CHAPTER 29: THE INVASION BEGINS

Shikamaru was attacked immediately the moment Genma allowed the match to start. A large amount of sand immediately went after Shikamaru. Shikamaru rolled to his right but the sand continued on pursuing Shikamaru. Everyone in the stadium stared in awe by the attacks of Gaara. The ninjas here that have witnessed the preliminaries were not surprised, but the others were surprised that Gaara can attack using Sand. That is something unique.

Shikamaru did a back-flip as a wave sand almost smashed on him. Shikamaru lands on his feet and runs to his right, the wave of sand behind him. Knowing that he will never stop running, he decides to attack Gaara. Shikamaru took out a kunai and threw it at Gaara. Sure enough, a certain amount of sand blocked the kunai for Gaara without moving an inch.

Gaara watched unsmilingly at Shikamaru. Just like in the preliminaries, he has his arms crossed on his chest, just letting his sand do the work for him. After all, ever since he became a ninja, none were able to hurt him physically. All attempts have failed so it was no surprise that the sand blocked the kunai thrown by Shikamaru.

'So does the sand automatically protect Gaara? Or is it by Gaara's controls? The match he had with Kiba does not give me enough information. No matter, I'll find out myself.' Shikamaru thought as he continues running away from the sand. Of course, the villagers were starting to wonder if this was a match worth watching as they can clearly see that Gaara is not even serious in this match, which show the large difference in their skills.

"What the hell are you doing?" A villager shouted, throwing rubbish into the arena.

Several other villagers then joined in the rant, insulting Shikamaru and demanding that the match be given to Gaara as Shikamaru is not doing anything. Genma hid his face in his right palm, trying to calm himself down. These villagers have no patience. He can see that Gaara is definitely having the upper-hand, but you cannot determine the winner just because one has the upper-hand.

As the sand nears Shikamaru, Shikamaru quickly jumps forward and hides behind a tree for cover.

"It's useless.." Gaara said, ordering the sand to attack the tree.

The sand easily destroyed the tree into pieces. Shikamaru successfully avoided the attack and jumped forward out of his hiding place, heading head on towards Gaara. This caught Gaara by surprise, although he did not show it. Shikamaru tries to deliver a kick to Gaara's face, but just like Shikamaru predicted, the sand blocked Shikamaru's kick without Gaara ordering it to.

'So it does protect him without him ordering to.' Shikamaru thought as he jumped away from Gaara.

"I will end the match now…" Gaara said coldly, raising his right hand and pointing it at Shikamaru.

The sand from Gaara' gourd move with incredible speed towards Shikamaru. Despite having the senses of a ninja, the speed was too fast and the sand crashed onto Shikamaru's chest, sending him crashing on the ground. Shikamaru coughed a few times from difficulty of breathing and quickly formed his family's seal.

"Shadow bind technique!"

The shadow of Shikamaru starts to charge at Gaara. Gaara remembered in the match that the shadow allows Shikamaru to control the person that the shadow touches. Although it is practically harmless to him, Gaara has no intention in losing this match.

Gaara waves his right hand in front of him and the sand immediately starts to form a barrier for the oncoming shadow. Shikamaru knew he's going to have to pay attention here. The shadow touches the sand and by now, Shikamaru should be able to control Gaara. Shikamaru stands up and moves, but Gaara does nothing.

'So my shadow has caught the sand shield instead?' Shikamaru observed.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, knowing that it was a close call that his sand blocked the shadow. Although Shikamaru may seem to have been an easy opponent, Gaara knew that the longer the match, the more Shikamaru can learn about Gaara's abilities and Gaara had no doubt that Shikamaru will put it to his advantage.

Gaara quickly waved his two arms, his right arm moving to the left while his left hand moved a little to the right with clenched fist. The sand shield dropped to the ground and immediately started to charge Shikamaru. Shikamaru's shadow technique has been dispelled and the sand was so fast that Shikamaru barely dodged it.

Shikamaru did a back flip but the sand wave continued to pursue him. Shikamaru turned around and quickly started to run only to find another wave of sand in front of him. There were now two sand waves, one behind him and one in front of him. They were going to crush him into a pan cake. Shikamaru rolled to his right on time as the two wall of sand slammed into one another. Shikamaru took a quick glance at Gaara but that was his mistake.

The moment Shikamaru allowed his eyes to gaze elsewhere, a large amount of sand infused with chakra slammed onto Shikamaru's back, sending him thrashing forward on the ground, leaving dirt marks all over his body. There were also a few scars and scratches from hitting the ground. Shikamaru groaned in pain and stood up on shaky knees.

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger, holding on the railing tightly. Naruto's anger was increasing. Naruto knew that Gaara was planning to kill Shikamaru if given the chance and Naruto is not even able to do a thing to help Shikamaru, and Naruto is so close! The frustration is killing him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Naruto turned and realised that it was Sasuke.

"Relax," Sasuke said, looking at the injured Shikamaru, "He won't lose that easily."

"How can I relax?" Naruto asked with a loud voice. Naruto pointed at Shikamaru whilst still looking at Sasuke, "Do you know whom is Shikamaru up against? That red haired guy has never been injured, never! How do you expect Shikamaru to beat him?"

"He's smart," Sasuke said coolly, "Shikamaru can think about a hundred strategies in a few seconds. I don't know Shikamaru much, but I know that his brain can help him a lot. Even when his match is impossible to win."

Naruto stared at Sasuke for a few seconds and then looked back at Shikamaru. Shikamaru is currently backing away as three sand waves continue to chase him. Gaara is simply standing there, waving his arms here and there, controlling the sand.

'Damn it, I need a moment of peace to come up with something!' Shikamaru thought as he barely dodged a wave of sand coming from his right.

Shikamaru took out a smoke bomb from his pouch and without a moment of hesitation, threw it to the ground. Shikamaru's surrounding is now filled with smoke and the attack from Gaara stopped. Gaara waited patiently, knowing that no matter how much time Shikamaru is trying to buy himself, it is useless.

Shikamaru observed the three sand wave that are waiting for him. The smoke is able to give him about fifteen seconds to analyse everything. Shikamaru realised that out of the three sand wave, one of them is connected to Gaara's gourd.

'That must be the sand coming from his gourd. The other two sand wave probably came from the ground.' Shikamaru concluded. With that small bit of information, Shikamaru quickly thought up of a plan. Although Shikamaru would normally think of about twenty plans and then slowly figure out which was best, Shikamaru knew that this was one exception. He had no time to do such a thing.

Shikamaru took out six kunai's from his pouch and took out a long piece of ninja wire. With that, he tied the kunai's into a row of six kunai's. Shikamaru realised that the smoke is clearing up and taking a deep breath, he put his plan into action.

Shikamaru was about to throw his row of kunai's when a wave of sand came up in front of him. The wave of sand attempted to slam Shikamaru into a pan cake but Shikamaru was quick to avoid it. He jumped high into the air only to realise his mistake. Shikamaru looked behind him and his suspicions were correct. Another wave of sand was behind him and Shikamaru quickly used both his arms to protect himself, hoping to reduce the damage. It didn't really help. The sand slammed on Shikamaru's arms and it sent him to the stadium's wall, leaving a large hole into it.

All of the villagers got to their feet to see what happened. They can tell that Gaara is going to be the winner of the match with not much effort. The difference between Shikamaru and Gaara is too much.

Shikamaru has blood seeping out from the corner of his mouth and his left hand is bleeding pretty badly. His right hand has a few bruised marks but it was in a much better condition than his left hand. It looks like Shikamaru is going to have to rely on his right hand to commence his plan. And he wasted no time.

With his row of kunai's Shikamaru quickly threw it at Gaara. Gaara showed no fear and just as the line of kunai's were about to hit him, his sand automatically went up to protect him. Shikamaru smirked as he anticipated this. None have realised this but the moment he threw his line of kunai's, Shikamaru had used his shadow mimic technique on the kunai. Since the kunai's were now flying in one line, it formed a small shadow beneath it and Shikamaru used the shadow for his technique.

When Shikamaru's kunai's hit the sand and bounced off, Shikamaru quickly released his bind from the kunai's and ordered his shadow to capture Gaara. For the first time in the match, Gaara's eyes showed fear and Gaara actually jumped back but the shadow was quick. But that was all Gaara needed, one second. Gaara quickly ordered his sand to block the shadow for him and the sand did it at the right time.

Gaara relaxed a little when the shadow caught his shield instead of him. Gaara now understood Shikamaru's plan. Shikamaru threw the kunai as a distraction but also as a 'secret' pathway for his shadow. It really surprised him and Gaara knew that the longer this match takes, the more Shikamaru can analyse Gaara's weakness and also think up of more clever strategies.

"Take this!" Gaara heard a voice coming from behind him. His eyes widen and turned back to find Shikamaru there with his right hand charged up for a blow. Gaara was fortunate that his sand would help defend him from any physical attacks, for if it were not, Gaara would have felt his first physical pain.

Shikamaru's fist was about to connect with Gaara's left cheek when his fist hit the sand protecting Gaara, and to Shikamaru, it felt like punching a brick wall. A small amount of blood seeped out of Shikamaru's knuckles. However, Shikamaru was smiling and Gaara was confused by this. That was when Gaara couldn't move!

"Im…possi…ble…" Gaara said, struggling to utter those words. His whole body was trembling, not from fear, but from trying to move his body.

Shikamaru relaxed himself and smiled. His only strategy in this match worked. It was simple actually. After Shikamaru found out that his sand from the gourd is the one that always protects Gaara, and that it was connected to Gaara's gourd, he knew that his shadow bind technique should be able to capture Gaara. So, Shikamaru purposely threw the kunai and tried to capture Gaara with his shadow bind to force Gaara to use the sand from his gourd to protect himself. Then, Shikamaru tried to hit Gaara but he knew his sand would protect him and with Gaara so distracted, Shikamaru ordered his shadow to move from the sand to the gourd. Since the gourd is always strapped onto Gaara's back, it would automatically capture Gaara. Mission accomplished!

"You lose…" Shikamaru said with confidence.

"Not yet…" Gaara said with malice, "You can't… win wi..th… just… me… following your… movements."

Shikamaru chuckled, "You didn't think that my shadow bind technique can just do that do you?"

Before Gaara could ask Shikamaru what he meant, Shikamaru formed a new seal. The shadow on Gaara's feet changed into a hand-shadow that slowly travelled up Gaara's body. What shocked Gaara the most was that it really felt like it was a real hand! And it was aiming for his neck!

The moment the shadow hand grabbed Gaara's neck, Gaara felt physical pain for the first time, although the one initiating the pain is not physical. It was a shadow. Gaara grunted in pain and tried to fight for control of his body, but with the neck grabbing tightly on his neck, it was difficult for him to do so.

Shikamaru, with his left hand injured, found it more difficult to use the shadow neck bind technique. And to make it worse, he only learned this technique from his father two weeks ago, so Shikamaru is not really good at it yet. Shikamaru is currently struggling to keep up with the technique and is hoping that Gaara will just give up to the pain and forfeit the match.

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Maki and Kakashi are now at the stands, no longer on the roof. They have also informed a few of the other Chuunin and Jounins in the stadium about the Sound ninjas in disguise. Some also knew about it while others were a little surprised, mostly the Chuunins.

Maki and Kakashi are currently walking to Sakura. Maki was worried about Sakura and wanted to make she was safe. Once the Sand and Sound strikes, Maki won't be able to protect Sakura and if anything were to happen to Sakura, he will have no one else to blame but himself.

"Hei, Sakura…" Maki called out, causing the pink haired girl to turn and look at her uncle. Ino turned to look at her teacher as well.

"Uncle Maki! Where have you been?" Sakura asked with a hint of anger in her voice, "Were you even here when it was Naruto's match."

"Cam down Sakura," Maki said, both of his arms raised to calm down the pink haired girl, "I was there. I was on the roof."

"What would you be doing there? We have seats over here." Sakura replied, still fuming.

"I just wanted to observe the match from a better view."

Silence. Sakura did not say anything and Maki thought his niece finally bought the excuse.

"Is something going on?" Sakura asked. She has been wondering about this fr some time now. Her uncle would not just leave just to watch the match from a better view on the roof. Besides, the sun would have been too uncomfortable for him.

"Of course not." Maki instantly replied, smiling.

Sakura was about to ask another question when a blood curling scream filled the air. Every turned their attention to the two Gennins in the arena and they realised that the scream is coming from the Sand ninja. Out of the corner of Kakashi's eye, Kakashi realised that a few of the Sound ninjas in disguise now had worried expression on their faces and Himura, for the first time, looked worried.

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Shikamaru watched in horror as Gaara was somehow able to have broken hold of his shadow neck bind technique. No one has ever broken out of a shadow bind technique just like that. Normally it would be a struggle between a Nara ninja and the one that was captured or because the shadow user has run out of chakra. But Gaara broke out of it in just one go, without a struggle between the two. Shikamaru never even realised that his technique was broken off.

Gaara's scream was heard by everyone in the arena and since Shikamaru no longer has the technique on Gaara, his pain is not coming from the throat being strangled. Gaara is holding his head with both of his hands and Gaara has veins popping out of his forehead from whatever pain he is currently experiencing.

Shikamaru glanced at Genma and the Jounin himself does not know what to do. Gaara dropped on one of his knees, still holding his head in pain.

Himura knew that Gaara must be having those bad memories again and if this continues, the mission will be awry. Gaara will soon awaken the Shukaku before the mission even begins! Himura waited for another five seconds but when she saw that Gaara's gourd is now pouring out more sand than usual, she recognised this immediately and she had no choice but to give the order.

Himura took out her large fan and yelled, "The invasion begins now!"

"Roger that!" That response came from almost every ANBU in the stadium.

"Six of you," Himura pointed at the six Sound Jounins in front of her, "Kill that Nara kid. If this continues, Gaara can't transform until he sees that boy is killed!"

"Got it!"

The six Sound ninjas jumped from the stands and are headed for Shikamaru. The orders to carry out the mission was so surprising that the villagers are still not aware of what was going on and even some of the Konoha Chuunin are not aware. Genma saw the six incoming ninja and prepared to protect Shikamaru when two Sand Chuunins appeared, blocking his way. Shikamaru was even more confused and wondered what was going on.

"Kakashi!" Maki called out as he jumped into the arena to get Shikamaru.

"I know!" Kakashi quickly started forming seals.

Maki was the first to reach Shikamaru and quickly pulled Shikamaru behind him. The six ninjas each took out a kunai and prepared to engage Maki. Maki formed his famous seal.

"Shadow replication technique!"

Two puff of smoke appeared by Maki's side and the two clones took out a kunai. The first two Sound Jounin were about to reach Maki when suddenly the ground erupted beneath them and two large pillars went straight at the Sound ninjas. They were caught by surprise and the two pillars easily smashed on the Sound ninja and sent them crashing through the stadium's wall.

That was Kakashi's earth technique and just like they discussed earlier, Kakashi had supported him since he is a Ninjutsu specialist. Maki himself started forming seals and he finished his sixth seal in two seconds.

"Fire release! Death whip technique!'

Maki gathered up chakra to his throat and breath out a long wave of fire. The fire was moving in a zig-zag manner, left and right with incredible speed. The four Sound ninjas were caught by surprise and two of them quickly formed an earth technique to protect them. The other two never made it as the fire started to burn them. They screamed in agony and tried to put out the fire by rolling on the ground but the fire burnt them to their death. Maki put his attention to the other two Sound ninjas. The technique Maki used earlier didn't really take out much of Maki's chakra and besides, Maki's chakra capacity is huge so it shouldn't be a bother.

One of the Sound Jounins lunged at Maki with a kunai drawn. Maki's clones dispersed and the real Maki went face-to-face with the Sound Jounin. Maki's custom kunai connected with the Sound's kunai, the sound of metal against metal heard throughout the stadium. The villagers were now getting afraid and wondered if this was just a special performance.

Maki ducked as the Sound Jounin tried to attack Maki's shoulder. Maki then gave a powerful kick to the man's abdomen, sending him backwards. One of Maki's clone appeared behind the man and without a moment of hesitation, plunged the kunai into the back of the Sound Jounin's neck. The Sound Jounin's body went stiff as blood poured out of his neck. The clone released the Jounin as it fell to the ground, dead.

Maki engaged again in melee combat with the last Sound Jounin. This Jounin is much more skilled than the other as all of Maki's attempts to attack were foiled. However, the Sound Jounin put all of his concentration on Maki that he forgot about Maki's clones. One of Maki's clones suddenly appeared on the right and punched the Sound Jounin hard on his right cheek. The Sand Jounin fell to the ground but quickly rolled to his left as the real Maki almost plunged his kunai into the Jounin's face.

Unfortunately for the Sound Jounin, Maki had two clones so when the Jounin stopped rolling, the second clone was there and delivered a kick to the mid-section, which sent the Jounin thrashing on the ground. Before Maki was about to strike once more, Maki saw a wolf covered in lightning appear and jumped on the Sound Jounin. The Jounin's body started shaking as he was electrocuted and when it stopped, the Jounin was dead.

Maki took a quick glance at Kakashi and Kakashi, underneath his mask, smiled. The attack on Shikamaru failed but Maki realised that three Sand Jounins are now attending to Gaara, and Maki saw the other two Sand Gennins, Kankurou and Temari, asking if Gaara was okay. They got no response.

Kakashi then heard some shouting coming from the seats of the Hokage. Kakashi looked and saw nothing but smoke. Then, a figure jumped high into the air and Kakashi realised it was the Kazekage holding the Hokage by the neck with a kunai. Kakashi's right eye widen in shock and was about to go and help the Hokage when two Sand Jounins blocked his path. Kakashi cursed and quickly revealed the eye of the Sharingan.

The whole stadium was now silent. Sakura realised that a sleeping Genjutsu was activated and it has put almost everyone to sleep, including Ino. Sakura was lucky to be a Genjutsu specialist to notice this. She looked around and saw a small amount of leaf ninjas engaging with a large amount of Sound and Sand ninjas. Sakura realised the ratio was like 4:1.

'What the hell is going on?' Sakura thought. Sakura looked down at the arena and she can see her uncle and his two clones engaging in hand-to-hand combat with two other Sand ninjas. Shikamaru was being protected by the real Maki.

"What the hell?" Naruto did not know what to say. First, he was watching a match between Gaara and Shikamaru, and now, his teacher and every ninja in the stadium are against one another.

"Naruto, duck!" Sasuke yelled and Naruto obeyed on time as a wave of shuriken nearly hit him.

Naruto was about to say something when they heard three loud explosions. Naruto then saw black smoke rising from the outside of the stadium and he can hear more people yelling. He can also hear some ninjas outside the stadium delivering orders.

Maki finally finished off the last Sand ninja that stood in his way by slicing the man in the neck. So far, Maki has not yet used his custom kunai, which was good. Then, a familiar chakra presence appeared next to him.

"What's the situation?" Maki asked, looking around and making sure that Shikamaru is still behind him.

"We're outnumbered. And judging by the explosion, more Sand and Sound ninja have entered Konoha. Most of the ANBU are stationed outside the stadium so that's fine, but we're quite outnumbered over here." Kakashi said, his left Sharingan eye watching a Konoha Chuunin killed by two Sound ninjas. Kakashi felt anger.

"Then the outside of the stadium should be fine, since we have the ANBU. Where are Gai and the other elite Jounins?" Maki asked.

"Don't know. But we would really need their help." Kakashi replied and without saying another word, took out a kunai and used it to make a small cut on his thumb. He formed five seals and then, summoned a small little dog.

"Go and find Gai and other elite Jounins. Gather them back here, and hurry!" Kakashi ordered.

"Roger…" The little dog replied.

Kakashi looked around the arena and realised that the three Sand gennins were no longer present. They have disappeared but he can still feel their chakra in the stadium. No matter, it's not important.

"We won't make it if this continues. We are outnumbered and we won't last." Maki stated.

"Then all we need is to buy time. And Maki, you have the largest chakra here."

Maki looked at the copy ninja and he knew what he meant. For now, they will need to wait until reinforcement arrives. Maki looked at Sakura and she was looking at him too. He knew he has to protect Sakura and Maki looked at Naruto. He is looking around, not knowing what to do. Good, Naruto is perfect for the job. Maki formed his familiar seal once more.

"Mass shadow replication technique!"

The whole arena was filled with puff of smokes and forty Maki's appeared.

"Spread out!" Maki ordered and his clones obeyed, all going to the nearest enemy to engage it in combat or to help a Konoha ninja. Since Maki is skilled, his clones should be able to at least kill a few ninjas and help defend the area.

Maki looked at Naruto and started to make his way there, hoping that everything is going to go well. The invasion has begun…