I'm on fire today! I'm back with a new chapter and things are going to be different from usual fics that depict the start of the invasion. And with SurfaceMemory choosing Fang's and I choose Lightning's paths, only Sazh's, Vanille's, Hope's and Snow's character paths are left for anyone who wants to be the first to use them for the challenge! On with the fic.
Disclaimer: Fan of Fanfics21 does not own Naruto or Final Fantasy XIII.
As Naruto reached the contestant stands, he noticed that Shikamaru and Shino were staring at him and it began to unnerve him. "Is something wrong?" Naruto asked as Shikamaru spoke. "I can't believe that you actually had sex at this age. You're probably the first Konoha Genin to do so in all of the records, usually at chunin and jonin ranks when you are 15 or older. This is such a drag." Shikamaru said as Naruto felt Lightning becoming angry at what Shikamaru said. "Relax Lightning, he's a Nara. And I doubt he would know it was you even if you practically raped me." Naruto told her as he inwardly winced as she electrocuted him as he stood perfectly still. "Don't remind me. I'm still feeling that pain in between my legs from just being reminded of it." She said as Naruto's left eyebrow twitched at the too much info as they all looked at the match. Sasuke was currently moving at fast speeds that Naruto noticed was Lee's moves and he frowned. "Copying other's techniques with the Sharingan is a disgrace. All that hard work from sweat, tears and blood being used by someone else without even trying." Naruto thought as he felt Lightning nod inside his head.
Gaara was getting bored; his mother had gotten bored of the Uchiha and wanted that Uzumaki. For some reason that red chakra that he emitted had caught his "mother's" attention as the sand formed a dome around him with spikes as Gaara sank into the ground.
Sasuke doesn't know what is going on in there but he needed to prevent the use of whatever Gaara was doing and needed to do it fast. He leapt to the wall and undid the straps on his left arm as he began making hand signs and started to focus on his chakra.
Naruto noticed the sound of chirping birds as lightning began to appear in Sasuke's hand and his eyes narrowed. "Kakashi-sensei, what are you thinking of teaching him such a dangerous technique? He's dealing with a jinchurriki from what my Libra spell said about him and a very unstable one to boot! Things are going to get out of hand!" Naruto thought as he drew his Edged Carbine gunblade he acquired from his time-travel at the Vile Peaks. Naruto saw that Sasuke shouted out "Chidori" as he charged down and stabbed the dome revealing nothing inside as the sand immediately wrapped around his arm and trapped him in Gaara's infamous Sand Coffin jutsu.
The next thing Naruto knew, Gaara appeared from the ground with an insane look on his face as he shouted out loud "UZUMAKI! COME OUT AND FACE ME TO PROVE MY EXISTENCE! OR ELSE YOUR FRIEND HERE DIES!" This made everyone in the audience gasp at this while the proctor tried to stop Gaara only to avoid being attacked by the sand as Gaara gave him a look that said "call it". He quickly declaired Gaara the winner and announced that Naruto is facing Gaara as the others immediately quited. Kankuro and Temari out of fear, Shino because his insects told him, and Shikamaru because it was too troublesome.
Naruto sighed, why is it he always has to facing a dangerous opponent without a break? He jumped down with Edged Carbine in hand as the battle began. Gaara soon released Sasuke who was taken by Kakashi immediately, not knowing that there was sand crawling into the audience seats. "That Uzumaki seems to care about that girl when he faced the Hyuga. If I can make him fight for something he holds dear then I will be able to prove my existence by defeating that red chakra!" Gaara thought as the sand began to wrap itself around Hinata.
"YOUR BLOOD SHALL FEED MY MOTHER!" Gaara said in an insane tone as Naruto tried to reason with him. "Look Gaara, couldn't you have patientce for waiting for the other contestants to get a chance to fight? The Feudal Lords were looking for something interesting." Naruto said out loud while said Lords nodded their heads in agreement. Gaara just gave him a crazy look as he smiled insanely. "I don't need to wait since they forfeited and if you don't go all out, she'll die!" Gaara said as Naruto quickly turned his head to the audience as Hinata was unconscious and was held in a Sand Coffin. "The longer this battle takes the shorter amount of time she has left." Gaara said as Naruto narrowed his eyes and got into a battle stance.
Gaara's sand started to cover his body and take on a monstrous form as Naruto launched a barrage of Water and Aero spells at him. Naruto quickly needed help and so he tried summoning a toad to help him out. But sad to say, it was only a small toad that was summoned as Naruto took it out of range of Gaara's Sand Shuriken jutsu as the sand quickly dried out from Naruto's spells. Naruto, being the clever unpredictable ninja put Edged Carbine into his sheath and drew out a kunai while secretly wrapping an exploding tag to the hilt of it as he summoned 5 clones and charged. "Clone body slam!" Naruto shouted as his clones distracted him as he got behind Gaara in a crouching pose. "Take this, Konoha's Secret and most Sacred Technique! Straight from the teachings of Kakashi Hatake! A Thousand Years of Death!" Naruto shouted as he stabbed the kunai at the base of the tail.
Everyone sweat dropped at the probably most ridiculous technique as everyone gave Kakashi a look. "Kakashi, don't tell me you actually taught him a move like that?" ask Gai in shock at such a technique as it could really hurt anyone even if it is weird. Kakashi shook his head no. "I only used it during the bell test, I didn't think he would actually try and pull a joke on his enemies like that since it wasn't actually a technique at all." Kakashi said in an ashamed and embarrassed look on his face even with the mask on as Naruto was launched into the air by Gaara's tail. As Naruto was thrown back, Naruto smirked and said one word "boom." The effect was instant; the kunai exploded immediately causing a huge amount of smoke to appear as Naruto crashed into the wall. He quickly switched to his Medic Role to heal himself as he then turned to the Commando Role to enhance his physical attacks as everyone saw Gaara's demon sand form looked deformed after the explosion.
Kakashi smiled "Naruto, you truly are the most unpredictable ninja of Konoha. Turning a joke into a lethal weapon isn't something you see every day." He thought as Naruto waved his hand over his nose in a joking manner. "Geez Gaara, what have you been eating?" he asked jokingly as many people began to laugh at it. Gamakichi looked at Naruto with interest as he noticed that his aura changed colors. Naruto was in thought, Gaara went through the same pain and loneliness he went through and realized he was fighting for only himself, not for anyone else like he did. That was then he recalled his conversation with Haku.
"So is there someone who is precious to you? Anyone at all?" Haku asked as Naruto was sitting down talking with him. "The truth is, whenever someone has something precious that they want to protect…It's only then that they become truly strong…You will get strong, very strong." He said as he left Naruto to ponder those words.
Naruto put his hands together into the Ram hand sign. He began to yell as a massive amount of chakra exploded from his body, surrounding him like a blue storm. Everyone watched in awe at the amounts he had and wondered how he did this. Naruto looked at Gaara with renewed determination, "No matter what…" Naruto said as he looked at Hinata. "I swear I'm going to protect you!" he shouted as suddenly the arena was engulfed by smoke revealing a thousand clones. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he proclaimed as everyone stared at him with shock while the small toad looked impressed. "Nice kid, not too shabby!" he said as the real Naruto pointed at Gaara. "Sorry to keep you waiting get ready for an original jutsu straight from my ninja handbook!" he shouted as he punched a fist into the air.
"Alright! Let's do this!" he shouted as all the clones began to shout in synch "DIRECT FROM, NARUTO'S NINJA HANDBOOK!" this made Gaara's eyes widen as many threw shuriken and fired bullets from their gunblades "All-direction Shuriken and Bullets!" they shouted as Gaara raised his arm to block it as another bunch of clones came close to him and kicked him high into the air. "Na-ru-to-2k UZUMAKI BARRAGE!" they all shouted as a two thousand punches pounded into Gaara. Then two more clones came to finish the blow "From Naruto's ninja handbook!" they said as Gaara crashed into the ground.
Naruto wasn't finished yet and proclaimed another attack. "This time we're using both legs for a barrage of 4000 kicks!" they all shouted in synch as Gaara got up in an angry mood. "There's absolutely no way…I'M GONNA LOSE TO A GUY LIKE HIM!" he shouted as suddenly, a massive amount of sand erupted and destroyed all of the clones while the real Naruto was thrown into the Feudal Lord's stand. Luckily he had switched to Sentinel at the last moment and thanked his lucky stars for facing "Snow Jr." as Lightning called him before facing Gaara. When the dust cleared, there was a gigantic tanuki made of sand towering all over Konoha as everyone began to panic.
"So that's it huh? The monster inside of him." Naruto said getting the Lords attention as Gaara's voice rang out. "Well what do you know? I never thought you would never bring this out of me!" he shouted as sand began to cover Naruto. The Feudal Lords were evacuated by the Anbu just in time as Naruto summoned again. This time it was the Chief Toad Gamatuba. Naruto stood on top of him with his arms crossed and the wind blew around him making his jacket flutter in the wind making everyone see the Fourth Hokage overshadowing him as they recalled how that was the same position the Fourth took when he faced the Kyuubi in combat. Naruto looked at the audience compendium and saw various people trying to free Hinata. For some reason, he considered her one of those he held dear as he muttered "Hinata, I swear I will protect you…"
"What the…What in the world is going on Jiraiya!" the Chief Toad shouted out loud as he noticed the giant tanuki in front of him. "Well you look at that, Shukaku the Sand spirit." he muttered as Naruto began to bargin with him. "Excuse me Chief Toad sir, this is my first time summoning you and I quickly need your help. This guy is going to destroy Konoha if he isn't stopped. So what do you say?" Naruto said as Gamatuba puffed some smoke out of his mouth. "Take a hike." "WHAT?" Naruto shouted in shock. "Why go out of my way to mess with a guy like him. What am I an idiot?" he asked. "Naruto's an idiot, that's for sure." Lightning said inside Naruto's mind which made him eye twitch with annoyance…that is until he thought of a plan. "Come on! I thought the Toads were the strongest summons from what the Ero-sennin named Jiraiya said. I even heard you helped defeat the Kyuubi too. Such a shame, looks like he was bluffing then. I guess I'll have to cancel the contract and find a better one then." Naruto said as he knew it got on Gamatuba's ego. "I'll show you how wrong you are kid, but after this we seal the deal with sake alright? If you can't then I'll leave you here to face Shukaku by yourself." he said as Naruto began to panic. "Come on! I'm not old enough to drink yet! What's the matter with you?" he shouted as the smaller toad hopped on his head. "Aw come on pops. Don't be like that. Why don't you settle down and hear the kid out?" the small toad asked as Naruto looked at him with surprise. "Huh? Pops?" Naruto asked as the two toads talked.
"And what exactly what are you doing here Gamakichi?" Gamatuba asked. "I had nothing else to do. I just came to hang out." Gamakichi said as Naruto looked back and forth between the two. "You guys are father and son?" he said as Gamakichi pointed at Shukaku. "By the way pops, that big ugly mug over there was picking on me before." He said as Gamatuba narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Come again?" he asked in an angry tone that sounded like it was promising to bring anyone near him in a world of pain. "Yup, and when he did. This guy here came to my rescue. He went head to head and toe to toe with that monster. Trust me pops there's more to this kid than meets the eye." Gamakichi said as Lightning nodded.
"True, he is the most unpredictable person I have ever met in my entire life. I bet that someday you might surpass me as a L'Cie Naruto." Lightning said as Gamatuba drew his blade out. "Kid, from now on you are allowed to summon us toads with full agreement. Now watch a pro show you, what duty is about!" he shouted as he performed the Toad Blade Cut technique and took out one of the arms as it turned into sand again, but his blade was knocked out of his hands as it crashed into the arena. "Chief, we need to get him outside of Konoha or else things aren't going to be pretty." Naruto said. "Agreed." The Chief Toad said as he charged and tackled the Shukaku replica into the air as they headed outside the walls.
As if Lady Luck was on Konoha's side today, they crushed the invading teams that were planning to use summons to attack the village. The two titans kept their distance from each other as the Shukaku replica began to speak in Gaara's voice. "Interesting…Interesting! NOT BAD NARUTO UZUMAKI!" he shouted out in a deranged voice as Gaara's body appeared on its forehead. "What the heck is wrong with this Jinchurriki?" Naruto asked as Gaara began to speak. "To thank you for entertaining me here today… I'll show you the true power of the manifestation of the sand!" he said as Naruto was getting a bad feeling inside his stomach as Lightning narrowed her eyes as she watched this from his mindscape. "There are circles under his eyes…he has insomnia, evidence that he was possessed by Shukaku once before." Gamatuba said as Naruto did not like this at all as Gamatuba kept on explaining. That was then Gaara formed a Ram sign. "Those who are vessels of Shukaku tend to not sleep soundly at night. The terror of it is too great as destruction follows if they did actually fall asleep. He normally doesn't sleep at night so his psyche is unstable as Shukaku begins to make them kill anything he wants." Gamatuba explains as Gaara muttered "Playing Possum Jutsu." His body went limp as he fell asleep as Naruto's, Gamatuba's and Lightning's eyes widened in shock. "He's done it! If he actually set the Playing Possum Jutsu in motion. Then Shukaku will be released!" Gamatuba said as the replica of Shukaku's eyes turned golden and started to shout into the air with a hillbilly accent.
"YE HAW! I'M FINALLY FREE! HERE I COME BABY!" Shukaku said as Naruto looked at him with disbelief. "That's the sand spirit?" he asked as Gamakichi added his own two cents. "Man that's one funky demon." Then Shukaku pointed his remaining arm at them "HERE I GO! I HOPE YOU'RE READY TO DIE! LET'S DO THIS!" He shouted like a maniac as Gamatuba took his pipe out of his mouth. "I'm going to jump so hang on!" he shouted as Naruto held on to him with his chakra. "WIND STYLE: AIR BULLET!" Shukaku shouted out as he gathered air into him and slammed his arm into his belly to launch concentrated air at them only for Gamatuba to leap into the air and make his counterattack. "Water style: Liquid Bullet!" he shouted as he launched a bullet made of water that clashed with another air bullet causing all of Konoha to rain. Meanwhile in Konoha everyone was watching in awe at the battle taking place as Sasuke spoke out their thoughts. "What kind of a battle is this turning into?"
As Gamatuba landed again, he quickly leaped again as Shukaku launched two more Air Bullets with a third delayed one. Gamatuba quickly disposed of the two as Shukaku narrowed his eyes in glee "Aw, too bad." He said as the third hit them directly creating an explosion as Shukaku leapt with joy. "YE HAW! I DID IT! I KILLED HIM!" he shouted out as the smoking pile of the Chief Toad crashed kicking dust into the air as he leapt out. "Now that kinda hurts! That was an awful a lot of chakra that you blasted me with and I must say…hit me with a few more of them and even I won't last any longer." He commented.
Orochimaru was inwardly furious, due to Gaara's behavior and the battle outside of Konoha. His invasion men are getting killed from the battle between Gamatuba and Shukaku. He quickly sent a signal to postpone the invasion as he began to watch the show. He was curious of how Naruto was able to use strange jutsu without hand signs and even chakra…Maybe the Kyuubi's influence?
"Chief, is there some way to beat this guy?" Naruto asked, "Well you can start by waking the jinchurriki up to release that jutsu! Just give him a good punch and it'll work!" he said as he avoided another Air Bullet and launched a Liquid Bullet which Shukaku dodged which gave him a chance to grab onto him. "Now's your chance kid!" Gamatuba said only for Shukaku to slip out of his grip making him leap away. "Hey Chief, I need you to get a grip on him if you want me to get a shot at him!" Naruto said as Gamatuba groaned with annoyance. "My body doesn't have any claws or horns to dig into the enemy with!" he said as Naruto shouted in annoyance "Then what are we going to do then?" He asked as Gamatuba replied with an answer. "Use the Transformation jutsu to transform us into what we need. But then again I'm not good with transformations…" he said as he trailed off as Naruto finished the idea for him. "So we'll do a combination jutsu to change into something with fangs and claws!" he shouted as Lightning was planning to give him a few ideas of certain creatures she meet as a L'Cie only to notice he had something in mind and let it play out.
As Gamatuba charged, Naruto recalled the first time he used the Kyuubi's chakra and it gave him an idea. "Transformation Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he and Gamatuba were engulfed in smoke. Soon an arm stretched out and every person in Konoha paled and some had heart attacks as the smoke cleared revealing the Kyuubi in all of its glory as it roared to the heavens.
That's it for now folks, stay tune as the Invasion Arc has sudden alterations in it and the return of the Undying! Make sure to Review!