A/N: I apologize for the shortness of the last chapter, but I assure that this one is a tad bit longer. I hope you'll like it!

A Fox among the Hounds

Counterstrike

In the forests outside Konoha, several clones of a blond boy and a red-furred puppy scattered through the trees as a red-haired tanuki-boy, a brunet with a painted face, and a blond girl with a giant fan gave chase. Hayate had instructed Naruto to lure Gaara to a less populated area to minimize casualties. The plan was to lose the redhead in the thick forest and for Naruto report back immediately.

However, Naruto did not expect Kankuro and Temari to join in the chase. As he fled the stadium with Gaara on his heels, the two remaining Sabaku Siblings decided to give chase as well. Using the Kage Bunshin, he dispatched the clones, hoping the shake the Sabaku Siblings off his trail.

Dodging a stream of sand, Naruto and Aomaru made a sharp turn right and another turn left, hoping to lose Gaara through the dense foliage. However, luck was not on their side as they soon found themselves face-to-face with Kankuro and Temari. Their misfortune intensified when a tree crashed behind them, signifying that Gaara had caught up.

'Son of a $%^!'

Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and TenTen leapt through the branches as they followed Akamaru. Seeing that Naruto was taking too long to come back, Hayate had ordered the Jonin-senseis to send some of their Genin to back-up and retrieve the blond. Sakura, Lee, and Ino stayed behind to aid in the evacuation while the senseis and older shinobi fought against the invaders in the stadium.

Suddenly, a piercing wail cut through the air, drawing the retrieval team's attention.

"Oh man, this is bad," said Kiba.

"Why?" asked TenTen.

"Naruto's in big trouble," Kiba translated. "The cry we heard was Aomaru's distress call. From what I heard, he and Aomaru are currently engaged against all three of the Sabaku Siblings. He's freakin' outnumbered."

"He's not just outnumbered," said Shikamaru. "He's also outmatched. How troublesome."

"What about his Kage Bunshin?" TenTen supplied. "He could have just made a small army to stop them."

"He could have done that," Shikamaru replied. "But you'd have to remember that he has fought two consecutive fights. Even with his chakra capacity, he should be starting to tire out by now. Not to mention that the Sabaku Siblings specialize in long-range and indirect combat. The clones would be dispelled before they could even reach them."

"It would be best if we hurry," said Shino. "If we stay here any longer, there won't be any Naruto to backup and retrieve."

"Katsu!"

At the command, the giant clay bird that Deidara spewed out of his hands exploded as it came in contact with the snake. The other Chuunin cheered as the snake bellowed in pain, its form cloaked by the blanket of smoke. However, the jubilant cheers stopped as the snake reared its head once more, hissing angrily, though the blast had greatly weakened it.

"Booyah!"

A giant toad with a pair of ninjato strapped to its back landed on the snake, dispelling it. Perched on its head was none other than the Sannin Jiraiya himself.

"The cavalry has arrived!" the Toad Sage boasted, performing a strange victory dance, much to the chagrin of the Konoha shinobi. This kept on for a bit until he got serious. "Which one of you punks is Deidara?"

Said ninja raised his hand in reply.

Jiraiya hauled him onto the toad. "Come with me. I need your help with a little demolition project."

Sarutobi grit his teeth as the Senju Brothers tag-teamed at him. Behind them, Orochimaru cackled ominously.

Using Enma in staff form, the old Hokage parried off the water jutsu the Nidaime launched at him. A sapling sprang out of the rooftop, intending to knock off his balance, but Sarutobi still held strong.

As the Hokage fight raged on, Sarutobi discovered to his horror that nothing he did could keep the resurrected men down. The damages from each attack only disappeared and the attacks only fueled their rage. All in all, the whole experience was like a bad horror flick with the living dead and everything, except for the fact that it was all too real, and the zombies had no apparent weakness.

Outside the barrier, Sarutobi's ANBU guards could only watch helplessly as they watched their Hokage battle Konoha's founding fathers. They were supposed to be the elite of the shinobi corps; but now they could not even protect their leader.

Suddenly, there was a shout of "Katsu!" followed by a blast. Almost immediately the building crumbled to the ground, and along with it, the barrier and Orochimaru's triumphant grin.

With the barrier gone, the ANBU leapt in to dispatch of Orochimaru and his subordinates.

Chaos reigned the streets of Konoha as Lee, Ino, and Sakura escorted the small group of civilians towards the bunkers. They had already been attacked by a patrol group wherein Sakura used her genjutsu and Lee used his taijutsu to fight them off while Ino guarded the civilians. Fortunately, Lee and Sakura were able to defeat the enemy, and the group took off once more.

Just as the escort team was about to turn, they were ambushed once more, this time, by a mixed contingent of Suna and Oto-nin. Sorely outnumbered, there was nothing to do but to flee, but as the turned around, they found themselves blocked off by another contingent.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan no Jutsu!"

A stream of fire took the shape of a dragon and incinerated the enemy. Looking for their mysterious savior, Sakura, Lee, and Ino turned to see none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself.

"You're helping us?" Ino asked incredulously.

"Don't delude yourself, Yamanaka," said the raven. "I just needed something to vent on after the fiasco at the stadium."

"What are you really trying to pull, Uchiha?" asked Sakura, who had lost her trust and respect of Sasuke after seeing him steal someone else's jutsu and try to kill her friend with it.

"Nothing," replied the Uchiha. "Now come with me if you want to live."'Heh… Hope this is enough to redeem myself after the Chidori incident. With these three as witnesses, I'll have no problem getting back to those fools' good graces.'

Back in the stadium, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, Hayate, Anko, and a few other Konoha-nin clashed against the invaders under the command of a curtain-faced Suna-Jonin named Baki.

While a good number of the Oto-nin only ranked around Chuunin to Tokujo level, they still outnumbered the Konoha-nin, and the defenders soon found themselves hard-pressed.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan!"

"Mokuton: Jubaku Eisou!"

"Dance of the Autumn Leaves!"

Agonized screams were heard as the enemy was swept by a giant water dragon, strangled by sprouting trees, and ripped through by several shadow clones of a katana-wielding ANBU.

A three-man ANBU team landed on the ringside barrier. Its members consisted of a brown-haired male in a horse mask, a purple-haired female in a tiger mask, and its leader- a ponytailed brunet in a dragon mask.

"Looks like the reinforcements have arrived," Asuma cheered.

"You're a tad bit tardy," remarked Kakashi as he stabbed an intercepting Suna Chuunin.

"That's a surprise coming from you, Senpai," teased Uma.

"We would have come sooner, but you know the circumstances," quipped Tora.

"Save the small talk for later," snapped Ryu, unsheathing his nodachi. "We still have a homeland to defend."

Like everywhere else in Konoha, the clan districts also had their share of the violence and carnage as their residents fought off the invading forces.

In the Hyuuga compound, there was no Main House or Branch House as all clan members rallied under Hiashi to defend their home. The mothers, children, infirmed, and clan elders had been escorted to the bunkers, while all able clan members gave all they had to protect Konoha and the Hyuuga name.

In the Inuzuka compound, Tsume, Shita, his children, and twelve other Inuzuka clan members fought tooth and nail as they blocked off the invaders. Despite being blind, Shita Inuzuka was still able to take down his opponents through his enhanced nose and with the help of his nin-dog, Kiroiimaru. His children, in Konbi Henge form, decimated the enemy via Ookami Utsu (trans: Wolf River), and the other members were using the clan jutsus to keep them from breaking further into the residential area. An Inuzuka man and his nin-dog had already been killed, but still, the defense continued.

In the Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Aburame compounds, the fight raged on as the invaders streamed from various parts of the besieged village. However, unlike in the other locations, casualties were relatively low as the defenders specialized in trapping and capture rather than dealing mortal injuries. The captives would later be hauled off to the Torture and Interrogation to be questioned by Ibiki.

Orochimaru was beyond himself with rage. His plan was falling apart just as it started. His barrier had been destroyed by a gender-confused freak of nature with a chest mouth, and his elite Oto Four were currently clashing against Sarutobi's ANBU bodyguards. Nearby, Sarutobi battled on with his predecessors, still very much alive and well.

In his fury, he unleashed a fire jutsu at the clay bird only to have a toad swallow it. Suddenly, he felt a hard punch to his stomach, and as he staggered to the rubble-strewn ground, a shadow loomed over him.

"Hey Teme," called the shadow. "Your beef is with me."

Naruto had never been happier when he saw the back-up/retrieval team arrive. Now the playing fields had been leveled. Kiba and Shikamaru took on Temari, while Shino and TenTen fought against Kankuro.

Kankuro and his puppet Karasu were a formidable team. Despite his boorish behavior, it was evident that the boy was a master at chakra control and a mechanical genius. The older Sabaku twin easily maneuvered Karasu and launched an array of projectile weapons towards TenTen and Shino. Fortunately, before it could hit the bun-haired girl or the stoic Aburame, TenTen had used the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to counter the incoming missiles. In coordination with his partner, Shino released his bugs to eat through the chakra strings that connected Karasu to Kankuro.

"Tsuuga!"

The spinning winds from Kiba's attack nullified the air blast from Temari, while Shikamaru closed in and tried to attack with his newly-learned Sen'eijashu in conjunction with his Kage Moufu. With them, Akamaru in clone form also did his share as he showered the Wind Mistress with a barrage of kicks and punches.

Gaara's sand arm swiped at Naruto and Aomaru, and once again, they jumped to avoid it.

Naruto managed to avoid the assault, but Aomaru was not so lucky. He was caught by the other sand arm and pinned to a tree, the sand slowly constricting around him. The puppy gave a pained yelp as he struggled to escape.

"LAY OFF MY PARTNER!" the blond screamed, drawing his kodachi. "HE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!"

"Oh but he has, Inuzuka," rasped the half-Tanuki. "He was there when you hurt me and angered Mother. For that, he will pay with his blood!"

"I SAID LAY OFF! TSUUGA!"

Naruto spun right into Gaara as hard as he could, followed by the blond unleashing a flurry of the Inuzuka-style taijutsu onto the redhead. But with every hit, Gaara only kept his grip on Aomaru and a maniacal grin began to sprout on his twisted features.

"That's it, Inuzuka! Keep going! Prove to me of my existence!" As Gaara spoke, the sand tightened more around Aomaru, earning another howl from the puppy as he squirmed a bit more before losing consciousness. "The sounds of death have never been so sweet!"

"AOMARU!" Red chakra flared around the blond and blue eyes bled into crimson. "You want death, Sabaku? Fine, I'll give you death. Yours, that is!"

A/N: And that was the second part of the Invasion Arc. It's a doozy to write as I'm trying to be original and diverge from some of the canon events, and I don't want to plagiarize similar works. Thanks to those who sent their advice, ideas, and suggestions to the review board.

I feel like I'm almost there, a little bit more research on the Invasion Arc, and then I can finally get this monkey off my chest and move on to the Konoha Rehabilitation and Tsunade Retrieval Arc. Once again, thank you to all those who reviewed.

And now for the Explainatorium of Nightrain and Brownstone:

The ANBU being able to face off the Oto Four: I'm sick of fanfic writers who think that the ANBU are just random cannon fodder. ANBU ninja are supposed to be just below the Kage in power and abilities. While the Oto Four are good, I'm pretty sure an ANBU would be more or less on par with any of them. ANBUs usually range from A to low S-Rank ninja, so they must have been a lot more skilled if they could to make it to that level.

Kankuro being called "the older Sabaku twin": In this timeline, he's Gaara's older twin brother. Fraternally, of course.

P.S.: Brownie points to those who can guess the three ANBU that came to back up the Konoha Jonin.

Happy Chinese New Year, you guys!

N & B