35 A New Sage Rises

The fight between Jiraiya and Orochimaru was the same as in canon but Kabuto has trouble fighting Naruto. Naruto was already Chunin level and only because of his high regeneration was Kabuto better.

Ishizu didn't think Kushina's arrival was such a shocker for Naruto that Kabuto used the moment to attack Naruto's heart muscles.

Tsunade seeing Naruto in such a state gave her power to clear her mind. What she didn't expect was Naruto to stand up and red chakra surrounding him.

"Ishizu, stop him. Naruto is using the fox" shouted Kushina.

Ishizu looked for a second but didn't leave. "I trust Naruto as his Sensei that he won't do anything severe. Now, our fight is not over, Kushina."

Inside Naruto's mind.

"I told you to use my chakra from the beginning, but noooo, you wanted to have it your way!" shouted the Kyuubi.

Naruto had a tick mark: "Hey, it is not every time you see your mother alive you stupid fox!" Replied Naruto.

The Kyuubi snorted: "Doesn't matter. Your body took my chakra already but only for one attack and then you will rely on that woman. His attack weakened your heart muscles."

Naruto smiled: "I trust her."

Outside Kabuto attacked Naruto again, but his eyes widened as a reddish ball was formed in Naruto's hand. A Kyuubi empowered Rasengan slammed into a Kabuto who flew away. That was enough for Naruto as he dropped.

Seeing her son in this condition Kushina narrowed her eyes. "That's it Ishizu. How dare you not do anything to my baby boy?"

"****," Ishizu cursed. Fighting an Uzumaki was hard enough. Fighting a mad Uzumaki was suicide. He knew Naruto would handle it but Kushina wouldn't tolerate it.

That was the love of a mother. Ishizu knew it all too well.

And to his horror, Kushina summoned her Charka Chain.

"Damm you Kuchina! Why can you summon those things even when you are dead?"

Ishizu didn't have time as the chains flew towards him. Ishizu dodged, knowing enough what could happen if he got hit by them.

Ishizu fired every jutsu he had, but no matter what elemental Jutsu he used, the chains were unaffected.

"Is that all you got, Ishizu-chan? I thought you got better with your age?" mocked Kuchina.

That was it for Ishizu. How dare she moke him like that? He will be the Oni-slayer.

"Nevermind, you are right. It is time to end this."

In both fighting places, four people performed simultaneously the same Jutsu.

"Summoning Jutsu."

On one side Manda, Gamakishi and Katsuyu appeared.

The famous 3 man-deadlock-formation.

On the other side, a single small panda the same size as Ishizu appeared. Orochimaru looked curious at the panda as well as the others.

"Ah, student Ishizu, it is good to see you again," the panda said, seeing his student.

Ishizu glared at him: "No time for formalities, Tau. I need to end this quick and she is a strong opponent, so I need something strong to render her useless for a few seconds. I need you to do it."

Tau shook his head when he took out bamboo from out of nowhere and hit Ishizu with said bamboo: "It is still 'master' Tau for you, apprentice, and you still can't properly connect with nature energy. Do you remember what happened last time you used it?"

"You don't have to give me a lot. Just give me some for one Jutsu. That all I need, master Tau," asked Ishizu.

Tau sighed but placed his paw on Ishizu's back. "You will regret it, my stupid student," said Tau.

Ishizu summoned a shadow clone to perform it. "This is the end for you Kushina. I told you that I will surpass both you and Minato but I could only do it now and only for Minato."

Ishizu's eye orbits started to change. The Rasengan formed by his clone grew bigger and adding wind element it grew to a Rasenshuriken.

"This is the final form of my Rasengan for now."

Master Tau infused more nature energy into Ishizu and his face also changed.

"Be obliterated by my strongest attack."

"Take this."

"Panda Senpo. Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"

Ishizu threw the massive Rasengan at Kushina who tried to block it with her Chakra Chain but it was futile. The gigantic ball of compressed wind chakra flew easily, like a knife through butter, through her chains.

"BOOOOM"

The explosion was enormous.

'Now or never!' thought Ishizu as he ran into the smoke cloud activating his Rinnegan. He saw that Kushina's soul started to regenerate, but she couldn't do anything in that state.

"Thanks, Pedomaru, for this soul. Don't worry, Mom. You will see your son soon enough," muttered Ishizu.

With his last chakra, Ishizu summoned the King of Hell, grabbed the soul and put it into the King. His chakra was very low and Ishizu dropped unconscious because of chakra exhaustion.

Outside Master Tau shook his head before leaving. "He still needs to go through the trial to be a full Sage. Using nature energy as he did before is not good at all. I should tell Sage Po to forbid him to use it so casually."

Nobody except Jiraiya knew what Ishizu had done before running into the smoke. Ishizu transformed into an incomplete Sage.

Orochimaru had a suspicion of what Ishizu was doing, but he was uncertain. The fight was not good for Orochimaru so he and Kabuto retreated.

Tsunade picked Naruto up and Jiraiya did it with Ishizu. They went to the town where they were earlier.

Naruto woke up and challenged Tsunade as she announced that she would become Hokage. Ishizu also awoke but couldn't really move from his reckless attack. He watched amused as a sober Tsunade crushed Naruto and the kissed him on the forehead.

"Heh, if you kiss many people then you could get yourself a husband but I am sorry, I am already taken," proclaimed Ishizu.

Tsunade wasn't so happy to hear Ishizu talking about her age and so he got his ass whopped.

Back in the village, Tsunade healed Kakashi. Sasuke was not inside Tsukuyomi but had a broken arm. She told Lee to give up as a Shinobi but inside she didn't believe in numbers and tried to find a way to help him.

In Ishizu's apartment:

Ishizu had the privilege to lie in his bed. It took him 5 days to recover, and instead of an easy day, 6 students stood in front of his door.

"Ehh, why are you here?" The people who stood in front of his house were: His team and team 7.

"Ishizu-sensei can you tell us how Kakashi-sensei looks like? He always has this stupid mask on and maybe you could tell us how he looks" asked Ino.

Ishizu only cringed.

It was a filler episode and one he knew. He didn't want them to know as Kakashi would get him back so the only thing to do was to lie.

"I am sorry but even I have never seen his face. I think he has it since I first saw him."

They looked sad but then Naruto smiled.

"Maybe you can help us find it out?"

Ishizu thought for a moment. For the moment he had nothing to do. It would take some time for the Sound 4 to arrive and because of 'Nature's calm' Sasuke was only partly dependent on the snake.

So why not?

"Sure I will help."

So a small group of children an adult went to uncover one of many mysteries of the Shinobi world.

Unfortunately, no matter what they did, Kakashi always was one step ahead.

Then came the Moya Triad, but let's skip that.

After several struggles, Naruto and Ino had enough and just asked Kakashi.

The latter smiled and looked at Ishizu. "I am in your debt that you didn't reveal it."

Ishizu smiled: "You have the honor to show them." Kakashi turned to the fuming Naruto and smiled. "If you really want to see what is behind my mask; you just had to ask. Here I show it to you."

Kakashi slowly put his and on his mask. Everyone waited for the moment.

Somewhere in the background was a drum playing.

Under Kakashi's mask was... another mask, what a surprise.

Later that night, one could hear people shouting profanities.