Chapter 1: Konohagakure

It was a day like any other in the Konohagakure. Loyal shinobi arriving and departing on missions issued by Lady Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. Just like any other ninja in the village, Naruto Uzumaki was hard at work. He was spending the day at the training field with Kakashi and Yamato in an effort to better control his Kyuubi powers.

"Kakashi-sensei! Can we just take a break? I'm tired, let's go get ramen! On you of course!"

"You must learn to control the nine-tailed fox within you, Naruto. The fight against Madara won't be an easy one and we don't know what he'll have waiting for us. Now, come at me again. Give it everything you've got." Kakashi replied.

Just then, much to Kakashi's dismay, Sakura Haruno appeared with lunch.

"NARUTO! KAKASHI-SENSEI! YAMATO-SENSEI! I figured you guys were hungry so I brought you lunch!"

"Right on time, Sakura!" Naruto said excitedly as he ran towards her with hungry eyes and an even hungrier stomach.

Suddenly the earth began to tremble, the trees shook violently, and a rift seemed to open up directly above the village!

"Is Madara attacking the village now!?" Naruto screamed.

"It's very possible, Naruto. We need to get back to the village and regroup with the other shinobi" Yamato said, with a stern look.

They looked at each other, nodded, and took off towards the village. As they made their way through the forest, they began to see what looked like orbs of light. Confused as to what they were, and what they were made of, Kakashi warned them to stay clear of any orbs they saw along the way. In spite of heeding her sensei's warning, Sakura began to feel as though her chakra and life force were being drained away. She chose to ignore this, thinking it was happening because she hadn't eaten all day. As they reached the village they found that many of the inhabitants had been turned into orbs as well. Just then, they heard a voice coming from the top of the front gate.

"Naruto! Sakura! Kakashi-Sensei! Yamato-Sensei!"

It was Rock Lee, Neji, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shikamaru. They jumped down to greet Naruto and the others immediately. They then explained that many of the villagers were being turned into orbs of spiritual energy.

"We need to figure out who did this to the village, and why." Shikamaru said calmly.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"It was Madara! It has to be him! Who else would do this!?" Naruto screamed loudly.

"From what I've seen so far, the victims have been mostly female, seeing as we are all men here with the exception of Sakura" Neji explained.

"Speaking of Sakura, where is she?" Kiba asked. "Akamaru and I can still detect her scent but she's nowhere to be found"

"She's right there, Kiba" Kakashi said. "You said that most of the victims were female, right Neji?"

Neji nodded.

"If my guess is right, Sakura was turned into an orb just as we arrived from the forest." Kakashi explained as he pointed towards a random orb.

"Kiba, can you detect Sakura's scent from that orb?" Yamato asked.

As Kiba and Akamaru sniffed the area around the orb, they looked back at the group and confirmed that the orb was, in fact, Sakura.

"Why is Madara attacking all of the women!? That coward!" Rock Lee exclaimed as his eyes burned with a fiery passion.

"Bushy brow is right! Come out and fight us Madara! Pick on somebody your own size!" Naruto screamed in agreement.

"Stop screaming will you? You're gonna let them know where we are."

"Who said that?" said Rock Lee.

It was Asuma, Might Guy, Choji, and Shino. They had found each other after the rift opened up as well.

"Glad we found you guys, there aren't many other shinobi left in this village that aren't orbs of energy." Asuma said with relief.

"Even Lady Tsunade, the Hokage, got turned into one of those things!" Choji exclaimed fearing he would suffer the same fate.

The rift in the sky began to expand. Rapidly growing larger and larger as if it were getting ready to swallow up the entire village. Suddenly it stopped growing, and a flood of light energy poured down like a waterfall and covered the entire village.

"Wood Style! Wood Locking Wall!"

Yamato immediately reacted using his Wood Release technique to protect the group of shinobi from any possible danger. After the light had faded, the group turned to express their thanks to Yamato.

"Yamato-sensei! Thanks so mu—"

Naruto and the others were shocked to find that Yamato had been turned into a spirit orb as well. Much of his chakra had been absorbed by the flood of light which gave him this form.

"Ya-Ya-Yamato-Sensei…" Naruto whispered.

Already livid from losing Sakura to that form, Naruto proceeded to punch the wall that Yamato had created to protect them.

"I can't believe we lost Yamato-Sensei too! Ugh!" Naruto screamed as he continued to punch the wall.

"You're not gonna get anything done punching the wall, Naruto."

This was a new voice, but at the same time it was familiar. With the rest of the group speechless, Naruto turned to see who it was.

"Sasuke..? What are you doing here!?" Naruto asked, enraged.

"I sensed a huge surge of power coming from the village and I decided to investigate what sort of being could hold that much power." Sasuke replied, nonchalantly. "I thought it might've been you, but you're still too weak to have that sort of power. I want to find out who that power is coming from."

"Why you!" Naruto screamed as he ran full on towards Sasuke, kunai in hand.

"Now is not the time for fighting, Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as he stopped Naruto's attack. "We've got to figure out what's going on here. Sasuke, you seem to be interested in this as well. I suggest you stick around if you want to see this powerful being you spoke of."

Sasuke gave a look of consideration and agreed.

"This is only a temporary alliance. This does not mean we are friends. OKAY!? NARUTO!?"

Naruto nodded in agreement.