FR: THEY ARE HERE.

FR clone: will it hold until negotiations are done

FR: hopefully

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

Jutsu name

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Chapter 32: Monster vs Beast

Naruto launched himself at Gaara the second he heard Genma finish. He saw that much like with Lee, Gaara didn't move at all from his spot. He just stood there with a blank look and his arms crossed but Naruto knew that it wasn't the redhead he should be focused on, it's his sand. Naruto threw a punch, aimed at Gaara's face and just as he expected the sand moved to block his attack. Jumping back, Naruto created a shadow clone and both charged again, this time in a pincer maneuver with the clone coming at Gaara's right and the original to his left. The clone gave a flying kick and the original go for a sliding kick. The sand blocked both and grabbed the legs of the Naruto and his clone. The sand spun them around once before throwing them away. They slid on the ground, with the clone dispelling and Naruto flipping back on his feet

Gaara looked into Naruto's eyes and spoke in his monotone voice "is that all? Mother expected more."

Naruto smirked as he charged again while placing his hand together in a prayer fashion. Once he was a few feet away, he jumped over him.

Gaara continued to stare forward, not concerning himself with what the blonde did. But his eyes widened when his sand blocked a heavy strike from above him. He then felt that his sand blocked something behind him, but the sand that blocked the hit above him still remained there. Looking up he saw that Naruto wasn't there and turning his head he saw that he wasn't there either

"Where are you looking?!"

Moving his gaze back forward he saw that Naruto threw another punch but again was blocked. He looked back up and willed the sand to move to the side and he saw that what was blocked were Naruto's bracers. Looking back, he moved his sand to see that the greeves were embedded into the sand defense

When Naruto placed his hands together he was really doing it to put his hands close enough to the clasps to undo them and when he jumped over he dropped them on top of him and once he landed behind Gaara he unclasped his greaves and threw them at Gaara's back. He then jumped back over and was lucky enough to land in front of him without being seen.

Gaara willed his sand to toss the bracers and greaves away and used the sand that blocked Naruto's fist, to grab hold and kept him in place. Gaara launched a tendril of sand at the struggling blonde

Naruto was pulling as hard as he could at the fist stuck in the sand until his eyes widened at seeing the sand head his way. The sand impacted in his stomach and pushed him back a good distance. The sand pulled back a bit before whipping at Naruto, which launched him to impact the wall hard enough to create a dent and cracks.

Gaara pulled back his sand and had it swirl around his feet. The amount of sand began to increase in mass as the ground around Gaara began to become sand itself from the grinding he was doing

Naruto fell face-first onto the ground "...ok ...that hurt". He lifted his head and his eyes widened when he saw a big wave of sand about to crash down onto him. "oh shit!" he quickly got to his feet and jumped to his right, narrowly avoiding the sand as it slammed onto the ground he was just laying at. 'Damn! Good thing I took off my weights or else that would have finished me'. He didn't have time to think anything else as he found himself dodging massive tendrils of sand aiming to slam, whip or strike him. "Where the hell is he getting all this sand!?"

~with Participating genin~

Shikamaru and Shino were watching with anticipation as they both were silently wishing their friend luck

Kankuro was standing a bit away from the Konoha-nin with her sister Temari as they watched the match "he won't last long against Gaara. If anything he is just delaying his death"

Temari nodded her head "too bad, kids got some skills". She then looked up to the general crowd and whispered: "think it will start soon?"

Kankuro turned his head to look at Temari "maybe. All we were told was that it would start during the finals

Temari nodded as she looked back to the match

Sasuke was glaring at the match 'this should have been MY fight!' and he looked to one side of the arena to see the tossed away bracers and greaves. He had quickly deduced that they were weighted 'going to keep that in mind since if it helped the dobe to become this fast then it will push my speed further than what Kakashi-sensei got me to'

~non-participating genin~

Most of the group were on the edge of their seats as they watched Naruto avoid strike after strike of large sand tendrils

Ino and Hinata were holding their breaths as he kept getting close calls

Haku was impressed on how Naruto had improved since he first met him but he also felt that if Naruto didn't do something soon he won't win

Lee had fire in his eyes as he watched his friend battle someone. He was also excited to see that Naruto had started using weight just like he did "YOSH he is showing his Flames of Youth!"

Lee wasn't the only one cheering. Kiba was cheering as well "Come on Naruto! Show him what you got!"

~back in the fight~

Naruto was running along the wall as chunks of sand kept impacting the wall behind him "he just won't let up!" he turned his head to see that Gaara had not moved at all but the ground surrounding the redhead was lower than it was before. "Damn sand!" he then jumped off the wall to get away from another strike. He, unfortunately, found himself in the air, where he wouldn't be able to dodge very well. He then saw three large waves of sand about to converge on him. "Alright! That's it!"He took a deep breath as the sand came closer

Gaara watched as his sand was about to finish off the Uzumaki "you will feed mother your blood"

Naruto gathered his chakra into his throat, aimed and threw his head forward

"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH".

He let out a sonic roar that created a shockwave that was strong enough to blow away the waves of sand. The sand blew up into the stands cover many in the audience in it.

Gaara was wide-eyed as he saw what Naruto had done and landed on his feet. Gaara smiled at this as it showed that the Uzumaki was worthy of giving blood

Naruto coughed a little as he felt his throat sting a bit 'damn, still need to work on that one a bit'. He looked towards Gaara and was glad to see that the amount of sand had dropped.

Gaara willed the remaining sand to launch at Naruto

Naruto could see that the amount of sand was now smaller but he wanted to stop dodging so he gathered chakra again and blew out flames at the small tendrils coming towards him. He was able to fend off one after another with his flames and after a few more of them, they stopped. He looked to Gaara who had pulled back his sand 'must want to keep a certain amount to himself...but this is perfect'

Gaara had pulled back the sand that originally came from the gourd on his back and watched what Naruto would do next

Naruto smiled at the small reprieve "guess it's time to go completely all out" he said as he put his hands in the tiger seal

Gaara tilted his head a bit "do you mean to say that you have been holding back?"

Naruto gathered his chakra as he looked into Gaara's eyes "sort of. You didn't really give me a chance to do this earlier". Suddenly black writing began to appear around his wrists, ankles, neck and down his face. If someone were to look closely they would see that the rings that appeared around them were connected by a line of writing that went down his body. "KAI!" once this was said the writing shattered from his body. Naruto threw his arms down as he felt a surge of power. Blue chakra burst from his body and five streams of it began to swirl around him "HHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH". The chakra began to converge around him and for a brief minute, it shaped itself into a five tailed fox as it stood above him and began to be absorbed by Naruto. Once it was fully absorbed into him he smiled at Gaara

~audience~

Everyone was stunned silent at what they had just witnessed. For the shinobi of other villages, they all felt the burst of chakra coming from the boy and couldn't believe that the amount could be coming from a genin of all things. The civilians from other villages thought that it was a sort of technique that boosted up a shinobi's abilities though they were slightly confused as to why it showed as a five tailed fox. They all knew that the only multi tailed fox would be the Kyuubi but that had nine tails, not five and from those that had heard of what the chakra of the beasts look like, the chakra should have been red not blue, so they chalked it up to it just being for show that it had looked like a fox

The ones from Konoha all had a look of dread as they all thought that he had unleashed the Kyuubi and would begin to rampage in the village.

The civilians shrank in their seats and looked ready to run the second things went to hell.

The shinobi that still hated the boy, tensed up and mentally prepared themselves to kill him

~Non-participating genin~

They were stunned silent at what they had seen but not out of fear but in aw.

Kiba and Akamaru were looking with their mouths dropped

Sakura was wide-eyed at what her teammate had just done

Choji was frozen mid-bite

Haku was smiling, impressed at what he had done

Tenten was stunned as it reminded her a bit of Lee's Inner Gates

Lee wanted to cheer but he refrained himself due to his injuries

Ino had a thought run through her head 'five tails ...like the one in his head…..'

Hinata also seemed to have a similar thought 'it has the same amount as the plushie that Naruto gave me….'

Kiba out of his shock first "what the hell did he just do?!"

Karin shook her head when she heard the question "from what I can tell the writing he had on him were a sort of gravity, restraint and containment seals"

Sakura turned her head to look at Karin "what are those?"

"The gravity seals are used to increase the gravity on whatever it is placed on. I heard that it could be used in training but never saw it before. The restraining seals limit movement unless using chakra to a certain degree. The containment seal is just that, it's meant to contain chakra and keep it from escaping. It looked like it was an early stage of what it could be but to make a seal like that is way too risky."

Ino was the one to ask the next question "why?"

"A seal like that would have a 95% chance in destroying whoever it was placed on. The chakra that would leak out of the body when used wouldn't be able to escape and just rebound back. With the restraining seal the chakra used to move, it would be a constant stream of chakra being used and the chakra that would leave would recoil back and overflow the body causing massive damage to the chakra coils…...unless there was another seal on his body that we couldn't see that would contain the recoil chakra. In which case when he released it, could give him a big power boost but it's still risky to gain all that at once"

"It sounds really useful if it could be perfected but how did you know it's in an early stage?"

"The lack of intricacy the seal had. It was in all terms of seals: simple. Like they had meshed together rather quickly"

Ino turned back to the fight and looked at Naruto "why would he take the risk?"

Karin looked back to Naruto as well "well if anything, the removal of those seals will help him greatly depending on how much restraint they had on him"

~Jonin senseis~

Kakashi was impressed at seeing one of his students being able to keep his own against Gaara but what he was most impressed by was how far he came in his wind nature training. He taught Naruto the first step in it but here he was, one month later, tossing deadly blades of wind and they were just pure chakra manipulation. 'Wonder how far he would go if I teach him some fire Jutsu'. This was his thought when he saw how far Naruto came in his training but he was stunned silent when he saw what Naruto had just done.

Asuma dropped his cigarette. The immense amount of chakra was staggering. He shook his head as he smiled at remembering the amount of skill the boy had in wind chakra manipulation 'I should meet up with him. It would not only give me a chance to see what he can really do but I could talk to him about Ino'

Kurenai was surprised at seeing the level of skill Naruto was showing and the chakra fox that was released and absorbed by the boy 'amazing…and he was the one with the lowest scores in the academy. He has come far'

Anko was smiling wide "keep it up gaki!"

Guy had tears in his eyes "oh what a youthful battle! HIS FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY!"

~back in the fight~

Naruto took a deep breath as he felt relieved at removing those seals that he and Jiraiya came up with.

Gaara remained impassive at the whole light show that Naruto gave but on the inside, he could hear his "mother" screaming for his blood

Naruto looked at Gaara for a few seconds before running towards him

Gaara readied himself to block all the strikes that the Uzumaki would give but after said blonde got halfway towards him….he disappeared.

The genin watching were shocked at the disappearing act Naruto did but some Chunin and the Jonin could see what was about to happen

Gaara's eyes widened at this but he didn't have time to think about it as he felt a fist suddenly him on his left cheek

Naruto appeared right a Gaara's face and slammed his right fist into the redhead's face hard enough to send Gaara flying. He watched Gaara fly towards the wall and once Naruto's feet hit the ground he ran towards Gaara once more and got ahead of him. Once he was ahead, he turned around, stopped his momentum, brought his leg back before kicking Gaara up into the air.

"NA!"

Naruto crouched down and summoned four clones around him, one to his left, one to his right, one in front of him, and one behind him. The clone in front of him jumped up first, followed by the ones on his side and last was the one behind him

The first clone brought his arms back as he was approaching Gaara. The two clones reached out to grab onto the first clone's arms and were then pulled forward before they were launched faster into the air as they passed Gaara's still ascending body. Once the two clones were launched, the first clone turned his body before grabbing the arm of the last clone and used all his strength to swing him towards Gaara before he dispelled himself

The last clone spun in the air and gave a flying kick to Gaara's back pushing him further upward.

"RU!"

The two clones that were further in the air summoned one more clone before the two grabbed the third clone and both threw him towards Gaara and dispelled themselves as well as the one that kicked Gaara up more.

The last clone flipped in the air and brought his hands together before bringing them down on Gaara sending the redhead back down.

"TO!"

Naruto saw Gaara coming down fast and ran forward towards where Gaara would land. Once he got close enough he jumped up and spun in the air and gave a flying roundhouse that sent Gaara back towards the center.

"UZUMAKI VOLLEY!"

As Naruto saw Gaara fly away, he looked down and noticed that the sand that was meant to defend Gaara was too slow to stop what Naruto did. 'Good thing I went through all that training.'

~with Participating genin~

Temari and Kankuro were floored as they did not expect Gaara to be pummeled like this. It was shocking to see the green-clad genin do it but now this blonde did the same thing

Shikamaru and Shino were shocked for a second before they smiled at how their friend had changed the flow of this fight.

Sasuke was fuming 'how the hell did he get this power! I need to know how he did it' he thought as he activated his Sharingan to see what he could get from this fight but he was mad that he didn't have it on earlier.

~Arena~

Gaara bounced on the ground after the beating he had just received from the Uzumaki. He was now back in the center of the arena, face down and slowly getting back to his feet. He felt that most of the sand armor he had on had been shattered off and as he looked toward Naruto he gave a smile that made him look mad "yes Uzumaki! Prove my existence!"

Naruto channeled wind chakra into his claws as he pulled his arms back and swiped the air as he sent the blades of wind towards Gaara. However, much to his shock, Gaara brought up the sand around him and enveloped himself in a protective ball of sand. The blades of wind impacted the ball and left deep indentations in it but they were swiftly filled in again. He sent a few more swipes at Gaara but each time was the same thing. "damn it". Naruto decided to charge in and physically attack it in hopes he could get to Gaara. As he got closer he saw the ball shift a bit. Once Naruto was a dozen steps away, his instincts told him he should dodge an oncoming attack and he immediately had to bend backward to avoid a spike that came out of the ball. He had narrowly dodged the sand spike as it was an inch away from his nose but he didn't have time to thank his instincts for saving him as he had to shift his body again in order to avoid another spike that almost impaled his leg. He jumped back as three more spikes came out and would have pierced him in vital points of his body. He landed a good distance away and saw that the ball of sand now had spikes all around it. He grimaced as he tried to think of what to do next "Damn! If I get too close, I'll become swiss cheese! And my wind blades can't get through that thick sand. Now what? My wind blades are no good and my fire will probably just heat the sand up" Naruto stared at the spiked ball as he couldn't think of his moves to use on it. He was also glad that Gaara wasn't sending out the spikes to get him and giving him time to think of a plan. After a minute or two, he thought of something, it was risky but it could get through the sand "I hope this works". He put his fingers in a cross-hand sign "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and created thirty clones. He sent fifteen of them to create a ring around the ball, making sure that they didn't get any closer as to not force Gaara to attack. The other fifteen and himself created another ring a few feet further away. Now there were two rings around the spike ball, the inner ring of Narutos and the outer ring

~kage box~

Kurama tensed up a bit as he knew what his kit was about to do 'oh boy. Hope this one doesn't blow up in your face again kit'

Hiruzen felt the tension come from the Kyuubi and all he could think was 'what is Naruto-Kun about to do? It seems to have the Kyuubi on edge for some reason'

Mei was extremely impressed with the actions of the two that were fighting right now 'and these two are genin. This batch of genin is astounding and these two are beyond. But I guess it's not surprising with the blonde being a Jinchuriki but I wonder what he is about to do with all those clones?'

Rasa was fuming as he was hoping that the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi would be able to harm the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. He knew that based on overall power the Kyuubi outmatches the Ichibi but he knew that Gaara had more access to his beast than Naruto did. He knew that he didn't have much time left as his body was literally on its last leg 'ugh this body won't last long but if I want that boy dead I must last a bit longer' he looked over to the side where a hooded Anbu and just stared for a bit

The Anbu gave a nod and took a few steps back, crouched down and waited for the signal to begin

~Arena~

The clones of the inner ring began to channel wind chakra into their left claw until each had a certain amount encasing their claws. Once that was done they began to run counterclockwise and lifted their left claw and kept it straight as they held it out and turned their hand to look like they are clawing the air.

Everyone was confused about what he was doing. He wasn't launching any of the blades of wind they saw him do before but a lot of the audience figured that there was a reason for it. What they did start to notice was the increase of the breeze.

Naruto kept running until he reached to point of speed that he knew he could keep consistent. Soon the air around the sand ball began to become spinning. With the speed that Naruto was going at helping out what he wanted, a light twister began to form. It began to become stronger and stronger until it became a tall pillar of spinning wind.

Gaara who had his third eye floating above the ball was confused when he watched the Uzumaki begin to run around him but soon he noticed the wind spin around him. The spinning wind became so strong that the third eye was blown away. He could no longer see what was going on outside but he knew that the winds were still going as he felt the sand shifting with it. He willed the sand to remain in its shape but he retracted the spikes from around it and brought them to dig into the ground to make sure that he wasn't blown up into the air.

Once the pillar of wind was up, the outer ring of Narutos prepared the next step.

The inner ring stopped as quickly as they could and turned to face the pillar. They lifted all their arms and held their palms out as they focused on keeping the wind moving and from expanding any further.

The outer ring gathered up their demonic chakra and jumped into the air before they unleashed their demonic flame into the pillar. The second that the flames made contact with the wind, the pillar was set ablaze and soon a roar coming from the fire was heard as the pillar of wind became a roaring torrent of flames

Everyone gasped as they saw the pillar of fire rising out of the stadium

The entire village could see the pillar from where they were as if it were a beacon for all the lands of fire to see (the land of fire now has a beacon of fire. I just now noticed that)

The heat in the Stadium increased greatly and those that were not shinobi or use to such extreme temperatures were sweating and were also lifting their arms to block out the brightness of it

Genma had fallen off the wall he was standing on and brought his arms up as he squinted at the attack 'how the hell does a genin come up with something like this?!'

The out ring had stopped releasing their demonic fire and landed back on the ground. All the clones of the outer ring ran to join the inner ring and brought their hands up to keep up what they were doing. But they knew that they would not be able to hold it up for so long as the ones that were in the inner ring, were

After a few minutes, the clones began to dispel one after another. Naruto knew he had to cut it off otherwise he would kill Gaara with the amount of heat the attack was giving "NOW GUYS!"

The clones didn't need to be told twice as they all turn their palms upward and used all the control they had to send the attack upwards. Once the pillar was lifted off the ground, an explosion went off and sent all the clones back and dispelled them all. The pillar of fire began to lift up into the air

Everyone watched as the pillar rose out of the stadium and into the sky. Everyone was looking up with their mouths open as the flames flew up. Once it reached a certain point, the sky grew orange-red as it burst and exploded.

~Academy classroom~

The entire class were stunned speechless at what Naruto had just done

Iruka had his jaw on the ground at the sight of such a Jutsu being used 'how in the world did Naruto-Kun come up with that!?'

Moegi and Udon had eyes so wide that you would think that they would pop out any second

Konohamaru was the same but after a few seconds he pumped his fist in the air "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

This brought the class out of their stupor and they all began to cheer

"That was amazing!"

"How did he do that!"

"Think he can teach us that move?!"

"I'm going to train to be just as good as he is!"

"Hell yeah!"

Iruka shook his head at hearing all this and smiled at the classroom 'It seems you are inspiring the next generation to be better, Naruto-Kun.'

~back at the stadium, non-participating genin~

They all were still looking up in aw at what they had just seen Naruto do. They all slowly turned their heads back to the arena floor

Tenten spoke up in a subdued tone "I'm glad that I didn't have to fight Naruto-san. I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of move"

No one had a response to that. All they could do was nod slowly in agreement

~arena floor~

Naruto groaned as he began to pick himself up from the ground "...damn! Still can't finish that without it blowing up". Once he was on his hands and knees he looked towards where Gaara was. "...wow…."

The ball of sand that Gaara was using now shimmered a bit as it has now, instead of a ball of sand it became a ball of glass.

Naruto was sure that if the sun was out that it would sparkle and be too bright to look at. Naruto got back onto his feet as he walked to the ball of glass and tried to catch his breath. Once he stood next to it he took a deep breath before he examined the ball. Once he walked around it once he pulled his fist back 'this is going to sting like hell' and punched the ball hard, shattering the glass. Glass shards flew everywhere and cut his hand and arm up a bit. He waved his hand in the air as he felt the cuts on his arm "Ow ow ow! I hate getting cuts like this! They always sting!". When he looked to where he thought a burnt up Gaara would be he was surprised to see and crouching glass sculpture of Gaara. It took Naruto a second to realize that this was, in fact, Gaara, as he remembers that he had a layer of sand covering all of his body as a sort of armor. "Uh oh! I should get him out of that!". As he was about to try and gently hit the glass to only crack it he suddenly felt massive amounts of hate coming from Gaara. Cracks began to form on the glass and they began to grow. Before Naruto could react the glass exploded out and a few shards cut him up badly and a few embedded into his arms and legs as he flew back "Aaah!" He, fortunately, landed on his back where there was no glass and when he stopped sliding he lifted his head to look where Gaara was.

Gaara was sporting burns all over his body as he got up "it hurts! IT'S HURTS!" he brought his hand to cover his eye as his other eye shifted upward to glare at Naruto. "UZUMAKI!" sand quickly began to form around him, and as soon as enough was formed it was launched at Naruto

Naruto tried to get to his feet to get away but as he tried to get up he fell back as the glass shards were still in his legs "SHIT!". He looked up and saw the sand closing in. pushing through the pain he jumped back as much as he could…..unfortunately he couldn't get away this time as his right arm became covered in sand during his jump

Gaara had his free hand stretched out as he gave a mad smile. He then clenched his fist willing his sand to crush Naruto's arm

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he felt his arm being crushed by the sand. The sand fell off his arm as he fell to his knees as he used his left hand to hold his right arm as it hung uselessly on his side. From just above his elbow down to his fingers, were mangled up and bleeding profusely. His bones could be seen through openings in his skin and he could feel that some of the shards of glass that once stuck in his skin were now deeper in him

~Kage box~

Kurama bristled at how his kit was hurt badly by the rd head. He wanted to go down there and help but something caught his attention. He felt greed and malice increase form Rasa. Kurama turned his head to look at Rasa who wasn't even looking at the fight anymore. Rasa was looking back at an Anbu and Kurama noticed that he nodded at the Anbu. He saw that the Anbu created a hand sign and gathered chakra 'What the hell are you doing?!' he thought as he snarled a bit

Zabuza tensed at seeing the gaki hurt 'damn kid. Should throw in the towel before he loses more than just an arm'. He looked up when he noticed something floating in the air

~non-participating genin~

Ino and Hinata were covering their mouths in shock at seeing Naruto hurt so badly

The rest of them were all giving different levels of shock at what their friend just went through

Karin wanted to jump down there and help out her fellow clansman but she kept herself in her seat, but the second she can she would go help heal him

Choji felt like he was about to lose his lunch at seeing his friends mangled arm

Sakura wanted to help her teammate but she knew she had nothing that would help

Akamaru was whimpering and Kiba was trying to calm him down

Gamakichi wasn't doing any better at seeing his summoner and friend hurt this badly

Haku grimace at the sight but something caught his eye and he looked up

~Jonin~

Anko felt like ripping something apart at seeing Naruto hurt. She wanted Naruto to quiet now to avoid any more. She knew that he already proved himself to become Chunin so all that was left was to surrender

Kakashi was praying to kami and begging to Naruto 'throw in the towel Naruto-Kun. You've done enough!' he would have continued this line of thought but something white began to fall from the sky

~participating genin~

The Shikamaru and Shino were grimacing at the mangle up arm Naruto now had. They both agree that it would be best for Naruto to quiet now

Sasuke was smirking 'hmph that's what you get for taking over my fight'

Temari and Kankuro felt a little bad for the kid but knew this was to be expected. Temari looked up to see that it was time for it to begin.

~Arena floor~

Naruto was gripping his arm hard as it continued to bleed 'damn it, I need to get the glass out of my arm before I start to heal'. He looked up at Gaara to see that the redhead was using the sand to reapply his sand armor but the look in his eyes showed that he wasn't finished yet and the sands seemed to keep piling on making his arm bigger. Before he could think of anything else, he noticed white feathers falling from the sky 'what the hell is that?' Naruto kept his gaze upwards, and for some reason felt a bit sleepy from looking but the pain in his arms kept him wide awake. Something else did catch his attention. The amount of hate that he felt coming from the audience was dying down. Normally this would be considered a good thing but the people of Konoha never let up their hate when he was around so it struck him as odd. A few seconds of pondering this was interrupted when…..

*BOOOM*

….an explosion was heard coming from the Kage box. Naruto looked up with wide eyes "JIJI!". As he looked up, he noticed that a bunch of shinobi started attacking Konoha shinobi. "What the hell is going on!"

"RRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHH"

Naruto looked back in time to see Gaara's left arm getting covered in sand and gaining a pattern on it but it was his left eye that shocked him. The whites of the eye had become completely black, while the iris changed from baby blue to a dark gold color with a star shape like pupil "what the hell?". Before he could say anything else, Temari and Kankuro landed next to Gaara

Temari looked over Gaara's form 'not good. He isn't supposed to unleash it so soon. There are too many of our own shinobi here!'. She took one of Gaara's arms as she looked to her other brother "we need to take him to our rendezvous point so he can heal. It's too soon for him to let the Ichibi out."

Kankuro nodded his head as he grabbed one of Gaara's arms and they jumped away carrying Gaara with them

Naruto got to his feet as he watched them "Wait!...". He took a few strained steps before he was then surrounded by what looked to be shinobi from Oto

One of the Oto-nin grinned at the injured blonde as he pulled out a kunai "this is the one that our leader wanted dead! We kill him and he will reward us greatly!" this caused the rest of them to pull out kunai of their own

Naruto gritted his teeth as he pulled out a kunai 'shit! I can only use one arm and there's still glass in my legs. Damn it!'.

The group of Oto-nin started walking closer but suddenly three of them had fallen to the ground with two of them having kunai in the back of their skulls and another having a senbon in his neck.

Genma dropped down next to Naruto holding a kunai of his own and stared down the rest of the Oto-nin "hey kid, think you can still fight?"

Naruto looked up at Genma and smiled "yeah!" he then summoned three clones to help "but give me a sec as I get the glass out of my legs"

Genma nodded his head as he and two of the clones charged the Oto-nin while the third clone crouched down and began to use its own kunai to dig out the shards of glass

Naruto gritted his teeth as he kept an eye on the surrounding Oto-nin "just hurry up and take them out so I can get into the fight"

The clone nodded as he dug one shard out "got it, boss!"

~with the hokage~

Hiruzen was being dragged to the rooftop of the stadium by Rasa. "why are you doing this Rasa, our villages have been allies for all this time, why side with Orochimaru?"

Rasa finally stopped jumping and landing in the center of the wide rooftop of the stadium. "Kukuku and why wouldn't I align with my own village"

To Hiruzen's mild surprise Rasa slowly brought a shaky hand to his face to peel off half of the skin to reveal Orochimaru "so…. you've taken on the role of the Kazekage."

Orochimaru chuckled as he dropped the skin "only to get them to cooperate. They were so easy to convince to join in on this little cause….." he was interrupted when a glob of lava was spewed at them. He let Hiruzen go and jumped back to avoid it

Hiruzen jumped forward and turned to face Orochimaru. As he landed, Mei Terumi and Zabuza dropped in next to him with Mei to his right and Zabuza at his left "a little close, don't you think?"

Mei smiled as she looked to Hiruzen "I knew you would be able to dodge that. Besides, that was a small one."

Hiruzen sweatdropped at that 'that was a small one? That was as big as me'. Hiruzen sighed as he glared at Orochimaru "so all this just to get back at me? You truly have fallen far"

Orochimaru chuckled again "you make your own enemies Sensei." once he finished saying this, a group of five Anbu appeared in front of him. One of them turned to him and presented him with a mask that had Hiruzen's eyes open wide

'How did he get his hands on…...Danzo' Hiruzen thought as he saw the mask given to Orochimaru and the masks the Anbu were wearing. All of them were blank 'so Danzo has gotten that desperate to assist him in the attack on Konoha. Even giving him some of his Root agents'

Orochimaru took the mask and smiled before grimacing "ugh! Damn that Kyuubi brat" he then gave a signal to a group of four, with one on each corner of the roof and a large purple barrier was erected around the two kages, sannin, and the root agents

Outside of the barrier were four Oto-nin wearing outfits, fit for those working under Orochimaru, and they held the barrier up to make sure no one entered to assist or escape from it

Orochimaru began to go through hand signs that shocked Hiruzen as he recognized the Jutsu Orochimaru was about to do

Before Hiruzen could take a step forward a fireball that came from one of the Anbu agents that stood alone in front of the two kages. Hiruzen shifted his gaze from Mei to Zabuza "we must stop him from completing that Jutsu!"

Zabuza was confused with the urgency the Hokage had in his voice "why? What the hell is that Jutsu anyway?"

Before Hiruzen could respond a rumbling could be felt from the roof and they turned to see three coffins come out of the ground "oh no!". The coffins opened up to reveal that each of them were empty, much to the shock and relief of Hiruzen, but he grew confused when three of the Anbu walked backwards into the coffins and were then sealed inside "what are you doing?!"

"Why sensei. They just volunteered to be my sacrifices" Orochimaru than threw off the Kazekage robes to reveal his normal attire and he peeled off the rest of the skin he had on his face

Hiruzen and Mei were shocked to see how deteriorated his body looked. He was missing his right leg, which was replaced with a prosthetic, the right arm appeared to be barely usable and half his face was burnt so badly that most of the skin was completely destroyed and rotted away. "One of your failed experiments?" he said with a bit of smugness

Orochimaru glared at Hiruzen "this…" he said as he pointed to himself "...is a result of that Kyuubi brat. He used a flame that caused this body to deteriorate"

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile inside as he was proud that Naruto was able to harm Orochimaru in such a manner. But he was soon filled with dread as he saw Orochimaru place the shinigami mask on and summoned the Shinigami, though in doing so he sped up the rot on his body. Hiruzen and Mei were about to charge forward but a mud wall appeared in front of them which delayed them longer and Hiruzen pulled out a kunai and parried the root Anbu before kicking him away

Forcing himself through the pain, Orochimaru commanded the shinigami to cut open its own stomach and pull out a single flame of chakra. During the cut, Orochimaru gained a large gash on his stomach and he knew he needed to finish quickly. Lighting his hands with his own chakra he moved the flame into the third coffin. He then looked towards the Root Agent that stood close by "now!"

The root Anbu turned to face Orochimaru, took off his mask, and opened his mouth as wide as he could.

Orochimaru released a large snake out of his mouth that had had his face on it and the serpent entered root agent who began to choke on it but once the serpent completely entered him he slumped down. He lifted his head as his face morphed into Orochimaru's and then stood up straighter as his body began to morph more into the sannin's original body. And his old body dropped to the ground and rotted more until it was nothing but mashed up rotten flesh on the ground.

Hiruzen finished off the Root agent with the help of Mei and slit the agent's throat before looking towards his traitorous student "how did you know about the shinigami sealing!?"

Orochimaru now in his new fully functionally body relished in being able to move fully again "kukuku I had a very good informant. He not only gave me these willing puppets but he had also informed me about how that cursed Yondaime truly died. After I was informed of this, it was easy to research how to counteract and release the soul"

'Damn you Danzo!'

Orochimaru then put his hands in a seal and activated the last step of the Jutsu.

The three coffins began to open and Hiruzen was sweating 'damn. I can't believe he summoned those three'

Mei looked towards Hiruzen "what exactly did he just summon?!"

Hiruzen kept his gaze on the three figures coming out "he has just summoned the previous Hokage"

Out of the three coffins came the first, second and fourth Hokage in their combat gear. They seemed to zombie their way out of the coffin and looked to have a look of extreme exhaustion and their skin tone was pale.

Hashirama looked at Hiruzen "well, it's been a long time Saru"

Tobirama also noticed Hiruzen "oh so it's you. You've gotten so old Sarutobi"

Minato gave a weak smile "well it's good to see you Hiruzen-san"

Orochimaru smiled at Hiruzen "well Sensei, this should be quite a reunion for you. Your own sensei, his brother, and your successor. My, you should be thrilled at seeing them again"

Hiruzen knew that this was going to be a very difficult fight and was about to rip off his robes to fight in his battle armor but he felt a shift in his robes and looked down. After a second he gave a small smile and looked up to Orochimaru "why are you so keen on attacking your previous home Orochimaru? Why do you hate us so much?"

Orochimaru's smile dropped as he heard the question "you continue to surprise me sensei. You blind yourself to the true nature of those around you….."

Hiruzen began to listen to Orochimaru's reason for hating the village as he thought to himself 'I hope you know what you're doing…..Kyuubi'

~meanwhile in the audience~

Kakashi had cut down another Suna-nin before running towards his destination while also killing as many Oto-nin and Suna-nin in his way. After a bit of fighting, he made it to where the non-participating genin and was surprised to see that some of them were already up and fighting

Kiba and Choji were doing their best to fend off any enemy nin from Lee who was unable to fight due to his injuries and Karin who was helping Lee get out of the stadium

Sakura and Haku were making sure that any civilians were getting out of the genjutsu and sending them to the closest exit

Gamakichi was holding tightly to Haku's head as the boy fought

Ino and Hinata were incapacitating their enemies using ninja wire and Juken strikes

Tenten was finishing off a couple more shinobi with a bow staff and tossing a few kunai

Kakashi shook his head as he got to them "is everyone alright?"

Sakura looked over when she heard the question "Kakashi-sensei! Yeah we're fine"

Kakashi nodded before he ducked, spun around and slit the throat of the Oto-nin behind him. He looked back to the genin "good. I need all of you to find your senseis for orders…." he was about to continue but he noticed the Suna genin in the arena floor begin to jump away but a few seconds later he saw Sasuke give chase 'damn it!'. He turned back towards the genin "change of plans I need a few of you to find Shikamaru and Shino and go after Sasuke and the Suna genin"

Ino tied up the last nin that she caught and looked to Kakashi "why Kakashi-sensei?"

"It seems that Sasuke-Kun has gone after the three Suna genin. I want a team to go back him up and try and capture them."

Sakura walked up to Kakashi "who are you sending Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi thought about it for a second before pointing out a few "Hinata, Ino, Sakura, I want you three to find Shikamaru and Shino and get them to go with you. Hinata a specific order for you. If you are able to, shut down the chakra network of Gaara as best you can. Ino you will be able to subdue one of them if you can get a clear shot. Sakura you will be able to help Ino by guarding her, Understood"

The three genins nodded their head, showing they understood their orders

"good, I will inform your senseis about this and will send back up as soon as I can" Kakashi then did some hand-signs and slammed his hand on the ground "Summoning Jutsu". Out of the puff of smoke came a small pug

"What's up Kakashi?"

"Pakkun I need you to follow these three, and once they get their last two members to track down Sasuke-Kun's scent. I'm sure you remember it"

Pakkun nodded his head

"Good now go!"

The three girls and dog nodded and left to get Shikamaru and Shino

~ a few minutes earlier, with participating genin~

Sasuke just launched a fireball at another group of enemy nin. He couldn't help but think that these shinobi were nothing but weaklings as they fell quickly. As he was finishing off another one he noticed the genin he was supposed to fight being taken somewhere else. 'This is my chance'. Without another thought, he lept down and chased after them as he began to run he glanced towards Naruto and Genma who were fighting off a group of Oto-nin. "hn"

Shino was using his insects to subdue the enemies around him as well as helping any citizens that remained. He noticed Sasuke leave the fight but he paid it no mind as he was unconcerned with what the Uchiha does. After a few more minutes of fighting, he saw Ino, Hinata, and Sakura coming his way. Once they were close enough, he brought in his insects and turned to face them.

Sakura spoke up for the three "Shino we have orders from Kakashi-sensei to have you and Shikamaru-san join us in backing up Sasuke-san as he has left to fight with the sun genin"

Shino nodded his head as he turned to where Shikamaru was laying. He would have tried to wake him up but he saw Ino taking care of it

Ino walked up to the laying form of Shikamaru before she put her hands on her hips and bent down to look at him "hey! Wake up you lazy bum! We have to get moving!"

Shikamaru's eyes opened up when he heard Ino talk and knew he wouldn't be able to fake it anymore "damn troublesome blonde"

Ino grew a tick mark but she took a deep breath in order to calm herself. She turned to the pug before speaking again "ok we're all ready. Lead us to Sasuke-san"

Pakkun looked at the group of kids before nodding and sniffed the air. After a few sniffs, he got it "got the scent, let's go" and he jumped towards where the scent was coming from

Everyone began to jump after the pug with Ino and Hinata at the back. As they left the seating area they both looked back to see Naruto still fighting the Oto-nin

'Be careful Naruto'

'Be safe Naruto-kun'

~back with Naruto~

Naruto was fending off the Oto-nin as he had finally gotten the glass out of his legs and was able to move better. He had no time to get the shards out of his arm though so it was still unable to heal. He was able to knock out another nin as he caught something in his peripheral vision. He turned his head in time to see Hinata and Ino runoff. 'Wonder where they're going?' after parrying another kunai slash from a Suna-nin something clicked into his mind 'that's…..the direction Gaara was taken?!'. His eyes widened when he realized that they must be going after the redhead. 'NO! They don't stand a chance against him!'. He jumped up to avoid a strike that came from behind him and he kicked his attacker in the back of the head. Once he landed he turned to Genma "Hey! I gotta go help out my friends! Can you handle the rest?!"

Genma looked back over his shoulder to give Naruto a nod.

Naruto didn't need any more prompting. He turned around and prepared to leave but he looked back and saw that Genma was still outnumbered. He created six clones to help him out before leaping away

~in the village~

Shinobi from Konoha were fighting off against shinobi from Oto and Suna.

Unfortunately for the invaders, the Konoha shinobi were already prepared for this as they were informed by the Hokage that an attack was expected from them

As the Konoha shinobi felt that they would be finishing up with the enemies they were shocked to see that three massive snakes were summoned and began to change the tide of the battle

The snakes began to destroy any building they had in their path. They slammed, swiped and pierced their tails in all that was around them with no restraint

The Konoha shinobi began to fall back from the snakes in order to get a better footing to attack but before they could do anything they heard

"Bring down the house Jutsu"

And three different toads landed on each of the snakes stopping their attacks dead. Jumping down from one of the snakes, came Jiraiya as he began to take down all the enemy shinobi around him

The people began to cheer when the sannin came and brought the battle back to their side

After ten minutes he finished the ones on that street before looking towards the stadium "I still think he should have let me stay with him but he just had to order me to protect the village." he then looked at the three downed snakes "But I guess it was the right call"

~with the back-up team~

The team were tree hopping through the forest in pursuit of Sasuke and the Suna-genin

With Hinata taking up the rear, she had her Byakugan active to make sure she kept track of anything around them. A few minutes more and she spoke up "I see Sasuke-san just a bit ahead of us"

Shikamaru nodded his head "ok. Let's move it so we can catch up with him"

As they pushed forward Hinata spoke up again "wait! We have a six following us"

Shikamaru grimaced when he heard this "damn. We are gonna have to have someone stay back and deal with them"

Shino began to speak "I will fall back in order to…."

"Troublesome. Alright I will stay and hold them off" Shikamaru interrupted as he stopped on a branch and turned to face the oncoming shinobi

The rest of the group kept moving but looked back at the shrinking form of Shikamaru. They knew that they had to keep going and knew that Shikamaru would be more than capable of taking care of himself

They moved their gaze forward as they push forward faster to catch up with Sasuke

~with Sasuke~

Sasuke was gaining on the sand genin as he could see them ahead of him. He was excited to face off against Gaara as he wanted to beat him to prove himself better than someone everyone seemed afraid of. He stopped jumping when he saw that the one wearing the black full-body catsuit stopped and face him "I'm not after you, so get out of my way"

Kankuro glared at the Uchiha as he pulled out his puppet "sorry but yours going to have to deal with me anyway"

Sasuke glared at Kankuro but he figured that he would deal with him fast and get to his real target so he got into a stance

Before either of them could make a move, a cloud of insects popped up in between them.

Sasuke looked to his left to see Shino walk up with his arms stretched out with his insects coming out of his sleeves

Shino stopped right at Sasuke's left before he spoke, "you should let me handle this one Uchiha-san. Why? Because I am more suited in facing a puppet user while you are more suited in facing the other two"

Sasuke smirked at this and noticed that Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were with them as well. "Hn fine just stay out of my way" and with that, he and the girls leaped towards where the other two went

Kankuro was about to give chase but he was stopped by a cloud of insects. He looked back to Shino and glared

Shino just looked on "you should never turn your back on your enemy. Why? Because it would more than likely get you killed"

The two-faced each other and both thinking that they do get to see who would have won the match back in the Chunin exams

~with Temari and Gaara~

Temari had put Gaara on a branch in order to take a breather as she had no doubt that Kankuro would be able to deal with the Uchiha. She looked at Gaara and could tell that he was about to let loose and she didn't want to be around when he unleashed the Ichibi 'was this even worth it?'. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"

She jumped back in order to avoid a fireball passing by her and Gaara. She looked over to see the Uchiha along with a few others 'damn it!'

Sasuke had a smirk when he landed on a branch to face the two but he became shocked when he saw Gaara. The redhead's left half was now covered in sand with a blue pattern on it and the eye looked completely different than it did before.

Gaara turned to face the newcomers and locked on to Sasuke "UCHIHA!" he then leaped after him and stretched out his sand arm, which elongated and charged at him

Sasuke and the girls all scattered to get away from the sand claw but Sasuke had to keep jumping around as the claw followed him

Hinata landed to Gaara's left and aw an opportunity in attacking since Gaara's attention was on Sasuke. Leaping towards him she activated her Byakugan and prepared to strike. But as she thrusted forward her strike was blocked by a wall of sand

Gaara turned his mad glare to Hinata before he sent a sand fist into Hinata's stomach.

Hinata was launched back until her back hit a tree forcing her to cough up some blood. She fell down onto a large branch that was under her

Sakura saw what happened to Hinata and wanted to go help her but knew that if she tried she would be taken out too. She had positioned herself behind Gaara and threw a couple of Shuriken as well as some of her paralyzing senbon hoping that at least one of them hit its mark. She was disappointed when a wall of sand appeared behind him and blocked all of her projectiles. Her eyes widened when the wall started shooting out sand kunai at her and she jumped out of the way as a shower of them began to follow her. She was saved when Ino jumped over her and threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached towards the wall. Once it impacted it exploded causing the sand kunai to stop. Sakura looked towards Ino with a grateful smile "thanks Ino"

Ino nodded as she looked at Gaara who was unfazed by the explosion "I don't think we have a chance against him with that sand protecting him

Temari was hiding a bit away as she didn't want Gaara to turn his sights on her. She knew she didn't need to help him as he was far more dangerous than she was but she was still worried about her little brother. Even if she feared him, she still loved him so she will help if he needs it

Sasuke was gritting his teeth as he was still being chased by a sand arm and even when he was able to get past the claw, another one came out of the arm which pushed him further away. He was now jumping from branch to branch as he made his way closer to Gaara with the claw still behind him. As he got closer he saw a wave of sand kunai shoot out of Gaara's side forcing him to activate his Sharingan in order to dodge most of them while he blocked the rest with a kunai he pulled out. What he didn't expect was that when he dodged and blocked the kunai he slowed down enough for the claw behind him to wrap around him "damn it!". He was then brought closer to Gaara

Gaara stared into the eyes of the Uchiha "is this all you have Uchiha! you're weak!"

That pissed off Sasuke as he struggled to get out of the sand claw "let me go and I'll show you what I can do!"

Gaara snarled as he willed the sand to crawl over the Uchiha's body "your blood will sooth mother"

Sasuke struggled more but soon found that sand was covering his head and he was about to have his face covered. But in the blink of an eye, he saw it.

"HAAAH!"

Naruto had appeared and kicked Gaara in the side of the head which sent him flying

Sasuke fell onto his hands and knees breathing in some air as the sand fell off him. He looked up to glare at Naruto "Dobe! I didn't need your help!"

Naruto turned his head to glared down at Sasuke "shut up! If you have realized, I just saved your ass so why don't you pull the stick out of your ass and get ready!" he turned to where Gaara landed to see him come out of a plume of smoke and the sand around his body increased, giving him a tail

"UZUMAKI!"

Gaara jumped after the two and launched his sand claw at them

Naruto threw a bunch of kunai with explosive tags attached at the arm while he watched Sasuke launch a fireball at Gaara

The tags exploded the arm while a wall of sand blocked Sasuke's fireball

Naruto flipped in the air to land on the side of a branch before launching himself at Gaara

Sasuke also charged at Gaara at the same time as Naruto

Gaara watched them get closer as he swung his tail at them

~meanwhile back with the hokage~

Orochimaru had finished given Hiruzen his reasons for what he had done and pulled out two kunai and placed them into the back of the heads of the first and second Hokage before he moved to the fourth "these kunai are laced with the DNA of the Hokage's and with the tags they shall obey my commands". He then did the same thing to the fourth before taking a step back

The three kages began to have steam come out of their body as their complexion began to become tanner and the look of exhaustion that were in their eyes began to lighten up into a more neutral expression

Zabuza gained a look of realization "I remember hearing of this. It's supposed to bring back the dead by using someone else's body. I thought it was just a rumor since it sounds like a good way to bring back monsters to fight for you"

Hiruzen nodded "you are correct Zabuza-san. Tobirama-sensei had created the Jutsu but he had not completed it. It would seem that Orochimaru-san has finished it."

The three resurrected Kage finally looked like they did before and they got into a fighting stance

Hiruzen thought about the upcoming fight and turned his head to Mei "Terumi-san, you fight against Hashirama-san…" he then looked to Zabuza "Zabuza-san, you fight against Tobirama-sensei." he then looked back forward "I shall deal with Minato-san"

Mei looked passed the three kage towards Orochimaru "what about the snake?"

Hiruzen smiled as he grabbed his robes "no worries. We shall be gaining an ally soon enough" and he threw off his Hokage robes and hat to show him wearing his black battle armor."

The robes and hat landed a bit away, near the edge of the barrier

Hiruzen decided that he would not hold back for this, and bit his thumb and went through hand-signs

Orochimaru immediately knew what Hiruzen was doing and look to the three kage "stop him! Do not let him summon!"

The three kages charged forward ready to stop Hiruzen

Zabuza and Mei intercepted their respective opponents while Minato moved passed them and towards Hiruzen

Hiruzen slammed his hand on the ground before Minato could stop him "Summoning Jutsu" and a large poof of smoke cover the two.

Before Minato could react, a white fur covered fist impacted into his chest sending him away

The smoke cleared to show Hiruzen standing next to his summon: Monkey King Enma. "so you finally decide to fix your mistake?"

Hiruzen sighed as he nodded "yes old friend. This time he will not leave this battle alive"

"Bout time. But first, we should deal with the one in front of us"

Minato got back on his feet grimacing at from the strike before pulling out one of his tri-pronged kunai

Hiruzen nodded with a smile "well we won't have to for long"

~back with Naruto~

Naruto flipped backwards to avoid another tail strike aimed at him and Sasuke. They had been on the defensive since Gaara seemed to gain more and more of a monstrous appearance. He had tried to use his wind blades and flames like during the exam but the sand seemed to be quicker to react and denser so they couldn't reach him. He landed on a branch and looked around at the ones helping him.

Sakura was knocked unconscious and pinned to a tree and was bleeding from her head from the impact.

Hinata was lying unconscious on the branch she fell on earlier and has not woken up from it, which he was glad about since it meant that she wasn't a target

Ino was standing on another branch, above him as she was there to throw explosive kunai when she had the chance but Naruto knew that she was running out of them and he really didn't want her around much longer

Sasuke was sporting a few cuts and bruises from being hit from sand kunai and sand fists

Naruto was the worst one out of all of them. With all the fight and chakra used to keep moving, his arm hasn't had time to heal at all. It was still bleeding profusely and he still hasn't removed the glass from it. He felt a bit woozy from the amount of blood loss but he had to keep moving since Gaara was a major threat He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a high pitched chirping coming from his side. Turning to his left he saw Sasuke holding a lightning ball in his hand 'Kakashi-sensei must have taught him that'. He looked at Sasuke then to Gaara and grew wide-eyed "Sasuke wait! You're too far away! You won't be able to get close enough!"

Sasuke just kept his glare on Gaara "shut up and watch me Dobe!" he jumped towards Gaara and prepared to pierce the redhead.

Gaara watched the Uchiha coming towards him and threw both his left and his now sand-covered right arm towards the Uchiha and stretched them out to grab him

Sasuke dodged the first sand claw and was able to shift himself in the air to avoid the second. He was confident in being able to hit his mark now that he avoided the two claws but his eyes grew wide when he saw another one come out of the stretched out arm and was coming straight for him. He gritted his teeth, getting ready for it but before the sand claw could get him he felt a shove coming from his right. He was shoved out of the way of the claw and he flipped into the air and landed on a branch to see that it was Naruto.

Naruto had made it just in time to get Sasuke out of the way of the claw but he was not as lucky. The sand claw had grabbed on to his right arm and kept going. Naruto gritted his teeth as he felt the sand squeeze his already injured arm and felt himself fly back. The sand claw impacted a tree and pinned Naruto to it by his arm "Gaaaaah!"

Sasuke watched the whole thing and was in a state of shock and this was a mistake.

Gaara sent his tail towards the Uchiha and since he wasn't paying attention he didn't react and was hit by the tail which sent him flying into the tree behind him, knocking him out

Naruto was using his left hand to claw at the sand to get himself free "damn it! Let go!"

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked up to see Ino coming his way "No! Get out of here! Get the others and leave!

Ino stopped when she heard this and she was conflicted. She wanted to help Naruto get out of his situation, she was afraid of Gaara and wanted to leave and she was slightly happy to hear him talk to her again regardless of the situation they were in

"GO!"

Ino shook her head when she heard this and turned around ready to get the others out of there. She looked back and without another word, she lept away

Naruto looked down back to Gaara as the redhead was staring at him 'need him to just keep his eyes on me'.

"You…...why do you worry about them?!"

Naruto was somewhat shocked to hear Gaara talk to him in this state, even if it was more growling out the words than speaking. He had expected him to just fight on instinct alone but he figured that he wasn't one to talk "I worry because I care about them!"

Gaara grew closer to Naruto until they were a dozen feet away from each other "you care? Why do you care? Monsters like us should only care about no one but ourselves!"

Naruto was shocked. 'How does he know? No, I don't think he knows what I am. He just knows that we hold tailed beasts'. Then something Gaara said bugged him "'Monter' I am not a monster. I've seen monsters and they have been after me for all my life. NO! I am no monster! If anything I am a Beast! And I will always worry about the ones that I care about! They make me strong!"

Gaara glared at Naruto with hate in his eyes "your wrong! They make you weak!"He then turned around and launched himself in a certain direction

Naruto's eyes shot open when he saw what direction he was heading to "NO!" he began to pull hard on his arm that was still pinned

Ino was picking up a now conscious Hinata in order to get themselves out of the area "come on Hinata! We need to go!"

Hinata held her head as it was still throbbing "I-ino?" she said as she looked up and her eyes widened when she saw Gaara land in front of them

Ino turned to where Hinata was looking and gasped in fear

When Gaara landed he sent out his sand towards the two girls and had it grab their feet

Naruto was panicking. He knew what Gaara was about to do and he needed to stop it. He gritted his teeth and put all his strength in pulling on his arm "come on! COME ON!"

"Aaahhh"

"Aaaaaaahhhh"

Naruto heard this and looked up to see both Ino and Hinata with sand up to their hips "NO!" he didn't care about the pain, he needs to get them out of there. So using every ounce of strength he pulled. After a few seconds, he could hear it, feel it but he pushed through it and then he was free. He fell to his hand and knees as blood came pouring out of what was left of his arm. He had ripped off the damaged arm and it was now just a stump. He could feel himself become dizzy from the pain and blood loss but he didn't care he needed to move. He lifted his head towards them and his heart stopped. Ino and Hinata were covered to their shoulders and they had a look of utter fear

Hinata was afraid. She was struggling to get out but she was unable to move much. Her gaze fell on Naruto and tears came to her eyes. Naruto: the boy who saved her, who encouraged her, help her, was always there for her when she needed him to be there…..the one who forgave her for abandoning him. The boy that she never got a chance to say what she always wanted to say for years

Ino was trying to think of a way to get out of the sand. She knew what this could mean but she didn't want to give up just yet. As she was looking around for something to help her until she spotted Naruto and what he had just done. Naruto the one who she became friends with all those years ago. The one who she could spend time with and never feel bored. The one she hurt and yet he made sure she felt better after her match with Shino. The one she missed having by her side. She one she just realized that she wanted to say something really important to

Naruto was stumbling on his feet and willing himself to move forward but his body wouldn't listen. He fell to the ground 'DAMN IT MOVE!'

"Naruto!/Naruto-Kun"

Naruto shifted his head to look up and tears began to all as he saw that Hinata's and Ino's face were the only things left and his ears heard a few things that hit him hard for a few different reasons.

"SAND COFFIN!"

"Naruto/Naruto-Kun….I love you"

"SAND BURIAL!"

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

End chapter

Should I expect hate from this …...yes BUT before you get on my case …..I can't say anything otherwise it would spoil it, just before you unfavorite or hate me. I implore you to read the next few chapters when they come out, please

Now for the less impactful stuff

This was originally going to be two chapters but as I was writing the first part, it just kept going and going until it became this big one. I think it makes up for the last one being so small

What do you guys think of the Uzumaki Volley? I wanted to make a variation to the Uzumaki Barrage

As for the flame pillar. That I had planned for a while and if you want a reference to what it looked like (I just remembered about this when I put it here) watch Prince of Egypt. Which I do not own

If any of you got the little nod to the other anime than you get a cyber cookie

Now to let you guys know that I will most likely be editing this chapter a lot to fix up some errors that I know must be in this s please forgive me if it says updated when there is no new chapter up yet

few edits made, went through a better spell checker than G-docs. too bad I don't have word :P

also check out my profile for my future story Ideas as well as the stories I have up so far

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