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Naruto's POV (Courtyard of Iron Arena - Land of Iron)
Naruto stared at Kurotsuchi, not paying attention to Kakashi stating the rules. He had always enjoyed a good fight. Neji and Ino often teased him that he was some sort of berserker. But the truth was fighting simply made things simpler. Naruto felt he could understand someone better in combat, and as long as things were kept safe, he could work through grief painlessly… for the most part, anyway. Perhaps that was why he was so excited to fight Kurotsuchi.
Kurotsuchi had seemed intent to fight him as well. Not because she hoped to kill or hurt him like Gaara. But more of a competitive urge. Naruto could behind such. Happy to hear of his dream to be Hokage, she had seemed determined to gauge their progress by determining who was stronger.
Naruto supposed he could see where she was coming from, but it seemed so… weird. They had the same dream and ambition; the singular difference was the title for the position and the village it would grant them dominion over. Why did it matter who was stronger? Why should their fight have anything to do with proving someone superior? Naruto simply wanted the two to do their best; he wanted to win, but he didn't think that would make him better.
Why did Kurotsuchi decide to become a Kage? Had it been out of a desire to be beloved like himself? The drive to be the best? Why did Naruto feel as if her answer would upset him? Naruto had never been an over-thinker. He would get to the bottom of this.
"Hey, shortie! Come on, already, the fight has started!" Kurotsuchi roared, knocking Naruto out of his inner musing. "I don't want any excuses from you when I'm done kicking your ass!"
"Keep joking." Naruto replied with a small smile. "I was just thinking, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, I'm single, and no, I'm not interested." Kurotsuchi said with a raised brow.
"Ya not interested." Naruto countered, with a slight frown now. "I was just wondering why you decided to become Tsuchikage?"
"Why? It was expected of me; I'm the granddaughter of Onoki of the Scales. To become anything less would shame my family. Besides, I want to prove to that old bastard I'll surpass him and everyone else."
Naruto seemed to frown a little deeper at this. "But you don't need to surpass anyone to do that. Why do you seem so keen on being superior to people?"
"Keen? No, I'm not keen on it, but that's how the world works. They are people in this world who are simply greater than everyone else. Then there are those who are born weaker than everyone else. If you want to be remembered as anything more than another body, you gotta prove you are better than the rest. Give them a reason to remember you, as a bar they can never surpass. I want to leave behind a legacy just as my grandfather has done. And in the process, serve my village well." Kurotsuchi explained. "Not that it matters much, but I can tell you don't like my answer." She finished with a shrug.
Naruto cracked his neck as he drew Riptide and did some slow stretches. "No," He started as he now eyed Kurotsuchi intensely. "No, I don't." His mind wandered to his time training with Jiraiya.
"I haven't thought to ask yet, brat." Jiraiya mused as he lay lazily on a branch. He sipped greedily from a bottle of sake as Naruto and a clone of Jiraiya were engaged in a vicious Taijutsu spar below him. "Why do you wanna become Hokage anyway? You realize just because Minato did so, you don't have to as well."
"No, of course not, you damn drunk pervert!" Naruto growled angrily after crawling up to his feet after a particularly harsh beatdown from the clone. "I just wanna become the kind of person everyone can count on. Make the Hidden Leaf a better place to live. Prove everyone who looked down on me wrong. Become the best, I guess. It never really mattered to me what my dad was. I never intended to become a copy of either of my parents anyway. I'm my own man."
Jiraiya nodded somberly as his clone whipped Naruto violently into a tree. "So it's an ego thing for you. You want to become Hokage to fix your reputation and show your worth. Figuring you can help out the village in the process."
Naruto slammed back into the clone with a flying knee; done with enough force, the clone slid back. "So what? Something wrong with that?"
"Not quite, but your thinking is, well, naive, I would say." Jiraiya countered.
"How s-" Naruto was interrupted as the clone landed a powerful body shot on him, silencing him as he crumbled into a ball of pain.
"Assuming you were gonna say how so." Jiraiya continued with a smirk. "You can't fix your reputation or treatment by becoming Hokage. A Hokage is beloved by the people of his village long before he is given the mantle. And if you're becoming a leader out of spite, you've already failed."
"How the hell would you know?" Naruto argued sourly. He didn't get much enjoyment out of someone challenging his dream. "You're no Kage; or some great leader. I'm not even sure what your rank is. Sannin is just some title they gave you for whatever reason." Naruto offered a challenge of his own.
"Technically, something like an Anbu, I guess." Jiraiya chuckled with mirth. "And while I may not be some grand leader, I've known plenty, both great and bad. Only the bad ones follow the motivations you mentioned. If your only reason to achieve accomplishments is to prove others wrong, what will you do once you've done so? How far will you go to prove them wrong? How will you even do so before becoming Hokage? Why would you be a better Hokage than someone else if they were equally powerful? Equally Wise? Wisdom and Power are merely aspects of a good Kage. The two alone don't make one. To become a great Kage or leader you must master yourself and win the hearts of you fellow brethren."
Naruto was stunned into silence.
"See? Becoming Hokage is a fine dream, one I think you are capable of one day, brat. But you need to recognize that becoming Hokage isn't just an accomplishment or a way to display your legacy. It's about becoming someone so beloved and needed they feel the need to give you the reins. At which point we, as your people, will expect you to serve not only loyally but effectively. How you'll improve the Hidden Leaf as all the predecessors have before you. Will be the determining factor on whether your remembered well or poorly. Consider all of this, figure out the answer to those questions for yourself." Jiraiya lectured with a smile. "Only then will you be something close to a good leader."
Naruto blinked and refocused on the tense Kurotsuchi. "You're not worthy of your dream yet." He declared bluntly. Jiraiya had made him see that more clearly. He felt compelled to challenge her flawed vision of their dreams. "And unless you change your attitude, you never will be."
Kurotsuchi's eyes narrowed at this, and she lowered herself to a more aggressive stance. "Let's see about that Shortie."
Naruto's eyes hardened as he grumpily sighed. "I'm not even that damn short." Naruto blinked, as soon as he did so he heard the sudden air shift. 'The match has already started. Let's see what you got.' Kurotsuchi dashed forward as soon as she saw Naruto's guard lowered.
Naruto leaned his head to the left, managing to sway out of the way of Kurotsuchi's punch. He quickly trapped her arm with one arm and used it to attempt to throw her directly onto her head. Kurotsuchi, showing a surprising level of flexibility and acrobatics, managed to land on her legs in a bridge form. She quickly lashed out with a flexible kick for his face as well. Naruto deflected it using Riptide and attempted to stomp on her head. Kurotsuchi rolled away, firing off kunai rapidly. Naruto pursued her doggedly, deflecting each with Riptide with skill and ease. He then spun in a circle, aiming for a slash to Kurotsuchi's ankles. She jumped over the slash with a flying knee aimed at his face. With one arm, Naruto caught it, and the two both let go, each aiming for a head kick. The two kicks met with a loud, painful, sounding thud. Naruto proved to be the more vigorous blow, knocking Kurotsuchi off balance. As she stumbled back Naruto slashed for her torso. Which she sloppily leapt back from. Seeing this Naruto swept her legs, grabbed her arm, and hauled her with his impressive strength as he did. He threw her bodily towards the stony part of the field. His power and angle of throw caused her to rise and fly away from him. Towards the hard ground area of the Courtyard.
'She's no slouch regarding close combat, but I think I have the advantage.' Naruto mused. 'She didn't show any jutsu, but it's safe to assume she uses Earth Style. Better to keep this fight in my preferred range.' As he organized his thoughts with one hand, he summoned ten clones. The group of clones did not hesitate, immediately chasing after their airborne foe.
She managed to flip upright in the air and, with a skid, managed to land on and stay on her feet. As the Naruto's closed in, Kurotsuchi smiled, showing she had finished a series of hand signs. "Earth Style: Quivers of Earth!"
Several straight and sharp lines of stone emerged from the ground, racing toward the clones. Two of them, who were close to her, could not react. The thin lines of earth speared from them with silent poofs. The rest continued their charge as one dived towards the incoming earth spikes.
"Uzumaki Style: Casting Net!" The clone cried as it slashed several times; this led to a blue net of chakra flying forward, slicing through the stone projectiles as it met them. The rest of the clones surged forward to the pressured Kurotsuchi. As they did so, she summoned stone on her fist with a whisper from her, fearlessly Kurotsuchi charged forward to meet their attack.
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Ino's POV (Medical Ward of Iron Arena - Land of Iron)
Resting after the intense conversation between Tsunade, Naruto, and herself wasn't easy. Tsunade's words seemed so sure; there was no dishonesty in them. And to Ino, there were only so many others as qualified to give advice as Tsunade.
There were very few famous kunoichi, even fewer that Ino felt comfortable holding as a role model. Tsunade was one of their few. As far as anyone knew, she was the only female S-ranked kunoichi. Furthermore, she did so without venturing into the darker side of kunoichi. As such, she and many other up-and-coming kunoichi idealized the woman as the prime example of a woman's potential in a shinobi's world.
Hearing an idol of hers being so cynical and defeated had been disheartening. Ino had felt her heart drop as the conversation went on. Even more so when not only had Tsunade detected her hidden feelings for the blonde. Then, warn her not to pursue them. Ino hadn't decided to pursue a relationship, nor had she even fully decided if that was what she wanted. Yet now she couldn't help but feel like Tsunade had a point. She had decided to walk off such thoughts for now.
As soon as Ino had left the section for the medical ward she had runned into some familiar faces. An exhausted Yuno and worried-looking Choji walked towards her.
"Ino!" Yuno called, her usually friendly and teasing tone replaced with an all-business voice. "Have you seen Kiba?"
"We've been looking all over for the guy but can't find him." Choji added.
"Worse yet, Sakura and Lee said his room looked like he had been attacked. Sakura, Lee, Gai, some samurai, and ourselves are looking for them. But we're worried something bad happened to him."
"Umm, no, sorry," Ino said with a frown. "Any way I can help?"
"Well, we could use someone else covering the ground. The Iron Arena is large, and we want to ensure he isn't being kidnapped or hurt somewhere nearby." Yuno explained. "It's strange though, it almost looked like some kind-" Before she could finish, smoke suddenly exploded around them with a boom. The injured Ino and Yuno were sent flying back from the cloud of smoke as yells could be heard from Choji. Before the two women could do much, two guards arrived and bravely dived into the giant cloud of smoke. Before both were sent flying back, the armor was dented, and bones likely shattered. They cried out in pain breaking Ino and Yuno from their stupor.
Ino hesitated, not wanting to dive into a bad situation. But Yuno, with a howl, dived in as well. Ino flinched as her screams joined Choji's before suddenly the smoke converged, condensing before, in mere seconds, it was gone entirely. There was not a trace remaining of Choji or Yuno. Ino was frozen for a few seconds, confused about what to do before the shock wore off. She first checked on the two samurai, noting neither injury was life-threatening. Before she glanced at the spot, her two friends had been. The smoke covered the surrounding area, which had scratches and cracked concrete throughout. Even a couple small puddles of blood. Ino gasped as her mind took in the scene. Before she could panic much, several samurai arrived on the scene. Some stopped to aid the still-conscious samurai, who did a better job than Ino at describing what had happened.
'I couldn't even help.' Ino thought miserably.
"Two more Genin are missing in our land. This may prove troublesome; the Hokage would be within his right to hold us accountable." One of the arriving samurai noted.
"Save it for now; we must keep searching." Another replied before the group ventured off. One female samurai stayed behind to help Ino back to the medical bay.
But Ino felt barely any pain; she mostly felt numb.