"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

"Jutsu name"

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Reviews Corner

For those who pointed out some errors in chapter 48: thank you for telling me what the errors were and not being an a** about it. Seriously thank you. I don't understand why people enjoy saying "your grammar sucks" instead of giving helpful tips or advice. I mean just say where the error is and leave it at that. I've gone back and fixed the ones pointed out.

Ladygoddess8: thanks for that. Gave me an idea on what to do with her.

Absolom Hellgate: I actually just gained a plan for her but she won't really have a grand part other than my plan.

Fernando Verdus: glad you enjoyed the story so much that you read it non stop. Hope you continue to enjoy it.

Autobot-Wolfsketch: I wanted her to be stronger than her cannon version so I showed that she is able to do the 64 palms now since she wasn't able to do it until the war in the canon.

Guest (spanish):.Pienso lo mismo. pero ahora tengo un plan para ella

Otakumode: interesting pairing. I might do that but I am not sure.

DragoonSensei: welcome to this story. Yeah I wanted to add something that I haven't read in other fics so I try and come up with training methods that are plausible in their world and techniques that I can claim I came up with. :P

Codathewizard: I'm glad you like the fights and you find them interesting. To answer your two questions: yes eventually it will convert. Already have a plan on how it will happen. And for your second question: he will keep growing. Think of it this way Kurama got to his sze after centuries of growing, Naruto only has under a decade. So eventually he will grow in size.

Guest: glad you like it

InfernalzRush: well the wait is over.

Chapter 49: Aiding Allies

"THOSE FUCKING MORONS!"

The peaceful air in Konoha was suddenly disrupted when everyone heard their Hokage shout at the top of her lungs.

Tsunade was furious right now. She had sent out an Anbu to summon Naruto to her office as she had not received his written report from his previous mission that he returned to a couple of days ago. But the Anbu was not able to find the boy. It wasn't until she was visited by Shino Aburame, who was at the moment standing in front of her desk, that she learned that Naruto, Ino, and Hinata had left the village and were on their way towards the retrieval team.

Shino had heard what had happened from one of his insects that he let roam the village during that time. The insect had returned to him only an hour ago and once he learned that Naruto, Ino, and Hinata had gone after the team, he went straight to the Hokage to inform her about this. Right now, he as well as his insects were shivering from the KI that the Hokage was releasing. The only thing that made it more tolerable was the fact that he knew that her anger wasn't aimed at him.

Shizune moved to stand next to Tsunade as she tried to calm her down. "Now Lady Tsunade, please calm down."

Tsunade felt like breaking something but after hearing Shizune, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Once she calmed down she sat down in her seat and rubbed her forehead to try and stave off the oncoming migraine. After a minute of calming down, she heard a knock at the door. In anger, she grunted out an "Enter!"

The door opened to show Kakashi nonchalantly coming in with his hands in his pockets. He walked until he was standing next to Shino, who he gave an eye smile at before facing the Hokage. He knew that she was mad about something but he knew that it wasn't at him so he should be relatively safe. "Here to report on my mission, Hokage-sama"

Tsunade still felt her anger boiling her blood but with the arrival of Kakashi, she now had an idea on a way to fix the situation.

Kakashi for some reason, felt like he should have added three more hours to his delayed arrival.

~with Naruto~

Neji felt extremely uncomfortable at the moment. He considered himself to be a very collected individual and there have not been many things in his life that would make him question things. However, at the moment he could not help but do just that.

"Don't get used to this. I am not going to be a ride for everyone every time we go out on a mission. This is only because we need to hurry and catch up with the others."

Neji looked down at the large fox Naruto clone that he was riding. This is what had him a little stunned since he would never think that he would be riding on the back of a six tailed fox. Even more so riding on the Chunin that had beaten him in the Chunin exams. Before he could say anything, the original Naruto began to speak.

"Karin-chan! How are you with your chakra level?"

Karin took a second to check her chakra before answering "with the rest that I get from riding your clone, my levels are at 60% more or less!"

Naruto nodded before he and his clones had come out of the forest, only to dig their claws into the ground to stop themselves from falling into a ravine that seemed to split the forest in two.

Everyone that was riding Naruto and his clones screamed at the sudden stop and held on as tight as they could to whatever they were holding on to so they wouldn't fall off.

Once everyone had stabilized themselves on their ride's back, some of them had begun yelling at Naruto and his clones for the sudden stop, namely Ino and Karin.

Karin would have hit the clone she was on but she knew that it would dispel if she hit it hard enough so she restrained herself

Ino, however, whacked him in the head. "Damn it Naruto! Don't just stop like that without warning!"

Naruto just turned his head to look at Ino and used one of his paws to point in front of them.

Everyone followed the finger to see the massive ravine that they almost fell into. Most of them were then very thankful that Naruto had control enough to stop before falling in.

Neji berated himself for not seeing it as he knew that even without his Byakugan, he should have seen that coming but he was still in a bit of befuddlement about riding Naruto.

Choji pulled out another bag of chips since he dropped his last one. "*munch munch* so we gotta get to the other side right?"

Naruto didn't answer as he sniffed the air, catching the scent of his comrade "Kiba and Akamaru are close. They are next to…...two people. They smell foul, like the other guys that your team was chasing."

Neji spoke up at this "Kiba-san must be fighting a couple of the members. Although Akamaru is with him, it is not favorable for him." Neji figured that now that they have caught up, they can help him out now. "Where are they?"

Naruto took another few whiffs in the air before he realized that the smell led into the raven. He smelled something else but at the moment he did not think it was really important. After he got the scent he gestured his head "he is in the ravine itself."

Everyone was shocked to hear this with some of them thinking that Kiba and Akamaru fell into it

Hinata felt worried for her teammate as she spoke "we need to go help him Naruto-Kun."

Naruto nodded as Ino spoke up in concern

"It will take forever for us to get down there!"

Naruto then gained an idea "not if we take the shortcut."

Everyone looked at the original Naruto in confusion with Karin asking "what shortcut?"

Naruto looked to his clones and each of them nodded. Each of them tensed their muscles, which did not go unnoticed by the riders

Ino suddenly felt like something was about to happen. Something that she was not going to like "Naruto …..what are you doing?"

Naruto began to move

Hinata felt fear take over as she gripped the scruff of Naruto's neck "N-n-naruto-k-Kun?"

In a split second, all of the riders felt a sense of weightlessness. Naruto had moved quickly before any of them had a chance. They all immediately realized that the ground under each of the clones and the original Naruto was now no longer underneath them. For a second they felt the weightlessness and then they felt it. The quick rush that came from falling and they all did the only thing their mind would allow them to do

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

They screamed at the top of their lungs as they fell into the ravine at high speeds and they held onto the fox they were on for dear life.

~Kiba~

"Fang over Fang!"

Kiba and Akamaru, who had transformed into a clone of Kiba, used their signature jutsu against their opponent hoping to do at least some sort of damage.

Throughout the first part of the fight, Kiba found out that what he assumed to be just one person turned out to be two fused together. As the fight continued, he learned that the second person added his own limbs to create multiple limbed attacks so when he should have been hit with just one right hook, it turned into three fists instead.

Once Kiba and Akamaru landed a hit on the person, both Kiba and Akamaru were now pushing back against a set of hands from the two in one opponent.

Kiba was gritting his teeth at this. 'Damn it! Whatever hell kind of jutsu that is, it's becoming a pain in the ass!' Seeing that he couldn't use his arms at the moment he opted to try and kick the body. Much to his ire, a foot seemed to come out of the stomach and block his kick. 'Damn it.'

Akamaru was in the same situation as Kiba but when he heard Kiba grunt, he took his eyes off the one he was facing. This was a mistake as he found himself being headbutted back.

Kiba heard the yelp form his partner and looked towards Akamaru. Suddenly a pair of hands came out of the stomach net to the foot that blocked his kick and grabbed his leg.

Sakon smiled as he spun his body, pulling the Inuzuka around and slammed the dog clone while also tossing the boy to the side. "Thanks for the assist Ukon."

The second head smirked at this "you were taking too long." activating their curse mark, Ukon gained red tone to his skin, his teeth became more animalistic and gained one horn on the right side of his forehead. "Let's end them already."

Sakon sighed as he also activated his curse mark "very well." he gained the same features as Ukon but with his horn on the left side. Once they were both transformed they ran towards Kiba

Kiba got to his feet as Akamaru barked at him

*ARF ARF*

Kiba smiled as he wiped some blood from his chin "yeah yeah, I know. Damn it, you and Naruto are always telling me to never underestimate my opponent." he looked at the charging twins and smirked, "Guess it's time we tear him to shreds! Let's go Akamaru!" he charged to meet his opponent as Akamaru flanked them. As he got closer he dropped to a slide and kicked out one of the legs.

Sakon saw this and his brother extended his legs to make their stability stronger.

Kiba grit his teeth at his failed attempt but he got to his feet and aimed a right hook at his face

Ukon brought his hand out of Sakon's left shoulder and caught the fist.

Kiba was really starting to hate that ability but he grinned as he brought his other hand to grip on Ukons wrist, keeping them in place in a way. "NOW AKAMARU!"

Sakon and Ukon noticed a shadow on them so they both looked up in time to see the white puppy right above them.

Akamaru then began to spin in the air while sending out piss. His aim was true as he covered Ukon and Sakon's head with it.

Both jumped in surprise "Argh what the hell!?" "Did that dog just piss on us?" they moved back and tried to wipe it off them as best they could

Kiba smiled as he jumped up, had Akamaru land on his head, and did one hand-sign. "Here we go! Inuzuka Style: Man Beast Transformation Combo: Two-Headed Wolf!" 'heh let's see Naruto outdo this!'

Both Akamaru and Kiba were enveloped in a large puff of smoke which caught the attention of both Ukon and Sakon

The two brothers looked up to see the large puff of smoke begin to clear. They watch as, out of the smoke, a massive two-headed white wolf appeared and growled menacingly at them "well….this should be interesting"

Kiba lunged at the now smaller target and had the left head bite down on where they were

Sakon jumped out of the way and watched as the rocky ground that he once stood at was shattered. "Shit! We better not get caught by this mutt."

"Sakon LOOK OUT!"

Sakon looked to his right to see the second head open its mouth before chomping down on him "AARGH!"

Kiba had half of the body in his mouth and began to shake his head violently (just to be clear on things. Kiba is the Right head and Akamaru is the left. Ukon is the right and Sakon is the left). Kiba pressed his jaw shut as hard as he could but was unable to bite completely through since Ukon, who was inside the mouth, was using three hands and three legs to try and pry it open to get free. 'Damn this guy is stubborn!'

Ukon was screaming in both pain and fear "let me go, you filthy BITCH!"

Kiba and Akamaru didn't take any real offense at being called that since for Inuzuka, "Bitch" is an actual term for female dogs…..Kiba did however take offense at being called female. He pressed down harder which caused Ukon to begin to panic. Kiba turned his gaze to Akamaru and shifted his head a bit

Akamaru already knew what Kiba wanted and moved his head.

Sakon was hitting the mouth as best he could but from the angel and the lack of extra limb help, couldn't even cause a flinch from the large canine. "Let us go you ….!" he didn't get to finish his statement as he saw movement from the corner of his eye. He turned his head just in time to see the second mouth chomp down on his side "AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH"

Kiba and Akamaru pressed their teeth down hard. Both tasted the copper flavor of blood and knew they now had a solid grip before they began to pull. In a quick motion, they pulled and ripped the two apart before flinging what they had in different directions and watched as the two halves of the body just rolled on the ground. They did not undo their jutsu yet since they learned that it was wise to make absolutely sure that their opponent was dead. They were proven right as they saw one of the bodies convulse before it grew an arm, and a leg but instead of flesh, it looked like it was a black scaly armor.

Ukon got back to his feet and breathed a sigh of relief that he was able to survive what he just went through. "Shit! That was too close." he looked over to his brother, who was beyond the large mutt and noticed that he wasn't moving

Sakon couldn't move as he groaned in pain. The main problem was that he had lost both his leg and arm since Ukon used his limbs as well to try and get free. He was glad that he actually survived but he was really hating the aftereffects of their Kekkei Genkai. True that it allowed them to fuse and use each other's body parts to help out and they are able to heal while fused but the problem was that if they are damaged enough, the wounds could become fatal for one of them. It's true that they can heal while fused but it puts them out of commission for a while. He was damaged more than Ukon because in a sense there is less of him on this part of the body. Channeling his chakra, he regrew his missing half to look just like his brother at the moment but he felt sluggish and frail. "Damn it. I need to fuse back with Ukon."

Kiba and Akamaru kept their gaze on each. Kiba looking to his right at Ukon and Akamaru looking to the left at Sakon. "How the hell are they still alive? We ripped him in two."

*ARF*

"Well we haven't used the move yet so we might as well use it now." Kiba looked back and forth between the two, thinking on who to use it on first. He noticed that Sakon looked to be the most tired of the two and decided on him. He and Akamaru turned to face him and began charging

Ukon saw this and noticed that Sakon was looked down to the ground in exhaustion. "Sakon MOVE!"

Sakon looked up and began to panic.

Kiba and Kamaru gained the momentum they need and jumped in the air before spinning rapidly "Wolf Fang over Fang"

Sakon had enough energy to jump out of the way but was still clipped in the side.

Ukon ran towards his brother in order to fuse together again. This fight is not going their way at all. The sudden transformation that the boy used changed everything. They had the advantage in a taijutsu fight since they could block any attack the kid had but not the size difference and change in strength put the kid on the winning side. He felt relief when he saw Sakon dodge the attack and Ukon assumed that the large two-headed dog would need to stop for a second before turning around and charging again. Unfortunately, this was not what happened.

Sakon rolled on the ground after being clipped and rolled to his feet. 'I need to get to Ukon NOW!.' he looked over to his brother before looking at the spinning two-headed wolf. He had also, unknowingly assumed the same thing as his brother but to his shock, instead of stopping, the kid just bounced off the ground and looped up and back towards him. His eyes widened at the incoming attack. He was so surprised that he stopped all movement. It was only at the last second that the regained his wits but by then it was too late. The attack dug into his chest and he could feel himself being torn apart. "aaaaaAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH"

Ukon watched as the attack ripped through his brother and the remains of him were sent into the river. "You fucking piece of shit!"

Kiba and Akamaru watched as the one they attacked ended up sinking into the water. They turned their gaze to the last one and chose not to give him a chance to do anything. 'Better finish him off fast. I'm running out of chakra already.' "Wolf Fang Over Fang"

Ukon was gritting his teeth as he saw the incoming attack. Knowing that he would not be able to handle it he came up with a last-second defense. He waited until the attack was close enough before he channeled all his chakra into his palms, brought his hands to his mouth, bit both his thumbs, and slammed both hands on the ground "Summoning Jutsu." Ukon summoned a large red door-like barrier that had a demonic face on it.

Kiba was unable to see the direction he was going since the spin of the attack caused him to be unable to see clearly. He was using the scent mark that Akamaru used to track down where his opponent was. Due to this weakness, he was unable to see the wall in front of him and Akamaru so they ended up slamming into it, leaving a good-sized dent in it. The sudden stop gave both him and Akamaru massive head trauma. Their attack jutsu stopped as they began to fall towards the ground. They impacted the ground hard and rolled away from the barrier. It was unfortunate that they ran out of chakra at that point and their transformation dispelled. Kiba groaned as he tried to pick himself up from the ground. Looking to his left he saw Akamaru was lawing on the ground whimpering. This caused Kiba to drag himself to his partner and brought him into his arms as he sat up "damn it. Looks like we reached the end of our rope huh?"

*whimper*

Kiba heard chuckling and looked up to see Ukon walking toward him but he also noticed that the transformation was undoing itself.

Ukon was exhausted. Using the summoning jutsu without Sakon had cost him the last of his chakra and even if his power was boosted with curse mark, the loss of Sakon had been a major blow. "Hehe looks like you are screwed." he pulled out a kunai from his sleeve as he made his way to the downed Inuzuka. "Too bad for you that I still have the energy to finish you off."

Kiba spat out some blood as he smirked at Ukon "screw you, you sorry sack of shit." Kiba held Akamaru closer to his chest as if to protect him.

Ukon smiled sadistically as he now stood a few feet away. "Those are your last words kid." he lifted his kunai ready to strike him down

"Wind Style: Great Wind Protective Wall"

Ukon found himself being flung away by a large gust of wind and slammed him into a boulder.

Kiba smirked as he looked down "about time you showed up."

"Don't act like you knew I was coming."

"I caught your scent a bit ago. You smell like desert lilies so I knew you were coming. " he looked up to see the back of Temari "thanks for the save."

Temari looked back at Kiba and gave a playful smirk "I did it to save the dog since you couldn't protect him yourself."

Kiba grumbled at that jab but did nothing other than lean back a bit and sighed tiredly

Both heard the movement of Ukon and looked over to see him slowly getting up.

Ukon whipped the blood from his forehead as he glared at the newcomer "who the hell are you?!"

Temari smiled as she answered "I am an ally of Konoha. That's all you need to know…" she pulled her fan to her side as she channeled her chakra to finish the guy off "and all you will ever know. Wind Style: Wind Cutter barrage!" Temari swung her fan, sending several blades of wind towards Ukon.

Ukon panicked as he saw the blades of wind heading his way. He tried to move out of the way but, without the use of chakra, it was pointless as he found himself being sliced into pieces.

Temari smirked as she closed her fan and slammed it on the ground "too easy."

Kiba barked out a laugh "ha! Only because I weakened him to the point that he was already dead on his feet!"

"Keep telling yourself that dog boy."

Kiba grumbled as he fell on his back with Akamaru now on his lap "urgh. I'm too tired to handle you."

Temari smiled at this "you make it sound like you could handle me."

"Hey! Don't forget who almost won our first match."

"Almost is still losing."

"Damn female, Suna, fan-wielding, wind user."

Temari walked to him until she stood over him "quiet your grumbling and sit up. We gotta take care of your wounds."

Kiba grumbled one more time before he sat up and patted Akamaru, who was now wagging his tail at the sight of Temari.

Temari spent a few minutes dabbing some antiseptic on a cut on Kiba's arm before she heard something.

Kiba had heard it too and looked around to see where it was coming from "you hear that?"

Temari nodded as she put her hand on the fan on her back "yeah, but what is it?"

They both listened closely until it became clearer

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Three large puffs of smoke and debris blocked what had landed in front of them.

Temari brought out her fan ready for an attack while Kiba got to his feet and brought his fists up to at least defend himself

Akamaru, on the other hand, began to wag his tail, even more. *arf arf!*

Kiba looked to Akamaru in confusion "what do you mean 'friends'?"

Both Temari and Kiba waited for the smoke to clear up and when it did they were stunned to see who it was. They saw that it was Ino, Hinata, Choji, Karin, and Neji but from the looks they had, they were not feeling very well.

What surprised Kiba was the fact that they were all riding large six tailed foxes.

Ino, Choji, Karin, and Neji fell off and collapsed onto the ground while Hinata collapsed on the back of the fox she was riding.

Ino was hyperventilating as she was on her hands and knees, Karin fell flat on her front and trying to catch her breath, Neji tried to get back on his feet on wobbly legs and Choji ran to the side to let loose his lunch.

Temari took her hand off her fan before she smiled at the group before walking towards them "looks like you guys made it through your fights."

Ino looked up at Temari as she began to speak through pants "th….they….made it out….with some….help."

Temari looked up to Naruto who was using one of his tails to gently put Hinata on the ground "I'm sure I know who helped them out."

Naruto and his clones sat in a line as they looked towards Temari and smiled.

Kiba was confused about what Temari was doing. He seemed to be looking at the foxes with a grateful look on her face. His confusion grew when Akamaru ran up to the center fox and was barking in excitement.

Naruto was looking down at Akamaru and gave a toothy smile. He was about to say something but he was interrupted by Kiba

"Hey what the hell are you guys doing here?"

Everyone looked towards Kiba who was making his way towards them.

Kiba looked between everyone in confusion "I'm glad to see you guys made it through your fights but what are Ino and Hinata doing here? And who summoned these foxes. Did one of you get a fox summoning contract or something?"

Naruto had to hold in his laughter since he himself did get the Fox summoning contract but Kiba was thinking that he himself was one of the summons. He chose to keep quiet and see how long he can keep up this facade as Kiba was moving closer to him to examine him. Unfortunately, his fun came to a halt when he felt malicious intent moving fast in their direction

Kiba was surprised at the size of the foxes but something about them was familiar. Not just the way they look but their scent too. He knows he had smelled it before, plenty of times but at the moment his mind just couldn't connect them. As he was looking the center one over, he was suddenly hit in the face hard.

Everyone was shocked to see Kiba being hit but it wasn't the fact that he was hit, but the fact that the hit came from Naruto.

Naruto was speechless by what happened but he didn't have time to do anything since the malicious intent was right on top of him but as he looked around, he couldn't see anyone that would be releasing it.

"Hehe, I should thank you for arriving. This summon is chock-full of chakra for me to use."

Everyone looked towards where the voice came from and were surprised to see it was coming from Naruto or rather the head that was coming out of Naruto's left shoulder blade.

Naruto looked over his shoulder to look at the head of Sakon.

Sakon smiled sadistically at everyone "thought I was dead, didn't you? Too bad I was able to live through that jutsu you used."

Kiba got back to his feet as he glared at the Oto nin "we tore you to pieces! Why won't you stay dead!?"

Sakon laughed at them as he spoke "I was very nearly dead but I was able to hold on to the last bit of life. And thanks to this summons immense chakra, I will be able to reform myself."

Everyone got into a ready stance, preparing to attack Sakon who's next words stopped them

"Ah ah. If you attack me, the only one that will be hurt is this fox."

Everyone was worried about Naruto, except for Kiba since he still thought it was a summon but he was worried about the fox's well being.

Sakon could feel his body reforming thanks to fusing with the body of the fox.

Naruto was irritated at the fact that he was being used to help the enemy…..again. 'Why does everyone try and use me to make themselves stronger?!' not in the mood for dealing with this for long he chose to end it.

Sakon felt invigorated at the chakra used to reform himself until he noticed something wrong. Red chakra began to bubble up from where he was fused and it began to burn him.

Naruto channeled his demonic chakra towards where Sakon was in order to expunge him.

Sakon began to panic as the chakra began to eat at him. "Shit what the hell is this?" he would have stayed fused but he realized that he was no longer healing. "Whatever the fuck this is I can't handle it!" he began to pull himself out of the fox but was halted as one of the paws lifted up and wrapped around his head

Naruto gripped hard on Sakon's head as he continued to channel chakra into the parasite. He began to squeeze the head harder until he heard the skull begin to crack.

"Argh AAAAHHHHH Let go of me, you stupid Kyuubi wannabe!"

Naruto gained a tick mark on his head as he heard this. He wasn't the only one that was ticked

"A wannabe eh!? My kit has the makings of becoming like me! Incinerate him, kit! And show him how much of a 'wannabe' you are!"

Naruto gave a toothy smirk as he pulled hard at Sakon before ripping the parasite out of him. He looked at Sakon and saw that all that was left of him was one arm and half of the torso.

Sakon felt some relief that he was no longer dealing with the burning chakra but he felt his life being drained since there wasn't much left of him. He peeked between two of the fox's finger to look at its face and felt fear at the slitted blue eyes that bore into his minuscule soul.

Naruto smiled "you parasites need to stop sponging off me." he tossed Sakon away before he and his clones took a deep breath. Gathering the chakra they needed, the three lew out a torrent of fire at Sakon.

Sakon's eyes widened when he saw the wall of flames coming closer "aaah AAAAHHHHHH!"

Everyone just stood there gobsmacked at what Naruto just did. They knew he was strong but they sometimes forget how strong. They were brought out of their awe when Naruo spoke again

"Ew ew ew EW EW EEEWWWW! I feel gross now that he is out of me. Ugh!" Naruto ran towards the river and jumped in as his clones dispelled.

Kiba heard the voice and it finally clicked why the fox's scent was familiar. "Wait .….NARUTO!?"

Naruto ignored Kiba since he was at the moment trying to get rid of the tingly feeling he got from the enemy

Kiba looked to the rest hoping for some answer but everyone just shook their heads at Nauto's antics.

Kari looked towards Kiba as she moved over to him.

Kiba notice Karin coming closer and would have asked what it was she wanted but he stopped when Karin shoved her arm in front of his face

"Bite and suck." she knew already that Nauto would ask her to heal him so she chose to just get it over with

Kiba blushed at what she just said. He looked to everyone for an answer on what he should do but it looked like everyone was just dawdling at the moment. However, when his gaze landed on Temari, he could see something her eyes. He didn't know what it was but he swore he saw something similar in his mother's eyes when he did something wrong.

Karin was growing impatient so she slapped him upside the head with her free hand "hurry up! Or do you want to stay injured?!"

Kiba then remembered what she did to Lee during the Chunin exams and just did as she said.

Temari didn't know why but what Kiba was doing made her eye twitch. It was made even worse when the redhead started to moan erotically.

"Ahn~ mmmnn~"

Kiba felt a trickle of blood come out of his nose at the sounds. 'What the hell!' he didn't get a chance to think anymore when he was hit on top of the head

Temari brought her smoking fist back "that's enough of that."

Kiba was now sitting on the ground holding his head in pain "ow! what the hell was that for!?"

"For being a pervert."

"What!? She told me to do that."

"And why would you listen to her?"

"She told me to."

Temari quirked an eyebrow "oh and if I told you to jump off a cliff would you?"

"Hell no!"

Everyone else that was listening to the conversation couldn't help but think one thing

'Naruto would'

They all heard the splashing stop and looked at the now sopping wet fox making his way toward them

Naruto stopped in front of them before speaking "that felt weird." he then shook himself, spraying everyone with water

"Hey!"

"Naruto!"

"Dude stop!"

"Aw man stop."

Naruto finally stopped and looked to his friend only to sheepishly smile at the now dripping wet group as they glared at him. "Eh heh….sorry."

Everyone began to dry themselves off after they stopped glaring at Naruto

Kiba was staring at Naruto when he finished and was trying to figure out what he was looking at. Before he could say anything though, Naruto beat m to it

"We should get moving now if we want to catch up with Shikamaru and Lee"

This caught Kiba, Choji, and Neji by surprise.

Neji then thought about it for a second until he sighed and shook his head "this is the kind of thing that Lee-san would do."

Karin felt her anger grow when she remembered finding his room empty and a note saying 'off to save my youthful friends'.

Temar smiled as she moved forward "well the lazy bum should be getting help himself." she looked towards the group "how many of them have you taken out?"

Neji looked at the group before answering "including the one Naruto had just defeated, three."

Kiba brought his hand up as he said "actually the guy we fought was two so, I took out one and Naruto destroyed the other.."

Temari smirked at Kiba before she said "more like the one that I beat since you weren't able to finish him off."

Kiba would have said something but he stopped and thought about it. He realized that he wasn't the one that beat them. He slumped and grumbled at how unfair it was that he didn't get to beat his opponent.

Naruto stifled his laughter at the grumbling Inuzuka before he stopped and summoned three clones. "Alright, everyone! Let's get moving!"

Everyone besides Kiba, Akamaru, and Temari began to protest about riding him again but Naruto chose to ignore them.

Akamaru jumped into Kiba's jacket as he and Temari jumped on top of one of the clones, with Temari in the front and Kiba in the back

Temari glared back at Kiba as she growled out "touch anything and you lose your hands."

Kiba really felt the need to just get off so he could run alongside the group but he was already on the clone so he gingerly wrapped his hands around her stomach and prayed that he wouldn't lose anything from this.

Naruto and his clones saw that everyone else, other than Hinata, were stubbornly refusing to ride on his back so they made the decision.

"Release me Naruto!"

"Put me down Naruto or you're going to get it!"

"Naruto, at least go slow so I won't lose my lunch again."

"Put me down right now!"

Naruto picked everyone up with his tails. "Well let's get going." he then began to run to the other side of the ravine and then up the wall. While ignoring the screams of his friends.

After forcing everyone on his back again, Naruto and the group had continued through the forest towards their next destination. Naruto continued to follow the scent of his friends but he suddenly began to slow down before coming to a stop.

Ino looked down at Naruto from behind Hinata to ask what they all wanted to know "Naruto why'd you stop?"

Naruto sniffed the air for a bit before speaking "I caught Lee's scent."

Temari quirked an eyebrow at this "you mean the spandex-wearing guy. What's the problem if he is out here to help?"

"It's in a different direction than Shikamaru's" Naruto sniffed the air again before he pointed straight ahead "Lee's scent is in that direction…." he then turned his attention directly to the left "...And Shikamau's scent is coming from over there."

Ino looked between the two directions "so which way should we go?"

Karin had no problem deciding "if Lee is in that direction….!" she pointed straight ahead "then I am going that way!"

Naruto was about to say something but he caught a few new scents as well….from both directions "Shikamaru isn't alone. There is someone else with him. A few actually. Same with Lee but I only smell two"

Kiba and Akamaru sniffed the air as well "he's right. There are five others with Shikamaru actually. One of them smells like the sand, wood and…..makeup?" he looked towards Temari who was trying to stifle a laugh

"That would be my brother Kankuro. He's most likely helping out that lazy bum."

Neji narrowed his eyes "still the odds are against them. We should split up here. One group goes to help out Shikamaru while the other helps out Lee."

Naruto nodded "so who goes to who?"

Choji brought up his fist "I'm going to help out Shikamaru!"

Karin crossed her arms as she humphed "I'm going to go kill Lee."

Temari looked in the direction of Shikamaru "I should help my brother out."

Hinata and Ino were unsure where they should go.

Nauto thought about the people that he was with and came up with a game plan "Ino, Choji, Temari, and Hinata will go help Shikamaru out. Neji, Karin, Kiba, Akamaru, and I will go help out Lee."

Neji looked at Naruto impressed at the smart decision he made.

Choji was happy to help out his friend but he had to ask "why set us up that way?"

"You, Ino, and Shikamaru are a team already. You three will work best together. Temari goes cause she most likely knows how to fight alongside her brother. Hinata because she can disable the opponent if she is given a chance." Naruto then gestured to the others with his finger "Neji will go to help Lee for the same reason as Ino and Choji helping Shikamaru out. He can do the same to Lee's opponent as Hinata can to Shikamaru's enemy. Karin cause she would go even if I told her not to. Kiba and Akamaru cause they can be the front line fighters that can help out Neji in case it needs to be a taijutsu fight. I'm going to make sure that each side has a Chunin with them….and to help them out in case they need it."

Everyone was impressed with the logic of this. Naruto may not be book smart much but when it comes to how a fight should go, he knows what he is talking about.

Naruto looked at Ino and asked "Ino, you still have that scroll I gave you?"

Ino nodded as she pulled the scroll from her pouch and gave it to him.

Naruto took the scroll and handed it to Karin since she had a pouch that was big enough to hold on to it.

Everyone changed positions and went towards their assigned target

~Shikamaru~

Shikamaru was really hating his chances right now. He couldn't get close to his opponent, he isn't given time to think up a plan and the three summons that she has have more strength than he could ever think of overpowering. Not only that but the summons were releasing a smoke-like creature out of their mouths that seemed to eat chakra if one of the several mouths on it catches what they are after 'Troublesome. Why couldn't someone be given this role? I wish I could just go home and watch the clouds.' he was brought out of his thoughts as he had to jump to another tree, hidden by the shadows since the summons were closing in on his position. He peeked from around the tree he landed on to see how far away he was from Tayuya. 'Damn it! I'm being further and further away. I need to get close enough to use my jutsu but if she sees me then she will have one of them come at me from behind.' he tried to think of something but knew that he needed more space between him and the others. Jumping to the side to circle around Tayuya. Finding a solid branch a good distance between him and the others he knelt down and checked his supplies before getting into his infamous thinking pose.

Tayuya was keeping a wary eye on any movement from within the forest. She kept playing her flute as she thought 'he can't stay out there for long. Sooner or later he is going to have to come at me but with my summons out, he won't be able to do anything.' she then looked towards her summons 'I better bring them in. if he is able to get close enough then they would become useless.' she played a different tune that brought her summons closer to her. Once the three surrounded her she went back to looking in the forest 'now…...where are you?'

A kunai from her left was her answer.

The clawed summon blocked it as she narrowed her eyes 'there you are!' she sent her club wielder towards the directions and smashed a tree that she thought could have hidden him. She then noticed a glint from her right. Four shuriken were thrown at her, which were also blocked by the clawed one. She sent the mummified one with the smoke coming out of its mouth. Not seeing any movement she shifted her eyes around 'show yourself you piece of shit!' she was granted her wish when she saw him land in front of her, tossing a kunai at her. She couldn't help but internally scoff. 'Does he really think he could hit me from that far away?' the clawed one blocked the kunai and Tayuya felt tired of this game so she played her flute again to get the three to change course and charge at the Nara

Shikamaru knelt down and watched as the three summons grew closer. His eyes shifted to behind Tayuya to see a glint

A kunai tied to a branch was pulled back causing strain on the branch. A wire tied in the kunai ring was slightly cut so that it would snap soon. The small cut strained until it finally snapped which caused the branch to snap forward, launching the kunai forward, above Tayuya. The launch of the kunai was too weak to do much if it was aimed at her, most likely it would break the skin but not do much, so the best choice was to aim it for a hanging flash bomb that was above her.

Tayuya smirked as she saw the Nara kneeling and her summons on him. 'Checkmate.' Suddenly her eyes widened when she saw a flash bomb dropping in between her and her summons. The flash bomb went off and she had to cover her eyes from the brightness. When she was able to open them again she saw her summons standing next to the Nara.

"Shadow possession complete." Shikamaru stood up straight and smirked "honestly I'm thankful this was such a simple plan. Saves me from using any more of my small supply of equipment."

Tauyua was gritting her teeth as she began to play her flute again to get her summons to attack. She noticed that although she was issuing commands they weren't doing anything

"Don't bother."

Tayuya glared at the Nara as he spoke

"Now that I have them in my shadow possession, they won't do anything other than what I do." he lifted his leg, forcing the three summons to do the same. "Now to end this." jumping off the branch towards Tayuya he lifted his arm, forcing the claw and club summons to do the same, readying to attack her

Tayuya gritted her teeth as she pulled her flute away from her mouth to bring up her free hand and did a single hand sign.

Shikamaru saw what she was doing but knew that he was close enough that it didn't matter. Seeing the three summons burst in a poof of smoke, he brought up his own hand to do another Nara hand sign as he landed right next to Tayuya

Tayuya saw him land and threw a punch, hoping to beat the annoying boy to death. But before her fist could make contact, she found herself frozen in place. She tried to force her way out of whatever had her frozen but she couldn't do anything.

"Shadow strangle complete" Shikamaru got up and smirked at Tayuya.

Tayuya looked down to see his shadow was wrapping around her body. Like hands keeping her in place.

"I'm glad that you actually dispelled your summons since it gave me the chance to get close to you and give me the split second needed in order to capture you."

"F….fuck you!"

Shikamaru smirked as he looked down at the shadow that wrapped around her "honestly, this whole fight was too troublesome. So just let me end it." he brought the shadow hand closest to her neck, to grip around it, choking her.

Tayuya was glaring at the Nara with pure hatred in her eyes. She knew what she had to do but she hated the idea of someone forcing her to do this. She activated her curse mark, moving to the second state.

Shikamaru was stunned to see the transformation happen in front of him but he didn't have long to think about it since he began to focus more on keeping his jutsu up. 'Damn it. What the hell is that transformation?! She is breaking through it with sheer force alone!' although he gave a valiant effort he soon found his jutsu broken and had to jump back to avoid the punch that was aimed at him. His eyes widened when he saw that the punch hit the branch they were on and saw a big chunk of it shatter. "Better not let her hit me."

Tayuya smirked as she saw the fear in the Nara's eyes "better start running cause I'm going to beat the life out of you when I catch you!"

Shikamaru now knew that he was screwed. His jutsu grows stronger the closer he is to his opponent and she was able to break out of it when he was point-blank. "Now what?"

"Now you die!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw that she was right in front of him with a fist pulled back. "Oh shi…..UGH!" he was sent flying back until his back slammed into the trunk of a tree. He fell to the branch underneath him and began to heave as he tried to regain his breath. 'Damn it! I think she broke three ribs.' he heard feet landing a bit away from him and slowly looked up to see Tayuya grinning down at him

"You had me for a second there but looks like your luck has run out you little shit."

Shikamaru groaned as he saw her lift up her fist that judging by the angle was going to smash into his head. "Troublesome."

Tayuya brought her fist down, ready to kill him but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glint of metal heading her way. Just before she could hit the Nara, she had to jump out of the way. Unfortunately, she did not look at where she leapt and soon found herself wrapped up in a hug by what felt like wood. "What the fuck?!" turning her head she saw the face of….a puppet.

Shikamaru groaned as his face was against the bark of the branch. He was waiting for the hit but to his surprise, all he heard was the thunks of something hitting just in front of him.

"Damn you look like shit."

Lifting his head, he was surprised to see the catsuit wearing Suna shinobi that he saw at the Chunin exams. "What….are you doing here."

Kankuro smiled as he looked back at Shikamaru "your Hokage felt that you might need some help on this mission so she sent out a message to Suna for us to come to your aid."

Shikamaru slowly began to get to his feet as he held his side 'Lady Hokage…...thanks for the save.' He looked towards the struggling female and spoke "be careful with her. She transformed into that and gained a big boost in strength. She uses her flute to cast genjutsu and has three summons that are controlled by the very same flute."

Kankuro looked towards Tayuya and saw that through her struggling, she was causing cracks to the puppet's arms. 'Damn. not good. If she breaks Crow's arms then a lot of his traps will be useless.' he then saw that in one of her hands she was holding a flute tightly. "Well if that flute is so valuable to her then we should confiscate it." twitching his finger, he commanded Crow to lower one of its hands to grip onto the flute.

Tayuya felt the shift in the puppet's grip and using all her strength, she broke the arms off of the puppet before spinning around and kicking it away. After she was free she noticed the lack of something in her hand. She saw that she no longer had her flute. She began to panic at the lack of her weapon and began to look around for it. Unfortunately, she had to jump away from a few thrown kunai.

Shikamaru felt his odds increase as Tayuya no longer had her genjutsu weapon. Unfortunately, he himself was at a disadvantage since he was running low on chakra and the pain in his chest would hinder him greatly. "Don't let her get her flute. And be careful of her strength."

Kankuro nodded as he twitched his fingers. Random pieces of his shattered puppet began to move in the air with some of the arms bending open to reveal compartments that shot out a swarm of kunai at Tayuya

Tayuya was really wanting to kill the two she was now fighting but at the moment she needed to find her flute. Even if she is stronger in the second state but most if not all of her best moves required that flute. After she dodged another set of kunai she turned her gaze towards her opponents and her eyes widened.

Kanjura twitched his index finger, calling back one of his puppet's arms and caught it.

In the puppet's hand was the flute.

Kankuro grabbed the flute and looked it over "looks like an ordinary flute to me. What's so special about it?"

Shikamaru walked up to Kankuro and stretched out his hand which caused Kankuro to hand the flute over. Shikamaru looked it over and noticed something about it. "It's heavier than what a wooden flute should feel like. It might have some special material that gives it special properties or maybe just to make it usable for a weapon." from the corner of his eye he saw Tayuya giving him a glare that looked like they were about to unleash a high powered fire jutsu. "Uh oh."

Tayuya was seeing red. They had her flute and she was not going to allow them to see the next day. In anger, she jumped towards them. Pulling out a kunai she deflected the ones that were sent her way from another of the puppet's arms. She knew that puppet users were terrible at close range and the shadow user was wounded already. 'Get in close and murder them!'

Shikamaru and Kankuro both jumped back to another branch to get some distance but the next thing that happened caused them to widen their eyes

"Partial Expansion Jutsu!"

Tayuya was blindsided by a massive fist that sent her flying.

Both Shikamaru and Kankuro felt relief at the new arrivals with Shikamaru shouting out in surprise "Choji!"

Kankuro used this time to unseal his second puppet "black ant."

Tayuya groaned as she got to her feet since that hit was strong enough to make her see stars. "Little pissant. When I get my hands on you….." she didn't have the chance to continue her thoughts since she felt something large constrict her. She looked down to see a large hand holding her in place. Looking up she saw that it was the fat kid that Jirobo was supposed to kill. 'Fat ass couldn't even kill him.' she began to use her strength to break free but she felt the familiar feeling of being paralyzed.

Shikamaru was kneeling next to Choji in his clan's special jutsu pose. He saw Ino begin to bring her hands up but before he could stop her someone beat him to it

"Ino don't!"

Shikamaru recognized that voice but he couldn't see where the person was. But when he heard the voice again he was shocked to see it was coming from one of the foxes they group rode on

"Ino we don't know what that curse mark does to the person. For all we know, it could counter your jutsu and you would be helpless until your mind returns." the fox walked up next to her and whispered, "and I don't want you anywhere near that foul chakra coming from her."

Shikamaru shook his head. He would have to deal with this later but right now they still have to deal with this. He looked at the newcomers again and his eyes landed on Hinata "Hinata, can you shut off her chakra points?"

Hinata nodded as she got into her stance

Shikamaru whispered out to Choji "release her on my mark."

Choji nodded

Shikamaru looked to Hinata before shouting "go!"

Hinata lunged towards the captured Oto nin, ready to strike the necessary points.

Shikamaru waited until Hinata was close enough before giving the order to Choji to let go. He focused his last bit of chakra into his Shadow possession to keep her still but it was enough

Tayuya felt the hand let her go and move away. She saw the Hyuga coming her way and began to force her way out of the possession. She was able to break out of it but it was too late. She felt the jabs on her body. She could feel her chakra begin to flux a bit before being blocked. She could feel her power being drained away with every hit.

Hinata struck all of the chakra points on her body and finished it up with a palm strike in her chest that sent her flying back.

Tayuya flew through the air feeling like she was hit with a sledgehammer.

She would have kept flying until she hit a tree but much to everyone's shock she flew into the large open compartment of Kankuro's puppet. Once she was inside the compartment closed up on her now unconscious form.

Kankuro smirked as he saw this happen and was about to finish the job until Shikamaru spoke

"Hold her there."

Kankuro looked to him with confusion evident on his face

"We just captured an enemy nin. We can take her back to the village and interrogate her." he looked towards Hinata "how long do you suppose she will be out?"

Hinata thought about it for a bit before answering "I blocked all her points so, at the minimum, she should be unconscious for about a day."

Shikamaru sighed as he fell on his ass "good. This whole thing is so troublesome." he then looked towards the group of large foxes that sat next to Ino. "thanks for getting them here so quickly Naruto."

The fox in the center chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head "figured it out already huh."

"Your voice was a dead give away."

Hinata moved over to stand next to Ino as she placed a hand on the fox

Shikamaru's mind was going a few miles a second trying to figure out the scene in front of him but he soon found it too troublesome to think about. He slowly got up as he held his ribs "well we should start heading back to the village with our prisoner."

The lead Naruto clone shook his head "not yet. Lee still needs help. He is further ahead fighting someone else with that foul smell."

Shikamaru looked shocked at what he heard "wait, Lee! What's he doing out here?! Wait did you say he is fighting someone else like the others?"

The Naruto clones nodded their heads

Shikamaru grit his teeth. "He must be fighting that bone guy."

Temari looked at him confusingly "bone guy?"

Shikamaru nodded "yeah. I ran into him when that girl…" he pointed at the puppet that held Tayuya "had to stop when I blocked her path. He came in and took the crate that was carrying Sasuke." he reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a white knife "the guy lifted his palm and shot out several of these things at me to make sure I didn't follow him. I picked one up and quickly realized it was made out of bone. Not sure if it was a mechanism or Kekkei-Genkai but from the look in his eyes, I could tell he wasn't someone to mess with."

Naruto felt some more nervousness about his friend, especially since Lee just got out of the hospital. "We should go help him as fast as possible."

Temari looked about ready to laugh as she spoke "you don't have to worry about him foxy."

Naruto would have said something but he remembered the other scent he caught in the direction of Lee and the so-called "bone guy". "Ah right. He should be fine even without our help."

Everyone, besides Temari and Kankuro, looked at him in confusion with Ino being the one to ask the question.

"How do you know that?"

Naruto gave a toothy grin "because Lee has Suna on his side."

~open field~

Gaara had turned the entire open field into a miniature desert in an attempt at killing the Oto-nin. Gaara was thrusting his hand forward and grasping the air. This action caused the sand in the field to try and capture the oncoming nin that had transformed into a monster. Gaara saw that this tactic wasn't going to work since he kept getting closer so using the sand that was underneath both Lee and him to levitate in the air out of the Oto's reach.

Kimimaro saw that the two were flying in the air and brought his hands up to shoot out small pieces of bone in the air to try and shoot them down

Gaara used his sand to block the oncoming projectiles and stay out of reach as he tried to think of a plan to end this fight. "He is tenacious."

Lee nodded his head as he looked down the side of the sand platform at Kimimaro. "That he is. Is there a way for us to stop him? He seems to be able to handle anything we throw at him."

Gaara was at a bit of a loss at this. He had used his strongest attack, the Sand Tsunami, to bury the man and crush him under immense pressure but to his amazement, it failed. He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a long spear, heading their way. Condensing the sand underneath them, he made sure that the spear could only penetrate a few inches.

Kimimaro was gritting his teeth as he felt his time running out. He needed to bring them down so he decided to just widdle the platform down. Lifting his hands, he began to barrage the platform itself with rapid-fire out of his fingers.

Gaara could feel that some of his sand was falling back down to earth. If this kept going then he would need to lower the platform to either regain the sand lost or go on the offensive. He thought about what he could do when he remembered his battle with Naruto. His mind locked on to one of the attacks that were used on him and felt like it might be possible for him with all the sand he had at the moment. He looked down at Lee with a plan in his mind "Lee-san, I need your help for this next attack."

Lee looked up with surprise as this was the last thing he expected to hear from the Suna nin. Shaking off his shock he nodded "if I am able to assist then I shall do it."

Gaara nodded as he conveyed his plan.

Kimimaro saw that the platform was lowering itself at a fast pace. He kept up his barrage, not caring if he was overusing his Kekkei Genkai. He paused for a second when he saw the green spandex wearing one jumped off the platform and charged at him. He began to shoot at him but his projectiles kept on being dodged.

Lee was straining to keep up his speed and was glad that he had healed enough to not worry that much. He dodged another set of bone projectiles. 'Need to be closer!' he continued gaining on Kimimaro until he knew he was close enough. Without stopping he turned to his right and began running around the bone monster.

Kimimaro kept firing at the boy but his speed kept him from being hit. He was confused with the tactic since the boy wasn't attacking. He kept turning around to keep an eye on the boy to make sure that he was taken by surprise by whatever he was planning. He soon gained his answer when he saw that the sand the boy was picking up from the running began to float and follow the boy. He looked behind him to see the Suna nin with his hands up in the air. He was going to run at the red-head but before he could do anything the spinning sand rose into the air blocking his path.

Gaara used a tendril of sand to pull Lee away from the growing Sand tornado. He remembered the devastation of Naruto's flame tornado and thought of using his own version of it. He however did need Lee to run around the Oto-nin in order to get the sand to start moving since if he tired it alone, the enemy would leave the affected area.

Lee got up from the ground next to Gaara and watched the tornado with aw. "This is just like Naruto's"

Gaara slowly nodded as he kept his focus on his jutsu. He groaned out "yes…..and it requires much concentration to keep this ….going."

Lee just sat back and watched the tornado and wondered what was happening inside

Kimimaro tried to attack the walls of the tornado but the sheer spinning speed caused damage to anything he threw at it. What was worse was that it was starting to become smaller and the smaller it got the more sand would come off at him and cut him up. In desperation, he covered his palms in bone and slammed them onto the wall. He gritted his teeth as the sand began to grind away at not only the bone armor on his hands but also the toughened skin of his second state. "I will not die until I have paid back Orochimaru-sama!" he continued to push against the wall, ignoring the many scrapped off patches of his flesh that was ground off.

Gaara kept narrowing the funnel until it was only a few feet in diameter. He felt himself growing more tired from concentrating so much. When the funnel reached five feet in diameter he finally dropped his arms and sighed.

The sand that made up the tornado fell down into a large pile of sand.

Lee was amazed by the finish of the fight "that was amazing….."

Gaara had a bit of sweat on his brow as he grimaced at what he just felt "...it's not over…"

Lee was about to ask what he meant when he heard something from the pile of sand. His eyes widened when he saw massive spikes of bone began to spring from the pile. He didn't have time to think about it when he felt himself being lifted into the air again by a platform of sand. While going up he saw that more spikes began to spring up from the very ground. The field that was once filled with grass before it became a desert had now become a forest of bone. Lee stunned at the sight before him. "He still had this much strength?"

Gaara looked around at the bone forest, looking for his opponent but could not see any movement. Lowering them to a thick bone, he landed on it and continued to look around for any sign of Kimimaro. "He hasn't given up yet. I find his drive admirable."

Lee could not help but agree. The will to keep going even after all the damage the nin has gone through is nothing less than remarkable. "I agree…..but I also find it sad. To drive oneself to such a degree for someone such as Orochimaru."

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW!"

Both Gaara and Lee's eyes grew wide when they heard the shout come from right behind them. Turning around they saw the top half of Kimamaro coming out of the very trunk of the bone tree.

The skin on Kimimaro's face was half gone, replaced by a membrane of bone. The left arm was deprived of skin and muscle, leaving only bone that seemed to be attached together by what looked like malleable bone connections. The left side of his torso was missing chunks of skin and muscle, showing the left side of the ribcage that looked like a membrane of bone was created to keep his organs from leaving his form. His right arm was enveloped in a large bone spear, aiming to skewer them.

"SOMEONE LIKE YOU COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT I OWE OROCHIMARU-SAMA!" Kimimaro thrusted his spear arm at them ready to end them.

Both Gaara and Lee closed their eyes waiting for the strike. But instead of the sound of flesh being pierced and pain in their body, they heard something else.

*BAM*

Both opened their eyes to see a fist slamming into the right side of Kimimaro's face.

Being fused into the bone tree, said portion of tree exploded with Kimimaro being sent flying through a few other trees until he slammed hard on one.

Gaara and Lee saw a large fox land next to them with Neji and Karin on top of them before another fox landed with Kiba and Akamaru.

Lee was speechless at the sight but had a fire in his eyes at how "youthful" their arrival was.

Gaara, on the other hand, gave a small smile at them. "It is good to see you again."

Naruto looked towards Gaara and gave his own smile "same here Gaara-san. Glad to see you on our side this time." Naruto would have continued the pleasantries but he felt malice aimed at them. He turned his head towards where he sent that Oto-nin flying to see him getting up. Naruto couldn't help but grimace a bit at the sight.

One leg was nothing but bone that was amazingly still moving despite very little skin and muscle barely hanging on it. What he assumed would be a tail seemed only to be an extended spine.

Naruto could see that the guy was only alive through desperation and his amazing ability mixed in with the curse mark. "Neji, Karin…..get off."

Both said shinobi got off and watched as Naruto moved to meet the Oto-nin

Naruto launched himself towards Kimimaro who did the same to him. Both met each other in the air but Naruto had more force in his jump so he forced Kimimaro back until he was pinned back on another bone tree.

Kimimaro glared at the fox that pinned him back. Seeing a paw pressing against his throat, he sent out a bone to pierce through it. Much to his shock, the fox didn't do anything other than grimace a bit

Naruto saw the bone pierce his paw but knew that if he let go, this nin would have a chance to attack. He didn't have the time or the energy to waste so he knew he needed to finish this quick. He moved his body while pulling Kimimaro to dangle by his grip. Naruto then threw the Oto-nin into the air before he took a deep breath.

Kimimaro righted himself in the air and sent a barrage of finger projectiles at the fox.

Naruto did not move since he needed to finish this so he was hit with the projectiles. He could feel them puncture his body but he didn't care. He let loose his flames

Kimimaro thought that either the attack would cause the fox to either stop the attack or cause the fox to cancel it to avoid the projectiles. Sadly neither were the case as a large wall of fire was heading his way. He could feel the heat from the fire and knew that it was hot enough to turn him into ashes. Even with his Kekkei Genkai, he was too tired and wounded to survive this time. Closing his eyes he let the fire take him.

Everyone watched as Kimimaro disintegrated in the flames with Gaara and Lee finally feeling relief that this fight was over.

"Aah!" Lee jumped a bit when the fox that fought Kimimaro landed in front of him.

Naruto looked everyone over, making sure that they were all ok. Once he was sure that they were he took a deep breath before gritting his teeth in pain.

Everyone watched as Naruto began to force out tiny bone fragments from his body and then dropping to the floor.

Once Naruto was sure that the fragments were out he sat down and took a few deep breaths "ok that stung."

Lee was shocked to hear that voice. He heard it when Gaara spoke to it but now that he heard it again, he recognized it. "Naruto!"

Naruto grinned at Lee "hey Lee. nice to see you in one piece…..for now."

Lee was confused at what his ...fox friend meant but he got his answer when he felt KI aimed right at him and a hand landed on his shoulder.

"LEE~~~~~~"

Lee robotically turned his head to see a dark silhouette with a murky red aura and shining yellow eyes. A wide smile appeared on the silhouette before he spoke. "K-k-k-k-k-k-Karin-ch-ch-ch-chan! N-n-n-nice t-t-t-to see y-y-y-you…"

Karin's smile widened to ridiculous proportions "oh really. I'm happy to see you too. Especially fresh out of the hospital."

Lee looked to the others only to see that they all backed away from him. He reached out to them as he squeaked out "...help."

The rest of them just stood there and watched as Lee got his ass kicked. Well, they tried to watch anyway. For some odd reason, a cloud of smoke obstructed their view but they could still hear the screams of pain coming from it. They witnessed Lee crawl out of the cloud until chains came out, wrapped around his neck and torso, and dragged him back in to continue the punishment.

Naruto shook his head before he walked up to the cloud. "Hey, Karin!"

The beating stopped for a second and the cloud dissipated to show the second Uzumaki holding a now beaten up Lee in her grasp.

Karin looked to Naruto with a glare and asked "what?"

Naruto stretched out his paw "I need that scroll now."

Karin reached into her pouch before grabbing said scroll and tossing it to Naruto. Once that was done she went back to beating some sense into the whimpering boy.

Naruto dispelled his clone before jumping to another bone tree and hiding behind one of them.

Kiba was confused by what Naruto was doing and voiced his question.

Everyone shrugged their shoulders and went back to watching Lee get massacred.

A few minutes passed until Naruto came back to the others, clipping on his bracers "so what'd I miss?"

Everyone was sitting on the ground before Kiba spoke up "nothing much. Lee screamed like ten more times."

*arf*

"Sorry…..twelve times."

Naruto laughed at this before he caught the scent of Ino and Hinata, which meant that they were almost there. He caught sight of them on ground level at the edge of the bone forest. "Oh good." he dispelled the clones from them and regained the chakra from them and felt better than before. "Now there is one last thing to do."

Everyone was confused about what he said but sat there and watched him shout out to Karin.

"Hey, Karin-chan! Make sure that you heal the other after you finish with Lee"

The cloud continued but everyone heard her shout out "fine!"

Naruto nodded before he raised his nose in the air and caught the scent he wanted. Finding the direction it was coming from he looked to the others "rest up everyone. I'll finish this mission and catch up with you."

Before anyone could say anything Naruto began to jump away at high speeds just in time for Shikamaru's group to land next to them with Temari joining her brother and Kankuro putting "Black Ant" down gently to not wake up their prisoner.

Shikamaru caught a glimpse of Naruto leaving and turned to Neji "where's he going?"

"He said he was going to finish this mission…."

Ino was the one to speak up here "so he is going to bring back Sasuke?"

Shikamaru turned to Ino and grew worried "damn troublesome blonde. Let's go after him." as he took a step to leave he gripped his ribs in pain which did not go unnoticed by anyone, including Karin.

Karin finished punishing Lee and went to heal the others as she sighed out "I'm always making sure you guys don't keel over."

~with Naruto~

Naruto made it out of the bone forest and into the actual forest, following the scent of Sasuke. He left everyone behind so they could rest as they all fought tough opponents so they deserve a break. Sure he helped out a bit but they did most of the work. He pushed himself to run faster since he wanted to finish this mission and go home. He still hasn't had his mission-accomplished Ramen from his last mission. Coming out of the forest, he saw a large boulder in front of him which he chose to jump on top of. Once he made it to the top he saw the one he was looking for on the other side of a ravine on top of a large statue.

"SASUKE!"

Sasuke stopped walking and stood there for a minute before slowly turning around to see the one that called him

"So it's you, Dobe."

Standing on top of the statue of Madara Uchiha was Sasuke Uchiha and on top of Hashirama Senju was Naruto Uzumaki. Distant relatives by blood but closer descendants of the sage. Both are about to clash for the first time in this cycle.

End of Chapter

The poll is now closed

Sorry for the wait but this chapter just wouldn't let itself be written. Wrote some of it then scrapped it since I didn't like it then did it again and in the end, I might come back and rework some of it.

I believe this is the third-longest chapter in this story.

I hope you guys enjoyed the fights and that I didn't get anything wrong. Had to rewatch the fights to understand some of the sound nin's abilities and now that I rewatched them. The fights were mostly talking and explanation of things or flashbacks.

Next chapter, the long-awaited fight. Hope you look forward to it

Also to all readers, check out my other stories I have written…...no seriously check them out. Like go to my account and check them out T-T. None of them get the attention this one gets and it hurts my writer's soul *sob*. Anyway, jokes aside, check them out, who knows you might like them, you might hate them but you never know until you read them.

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