AN: Well another chapter in less than a week. I gotta admit, I'm just as surprised as you are. Well thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. Makes me glad to know that you guys are still reading. Enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or 666Satan (O-Parts Hunter).

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Ch 10

Naruto, Jio, Sakura and Pakkun were hurriedly making their way through the forest towards Sasuke. Pakkun lead the way with Naruto and Sakura following close behind and Jio bringing up the rear.

"Hey! You guys, pick up the pace!" Pakkun barked at them.

"Huh, What is it?" Sakura asked.

"From behind, two squads with eight, no...one more, nine men are chasing us!"

"Already?" Naruto questioned.

"Don't look as if they've got a fix on our true position yet, but they're closin' in on us quickly while on the lookout against any surprise attacks."

"Well isn't this just great." Jio said sarcastically.

"Shit! Well if that's the case then we should just ambush 'em!" Naruto said. "We know the terrain better than they do!"

"That's true! We'd certainly have a great advantage if we were to ambush them!" Sakura, surprisingly, agreed with Naruto.

"It's no use. They're subordinates of Orochimaru, a former Konoha shinobi you know..." Pakkun added solemnly.

"I don't think it's impossible." Jio said. "Naruto and I could easily take out the enemy nin, but that would only slow us down. Plus we don't know what level these guys are at and we could possibly be in for a long fight and that's the last thing we want. We are, after all, chasing after Gaara and he won't be an easy person to get away from if he decides he wants to kill us."

"K-kill?" Sakura asked uncertainly.

Jio nodded. Naruto frowned, but acknowledged Jio's reasoning.

"So what are we going to do?" Naruto asked.

Jio came to a stop and the other three did the same. Jio then created four Kage Bunshin. Naruto's face brightened up and followed Jio's lead. Once they were done, Jio gave them the order to distract the enemy long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Sakura looked questioningly at him, but Jio told her he'd explain it to her in a few minutes. The eight bunshin nodded and the Konoha nin were off once again.

"So what exactly are they going to do?" Sakura asked.

"Well Naruto and I trained on how to use our Kage Bunshin together in various situations. One of them was the distraction of enemy nin. Right now they're going to create a false track for them to follow and then two of them will confront the nins."

"Right." Naruto then continued. "The others will hide nearby and if the two clones are taken down, two others will take their place."

"By the time they realize what's happened, we'll be long gone." Jio added with a grin.

"I bet they wouldn't expect that from a bunch of kids!" Naruto said with a laugh.

Sakura could not believe what she was hearing. Naruto actually knew how to plan something like this? How much had he improved in that one month of training?

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Back with the clones, they had cleverly made Pakkun's tracks with a few twigs and of course, used their sandals for the other Konoha nin. The clones found a nice clearing where they finally stopped. Two stayed in the clearing while the others went and hid. Jio's clone took a seat by a tree while Naruto's sat on the branch. They didn't have to wait too long for the Sound nin's to arrive.

"Well if it isn't a bunch of kids." One said mockingly.

"So are you giving up? Did you realize you couldn't escape us?" another asked.

Naruto's clone jumped down from the tree and stood next to Jio's clone.

"No we're just here to give you guys some fun."

With that said, Jio and Naruto's clones reached into their pouches and threw all the Kunai they had at the enemy nins. The Sound nin retaliated by throwing stars, but that's when they received their first surprise. The kunai exploded.

"Watch out! They have exploding tags on them!" one of the Sound nin yelled.

Between all that commotion, Jio and Naruto's clones charged into battle. They engaged several of the Sound nin with carefully executed taijutsu attacks. After all, they needed to last as long as possible in order to give the real copies enough time to get further away.

"Damn you kids!" one of the Sound nin yelled.

He managed to grab Naruto's clone and kick him in the air.

"Get this kid!" the Sound nin yelled into the trees.

Sure enough, his call was responded as throwing stars were imbedded into Naruto's clone. Soon enough, Jio's clone suffered the same fate. That's when the Sound nin got their second surprise. The two clones then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What the hell!" a Sound nin yelled.

"They're clones!"

No sooner had he said that, two more popped out and began another assault. Though confused at the turn of events, the Sound nin continued to fight back. By the time the fourth pair of clones came out, they were starting to realize that this had been a set up.

"When we catch up to those kids, they're gonna wish they'd never been born!"

"I wouldn't bet on that." Naruto's clone said.

"I'm afraid this is the end of the line for you." Jio's clone added with a smile.

Just as the clones were about to be annihilated, the Sound nins third surprise appeared. Asuma stood in front of them with a dead Sound nin under his arm.

"Well I'm glad to see reinforcements did arrive." Jio's clone said.

Asuma tossed the dead shinobi aside and took down the remaining Sound nin. He then tossed his cigarette to the ground.

"You guys better come back from this mission in one piece." he told the clones before they poofed out of existence. He smiled before looking back towards the village. A frown adorned his face.

'I have a bad feeling about what's going to happen.'

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"Looks like the pursuers stopped moving." Pakkun informed them.

Naruto and Jio smiled to each other. Their clones had just disappeared and they had just received Asuma's message.

"The enemy's were taken care of by Asuma. I think we're in the clear." Jio said. "Once we get Sasuke, we're heading back immediately. I've had this bad feeling ever since Hokage-sama began fighting Orochimaru."

"Are you worried he won't win?" Sakura asked.

Jio nodded. "Although Hokage-sama is no push over, I still can't shake this feeling. Orochimaru...even I'm not sure at what kind of level he is..."

Naruto grunted. "That Old man won't loose. He's tougher than he looks. So quite worrying will ya."

Jio let a small smile appear. "Yeah I guess so."

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Back at the village, Shikamaru and his two companions were making their way through their battle ridden village. Kaze had just taken out a few Sound and Sand nins that were attempting to harm civilians.

"Shit, we're never gonna get to the school at this rate." Shikamaru said.

"Well it ain't a walk in the park kid. There's enemy nins everywhere." Kaze said.

"Plus it's hard to attack when there's also Konoha nins in the fray. We gotta be careful when we attack." Kazu added.

"So you guys could take out all the Sound and Sand nin in the area if there were no obstacles?" Ino asked.

"Of course!" Kaze answered.

"We're the sons of the mighty..."

"Look out!" Choji yelled.

The two wolves stopped their bragging and snapped their mighty jaws down upon their unfortunate prey.

"Teh, well it's gonna be impossible to clear out every Konoha shinobi from our path."

"So what are we going to do?" Ino said.

"Have no fear kids!"

The three of them turned their attention towards the the rooftops where three familiar figures stood.

Shiki smirked down at his son. "So they can destroy anything in their path?"

"You better believe it!" Kaze shouted.

"Well if that's the case..." Inoichi said.

Suddenly, clones covered the roof tops.

"We'll pass the word." Choza said.

With that the clones speed down the street that lead to the academy. Ino and Choji looked confused, but Shikamaru immediately caught on to what was going on.

"Heh, that's a pretty good idea."

"What are you talking about Shikamaru?" Ino asked.

"From here there is really only one direct path to take to the academy. So we're going to take this path and along the way, the Konoha shinobi will clear out leaving the Sound and Sand shinobi to deal with our furry friends."

The two wolves grumbled about being referred to as 'furry friends'. Choza returned to their area with a smile.

"It's all set kids. Be careful."

Kazu looked at the Akimichi. "There are four others that are attempting to help through out your village. Find them if you should require assistance."

Choza nodded.

"Hang on tight." Shikamaru told Ino and Choji. "Now show us what you can do." he told Kaze and Kazu.

The two wolves stood next to each other and then took off down the street. Along the way, Sound and Sand shinobi were either thrown or being held in their place by Konoha shinobi, however, once they saw the wolves approaching, they quickly left their opponents to the wolves. Once they disappeared Kaze and Kazu jumped into the air and swiped down their paws. A gust of wind erupted from their attack and ripped through the enemy. The wolves landed and continued their paced run to the academy. Shiki, Inoichi and Choza smiled. Their kids were growing up. They told other shinobi to spread the word about the other wolves in the village and they went back to work.

Shikamaru was impressed with the wind attacks of the wolves. The attacks were precise and hardly did any damage to the surrounding buildings. With this cleared path, they definitely had an easier time making it to the academy. Before they knew it, they reached their destination. A number of civilians and students were trying to make their way to the academy to be lead to a safer location. A lot of the people stopped and looked in fear of the giant wolves. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji jumped off and began to work crowd control.

"Don't be afraid! They're here to help!" Ino told people as she directed them towards the academy gym.

"Just keep moving and you'll be in a safer place soon." Choji added.

Suddenly a kid pushed through the crowd and attempted to run towards the village. Shikamaru put a stop to his plans.

"What are you thinking kid. It's dangerous to go out there. There's enemy nin everywhere."

"My mommy is in the hospital and couldn't come with us! Then that big snake thing appeared in that area and I don't know if she's alive! I gotta save her!" he said trying to wrestle out of Shikamaru's grasp.

"Don't be stupid! Do you think you could save her from that giant snake!"

"I don't see you guys trying to save anyone!"

Shikamaru frowned and tossed the kid towards the ground. He turned his back to him.

"Teh, what do you think I was doing right now? I'm trying to save you from yourself." He frowned at what he was about to say next. "Feh, if you're that worried I'll go to the hospital and protect it."

"What? Shikamaru are you insane!" Ino shouted.

Shikamaru looked at her. "Teh, this is so troublesome, but if I don't go then this kid will try to escape again. You and Choji will be fine. Plus you got Kazu with you and other Chunin around. You'll be able to hold you're own here."

"Don't worry about him Ino." Choji said. "Shikamaru knows what he's doing. Trust him."

"But, this is so unlike you. What changed?" Ino probed.

Shikamaru jumped on Kaze and looked in the direction of the hospital. "Teh, I guess those two guys are rubbing off on me."

He left with Kaze before Ino could question him about his statement. Choji smiled at his friend. Maybe Shikamaru was already a better shinobi then they were.

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"There seems to be more than one person chasing Sasuke." Pakkun piped up.

"What? Is it enemy nins?" Naruto questioned.

"I don't know, only...it's not human!"

'It's probably Shukaku.' Kyubi informed Naruto.

'Is he still in his human form?'

'As far as I can tell, yes, but Shukaku's chakra keeps spiking. It's only a matter of time before he loses himself.'

"There's no use worrying about who else is after him until we get to them." Jio said. "Lets just focus on catching up."

The two Genin nodded as Pakkun made another turn.

"He's moving again." he informed them.

'Will we make it before Shukaku takes over? If we don't then...Shit Temari is with him too! He won't hesitate to kill anyone, including her.' Jio frowned. 'Damn it...'

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Shikamaru made it to the hospital with out much trouble. Most of the enemy must have been trying to avoid the wolf once word got around. There they met another one of the wolves Jio had summoned.

"Kaze, what are you doing here?" the other wolf asked.

"Nothing much Nia, just brought this kid to check out the situation here."

"Have you been keeping guard over the hospital?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, so far everyone seems to be okay. You're welcome to take a look around." Nia answered.

"If things are fine then I'm going to go around and help out some more." Kaze said.

"Sure. Thanks for the help." Shikamaru said as Kaze jumped away towards other areas.

Just when he was about to relax, Shikamaru heard a scream coming from the hospital.

'Shit, did they get in?'

"Damn, looks like we're going to need to check out the situation." Nia said.

Shikamaru was about to ask how she planned to do that, but was silenced when Nia suddenly shrunk to the size of about a great dane.

"Well let's go." Shikamaru then proceeded to run into the hospital lobby.

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"Hey, Sasuke stopped moving." Pakkun informed them.

"Well then, you guys ready?" Jio asked.

Sakura and Naruto nodded. Although, they certainly weren't ready for the sight that greeted them. Sasuke was backed up against a tree with a partially transformed Gaara ready to strike him down. Naruto wasted no time and quickly acted. He kicked Gaara away from Sasuke but Gaara recovered quickly. He looked hungrily at Naruto and Jio. Jio looked over at Sasuke. He took notice of the marks on Sasuke's body.

'Is that the from the curse mark? Hmm, it will have to be dealt with later our main problem now is...'

"Look out guys!"

Jio had no time to react as Gaara went to kill Sasuke. Sakura, without thinking, stood in front of Sasuke with a kunai in hand.

"Sakura-chan!"

"NO!"

Gaara then slammed his giant claw into her and pinned her to one of the near by trees. Jio didn't even think about his next move as he quickly grabbed his boomerang and poured his chakra into it. He used Zero-shiki to cut the sand arm in half. Naruto also took this time to move Sasuke away from Gaara.

"Jio, how's Sakura-chan!"

Jio examined her while Gaara seemed to be struggling with himself. He was frustrated that the sand arm had not disappeared. Unfortunately, it seemed Sakura was going to be pinned to the tree until Gaara let her go.

"She seems okay. Just knocked out."

"W-why?" Gaara asked.

"Naruto, looks like we have no choice."

Naruto put Sasuke down and stood up straight.

"Yeah, I figured you'd say so."

"What do they mean to you?" Gaara asked. He seemed to have regained himself. His arm reformed.

"They're my friends! I won't let you harm them anymore than you already have!" Naruto exclaimed.

Jio and Naruto both attacked. Gaara used Shukaku's tail to fend off Naruto while, the arm was used to defend against Jio. Using Zero-shiki, Jio was able to cut through the arm and landed a solid kick to Gaara, sending him farther from them. Naruto landed next to Jio as they watched Gaara from afar.

"He changed again." Naruto noted.

"Damn it. He'll just keep changing until he reaches his final form. If that happens, everyone will be in danger."

Suddenly, Gaara released a mighty growl.

"Suna Shuriken!"

"Naruto!"

Naruto backed off as Jio formed his hand signs. A solid wall of rock rose from the ground and created a shield between Jio and Gaara's Sand Shuriken. Once the attack stopped, Naruto quickly created Kage Bunshin and attacked Gaara head on. At this point Gaara was almost fully transformed. Naruto's mass attack was cut short as Gaara used Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Eternal Sand Blast). Naruto did not give up and created more to continue his attack. He wrapped a kunai in an explosive tag and handed it to one of his clones. As Gaara continued to destroy his clones, Naruto created more and finally, he was able to get his clone within detonation range.

"Eat this!"

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While Naruto handled Gaara, Jio made his way to Temari. He had been really worried about her ever since she had taken off with Gaara.

"You okay?" he asked as he kneeled next to her.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about your brother."

"Can't stop me from worrying about you."

"You're hopeless."

"I guess...Listen, Naruto and I will deal with Gaara. Once he's turned back to normal, take him and leave."

"Wouldn't that be going against you're mission?"

"My only mission is to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke."

"Thanks...I guess."

"Don't be giving you're thanks to me just yet." an explosion then shook the forest. "You'll need to give that to someone else."

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Naruto went flying out of the explosion. Although he managed to get Gaara, he was also stuck by the sand tail. Sasuke, some how, managed to catch Naruto before he crashed into a tree.

"Heh, even after all that effort, you still only managed to hit him once." Sasuke panted.

Naruto stood up again. He wiped some blood from his lips.

"He's not your ordinary opponent." Naruto answered.

"I can see that." Sasuke said with a smirk, which fadedly quickly. "Naruto, take Sakura and run to a safe place. I'll hold him here for awhile. I once lost everything...So now I don't want to see my most cherished companions die in front of me again."

'Sasuke...'

"There isn't a need for you to give up your life like this." Jio suddenly said as he joined the two shinobi. "Especially not when you've come to realize that you have important people in you're life."

"He's right." Naruto added. "We're going to show him..."

"That fighting for one's self is not where true strength comes from." Jio finished.

Naruto turned to Gaara and created his hand sign. Kyubi's chakra began to pour out of Naruto. Sensing this, Gaara quickly attacked the blond shinobi. Jio, however, was not about to let him interfere. Using four clones, he bombarded Gaara with kick and punches until he finally manages to send him flying into the air. Naruto created 20 clones that proceeded to pound Gaara with a barrage of throwing stars. The original Naruto then poured chakra into the bone necklace and the ring on his finger.

'What in the...' Jio thought as he witnesses Naruto handle two O-Part effects at the same time. 'Is it even possible for him to pull something like that off? At his level?'

The clones then kicked Gaara towards the original Naruto. Naruto pulled back his fist. With the added effect of wind, he was able to rush at Gaara with enough speed and force to punch him through several trees and into the ground.

Temari looked in awe of Naruto's display. She looked over at Jio who had an equally astounded expression, except a smile adorned his face. Is this why he hadn't been as worried about him?

"I WON'T LOSE!" Gaara roared form the ground.

Temari's attention was brought back to her brother. 'It can't be. Has it finally come?'

'Looks like it's time.'Houkou said.

'I was afraid of this.' Jio said. Then he looked at Naruto. 'But for some reason, I'm not too worried about it.'

Naruto looked up at the fully formed Shukaku without fear.

'Time to show him who's boss!' Naruto said to Kyubi.

'Ready when you are kit.'

Naruto smirked. "Summoning No Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, the mighty Gamabunta appeared with Naruto standing on his head. Ready for battle.

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AN: And that's chapter 10. Next time, the invasion ends and tragedy befalls the Village of Konoha. Please review and no flames. Later!