Chapter 45

"Scatter!" Shikamaru shouted. They moved quickly as Gaara crashed in the branch, sending splinters of wood everywhere. Gaara rebounded off the branch and launched himself just as quick at Shikamaru. 'Damn, he's increased his speed!' He was about to be hit but was saved by Naruto who kicked him. Naruto did hand seals before taking a deep breath.

"Wind Style: Great Breach!" Gaara was sent flying into the side of a tree. The two landed on another branch and faced him. They watched as Gaara looked up with a crazed grin. "Seriously, that didn't even phase him!"

"I don't think anything is going to phase him. At least we've stopped him from getting closer to the village." Shikamaru said. Shino and Lee landed next to them.

"What is our plan of attack?" Lee asked. Shikamaru kept his eyes on Gaara who was just waiting.

"Lee, Guy-sensei told you to go all-out right? What did he mean by that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Guy-sensei has been teaching me the Eight Inner Gates. It is a move so powerful that it could even defeat a kage." Lee said proudly. Everyone was stunned by this. Shikamaru took all this in. He figured that Lee's jutsu could be a double edge technique that would need time. After a few moments, Shikamaru spoke.

"Okay, Lee and Naruto, you will face Gaara head-on while Shino and I provide support. We will have to weaken Gaara enough so that you can use the Eight Inner Gates. This is our only plan. We have to hold Gaara here." he stated.

"Yes/Understood/Let's go!" Naruto, Shino and Lee said. Naruto removed his jacket and prepared himself for a fight. Gaara grinned maliciously at the group.

"It doesn't matter what you do! You will all die here!" Gaara roared. The group just prepared for the fight of their lives.

XXX

Jiraiya watched from the top of Gamashiro as he cut off the heads of the three snakes that attacked the gates. Despite the victory, he was still concerned. From the reports he got, his sensei was still engaged with Orochimaru but his former teammate was now joined by the First and Second Hokage. Then there was the fact that he did not know where Gaara was. He was the trump card to this attack. He just wished where he was.

Sending Gamashiro back, Jiraiya made his way over to where he saw Ibiki. He looked at the jonin with a serious expression.

"So, what do you have to report?" he asked.

"We've put down 85% of this invasion. The changes we made to the defense of the village has helped us. We have zero civilian casualties and we have only lost about fifteen percent of our forces. The only area not secured is the stadium and he have not located Gaara yet." Ibiki reported. That worried Jiraiya a lot. If what he learned from one of his contacts, Gaara was the key to all this.

"Alright, I'm heading to the stadium to secure it. Spare no resource to find Gaara. If we stop him, this invasion will be as good as over." Jiraiya said. Ibiki nodded and the sage made his way to the stadium. He just hoped that he could get to his sensei in time.

XXX

Naruto skidded to a stop before avoiding several projectiles made of sand. Naruto landed and did some hand seals. From behind, several shuriken were thrown.

"Wind Style: Gale Palm!" the jutsu sped up the shuriken and they struck Gaara, embedding themselves deep into Gaara. However, it did not stop Gaara as several mouths opened up all over his body. Everyone watched as his body swell and took cover.

"Wind Style: Sandstorm Devastation!" Gaara roared and launched a sandstrom at them. Everyone could hear the destruction the that jutsu caused. When it was over, several branches were gone and trees were falling over. Gaara kept his eyes for his prey. He caught sight of a shadow and dodged it, charging to where its' origin was.

"Wind Circle Razor!" Gaara stopped and quickly moved as the deadly attacks sliced through a tree and some thick branches. One of the attacks sliced off his tail but it quickly reformed. He manipulated the sand of his cut tail and former a spear. He launched it at the area, hoping to catch his target. He turned his attention back to several clones rushed at him. This made Gaara smirk.

Watching from their still trapped position, Kankuro and temari could only struggle to escape.

"Damn it, we need to get out of here. If he's in this state, he could transform at any time." Kankuro said.

"We can't just leave him. We can't just abandon Gaara." Temari stated.

"He's going to kill us all! There's no way those guys are going to win! In that form, Gaara is unstoppable!" Kankuro exclaimed.

"What if they learn about the base of his tail?! They could kill him!" she shouted. That's when something burst in a puff of smoke. Naruto quickly used a few one-handed hand signs. He then looked at Lee.

"Get ready Lee!" Naruto shouted.

"Yosh!" Lee exclaimed and began to release the seals to the Eight Inner Gates. "Gate of Opening!" Naruto summoned more clones to attack. Gaara welcomed the assault with open arms as they engaged. Naruto and his clones did their best to keep Gaara occupied. It gave Lee a chance to keep opening the gates.

"Gate of Healing, open! Gate of Life, open!" Lee's Hair raised and his skin began to turn red. Gaara noticed this as he felt Lee's chakra. Seeing a new target, Gaara launched projectiles everywhere. This destroyed Naruto's clones and sent him flying. He did a seal as he was flying back.

"Spellbinding Circle!" A seal appeared below Gaara. Gaara froze up, stunning him. "Shikamaru, NOW!" a Shadow shot out and attached to Gaara's shadow. Gaara was getting annoyed as neither would hold him. He was about to break free from the shadow and seal only to be consumed in an explosion. Temari and Kankuro looked on in shock as the explosion originated from the base of Gaara's tail. How did they know? They were not shouting that loud!

"Gate of Pain, open!" Lee roared. The dust settled to reveal Gaara's form. Half of his body was nothing but sludge. Gone was the tail, claws and eye. Gaara was actually hurt from the explosion and could not reform his body. That's when Lee shot forward, smashing the branch off the tree. Lee landed a kick that sent Gaara flying into the air. Lee bounced off the trees and hit Gaara from all directions. Each blow broke through Gaara's defense, hurting the Sand ninja.

With each pass, each blow, Lee wrapped Gaara with his bandages. That's when Lee opened another gate.

"Gate of Closing,open!" Lee vanished and appeared before Gaara, blasting him in the abdomen. Gaara was sent flying toward the ground but was stopped by Lee pulling him back up toward him. Lee connected with a punch and kick that made Gaara gasp. The power behind the attack created a crater below Gaara. "Reverse Lotus!" The teen roared. Gaara slammed into the earth hard. Lee would have hit the ground as well if Shino did not catch him. Shino laid him down and he was joined by Shikamaru.

"Is he okay?" Shikamaru asked and touched Lee only for him scream in pain. Shino looked him over before looking at Shikamaru.

"All I can say is that he has torn several muscles. We can't move him now and we don't have any tools to secure his injuries." Shino told him.

"Damn, that's just what we need. Naruto, make sure that guy can't move! We need to get help here and fast!" Shikamaru shouted.

"Got it!" Naruto said and pulled out a scroll and some brushes. Gaara saw this and his lone eye could only watch with fear. Naruto saw this but he saw much more. He knew that look. It was a look that was very familiar to him a few years ago. It made Naruto hesitate a bit. This would be a mistake as Gaara's fear suddenly turned in rage.

"YOU WILL NOT END MY EXISTENCE!" Gaara roared and expelled his chakra. A large amount of sand suddenly exploded from Gaara's form and it burst through the treetops. When the dust settled, a large raccoon-dog appeared. The sight of this brought fear to Temari and Kankuro.

"S-Shukaku, he's b-been awaken." Kankuro said with fear. A roar was unleashed throughout the village. Everyone saw this and memories of the nine-tails' attack thirteen years ago came to their minds. From on top of its' head, Gaara appeared. He was breathing hard but he still had a grin on his face.

"To have pushed me this far, your deaths will not be quick. It will be slow and painful!" he said and put out his hand. The demon followed his movement and sand slowly began to make their way toward everyone. Lucky for Shino, Shikamaru, Sasuke and the Sand siblings, they were able to get a distance away when Gaara expelled his chakra. Naruto was not so lucky and was groaning, struggling to get to his feet. That's when he felt the sand creep around him. Naruto tried to escape but he was caught.

Naruto began to panic but he remembered he had one jutsu that could help. Naruto searched deep within him to tap into his 'other' chakra. Feeling it and being surrounded by it, Naruto bit into his thumb to draw blood. He smeared it on his palm and started doing hand seals.

"Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram," Naruto whispered and placed his bloody hand on the branch. "Summoning Jutsu!" There was an explosion of smoke that was the same size of the Shukaku. When the smoke cleared, Naruto stood on top a rusty red toad wearing a large blue happi vest with a kanji letter on its' back. A massive dosu blade was at its hip. It's yellow eyes focused on the person on it's head.

"Oh, it's you Naruto!" the toad spoke. "I thought we had a deal! You're too young for a drink!"

"I wish it was that simple boss Gamabunta. We have a huge problem in front of us." Naruto said. Gamabunta looked to see what was in front of him.

"Shukaku the Sand Spirit huh? Do you blondes just like to engage with tailed beasts?" Gamabunta asked with a chuckle.

'So I didn't imagine it? He is like me.' Naruto decided to focus on what was in front of him for now. "Sorry boss toad but where's the fun in just fighting simple things?" Naruto said with a grin. Gamabunta scoffed in amusement before gripping his blade.

"Very well, let's see if I still got it!" Gamabunta prepared for a very tough battle.

XXX

"That blond idiot, he's always got to do things big. I hope to kami my mother isn't seeing this." Shikamaru said with an annoyed tone.

"On this point, we agree. Why did it have to be toads?" Shino demanded. The Sand siblings, who were restrained, couldn't believe that there was someone in the village that was so strong. The Summoning Jutsu took a massive amount of chakra. The fact that this blond possessed the chakra to use such a jutsu, it was no wonder their father wanted him dead. Not too far away, Sasuke looked on at two titans were about to do battle. He clenched his fists so hard that he drew blood. He was trying to activate his Sharingan but he was still so weak. It did not stop his fury and jealousy from growing.

Ibiki watched as Gamabunta drew his blade. It had been awhile since he saw the toad. It was only once but he would never forget him. What was surprising was the person on top of Gamabunta. He couldn't help but be amused by the irony of it. However, he had a job to do.

"Team Ro, get to that location and do everything to help the brat. Something tells me that he's going to need help." Ibiki ordered.

"Sir!" they said and vanished. Ibiki turned to look as Gamabunta launched forward.

"Good luck Naruto." Ibiki whispered.

XXXXX

Authors' Notes

Happy New Year everyone. Here's a new chapter for you. Enjoy.