Rogue Fox - Axenome Chapter 32: Ch28 - Invasive Species, a naruto fanfic

*Chapter 32*: Chapter Twenty Eight: Invasive Species

-AN: Edit for errors.

Chapter Twenty Eight: Invasive Species

Hmf. Mused Shikamaru irritably. Thought I'd have more time than this to think about this fight. Mendokuse.

Briefly, Shikamaru mentally examined what he knew about the sand ninja- not much of it was in his favor. But there had to be a weakness or a limitation to the use of sand by the Sunagakure ninja.

Shikamaru gauged the amount of time left before the proctor would disqualify him. Not really enough time to formulate a full battle strategy. So he'd have to sketch a rough outline and then improvise on the fly.

Slumping his shoulders, Shikamaru began to walk down the stairs in much the same way he'd done when he "fought" Tenten- although it hadn't really been so much a fight as a jutsu sucker punch. That wasn't going to work this time- not only was he uncertain about how effective his kagemane would be at holding back the sand of his opponent, but it was noon, and the shadow would be painfully obvious in the second before it would become fully maleable and ready to strike.

The more he thought about it, the more Shikamaru was forced to confront the fact that it boiled down to one of two choices: Throw the fight... or pull out ALL the stops.

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder at where Sasuke and Naruto stood chatting in the stands... so far away they were already. For a moment he felt a sense of deja-vu as he watched them, getting farther and farther away from him. and he felt his decision being made.

They're not gonna leave me behind. Not now, not ever!

Genma looked between the two genin. Both of them seemed relaxed, dismissive of their opponent. This will either be a good match, he thought to himself, or else a very quick one. "Are you two ready?" "Yeah." "Yes."

"Begin!"

Sand poured out of Gaara's gourd in a stream, whirling around him. Shikamaru had time to form exactly one seal before he was running for his life. Pummelling wads of sand impacted the ground hard enough to jar his footing; Shikamaru stumbled, and executed Kawarimi just in time to avoid sand bursting out of the ground at his feet.

From cover at the treeline, Shikamaru watched as Gaara probed about with the sand, trying to find him.

Interesting. Shikamaru thought to himself. The most efficient way for him to find me with all that sand would be to disperse all of it in an expanding cloud, cast it in all directions, the way Naruto said that Takigakure nin did during the first exam with the moisture in the air. Any single grain of sand has negligible mass- I'd never notice it until it was too late. But this guy isn't doing that. Shikamaru rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Instead of manipulating the individual grains, he's carrying huge accumulations of sand in a few wads, all of which is likely done by subsuming the wads in a field of chakra that he's using to keep them together. Meaning he's using enormous amounts of chakra to do this, with little effort. Meaning therefore he's highly unlikely to have a great deal of fine chakra control. If I'm correct in all this, perhaps I can overload his ability to defend from multiple threats at once.

Gaara sent out another wave of sand to probe the treeline again, and was rewarded with a hail of shuriken seemingly from all directions, in a more or less random pattern. His sand encapsulated him, and he listened disinterestedly to the repeated small thumps of the impacting weapons.

When did he have time to set all of this up? Gaara wondered. He hasn't stopped hiding in those trees since the match began.

THIS ONE WILL BE DELICIOUS. I WANT HIM AFTER YOU KILL THE UZUMAKI.

Yes, Mother.

As storm of shuriken passed, his sand parted, only to divert to the sides as kunai rained in from either side. All but a handful of the kunai disappeared after impacted, but they'd been no less solid for all of that. Gaara had no doubt that they'd have proven quite sharp.

Shikamaru was on one knee, hands still in the sign of the Ox. the two genin eyed one another warily as the sand parted, and Shikamaru got to his feet easily. "Well, that tells me a lot."

Gaara's eyes narrowed, which Shikamaru took as invitation to continue.

"Your defense is strong, but not perfect." Shikamaru said. "From the preliminaries it was shown that it could be slowed down long enough to be penetrated. And as near as I can see, you do not need to make any conscious effort to direct it. It defends you on its own."

Gaara still said nothing, glaring angrily back at the Konoha genin.

INTERESTING. I WONDER WHERE THE PREY IS GOING WITH THIS.

"The grains of sand are not being controlled individually by you, but instead are held suspended in a field of chakra the you extend from your body. It's similar to the puppeteer jutsus of Sunagakure, but on a truly massive scale. That sort of chakra expenditure is super human, and knowing what I do of jinchuuriki that means most of the chakra you use for it comes directly from the demon inside you."

HE HAS DEDUCED MY EXISTENCE? OR DOES HE KNOW OF IT BECAUSE OF HIS COMRADE THE UZUMAKI?

Gaara did not answer.

Shikamaru finished, "But that demon is concerned with its own goals, and since the chakra acts on its own, it stands to reason that the demon therefore controls your defense... and from this is means that chakra is not entirely under your control."

"Are you finished talking yet?" Gaara demanded impatiently.

"Heh." Shikamaru smiled. "Only one thing left to say: Checkmate. KAI!"

The kunai surrounding Gaara suddenly shimmered, before revealing rocks wrapped in explosive note. A brilliant flash from behind Shikamaru stretched his shadow out in a long line towards the jinchuuriki. It halted just short of the barrier of sand that flew up to halt it, but Gaara was not the shadow's target: The shadow split off, sliding under the rocks surrounding the jinchuuriki and flinging them into the air over Gaara's head. One note would be child's play for the shell of sand to deflect. Twenty notes would take all of it to protect against.

Gaara's gourd dissolved, the composite sand joining the rest of it to protect against the massive concussion, and still the shock wave almost brought Gaara to his knees. Then Gaara halted, frozen, unable to direct his sand, as his eyes fell on the thin line of shadow that connected himself and the Konoha genin thirty feet way.

Against his will, Gaara found himself reaching out towards the last rock wrapped in an explosive note, and brought it up to beneath his chin, directly against the skin of his throat.

Genma's fukimibari almost fell out of his mouth, but even as the two genin reached down to the ground, grabbing the last of the rocks, Genma called out, "Winner: Shikamaru!"

As the words rang out, Gaara was mentally frozen, disbelieving, as he heard the words replay in his mind.

It wasn't possible.

Impossible.

He, Gaara... Had lost.

To a genin from a minor clan in Konoha.

No.

NO.

No no no nononoNONONO

"NOOOOOOO!"

The light applause from Shikamaru's win faltered and died as Gaara began screaming, his voice amplified by the power of the bijuu sealed inside him. The arena shuddered, as Gaara began shedding killing intent at mind numbing levels that swelled higher and higher with each passing moment. Dust began vibrating up from the ground as sand rose up, obscuring the sand genin from sight.

The barrier specialists sprang into action, hand seals flashing, but Genma and Shikamaru were still stuck in the arena at ground zero.

"Now what?" Shikamaru asked. There was no way he could cover the distance in time before the sand swallowed them up.

Genma's face was set and grim. "Now, kid, we eat a heroic peanut." He couldn't shunshin out, not with another person, and he was not gonna leave the kid to die out here on his own.

Then the two of them found themselves standing side by side in the arena stand, in the competitors box, staring down at the arena floor where Naruto and a kage bunshin stood, the exact positions that Genma and Shikamaru had been standing, both already bearing Kubikiri Houcho in their hands.

Naruto watched with Kamigan eyes as sand swelled upwards, being drawn from the soil to surround the suna genin, as Shikamaru and Genma realized their deadly peril. His eyes saw through Gai sensei's Henge, and the Kazekage's skin to the layers underneath, and knew the stakes had just gone up. He saw the barrier experts and understood what they were doing, saw that Genma and Shikamaru had no chance to escape on their own before the barrier went up. The only inanimate objects available for them to Kawarimi were inside the arena- a deliberate set up to ensure that nobody accidentally brought the fight into the stands where nobility might be harmed.

And Naruto could see that neither of them had any intentions of attempting to escape, at the expense of the other.

Kawarimi no jutsu is one of the first jutsu taught to academy students. For ninja to be, along with Henge no jutsu and Bunshin no jutsu, these techniques are the focus of practice and study for a full year out of the three that students learn.

Kawarimi requires little chakra to use on an inanimate object, or on willing living subjects. But if a person is unaware, or unwilling, their native chakra naturally fights against the jutsu, which then fails. To kawarimi with an unwilling subject requires either an innocent victim with next to no chakra of their own or else the expenditure of enough chakra to temporarily suppress any resistance by the target while making the switch.

An unwilling genin was a challenging target, a chunin likely crippling even if successful, and a jounin all but impossible. Most jounin did not have enough chakra to suppress a genin with any reasonable reliability or expectation of success.

Naruto didn't stop to think about any of this- all of the analysis flashed through his mind the moment his brain registered everything the Kamigan was telling him. One hand formed the seals for Kage bunshin while the other began Kawarimi, and suddenly Naruto and his clone were standing on the arena floor as sand began forming limbs on Gaara's body. The shapeless lump where his head belonged suddenly formed eyes and a crude mouth, and the sandy body took on more mass and detail by the second.

The barrier experts finished their work and the barrier came up, even as Genma and Shikamaru realized what had happened and started to move to come to Naruto's aid.

Naruto pushed all other thoughts out of his mind as he reclaimed chakra from his clone, staring directly into the baleful eyes of the growing titan before him.

"You should be scared." Growled Gaara in a gravelly voice. "I want to taste your fear."

Naruto smiled grimly, and replied, "Me? You're mistaken. I'm not stuck in here with you. YOU'RE stuck in here with ME.

The only fear you'll be tasting is yours."

Kubikiri Houcho was suddenly wreathed in Naruto's dark, disruptive chakra as he made his altered seal spring to life, and the blonde jinchuuriki charged.

From his position in the Kage box, as the win was announced, Gai sensed from the sudden tension in the Kazekage that something was about to happen- and then spectators in the stands began to nod off.

A noble slumped forward, then the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni, several more visitors, before the ninja in the audience realized what happened and dispelled the genjutsu that began to affect them.

Gai, however, knew this genjutsu. He'd been a genin when he'd last seen it- it was a jutsu that hadn't been seen in Konohagakure in almost twenty years.

Every member of the audience had been screened by ANBU... except for...

Almost in slow motion, Gai turned his head to look over at the Kazekage, whose hard, sharp eyes managed to convey a glee that was terrible to behold.

The uncertainty and sense of things being out of place finally solidified as Gai looked into the eyes of one of Konoha's greatest enemies. "Now I understand..." Kunai flashed as Gai stopped the "Kazekage's" slashing strike with a blade of his own. Gai held the weapon deadlocked with no effort at all as he finished, "... Orochimaru."

"Still as fast as ever, eh, sensei?" Orochimaru said with a grin. "Time has been kind to you."

Gai leaned forward until the two of them were almost nose to nose, before he dropped the henge with a grim smile. "Not just fast." He replied. Then, with the considerable strength of two decades of hard training, Gai SHOVED.

Many marvel at the strength, the solidity, and durability of stone. A monument may last for many lifetimes when made of stone. Stone is generally considered a symbol of permanence, strength, and dedication.

But people tend to forget that monuments, foundations, and buildings crafted from stone were made by human hands, taken from the earth, shaped by human will and choice. In the end, stone is as malleable as clay.

Though crafted from stone, the Kage seats and the floor on which they stood were less than clay against the power of Gai's shove. They may as well have been crafted from soft mud, as Orochimaru was forceably shoved through the seats, the flagstone floor, and into the rooms below in an eruption of dust, gravel, and rock shards.

Against a man, mere stone is no barrier at all.

To Konoha, the lesson would be displayed quite thoroughly, much to the sorrow of those who lived here.

The straw has landed.

A ripple of awareness washed across training ground forty-four as the raw power of Ichibii no Shukaku awoke.

-one of the ATMA is nearby on full combat readiness-

-is it an attack-

-uncertain-

- what of your latest project-

The awareness of the Ancients fell into an embarassed silence.

-did you put any controls into place at all-

-I can see what uzumakinaruto sees but the chakra parasite which we could not remove would have killed it had i placed ordinary controls on it-

-what is it seeing-

If anything, the mental tone of chagrin and anxiety intensified.

-uzumakinaruto is preparing to fight the host of the first ATMA but does not seem to be accessing the power of the ATMA inside of itself-can it win this way-

-it may have the ability but its combat experience against a foe this much more physically massive than itself is entirely lacking therefore the answer is very much in doubt unless it can somehow be induced to access the ATMA within itself-

-do we have anything available that is capable of suppressing a combat ready ATMA-

-assuredly we have the means to imprison an ATMA but that would take time and we have nothing available to hold one at bat until we can complete the process-

-would an object sealing work on an ATMA contained in a living host-

-unknown too many variables-

-we have little choice we will be forced to depend on the defenses of the uzumakinaruto-i will make an attempt to summon some of our creations if the ATMA approaches the grove-

-we have little choice we will be forced to depend on the uzumakinaruto for now-

-begin preparations for the containment and the summoning we must make whatever possible use of any time it buys us in the event that it ultimately fails-

-is it possible these events are a retaliation from a survivor of the whirlpool grove-

-no survivor was possible in the whirlpool grove it was scourged-

-possibly an ally of that grove then-

-uncertain the possibility exists but virtually anything can be considered a possibility probability is harder to determine-let us begin then-

ANBU moves and reacts quickly. Barely seven minutes passed between the time that Gaara began releasing the Ichibii and the time that Anbu finished deploying, activating all chunin not already on assignment.

Orochimaru's forces had been given elaborately crafted scrolls with which to summon members of Manda's elite, personal guard, massive three headed serpents the size of buildings and capable of sundering a castle's walls as easily as a house of cards.

One of the summoning teams botched the summons badly and was killed; another team was intercepted and destroyed before they could complete their tasks.

Orochimaru's original plan had consisted of only three summoning teams. With the inclusion of thirty additional shinobi from the agitated Waterfall village, however, Orochimaru was able to divert more of his own forces to summoning teams. More summons meant more breach points in the walls around Konoha, and more Konoha nin that would be distracted from the invasion forces to deal with the summons.

Even with the forewarning, Konoha was far worse off than they would have been had Takigakure never gotten any genin past the second exam.

A muscled serpent's tail lashed out, driving through the east wall of Konoha and sending sprays of jagged stone deep into the city streets, flying at killing speeds. Panicking civilians and several of the chunin mobilized to organize the retreat were cut down in bloody sprays by the rocky shrapnel, while jounin attempted to counter attack. As the massive, three headed serpent reared up, shuriken flew at it from a dozen directions; although ineffectual, the summoned beast took enough time and attention to spout several large gouts of acidic venom. Its attackers scattered. As it moved its enormous bulk past the breachin the walls, enemy shinobi dashed through behind it, rooting out from cover the Konoha nin who sought shelter from the initial barrage of snake venom.

Naruto already had the Kamigan engaged when the barrier went up. He was dodging almost before he finished speaking as spikes of sand shot up from the ground.

Spikes sprang from the ground, hammering masses of sand fell from the air. The transformed Gaara's arms- nightmarish combinations of sharp claws and scouring sand and hellish, bijuu fueled might- swiped and slashed and hammered at him.

The spikes struck too late; the falling sand missed by inches; the claws were evaded with twists and jumps and tumbling leaps. Then, Naruto suddenly saw his opening and lashed out with Kubikiri Houcho as Gaara was just a tad too slow to pull his striking arm back.

Naruto had struck the suna jinchuuriki several times with his weapon already; the disruptive chakra temporarily sprayed clouds of sand away from the body but they were only glancing blows, and Naruto couldn't afford to take any hits in exchange. While the gouts of sand flying away from the body of the beast were impressive, Gaara's actual body was too deep to hit with piddling little strikes like these, and the huge rents in the sand body closed almost immediately.

This time, Gaara screamed, and there was blood mixed in with the sand that flew away from the wound. The clawed hand and arm fell away from the shoulder as Gaara screamed, the demon face of Shukaku twisting in pain.

As the arm collapsed into a pile of sand, a severed hand lay atop it, palm up, fingers curled in and twitching like a dying spider.

Naruto attempted to dodge the counterblow but sand skittered under his feet faster than he could shift and he couldn't get enough traction to get out of the way.

As Naruto and Kubikiri Houcho flew backwards in seperate, tumbling trajectories, Naruto dimly decided through the haze of pain that Chouji had been displaced to a distant second for raw hitting power. Naruto's hitai ate was flying in a third direction; before it landed a cloud of sand engulfed it and crumpled the mid gauge steel like a sheet of tin foil. Naruto counted off three quarters of a second then executed Kawarimi with his headband, overcharging the jutsu to account for the difference in mass, and hoping that his hasty, mutilated henge would buy him enough time for his ribs to mend.

At that point, the real pain from the severed hand hit the red head, who began screaming again, and control over his sand began to waver. Naruto dropped his henge and shunshined over to Kubikiri Houcho, snapping up the blade and ignoring the piercing pains in his ribs. Something in his chest gurgled and Naruto coughed, spitting bright, bubbled blood. Then he felt his ribs shifting back into place, as the pain first surged, then faded.

He coughed one more time to clear his lungs, spitting to get the taste out of his mouth, then straightened up, meeting his opponent's eyes that were wide and disbelieving and filling with fear.

Gaara was recoiling in horror as Naruto faced him again. "NO! Stay BACK!"

Naruto formed a kage bunshin and prepared to renew the assault, but something in Gaara's face seemed to galvanize, and fury- true rage- appeared for the first time on Gaara's features since Naruto met him before the Chunin exam. "NO! You WON'T end my existance- I WON'T LET YOU!"

The arena shuddered again. The ground convulsed upwards, throwing Naruto and his clone from their feet and pelting them with rocks. Naruto released the hold on the Bunshin to conserve chakra as he sheltered himself from the storm of stones behind Kubikiri Houcho, clambering to his feet and trying to stay mobile enough to keep Gaara from drawing a solid bead on him. In a second it was glaringly apparent that Gaara wasn't attacking him- the hail of rocks from the earth had been a mere side effect. Naruto stopped and stared through the cloud of dust with the Kamigan in abject dismay as his eyes revealed to him the towering colossus still growing in size. He was running short of room to maneuver; Shukaku's full size took up almost half the arena floor.

The barrier around the arena wavered momentarily as the debris pelted it as well, but then solidified and stabilized as the shinobi maintaining it redoubled their efforts. As the dust settled, Naruto found himself staring through clear air at the monstrous form of Shukaku unleashed.

No room to maneuver. No place to run. The next few minutes would depend entirely on pure, brute force.

Naruto favored Kubikiri Houcho with a dour eye and a disconsolate sigh. "Never thought I'd see the day that I'd need a bigger sword."

Morale first faltered when Shukaku appeared. What should have been a rallying sight for the invaders turned sour as it became apparent that the Ichibii was, at least for now, quite securely contained in the arena. Slowly but surely the two Konoha Sannin were dealing with the snake summons in spite of the horrific initial colateral damage.

One of the Praetorian serpents crashed through the defensive line, the flanking heads laying down sporadic barrages of acidic venom to either side, forcing the defenders into cover. As the massive summoned beast thundered through the abandoned Uchiha sector, a gargantuan toad landed on the three headed snake's massive back.

The cacophanous crushing noises were more than summoned flesh and bone- the fallen serpent's heads plowed through a half dozen building from the force of the blow. Without waiting to assess the damage from its initial assault, the toad whipped out its colossal blade and made three lightning fast slashes. The heads parted from the thrashing body of the snake before all parts vanished in smoke; the toad fell the intervening distance to the ground that the snake had occupied, and the ground shuddered from the weight.

Jiraiya himself was not idle in this battle, as a team of Oto nin bore down on his position, hurling shuriken. Jiraiya stepped behind cover of what little wall there was left standing after the snake had smashed through it. A sudden Rasengan drove through that wall, peppering the advancing team of oto shinobi with a spray of jagged, deadly fast bits of brick and mortar.

The one nin who managed to shield himself with a wall of air was roasted alive as Jiraiya's fireball jutsu plowed through the wind barrier completely unimpeded.

Jiraiya shot a weary look in the direction of Gamabushi- the toad was blistered and bloodied, and breathing in great gasps. "Sorry to ask this of you, my friend, but there's still one more out there."

"Think nothing of it, Gama sennin. Although," the toad mentioned almost as an afterthought, "I believe your partner may well have things in hand."

Jiraiya looked in the direction Gamabushi was watching, and chuckled to himself as one head of the distant praetorian was rocked backwards by a piece of masonry the size of a cow that flew skyward like a rocket.

"Heh." Jiraiya said with a tired grin. "I love that woman."

Dust hung thick in a swirling cloud. Grunts and gasps of effort accompanied ringing of metal and bright sparks, the rapid clangs and flashes disorienting in the rooms below the kage stands, only dimly lit by the light filtering through the haze in the air.

Guy narrowly avoided a thrust from Kusanagi that would have pinned his thigh to the wall. Almost without thought his nunchaku's chain wrapped about the blade and bound tight; his arm flexed and the legendary blade arced through the air to bury itself a foot deep in the ceiling.

Maito Gai, despite his eccentricities, is the most powerful active duty ninja in Konoha, after the death of the Sandaime Hokage. His skills and abilities are legendary; he is reputed to know well over two hundred ninjutsu, his genjutsu skills are fearsome, and his taijutsu are awe inspiring.

But ninja strike from the shadows, with secrets and hidden skills, and Maito Gai has forgotten this, a little. As the jutsu one upsmanship of competition between villages accelerated over the years, jutsus became flashier and more powerful, ninja became more interested in making a name for themselves than in remaining hidden, and while ambush was still a time honored tradition among the modern ninja Maito Gai had no way of knowing that Orochimaru needed no clones or hidden allies to stab him in the back while standing right in front of him.

His nunchaku fell from numbing fingers as Gai blinked at his opponent, trying to understand how Orochimaru had removed the blade from the ceiling without chakra or physical action. The bizarre mutation of what may have once been based off of the ram seal being formed by Orochimaru's fingers looked familiar in an academic sort of way; Gai couldn't precisely place it for a moment until he remembered a mission he'd gone on, years before, that finger configuration shaping darker energies than Chakra in the form of a spell cast by a...

"Wu jen." Gai said, glancing down at the end of the sword protruding from between his lowest two ribs on the right side, watching the dark blood well out of the wound- the blade had pierced both his lower lung and his liver. Even without the fell poisons of Kusanagi it would be a killing blow unless treated quickly by a medic nin.

"I know that you know you're a dead man." Orochimaru said with a smile, spiting blood and a gravelly, shattered tooth aside. "Ordinarily I'd amuse myself by nicking you with the blade and seeing how long the poison took to kill you- you're such a healthy man, it'd probably take a couple of minutes, and would most likely be quite entertaining watching your body's systems attempt the impossible in order to survive. But I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a rush. Unless you'd like to save me the time and simply tell me where the old man is?"

"I can... do a little better... than that." Panted Gai. He tottered a step before rallying himself. If this was indeed to be his end... then it would be an end most youthful. "I can take you to meet him personally. Kaimon, KAI!"

The barrier experts were growing exhausted at an ever increasing pace. None of them faltered, despite their growing fatigue, each grimly determined to contain the battling juggernauts inside the barrier.

So far, not only did the pair show no signs of stopping, but their titanic conflict was accelerating in scale even now.

All pretense of finesse was gone. Both jinchuuriki were standing stock still, each surrounded by a corona of palpable power. A hazy aura of bubbling, blood red chakra encased Naruto's form, a long, lashing tendril of which waved like an agitated tail behind him. Claws of pure chakra struck out, deflected by multi-ton gouts of sand that exploded on contact, a testament to the forces they were defending against. The gargantuan form of Gaara's unleashed bijuu was no less intimidating, as Shukaku's manifestation was nearing two hundred feet tall. Shukaku was hurling monstrous wads of sand wrapped in a bijuu's chakra, any one of which carrying enough weight and force to tear off a cliff face. The wads of sand were not sufficient to get past the chakra tail, which darted and snapped, slashing through and shattering each artificial boulder with effortless ease. Tons of sand each second hammered the ground and barrier, the earth shuddering as though beneath the boots of warring giants.

Gaara pulled out the final stop, forming seals with his intact hand as he cradled his maimed arm to his chest. "Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu!" And slumped forward.

"YEEEHAAWW!" Roared Shukaku. "FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK KAMI ALMIGHTY, I'M FREE AT-"

Shukaku's exultant cry was cut off as an arm of sand flew high, deflecting on instinct a chakra claw that would have otherwise decapitated him. The Ichibii had been dozing ever since Gaara took on his full form; he'd had no idea that Naruto was capable of drawing on the Kyuubii's power in such a full and unrestrained manner. Any other jinchuuriki would have likely been dead had they attempted it of their bijuu. No mortal shell could withstand the sheer power of the Bijuu's chakra unless the bijuu themself willed it, either because, like Shukaku, the bijuu controlled his host, or else unthinkably, the bijuu and mortal were in accordance with one another.

Baleful yellow and black eyes fixed themselves on the miniscule, chakra shrouded human below himself, before realization set in and Shukaku knew fear.

Naruto's jet black eyes began to brighten, becoming a glowing, deep red the color of clotting blood. Behind him, the chakra tail became even more agitating, wildly flailing before splitting from the end downwards to form two tails.

Desperation seized Shukaku- even a partial manifestation of two tails would be enough to utterly overwhelm him if Naruto resumed a full offensive.

Battles, true life and death struggles, can be incredibly fast affairs, leaving behind only the quick and the dead. Sometimes death is rapid, unseen. Other times, survival is by the merest fraction of inches.

And sometimes, like now, personal survival is achieved through headlong flight.

The barrier experts were already exhausted. The initial belief was that the fight would be quick and brutal, perhaps five minutes at the most. But this fight- and the invasion alongside it- had been raging for three quarters of an hour, and the most cynical estimates of the jinchuurikis' collective might had been dwarfed by the awful reality of their struggle. Thus far, the barrier had- in some cases, barely- held strong against the side effects of each combatant's deflected attacks.

When Shukaku whirled and fired off a trio of wind bullets into the barrier at point blank range, it was like a triple fire shot through a soda can with a nine milimeter glock. Before any of the pieces of the barrier experts on that side of the arena landed, Shukaku was already in motion.

As Gaara slept, Shukaku- one of the most powerful forces in the shinobi world- ran for his life.

Konoha fought on with a dogged tenacity that was awe inspiring in its ferocity and determination. The two sannin had eliminated the summoned snakes, and thought the invaders outnumbered the defenders almost three to two at the height of the battle, the Konohans were steadily pushing them back.

When the barrier came down, Shukaku didn't hesitate- he leapt out of the arena in a single bound, crushing a few nowabandoned houses on the edge of the village before running headlong through a breach in the wall in the direction of the only place he could think of to hide- amongst the massive trees in training ground forty four whose size was comparable to his own. Naruto, in all his blazing glory, was a blinding streak, a two tailed comet in fiery red, determined to catch the Tanuki spirit and its host no matter the personal cost.

Behind them, as the two jinchuuriki left the village, there was an explosion of stone and gravel as Gai rose skyward, punishing kicks hammering at the revealed hebi sannin. "Keimon: KAI!"

The corona of chakra surrounding Gai took on multicolored hues as his speed increased again. Orochimaru attempted to enact Kawarimi when the unthinkable happened.

"Kyomon: KAI!" Roared Gai. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Orochimaru felt the familiar twist of space, attempting to transpose his position with that of a nearby chunk of rock, but a hand clamped down on his wrist, moving so quickly it managed to reach into that warping space between to catch him and haul him back into Gai's grasp. The hand tightened; the powerful bones in Orochimaru's wrist crunched into splintered shards.

Orochimaru felt himself forced into a full nelson hold, then suddenly his vision greyed out as he was subjected to dozens of gee's when Gai's powerful, chakra enchanced legs drove them both skyward.

Gai's voice spoke into his ear. "I take you now to the Sandaime Hokage; we will meet him together. SHIMON: KAI! Hikaru Chuushin no Taiyou no Jutsu!"

The grappled pair rose higher and higher into the air like a burning flare. All eyes watched as they reached the apex of their flight, Gai's form glowing brighter and brighter.

There was a brilliant flash, followed a second later by a massive concussion of force and sound, loud and strong enought to shatter windows across the entire village. Smoke hung in the air, barely visible to dazzled eyes, and a white, translucent serpent coiled and writhed in the sky. Unbodied, its essence still bled from its rent and spasming form, as it suddenly darted off, flying at dreadful pace to the North.

The sight of a ghostly serpent fleeing the battle broke what litle remained of the attacker's morale. They too began to flee, many escaping, while their comrades were cut down like wheat as they ran.

The battle was finally over, save for Gaara... and Naruto.

-the host of the first ATMA is in flight-

-your pet project is certainly proving worthwhile Ishi laphuniri kilawarata hagateta-despite the unforeseen complications it performs quite well-

-...-

-Ishi we sense uncertainty in you-

-the uzumakinaruto is still increasing its power-

-has the host of the first ATMA reached maximum output-

-affirmative-

-Taka homaratuchi dohemnaphuniri what is the status of the containment measures-

-unfinished more time is required-we may still need it continue your efforts-

-wasn't the battle lust of the ninth ATMA negated when we worked on the uzumakinaruto-I saw to it personally-

-then what is fuelling the uzumakinaruto's rage-

-the chakra parasite-

-no this is not the result of external forces-

-then what Amaro lemnionna kajeshni-

-my modifications to the chakra parasite have gone dormant since the early stages of the fight it is clear that the bipeds have somehow found a means by which to suppress it without negating it-

-fascinating I wonder how they managed it-

-the two hosts are on the move-

-they are coming this way-

-we need containment measures now-

-they are not ready we need an alternative now-

-summon the kikai-

-they cannot suppress the power of the ninth ATMA-

-we do not need to stop the ninth ATMA the uzumakinaruto is in pursuit of the first ATMA-

-do it-

The Aburame clan never told the village, but they were not the ones to defeat the fleeing Shukaku. As the Kikaichu beetles rose from their bodies, without orders, the Aburame already engaged in battle retreated to the shadows to hide their vulnerability. As one, every non queen kikaichu in Konohagakure flew towards the Forest of Death, descending on Shukaku like a plague of locusts. Sand, deprived of the chakra that gave it form, fell away from the monstrous body in clumps that drowned vegetation, buried small, fleeing animals, and crushed the small huts on the fence surrounding the training ground.

The clan gained much honor from the defeat of the Shukaku in the following days. But to admit that they had not sent the beetles would touch upon the deepest and most dangerous secret of the Aburame clan.

The truth of the matter is, that while most of the time the beetles would selflessly and unswervingly carry out any request or command of the Aburame that hosted them, the Aburame clan does not in fact control the beetles.

The beetles control the clan.

The cloak of the Kyuubii died away as Naruto walked towards the fallen Gaara, exhaustion and pain etched into his face as Naruto strode forward like an executioner, the tool of his trade in hand. Gaara futilely attempted to crawl away, but the fence which Shukaku had not quite reached stopped him cold.

As Naruto took a two handed grip on Kubikiri Houcho, a tall, white haired man wearing a hitai ate engraved with the kanji for oil landed behind him. Naruto spun, sensing the new arrival, but a sealing tag slapped onto his forehead stole the strength from his limbs and he collapsed, helpless to the ground, as the stranger knealt next to Gaara and checked him over.

"Hmmm. Chakra exhaustion and lacerations, bruising... Lost your hand. That's gonna be problematic if I make my guess. Still, all the dead and captured invading ninja means we'll have plenty of spare parts to fix you up with, hmm? A lot easier than replacing eyes, at any rate." The large man stood up, and looked over at Naruto. "Sorry about that kid. Til I'm sure you're not gonna fly off the handle and kill Gaara here, I'm afraid you're gonna stay restrained. Still, keeping him busy in that arena during the invasion, you saved a great many lives. Good job."

Naruto squinted, trying to make out the face that somehow seemed familiar to him. For some reason, he couldn't seem to contact the Kyuubii, couldn't summon chakra, couldn't move. "Do.. I... know... you?"

A look of sadness crossed the man's face, crinkling slightly the red lines painted there. "Not... no. Maybe once upon a time, but not anymore."

Before Naruto could really puzzle the meaning of those words out, he passed out.

End Chapter Twenty-Eight.

-AN; Much more prompt than the preceding chapter. We have one more chapter to go before the time skip, and it's a whopper. Changes have happened, and the world you all know and are familiar with is going to be altered forever.

Omake:

Naruto gazed upwards at the monstrous form of Shukaku unleashed- finesse would no longer suffice to win this battle. Only the sheer, overwhleming power inside him would do.

"ANY LAST WORDS, INSECT?" Roared Shukaku, grinning malevolently down at his prey.

"Actually, yeah." Naruto said, the red chakra welling out of his skin and armoring him as he glared defiantly up at the bijuu.

"You don't scare me- don't you know who I am? I'm the JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!"

End Omake Ja Mata.

-AXENOME*Chapter 32*: Chapter Twenty Eight: Invasive Species