"Hello." Someone else speaking

"Hello." Kyuubi speaking.

"Hello." Thoughts

"Hello." Kyuubi thoughts

Chapter 24

"So… Why are you here?" asked Naruto making everyone in his team including Hinata have a huge sweat drop.

"You idiot because he is the help the sand sent!" said Shikamaru.

"Oh yeah…" said Naruto.

"Are you all rested?" asked Gaara. Everyone nodded. "Well I could tell by the tone of the Kazakage that this was a really important mission and that powerful people could be here soon so I suggest we get this done right away." Everyone agreed not wanting to meet the people who beat up the Akatsuki.

"Anyone know what to expect?" asked Shikamaru with everyone behind him as they looked into the entrance.

"Traps." Said Akira simply making everyone look at him. "Lots of traps. And since this demon is probably the second strongest then I would say his traps are more deadly since it had more experience plus there might be more surprises so we will have to be even more careful."

"Alright." Said Shikamaru after thinking for a few minutes. "This will be our formation. Gaara will lead since he has the best defense in the group. Following him will be Akira and Chouji. In the middle will be me, Yumi, Naruto and Hinata while in back of us will be Lee and Neji. Any questions?" When no one answered Gaara led the group into the cave. Once inside the group was surprised to find it very dimly lit from the few holes that connected from the outside where a few beams of light illuminated their path. Gaara continued on the path at a pace that made Shikamaru quite uncomfortable. Shikamaru suddenly caught a glimpse of something shinny right in front of Gaara's foot making him begin to panic!

"Gaara wait! Watch out!" shouted Shikamaru but it was too late for Gaara alright tripped the wire sending several kunai in his direction that were easily blocked by the shield of sand not even making Gaara blink.

Suddenly Gaara saw several explosion notes attached to the shield making his eyes widen a bit. The explosion from the notes sent him flying into the air sending him a few feet from the group making him land hard on the ground. Gaara was about to get up when he heard several sizzling sounds and saw that there were at least 10 more tags under him! Gaara was then shot into the air hitting the roof hard where more tags were waiting for him and shot him diagonally into the ground once again.

"Someone intercept him!" shouted Shikamaru.

Akira ran towards Gaara with Naruto seeing how Gaara was flung once again into the air. But they both triggered traps as well and barely dodged the explosive kunai's that exploded. Neji was about to use his heavenly spin but decided against it for it could knock the rigged kunai's at his comrades. Gaara was flung even further away from the group before 3 spears flew at him penetrating his shield of sand but fortunately for him the armor that encased his body stopped the finally attack. Shikamaru looked around to see if any of his friends were hurt once. He then saw Gaara lying on the ground motionless and ran over to him followed by the others.

"Gaara?" The teenager soon stirred and began to move. Hinata attempted to push him down but his shield of sand surrounded him stopping her hand. "Gaara let me help you please…" Gaara looked at her for a minute before his shield was dropped. Hinata seeing no injuries gave him some of her charka and then handed him a soldier pill which he took and ate standing up within 3 minutes.

"Well that was intense…" said Naruto making everyone look at him. "What?"

"Idiot." Muttered Neji before taking the lead with his blood limit activated.

With Neji and Hinata in the front walking cautiously they spotted hidden traps and pit's easier but at the cost of traveling at a much slower pace. The group soon walked into a huge clearing that made them feel like a few ants.

"This place must be huge!" shouted Lee who was immediately struck in the back of his head by Neji.

"Shut up! Your being too loud." Said Neji glaring at Lee who shut his mouth.

"We have only been traveling down the tunnel for an hour… We must be really deep into the earth…" said Shikamaru. "Everyone be careful. Shuukaku wouldn't have made this room for no reason." His entire team nodded and began to move slowly towards the exit of the room when there was suddenly a huge rumbling making the group stop and begin to look around. "There!"

Everyone looked ahead and saw that there was a huge sand storm starting several feet away from them. The sand storm was suddenly beginning to take shape. Gaara stood in the front of the group with Naruto Akira and Neji behind him. The sand began to form arms and legs while hardening as well.

"Don't let it form together!" shouted Shikamaru.

"Katon Inferuno no jutsu!" (Inferno) shouted Naruto shooting a spray of fire at the forming sand making it disperse completely. "Yeah!" Suddenly the sand started up again at a faster pace making Naruto's eyes widen.

"Katon Housenka no jutsu! "Shouted Akira. Soon dozens of fireballs flew in all directions making the sand scatter once again but within a few moments it started up even faster. "Damnit…"

"Well make it too heavy to form them…" said Shikamaru. He nodded towards Neji who both began to form seals.

"Suiton Daibakufu no justu!" (water explosion) shouted both teenagers sending 2 huge cyclones made of water at the figure drenching it while also halting its transformation.

"That was weird…" said Choji looking at the sand that was now beginning to fall to the ground.

Suddenly dry sand began to shoot out from the ground underneath the wet sand and restarted its transformation shocking everyone who began to fire their jutsu's at the figure again to try and destroy it. Lee threw several kunai's attached with explosion tags at the cloud of sand which easily caught the weapons but their eyes widened when they saw the explosion tags covered with sand and then crushed rendering them useless.

"Damnit nothing we do can stop it!" thought Shikamaru.

Gaara tried to fire several spears of sand at the cloud but it just devoured them and grew in size!

"Why don't you just lend it another helping hand Gaara." Said Naruto who quickly shut up under the Gaara's glare.

"It's forming…" said Neji.

Soon a huge figure was formed in a shape of a human that was 12 feet tall with 6 huge arms.

"Sand soldiers…" said Gaara.

"What?"

"They are legendary soldiers that are made purely from sand and charka. They follow their masters without question and are very powerful. Most jutsu's are useless and only helps the monster for it sucks the charka out of the jutsu."

"So how do we kill it?" asked Naruto as the soldier stood up tall and stretched its arms.

"The only way to beat it was by attacking it constantly to deplete its charka core. The more you attack and hurt it the more the charka core uses its power to heal the wounds. So as long as we don't fire jutsu's and attack it head on with physical attacks the core should spend all of its energy and die." Concluded Gaara.

"It shouldn't be so hard if there are 8 of us." Said Akira. "But…"

"What is it Akira?"

"I think we should split up." Said Akira. Shikamaru was about to protest but Akira looked at him and cut him off before he could say anything. "I know it will be easier for us to take down the soldier with more people but what if we spend an hour fighting it. That gives the Unknown ninja's an hour more to catch up to us or even worst find us in a weakened state." Shikamaru nodded understanding his friend's argument.

"Good point…" said Shikamaru. "But who's going to go ahead?"

"You and Gaara defiantly." Said Neji. "If you catch it with your shadow then you could be feeding it charka which we cannot have and Gaara's sand attacks are useless against it as we have seen…"

"You guys go…" said Naruto. "Akira, Hinata, Lee and I will handle this." Neji looked at Naruto and saw the very rare look of seriousness in Naruto's eyes.

"Naruto I should stick around if you're going to need physical strength." Said Choji.

"No…" said Naruto no even looking at him. Choji looked down.

"Does he still think I'm weak?" thought Choji sadly.

"We need you to go with Shikamaru's team because you have more strength then any of us. They will need you more…" said Naruto turning around to face Choji smiling. "I trust you just as much as I trust everyone here… I know you'll take care of our friends…" Choji smiled at Naruto's praise.

"I won't let you down…" said Choji. Naruto remained smiling nodding his head.

"Neji and Yumi should go too…" said Naruto.

"What! I am staying with Hinata-sama!" said Neji.

"They need her here." Said Gaara surprising them all. "They will need a medic for this battle. And we may need your skill with jutsu's if we are to have more firepower. The Akatsuki girl will also be needed since she can strengthen us with her aura's."

Neji was about to argue but Shikamaru cut him off.

"We have to go Neji… Naruto and Akira will take care of her." Said Shikamaru putting a hand on his friends shoulder. "We are just wasting time here and that soldier has been patient it could attack any time now…"

As much as Yumi wanted to stay as well she knew this was the best course of action. Akira smiled at her before squeezing her hand. Naruto then ran forward with his kunai and took an attack position while Shikamaru's group ran to the exit to continue into the cave. The soldier still held its gaze at Naruto's group before it stretched its arms out at its side. Soon sand began to form around all 6 hands before 2 swords formed on the top two hands while 2 shields formed in the middle hands and 2 axes formed in the bottom pair of hands. Naruto's mouth dropped while looking at the soldiers weapons then at his little kunai.

"Let's get this started…" said Naruto. Both he and Akira took off their jackets revealing their arms that had weights on them. Lee joined then when Naruto and Akira took off their weights. "Let's go!" Naruto and Akira threw their weights at the soldier who blocked 2 with both of his shields but was struck in the chest by the remaining 2 which sent him flying into a nearby wall. Lee simply dropped his leg weights and was in front of the sand solider in 3 seconds before delivering a kick so hard that it dug a crater in the wall. Naruto and Akira finished taking off their leg weights as well and charged forward to help Lee who was dodging the soldier's attacks.

"It recovered quickly!" thought Lee. Who had just jumped over an axe and then attempted to kick at the head but was blocked by a shield. Lee quickly pushed off of the shield to barely avoid a sword that swiped at his legs from above. "It doesn't waste any movements… It attacks while still remaining defensive…"

"Lee you okay?" asked Akira. Naruto was now trying his luck but didn't even land a single blow for they were all blocked by the 2 shields that guarded the upper body very well while the axes attacked anything that was attempting to strike the legs.

Hinata ran next to Naruto while dodging a sword, then jumped over an axe but right when she touched the ground she dashed forward and slid on the ground to barely dodge a sword and axe that attempted to decapitate her. Hinata saw the chest of the soldier and was about to strike when 2 shields came up to block her. Naruto who had just gotten close punched at the shields while Hinata jumped up and used Naruto's shoulder to jump higher into the air until she was behind it before getting into one of her most devastating fighting stances.

"Hakkeshou Rokujuu Yonshou." (64 hits of divinity)

Hinata struck her opponent in the back with every single attack making it back up against the wall where Lee and Akira joined her and began to take advantage of the time their friend gave them. Lee and Akira gave the soldier one last kick sending it deep into the sand made wall. Naruto too soon joined his 3 friends who watched the monster who was stuck in the wall motionless.

"That's it?" asked Naruto. Naruto suddenly turned around from a sudden scream of pain. "Lee!"

Naruto was horrified to see a sword pierce his friend's right shoulder and lift him off the ground. Akira attempted to attack the soldier but was struck in the face by its shield making him fly several feet into the air. Hinata looked at the new soldier then back at the old one which had just turned into a heap of sand. Naruto jumped towards Lee but had to take out his kunai to block a sword that was headed his way. Naruto then placed his foot on one of the axes jumping away while Hinata blocked the second axe and shield. Lee was then thrown into the air and landed several meters away bleeding heavily.

"Hinata go take care of Lee. Akira and I will cover you!" shouted Naruto. Hinata nodded while running off to her comrade.

Naruto attempted to hit the soldier on the chest but it was intercepted by a shield while Akira kicked both of the swords back while blocking 2 axes to give Naruto a chance. Naruto quickly threw a kunai at his opponent making its second shield come up to block it leaving it wide open. Naruto then moved up close before kicking so hard that its right side cracked, Naruto then punched it twice before moving in back of it and putting his arms around the waist of the soldier. Naruto then tightened his grip, lifted the solider off the ground and slammed it hard on the ground but still maintained his hold, lifting the soldier once again and slamming it even harder on the ground making a sizable crater. Naruto was just getting up when a strong foot struck him in the chest knocking all of the wind in his lungs and sending him about 10 feet away. Akira made 2 water elementals and began to attack the monster that slashed at the bunshin's but were in vain since they always reformed. Akira then kicked at the shield that blocked his path and jumped over it to get in back of the soldier who was currently occupied. Akira then stuck in the back of the legs making it bend down. Akira followed up his attack by putting both of his hands together and struck it on the side of the head as hard as he could resulting in a loud cracking noise. Akira then kicked at the back making it stumble forward. Akira was about to strike again when he felt a sharp pain in his arm and saw that one of the swords had slashed him across the arm. The soldier then jumped to its feet and kicked him hard in the head without looking at the teenager breaking his glasses and sent him crashing into his best friend who was just getting up.

"This is getting harder then I thought." Said Naruto.

Both boys looked at the creature in front of them who had just snapped its head back into place and twirled its weapons getting into his attack stance clearly ready for round 2 full knowing that it had won the first round without question.

For all my reviewers I am so sorry about not updating for so long. I had several problems with my computer thus I had to rewrite all my chapters but now I am back on track so I should be updating a lot sooner. I hope you all can forgive me and continue reading my story.