it that was the closest thing to praise, that anyone other than Haku could get out of Zabuza.

Kakashi just eye smiled again at this comment, knowing that the famed Demon of the Mist was actually quite proud of his students and was just too proud to admit it.

"So looks like your brat is starting things off Uzumaki, and he doesn't have it easy either, as he going against a member of the Hattori Clan" Zabuza commented.

"Yea, it should be hard, but you should know better than anyone Zabuza, how tough Naruto can be" replied Kushina, where the Demon of the Mist just nodded.

"Eh excuse me, but eh, who are the Hattori Clan?" asked the slightly nervous Sakura, since she was still a bit scared of Zabuza, given their last encounter with the former nuke-nin.

At this question Zabuza raised his eyebrow in slight disbelief, "Huh! You Konoha-nins really need to fix your Academy system, if Genin today don't know who the Hattori Clan are."

The Sandaime of course frowned slightly at Zabuza's insult towards Konoha's academy teachings. But he quickly realized that Zabuza may have a point, if Genin today never heard of the Hattori Clan.

"The Hattori Clan…" answered Kushina, while watching Naruto down in the arena. "…Are a famed and renowned Shinobi Clan, who reside in Amegakure (Hidden Rain). The clan is well known for having many skilled Shinobi, although they're practically famous because of their Clan head, Hattori Hanzo, better known, as Sanshōuo no Hanzō (Hanzōthe Salamander), the leader of Amegakure. A man whose fame and reputation is known and revered throughout the entire Shinobi world, to the point where the mere sight of him on the battlefield would make most Shinobi run in fear."

After hearing this, all of the eyes of the Genin, (minus Haku and her team) who were listening to the explanation, widened in surprise. But before any of them could comment on what Kushina had told them, the former ANBU captain continued with her explanation.

"Hanzo is easily recognized as one of the strongest Shinobi of our time even to this day, and is an icon to the whole Shinobi world, because of his great skills. It is said he could singlehandedly wipe out an entire platoon of Shinobi with relative ease. But one of the things he is most famed for is for battling all three members of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja) when they were young and giving them their title as Sannin."

After hearing this, the Konoha Genin eyes widened once again in surprise, where Sakura then turned to Jiraiya and Tsunade. "So does that mean that, you defeated him Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama?"

"Defeated him, Hah!" laughed Jiraiya when he heard the question. "Girly, he wiped the floor with us, the only reason we survived is because he let us go, because he was impressed that we were able hold our own against him. The fact is, if we had kept fighting him, he would've killed us."

When the Konoha Genin heard this, every single one of their eyes widened in disbelief and gasped in shock, at the idea of one man being strong enough to have defeated the Densetsu no Sannin of Konoha by himself.

"Let's just hope for the brat's sake that the kid he's going against isn't as strong as we think" spoke Zabuza, as he watched Naruto, who was now talking to Mai.

-With Naruto and Mai-

As the two Genin stared at one another, Mai suddenly started to chuckle.

"Care to share the joke with me?" asked Naruto, as he was curious as to why the Ame Genin was laughing.

"Oh it's nothing, I was just laughing at how perfect this is. Since I get to face you in the very first battle of the preliminaries, in front of your mother and everyone else here and once I've defeated you. Everyone will finally acknowledge that the Hattori Clan is the strongest Shinobi Clan in the world, where like my Grandfather, I will have defeated the heir of the legendary Senju Clan of Konohgakure (Hidden Leaf).

"Grandfather, Wait! Are you telling me that you are…?" Naruto asked in shock, but before he could finish asking, Mai finished.

"Yes! I' am the Granddaughter of Hattori Hanzo better known as Sanshōuo no Hanzō."

-With the Spectators-

"Shit! Hanzo Granddaughter!" Zabuza spoke in surprise.

"Jiraiya, did you know anything about this?" asked Tsunade as she turned to the Gama Sennin in surprise.

"Like hell I did!" responded Jiraiya in equal surprise. "I didn't even know that Hanzo had a kid to begin with!"

"Damnit…Now it makes sense, Hanzo must have sent her to kill Naruto, knowing we couldn't do anything should he die in the exam. It also explains why his most trusted subordinate Kandachi is here as well, as the team's Jonin-sensei" stated Tsunade angrily, as she gripped the railings tightly. Since it made sense, given how the Ame Genin targeted Naruto back at the forest of death and how Hanzo was notorious for not tolerating any possible threats to his village.

"This could cause some trouble" thought Sandaime with concern.

"Fuck…of all the people Naruto had to go against, it had to be her" thought Kushina with a frown, as she beginning to believe that Jiraiya was correct, about Naruto inheriting a bit of Tsuande's bad luck.

"Naruto will certainly have a tough time with this one" thought Kakashi a serious look that was not normally seen.

"The kid is definitely not going to have it easy with this girl, especially if she anything like her Grandfather" thought Asuma as he let out a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

"So Sanshōuo no Hanzō has sent his Granddaughter to deal with the Senju heir, this could be beneficial to us" thought Baki with a calculating look. Although that was soon replace with a look of slight concern, given the look that his youngest pupil was giving the cloaked girl.

"Yes mother, she may prove to be worthy prey as well" thought Gaara, with a craze excitement at the thought of fighting Mai. Since unlike the Konoha Genin he had heard of Sanshōuo no Hanzō and was certain that his Granddaughter with make an excellent opponent to fight.

"Do not fail in your mission Mai" thought the girl's Jonin-sensei Kandachi.

"So Hanzo, you too have made your move on the boy" thought Danzo, as he watch the two young Genin face one another.

"KuKuKuKu…this is certainly an unexpected surprise, who would've thought that Hanzo had a Granddaughter and that she would be in the Chunin exam. Not to mention that she and Naruto-kun would face off against one another in the first round of the preliminary fights." thought Orochimaru in amusement. As he was certain that this match would prove to be very entertaining.

-With Naruto and Mai-

As the two Genin stared at one another, Mai decided it was time to rid herself of her cloak, where as soon as she did, the blonde Senju's face turned a shade of red that rivalled any that a certain Hyuga heiress could ever turn.

"W…W…WH…What the hell?" cried the embarrassed boy, when he saw what Mai really looked like.

Mai was an attractive medium tall young girl with honey colour eyes and long brown hair, with long bangs that framed the sides of her face, tied up in a thick, long ponytail which flowed down to her lower back. But the thing that caught most people's attention (or more specially the males) was the skimpy red sleeveless tunic that's he wore, which barely covered her ample cleavage, which was easily a C-cup. Her outfit was held at her waist by a silk white waistband, with mini-shorts underneath it. At her feet she wore a pair of soft-soled tabi while also wearing fingerless red tekkou that covered only the back of her hands, which held a pair of white folding fans with metal sides. (1)

-With the Spectators-

When the spectators saw Mai and her outfit, their reactions varied, most of the males, like Lee, Choji, Chōjūrō, Omoi and some others, blushed bright red much like Naruto. While others like Shikamaru, Sasuke, Gaara, Shino, Sai and Neji remained emotionless and hid their reaction, although others weren't as skilled. Since after seeing Mai's outfit, some male members like Kiba and Kankuro were launched into the wall behind them by their nosebleeds.

The female spectators reaction was of course very much different, where the young Hyuga heiress turned a bright shade of red, like Naruto and many of the boys at seeing a girl wear such a daring outfit. On the other hand girls like Samui, Yugito, Haku, Temari, and Tenten were quite annoyed Mai's choice of outfits, some of the others girls like Ino, Sakura and Karui were infuriated by it. Although at the same time the three of them wondered what the girl ate and drank to get breasts like her.

"WHOA-HO!" cried Jiraiya with excitement, "Now that's what I call a Kunoichi outfit, I take back what I said earlier, the brat has the luck of the gods!" After which the perverted Sage took out a pad and pencil, where he planned to write down Mai's outfit description and use it in his next book.

But before he could put pencil to paper, an annoyed Tsunade elbowed the Toad Sage right in the face, but luckily for him, she hadn't used her superhuman strength. But even still, the hit had left an imprinted on the man's face and busted his nose, causing it to bleed a little.

"Well…um…it certainly…a unique outfit" commented the Sandaime with a slight blush.

"What the hell is that bitch thinking, wearing something like that!" cried the outraged Ino.

"Actually she doing what many Kunoichi did long ago!" commented Asuma causing his female student to snap her neck back to him, crying "What!"

"Well you see back in the day, especially when doing missions like infiltration, intelligence gathering or assassination. Many Kunoichi would use seduction and their sexuality to distract or catch their enemies off guard before striking. She is just following in that path, since many young and some older male Shinobi could easily fall for such a ploy, where they could lose focus in a fight", answered Asuma. As he had to admit if he had gone against someone like her when he did the Chunin exam, when he was Naruto's age, he would've easily lost focus or become distracted.

"Naruto-kun, isn't like most of the guys here, he isn't perverted and he won't fall for something like that" stated Ino.

"Well we'll see soon enough" replied Asuma, although he wasn't too sure and wouldn't blame Naruto if he did.

-With Naruto and Mai-

Shaking off his embarrassment, Naruto quickly focused himself at the matter at hand, where he went to draw his Katana and readied himself. As he knew the kind of game Mai was playing, since his mother had told him that Shinobi would often use different methods to distract an enemy, and make them lose focus, so that they could defeat their enemy more easily.

When Mai saw Naruto shaking off his embarrassment off, she smirked and decided to try and push her advantage forward.

"What's wrong Senju, do you see something you like?" asked Mai, as she leaned forward so to give Naruto a better look at her cleavage. Since Mai had no problem using her sexuality into keeping her opponents off balance.

But instead of becoming distracted by her seduction tactics, Naruto kept his eyes on the girl herself and not her chest. The fact that he was a medic in training, helped things since there wasn't a part of the male or female body that he wasn't familiar with. Sure it was embarrassing at first, not to mention the time right before he left for Konoha, where his mother and Shizune gave him the talk. Since neither woman wanted Jiraiya to do it, thereby giving him the chance to corrupt or ruin Naruto. But he eventually got over his embarrassment and got use to knowing and seeing such things, hence Mai ploy was worthless.

Soon enough though, Mai realized that her tactic wasn't working, since Naruto remained focused and ready. So she decided to try and mess with Naruto a different way. "Don't like me I see, well now, that's a surprise, I didn't think you swung that way. I guess Konoha can give up on any chance of the Senju Clan being restored."

After saying this, Mai was gratified to see a small twitch on the young Senju heir's face, knowing that her comment had irked Naruto. But before she could press her comment any further Naruto made his own remark.

"Oh no, I like girls alright, it's just that I go for more than just looks, where unlike you, I prefer girls who don't try as hard. Besides aren't you a little too old to be hitting someone like me or is it that you just can't get a guy your own age.

At this remarked Mai growled in anger, which cause Naruto to smirk, knowing that he had gotten to her.

"I'm only fifteen!" cried the girl in slight outrage at being called old. "And I don't have a problem getting a boyfriend, it's just none are worth my time."

Naruto was of course slightly surprise that Mai was only fifteen, as he had thought for sure that she was eighteen, given how developed she was.

"Damn what the hell do they feed the girls in that village!" thought Naruto. But quickly pushed aside such thoughts and took satisfaction using Mai's own mind games against her.

-With the spectators-

After seeing Naruto turn the tables on Mai, Tsunade smirked with satisfaction, as she was pleased that her son hadn't fallen for any of Mai's ploys. Especially the seduction techniques, since she had made sure Naruto wouldn't fall for such tricks, on the chance that some Kunoichi or other girls would try to, so that they could use Naruto to elevate their status in the village.

"That girl's only fifteen!" cried Jiraiya in surprise, before destroying his notes on Mai, since he did have certain ethics, where he didn't do any peeping or other things on girls under the age of eighteen. But he did keep the outfit in mind for another character, as it would be a waste not to.

"Damnit Mai, don't let him trick you like this!" thought Kandachi angrily.

-With Naruto and Mai-

Soon enough though, Mai calmed herself down, where she focused solely on Naruto, as she now knew that Naruto wouldn't fall for any of her tricks.

After a minute or two of staring at one another, both Genin decided to start the match, where Mai kicked things off, by channelling her Chakra into her right-hand fan. After converting her Chakra into Wind, Mai then cried out "Futon: Kyōfuu (Wind Style: Strong Wind)!(A)" and unleashed a powerful gust of Wind at Naruto. Who couldn't avoid the gust of Wind in time and was sent flying back into the wall behind him, where he was forced to raise his arms to protect his face and received several small cuts on his arms and body.

-With the Spectators-

"So she is a Futon user like Naruto, and a powerful one at that if she can create a powerful gust of Wind like that with a hand size fan. This makes things more difficult for Naruto, as he can't use any of his Chakra because of the curse seal" thought Sarutobi.

-With Naruto and Mai-

"So Senju, what did you think of that?" asked Mai, with a wicked smirk, as she saw Naruto lower in arms and saw the cuts all around his body.

Naruto did not answer of course, but glared silently at the girl as he picked himself up.

Although as he did, Mai channelled her Wind Chakra into both her folding fans and swung at the same time together, while crying out "Futon: Nibai Kyōfuu (Wind Style: Double Strong Wind)! (B)"

Not wanting to be hit by the clearly more powerful version of Mai's attack. Naruto quickly jumped up high into the air, which was a lucky thing. For as soon as he jumped into the air, the Wind attack collided with the wall behind him, which became covered in several dozen large slashes, created by Mai's attack.

"Shit! I can't afford to underestimate her" thought the Blonde boy, after which he took out a set of Kunai from his pouch, (which was refilled by Shizune, when Naruto asked her if he could borrow some Kunai and things from her), and threw them at the girl.

Mai of course jumped away from the Kunai, where she then counterattacked by using her Futon: Kyōfuu again. Creating another large gust of Wind, given how he was still in mid-air, Naruto couldn't avoid the technique and was sent flying into the stone hands, that were doing a ram seal, which was to his right. Fortunately though he recovered quickly and flipped himself over, so that his feet hit the wall and he was able to propel himself forward. After which he then used his wrist-mounted Senbon launcher and fired several Senbon needles.

Acting quickly, Mai narrowly avoided the high speed Senbon, which were highly accurate, as she had to use her fans to deflect them.

After deflecting the Senbon needles, Mai plucked out the last needle that had gotten stuck in her fan and smelled it, where she detected the trace amount of a toxin from it.

"Poison, I must be careful around him, as he was trained by the world's top medic-nin Tsunade-sama. Who knows how many more of his weapons are covered with poison" thought the Ame Kunoichi. But as soon as she had though this, Naruto suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Mai immediately realized then, that Naruto had use the needle attack to distract her, so to give him time to get close enough to her so that she couldn't use her Wind attacks.

Acting quickly, Mai raised her right hand fan up, and flipped a small switched on it, causing spikes to spring from the tips of the fan, which she then used to block Naurto's Katana, which he had swung at her.

Naruto was of course surprised by this, but then quickly used his superior strength to push the girl back, while at the same time, slashing through the fan, making it useless to use Wind techniques with.

After being pushed back by Naruto, Mai quickly jumped backwards to gain some distance between the two of them, where she then began to do some hand seals with her one free hand, which of course stunned many people.

-With the Spectators-

"Seals with just a single hand, I didn't think such a thing was possible!" spoke Kurenai in shock where she was joined by many others.

"Just like Haku" thought Saito.

"This girl is indeed skilled" thought the Sandaime with a frown, where he then watched Mai spit out several large balls of Water from her mouth and fire them at Naruto forcing him back a bit.

-With Naruto and Mai-

After Mai forced him back, Naruto knew if he wanted to beat Mai he would need his Chakra and use his Jutsu, but with the curse seal preventing him from using his Chakra. He was forced to use one of his backup plans.

Cutting his index finger on the edge of his blade, Naruto spread the blood on a small seal that was carved on the side of this blade near the hilt of his Katana.

This was of course no ordinary seal, this seal was a Chakra storage seal, that Kushina had taught him before the Chunin exam. Naruto had stored a large amount of Chakra into the seal, since Kushina told him, that there was always a chance, either on a mission or in battle, where he would be either running low on of Chakra or unable to use his. This was way, it always a good idea to have something like that to fall back on.

After activating the Chakra storage seal, Naruto slightly thanked his redheaded sensei, even though he was a bit upset with her right now, he was still grateful for her foresight. But before Naruto could even use the Chakra from the Chakra storage seal, Mai suddenly swung her fan and cried out "Futon: Senpuu (Wind Style: Whirlwind)! (C)". Unleashing a powerful blast of Wind from her fan, this lifted Naruto off his feet and into the air and then formed into a large tornado.

As Naruto was being spun around in the tornado, small Wind blades started cutting him from all sides, making it impossible for him to defend himself.

-With the Spectators-

"Impossible! How can she create something that big and that powerful, with that small folding fan" Temari spoke out loud in disbelief, as she herself had to admit that she couldn't do that with the small folding fan Mai was using.

"She gifted that's for certain" commented Baki with some surprise at Mai's Wind manipulation skill. "But then again, she is the Granddaughter of the Legendary Sanshōuo no Hanzō"

"Naruto!" cried Shizune concern, as she was watched her Godson/surrogate brother spinning around in the tornado being cut up by the Wind attack

Tsunade herself wasn't doing any better, as she grabbed the railing tighter, causing them to slowly break.

"Dammit!" thought Jiraiya, where his worry only grew, when he saw the curse markings staring to spread over Naruto's body.

"Hokage-sama!" indicated Anko, as she too saw the curse seal starting to spread.

"Naruto" thought the Sandaime with worry, when he saw what was happing.

"FuFuFu…So he starting to draw upon the seal" thought the disguised Orochimaru.

"He's finished" thought Kandachi, "Well done Mai"