Rippling Future

Chapter Three: The Effect: The Second Movement


Murmurs and whispers escaped along with applause as to what happened earlier. To many, the impossible just happened. The previous year's top rookie, a Hyuuga no less, was beaten in a fight by the current year's dead last. It couldn't get any more surprising than that.

And the underdog didn't just win it with some lucky shot; he straight up matched the Hyuuga blow for blow and fought the match to the bitter end. It was surprising to see, though, that throughout their match, the countless jounin and some chuunin that were watching the match somehow knew that Naruto, the moment he had Neji attacking him, was the one that got the advantage early on.

"The Uzumaki used the good old bait and wait, huh?" Kotetsu muttered while he looked at Izumo who was looking at the candidate intently.

The bait being, himself, throwing weapons and keeping his distance while Neji attacked.

Though the tactic itself isn't as important as the one that soon followed, OR was conveniently hidden underneath an obvious strategic choice yet useless since Naruto didn't have any long range jutsu, it served its purpose by luring Neji within the field of his messy but actually coherent formation that even they actually paid no mind until Neji couldn't connect!

"A double-subversion, actually, it was what that strange, completely messy formation that made Neji underestimate his opponent but not notice that he was in perfect range of each and every single one of his clones. Neji was actually zoned and guarded by several clones at once and he didn't notice it, preferring to attack the now obvious bait."

Kotetsu whistled at this.

"That's a point for Naruto-san right there. Let's not forget how he managed to handle Kaiten and that last ditch move."

Izumo nodded, "Skill wise and physical wise, Naruto was at a disadvantage. Neji had more skill in Taijutsu, had more brute strength and reach due to his height advantage and speed thanks to Gai's training methods. But then those attributes failed to bring Neji the win when Naruto pulled out all of the stops by changing tactic after tactic in their exchange and giving Neji an illusion that he was still going to win. Genjutsu in a reality, this kid will go far, Kotetsu. He's going to be recommended for promotions even if we don't submit our forms."

"But is it wise to give Naruto the rank, though? Keep in mind his position as the container." Kotetsu was referring to the advisors and some of the ninja that were against such a motion, but Izumo knew that this was going to be a no-brainer.

"Container or no, the ability he displayed earlier is an indispensable trait that Chuunin should have. More missions will probably go smoothly with him in the roster. The other examiners would probably think of this as well."

As Kiba saw Naruto go up to the waiting lounge as the victor of the match, he couldn't help but feel a fire igniting inside of him as he gritted his teeth. Damn that blonde for making him pumped as of this match.

"Seeing that Naruto actually put up a fight and won against Neji, I feel like I'd like to train some more."

Hinata simply gave a wordless nod. Knowing that Naruto had given her a fist earlier and uttered that win for her, she was flattered but happy for the blonde nonetheless.

In another part of the stands, Gai was finally able to sit down, he felt his legs were getting a little soft so he needed to lie down for a moment.

"An unbelievable display…" Was all he could say as the two girls in front of the teacher nodded as well.

"To think that he was able to beat Neji like that…" Ino muttered before she continued, this time looking at Sakura.

The pink haired girl could only watch, a bittersweet smile etched on her face. When had she realized it? Throughout the month that she hadn't seen hide nor hair of her two teammates, she had nothing better to do than to visit the friends she had in the hospital. While it was well and good and she even gave Lee flowers as a get well present, in the time that the elimination matches took place to the time that the finals had begun, her mind was literally on things other than training. When she saw Naruto's sudden spike in improvement, she couldn't help but feel left out. An image of Naruto and Sasuke walking further and further away from her appeared in her mind. Their backs turned against her, and none of them were telling her to catch up.

When Naruto had made it into the waiting lounge, he was greeted with the lazy, beady looking eyes of Shikamaru while the sand girl went past him without giving him any forethought. Shikamaru looked at him and asked the blonde, "You're still going to fight after having thirty two of your tenketsu sealed like that?"

Naruto merely grinned at him, "Don't worry about me, I've got something to counter that too in case my fight comes a little earlier. You should be concerned about your match, I heard the proctor earlier bumping Sasuke's match a little later, and it seems they want to see what the teme's capable of."

Shikamaru whistled as he commented, "Damn, you really did come here prepared for your fight. I wish I didn't have to do this, though. Though Ino would have my hide if I just disappear now like what Sasuke is probably doing."

Naruto laughed at Shikamaru's statement and said, "Sasuke wouldn't miss this for the world, Shikamaru."

The blonde's expression turned to caution as he caught sight of the redhead that was silently staring down at the field.

"Now get going and kick some ass, I need some shuteye. I haven't slept since last night."

"It's only natural for someone like you to have no sleep since last night." Gaara commented as he turned to Naruto.

"On nights of the full moon, people like us who have monsters inside tend to become… Restless…" Kankuro, the one who was wearing black, inched a little further away when Gaara spoke, he could hear the sand churning inside the red head's gourd, itching to have a fight today.

Naruto patted Shikamaru on the back to tell him he should get going while the blonde kept staring at Gaara.

"Fortunate for you, that your beast lets you sleep at night… Unlike mine."

"Hold on to your panties a little longer, your match is coming. You don't need me to satisfy your bloodlust right now." Naruto said this as he sat beside Shino while leaning against the wall.

"Is it appropriate for you to sleep right now, Naruto-san? Cheering for our classmate should be common courtesy." Shino asked the blonde who waved it off.

Naruto simply yawned and slowly closed his eyes.

"That lazy bastard doesn't need it. He knows what to do."

With that, Naruto promptly dozed off.

Naruto awoke when he could feel someone shaking him slowly from his slumber.

Annoyed, Naruto was about to tell the person to fuck off and let him have his sleep when Shino had spoken to him.

"Konoha is being invaded. Sasuke-san and Gaara-san's battle has abruptly stopped."

Too drowsy or too surprised by this sudden information, Naruto shouted at the bug user, "WHAT?"

Shino was about to repeat himself when Naruto had made a dash to the railings and saw the sand siblings take away Gaara from the arena below and a sand shinobi facing the proctor of the current exams.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto quickly left the waiting area and proceeded to head towards the bleachers, not noticing his male teammate chasing after the said siblings with Shino following suit with the blonde.

'Well, this is the last time I'll be taking naps from here on out.'

When he was about to go outside, he stopped when two ninja were clashing just above the seats of the unconscious audience with the Hokage's area suddenly enclosed in some sort of barrier.

"What on earth is going on?" Naruto had to ask himself as he went for cover when he saw two ninjas with sound headbands falling dead on the ground. A Konoha jounin with glasses perched on one of the back chairs noticed the blonde that was looking utterly confused at the whole situation.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, there you are. Have you recovered from your fight with Neji?" The man with the shades asked and Naruto nodded.

Aoba then jumped from his position and took out a sand shinobi with his kunai stuck (into) the man's (back, his) flack vest rendered useless from that stab.

"Good, I don't have time to explain all the details, but you're a newly minted chuunin now, go take a team with you, preferably four and rendezvous with Kakashi's newly formed team, they're after that Gaara kid, I don't know what they're planning but you need to go out there and provide backup. There's two genin there by the side, down the lower boxes, an Inuzuka and a Hyuuga, take them and the one behind you to act as your teammates. Go now!"

Another ninja dared to clash with Aoba once more as said jounin gladly accepted the man's challenge.

"It would be prudent to do as he says, Naruto-san. That Gaara fellow tells me that he can do more with that sand of his as to what we've seen so far."

Naruto nodded his head and crawled down to the lower boxes, struggling to make his way to the familiar faces of Kiba and Hinata. When the blonde had reached their seats, Naruto suddenly had to face-palm himself.

"Ah great, I forgot, I don't know how to dispel genjutsu!"

"Allow me, Naruto-san." Shino intervened and with a hand seal and a mutter of "kai!", he tapped Kiba's shoulders but not Hinata's.

"What's the hold up with Hinata?" Naruto asked his partner for the day

"Do not forget that Hinata-san still hasn't recovered from her injury fully, and my Kikaichu sense that the genjutsu placed on her did not work. Most likely she wants to lay low and not cause any problems. I suggest we take her to a safe location before any of the opposing shinobi take interest in a Hyuuga and abduct her. Wouldn't you think so, Hinata-san?"

Naruto seemed agreeable to this, and so, looked at Hinata expectantly who by now was bowing her head but wide awake, worried for her health. He knew many people weren't as durable as him which was why he was concerned.

"S-Shino? What happened?" Kiba asked and Shino explained the situation to him while Naruto asked the Hyuuga.

"Hinata, are you alright? Don't push yourself. It's going to be a dangerous mission from here on out. If you haven't recovered yet then the three of us will do."

Hinata shook her head, "N-No, take me with you, I want to be of some help with this."

The three males looked at each other and then nodded.

"Okay, but you'll be sitting out if there's going to be a skirmish along the way, you can't afford to be stressed out too much or else your condition could come back." Kiba advised and Hinata nodded, "I-I'm prepared if it comes to that."

Firm hands then were placed on Hinata's shoulders, "Don't push yourself too hard."

Was all Naruto could say before they all jumped from the lower box and into the arena (where) the proctor was keeping the jounin from Suna busy.

Hinata just nodded as they all jumped towards the place where Sasuke had left the arena.

"Can anyone tell where the team we're supposed to back up is? And how far are they?" The blonde asked. Kiba, though he had found it slightly aggravating that Naruto was assigned as the leader for this mission, didn't make a comeback this time. Shino answered him, "Due northwest from the arena, most likely towards the heavily forested area there. Hinata, can you confirm this with your Byakugan?"

Hinata nodded and activated her doujutsu, her telescopic vision could see several familiar chakra signatures while another set was gaining traction on them, completely different and unknown to her.

"Two kilometres due northwest, I see four familiar chakra signatures. It is Team Nine and Sakura-san that's in the group along with a dog summon. But there's a group following them, it's a high possibility that it's the enemy."

Naruto inwardly cursed, "Damn it! Isn't there a shorter route for us to take and meet up for a chance to counter them?"

Kiba answered the blonde, "There is a way around these woods, but I don't know if we should take on the group that's following them, they're most likely chuunin or jounin making up those ranks if they can keep up with Shikamaru's group."

"Indeed, the best course of action therefore, is to meet up with Shikamaru's group and from there formulize a plan to shake off their pursuers." Shino added helpfully and Naruto cursed.


With Shikamaru's group:

Pakkun was leading the group to try and shake off their pursuers. Behind him were Sakura and the three teammates of the other cell group that were in essence, rookies.

He looked ahead once more and a new scent entered his nose.

"There's another group coming this way from another side, it smells like backup."

Sakura and the rest sighed in relief, for now at least they'd have a better chance if their pursuers managed to catch up which became more and more likely as time passed.

"Who is it?" Sakura asked the dog summon and Pakkun replied in kind.

"Naruto and three other scents from the looks of it, apparently, they caught wind of us pursuing Sasuke and the sand boy and they've been sent as backup." To this, most of the group felt some relief.

"They'll be arriving in six minutes." The dog informed them all the while Shikamaru kept glancing back every several seconds or so.

"How much time before those mooks manage to catch up?" He asked and Pakkun answered him as straight as possible.

"Four minutes."

Shikamaru cursed, Naruto's group would be two minutes too late before the group from behind them could catch up. He felt his stomach churn from the unease of it all. No matter how many of their delaying tactics were spread, they could still trace their tracks. These were probably formidable chuunin to jounin ninja.

"Wait a minute. Naruto's group is heading here faster than expected!" Pakkun announced, his nose twitched as he could smell Naruto's group approaching faster and faster.

Shikamaru had a surprised look on his face but then turned into a smirk. Leave it to Naruto to surprise him enough.

"When will they arrive?" Ino asked, cold sweat was escaping the back of her head with the threat looming closer and closer.

"Give or take three minutes, five at most."

'Not enough to formulate a plan.' Shikamaru thought as Chouji and Sakura seemingly tried to put more effort in speeding up.

"We'll have to hold them off at this rate. We can't come up with a strategy until Naruto and his group arrive here in time. Someone has to stop them even for a few seconds in order for us to regroup." Shikamaru proposed and a great silence made its way within the quintet.

Many of them realized that this was a suicide mission. Shikamaru was proposing that one of them be left behind and serve as a decoy. And it was probably the only thing that could help them right now with what they needed to do.

Everyone was looking ahead or looking at all four of them and wanted to know who would be brave enough to pull it off. They contemplated the situation more and soon, two hands were raised up.

They were Ino's and Shikamaru's.

"I'll serve as the decoy." Both of them said at the same time, Sakura and Chouji looked at the both of them in surprise.

"No offense Ino, but your jutsu isn't suited for this."

"But we need you as our strategist, Shikamaru. You can't just…" Shikamaru had cut him off from there.

"Out of all us here, who holds the better chance of holding the line here? Obviously it can't be Chouji, although he has an offensive jutsu, it will be useless if he can't hit. They aren't going to be standing there long enough for them to take a rampaging boulder. You can't because your jutsu could only possess one person. You try possessing one and the other is just going to kill you. So you're out. Sakura can't because she doesn't have anything she can offer to stop them. Our best bet is me, it has to be me." Shikamaru explained this as easy as he can. But no matter how he had look at it, he was doomed.

Unless those reinforcements arrived earlier than expected that is. With that said, Shikamaru stopped leaping and dropped to the forest grounds below.

"Damn it! Why aren't Naruto and the others here yet?" Ino cursed out aloud as she marked a tree to act as a false lead.

When Shikamaru held himself back, he looked behind to anticipate the group of enemy ninja that was coming his way. And true enough, eight ninjas, all wearing masks and the sign of Otogakure on their foreheads stopped as they saw him and he landed on the forest floor below. Shikamaru looked calm and collected, but inwardly, he had never been more scared in his entire life!

"So, trying to delay us, eh?" One of the oto ninja asked, most likely, it was the strongest and possibly a jounin.

"Don't get cheeky with us, brat. Your bravado isn't going to save you. Your distraction would only delay us for several seconds."

A leaf fell behind Shikamaru and he smirked. The cold sweat on his brow vanished as relief washed over him.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you." Shikamaru already had a lock on their shadows once they were down. Eight ninja trapped within his jutsu immediately.

"The infamous Kage Mane no Jutsu, I see. Unfortunately for you this is about the only thing that you could do on your own… Too bad, once we're free, you do understand that we're going to kill you, right?" The shinobi asked that rhetorical question and Shikamaru shrugged.

"Oh, do your worst. It's not like I'm alone or anything." When Shikamaru said those words, ten clones of Naruto fell from the canopy of leaves from above and landed beside him with the original carrying Hinata on his back.

"My backup was with me this whole time." Shikamaru then placed his hands in his pockets as Naruto told the Nara.

"Let go of your Kage Mane now, Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted as his clones jumped to their designated targets as Shikamaru dispelled the jutsu all the while following Naruto as they made a run for it.

The clones were left behind as the masked ninjas formed a defensive perimeter around them.

Only to find out too late that the clones were armed to self-destruct.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Explosion after explosion was heard as the trio of Naruto with Hinata on his back, and Shikamaru jumped from the forest floor to the tree branches above.

"Did you kill them?" Shikamaru asked Naruto could only give a vague reply.

"Probably. The tags exploded before I found out."

Shikamaru looked at the passenger riding on his back and then back to Naruto, "Is Hinata okay? She looks like she's ready to lose consciousness (anytime now), Naruto."

Hinata, who had been blushing an interesting shade of red, shook her head vigorously without a sound. "I-I'm fine! I-It's just that we've been sent here as a support unit as fast as we can and I was in no condition to do any strenuous activities so Naruto-kun had to carry me…"

When Hinata saw Shikamaru smirk a little at her though, that meant that Shikamaru had an idea!

"We'll do the small talk later. We need to come into contact with the others."

"That's right you guys came in here as a single unit. Where are the other two?" Shikamaru asked, Naruto had an annoyed look plastered on his face while looking at Shikamaru.

Naruto replied, "They're with Sakura-chan's group right now. We had to split up because of you, moron."

"Byakugan!" Hinata once more used her doujutsu as to find out how far away they were from the original group.

"Shino-kun and Ino-san broke off from the group and are now facing the puppeteer from Suna." She reported. Naruto looked at Shikamaru as if seemingly asking him what to do next.

"Don't look at me; I'm not the team leader on this mission." He replied, he was going to say that Sakura was for being the one who Kakashi assigned for the mission. The blonde inwardly grumbled and looked on.

"How are they doing, Hinata?" The blonde asked and Hinata seemingly focused on her task, replied without a stutter in her voice.

"They are doing well. Shino-kun is pressuring the puppeteer while Ino-san provides support. I think she's pointing where the Suna ninja is hiding while Shino-kun intercepts."

Shikamaru looked up with a sigh, "Ino always had this intuitive sense in her as if she was made to be a sensor or something. It's why we could never get away from her when we try to hide and slack off on training."

"You do know that you're training to increase your chances of survival, right?" Naruto asked the Nara heir who just shrugged it off and added, "Yeah, but it's such a pain."

Shikamaru then asked the Hyuuga on Naruto's back, "Are we clear of any pursuers?"

Hinata was silent for a moment and noticed the amount of people fallen on the forest floor. Behind or near them was the smoke that wafted from Naruto's paper bombs. Most of them had blown off a limb or two while some were taken down instead with the arrival of a jounin that she could identify as Team Nine's sensei.

Not one to give a full detailed report of the carnage, the Hyuuga could only say, "We have none."

"Good." Was all Shikamaru could say as he looked at the blonde who was exerting a lot of effort in order to keep up.

"Sakura-san, Chouji-san and Kiba-kun have managed to link up with Sasuke-san, although they're facing the kunoichi from Suna, Gaara-san isn't with her."

Shikamaru had a thoughtful look into this one.

"More delaying tactics, that Gaara kid must be essential for this whole invasion." Shikamaru mentioned this as Naruto nodded with him.

"Sasuke-san has initiated an assault with his fire jutsu, and Kiba-kun and Chouji-san are engaging the Suna Kunoichi not far behind. Sakura-san and Sasuke-san are heading for Gaara-san."

That report clearly shook Naruto to his core, if what Gaara said to him is true, then Sakura and Sasuke weren't prepared for the kind of monstrosity that Gaara could throw at them! With a snarl, he jumped faster from treetop to treetop as Shikamaru followed.

"Hey, what's the rush? You aren't seriously trying to face off with Gaara, are you?" Shikamaru asked his comrade. Hinata on her part, looked worriedly at the blonde who could only reply, "We've got no other choice. They're planning something and we need to stop Gaara before it even happens."

"Then I'm going to have to break off from here and try to support Chouji and Kiba. It'd be better to leave Hinata here with us too. Gaara's too dangerous of an opponent to bring someone who's injured to such a fight."

Naruto couldn't dispute that fact alone. He knew that she couldn't fight due to her current condition. Wordlessly, he placed Hinata down gently on the ground with the Hyuuga looking apologetic about the whole situation.

"I-I'm sorry I couldn't be of more use to you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto simply shook his head and turned ahead, but not before looking back at Hinata.

"You've done your part as best as you can, Hinata. Without you, I doubt we could have met Shikamaru under better circumstances." Naruto reassured her and smiled before standing up.

The blonde then turned to Shikamaru, "This isn't an excuse to skip out on this fight, right Shikamaru?"

The lazy genin had waved him off from there, "Trust me, to where you're going, Hinata and I would be useless. I don't have much chakra left and I'm better off in the background giving orders."

The Hyuuga heiress simply said to the love of her life as he was about to leave, "N-Naruto-kun, please come back safe."

Naruto merely nodded and smiled at them and dashed towards the said area where Sasuke was prepared to face off with Gaara.

As Naruto vanished before their eyes, Hinata and Shikamaru wordlessly turned back, towards where Chouji and Kiba were facing off against the girl from Suna.

"I can't believe that all of us rookies are now involved in this battle. What are the chances of this happening?"

Hinata couldn't really answer, every single one of them had become part of something significant for this whole conflict after all.

"Anyway, I'm going to set up a foothold here, I still have some tools left and we can better prepare traps here. While I'm doing that, try and scan the area every now and then to see if someone is going to this area that you can't recognize. We'll be providing field support, Hinata, though none of us know medical jutsu, I suppose you know some basic first aid, right?"

To this, Hinata nodded and Shikamaru handed her his first aid kid.

"Good, while you scan the perimeter, make sure to check our inventory, I think I may have some medicine there to counteract the most basic poisons."

With Ino and Shino:

Battling puppeteers was a challenge of its own. Not only could they hide well enough, in their stealth, they can attack anyone at will provided their targets are within their range and they can see the opponent.

Karasu clattered and clicked as it gave its dangerous sound of displaying its arsenal towards (its) two enemies. Kankuro smirked.

Two genin fresh out of the academy and one that was completely unarmed.

It shouldn't be a challenge.

Shino turned to Ino and gave the Yamanaka his equipment.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

Shino adjusted his sunglasses as he replied, "Because you are unarmed and ill-equipped in this mission, Yamanaka-san. It is better if I give you my equipment; after all I am not without my arsenal as well."

Soon, swarms of insects surrounded Shino like a poisonous cloud. Each and every bit was buzzing in an ominous sound that clouded the entire being of the young Aburame. In their days as academy students, the one that followed closely behind Sasuke in terms of almost everything from academics to practical exams was Shino. Although he had an excellent record, he was outshined by the much more attention grabbing Sasuke. Shino was often overlooked as if he didn't even bother with the theatrics and although he had that dark and mysterious demeanour, he didn't match Sasuke's level of appeal in her eyes.

But there was one thing she knew, she knew Shino was no pushover compared to many of the class.

Ino saw her current teammate dissolve into a cluster of insects buzzing and flying wherever. She could feel her spine tingle in fear and somewhat horror. This was probably one of the reasons why girls tended to ignore Shino. The idea of him having such affinities with insects grossed out many of them and would like nothing more than to have nothing to do with him, the same with Naruto although he was a different story altogether.

Karasu gave a menacing clatter, the puppet spread its arms sidewards, all four of them as blades popped out of those linked (bamboo-like) appendages while its mouth clattered like castanets clicking and disturbingly pushing something out of its mouth.

"Jump, now!" She heard the boy say and Ino did just that. As the puppet's mouth launched a small black ball that arched above their heads and headed their way, Ino did as she was told, and quickly grabbed two shuriken from her pouch and launched them from her right hand to her upper right side just as the ball the size of her head exploded in a purple haze of smoke. Instinctually, Kankuro jumped from his area just as the shuriken hit the bushes, surprise written all over his face. He noticed a shadow looming from above him and noticed the shaded Konoha nin up above him, arms raised over his head.

SMACK!

Kankuro managed to block the strike with his arms even with the brunt of Shino's weight pressing him down. Kankuro immediately landed on the ground due to the force but by no means was he caught flatfooted with that attack.

Kankuro inwardly thanked his rigorous training from his father and the puppet squad or else that would have tagged him there.

In response, he whipped his arms around as Karasu immediately followed suit, it embraced Kankuro like a dangerous cocoon with its poisonous blades whipped out. Up above, Shino and his teammate, the weak blonde girl, were looking down on him.

"It was good that you were able to sense our enemy and reacted the way you did, Ino-san." Shino remarked, Ino kept her attention to the Suna nin who was taking a defensive stance.

"I didn't. It was just a hunch. I was lucky enough that he would come out of his hiding spot just like that."

Shino raised his eyebrow at this. Was Ino a natural sensor perhaps? Or underneath that headstrong persona lied a girl that had enough deduction skills to pull out their enemy? Either way, he was sure that Ino would serve well with a recon or spec ops squad.

Recommendations would come later though, as he once more dissolved in a mass of insects while Ino pulled out a kunai from his pouch this time, a look of cold determination etched on her face.

Kankuro was sweating from the tension. He already knew much of the abilities that these kids fresh out of the academy had displayed. Yet, why couldn't he shake this ominous feeling as if he was being thrown into a pit of snakes? And those eyes that the blonde girl just displayed. She looked like she was smelling blood.

Ino chose this moment to jump into the bushes and into hiding. If there was one thing that Konoha shinobi were experts of, it was jungle warfare.

No other shinobi in the elemental nations knew more about how to fight in a forest than them. Not only were they versed in fighting inside a forest, this was also Konoha's territory, which meant they knew the terrain more than any other shinobi on the planet!

Perhaps, this is what shook Kankuro to his core.

As soon as the leaves rustled, Kankuro took action, with the clattering of Karasu's jaw, it shifted from the poison ball to the mechanism that launched poisonous senbon and promptly began firing its stored ammunition to any area where he heard the leaves rustle. Kankuro never once left the protective cover offered by his puppet and tried to reduce the consumption of his senbon to a halt. He knew Karasu had more weapons than this, but he needed to keep them hidden until the later parts of the invasion.

Senbon whizzed through the battlefield, flying past any shrubbery or tree that Kankuro thought where the sounds of rustling came from. They flew fast, faster than what any shinobi could effectively throw.

Suddenly, Ino sprung out to his right, kunai drawn in a reverse grip. Kankuro had swung his arms and Karasu complied. Clattering once more, the puppet's head turned to Ino and from its mouth, fired a flurry of senbon laced in purple liquid.

Ino dodged to her right with a sidestep as a needle almost pierced her cheek and sailed past her by a narrow margin. With a grit of her teeth, Ino decided to throw the kunai straight to Kankuro whose puppet parried with a spark of metal. Blade for blade clashed and sparks flew as the kunai was deflected. Kankuro was about to counter the blonde when (Shino appeared) once more beside him, attacking him in a complete blindspot.

His senses kicking in, Kankuro leaned to the side as Karasu levitated from Kankuro's back and from its uppermost right arm, a blade went to cut Shino down.

The Aburame ducked just in time and jumped back as Kankuro's puppet went for another slash of its own, this time with its middle right arm. He could see Shino jump back into the foliage and Kankuro took this opportunity to hide as well.

'Damn that freak. He attacked where I couldn't see. These Konoha genin apparently know their stuff!' His puppet clattered very loud as it moved its jaws. Kankuro decided that if he was going to win this fight, he needed to clear the area of any hiding spots that these genin might have. He gritted his teeth in frustration. He was being forced to reveal Karasu's arsenal bit by bit as the battle continued.

Karasu convulsed wildly and the puppet's bamboo-like arms sucked in the poisonous single edged blades and began hovering around.

With a flick of his fingers, Kankuro's puppet Karasu had adjusted its neck with a click as it raised upwards a little. A ball the size of its head dropped from its cloak as it gave an impression of flying around the small area and soon, four more of the objects dropped from its cloak as it soared in the air all around the puppet.

Ino watched cautiously from her vantage point. She noted with caution that the puppet was probably zoning and setting up an area where their opponent was probably going to be safe. Those large cannonball sized objects that Karasu had dropped were wrapped with paper bombs making the puppeteer completely safe from any attack that she might use at close range.

'Not like I can do much anyways.' Ino muttered to herself in self-deprecation. She knew inside her mind that she would be a burden to this team if it involved a whole lot of fighting. She was even commented on by Asuma that once outside Shikamaru and Chouji's parameters of locking down and immobilizing opponents, she was left vulnerable.

A sudden jump from the shrubbery below her caught her off guard as Shino had tackled her as hard as he can and whispered into her ear.

"That was just a decoy."

Then a fiery blaze invaded her vision, her hiding spot had just exploded in a pillar of flames as it burned the leaves. Ino's shock at this turn of events shook her to her core. On reflex, she could only give a hollow stare as her eyes began watering and tears started to fall down her cheeks.

'If I haven't been saved by Shino, I could have possibly…' And then, the harsh truth had invaded her senses, making her shiver in pure abject horror. If she had been alone, or if she didn't have a good teammate, she would have burned down to ashes as well, like those leaves that she just saw being consumed by the flames.

'I-I don't want to die…'

As if hearing her thoughts, Shino spoke out loud, "If you wish to turn back now, Ino-san, this is your last chance. I would not blame you for saving yourself after nearly getting killed in the line of duty."

'Besides, the battle is just about to end, anyway.'

As if to let her walk away, Shino dissolved into a crowd of insects and dropped down to the ground below. Ino watched wordlessly as her classmate continued to do battle with the deadly puppeteer from Suna. She could feel her arms still shaking from the fear. Her eyes caught notice of Shino's attire, at his back his jacket was slightly singed, showing off some nasty wounds that were burned or cauterized at the same time. It was a horrible display, but Ino couldn't turn her eyes away from such a gruesome wound.

'No, stop.' She commanded her body. Her mind was rapidly telling her body to come to its senses to stop its quaking and giving in to fear.

'Stop shaking, Ino!' Ino commanded (herself, steeling) her nerves as she gritted her teeth (and) prepared to lunge forward with ten kunai in her hands.

'If I give in to fear right now, I may never grow strong...' As if she had abandoned all sense of reason and thought in her mind, Ino jumped down, head first towards her target, the Suna puppeteer who was dueling with Shino.

'I'll never survive!'

And then, with all fear escaping her body and its grip loosened, Ino had shouted at the top of her lungs and she let go of the kunai in her as each flew towards the puppeteer. Kankuro jumped backwards, avoiding the kunai that was raining down on him while the bug user chased after him. Kankuro gritted his teeth, he could honestly feel annoyed at the level of persistence from these Konoha shinobi. Nothing seemed to deter them!

In the midst of his frustrations, Kankuro had suffered a momentary slip. Ino had landed beside him, one more kunai drawn from her pouch, held in a firm grip, eyes blazing with conviction and terror no longer plaguing her. Time seemed to slow down, as the kunai slowly inched its way towards his stomach, no manner of speed could he ever hope to have in order to perform a quick substitution. Instinctively, he moved Karasu to intercept Ino. Karasu's poisoned blade struck Ino on her right shoulder. Blood dripped as Ino flinched slightly, but it never stopped her as she (continued) her attack. She plunged the kunai deep within Kankuro's abdomen and her blood mixed with Kankuro's, the combined liquid splashing her face as Kankuro staggered back.

Time seemed to restore itself back again as Kankuro decided to pull out the kunai from his stomach. He flinched as he breathed heavily, but his (feeling of) victory came short when a hand fell to his shoulders.

"Hijutsu: Mushidama (Secret Technique: Insect Sphere)" Like gathering moths to a flame, thousands upon thousands of insects made (their way towards Kankuro, completely) enveloping him as Shino walked away. All adrenaline finally leaving his body as he could hear Kankuro's cry for mercy, he ignored it in favour of getting Ino proper medical attention. On his third step, just as he was about to go to Ino who was breathing raggedly and heating up, his vision blurred as he collapsed down to the ground, too injured to go on.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, three shadows had obscured his view of the light and then a huge pillar of smoke.


With Chouji and Kiba:

Although she was slowed down by Sasuke's fire jutsu, Temari remained a threat and a really difficult opponent to pass through against the two close ranged fighters Kiba and Chouji. Temari had known this and kept (her) distance between the three of them. She knew that Kiba was nimble and fast due to his style but the fat genin was slow and probably only offered power that was severely limited. She had learned to keep away from them. Especially the dog user, out of the two, he was the more dangerous opponent and can get up close (and) personal fast unless she reacts in time.

"If only I had enough ninja tools." Chouji muttered as Kiba clicked his tongue.

"That's what you get for spending all your money on snacks." Kiba never forgets to not mention the F-word. He knew exactly how Chouji feels if he gets to be called that.

"Not like you can do anything anyway, fatass." Temari riled Chouji up and Kiba flinched along with Akamaru. Unlike his partner right now, Kiba had the mind to be prepared even if there was no invasion. He didn't exactly feel safe when his mother had refilled his pouch the other day and said to take it with him at all times. He was glad his mother had been sensible enough to do things like that.

Chouji charged to the branches straight ahead as Temari smirked.

'Too easy.' The Suna kunoichi raised her fan, and was about to swing when she felt a noticeable weight placed on her weapon. She looked up and saw Kiba, with his dog on top of his head, arms in his pockets and weighing down on her weapon with all his weight.

"Sorry about that, I'm holding onto this for a second" Kiba mentioned as Chouji came charging in with his right hand enlarged, about the size of a really thick and really long pillar.

"Bubun Baika no jutsu! (Partial multi-size technique)"

Temari had likened it to one of the support beams of the wind daimyo's palace. Deciding to forego her fan for a moment, she flipped upwards and performed two sets of handseals as Kiba was about to attack her. She dodged the gigantic fist in time as the dog user (hadn't expected) the girl from Suna to suddenly attack him with some other form of ninjutsu as she held her palm straight to his face.

With pure stone cold conviction, she announced the name of the technique and the wind picked up in speed.

"Futon: Juuhasho (Wind Release: Beast Wave Palm)" And Kiba was blasted away from her, sending him hurtling to the other side of the clearing. In quick succession, Temari regained her fan and rode it on her feet as she glided towards Chouji with weapons drawn.

Chouji quickly dispelled the jutsu and rolled to the side as Temari went past him. But not before letting loose a handful of kunai from her hands and forcing him to jump back multiple times.

A blur had suddenly whizzed through the canopy past Chouji as it ricocheted from branch to branch before finally shouting as it neared the Suna Kunoichi.

"Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)!"

A whirlwind of savage claws and sharpened nails slashed at her from all angles as Kiba landed on a branch in front of her. Temari could suddenly feel that her left side and right shoulder had a sharp intense pain as they wept blood. The red liquid staining her otherwise white clothing to her left torso and her said shoulder, small pieces of clothing and mesh were literally shredded out of her.

'I forgot this kid can be fast.'

And the boy looked back, blood seeping from his forehead with a small cut that managed to block the vision from his right eye. Temari jumped from her fan and landed just above the canopy of trees as she was then pursued by another drilling object.

'Shit! It's the dog!'

A piercing fang gave hot pursuit upwards as Temari performed a backflip, effectively evading the small puppy's attack and she once more performed another set of handseals as she descended.

"I won't let you!" Kiba shouted as he charged towards Temari with a flip and spun around in midair. Chakra escaping his body, Kiba spun like a mad top as he charged at the Suna kunoichi.

"Tsuuga (Piercing Fang)!"

Temari looked surprised for a moment as Kiba had torn through her like wet tissue paper, only to disappear in a white cloud of smoke and be replaced with a log.

As the object landed, Kiba looked back once more. Temari was inside his range and she was grasping her fan sideways, already in midswing.

"You're still far too simple! Kamaitachi (sickling winds)!"

A huge gust of wind blasted its way towards Kiba who had no time to dodge as he could only brace himself from what would inevitably be a painful experience.

"Baika no jutsu (Multi-size technique)!"

A round object, equal to the size of a boulder, spun wildly and landed at Kiba's front, swirling like a miniature twister and shielding him from the force of the cutting wind. As the torrent died down, Kiba quickly noted that it was Chouji and he had just been shielded from the sand kunoichi's attacks.

When the turbulence stopped, when Kiba could see small gashes forming and blood dripping on Chouji's torso, Kiba looked surprised.

Some of it even managed to spray on Kiba's face, much to Kiba's abject horror.

When Chouji stopped spinning, his face revealed that he was in great pain. Multiple gashes littered his body and his hands were up over his face, shielding his eyes as he breathed heavily.

"Are… You ok, Kiba?" He asked between pants of breath while Kiba was shaking in fury. Inside he was screaming at Chouji for what he deemed as a necessary sacrifice.

'You stupid, reckless, dick-headed fatass! You're not supposed to act as a human shield!'

Were it any more powerful, then Chouji could have possibly died then and there. Weren't it for Chouji's decision, HE would be the one that was bleeding from a lot of parts in his body. HE would be the one to suffer that fate. Weren't it for his stupidity, none of this would have happened.

In rage, Kiba shouted out into the wild as frustration edged in his voice.

"GODDAMN IT! CHOUJI!"

As if on cue, the boy fell just in front of him face first onto the tree branches, consciousness leaving him as the pain overwhelmed most of his senses.

Kiba gritted his teeth in anger, snarling at the kunoichi as he did so.

Temari looked at Kiba with caution, this was the moment that she had been waiting for, the boy was disconcerted with a teammate downed in front of him. This was her moment to finish the fight. Temari then prepared the final nail on the coffin as she pointed at the boy.

"You Konoha nin should know by now what it's really like to be a shinobi. That kid right in front of you, he may have been clumsy, but he knew how a shinobi should act. It's a fact of life for us. People will die in our field…"

"Shut up! You talk too much!" Kiba had then vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving behind his teammate that was unconscious on the large branch.

"I don't want to hear it coming from…" In an instant, Kiba had suddenly appeared on her side, the leaves rustling as he did so. Temari jumped sideways, kunai ready to fire, when another image of the feral boy appeared just behind her claws ready to rend her to bits.

"… Someone like you!"

In an instant, Kiba and Akamaru went past Temari and each other with a pincer attack that she had not seen coming. While it is true that the Kunoichi had far more skill compared to them, Kiba had the better advantage still. Looking around, the leaves rustled as the wind made it sway throughout the entire forest.

No one in the entire continent was more proficient in fighting within a forest than they were.

Temari gritted her teeth as a part of her clothes were shredded from the attack and attacking her skin just deep enough for a nasty gash, she hissed at the pain as she immediately tried to get away from her attacker, Kiba and Akamaru wouldn't let her do as she pleased.

Then she realized right then and there, that the feral boy had a dog with him, that meant trying to hide out of sight and concealing herself would be useless against him. Now she had realized the magnitude of the disadvantage that she was within.

'Terrain advantage, agility meant for taking down enemies the quickest way possible, and a tracking ability that's suitable for such a style.'

She cursed as she landed on the ground on all fours and looked up as the boy was chasing after her, already closing the distance with an expression that could frighten any wounded prey in his eyes.

Temari swung her fan once more. At mid swing, however, the transformed dog that was Kiba's partner, intercepted her at the last second making her cringe as it just managed to slash at the back of her thigh. The wound forced her down as Kiba launched himself from the tree stump and spun in midair, descending from directly above her.

Temari managed to roll in time as Kiba was surrounded by a cloud of smoke. A smoke bomb later, Temari was suddenly enveloped by the thick cloud. Kiba went in for the kill.

"Gatsuuga (Fang over fang)!"

What happened next, was Temari being shredded from all sides in the cloud of billowing smoke and debris.

When the smoke cleared, Temari was down, alive, but severely injured. The sharp stinging sensation as if a thousand blades had touched her skin made her cringe in pure agony. She looked up, the feral boy looking down on her, kunai in hand as he stared at her with indifferent eyes.

A large shadow was cast behind the boy as Temari's expression turned became much more frightened with this outcome.

'Oh no…'

A maniacal laugh escaped and echoed throughout the forest, but that didn't seem to compare to the towering beast that seemed to have blotted out the sun.

With Naruto:

Fear was a driving force within Naruto. Like determination, like rage, fear had a certain impact within him that many would not even notice unless he voiced it out. His legs were shaking with every landing and forceful jumping. He could feel the utter sense of dread that escaped his being when Gaara had announced to him and Shikamaru that his people had sealed something inside him.

Out of all the people inside that room that day, he understood Gaara the most.

What would a human like him could feel when under the scrutinizing eyes of other humans labelling them as monsters and other hurtful words that seemed to pierce even the coldest of hearts, he understood him.

He understood the complete isolation, the desolation, loneliness, the pain of having no one to understand you, no one to help you, to hold your hand and appreciate the company of other people.

Naruto wondered if he had been teetering on the edge like Gaara was back then. There were no emotions displayed in those eyes, only turmoil, anger, grief and hate.

He had walked a mile in his shoes in a matter of seconds. All of it came crashing down upon him as he had realized.

He would have been like Gaara given the chance.

As he got in sight of his teammates, Naruto's determined expression turned fierce. He made a mad dash forward just as a pillar of sand (shot) out from Gaara's monstrous deformed change. Half of his face was covered in sand and his right arm was enveloped by it. A tail was swaying behind him as it smacked Sasuke directly in the face, sending the last Uchiha in the opposite direction. The sand covered hand however was sent in a different one. Towards an unsuspecting Sakura who had no time to dodge.

Time seemed to slow down a little for Sakura. As the pillar of sand came at her at incredible speeds, she could not react in time nor could she set up a proper defence. As if the sand was going to envelop her, she felt something painful shove her at the waist, pushing her away. She turned her head back and saw Naruto in her place.

As if time was moving normally again, Sakura saw the blonde get smashed into by the pillar of toughened sand, blasting her blonde teammate away before finally being slammed into a tree.

Naruto coughed up blood as his world exploded in agonizing pain. If he could stretch himself, he would just from the sheer amount of pain he was in. He could feel something sharp stabbing his back. He could hardly breathe. But he could definitely hear Gaara's twisted laugh and the voices of Sasuke and Sakura calling out his name.

"NARUTO!"

"I see your death, Uzumaki Naruto!" Gaara shouted in complete psychosis. His mind was running with different thoughts, different voices appearing in his head, telling him to kill the blonde now. But it was not to be as the sound of a thousand birds screeching in the air cut off the pillar of sand with a flash of lightning.

Chakra crackled and screeched on Sasuke's forearm. Gaara roared in pain as he thrashed about. Sasuke jumped back as another barrage of sand came down on him, his sharingan making it easier to evade in time. When he landed, he could feel the strain of using Chidori witling away at his remaining chakra. The mark of the cursed seal began spreading across half of his face this time as he was clenching his teeth and bearing the burning sensation that was slowly spreading from the back of his shoulder.

'Damn it that was my last shot.' Was all he could think off as he went down on his knees. Sakura soon came to his side as he was watching their blonde teammate slowly had his life taken away from him.

Although the connection had been cut off, his control hadn't. Gaara noticed the sand that had pinned the blonde down maintained its grip on his target. With a sneer, Gaara recovered from the pain just as he said to the boy.

"Now you see where your foolish ideals get to you. You place yourself on the line just to save someone worthless in the end. You cannot even speak for yourself anymore. By that impact alone, your ribs would have cut your lungs to pieces."

With that he held his hand uncovered with sand and slowly began constricting the blonde who flinched just from the slight movement alone. He could only feel pain. So much was the pain that it even hurt just breathing in air for him. He was gasping for it, slowly being deprived of the oxygen that he needed so much. Another tightening of his bindings of sand and he began coughing and tried to grab much more oxygen than he could have ever wanted. But he could only cough out more and more red liquid that was already staining the sands and slowly dripping to the ground below.

Sakura could only watch in horror as Sasuke slammed his right arm onto a tree. They couldn't do anything! He was too exhausted for one more jutsu and Sakura had no answer in trying to set their teammate free!

"God damn it. Goddamn it!" Sasuke inwardly cursed as Gaara cackled in madness while Sasuke and Sakura could only watch.

"For someone so tragic, you fail to see the power that lies in the palms of your hands, Uzumaki Naruto! Your existence is not warranted compared to mine!"

Sakura had tears running down her eyes as finally, Naruto let out something from his voice, only it was the sound of his anguished screams while Gaara continued to crush the blonde little by little, inch by agonizing inch. He could not predict however, when Naruto stared right back at him in anger and spoke by sheer force of will.

It was low and shaking but nonetheless, Sasuke, Sakura and Gaara could hear his voice as clear as day.

"Don't ever… Underestimate me!" He shouted and an explosion of power soon emerged from Naruto, the sand that surrounded him suddenly scattered as it was pushed back (from) the blonde by pure chakra alone. When Naruto got down on a branch, he was kneeling forward with his right hand supporting himself.

He could feel the Kyuubi's chakra already beginning their work as wounds began to heal at an unprecedented rate and his bones began realigning themselves back into their proper places. Naruto grinned. A fierce, maniacal and evil grin as he prepared for his run, much like how an athlete was supposed to position himself before he lunged at Gaara at a speed that would leave even Rock Lee proud.

Naruto looked like a mess of yellow, black, orange and red as he sailed through the air and landed onto one of the sand tentacles, his chakra seemingly protecting him from any form of control coming from the red headed boy.

Naruto then formed a single seal, his favourite technique coming to life, multiplied.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multi shadow clone jutsu)!"

And soon an entire forest was enveloped with Naruto's. Too many, spread out as far as the eye could see and all of them were heading straight to Gaara at breakneck speed.

The redhead merely covered his face from the onslaught that was the clones. But many of them were no match as his sand protected him from most of the fists that were coming his way. An explosion later rocked the branch he was standing on, as it gave away after the tree seemed to spontaneously detonate.

Down below, Naruto was holding his right hand in a half hitsuji seal. Plastering the last of his explosive notes on to the underbelly of the branch that was directly below Gaara, it was the first time he had managed to tame some of the Kyuubi's chakra. It felt completely different this time. Instead of him balancing himself with a pole in a sea, it was like he was only pulling water in a deep well. The amount of chakra he was expelling felt completely different than the first time he had any conscious thought of doing so. It felt so diluted, so simple yet…

A loud thunderous explosion was once again heard as Naruto dashed forward into the billowing soot and debris as the red shroud enveloped him like a burning flame.

… The chakra was too addicting.

The surviving clones soon jumped in too as they seemed to spiral their way into their target who had managed to wrap himself up in a cocoon of sand. But what of it, if (the) strength of a jinchuuriki powered by pure bijuu chakra could simply yank him away from the inside?

As Naruto pulled a surprised Gaara out of his shell, the blonde with the image of a burning demon tossed him outside his shell as fist after fist of the blonde's clones began pummeling him to the ground.

Naruto never let up. He knew he was going to regret it the moment that he even stopped. He needed to end this now or risk of what further harm (the boy could do) to the others.

But try as he might, he could never just pierce that damn (sand armor) of his. Sure, he may have destroyed large parts of it and it may have cost the boy a lot of chakra, but his jutsu also did as well. Naruto may be a powerhouse but creating an entire battalion from nothing was no small expenditure on his part.

He looked down and saw Gaara trying desperately to fend off the clones that began to harass him left and right. With three simple handseals, Naruto had awoken Tenrin to life as he stared down at Gaara and pushing himself forward, left hand holding his right arm in front of him, Naruto straight up charged the red-headed Sand Ninja.

In an instant, both of them had managed to make eye contact with one another. One was an enraged, quivering, psychotic mess, while the other, filled with anger, sadness, grief and what could possibly be empathy.

"YOU WILL NOT DENY MY EXISTENCE TODAY, UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

"BRING IT, PSYCHO!"

Sand and wind danced as both of their jutsu clashed and created a shockwave that blasted Naruto away. The blonde landed clumsily on the ground, skidding to a halt as smoke covered the entire landscape as far as he could see. 'Never charge a Tenrin with Kyuubi's chakra. That shit definitely isn't worth the damn pain of molding it into a different element.'

The smoke cleared and soon, a strange silhouette of something stood in Gaara's place. It was a hulking mass of something and it had a huge tail to boot. When it stretched it arms, the mismatched arms of the boy were replaced with two fully formed and symmetrical clawed bijuu arms.

It looked at the blonde in contempt as he saw the surviving clones landing beside their creator with (kunai) drawn just in case anything went wrong.

"Futon…"

Naruto was suddenly startled when the creature with Gaara's voice, had many open mouths taking in air from whichever way he was coming from.

"Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Infinite Sandstorm Great Breakthrough)!"

And soon lots of sand-covered wind escaped from these mouths and tore through Naruto's army like they were nothing, dispelling half of the remaining clones as the others either braced for the impact or ran for cover.

Some of the clones that remained were then pelted by small packets of sand that the (redhead) threw all around. They were about the size of a normal shuriken and they tore through Naruto's clones like they were paper.

The monstrous figure grinned as it stared at Naruto, showing off its elongated sharp set of teeth before countless streams of sand began to lash out in every which way. Naruto was shielding his eyes from the force of the debris that the sand left behind when it lashed out at the remaining clones that had assaulted Gaara earlier on.

The severely deformed pillars coalesced into a single spot, gathering into something and then the ENTIRE AREA was covered in a huge cloud of white smoke.

Naruto watched in astonishment. The smoke cleared and out came a beast taller than any building he had seen and tail almost as big as its body, jagged like it was composed of scales. Its entire body was littered with curving lines to wherever part of his body had them. Yellow irises stared down at Naruto who could only stare back at such a thing that was grinning at him before it gave a bone piercing manic laugh.

To Gaara as he stared down at the blonde, who manifested the power of a bijuu just like him at this stage, he knew.

Perhaps Naruto knew also as he stared right back at the demonic form before him. He too prepared himself once more.

In both of their eyes, they could tell as they faced each other. Each of them knowing what the other would feel left little to no more than as a matter of fact, they both knew. This was not science and neither would need it to figure it out.

The fight had only just begun.


To be continued…

Sorry for this momentous delay. I didn't stop, contrary, I wanted to keep it up, but time isn't kind to me as is Real Life. You talk about professional courses beyond that of bachelor degrees, then you're talking about a commitment that would require your full attention most of the time. Take a chunk of that attention in a single department that would eat at your time table while the remaining are waiting on an impatient line just behind him.

It's really stressful stuff, REAL stressful stuff. Maybe one of my contributing factors in depression is this grudging lack of sleep that I've been having just so I could read books, lectures, latest articles about gastroenterology, or oncology, or genetics, or microbiology, or pharmacology… Anyway, you get the picture.

Be sure to leave out a review.

Many thanks to Vandebz, awesome Beta-reader that he is.

PS. Does anyone have a copy of J-stars Victory vs now? If I have the time again, I think I'll be having that PS3 and a copy of the game. Meh, if I get any time for myself I'd like to play that.