Chapter 185: The Test

Disclaimer:

Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto.

I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 185: The Test

"So…you met your parents, killed the Kyubi, and turned it into a golden ball?" Ino asked, still confused about the last part.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "More or less. Except I didn't turn anything into a ball. I condensed all my chakra into a spherical nucleus. The 'Core Formation' is the third stage in cultivation and a very important one. Also, there are three types of 'Cores' that can be formed during this stage depending on how good the cultivation method being used and how skilled the person is." Naruto began to explain.

" The worst one is the 'Fragmented Core' where many impurities and mistakes had been left to accumulate during the previous processes, and it is the more common one. The next is the 'Flawless Core' and this one will require having some high-grade cultivation method, access to quality resources, and a lot of talent, as well as patience to make sure you didn't leave any mistakes behind in the previous stages. For most, this is as far as one could go. But if one were to obtain a cultivation method of the highest degree, there is a chance of forming a 'Golden Core'. This is the utmost perfection and being able to complete it before stepping into the Nascent Soul Stage will allow me to...—" Naruto stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Ino's blank stare. He could tell that she was not understanding anything.

" T-That sounds great, Naruto…So, Lady Tsunade told me about your promotion," Ino said, quickly changing the topic. Deep discussions about cultivation weren't something she was ready for.

As they exited the alley, continuing their conversation. "Yes, I suppose I'm a Jonin now." Naruto responded. He had been looking forward to this promotion, but only because this would give him access to the information he was seeking from the village.

"About that," Ino started, "Lady Tsunade wanted me to warn you about the Elders. They might send someone to test you."

"She did mention that might happen. Do you know when?" Naruto asked.

"Well, they didn't say for sure, but Lady Tsunade thinks it could be to—"

"Never mind," Naruto interrupted her. His eyes sharpened as he placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Wait."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ino looked around but saw nothing unusual.

The streets behind the Hokage building were quiet, especially on weekends. The area consisted of warehouses and manufacturing plants, with no residential buildings.

Then, she spotted something moving at great speed above them.

A figure leaped from the roof of a nearby building, bounded off the wall next to them, and finally pounced directly toward them.

Ino realized it was some sort of feline beast with black and white fur.

"An attack? Inside the village?" she thought, unable to examine it further before it was nearly upon them.

Naruto stepped in front of Ino and extended his left hand. With a snap of his fingers, a violent torrent of wind erupted between them, shredding the beast and continuing for several yards, obliterating everything in its path.

"Interesting… what kind of jutsu was that?" a soft voice echoed.

"Who's there?!" Ino quickly tracked the source and spotted a figure standing atop the stone wall that bordered the street.

It was a young boy with short black hair, black eyes, and pale skin. Ino was certain she had never seen him before.

Given the recent attack, she was about to conclude that an enemy ninja had infiltrated the village when she noticed something.

"Wait… You're a Konoha ninja?" she asked, pointing at the headband tied around his forehead.

The boy turned his black eyes toward her. "Of course. Are you blind?" he replied, tapping his headband.

"Then why did you attack us?!" she shouted.

"I wasn't attacking you," he said, pointing at Naruto. "I was only testing him. I didn't expect him to be on a date with some cheap girl. Would you mind leaving? I have business with him."

Ino's expression darkened. "What did you just call me?!"

"I was calling you a whore or a prostitute, but I was trying to be polite about it. My apologies if you're offended," the boy said with a shrug.

A stream of furious obscenities erupted from Ino, many of which Naruto had never heard before.

Seeing her prepare to attack, Naruto intervened. "Ino, calm down. I believe this may be the person the Elders sent."

"What? This guy?" she asked, halting mid-step.

" If you were trying to provoke me into a fight, why not insult me instead of her?."' He noted the complete lack of emotion in his voice.

And it wasn't just that. His aura was very still while he spoke before. Meaning that either he didn't mean anything that he had said or…he was really good at masking his emotions to the point that even he couldn't detect them.

The boy's voice remained still as he spoke. "I was told insulting a man's girlfriend while they're together is an effective way to provoke them. Their pride would compel them to fight."

"Hold on—you're making some serious assumptions here," Ino interjected.

"I see…" Naruto nodded. "But I already agreed to be tested when I spoke with Tsunade. All you had to do was ask."

Naruto snapped his fingers again, this time aiming directly at the young man.

The top of the wall exploded into hundreds of fragments, along with the ninja.

"Naruto! That was a Konoha ninja! …I think," Ino said hesitantly. There was still the chance that this could be an impostor.

Naruto examined the wreckage. A familiar black substance trickled down the stone.

"Ink?" he muttered, recognizing the distinctive scent of Konoha's ink supplies.

"That was dangerous," came the boy's voice from the opposite wall.

He unfurled a scroll, and several animals emerged from it. Like the earlier feline, they appeared hand-drawn but alive.

Two large snakes lunged at Naruto from the sides while three tigers charged him head-on.

Naruto extended a finger, forming a small blue sphere that quickly grew in size.

The moment the first tiger reached him, the sphere shifted to an aquamarine hue, spinning violently and creating a whirlwind that pulled everything toward it, except for Naruto and Ino, who were right behind him.

The snakes and tigers were dragged into the vortex, their forms shredded by the wind blades.

Since they were constructs of ink and chakra, the scene was far less gruesome than it might have been otherwise.

Naruto deactivated the jutsu and glanced at the boy. "Have you seen enough?." Since this was just a test for the Elders, he figured he would show them some more advanced jutsu that would be enough.

But the other ninja did not seem satisfied with this. "You were supposed to fight me seriously. The Elders want to know what you're capable of. All you've done is defend yourself," the boy remarked.

Naruto's grin widened. "Fight you seriously? Boy… are you asking me to kill you?" He could tell that this kid was barely on the level of an average Jonin and he was asking to be taken seriously.

The young man remained unfazed. "Do you dare?"

Naruto's smile vanished, and a second later...so did he.

Ignoring the ink clone that had been speaking to him, Naruto shot into the sky.

He quickly spotted the boy hovering on a black bird.

"How did y—" the boy began, but Naruto gave him no time to finish. He was not in the mood to have a conversation with this person.

In a blur, Naruto was behind him, delivering a simple palm strike.

The young man, whose name was Sai, though he hadn't introduced himself yet...felt an overwhelming pressure before being hurled toward the ground at breakneck speed.

He slammed into the earth before he could form a single coherent thought about escaping.

Pain washed over him in waves as his ears rang and his vision darkened.

Only the ink armor he had prepared saved him from immediate death...a trick he had learned from observing their prisoner.

But even that wouldn't help if he didn't receive medical attention soon.

He had been ordered by Danzo to push Naruto as far as possible. His leader wanted to get a clear idea of how much of a threat Naruto was and what kind of techniques he had learned after studying under Jiraya for two years.

But in the end, Sai was only able to see a few moves, and he only understood vaguely one of them, the other ones didn't even look like ninjutsu. Meaning that his mission was a complete failure. He was too weak to force Naruto to show everything he had.

'Will I finally be free at least?' Sai wondered as consciousness slipped away.

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