Unshackled: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 13: The Reveal

Naruto was walking on a path, his head tilted down and his eyes glued to a single piece of a paper that he held preciously in both hands. At his side was Haku, who had a small smile on her face. She was wearing her dark blue kimono over her dark brown sweater and a pair of sandals on her feet. Her hair was in its usual style, two large bangs that traveled down just below her collar bone and the rest of the dark brown hair was tied and held in a bun on the top of her head, her Leaf headband wrapped around her forehead. 

"Are you excited?" She asked Naruto, a knowing smile gracing her pink lips as Naruto tore his eyes off of the paper to look at Haku, a grin on his face.

"For the Chunin Exams? Hell yeah!" He answered excitedly, causing Haku to giggle. His grin lessened and turned into a small smile. "I'll be able to test myself against a bunch of other Genin! It'll be fun to see how far my training with Sei and Kakashi-sensei has gotten." 

After a few days of training with Shadow Clones, Naruto was able to finally reach low Jounin level. It annoyed him that he wasn't back at his previous strength, which was able to overcome almost anything he could. He had used that power to gain the resources and intel he had now, though he feared that perhaps Pain was right. 

That true power only comes when someone knows pain and accept complete isolation. 

He had known pain and was isolated from everyone when he was in the Akatsuki's care. Back then, he was able to render Hidan a mere gagged head pinned to the wall all the while leaving zero evidence behind other than Hidan's words, which many in the Akatsuki took with a grain of salt. 

He had defeat Orochimaru in combat as well as Danzo and yet, he knew that if he were to face either of them he would lose. He was no longer Kage level like they were. But why? Perhaps the beast inside him had something to do with it, but he had no idea how to talk to the fox, let alone get his power back. 

His first spar with Sei only cemented the fact that he was far weaker than he once was. . .

"Naruto-sama," Sei began, but stopped when Naruto held up a single hand, silencing her. 

"Just Naruto is fine, Sei-chan." He told her with a soft smile. "As of right now we are comrades, I'm not your master." Sei looked taken aback by those words, never having considered the blond a comrade, but more of a mentor and master to serve than anything else. And yet here he was, telling her that they were equals.

"Thank you, Naruto-sa-" She stopped for a moment before correcting herself. "Thank you, Naruto." Naruto's smile widened and he jumped back slightly, his sword raised in front of him. Sei slid her sword out of its sheathe, the blade shining as the moonlight reflected off of the silver weapon. 

"Then let us begin," She said as she bent down and pushed forward and charged towards Naruto at speeds the blond could barely detect, stepping to the left he held his sword up in a reverse grip above his chest as Sei's blade clashed with his own, sparks flying off of the connected metal. 

Sei disconnected blade and used her momentum to flip forward and land on her hands and feet, her left leg outstretched and sliding across the grass and causing Naruto to fall flat on his back. Sei immediately flung a kunai at him, but he rolled out of the way. 

Naruto jumped back onto his feet and held out five kunai before flinging them in several directions, the tips of his fingers glowing a slight blue as he suddenly curled several of them at once. Sei's eyes widened as the kunai seemed to defy the laws of physics and switch directions mid air without any collisions, all the while increasing in speed as they targeted her.