Despite it All

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"Naruto?" Lee asked. Naruto wanted to respond, but he had dreaded this day for years. He was so shocked that when Mizuki charged the two, he froze. Luckily the clones seemed slightly less affected and met the Chunins' charge. As the Chunin slowly dispatched the clones, Lee stared at Naruto, who stared back. Naruto knew he should explain; Mizuki had made it sound much worse than it was. Naruto didn't choose this; he hated the monster within him. But technically, the man had spoken the truth; maybe Naruto really was responsib- "Naruto!" Lee said, his voice taking a surprisingly stern tone.

"Listen, Lee, it's not… l-"

"Are you my comrade Naruto?" Lee said calmly.

"What?"

"Are we comrades, friends, allies, fellow men in the prime of our youth?" Lee asked simply.

"Of course, Bushy Brows, but what is your point?" Naruto asked the confusion, managing to cut through his panic.

"Then nothing else matters. A youthful man judges a man not by the appearance of a man but by his actions. To discount another due to something they may not be able to control would be foolish. Not when you have shown me your youth so plainly. Let us youthfully defeat this treacherous man. The rest can be discussed later." Lee said, his teeth shining as if they were metal. Naruto couldn't help but match his smile. "Now, can you stall him for a bit? I can end this, but I need time to channel my chakra."

"Heh, screw stalling!" Naruto said as he wielded his tanto, grinning crudely. "I owe this loser for years of hate! I'm gonna kick his ass! Naruto then charged toward the Chunin, who had managed to dispel the last clones. As he turned his head, Naruto slammed his knee into Mizuki's face. The blow sent him stumbling back but didn't seem to be effective. Naruto followed, summoning clones, surprised that the ten he intended to summon merely came out as eight. Naruto's chakra was lower than he thought. The testing, training, and now this fight was waning on the jinchuriki's juice. But the blonde merely kept engaging. The clones and him drawing kunai and firing them on the off-balance Chunin. They hit yet once again do no real damage, simply annoying Mizuki. Who with a growl charged forward with a growl swinging in with a right hook. A clone leaped forward, catching the hook and pulling the arm back. Another blonde kicked him in the face while another swept his legs. Naruto smirked as he jumped into the air, another clone grabbing and spinning him before firing him at the down Mizuki.

"Naruto Hammer!" He called as he released a vicious kick as he landed, drilling Mizuki into the ground, causing the ground to crack and crumble. The blonde jumped back, shuffling himself into the eight clones to keep Mizuki on his toes. Mizuki leaped from his resting spot, immediately catching a clone and snapping his neck. He ignored a jab sent from one clone using a kunai to gut another. The clone tried to pull back his arm to fire off another attack, but Mizuki caught his hand and kicked him hard in the chest, dispelling it. A clone from behind tackled his legs, dropping him to his knees. In time for two clones to land, powerful kicks to his chin simultaneously. This sent Muzuki flying back, chuckling wildly, clearly unharmed. As he climbed to his feet, the remaining clones surrounded him and attacked quickly, slashing at him with their tantos but only causing superficial damage. The Chunin willingly tanked these, catching one every couple of seconds.

Naruto pulled back for a second, glancing at Lee, whose chakra was palpable but, based on his focused stance, wasn't ready. He sighed at this; Mizuki was ridiculously amped ever since the syringe. Most attacks simply didn't seem to faze him. Even blades would cut shallowly, but none of it was sticking. He'd probably need a damn bomb to keep him down. Not to mention his new freakish strength and speed. Naruto thought about his supplies, but none of them seemed helpful. Even with the shadow clones, Naruto was struggling to do anything. He needed power! Something that knocks this bastard into next week. A bomb, shadow clones, Naruto could feel his mind going into gear. When he had been training with shadow clones, he kept overloading them, leading to explosions. But he had made a stable overloaded one that worked usually but would explode when dispelled, and the boom had been massive. That was it! Naruto's grin appeared with a feral edge.

Naruto formed the shadow clone sign and charged his chakra, working overtime to form the explosive clone. The clone appeared to look mindless, but it worked. Naruto grabbed its hand and started spinning, noticing Mizuki was at the last clone.

"Hey, you damn sore loser!" Naruto called. Mizuki's eyes hatefully landed on the blonde. "Catch!" Naruto then launched the clone. Mizuki laughed as he caught the clone by the throat.

"Pathetic as always, monster!" Mizuki called with glee.

"Actually, that's just a set-up for my new technique!" Naruto stated confidently. Mizuki eyed the clone, realizing it was heavier. He may not know what the blonde planned, but it was likely something with the clone. He started to throw the clone, but it was too late. The blonde sealed the attack with a shout of "Shadow Clone: Walking Landmine Jutsu!" The clone exploded with a loud boom enveloping the area in smoke. Naruto sank to his knees, smiling happily.

But before he could even relax his muscles, Mizuki appeared before him. Unlike the other attacks, the blonde could tell this one had done damage. Mizuki's left arm was reduced to a charred stump. His body and face were burned on the left side. His entire body was covered in bruises. His legs bled through gashes and looked liable to collapse at any moment. Though Mizuki was seemingly unaffected by his state, slamming his foot into Naruto's chest and pinning him to the ground.

"You damn demon, I actually feel that pain!" Muzuki barked. "This makes no sense! This drug was supposed to make me superhuman! How did this happen?" He called brokenly before he started to stomp on Naruto's chest. "How? How? How?! HOW?" He screamed with each stomp.

Naruto needed to escape, but he was running on empty and couldn't breathe due to the harsh stomps. Mizuki must've landed eight before Naruto's vision started to dim. He needed to use his ace. He promised he wouldn't, but he couldn't die here! He wouldn't! Before Mizuki could land a killing blow or Naruto could activate his "ace," Lee appeared and quickly landed a massive overhand that sent the Chunin flying. As he stood, Lee appeared again, landing a high kick to his chin, sending Mizuki flying into the air. Lee smiled at Naruto.

"You were the most youthful I've seen, Naruto. We must spar after this!" Lee said casually before jumping into the air behind Muzuki, the bandages on his arm seemingly coming to life and wrapping around Mizuki. "I'm sorry to use this on you, Mizuki, but you leave me no choice! Youth always comes to an end." Lee said morosely. "Front Lotus!" They spun through the air, approaching the ground headfirst. Lee lets go of Mizuki, kicking him off to drill him into the ground while he rolls to bleed off the impact.

Naruto stares at the unorthodox but badass attack. He wonders if somehow Mizuki survived that. Once the dust cleared, Mizuki seemed partially buried in the ground, with only his feet sticking up. Naruto smiles wildly while looking at Lee. The green-clothed man merely gave him a thumbs up as he pants harshly.

"You two ok?" A pained voice calls out. They both look back and see a bruised and burned Choji, who had managed to unburden himself. He looked worse for the wear but alive. "Woah, you guys actually took him out?!" Choji asked, shocked.

"Yosh! He was a powerful and nefarious opponent, but using beautiful you-". '

"We kicked his ass!" Naruto interrupted. Lee frowned at this, thinking seriously.

"Less youthful but also accurate." He surmised. The other two boys looked at him perplexed before the three all started laughing, resting on the ground.

"Naruto!"

"Choji! Lee!"

Voices called out in the distance, one belonging to a man and another to a woman. The two landed in the clearing showing it to be Kushina and Iruka. Both are dressed and geared for battle. Kushina looked around quickly before spotting Naruto and attacking him with motherly worry. The two went from loving to bickering quickly as Naruto resisted the inevitable motherly smothering. Iruka approached Lee and Choji, smiling at the scene for Naruto.

"Soo, while momma's boy is busy," Iruka stated teasingly.

"Fuck you!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Iruka nodded as Kushina chased Naruto around, seemingly both having forgotten about his injuries.

"So Kushina and I had been suspicious of Muzuki due to his obvious dislike of the blonde yet insistence on being the proctor for this. Based on your injuries, he attacked you first?" Iruka asked patiently.

"Yeah, it was crazy! He almost burned me to death!" Choji called

"Indeed, he was most treacherous. He had tried to take many chances to kill Naruto, Choji, and me. Most troubling, I had thought Mizuki was on the side of youth." Lee continued. Iruka looked at them quizzically. Mizuki was no slouch, but he had been around Iruka's level. And Iruka had no doubt if he thought these three on his own, they would almost certainly be able to defeat him with little difficulty, so it was odd Mizuki had seemed to push them so far.

"He caught you off guard?" He asked.

"Well yeah!" Choji started, "We were surprised he was going lethal, then when we got an edge, he injected himself with something."

"Whatever it was, it was powerful. Before, even with my weights, I was faster than Mizuki, but after, he was faster than me without them." Lee added

"Believe it! He also became a tank!" Naruto added, being thrown back to the group locked up in chains. "Also, can you let me out of these?"

"No," Kushina answered, "we should check him to see if we can find more of this substance or evidence of it." She said her tone was all business now.

"I'm afraid I'll take the body and its belongings with me." A voice called from somewhere in the trees surrounding the training ground. "Sorry if that's upsetting, but I must insist."

Kushina drew a katana from a scroll and stood before the worn-out young men. On the other hand, Iruka jumped to Mizuki's corpse and started to weave hand signs. But the emerging figure kicked him in the face before he could activate whatever jutsu he had in mind. Sliding back to the group, they all checked out the new threat. He wore a Red cloak covering his body and head and a red mask covering the lower half of his face. Allowing vision of his red hair in a ponytail and his strange eyes. They seemingly were empty except for a kanji for seal in one eye and release in another. "I really must insist again." He said. "My name is of no importance to you. Not yet, anyway, but you may call me Ikam for now. See, Mizuki, here was a test of mine, but I can't afford for you to go learning my secrets now. So I'll make it easy for all of us and remove choice from the matter." He quickly grabbed a scroll from his cloak and sealed Mizuki's body before Iruka or Kushina could react. He held up the scroll smiling. But had to duck a katana thrust for his neck.

"You are trespassing in the Hidden Leaf Village, assisting a defector, and assaulting a shinobi. We will bring you in for questioning if you come willingly. But if you resist in any way, we'll kill you now." Iruka said now behind Ikam.

"Honestly, for hurting my son, I really want you to resist." Kushina said darkly, shifting her katana under the crouched man's chin.

"I see the Leaf still are mouthy savages," Ikam said, bored. "You may stand in my way if you wish; it will change little!" As he said this, he leaped up quickly. Kushina, with a glace and a tiger sign, allows red chains to fly from her body toward Ikam,

"Adamantite Chains: Crushing Embrace!" Kushina calls, attempting to end this fight quickly.

Ikam merely smirks. "Seal." He said, simply making the chains disappear suddenly. The Kanji in his left eye glowed with power. Once they right also glowed, he whispered. "And, release!" The chains suddenly reappeared, seemingly twice as sizable, slamming toward the group. As they approach, Iruka throws tagged kunai in a circle around them and chains hand signs.

"Barrier Method Formation!" Iruka calls as a circular blue barrier surrounds the group. The giant chains hit, cracking it severely but bounce off and dissipate. Iruka pants heavily before passing out, the technique seemingly taking a lot out of him. Kushina looked around, but it seemed Ikam had used the opportunity to escape. Kushina sighed at this as she reached into a pouch and popped off a medical emergency flare. She looks at the state of the group and relaxes slightly. She didn't say anything, but the man who had taken Mizuki must be absurdly strong enough to counter her chains quickly and produce a similar attack on a different level. It was hard to say if she would have beaten him, and earnestly she doubted she could have. It is times like this when she truly misses Minato. She looked at the exhausted Naruto and smiled. For now, she would guard him and put her faith in him.

"So," Naruto stated awkwardly, "we passed, right?"