Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story.

A/N: Funny, the new poll already seems more popular than the last ones. I already have 15 voters. So far, I have more or less predicted the way most of the votes were going to go. Keep going, for those who have not voted!

Now, we will finally see some real action as Naruto and Sasuke go at it. And the invasion will commence in this chapter!

Chapter 20: The Invasion Begins!

Naruto launched his first Hiraishin kunai at Sasuke, who drew his sword and deflected it with a casual swipe of it and rushed the blonde. Naruto threw two more to the sides to give himself more options before drawing Arashikatta to block Sasuke's blade, which had lightning chakra running through it. Fortunately, Naruto was already conducting wind chakra through his ninjato, so Sasuke's sword did not cut through. They broke apart and Sasuke activated his Sharingan, the three tomoe impressing everyone present. This was the match most of the crowd had come to see, a matchup between a prodigy of the famous Uchiha clan and the son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage. The fact that they were teammates only made things all the more interesting for them.

Naruto responded to the activation of the Sharingan by creating about thirty Shadow Clones, really amazing most jonin who recognized them. Many of those jonin could not make that many without exhausting themselves, but Naruto was not even winded or breaking a sweat, a testament to just how high his stamina was.

Sasuke made four of his own Shadow Clones to try to even the odds slightly and all of them rushed the small Naruto army. The following mass kenjutsu battle was a sight to behold, and Hayate was seriously considering requesting permission from the Hokage to teach the two of them his signature technique, the Crescent Moon Dance. With knowledge of both kenjutsu and Shadow Clones, they already had the foundation for the technique.

Sasuke was having a small amount of trouble with Naruto's superior numbers in this fight. He or one of his clones would manage to dispel one of Naruto's only for at least two more to attack. If it was not for the Sharingan, he would not have lasted very long. The ring of multiple blades clashing sounded out throughout the arena, along with the pops of clones being dispelled. Itachi activated his Sharingan to make sure he would be able to keep up with the fight.

Sasuke backed up and had six Naruto clones coming at him from all sides, while Naruto was leaping forward and whipping around to face the two Sasuke clones that had tried to close in on him from the sides.

"Chidori Stream!" Sasuke shouted and all six Naruto clones hit the shock barrier and dispelled.

"Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" Naruto bellowed and hit both Sasuke clones in front of him and they dispelled. Both Team 7 members turned to each other to see that only the originals remained, all the clones having been dispelled. Naruto immediately made fifty more.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Sasuke said with a sweat drop before he ran to the wall, with the Shadow Clone army, the original in the lead. Moving fast, Sasuke ran about a quarter of the way up the wall before leaping off of it, casting hand signs as he sailed above and behind Naruto and his clones. "Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" The clones had an uh-oh look on their faces as they saw the inferno descend.

Sasuke grinned before he saw the kunai that were thrown into the air. Hiraishin ones. All fifty clones and the original Naruto teleported above the fireball to avoid it and they were all facing Sasuke, who was still in the air, and making familiar hand seals. "Shit," the raven haired boy said as he made the familiar cross seal and made three Shadow Clones and they all quickly cast hand signs.

"Wind Style: Wind Scattershot!" all fifty one Narutos shouted in unison and launched massive airwaves at Sasuke, thanking Kami that there were potent barrier seals protecting the crowd from attacks that came from the arena. While the distance would normally have kept too much damage from occurring to Sasuke or the bystanders, fifty one Narutos at once using the jutsu had the effect of increasing its potency.

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke and his clones shouted and blasted their attacks at the incoming gale that put Temari's to shame. The fire and wind attacks met in midair and struggled against one another for a moment before they canceled each other out, and both combatants landed and their clones dispelled.

They ran straight at each other and Sasuke cast some hand signs, causing his arm to be coated in lightning chakra and Naruto held a chakra sphere in his hand.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

Both attacks slammed into each other. Naruto and Sasuke struggled against one another for supremacy, neither one giving the other any ground. "They really are trying to kill each other aren't they?" Minato groaned as he wept anime tears into his hands.

"Sasuke should not be using such a dangerous jutsu against a comrade," the dog mask wearing ANBU behind Minato groaned.

"Lighten up you two," Kushina said even though she also looked worried. "They know that they can handle the worst that the other throws at the other. This is the kind of battle they wanted to have for a while now, and if things go south, we have Tsunade back."

"That's what I am worried about," Minato grumbled. "If Naruto ends up in her care, she will put him in even worse shape than he came in for being a baka." Further conversation was halted when the clashing jutsus went off, exploding with enough force to launch both users back into the walls of the arena.

"Ugh, that's gonna hurt in the morning," Naruto groaned as he rose from his wall crater and Sasuke followed suit.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself Dobe, I don't have a healing factor like you do," Sasuke grumbled in reply.

"Jealous of my greatness Teme?" Naruto mocked as he drew his ninjato again.

"Hardly." Sasuke rolled his eyes and they dashed at each other again, Sasuke drawing his own blade as he went. They clashed blades for a moment before Naruto snapped a kick into Sasuke's gut, which the Uchiha actually recovered fast from and grabbed Naruto's leg with his free hand and spun to throw the blonde and cast his hand signs. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" The large dragon shaped blaze roared forth from Sasuke's mouth and straight at Naruto, who was still in the air.

"Thanks, I've wanted to try this out for a while now," Naruto grinned before he thrust Arashikatta forward and poured some of his chakra into the seals to activate them. The flaming dragon hit the sword and was absorbed right into it, surprising the crowd and Sasuke. Naruto cast a few signs then. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld Jutsu!" Sasuke froze as he felt his feet sinking into the ground and he realized he was in trouble when Naruto poured chakra into Arashikatta again and flames gathered into the blade.

Remembering how Hinata had escaped Gaara's sand, Sasuke quicly made a Shaow Clone and focused chakra to his feet to try loosening the swamp's grip on them and his clone grabbed him and pulled him loose. Not a moment too soon too, for Naruto swung the ninjato in Sasuke's direction, and his own jutsu was sent right back at him, albeit a little smaller than before. Sasuke's clone wasted no time in throwing the original out of the way before dispelling. The dragon shaped flame simply sputtered out once it hit the wall.

"That… what was that?" Mei asked in shock. "How did he absorb that attack and turn it on the originator?"

"It's one of the features of that undersized katana," Kushina boasted. "It is not only well made with the highest quality chakra conducting materials, but Minato and I both added seals to it that allows it to absorb just about any chakra based jutsu that comes into contact with the blade, and then use it against the enemy."

"It still has drawbacks tough," Minato said. "While Arashikatta has those seals, they require a lot of chakra to activate due to the diversity of the jutsus that it will be called upon to absorb, more than is usually practical. In fact, it would only take a few uses to completely exhaust the average shinobi. Of course, with Naruto's reserves, it is the perfect weapon for him, though he still tries to simply avoid or block attacks when he can, unless he really wants to use an opponent's jutsu against them, though that is only practical with the more powerful ones, because the sword is not able to keep the chakra within it for very long and the techniques weaken as time passes before the user releases them, because in order for the user to be able to use the jutsus against the originator, we had to leave the seals slightly… open so the user could release the jutsus without destroying the seals. As a result, the jutsus chakra leaks out, and it completely fades after a few minutes if the user waits that long. As far as I know, this is the first time Naruto has used the power."

"I see…" Mei said thoughtfully. Even with the drawbacks, that sword is one that could rival the blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen if it was in the right hands.

Meanwhile, the battle became more heated as both combatants once again closed in on each other and their blades clashed, occasionally throwing a punch or a kick in. The crowd watched in awe at the speed and skill the two were displaying. What the hell were these two doing in the chunin exams? It felt like they were watching a fight for a jonin exam rather than chunin. Naruto took a kick to his side and flipped backwards and cast a few hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Wall!" A large rock wall rose up between him and Sasuke, the latter of whom charged, and lightning chakra encased his had again.

"Chidori!" he shouted as he penetrated the wall, only to find that Naruto was not on the other side of it. Frantically looking around he spotted the blonde above him, holding a Hiraishin kunai, and realized that under the cover of the wall, the blonde had thrown the kunai up and teleported to it, so he was bove Sasuke when he broke through the wall.

"Earth Style: Rock Fist!" Naruto shouted as his arm was encased in rock and he punched at Sasuke as he came down. The Uchiha was just barely able to leap back in time to avoid the worst of the blow, though some rocks that were kicked up still nicked him. "Darn, almost had you there," Naruto said.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Sasuke replied.

"That is probably enough…" Orochimaru thought as he gave a meaningful look in the direction a particular ANBU in the stands, who nodded and cast a hand sign. "Much more, and the risk of damage to my vessel may get more than I am willing to allow. It has been a very entertaining battle at least. I have chosen my next host well, kukukuku…"

Naruto and Sasuke were just about to go at it again when a rain of feathers descended. "This your doing Naruto?" Sasuke frowned as he dispelled its influence on him, followed by Naruto and all others who recognized the genjutsu, including Itachi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Hayate, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Sakura, Neji, Kiba (though he had to be tipped off by Sakura's quick thinking), and all of Konoha's other jonin, ANBU and a few chunin. All others fell into a slumber.

"No, I suck at genjutsu remember?" Naruto replied. "It must be the snake's signal for the invasion!"

Sasuke nodded as he and Naruto both took their soldier pills and turned to face a wave of just under twenty Sound nin with orders to capture Sasuke. "Let's get started then!" Sasuke declared as his curse seal glowed orange and spread its flame like design across his body.

"Right!" Naruto made fifty Shadow Clones and they all cast hand seals. The Sound ninja immediately stopped their charge and cast some barrier ninjutsu in preparation for what was coming. "Wind Style! Wind Scattershot!"

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted as he added his flames to the mass tempest. With several barrier jutsus from the Sound ninja, along with about twenty feet of distance from the Naruto clones, they might have been able to repel the attack before, but once Sasuke had added his fireball to the assault, the incoming inferno was way too much for the Sound ninja, and their defenses were overpowered. End result: crispy fried punks.

"There's already enough aid here in the arena!" Naruto shouted to Sasuke as his Shadow Clones spread out. "We need to go help the village!" Sasuke nodded. "Here," Naruto tossed Sasuke a Hiraishin kunai. "If you need help from me, conduct some chakra into that, I made some modifications to the seal so it will allow one I have to respond to the call, and I,or at least a Shadow Clone or two will come to your aid."

Sasuke nodded and both overpowered genin split up.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru had attempted to take Minato hostage, but the blonde Hokage used Hiraishin when Orochimaru grabbed him, taking the snake and Kushina with him as they went. The Sound Four had shed their disguises and were about to join in the battle when Sakon and Ukon suddenly found themselves set upon by the Tsuchikage, and Jirobo and Tayuya where attacked by Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi. The group never even had the chance to question the betrayal of Iwa as Onoki used his Dust Style to vaporize Sakon, with Ukon being just barely able to escape on time, only to receive a Lightning Blade through the chest from the dog masked ANBU captain that had been meant for Kidomaru, allowing the spider like man to jump into the stands and join forces with other Sound ninja. Jirobo was killed painfully when he was hit by Kurotsuchi's Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu, which stuck to him and melted him in an agonizing way, slowly. Tayuya was luckier. Her neck got snapped instantly when Akatsuchi punched her with a rock encased fist.

"What's going on!?" Mei demanded with Ao and the other Kiri jonin getting into defensive positions next to her.

"Orochimaru planned an invasion of this village," Onoki replied as the ANBU captain went in pursuit of Kidomaru. "He tried to get Iwa and Suna on his side as well, but both of our nations decided to double cross him and support Konoha. The rest I can explain later, but for now, I suggest you three stay here and out of the conflict." Onoki then moved to the railing and flew over the battlefield, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi jumping into the thick of the battle.

"I suggest we follow their advice, Mizukage-sama," Ao said, to the agreement of his fellow Kiri ninja. "This is not our fight."

"Maybe not," Mei mused.

"W-what's going on?" Hinata asked as she took the food pill that Shikamaru had given her.

"We are under attack by the Hidden Sound Village it seems," Shikamaru said. "Troublesome. We need to stick together, that's our best shot of surviving. And we need to help fight these guys."

"Look out!" Kiba shouted and used his Tunneling Fang on a Sound ninja that tried to attack Hinata from behind with a kunai. Akamaru barked at Shikamaru, who tossed him a spare food pill. A second Sound ninja charged Hinata, who jumped back from the outstretched kunai. The other genin were then preoccupied when a group of Sound nin came after them, leaving Hinata to deal with her foe on her own. She activated her Byakugan and avoided the blows before she laced her palm with chakra and slapped it right into his chest. The man coughed up a lot of blood before he fell dead, leaving Hinata to stare at his empty eyes, and look in shock at the hand she used to kill her enemy. She had resolved to become stronger and do what was needed to protect the village and her friends, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of seeing firsthand the life leave a person's eyes and realize that it was her hand that took that life.

Her stupor was so strong that she did not notice another enemy coming at her with a kunai aimed for her neck. "Lady Hinata!" Neji shouted as he tried to rush to her aid, though he knew he would not be in time. The Sound ninja smirked before a blast of sand struck his side, and he was thrown into the wall, the impact snapping his neck, killing him instantly.

More sand quickly dispatched the remaining Oto shinobi, and Gaara came up to the genin. "Are you alright?" he asked to all of them, though mostly to Hinata, who finally managed to come somewhat to her senses. Gaara looked at the body. "Was he your first kill?" he asked with a hint of sympathy in his voice. Hinata started shedding tears in response. "I see," he said. He looked around and saw his siblings and Baki joining the fight in the arena. "You are going to have to ignore your feelings on this. There is a battle going on now, and people are going to die, whether you wish it or not. Whether it is your enemies or you and your comrades is up to you. I am going to go help Namikaze-san," he said to the rest of the group. "I would take the one who beat my sister's advice and stay in the arena as a group. There are many other jonin here to back you up and you can watch out for each other." With that, Gaara's sand came out of his gourd and he stepped on it, using it as a flying platform to head in the direction the original Naruto went.

"Are you going to be fine, Hinata?" Saskura asked with some concern.

"I-I will make it, Sakura," the girl replied. "I need to get over this. If I cannot raise my hand against our enemies, more of our comrades will end up dead. I can't let that happen."

"Enough talking, here comes the next wave!" Shikamaru shouted and the genin prepared for another round.

….

"Stupid snake!" Han shouted as the giant snake summons struck out at him, and he dodged backwards. When the snake's head came back up, Han charged and, using the pressure of the steam his armor generated to enhance the blow, hit the beast with an uppercut that Tsunade could respect. Needless to say, this meant the snake was literally flung a good ways, despite its size. "Anyone else?" he asked as a group of Oto nin surrounded him. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said as they were engulfed in his steam, causing them all to shriek in agony as their skin was burned badly. "Told Roshi I didn't need any support," he chuckled as he hit another Oto nin in the midsection, mercifully holding off on the steam. The three Iwa nin that were with him developed tick marks at this. "No offense," Han said apologetically. "It's just that you could be giving backup to less capable members of our team."

They were about to respond to this when one was impaled from behind by what appeared to be a scorpion's tail in mechanical form, another was decapitated by a cloaked man with a sword and the third was torn apart by black tendrils from another cloaked man, this one with red clouds on his cloak. There was a fourth member of this group who was also cloaked like the one with a sword, though it was barely distinguishable that it was a woman under the cloak.

"Han of the Steam Armor," the cloaked woman said as the sword wielder and the one with the tail left, leaving the one with the tendrils and the woman to face the Gobi jinchuriki. "I am afraid that you will be coming with us."

"I don't think so," Han said as he got into a defensive fighting stance. "I don't know who you are, but you're messing with the wrong guy."

…..

Mizuki slowly slipped out of the Hokage's tower, the Forbidden Scroll under his arm (A/N: Yeah, I know I forgot about him until now, but it makes sense that he would try to steal the scroll for Orochimaru during the invasion so I hope no one minds). "Perfect," he muttered as he landed on the streets. "Now I just have to make sure to slip out in the chaos and…"

"Going someplace?" a voice asked the traitorous chunin from behind and leaking killing intent. Mizuki paled and turned around to see the sadistic form of Zabuza Momochi. "Looks like I get to have some fun with you…" Zabuza laughed.

…..

"Give it up Orochimaru," Minato said to the snake as he pulled the Kazekage's face off of his own. "We knew of your invasion from the beginning, and your allies have betrayed you. You have lost before you even started."

"Kukukuku, how little you know, Minato," Orochimaru said as he drew his Sword of Kusanagi from his mouth, to Kushina's disgust. "Even if the village is still standing when the invasion is over, killing you, the greatest of the Hokage, will reduce the Will of fire to nothing as the villager's lose their morale. And what I am after is more than the destruction of the Hidden Leaf."

"We know full well what you are after you snake," Kushina snarled as her chakra chains came out of her body and lashed towards Orochimaru, who dashed to the side and deflected the ones that stayed with him with his blade. "And I will tell you now, you are not going to get a hold of Mikoto's son!"

"Kukukuku… it seems that you both need a demonstration of my power…" Orochimaru said as his eyes closed. "Miraiyochigan!"

Minato and Kushina's eyes narrowed as Orochimaru's snapped open, the whites having become crimson, the pupils maroon, and golden x's had taken the place of his slit irises.

"What… what kind of dojutsu is that?" Kushina asked.

"I am not sure," Minato replied as he took out one of his kunai. "But be ready for anything."

….

Sasuke cut down several more shinobi as he ran through the streets of Konoha, before he heard a bone-chilling voice behind him. "It has been a little while, Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke whipped around to see a cloaked figure sitting casually on a roof, his empty right sleeve flapping in the wind.

"I know you…" Sasuke growled and he drew his sword.

….

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, driving the attack into the top of one of the larger snakes' head. The beast was instantly killed as its skull shattered. Another snake tried to retaliate by attacking the blonde from behind, but a coil of sand wrapped around its neck and compressed, decapitating it. "I could have gotten that myself Gaara," Naruto said as he jumped into the mouth of the final snake summons in that area as it struck at him and he blew its head up by forming a Giant Rasengan in the mouth.

"I did not think you would complain if I were to expedite things a little," Gaara replied.

"Thanks anyway," Naruto said as they looked around to find another area they could help. Their search was cut short when a cloaked figure with a sword strapped to his back materialized behind Gaara. A shield of sand sprung up, but did nothing to stop the punch the figure threw at the back of Gaara's head. The fist connected with a sickening crunch as the Sand Armor gave way, and Gaara fell to the ground unconscious.

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he dashed for the man who slung Gaara over his shoulder and jumped the wall the snakes partially destroyed. "Oh, no you don't! Get back here you bastard!" Naruto bellowed as he followed in pursuit.

"Be careful Naruto," Kurama growled. "That cloak is the same as the one the man who was after you before wore. If they are after the same goal, then you could well be running into a trap."

"You think I don't know that?! I am not letting this one take Gaara!"

"Perfect, just keep following me Kyuubi container," the cloaked man thought with a smirk. "With no one else to interfere, I will have no problems claiming two of the four jinchuriki."

A/N: Who's looking forward to next chapter? I will be titling it, Unforgivable! Sasuke's Decision! (Please read the chapter before you end up rage quitting this story, you may be surprised if you jumped to conclusions)

We will finally get a chance to see Ceilia fight next time as well. We will also get to see the abilities of Raizen's two other members of his inner circle, and Naruto and Gaara are going up against the most dangerous one! Can they hope to survive?

Also, Minato and Kushina will struggle against Orochimaru and his new dojutsu! What sort of powers did he gain from the follower of Raizen whose body he stole? Next chapter will be all that can tell that detail…

To answer Anon's question, I am asking you to get an account so we can discuss more in depth the direction the story takes and so I can get your reviews sooner. I do not want to have to use Author Notes to answer everyone's questions either. This goes for everyone else who reviews without an account, such as Guest, and Guest 777.

Hey, you know the button down there, the one that says post a review? Please do as it asks… it has my family…