Ok, and here's chapter nine, the big battle scene. This is the longest chapter I've written yet and I had a lot of fun writing it. Please enjoy and look out for a special guest appearance by...well, you'll just have to read it and find out.


Chapter 9

The Hidden Leaf was in chaos. The sound and sand village's swift and brutal joint attack had caught everyone off guard. Most of the fighting was happening along the outer wall but it had quickly spread and now battles were erupting throughout the village. Inside the battle arena was no different. A large number of sound ninja had been hiding amongst the crowd, once they'd seen the signal they'd revealed themselves and started attacking anyone who was still awake.

In the middle of the arena the Sand Siblings, their Jōnin, Baki, were about to face off against the chunin exams proctor, Genma and Sasuke Uchiha. One overly ambitious sound ninja thought he could make a name for himself by killing Genma while his back was turned. He ran at the leaf ninja, drawing a kunai.

That was when Hunter landed right on top of him. "I did say look out." he said as he stepped off the unconscious sound ninja.

The commotion drew everyone's attention. They all recognised Hunter instantly. He looked between the two sides, then he crossed his arms and gave them all a stern look.

"Well now this is just the height of rudeness. Starting a party like this and NOT inviting me. After all we've be through! Sasuke, Temari and...the man who play's with dolls whose name I forget."

Kankurō looked furious and for a moment it looked like he was about to drop Gaara and attack, until his sister threw a kunai at Hunter, who caught it before it hit his face.

"Ha!" then he saw the tag attached to the knifes hilt. "Ah, exploding tag. Teu'shay madam." then it exploded, staggering Hunter and giving the sand siblings a chance to escape, with Sasuke right behind them. Hunter charged out of the smoke but he was instantly confronted by Baki.

"Why side with them!?" the sand jōnin demanded "The Hidden Leaf is finished. Why not join the winning team?"

"Three reasons. A: I don't like any of you. B: I do like most of these guy's and C is a large body of salt water where fish live!" Hunter's eyes started to glow yellow. He charged at Baki, swinging one chain round in an arc. Baki jumped over it easily, that's when Hunter swung the other chain at him while he was airborne. Baki had seen it coming and performed a substitution jutsu. As soon as Hunter's chain hit the sand jōnin disappeared in a puff of smoke, to be replaced by a tree stump.

Hunter turned round and just in time to block Baki's attempt to stab him with a kunai.

"Not bad" said Baki "Good reflexes but your fighting style is sloppy and-" Hunter shut him up with a headbut, staggering him.

"Blizzra!" Hunter fired several ice blasts at Baki, which he successfully avoided.

'Ice style!' thought Baki 'I thought that kekkei genkai was extinct!' He ran towards Hunter while using his chakra to create a wind sword in his right hand "It's over!"

"Aerora!" Baki's wind sword hit Hunter's air spell and utterly failed to pass through.

"Impossible!"

"Ha! Wind sword, meet wind shield!" Hunter expanded the spell, the resulting gust of wind forcing Baki back.

Hunter sensed another ninja about to attack him. He spun round, aiming to kick the man in the gut but before his leg connected the ma was struck by a kunai and thrown sideways. The source of the kunai had been Genma, who was standing next to two other defeated enemy ninja.

He walked over to Hunter and said "Not bad." He looked over at Baki. "The reports on you were right after all."

"Um...Thanks." Hunter rubbed the back of his head and tried to look modest "I'm not gunna have to fight you as well am I?"

Genma gave a dry chuckle "In case you haven't noticed the Hidden Leaf has more pressing matters than apprehending a fugitive right now."

"Never underestimate human stupidity." Hunter looked back at Baki, who was now back on his feet and staring angrily at the two of them. "You wanna have the next dance?"

Genma took a step forwards "Certainly."

Hunter threw out one of his chains, knocking a sand ninja out of the air, then he left the two jōnin and went straight for the stands.

Up in the stands

Kakashi deflected another kunai and kicked the sound ninja who'd thrown it in the face, knocking the man out. His self proclaimed rival, Might Guy, was currently engaging three foes at once a few rows away, and easily besting them all.

He noticed a sound ninja heading straight for Sakura but before he could stop the man a chain suddenly wrapped around the sound ninja's waist. Someone yelled "Get over here!" and the man was pulled away.

'I recognise that voice' thought Kakashi. Sure enough the sound ninja landed right next to Hunter, who proceeded to punch him several times in rapid succession while saying "I'll teach you to pick on little girls ya jerk!"

Sakura had noticed him to "Wa..Hunter!? Kakashi-sensei is he on our side now?"

Hunter spun round, punching a sand ninja in the face and casting an ice spell on another.

"Well he's defiantly not on their side."

Hunter ran over to Kakashi and Sakura, both of whom braced themselves for an attack. "Pinky! It's been a while. Kakashi! Long time no see."

"Yes, I believe the last time was when you tried to kill me."

Hunter looked sheepish "Ah, yeah sorry 'bout that."

A sound ninja shot past the group, having just been kicked in the stomach by Might Guy.

"Ha, the most youthful Hunter has returned. No doubt you wish to pit yourself against Kakashi again."

"What...no actually I'm here to beat the holy snot out of these guys." Hunter pointed at one of the unconscious sound ninjas. "So...Truce?"

"And just why are you so eager to help us?" asked Kakashi.

"Well this lot all work for the snake man." Both Kakashi and Guy put on serious looks.

"Orochimaru is behind all this?" said Sakura.

"Yep, and I'm sure as hell not helping him. So what do you say?"

"Alright. Truce." agreed Kakashi.

"Excellent." Hunter spun round and punched a sound ninja in the face. "Now back to business." Hunter grabbed hold of a sand ninja and slammed him into an empty seat with enough force to break both the chair and several of the unfortunate man's bones.

"Sakura. Go and break Naruto and Shikamaru out of the Genjutsu!" ordered Kakashi.

"Just Shikamaru and Naruto? But what about the others, Ino, Choji."

"No time. Many Sand and Sound shinobi may have already infiltrated this village. Besides, if you have more than the four ninja essential to a squad it takes longer to get anything done, and it becomes more difficult to hide from the enemy."

"More difficult!" yelled Hunter. Kakashi and Sakura looked over at him. He was currently holding two sound ninja by the throat, then he bashed them together and chucked them away. "Well then how did you 'great ninjas' not notice the two hundred or so bad guys parked outside your front door! Or all this lot who snuck right past you!?"

"We can assign blame later." said Kakashi as he used his kunai to make a small cut on his thumb.

"Four squad mates. Does that mean you're coming with us Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

"No. I must not leave this place." he made several hand signs, then he place both hands on the ground and yelled "Summoning Jutsu!" The was a small puff of smoke and a small ninja-dog appeared.

"Pakkun here will track down Sasuke by scent." continued Kakashi.

Sakura was unimpressed "Wait, seriously. Our fourth member is a puppy!?"

Pakkun jumped up onto the back of the seat in front of Sakura, so he was now level with her face "Alright listen little girl. Don't you dare go around saying I'm just a cute puppy." for a small dog he had a surprisingly deep and gravelly voice.

'But...I didn't even say cute' thought Sakura.

Pakkun sniffed the air a few times, then he looked over at Hunter, who was still fighting off sand ninjas. "Strange." the dog muttered. "That's like nothing I've ever smelled before."

Hunter turned round and caught sight of the small ninja dog. "PUUUUUUGGGGG!" he yelled with glee. Before anyone could so much as blink Hunter had shot over and grabbed Pakkun in a crushingly tight hug. "Oh it's so adawable!"

Kakashi and Sakura stared in disbelief. Pakkun was not enjoying this 'attention' and was desperately trying to wriggle free "Arrk. Kakashi! Guy! Somebody! Get this lunatic off of me!"

"He talks too. Double Adawable!"

While Hunter continued to squeeze the life out of poor Pakkun, Sakura had managed to sneak round to where Naruto lay and dispel the genjutsu. Slowly he started to wake up, rubbing his eyes and yawning as though he was just getting up from an afternoon nap.

"Mmmm. Hey, what's going on Sakura?" he asked sleepily.

"Get down!" Sakura grabbed hold of Naruto and pushed him to the floor just as a kunai flew past where his head used to be and clanged against the wall.

Sakura cautiously crawled over to the still sleeping Shikamaru and prepared to dispel the genjutsu again. Then she saw his nose twitch. "Shikamaru...you were...this whole time..."

Pakkun finally broke free from Hunter and jumped over to Shikamaru. Then the small dog bit him on the leg. Shikamaru bolted upright with a yell and started shaking his leg in an attempt to throw Pakkun off.

"You already released the genjutsu you faker" said Sakura, scoldingly "Why were you pretending to be asleep this whole time!?"

Shikamaru managed to get Pakkun off his leg and held the dog up by the scruff of its small shirt. "I didn't want to get involved. Just give me a break, I couldn't care less about Sasuke." While he was talking he pulled on Pakkun's face, which lead to the dog biting him on the hand.

Naruto had fully shaken off the genjutsu induced sleep now and was aware of the battle going on around him and the fact that almost everyone who'd been watching the exams had fallen asleep.

"Wha- What is all this?"

A sound ninja suddenly appeared behind him.

"Behind you!" yelled Sakura.

There was a loud crash as Might Guy punched the ninja in the stomach, sending him into the back wall.

"So...fast..." grunted the sound ninja.

"Not just fast, but powerful." said Guy, who pushed the ninja right through the rest of the wall.

Kakashi leapt over to where the genin and Guy were assembled "Now, I'll explain the mission. As soon as I do go through that opening. First track down Sasuke and stop him, then find a safe location and await further orders."

A sound ninja attempted to attack the group but before Kakashi or Guy could deal with him a chain wrapped around the enemy nin's waist and he was pulled away with a cry of "GET OVER HERE!"

Naruto recognised the voice instantly "Wha- Oh no, what's he doing back here!?"

"Well, it's nice to see you again to Naruto." said Hunter as he slammed the sound ninja he'd just caught into the wall.

"Arrgh! You keep saying my name wrong! It's Na-roo- toe. Not Na-root-oh!"

"Whatever" Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Why are you even here anyway?" asked Naruto.

"Hunter has made a most youthful decision and joined with the Leaf to fight the sand and sound ninja." answered Guy with his trademark smile and thumbs up.

"That pretty much covers it." agreed Hunter. He spun round and smacked an approaching sand ninja in the side of the head with one of his hooks. "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I brought fifteen freaking packs of gum! CHARGE!" He leapt up into the air and collided with a sound ninja.

"He's completely crazy." said Naruto.

Sakura nodded in agreement "At least he's on our side. Now let's go." she grabbed hold of Naruto and jumped out of the hole in the wall.

"What a drag." sighed Shikamaru.

"Listen whiner!" Shikamaru looked down at Pakkun, who was resting on the genin's leg. "Look, if this mission is a success as a reward I'll let you touch my paw. Well, my pads. So there's no reason to sulk!"

"What?"

"Come on. They're really soft." assured the dog.

"They're...what?"

Pakkun Hung his head in disappointment "No one ever wants to shake." then he yelled out "BUT MY PAWS ARE SO SOFT AND SUUUPLLLEE!"

Shikamaru said nothing and just stared at the dog.

"Forget it. Let's go." Pakkun bit the lazy young genin on the hand again and dragged him out through the hole after Sakura and Naruto.

"Don't let those brats get away!" yelled one of the sound ninja. Three of his comrades and two sand ninja charged towards Guy and Kakashi.

Hunter saw them and ran over to intercept them, pulling back his arm to punch the lead ninja. He was a few inches away when he started unconsciously channelling darkness into his arm, and his fist opened up into a claw. All Kakashi and Guy saw was something darting in between the oncoming enemy nin, then the attacking group all fell to the ground, clutching at claw marks on various parts of their bodies and groaning in pain. Hunter was standing behind where the group had just been. He was looking down at his right arm.

"What the-?" Kakashi could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Hunter's entire right arm had changed, from the shoulder down to the elbow it was now jet black in colour then it slowly became dark purple. His hand had morphed into a type of claw which Hunter was closely examining.

"That's new" he said to himself. Then he spun round and held up his changed arm "I hereby christen you: SAVAGE CLAW MODE!"

"How can his body change like that? What is this kid?" asked Guy.

"A Jinchuriki." said Kakashi.

Hunter didn't seem to hear them, he was looking down at the other end of the stand where a man dressed as a Leaf ANBU ninja was standing, flanked by a group of sound ninja who were in a guarding formation. Hunter recognised the fake ANBU as the same man who'd put everyone to sleep. He also recognised his heart.

"Hey! You!" he yelled.

The Fake ANBU looked up at him, and so did some of the sound ninjas.

"I remember you. The chunin prelims. Its...Kabuto...Right?"

That caught Kakashi's attention. 'Kabuto?'

The fake ANBU laughed "Hahah. You are a perceptive one aren't you Hunter." Kabuto removed his mask and donned his pair of large circular spectacles. "Or is it all just that Kekkei Genkai of yours?"

"You might say that. Even without my eyes though, evil like yours can't be covered up four eyes!"

"Humph." Kabuto drew a kunai from under his cloak. Unlike most other knives Hunter had seen this one had a curved tip. "What a fascinating dōjutsu. And then there's that physical transformation." Kabuto directed his gaze at Hunter's arm. "You would be invaluable to Lord Orochimaru's research."

"Dream on, Specs." Hunter put on a burst of speed and charged at Kabuto, pulling back his claw to slash at the silver haired spy. The moment his claw made contact though Kabout disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a wooden log. ' I hate it when they do that' thought Hunter as he continued running towards Kabuto's guards. In seconds they were all on the ground, clutching at slash marks on their arms and legs. That's when Kabuto reappeared in front of Hunter and tried to slice his throat with his knife. Hunter ducked under Kabuto's swing and brought his claw upwards, but Kabuto was a quick one and he jumped back before the claw could harm him.

"You missed." Taunted Kabuto.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." said Hunter, pointing at his nose.

Kabuto's glasses split apart at the nose and fell away in two half's.

Hunter smiled widely "You should have gone to specsavers Kabuto."

Kabuto gritted his teeth in anger "This isn't over." then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I think I touched a nerve. Hey! Kakashi!"

The one eyed ninja finished knocking out two sound ninjas and looked over at Hunter. "Yes!?"

"Can you and Guy handle this lot? I'm going to stop this invasion now!"

"A most youthful idea Hunter, but how will you accomplish it!?" asked Guy.

"Same way you stop any army." Hunter looked up at where the Hokage and Orochimaru were. "You tear off the snakes head."

Hunter started walking towards the stands guard rail.

"Hunter don't be a fool!" yelled Kakashi. "You can't just charge in to battle against someone like Orochimaru! You need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan." said Hunter as he climbed up onto the metal railing and crouched down. "Attack!" he pushed off and launched himself into the air.

"That idiot's going to get himself killed." muttered Kakashi.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." said Guy as he took down another enemy nin. "Hunter has great youthful energy. And when you have the fires of youth on your side nothing is impossible!"

Kakashi groaned at haveing to listen to another 'fires of youth speech'. 'I just hope Hunter doesn't die. He still has my book.'

Hunters jump sent him several feet above the roof top where Orochimaru and Sarutobi were, and it was obvious that things were not going well.

The Hokage and Orochimaru were both on the side of the roof that was facing in towards the arena. Around them was a square barrier shield that covered most of the roof, leaving only a small space around it. It was being maintained by four sound ninja who were each located at one of the shield's corners. The one closest to where Hunter was aiming to, which was the right corner, was a young man with white hair and what looked like a second head growing out of the back of his neck. A closer inspection with Heartless vision revealed that the head was real, and the body it belonged to was merged somehow with the other man's body. Across from him in the upper right corner was a girl with long red hair but because she had her back to him Hunter couldn't see her face. In the upper left was a large man with greyish skin and dull orange hair. The last guy in the lower left was perhaps the weirdest of the lot because he had six arms.

Hunter landed just to the right of a group of ANBU ninajs. Well, 'landed' may not be the right word. He crashed through the roof and ended up buried up to his waist in the tiles. "Not my finest moment." he muttered as he pulled himself out of the hole he'd made. The ninja squad looked over at him in surprise, pulling kunai and shuriken out of their pockets.

"Oh for the love of...I'm on your side morons! You can put the kitchen utensils down."

Naturally the ninjas ignored what he said but neither did they attack him, so that was something.

Hunter walked up to the force field and yelled "Hey! Old timer! Can you hear me in there!?"

Sarutobi looked round in surprise. "Hunter?"

"Well this is unexpected." chuckled Orochimaru "I expected you to leave this village at the first sign of trouble."

"You don't know the first thing about me Lizard Man, so you can kiss my...what the heck." Hunter gave Orochimaru a quizzical look. "There's something wrong with your body it's... wait...you're female!"

Orochimaru looked irritated for a moment, then he went into one of his evil cackles "Hahaha! That dōjutsu of yours is impressive. I must make a point of acquiring it." He raised his hand to his face. "I wasn't going to revel this until later." When he took it away his face had completely changed, it was now a woman's face with unnaturally pale skin, dark eyes and bright red lips. The one thing that hadn't changed was the snake like eyes. "But you've forced my hand." his voice had change too and was now distinctly female but it still manage to be just as creepy as his regular voice.

"What is this? Who the devil are you!?" demanded Sarutobi.

"Don't you recognise me sensei? It's me. Orochimaru."

Sarutobi was horrified "It can't be...You've mastered even that forbidden jutsu!"

The female Orochimaru giggled "It's been ten years of hard work, since I left the village."

"What forbidden jutsu, what the hell are you to talking about!?" yelled Hunter, who was still stuck on the whole 'Orochimaru is a girl' thing.

"I suppose you could say it's a revival justu. You find a body. A young body. Then you pour your spirit into it and make it your own."

"So you're a ghoul AND a body snatcher!" yelled Hunter.

That earned another laugh from Orochimaru "Such a short-sighted view, just like Sarutobi-sensei. I really must thank this village though. You've prepared my next body so well."

Sarutobi gritted his teeth "Now I understand. It's Sasuke Uchiha."

"Very good. You guessed it. It's Sasuke I want."

"So you've mastered a jutsu that preserves your soul in the bodies of others" said Sarutobi "How many bodies has it been? How many faces?"

"Hmm. Two or three perhaps." said Orochimaru, almost as though he didn't care "But I'll wait for Sasuke until he's ripe. Until he's been raised and trained to my liking. Tell me, which face would you like me to wear." she raised her hand to her face again "Perhaps it would be better for you to look on a familiar face." when he took his hand away his face and voice were back to 'normal'. "As you die."

Orochimaru made a hand sign and yelled out "Summoning Jutsu! First!"

A large earthen coffin emerged from a portal a few steps in front of Orochimaru. Hunter was suddenly struck by a horrible feeling, as though everything in the world was going wrong. He didn't understand what the snake sannin was doing but some instinct inside was telling him.

"Now, Second!" another coffin rose up next to the first one.

Hunter's feeling of wrongness got even worse, so much so that he wrapped his arms around his stomach like he was going to be sick.

Sarutobi and the ANBU ninja had all noticed his reaction.

"Huh. What's wrong with him?" asked one of the ANBU squad.

"And now the Third!" another coffin started to rise up in front and between the last two.

'I have to stop the third one before it's too late!' thought Sarutobi. He made and hand sign and used his chakra to interrupt the summoning. The third coffin halted then sank back into its portal, disappearing.

'So the third one failed.' thought Orochimaru 'Ah well, two should be enough.' Looking to his right he saw Hunter bent over, clutching at his stomach 'So this jutsu has an adverse affect on him. Interesting.'

The coffin lids fell away and the two occupants stepped out. The one of Orochimaru's right had long black hair and wore red armour, the one to his left had white spiky hair and wore blue armour. Both of them looked dull, both in expression and in colour. Hunter could also make out several crakes in their bodies like broken ceramic pots.

"It's been a long time." said the man in blue.

"You've gotten so old Saru." said the man in red.

Their voices sounded dull too.

"T-that's impossible!" Stammered one of the ANBU "Those people are..."

"What? Who are they?" asked another.

"Grrrrr." the ninjas looked over at Hunter "Bringing back the dead... is WRONG!"

"The dead!?" exclaimed the ninja.

"He's right." said the squad leader. "The one with the black hair is the First Hokage, and the one with the white hair is the Second Hokage. They were considered the greatest ninja of their generation. I mean they built the Hidden Leaf village."

"What kind of jutsu can bring back the dead!?"

"A forbidden one. It uses the same principle as a regular summon. Normally a ninja only requires a small drop of blood for a summoning. This jutsu requires a living human sacrifice to work. The spirit of the dead person is summoned into the sacrifices body, then the body is surrounded by a layer of dust and earth, giving them the appearance the spirit had in life."

"I know who they are." said Hunter. "I can see underneath the dirt. It's Kin and Zaku."

"Who are they?" asked one of the ANBU.

"Orochimaru's goons." Hunter looked up at the snake sannin. "You sacrificed your own troops! You twisted...Errrmph." Hunter doubled over "Ooooo. I want to throw up but I don't have a stomach."

The Second Hokage turned to look at Orochimaru. "The resurrection jutsu. How insolent."

"Then tell me Sarutobi. Does this mean that we are being forced to battle you?" asked the first Hokage.

"THAT IS IT!" everyone looked over at Hunter, who was now glowing with a black aura. "This is wrong wong wrong wrong WRONG! I'm going to put the both of you back in your graves! And then Orochimaru...I'm going to rip your heart right out of your chest!" Hunter grabbed hold of the chain on his right arm and started swinging in round in a circle until it was moving so fast it was just a grey blur.

"But first thing's first! 'Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall'!"

Hunter was about to slam his chain and hook into the barrier when the Third Hokage yelled "Hunter stop!"

The chain instantly lost all its momentum and fell to the ground, the hook crushing several tile under it.

"What!?" asked Hunter, sounding a tad annoyed.

"Hunter, listen very carefully. Right now the people of this village need your help more than I do. You must go down to the village and help repel the invasion."

Hunter let out a growl of frustration "You're not the boss of me old timer! Heck, sometimes I'm not the boss of me."

"You should do what the Hokage tells you." said one of the ANBU.

"Why? I'm not a ninja and he's not my Hokage. I don't have to do anything he says."

"Very well, seeing as how I can't order you, then I'll ask you. Hunter, please help save my village, and the people in it. Their lives are more valuable than mine."

Hunter looked back at the battle that was slowly spreading through the village, then back at Sarutobi. "You sure about this. I know you're a tough old git but it's three against one and you're not exactly a spring chicken."

"He has a point Sarutobi." agreed the First Hokage.

The Second nodded slightly "You may need assistance against the three of us."

"Ha! I may be old but I'm not dead just yet."

Hunter let out a defeated sigh "Ah snap. Alright old timer, you win." He ran over to the edge of the roof and selected a spot to jump to. Before he left he looked back and said "If you die on me old man I swear I'll kill you. Got it!?"

Then he jumped off the roof, aiming to land directly on a group of sound ninjas.

"DEATH FROM ABOVE!"

On top of the Hokage Monument

"This is interesting." said Thorn as he watched the invasion from his perch at the edge of the mountain. He wasn't talking about the invasion itself, which was quite unremarkable as far as he was concerned. What he was referring to was the action of his Heartless. As a creature of Darkness it should have either left or attempted to destroy the village itself, instead it was helping to defend it. Why? How was it different from other Heartless? Simply gaining sapience should not account for such a-

"Well what do we have here?"

Thorn's train of thought was disrupted by a group of ten sound ninja plus eight Sand ninja that were standing behind him. They hadn't snuck up on him, he just hadn't cared enough to acknowledge them.

"Just what are you doing all the way up here on your own anyway?" continued the lead sound ninja.

Thorn ignored him and continued watching the invasion. Needless to say, the sound ninja was not happy with Thorns attitude "Hey! I asked you a question!"

"He doesn't look like a Leaf Shinobi." said one of the sand ninja.

"Doesn't matter." retorted another "He's not one of ours, then he dies."

"Will you all please be quiet." said Thorn, turning around to face them. "You're distracting me."

"Ha! Arrogant little git aren't you." the lead ninja pulled a kunai out of his back pocket and threw it at Thorn's head. He didn't even flinch as the knife passed right through him, much to the confusion of the sound ninjas. Not one to be put off the same ninja who just thrown the kunai tossed a large windmill shuriken that was supposed to have taken Thorn's head off. Instead it just phased harmlessly through his throat and flew off into the distance.

Thorn closed his eyes "Fools."

With a flick of the wrist he produced a blue card from inside his sleeve, which he then placed on the ground. The card started to glow white and glowing lines started to appear in the air above it, forming a digital outline of a humanoid creature. It wasn't very tall, no more than five feet. It had pink skin with a texture similar to rubber. It had read eyes with black sclera set in a head that was about the same size as its torso. Instead of hair it had a thick antenna that started just above its forehead the bent over the top of its head and came back nearly to the base of its skull.

Its cloths consisted of white baggy pants held in place by a black belt that had a large metal buckle with a stylised 'M' on it. It had two identical black arm binders on its forearms with matching black boots.

"What kind of summon is that?" asked one of the sound ninja.

"Data Kid Buu." Thorn pointed at the ninja squad "Terminate."

The data copy of Kid Buu smiled evilly "Me Buu." it had a malevolent voice with a distorted tinge to it, like a bad recording.

"Kill you."

Back in the Leaf

"Haha! I got another one!" declared a Sound ninja as the kunai he'd just thrown hit a Leaf chunin in the back.

"Will you please try and act more professional." scolded his team leader. The group of sand and sound shinobi had been making their way through the village for a good ten minutes now and had so far encountered little resistance. Most of them thought this was a sign that victory was at hand, but the more experienced ones knew that this battle was only just getting started and it wouldn't be long before the element of surprise wore off and the Leaf really started fighting back.

"Check that building over there! The rest of you, keep on the lookout for-"

"SAVAGE CLAW MODE!"

Something darted between three ninjas, all of whom fell to the ground seconds later, clutching at slash marks on their bodies.

"What was-!?"

"Over here!" All the assembled enemy nin turned round and saw a boy with spiky black hair standing right behind them.

Hunter smirked at them as his arm changed back to normal. "I love doing that. Now prepare to be turned into sushi!"

He charged forwards, dodging knives and shuriken then he sprang forwards and slammed into a ninja in a flying rugby tackle. The two of them crashed to the ground with Hunter on top. He raised both his fists above his head then brought them down on the sound ninjas chest with enough force to break the ground beneath them.

Hunter jumped off the now unconscious sound ninja and yelled "Blizzara!" Three bolts of ice shot out from his palm, two of which managed to hit their targets turning them to human ice sculptures, the last one missed and ended up freezing a shop front.

'Note to self. Work on aiming' thought Hunter as he kicked a sand ninja in the stomach. He flung out one of his chains that wrapped around a sound ninjas torso, then he swung the chin to the left, smashing the man into a wall and dragging him through the front of several buildings before the chain let go, sending the man flying.

Another ninja tried to attack from behind. Hunter let him get close then he smacked him aside with his tail that suddenly grew out of his back.

"What the!? What are you!?" demanded one of the remaining sound ninjas.

Hunter gave his tail a few experimental swishes "Right now? I'm an ally of the Leaf. And a nightmare to you!"

"He's just one man you idiots!" yelled another ninja, evidently more seasoned than the rest. "Get him!"

All the remaining ninjas charged at Hunter from all sides. "Reflect!" they all hit the translucent shield at the same time. Hunter had just enough time to yell out "BOOM, BABY!" before the shield exploded, sending sound ninjas flying in all directions. Targeting the one directly in front of him Hunter sprang forwards and grabbed the man mid flight and the two ended up crashing into the Ichiraku's Ramen bar.

Hunter noticed Ayame and her father Teuchi hiding behind the counter. "Sorry about this." he said earnestly. Then he had to duck to avoid a slash from the sound ninja. The man came at him again with the kunai but Hunter blocked it and punched the man in the jaw. He fell to the left and collapsed on top of the counter that the two chefs were hiding under. Hunter hopped over to the other side of the bar and grabbed hold of the half conscious sound ninja.

"Would you like to sample the ramen sir!?" Hunter dunked the man's face into a cooking pot full of boiling ramen. After about five seconds Hunter let him go and the man jumped bolted upright screaming at the top of his lungs and trying to get the hot liquid out of his eyes.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" yelled the sound ninja. He drew another kunai and lunged at Hunter, who ducked down at the same time Ayame swung a frying pan at the back of his head. Instead of hitting Hunter as she'd planned it caught the sound ninja square in the face, knocking him out.

Hunter stood back up and nodded in approval "Nice swing-ow!" he was cut off when Ayame hit him over the head with her frying pan, and her father started throwing various pots and utensils at him. "Ow-hey-ow! Will-Ow-you-Ouch! Stop...KNOCK IT OFF!" Ayame and her father both stopped.

"Thank you. I'm on your side now. Me and Kakashi called a truce."

The mention of Kakashi's name seemed to convince Ayame a little but both her and her father remained wary.

"What's happening out there?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious? You're under attack."

Ayame looked down at the unconscious ninja. "That man...he's a sound ninja. It's the Hidden Sound?" she was more surprised than afraid. From what she'd heard from the restaurants ninja clients the Hidden Sound village was new and relatively small in size, they shouldn't have the man power for something like this.

"Not just them. It's the sand guys too, they're both in cahoots apparently."

That raised even more questions. The Sand and Leaf village had been at peace for years, why attack now?

"We need to go." said Teuchi. "There's a shelter in the Hokage Monument in case of invasion."

Hunter shook his head "Bad idea. This place is crawling with bad guys. You won't make it three blocks. Best thing you can do is hide here and keep quiet until this is all over."

They didn't seem too happy about the idea but they didn't argue.

Hunter left the ramen bar. And instantly wished he'd stayed inside.

"Oh Snap."

More sand and sound ninja had arrived. There were about ten of them up on the roofs and close to twenty more at street level. They didn't seem to concerned about helping their defeated comrades, who they'd left where they'd fallen.

"Ok, new plan." replied Hunter as he let a summon charm drop out of his sleeve and into his hand. "Scream and call for help."

The charm glowed brightly and disappeared. There was a loud honk like a truck horn then something large materialised a short way down the street. It took Hunter a moment to realise that it was in fact a truck, well a strange futuristic looking truck at any rate, and it was driving straight at the sound ninjas. Modern trucks are large and blocky things, this one was more angular, like a fusion of truck and sports car. The cabin section was painted bright red and the rear was predominantly blue.

None of the sound ninjas had ever seen a motor vehicle, as they didn't exist in this world, and thought for some reason that they could stop it by throwing kunai and shuriken at it. By the time they realised that their ninja tools were no good it was too late and the truck managed to run over five of them before the rest jumped out of the way. The truck skidded to a halt and then it-

TSCHE-CHU-CHU-CHU-TSCHE

Then it changed...transformed into a giant humanoid robot. It raised its left arm, which changed into a cannon, and started shooting at the sound ninjas, blasting them off the rooftops. Four of them leapt at the machine but before they got close it bated them away with its free arm.

On hearing all the commotion outside Ayame and her father cautiously emerged to see what was happening. Hunter and the two ramen chefs were just standing there staring is disbelief as the robot continued to take down the ninjas with ease.

"You guys are seeing this to?" asked Hunter. Ayame and Teuchi both nodded dumbly. "Good, then I'm not imagining this. A giant robot fighting ninjas. The weirdness level just went to Defcon Two."

Most of the enemy ninjas were now lying on the ground either groaning in pain or unconscious. Realising that they'd lost the last two men standing turned and ran off. They didn't get very far. The robot blasted the roof they were standing on with its laser cannon, the force of the explosion knocking them off their feet and sent them crashing to the street.

With the last enemies neutralised the robot changed its gun arm back to normal and walked over to Hunter, Ayame and Teuchi. Once it was close enough to them it knelt down so that its face was just above them.

"Greetings humans." it said in a deep and authoritative voice. "I take it you are the one who used the summon charm?"

"Um...yes. I-I'm Hunter. This is Ayame and her dad Teuchi."

"My name is Optimus Prime. I am a autonomous robotic life form from the planet Cybertron. An 'Autobot' for short." Prime stood up slightly and looked around. "I believe that a situation report is called for."

"Ok, here goes. These guys" Hunter pointed at the defeated ninjas "are from some place called the 'Hidden Sound'. They're invading this village along with the 'Hidden Sand'. It's all been set up by some nut called Orochimaru who wants to live forever, wipe this place of the map 'cause of some grudge he's got, and maybe rule the world at some point. Guys like him normally want world domination."

Prime nodded as he processed this information "Hmmm. This 'Orochimaru' sound similar to another being on my world. He also desires domination and war above all else."

A loud crash off in the distance brought everyone back to the present.

"Right. You two, back inside. Me and Prime will take care of things. Now let's see...hmm." Hunter looked ahead through the village, his Heartless vision letting him see through walls and obstacles. Most of the fighting now seemed to be taking place on street level and on the main roads. He looked up at Optimus and quickly compared him to the width of the road.

"Yes...that might work. Prime, get down here." The giant robot leaned in close "Here's what we're gunna do."

Further away along the main road.

"Mind destruction jutsu!"

A sand ninja that had been about to attack Inoichi stopped in his tracks and turned on his comrade. Nearby the rest of team Ino-Shika-Cho were also fighting, putting their clans signature jutsu's to good use.

Shikaku had seven ninjas caught in a multi shadow possession jutsu, which he followed up with the Shadow-Neck Binding Technique, strangling them all with his shadow.

Chōza had used his expansion jutsu to grow to the size of a four story building and was currently stomping his way through the ranks of the sound and sand ninjas.

Looking up Inoich saw more sound ninjas gathering on the rooftop above them. He was about to use another mind destruction when two spiralling figures slammed into the enemy ranks. As soon as they stopped spinning they were revelled to be Tsume Inuzuka and her ninja dog Kuromaru.

"Inoichi!" yelled Tsume. She paused to kick a sound ninja in the gut, then throw him off the roof. "I thought you three would have beaten more of them by now! Getting slow in your old age!?"

"That's rich from a woman who took twenty minutes to get here!" Shikaku shot back.

That was when the enemy reinforcements showed up. About thirty more Sand ninajs appeared in the street below, surrounding Inocihi and Shikaku. More sound ninjas had come to, they'd landed on the roof on either side of Tsume and her daughter.

"This could be quite a fight" growled Kuromaru.

"It's over." taunted one of the sound ninjas. "You and your village are de-"

HONK HONK!

A bright red and blue truck suddenly appeared at the other end of the street. It ran over several ninjas before the rest managed to jump to the safety of the rooftops. They didn't stay up there for long though. Being pulled along behind the truck by one of his chains was Hunter. He aimed his free hand up at the sound ninjas and started firing off ice blasts, then he swung himself up to the rooftop and, still attached to the truck, he kicked a sound ninja in the face.

"DOWN IN FRONT! he yelled.

Tsume, Hana and their dogs jumped back as Hunter shot by, smashing his way through the sound and sand's ranks. When he reached the end of the roof he jumped back down to the street.

"WAHOO! FASTER PRIME! PEDAL TO METAL! YEHAA!"

The truck turned a corner and in seconds both it and Hunter were gone, though they could still hear him yelling at whoever was driving to go faster.

"I...I ...Did you all see that too?" asked Hana. Everyone else nodded dumbly, unable to quite accept what they'd just witnessed.

With Prime and Hunter

"Heads up!" yelled Hunter as he jumped up and kicked yet another ninja off a roof. He spun in mid air and fired two ice bolts at the roof opposite, freezing a group of sound ninjas. While he was up there he spotted the three giant snakes that had been summoned at the start of the invasion. Well, there had been three, one was now crushed under a giant toad that had two equally massive blades strapped to its back. Focusing on the toad Hunter could see Jiraya standing atop its head.

"Two against one. Hardly fair. Prime! You up for taking out a giant snake!?"

"If it will help stop this destruction, yes! I take it you have another 'plan'!?"

Hunter smiled at that "You bet! Just keep driving straight and whatever you do. Don't slow down!"

Prime complied and accelerated down the street.

"Ok, three...two..." Hunter open up a black portal in front of Prime, who drove straight into it, dragging Hunter behind him. They reappeared in mid air above one of the snake's heads. Prime transformed and brought out a massive double bladed axe and slammed it down into the creatures head. The monster snake fell crashing to the ground with an almighty thud. Prime landed right in front of it, still holding his energon axe. Hunter dropped down next to him seconds later.

"That...was...INCREDABLE!" he looked round at the giant snake's corpse "That is going to look great over my mantelpiece." then the body vanished in a huge puff of smoke, leaving Hunter disappointed. "Snap."

Jiraya had watched all this from where he stood atop his summoned toad. And despite the fact he'd just seen it he still couldn't quite believe it.

"That kid again!? Well...this blows my theory about him working for Orochimaru out of the water." The old sage looked back at the last remaining snake. "Alright Gamahiro, let's finish this last one off!"

"Hunter! Over there!" Prime pointed to the woods that lay to the west of the village. Hunter saw what looked like a giant raccoon-dog hybrid made entirely out of sand. Standing just across from it was a gigantic toad holding a sword. Focusing on its head Hunter could see Naruto standing on top of it.

"Don't worry Prime. Someone else has it covered." Hunter sensed a group of sand ninjas approaching. "Now let's get back to beating the crap out of these sand weasels!"

"I'm afraid I don't have much time left to aid you Hunter." said Prime as he readied his axe.

"Then make every second count."

That was when the sand ninja squad arrived.

"What the hell is that!?" asked one upon seeing Optimus.

"Doesn't matter" said another "We kill 'em both and move on to our target. Go!"

The sound ninjas jumped off the roof and charged straight at Hunter and Optimus, throwing shuriken and explosive tagged kunai. Prime lifted his axe and slammed it into the ground creating an energy shockwave that blasted them all back. Hunter jumped up above them all and fired several blizzard spells that froze most of them to the ground. One of the ninjas that hadn't been frozen threw an exploding kunai at him. It hit Hunter while he was still in mid air and detonated. The ninja thought for a second that he'd killed his target until Hunter dropped out of the smoke cloud and punched him into the ground.

"I'm really starting to hate those exploding tags." he muttered.

"Hunter" he looked up at Optimus. "I'm out of time."

"Kay. Thanks for the help Prime. 'till next time ."

Prime nodded as his form started to glow "Till all are one."

The Autobot leader's body continued to glow brighter, then it shifted back into the summon charm which flew back into Hunter's hand. After putting the charm away he leapt up onto the roof of a partially demolished building and started looking around the village.

The balance had shifted in the leafs favour. It's elite ninjas were on the warpath and the sand and sound were getting their backsides handed to them in just about every fight. With the element of surprise gone and their momentum lost they were starting to fall back.

Outside of the leaf the giant toad and the sand monster were gone. Hunter could see Naruto and Gaara, and from the looks of it their fight had ended in somewhat of a draw. Something seemed different about Gaara's heart though.

Hunter tensed up when he sensed someone land next to him, but then he relaxed a little when he realised who it was.

"Ibiki, hey. Looks like we've won."

Ibiki looked out at the Leaf. "The enemy is retreating, but that doesn't mean we've won yet. Still, I feel I should thank you for your help. You've saved a lot of lives today."

"Does that mean you lot will stop trying to kill me now?"

As if to answer his question four ANBU ninjas appeared around him and pointed their swords at his chest.

"Snap." Hunter was about to cast an ice spell when he felt something. Something unnatural. It was like when Orochimaru had resurrected the Hokage's, only the feeling was much more intense this time. He looked over that the battle arena.

Ibiki saw the expression on his face. "What is it?"

Hunter didn't say anything at first. "Sarutobi." then he leapt away before the ANBU could stop him and started running back to the arena. He was too late though.

When he got back the barrier was down and the whole roof had been covered in a huge tree and its roots. Orochimaru was gone, and so were his guards, although he had left behind the bodies of Kin and Zaku which were both lying in separate piles of dust. The only ones left were two ANBU ninjas, who were standing over the body of Hiruzan Sarutobi.

Hunter could tell he was dead. There was no Heart in his body anymore. It looked so empty without it. He could sense other ninjas approaching. He didn't want to deal with them so he teleported away to the forest outside the village. He stood still of a few seconds, then the threw back his head, opened his mouth, which changed into a black jagged line and roared. His tail grew out of his back and started thrashing wildly,carving out deep gouges in the earth. A violent black aura appeared around him and the wind picked up significantly. After about three minutes of this he calmed down and changed back to normal.

"Orochimaru...you're gunna pay for this. Just you wait."

The next day.

Rain poured down steadily for the cloud covered sky as the Hidden Leaf village mourned the loss of its Third Hokage. The entire village had turned out to pay their respects to the man who'd been their leader, and in many cases their friend.

Hunter was there too. Well, he wasn't with the others, he was sitting up on one of the tall buildings that overlooked the village and watching the funeral.

RING RING

Hunter pulled the phone out of his pocket and held it up to his ear. "You have a lousy sense of timing. You know that?"

"Hunter. Do you have any new status updates?" asked Diz.

"There was an...There was an invasion yesterday. And before you ask. No. It wasn't the Nobodies. It was some nut called-"

"You didn't interfere did you?"

"Damb right I interfered! I'm not just going to sit around and watch while-"

"Hunter!" DiZ cut him off again "You're mission is to find the Nobodies in that world. Anything else is not your business."

"One of my friends died."

"I would hardly call them 'friends'. They have not seen the real you, have they?"

Hunter tightened his grip on the phone "That 'thing' is not me!"

"Isn't it? You've-"

Hunter ended the call. Seconds later the phone started ringing again.

"Not so nice when it happens to you, is it?" he asked smugly.

"Hello Hunter."

Hunter was so surprised by the voice next to him he fell off the roof and landed face first on the ground. After dusting himself off he jumped back up to his previous position and found a guilty looking Naminé standing there.

"Sorry" she said sheepishly.

"No harm done. Total invincibility, one of the many perks of being like this." Hunter sat down where he had been and Naminé went to sit next to him.

"I take it DiZ doesn't know you're here?"

Naminé shook her head.

"Well. What he don't know won't hurt him. Right?"

She smiled at that, then she reached round behind her and brought out two blue ice creams, offering one to Hunter. He took it and gingerly took a bite.

Naminé started eating hers, then she noticed Hunter staring at the ice cream.

"You don't like it?"

"What? No. No, it's not that. Apparently I've got no taste buds anymore. So while I'm sure this is delicious I can't ...taste it. Or anything else for that matter."

"Oh. Um. If it helps it tastes salty and sweet."

Hunter closed his eyes and tried to imagine the taste, then he took another bite out of the ice cream.

"Mmmm. Oh yeah, this is the best thing I've never tasted in my life."

Both of the laughed, then they went back to their ice creams.

"I'm sorry about your friend." said Naminé.

"Thanks." Hunter looked down at the funeral that was still going on. "Maybe DiZ is right. If they knew what I really am they'd run on sight. No wonder Naruto hasn't told 'em."

He noticed Naminé giving him a questioning look. "Naruto is someone I know from here. He's got this giant monster thing locked up inside him that only the older people know about."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's called the 'Nine Tailed Fox'. It's sort of like Godzilla's pet poodle."

Naminé giggled at that. Hunter laughed too.

"Thanks for this Naminé. It's nice to do something normal."

"Yes. I know how you feel." she finished her ice cream and stood up. "Take care of yourself."

"Don't worry. The crisis is over and things are settling down. I've got a feeling it'll be smooth sailing from now on."

Hidden Cloud Village. Rikage's office.

The Fourth Raikage, Ay, was sitting at his desk and reading a report from his operatives in the Hidden Leaf village.

"Is this accurate?" he asked.

"As far as we can tell yes." answered one of the Clouds Jōnin.

Ay skimmed over the report once again "An unknown kekkei genkai. A jutsu that affects time. Possibly a Jinchuriki." he put the report down and stood up. "Start assembling a team. We must find this 'Hunter' and bring him here. We cannot allow another village to posses this kind of power."

Hidden Stone village. Tsuchikage's office.

"Are we certain that this report is true?" asked Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage.

"Yes. I know it's seems unbelievable but our agents would not make something like this up." said one of the Stone ninja present.

Ōnoki smile to himself. "Gather a stealth team, and send them to the Land of Fire. I want this 'Hunter' either captured or killed. We can't allow a power like this to exist outside our village. Especially not one so close to the Leaf."

Unknown Location

"Are we sure about this?" asked a tall man wearing a black robe, covered in red clouds.

"My spy network is certain of it." responded a smaller man who was hunched over. He wore the same black and red cloak as the others.

"He can't be a Jinchuriki." insisted another "We already know all their identities and he isn't one of them. Perhaps your spy network isn't all it's cracked up to be Sasori."

"That's enough Hidan."

All eight people present looked up at the giant humanoid hologram of their leader. It was completely featureless apart from its eyes, which were purple with a ripple pattern. A few of the others present were also represented by similar holograms. They very rarely met in the flesh all at once.

"This 'Hunter' may not be a Jinchuriki, but he has an interesting set of abilities that could prove useful to us."

"So, you want us to capture him too?" asked Hidan.

"Eventually yes but he is merely a target of opportunity. Right now our priority remains the capture of all the tailed beasts."

"There's a good chance that we won't be able to bring him in alive. Will that be an issue?" asked Kakuzu, Hidan's teammate.

The Leader's hologram paused for a moment before replying "No. We can still recover his jutsu's secrets from his body."

Back with Hunter in the Hidden Leaf

"AAAAACHHOO!"

Naminé looked over at Hunter, who'd just let out a colossal sneeze. "You know, some people say that when you sneeze, it means that someone's talking about you."

Hunter gave her a 'yeah, right' look "Come on Naminé, that's just a superstition."


'Smooth sailing from now on'...that's right up there with 'It couldn't possibly get any worse'. Tune in next time when the Hidden Villages send their teams out to capture Hunter, and inadvertently push him into letting out more of his Heartless side.

Till all are one (Couldn't resist)