A/N: You guys saw the manga?! Who dare say Naruto's still weaker than Sasuke? HUH?! WHO?! Sage mode man, fuck Sharingan and all his flashy useless jutsu. Toads are the way to go.

Other than that, I've got nothing much to say. Naruto vs Gaara. Enough said. Let's hear the applause, lulz. The manga is finally showing why it's called "Naruto" and not Sasuke. =.=

NEW NOTE!!!!

Okay, this is the latest note. I've just lost one hundred sixty gigabytes worth of stuff from my removable hard drive. And after that, the computer that I was using experienced no less than eight 'blue screens of death'. You should all know that annoying 'STOP' screen, where the com just stops working. This last few days, I've been trying all that I could to recover the stuff, but to no avail. So slight correction, I'm not feeling too well at all. Combine that with a constant cough, and one could easily get irritated. So if the chapter suddenly starts getting edgy halfway through the chapter, do bear with me. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I Will Believe

Chapter 37: Naruto VS Gaara

The killing intent had slowly been increasing ever since Temari had arrived back in the balcony, closely followed by a still confused Shikamaru. Naruto had easily shrugged it off, but people like Kiba were beginning to feel very uncomfortable. Hitomi had left with Hanabi, because the little kid seemed to be getting a bit too hyperactive for her own good. Besides, it wasn't healthy for Hanabi to be so close to a psycho.

Sakura and Ino left as well, but not before giving Naruto good luck kisses on either cheek. Under the pressure, Chouji stopped munching and stared at both Naruto and Gaara, his face alternating between the two. Gaara had his eyes fixed on the blond, and Naruto himself didn't seem to pay any attention to the redhead, choosing instead to close his eyes and focus.

This was his fight. It would be the first of the important fights that were to come, seeing how whether or not he managed to subdue Gaara would lead to the success rate of Konoha being invaded. As of now, Naruto had about sixty percent confidence that he would defeat the redhead. However, that was not enough. To get that extra forty, Naruto would have to discover some form of weakness, and that could only be carried out in battle.

Hence the need for him to concentrate.

The crowd was getting restless, eager for more servings of action. The last one had them all on the edges of their seats, and they could only wonder what this one would provide. Sabaku no Gaara, son of the kazekage, rumored to carry out B-rank missions without breaking a sweat. Uzumaki Naruto, orphan of Konoha, leader of his genin squad, specializing in assassination, with a mission record that left even some jonin jealous.

Elite of the elite so as to speak, and this match could most probably be the main dish of all. Many had already set bets as to which of these young men would emerge victorious, and some had the guts to place orders to kill the contestant before they even reach the arena.

Hence, it was with no mercy when Naruto took down two pathetic Kumo chuunin that dare stand in his way. It was utterly peculiar for them to even think that he was just going to let them kill him. Did they not understand that he was a qualified shinobi as well? Perhaps not.

Gaara on the other hand didn't meet anyone, though Naruto swore he heard muffled cries on the other side of the wall. The fact that sand was leaking out of his gourd only served to confirm his doubts.

Mentally shrugging, Naruto poised himself for the battle to come. It was time. Nothing more to worry about, simply achieve the objective and proceed with the next part of his mission. That's all there was to this exam, a mission.

The cheers that greeted his entrance were quite surprising, for he would have thought this village hated his guts. Perhaps even the demon kid was favored compared to shinobi from other villages. Who knew?

Gaara's face was calm and collected, devoid of any expression. There wasn't even that crazed look from before, but merely a smug confidence, as though Naruto had already lost and was simply here for his 'Mother' to take his blood. His arms were crossed, his gourd left open and sand pooling around him, his chakra dormant all the while.

Naruto, on the other hand, was slightly more active. Stretching and warming up, the blond did everything he could to ensure maximum flexibility and mobility during this upcoming match. That included fluctuating one's chakra level to adjust the level of output efficiency, and needless to say, that brought a slight frown onto the face of the Suna genin.

Rolling his eyes, the blond continued his administrations, ignoring the growing signs of agitation on Gaara. He would be in for a big surprise if he thought this match was going to be easy. Literal Hell would soon arise.

"Go get him Naruto!" Ino's voice clearly cut through the crowd's catcalls, reaching his ears and bringing a smile to his face.

"You can do it! I believe in you!" Sakura's came a second later, reinforcing the trust they had in him.

"O-ni-chan! Fight hard!" Hanabi's childish voice egged him on.

"Ni-san! Good luck!" Hinata too added her own piece.

Raising his head and opening his eyes, Naruto swept his gaze across the crowd, focusing on his precious people one by one, before finally returning to the field and landing it onto Gaara.

Genma took a look at both contestants and nodded, "Are we ready?"

The Suna-nin gave a nonchalant nod while Naruto took a deep breath, before confirming the declaration.

"Very well then. Fourth match, Uzumaki Naruto vs Sabaku no Gaara, begin!"

Instant silence descended upon the crowd as they waited in anticipation for what could be the most exciting match of the first round. However, it wasn't long before the full force of killing intent struck them.

There was no warning at all. One moment, the crowd saw the two figures merely standing there, the redhead with his arms crossed and the blond with hands placed leisurely by his side, both doing nothing. The next, they still didn't seem to be doing anything, but for some reason, a wave of pressure just assaulted the crowd, forcing the air out of their lungs, almost preventing them from breathing even. The fear and unease in their hearts grew, and some of the chuunin who had weaker minds even felt the urge to kill themselves just to end this misery…

Then all of a sudden, it was alright again. The pressure was gone just like that, and similarly, it felt like killing intent. Yet this one made them feel strangely at peace, as though wanting to sink into this particular deadly emotion. To those who knew the two contestants or have seen them fight to some certain extent, they would understand just what they were currently experiencing.

Killing intent was a very delicate thing. As the name itself showed, it could be a stimulant and a depressant at the same time, if you will. Stimulant not as in adrenaline rushes, but stimulating your negative emotions to the extreme, depressant in the sense that it slows down your line of thought to the simple conclusion that living had become pointless.

Yet few people understand that killing intent could be used to save people as well. When two bursts of killing intent collide, it was common knowledge that the more concentrated pulse won. However, with it would come the side effect of completely removing the stress off the winning side. Once the clash of killing intent was over, the winning side would experience a sudden increase in positive emotions, meaning relaxation and ease, thereby allowing them to feel strangely calm and collected, perhaps even more than they normally could. Naruto was making use of this heightened sensation that he would possibly get by giving off the killing intent.

Gaara didn't lack in that department, however, his usage of it definitely could not rival that of Naruto's. All the Suna genin was doing, was forcing it out. Naruto was carefully lacing it with chakra, making it spread more, use a greater surface area to first control Gaara's killing intent, enveloping it to decrease its effect, before sending out an extremely concentrated pulse of it, to diffuse Gaara's and gain that sudden 'hero' status, where one would think that he could do anything.

That was the courage boost that Naruto needed to start off the match. Dashing forward, Naruto formed the relative seals before muttering, "Katon: Karyudan! (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Missile!)"

The flames soared straight for Gaara, who simple grunted and waited for his sand to take effect. Sure enough, the defensive measure activated, shielding the redhead from the intense heat. However, that was exactly what Naruto was waiting for.

Not slowing down in his dash at all, he pulled his right arm backwards, gathering in his palm that familiar pulse of chakra, the very same one that helped him defeat a Lee that opened three gates…

"Sen'un Tenshou! (Heavenly Piercing Palm)" Ramming his palm directly into that sand shield, he pushed forth the first pulse of chakra, destabilizing the current chakra within the sand, before he summoned up the second pulse, crumbling said shield, and with the third pulse, it acted more as a shockwave than anything, pushing Gaara backwards, causing said Suna genin to completely lose his balance.

"Not so cool now… are you?!" Before the crowd's very eyes, Naruto had reared his head backwards, before slamming it home. Forehead on forehead, the force behind his attack along with the already lost balance of Gaara caused the redhead to be sent crashing through the air into the wall of the arena.

When the dust cleared, Gaara could be seen embedded into the rubble, whilst Naruto stood with his arms at his hips, raised eyebrow and all, a daredevil portrayal for all to see. Needless to say, the cheers were off the charts.

To think that the blond would use such a method to start things off, it certainly bode well for the rest of the fight. Only Naruto realized the full extent as to just how much crap he was going to be dealt with for the next few minutes. Someone like Gaara was not going to take this lying down…

But then again…

Naruto's smirk widened even more as Gaara suddenly raised his arm, directing the sand towards him, blasting torrents of it, his eyes murderous and silent. There was no need for him to make any furious roars or anything yet. For the redhead, it was now a fact that this blond before him had to be killed in the most painful of ways available. So first, he was going to capture him with the sand, then crush his bones bit by bit, until the blond begged for mercy.

What Gaara didn't realize was that Naruto was waiting for this. The faster the Suna genin got into the berserk mode, the faster Naruto could pull out his big guns as well. It wouldn't do for him to start using assassination jutsu just like that in front of all the judges, that would simply make him seem like an insane killer. But given the strength of the opponent, there was no way to win other than using those destructive jutsu, hence the need to taunt.

Once the sand approached Naruto, said blond disappeared in a puff of smoke, before a voice echoed in the arena, "This should be familiar. Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Wind Element: Great Breakthrough)"

The gust of wind drilled its way easily through the sand, blasting it apart as Naruto rammed his fist forward, "Kaen Furea! (Blaze Flare)"

Gaara's eyes widened as a blazing arm rammed itself into the spot where his head was a few seconds ago. The chakra scorched his face slightly, easily scraping the sand armor he had on at all times, threatening to even draw blood from him.

Completely ignoring the multiple sand blasts, Naruto formed that familiar orb of wind chakra in his left hand, "Fuuton: Rasengan! (Wind Element: Spiraling Sphere)" Shredding the sand missiles to bits, Naruto released the control on the orb, choosing instead to form seals once again, "Fuuton: Fuuryudan! (Wind Element: Wind Dragon Missile)"

True to his words, a roaring beast came to life, charging straight for the half-crazed redhead. Knowing no other way to resolve this other than completely, utterly destroy his opponent, Gaara let out a huge wave sand, "Sabaku KYU! (Desert Bind)"

However, before the sand could clash with the wind dragon, Naruto had already prepared the next round of attack, "Once more, Katon: Karyudan!"

Spurred by the fire, both dragons combined to form one huge inferno.

"Nigyo Kentai! Ryuko! (Two Element combination – Dragon cry!)"

Being an area-effect jutsu, one would expect the firepower to decrease compared to the more concentrated ones, however, this was where the true potential of Naruto's ninjutsu was revealed.

Gaara growled as he felt the flames surround him once again, this time even threatening to engulf him had he not had the sand armor around him. Even so, the dragon acted as a bind, restricting his movements as he struggled within the blaze.

Watching his plan succeed, Naruto was about to continue with his plan when all of sudden, sand rose from the ground just beneath him, grabbing onto his legs, lifting him into the air, temporarily rendering him helpless.

"What the?!" He didn't even feel any chakra-filled substance approach him during this period, and though his chakra sense wasn't as good as Ino, it was still above average. For someone like Gaara with that much chakra, Naruto had deduced that the sand must have quite a lot of chakra infused within them to have that much effect.

Eyes widening, Naruto quickly braced himself with his arms crossed before his face as a huge fist made of sand came crashing out of the inferno, ramming itself into the torso of the blond as the whip of sand too flung him across the field.

"Oof!" Crashing into the wall opposite of the Suna genin, Naruto spit out the saliva in his mouth, wiping off the small trail of blood at the corner of his lips, standing upright once again, glaring at Gaara, who had taken the short gap in attention span to extinguish the fire using his sand.

Both genin could be seen staring each other down as they re-assessed each other's abilities. The need to kill Naruto grew ever stronger for Gaara, and likewise, the urge to smash the redhead's face in only increased with each second. The blond needed the redhead weakened before he could attempt to disrupt the seal and prevent one of the main weapons of Suna, yet now that he had tested the extent to which Gaara could control sand, he would have to be a lot more careful.

Relying simply on detecting the chakra of sand definitely wasn't enough. It would seem that Gaara had sent his own sand into the ground, grinding the minerals underneath forming more sand of above average strength, before ambushing him using those when required. Those had little chakra laced around them, hence would seem and feel like that of grass upon chakra detection.

The crowd all let loose a breath they were holding in during this little break. The tension in the air slowly got to them once again, and for the civilians, it even left some of them shivering in their seats. Eyes never left the duo on either side of the arena, focusing on their every move.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto decided to get things really started, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

No less than ten copies of the original blond appeared, surrounding the redhead as they all gathered orbs of chakra in their palms. This time however, both palms contained mere simple rasengan, no wind chakra added to them. That way, control was much easier and the amount of chakra used up was less.

The original merely gestured towards the suna genin before all the clones charged at Gaara. Two rasengans each with ten clones, it wasn't long before Gaara felt the full force behind the swirling spheres.

Instantly, his sand shields rose from all directions, temporarily withstanding the power of the jutsu. However, it soon became clear that the rasengan were stronger and bit by bit, the shields cracked.

The thing about Gaara's sand would be the high density, stronger than that of iron, and along with the velocity at which the substance rose from the ground, normally, any attack would easily be deflected. However, it just so happened that rasengan was a sustaining jutsu, meaning the output was maintained until the resistance was eradicated. This left Gaara with no choice but to force the offensive. Truth be told, he was classified by his sensei as more of a 'counter-striker', where his absolute defense helped him search out weaknesses of the enemy before he eliminated them with his extreme offense. Usually, a simple Sabaku Kyu along with a Sabaku Soso would have ended the match, yet it would seem Naruto had done all he could to prevent Gaara from using his most efficient tactic.

Snarling, the redhead summoned up his chakra, a yellow glow surrounding him before letting it explode outwards, "Sabaku Reppa! (Desert Blast)" The sudden increase in power took the clones by surprise and in a flash, all ten kage bunshin were eliminated by the sudden burst of sand.

Gaara however, instantly focused his eyes on the figure dashing towards him, a mixture of red and white surrounding the blond. Not even thinking, Gaara formed a ram seal, "Sabaku…" The sand that was forced up in the previous attack instantly congregated before him, twisting as it was increased in intensity of chakra.

"Doriru! (Desert Drill)"

"Rengoku Bakuha! (Hell Blast)"

As dense as Gaara's sand was, especially after intentionally compressing it into a drill, it was still futile before the attack that sent the clone that had thirty percent of an S-rank missing nin straight into oblivion. Kaen Furea in the right hand, Futon Rasengan in the left, both were well-known as deadly killers and when combined together, the condensed chakra spurring each other on only served to greatly increase the output damage that would be caused on anything or even anyone daring to take this attack straight on.

Naturally, the Suna genin felt quite astonished when his Sabaku Doriru was utterly ripped apart as Naruto rammed both arms into the attack, tearing through the sand as though it were paper. Gaara immediately took action and raised both arms, "Sabaku Sho! (Desert Rush)"

Two huge torrents of sand blasted themselves at Naruto who had just charged his way through the first attack. As the crowd gave muffled gasps of fright for the blond, the konoha genin forcefully separated his two jutsu before clashing right on with the sand, Rasengan and Kaen Furea each taking one half of the attack.

Letting out a yell as he felt both jutsu begin to slip due to the strong resistance, Naruto once again was forced to defend as Gaara aimed one larger shot of sand at him.

Skidding backwards as he finally warded off the sand bullet, Naruto ensured that he had a strong footing before letting loose one of the strongest fire attacks he had in his arsenal, "Katon: Karyuendan! (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Flaming Missile)"

Gaara once again relied on his sand shield to ward off most of the flames, however, a B-rank jutsu would not be bested so easily as the Suna genin still suffered minor burns on his skin due to the extreme intensity of the attack, especially when Naruto increased the output to the max, creating pure white flames that even began to melt the sand.

"Graaaaarrrr!!!!" The redhead suddenly raised a hand, causing the sand around him to swirl about, enveloping himself into one huge orb of sand, showing the crowd just what it meant to have absolute defense.

Releasing the jutsu, Naruto took in a few breaths as he scrutinized the sight before him, wondering if this was the ultimate defense that Gaara was so proud of. So far, not one shinobi had been able to break through that sphere of his. The sand would counterattack any opposing force applied to it, making close combat practically impossible. Long-range attacks wouldn't have much use because by the time they reached the sand dome, the defense would be much stronger than the offense for them to have any effect.

Gaara on the other hand, was quietly forming seals within the sand dome, "Inu, Usagi, Tora, Uma, Ryu, Tori, Usagi, Tora…"

Due to the supreme control he had over his sand, he continued his plan of grinding the minerals underneath the ground of the arena, creating more sand before spreading them all over the field, ready to be used.

Hence, it wasn't long when Naruto found himself busy evading multiple sand spikes that simply appeared from the ground itself.

"Tori, Tora, Uma, Inu, Ryu! Take this Uzumaki! Sabaku Shisai! (Desert's Death Penalty)"

"Naruto! Look out!" Sakura felt herself shouting in anxiety as sand spikes struck at Naruto from all directions, rising at amazing speeds from the ground, almost piercing right through the blond's torso on several occasions.

Naruto had to make quick use of Shunpo coupled with his taijutsu kata, Ryuudo Gensou to avoid being sentenced to death just like that. There was absolutely no way to predict just where more sand would appear. The deadly spikes gradually increased in velocity as they grew from the ground, getting longer and sharper as time passed. It would seem Gaara had taken the time to ensure absolute control on the 'new' sand that he obtained from the ground, and refined the shapes of the sand.

The speed at which they were appearing grew to be extremely annoying as Naruto had to start using jutsu to blast his way through what appeared to be a whole forest of the sand spikes.

"Grrrr, this is getting irritating! Katon: Shakkakyu! (Fire Element: Crimson flame ball) Fuuton: Fuuryudan! Nigyo Kentai, Rekka! (Extreme flames)"

To the crowd it would seem that the wind dragon had spit out a small fire orb, which then expanded, growing to twenty times its original size before exploding into a fiery rage of blazing flames, sweeping over the sand spikes that appeared, disintegrating them as Naruto utilized the speed of Shunpo, dashing with all his might as he charged towards the sand dome.

There was only one chance. The moment the attack reached the dome, more spikes would definitely strike at him, hence he had but one go at it. It was time to use it. The very essence of the theory 'compression'…

"Haaaarrrrgggghhh!!!" Placing both hands behind him as he charged head on, wind chakra was spread all around his arms, much like that of Kaen Furea, only this time, there were no flames, only a growing wind swirl that caused sonic resonance sharp to the ears as he moved through the air.

He had spent many days perfecting this jutsu after learning from both Ryusei and Minagi about ninjutsu, and with the ideas he came up with after consulting with the two Fukei, he decided to create a jutsu that actually made use of both the theories of Rasengan and Kaen Furea. As of now, Kaen Furea along with its variation Kaen Rin, could only be counted as high B-rank jutsu. He needed a breakthrough, he required more knowledge to create better ways to protect his team.

Kaen Furea had helped him protect Hanabi and Hinata, and to a certain extent, Kireki even. Variation Kaen Rin had been the key in clashing with Orochimaru and somehow helping him escape that disgusting snake freak. And ever since he knew that he would be facing the ichibi jinchuuriki, he understood that what he had in his arsenal as of now would not be enough to take on the one who could possibly make any place on the land his territory.

Hence, this jutsu was born.

"This is it…"

The intensity of the wind chakra rose until it could be seen by the naked eye. Blue with tints of white on the edges, oscillating around his arms as he neared the sand dome.

"Fuuton: Mugen Senkuu! (Wind Element: Unlimited Wheels of the Sky)"

Slamming both fists into the surface of the sand dome, Naruto let out a furious roar as he felt the beginnings of pain as the spikes appeared as expected. However, that didn't last long at all as the wind chakra did its job.

The attack repeatedly crashed into the sand dome in waves, over and over, twisting, whirling, crushing all that stood in its way. The circles of chakra overlapped and interconnected with one another, forming a continuous pulse, penetrating through the so-called 'ultimate defense' of Gaara.

The shockwaves expanded and contracted rhythmically, attacking the defense over and over, disintegrating it bit by bit. Hence, it was with great shock that Gaara witnessed the complete obliteration of his dome, and literally felt the air leave his body as the chakra pulse reached his torso.

The chakra didn't just pass him, it tunneled through him, causing tremors throughout his body. The pain was something he had never felt before. For once, Gaara understood what it meant to have internal injuries. Feeling something sweet gushing up his throat, he instinctively opened his mouth and coughed up some blood. His pupils were quivering as he reached up to wipe his lips. Staring at the red liquid, he slowly raised his head to stare the blond responsible for this.

Naruto on the other hand, was suffering major damage to his right hand where the spike had pierced right through his palm the first time. The muscles were already repairing themselves thanks to Kyuubi's regenerative qualities, however, that meant that he had to wait for awhile before he would regain use of his right hand.

Knowing that it was all or nothing, Naruto quickly began forming one-handed seals, courtesy of Jiraiya, and repeated the sequence for the four point seal that Ryusei had taught him. It was common knowledge that even numbered seals disrupted the stability of odd numbered seals.

Gaara had a mild three point seal on his torso, hence the reason for the constant insomnia along with random moments of insanity. The bijuu actually had the ability to interrupt his thoughts at will, something that shouldn't have happened had it been a proper seal. Naruto would make use of the weak basis of the seal to eliminate at least half of the power by adding a seal on top of the original one.

It all happened in a flash, with Naruto leaping above Gaara, left palm brimming chakra as he slammed it directly onto the kanji for 'love' on his forehead, "Fuinjutsu! Shishou Fuin! (Seal Technique: Four Component Seal)"

An aura of red infiltrated Gaara's yellow as roars of agony and pain could be heard from the Suna genin. The crowd didn't even understand what was going on when suddenly, feathers began to fall all over them, and just as instantly, a sudden wave of sleepiness seemed to descend upon them.

That was the signal.

It was time.

Without trouble, Sakura and Ino dispelled the genjutsu, leaping into the arena, ready for action. Chouji, Kiba and even Shikamaru, along with the others all recovered a moment later, immediately getting ready for battle.

Naruto gritted his teeth as the Ichibi Jinchuuriki went completely berserk, random bursts of sand lashing out, one of them latching onto Naruto's leg, flinging him to the other end, causing the blond to crash into the wall hard.

Witnessing the chaotic scene before him, along with the emerging shinobi from both sides, there was no doubt.

The invasion had begun.

Man, sorry about this chapter. It lacked a lot of stuff that I wanted to emphasize, but unfortunately, this stretch of events just left me completely spent. To be honest, this chapter felt like a chore. I apologize.

Even so, do tell me how it went. I need feedback, and the easiest way would be to look at the reviews. Thanks for the support in advance. Heh.

I'll try and make the invasion better than this one, so do look forward to the next chap. By the time I get back to New Zealand, I should be back in form. Well then, see ya guys.