Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.

AN:So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.

Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.

Many of the gathered spectators found themselves rooted to their seats in stark terror. Even some amongst the genin were having a hard time keeping their composure under the thickening clog of bloodlust slowly choking them.

Genma took a step forward, intending to intervene before things got too out of hand, but a gentle yet unyielding hand arrested his movement. He followed the arm back to its owner and had to fight down the shudder that threatened to crawl up his spine. Staring back at him were cool, clear, and focused azure eyes which pierced him to his very core. Yondaime-sama, he couldn't help but think; having been on the man's personal guard, he had found himself under just such a gaze more than once.

Naruto's calm tone broke him out of his reverie,

"It is fine, I can handle him."

Blinking at that, Genma found himself unable to doubt the teen, yet he would still follow protocol. He turned a questioning gaze up to his Hokage, waiting for his direction on how to proceed.

Sarutobi easily ignored the amount of killing intent saturating the air around him, his gaze instead focused on the blond haired genin currently looking back at him. In that blue gaze, he read a request not to interfere; a request for him to believe in Naruto. With a slight incline of his head, he leaned back in his seat, waiting to see how his successor's son would handle the situation.

The previously tense Konoha ninja in the stadium took their cues from their wizened leader and relaxed – not fully, but enough not to be on high alert.

By this time, the explosion of chakra had subsided enough for everyone to see Gaara's figure. Stifled screams of fright erupted from various mouths among the stands as they all beheld Gaara's monstrous new form.

Covered from head to toe in sand, Gaara perfectly resembled, in miniature, the very beast that he contained within him. His tail, made entirely of sand, waved lazily in the air behind him. His eyes contained a greater amount of madness than they had before, yet in them, Naruto saw something that managed to surprise him.

Gaara was still in control.

It seemed like this incarnation of Gaara was one of the rare ones who had full control of their tenant's chakra; of course, being only one tail worth of demonic chakra, it was made somewhat easier to control.

Naruto's acute hearing suddenly picked up nearly silent laughter coming from Gaara. It slowly rose in volume until the entire stadium was ringing with sheer insanity made sound. Gaara howled like a mad animal, nothing but seething bloodlust in his voice.

At this point, even the chunin among the audience had paled in rising terror.

Finally, Gaara's malevolent chakra stabilized and when ninja took a measure of it, then the jounin amongst them lost their color as well.

It was Kage level…times three.

Gaara took a step forward and silence descended like a curtain across the entire stadium, most of it brought on by fear of what was to come. He took another, then another, then another after that. Each successive step was taken faster than the last, until he was hurtling across the ground, moving at high speeds, only to suddenly launch his sand encased right arm at Naruto's head when he was within striking distance.

Naruto smoothly slid out of the way of the attack, and the other lumbering ones that came after it; his greater speed making it a trivial issue to evade the blows. He then saw an opening and, without wasting any time, he viciously exploited it. His right leg rocketed into Gaara's stomach…and stopped there.

A terror inducing grin split across Gaara's face as he just about sang, Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Blast). He took in a deep breath and, just before expelling the powerful attack, he noticed a pale blue flicker of light run down the leg lodged in his stomach. Forcefully spitting out the powerful jutsu in Naruto's face, he was launched backwards as the lightning clone detonated from the lethal assault, causing painful electrical shocks to his system.

Gaara was back on his feet in a flash, casting his gaze across the stadium, looking for his elusive prey when his head suddenly whipped to the right under the force of Naruto's roundhouse kick. Before he could recover from that, he felt another vicious kick connect with his head, propelling him towards the wall of the stadium.

He never made it.

With a ground shaking boom, a cloud of dust was kicked up, obscuring the two combatants from view. When it cleared, someone whistled as the scene revealed Naruto standing on Gaara's head, having obviously just stomped on him, both located within a respectably sized crater.

Naruto leapt off of Gaara's prone figure and landed at the mouth of the hole in the ground.

Slowly, Gaara got back to his feet with sand rising from the ground to patch up whatever damages he had sustained so far.

The spectators roared in approval at the action packed match, many of them forgetting the fear that had previously gripped them.

Gaara slowly spun to lock eyes with Naruto's stationary figure. He opened his mouth and the voice that issued out of it had the undertones of things that go bump in the night,

"Uzumaki Naruto…mother will have your blood!"

With that simple statement, he slammed his fists into the ground at his feet.

It began slowly.

Eventually, even the civilians picked up on the rumbling sound of moving earth and before any of them could ask what the cause of the sound was, it revealed itself.

Half of the entire battlefield exploded upwards into a mind blowing towering wave of sand. It climbed higher and higher until its very shadow extended beyond the stands, casting them into partial darkness.

Eyes widened in disbelieving horror, most of the people watching pushed back in their seats, as far as they could go, all to get away from the terror inducing sight before them.

Through all the panic permeating the air, Naruto evenly looked back at Gaara, his unbothered gaze aggravating the mad jinchuuriki even more.

With a bloodthirsty roar, Gaara flung his arms forward and the dance began.

Right off the bat, Naruto noticed that the sands were moving significantly faster than they previously had. In fact, they seemed to be moving faster than his raw speed at his level. Not yet willing to remove one level of his custom limiter, he pushed his body to the limit, utilizing all that his long life had taught him to dodge and weave through the perilous arms of sand.

Gaara, having long since emerged from the hole in the ground, watched with an ever widening grin on his face as his opponent was hard pressed to survive his onslaught. He abruptly forced more chakra into the sand he was controlling and then with a burst of speed, one of the arms racing towards Naruto surged forward, faster than before.

To Gaara, and some of the people watching, it seemed as though the world had stopped.

Naruto had sensed the approaching sand and moved his head out of the way of the suddenly faster tendril, but he was not fast enough.

A thin line of blood appeared on his left cheek; the sand having effortlessly sliced through his facemask to get to the skin beneath it.

In the stands, Sakura, and even Kakashi, leaned forward in the disbelief.

In the arena, Gaara's pupils dilated so wide that his eyes were now completely gold colored. Before anyone could react to the new development, his chakra spiked powerfully as Shukaku's own bloodlust joined with and heightened his own, at the sight of bleeding prey.

With the spectators watching on, the sand surged forward…too fast.

Naruto wove, curled, jumped and twisted as hard as he could, but even he knew that at his level, he was only delaying the inevitable. He pulled out manoeuvers that he had learnt as a taijutsu master in his past lives. He even resorted to jumping off nearby strands of sand, to escape certain death.

It wasn't enough.

He knew that he was going to get caught, and when it did finally happen, to those who cared for the blond haired genin, it was like watching a train wreck.

Naruto jumped back to avoid sand that had suddenly dove towards him.

He landed and prepared to leap again, when he noticed Gaara's triumphant grin.

He immediately cast his senses out and his eyes widened when he realized the trap that he had just landed in. He forced chakra to his legs in preparation for an evasive manoeuver, but it was already too late.

The sand at his feet, filled with Gaara's chakra, suddenly shifted.

For an instant, Naruto was off balance.

It was long enough.

Naruto's legs were suddenly encased in sand to hold him in place and, before he could react, more sand lurched forward to cover his entire body.

Some of the spectators screamed in fright at the new development, worried about the fate of their favorite participant.

Kakashi paled and tensed, unconsciously taking a step forward in rising trepidation.

Sarutobi's grip on his pipe became punishing as the lines in his face became fixed.

Orochimaru leaned forward in anticipation, eager to see how the enterprising blond haired genin would get out of his predicament.

Without wasting any time, Gaara howled out his glee,

"Die!"

Then before the horrified gaze of the Konoha Shinobi, the sand imploded…and all was silent.

Kakashi, hoping that his student had pulled off another spectacular move, frantically cast his gaze around the stadium, looking for a sign. However, he slumped in sorrow when his sharp eye caught bits of red visible in interspaced spots around the cocoon of sand.

As Gaara opened his mouth to celebrate his final victory, an object suddenly crashed into the ground behind him. Eyes wide in hesitant denial, he slowly turned his body to the rapidly clearing cloud of dust.

The dust eventually dispersed to reveal Naruto's bare-chested kneeling figure. He had one hand fisted on the ground, and his hair, freed from the obstruction of his headband, hung low into his eyes.

Kakashi's gaze cut back to the remnants of the sand cocoon and he sighed in relief when he noticed that the red was in fact caused by the tattered pieces of Naruto's red muscle shirt.

Many of the spectators observed him, wide-eyed, with a few blushes here and there. The ninja in particular noted his flawless skin, not understanding how someone in his profession could have no scars whatsoever.

With a start, most of the Konoha spectators realized that this was the first time in over two years that any of them would be seeing his face. Many of them had long since forgotten just what he looked like, and more than a few were eager to see what was beneath his facemask.

With smooth and graceful movements, Naruto got back to his feet, and when he raised his head to face Gaara, and coincidentally, the stands as well, numerous jaws dropped in shock.

Standing there, ocean blue eyes calm and focused, blond-hair freed from restraint, and with a smooth and handsome unscarred face, Naruto cut a truly awe-inspiring figure. His resemblance to his father had never before been as obvious as it was at that moment. Indeed, many watching immediately noticed the hair-raising similarities between the genin standing before them and the late Yondaime Hokage. And with that thought, dangerous realizations began to take root in many a mind.

Paying no attention to the sudden outbreak of muttering amongst the spectators, he let loose a near silent sigh. He absently raised his eyes to the skies when he noticed a shadow passing over the sun. He took in the gathering clouds, and recalled that it usually rained at this time…excellent, he thought to himself. He dropped his head, his piercing gaze focused on Gaara, and his calm, even tone effortlessly cut through the noise in the stadium, capturing the attention of everyone present,

"You know Gaara, I am…somewhat glad that you are my opponent."

That statement confused many of the watchers, Gaara included. While they were trying to understand what he meant, Naruto unobtrusively released one level of his limiter seal while simultaneously clamping down on his chakra to prevent anyone from noticing its sudden increase. He fought not to react to the sudden rush of power filling his veins as more of his chakra suddenly became accessible to him. At this new level, his speed was Kage level, as was his strength as well.

His eyes refocused on Gaara's slightly confused ones, and he explained his somewhat vague statement, while slowly molding a relatively small portion of his now vast reserves of chakra,

"Of all the genin participants, besides me, you are the most durable, and therefore the most likely one to survive a full assault from me."

Gaara gained a perplexed look on his face, unable to understand why Naruto had just said what he did.

Before people could express their own disbelief at the sudden knowledge that Naruto had been holding back, they noticed a sudden disturbance in the air around Naruto's form. All confusion fled from Gaara's face, and the faces of those in the stands, when he noticed how the sand at Naruto's feet was swirling. Immediately, he cast his senses out and stumbled back in rising fear.

Up in the stands, the higher ranked ninja found themselves flabbergasted at the amount of chakra Naruto still had. Many of the older Konoha Shinobi wondered if all the chakra they had felt him using so far was his alone, before dismissing the thought as ludicrous; there was no way they would have missed the feeling of Kyuubi's chakra if he was indeed using it.

The civilians, who were unable to sense Naruto's chakra output, wondered at the hesitation being shown by the sand covered killer. They all received their answer when the air around Naruto suddenly exploded in a massive blazing blue corona of energy.

Gaara flinched in shock when Naruto's powerful blue chakra became visible around him, noticing that the eruption of chakra had even dented the ground at the blond genin's feet.

It began slowly, but eventually, even the civilians watching picked up on the hum of electricity in the air as Naruto's chakra gradually turned Lightning natured.

The spectators all leaned forward in anticipation of whatever the remarkable young genin would do next.

Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw.

Naruto's eyes locked on Gaara's black and gold ones and the Suna jinchuuriki noticed that his eyes seemed to be giving off little forks of lightning from time to time. And then, all other thoughts, save a paralyzing fear, fled his mind when Naruto's voice cut through the air,

Raiton: Shunko (Lightning Release: Flash Cry)

For a moment, everything was frozen: the crowds were silent, the air was still, Gaara was frozen in place, and Naruto was motionless.

Then without warning, the very air tore with a piercing cry as the region around Naruto's form detonated with a surge of supercharged lightning chakra.

Through the furious storm of chakra, the gathered people could barely make out what was happening as lightning was gathered at specific parts of Naruto's figure: his hands, feet, and at his upper back. When the explosion of chakra finally died down, they beheld Naruto's new form.

He stood before them, form wreathed in flickering and crackling blue-white power. He looked as though he were suited with boots and gauntlets made of condensed lightning. The lightning congregated at his limbs constantly gave off sparks and bolts that effortlessly tore up the ground around him.

Across the stadium, ocular doujutsu were activated as members of the Hyuuga family tried to understand the effect of the new jutsu.

Amongst the Konoha jounin, a gasp drew the attention of the ninja present to one of their number, a Hyuuga jounin who had his Byakugan active. Without prompting, he began to describe what his eyes were telling him, causing those within earshot to lean forward in interest, which slowly turned to astonishment.

"Amazing...this is unbelievable. His chakra is not just coating his limbs, but it is actually affecting his internal organs as well. Indeed, the lightning seems to be stimulating his nervous system as a whole, augmenting it and allowing it perform at unbelievable levels; I can only assume that his reflexes would have been increased tenfold. Also, the muscles in his limbs are being affected as well and enhanced drastically, leading me to conclude that his speed and strength are being raised to phenomenal levels. All in all, it is most likely a body enhancement jutsu much like the Yondaime Raikage's Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Release Armor)."

When he finished, he looked around to find the disbelieving faces of his comrades. Many of the civilians who had been within hearing range were also in awe of the jutsu they were witnessing.

Before more could be said on the matter, Naruto attacked. Having already been above Kage level at level six, the use of the body enhancement jutsu put him beyond the reach of every ninja present in the stadium, with speed that rivaled the Yondaime Raikage when using his lightning armor.

The entire stadium was still gaping at the scene before them, when a sharp cry of pain caused everyone to quickly focus on Gaara. Eyes narrowed in confusion as they noticed that Gaara's stocky form was hunched over in obvious pain, with no visible cause before them.

Without any prior warning, lightning suddenly erupted from Gaara's back, blasting off to tear a clean hole through the wall behind him.

Breath locked in his throat from the mind numbing pain of having a powerful bolt of lightning pass clean through him as well as from the mighty impact to his stomach, Gaara's back arched, his head thrown backwards, and mouth opened to scream; just before he was abruptly blasted away with a boom of sound as he received a punishing roundhouse kick to his face.

His rapid flight was painfully halted by an unrelenting elbow to his back, before he was forcibly returned the way he came by a follow up punch.

The gathered watchers swiveled their heads in confusion, trying in vain to catch sight of the person that was attacking Gaara; Naruto still stood in his spot, gazing forward impassively.

As Gaara crashed into the wall on the far side of the stadium, the spectators finally noticed as Naruto's form wavered and finally disappeared…afterimage. They expressed their approval in a cheer so loud, the grounds seemed to shake with their voice.

"Un…un…unbelievable!"

The stuttered cry of Konoha's famed beast drew the attention of the people near him, before they followed his gaze to find Naruto standing at Gaara's last position, his hand still outstretched after delivering his bone jarring punch. As Gai continued to speak, the people near him refocused on his words,

"I…I couldn't even see him move."

Before the full implications of his statement could set in, he turned to his left to cast a questioning gaze at his silver haired eternal rival.

With a shake of his head, Kakashi replied,

"I could just barely keep up…and even then…"

Astonished silence descended on the gathered jounin when Kakashi turned to face them, revealing that he had uncovered his sharingan eye…and still only just barely managed to follow Naruto's movements.

The Konoha ninjas present were furiously racking their brains for any memory that hinted at Naruto's sudden skill; at this time, they were far beyond the point of brushing it off as the power of his tenant. None of them could fathom how such an obviously powerful genin had flown under the radar for so long. The foreign ninja amongst them were feeling the faint stirrings of unease in the pits of their stomachs as they beheld the finely controlled power behind one of Konoha's new blood. Any of them who had been entertaining thoughts of Konoha's fall from being the top of the food chain promptly squashed said thoughts. If that was what a genin could do, what about the jounin? What about...the Hokage?

The Konoha genin, on the other hand, were struggling with the sudden onset of feelings of inadequacy. There, before their very eyes, was a genin that most of them had dismissed as a poor excuse for a ninja. None of them could understand how they had never noticed any improvement in Naruto over the years that they had known him; none of them had any warning to prepare them for their suddenly too powerful age mate.

Sarutobi relaxed back in his chair, and set about refilling his pipe. He shook his head as he marveled at the amazing skill being shown by his successor's legacy. However, he let loose a slightly weary sigh as he was forced to acknowledge that Jiraiya had been right when he warned him that Naruto wasn't being fully open with them when they last spoke in his office. Still, he thought to himself, for all that he has been through, the young lad is due his own secrets.

Orochimaru had to force down the shudders of near ecstasy that threatened to wrack his body. He was however unable to stifle the reflexive urge to lick his lips as he trained his gaze on the glowing form of Uzumaki Naruto. His mind had been made up from the moment he saw Namikaze's brat utilize the Hyuuga defensive jutsu…he would have the genin for study; the display before him just roused his enthusiasm to greater heights. Still, he mastered his rising anticipation; it was not yet time to act.

The attention of the spectators was dragged back to the rapidly escalating match as they heard the pained grunting of Gaara.

Gaara finally managed to peel himself off of the wall and he swayed on his feet as Shukaku's youki worked furiously to heal the damage he had just sustained. Once he felt his injuries vanish, he turned his baleful gaze onto his enemy. Gritting his teeth at the calm and unbothered look directed back at him, he furiously flung his arms out at Naruto.

Mind boggling amounts of sand surged forward once more at Gaara's gesture, suddenly bearing down on Naruto's position.

With a small and amused smile, Naruto vanished from where he was standing.

Without warning, save for Naruto's sudden absence, Gaara was booted forward by a kick to his back. He landed in the middle of the battlefield, and quickly got back to his feet, his thick sand coated arms already weaving through the air as he directed numerous strands of sand, trying to capture Naruto.

Naruto, with the same smile on his face, flickered from place to place in the stadium, each time materializing only long enough for Gaara to catch a glimpse of his form and react to it.

Left, right, behind, and in front, Gaara directed his sand all over the place, trying in vain to finally catch and kill his opponent, all the while unaware that he was being maneuvered into a trap.

Suddenly, Naruto vanished but did not appear in Gaara's field of vision again. Snapping his head left and right, Gaara frantically tried to locate his opponent before he struck again. It was then that his hearing picked up the mutterings of the crowd. Turning to the stands, he noticed that everyone was pointing upwards. With great reluctance, and no small amount of fear, he looked up to find, suspended in the air above him, what looked to be a large sealing script made out of lightning. Sensing a presence before him, he dropped his gaze to find Naruto standing in front of him, out of reach of his sand.

Slowly, Naruto's right arm came up to point at the writing in the air. With a sizzle and zap, the lightning shrouding his limbs suddenly congregated at his fingertip and then leapt, in the form of a powerful bolt, towards the sealing script, which then began to grow brighter and brighter.

Gaara, seeing that Naruto's body enhancement jutsu had been cancelled was about to send sand to crush him, when some instinct made him look back up at the script in the air. If he could have paled, he would have; the script was now giving off little sparks of lightning, as though it were a time bomb. With a flash of cold fear down his spine, he abruptly remembered Naruto's fight with Neji and the seemingly harmless lighting bird. Furiously he reached for the numerous strands of sand around the battlefield, and that was when he realized what Naruto's real intentions had been.

While Gaara had been sending his sand out to capture the ever elusive Naruto, the ground around him had been gradually stripped bare of its covering of sand. At the end of it all, the effect was that from a bird's eye view, it would look like Gaara was standing in a circle of bare ground about ten feet in diameter, while all around him at the edge of the circle, long strands of sand were rooted to the ground, waving in the air. The result was that while the sand provided an almost impregnable defense from a frontal attack, like a flower in bloom, it was easily susceptible to attacks from above.

Now, as Gaara tried to get the sand to return from where it was, he knew that the sand was too far away, and that he would be too slow.

Indeed, for while his sand was still feet away, Naruto spoke in a soft voice that was easily heard in the stadium,

Raiton: Kami no Sabaki (Lightning Release: Judgement of God).

And with a roar of blinding white light, Gaara knew pain.

To the spectators present, it was like the world had just come to an end. The entirety of the world perceived by their senses reduced to pure white nothingness; unable to see because of the blindingly bright explosion of light, and unable to hear because of the ringing silence brought on by the boom of sound beyond human hearing. For the Hyuugas with their ocular doujutsu as well as the Inuzukas with their sensitive hearing, it was far worse.

Eventually, their sights cleared, and the ringing petered out into true silence, allowing them to behold the magnificent and awe inspiring devastation left behind by Naruto's attack.

At first glance, it was immediately obvious that Gaara had somehow survived the massive attack, though he was obviously in no shape to continue; the glass sphere at ground zero was proof of Shukaku's successful efforts to keep his host alive. When it had become evident that the sand in the field was too dispersed for Gaara to gather it in time, the sand encasing his body had gathered itself into a defensive sphere moments before the attack had struck. By pumping all the youki he had into the sand sphere, Shukaku was able to keep Gaara alive through the heavy nigh apocalyptic assault.

The lightning attack had however managed to smelt the sand sphere as well as the ground around it into glass, causing some burns to Gaara's already injured body. Abruptly, with the sound of tinkling bells, the sphere shattered to deposit Gaara's barely conscious and panting form onto the floor.

The entire stadium was completely silent, save for the short breaths of the defeated red haired genin, everyone trying to take in the shocking end to the match.

Gaara was only able to crawl a few inches before his strength finally failed him, and for the first time in his life, he passed out into full unconsciousness.

Temari and Kankuro were speechless as they watched their brother pass out. It had never occurred to them, in all the years that they had known him, that he could ever be defeated. It was an unspoken understanding in Suna that the only ninja able to handle Gaara was the Yondaime Kazekage, owing to his use of Sakin no Jutsu (Gold Dust Technique). To see him now, brought low by a mere genin, baffled their minds

The spectators were completely entertained by such a stunning conclusion to a spectacular match. To the potential clients in particular, it was a show like no other. Surely, they thought, if one of the little ones can call down lightning from the sky, Konoha must indeed be the mightiest of Shinobi villages.

Amongst the foreign Shinobi, all lingering thoughts of post Kyuubi weakness were completely dispelled in the wake of Naruto's performance.

Sarutobi looked on with pride as the stands finally erupted in cheers and applause when Genma officially declared Naruto the winner. It warmed his heart to know that the future of Konoha rested in such dependable hands. Oh Minato, if only you could see your boy now…you would be so proud.

Orochimaru gazed at the figure of Uzumaki, no, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto and he was intrigued. At the start of the match he had focused on the blond haired child because he seemed to be a riddle, and ever the scientist, Orochimaru had wanted to figure him out. Who was this genin that would dare to stand against Orochimaru the Snake Charmer, and live to tell the tale? He had wanted to see just how much of the Yondaime's genius had bred true, and he was not disappointed. Yet, now that his haze of distracting glee had passed, he allowed himself to recognize the danger that such a powerful young genin posed to him, especially if he was this powerful at such a young age. Despite his desire to see what heights the child could attain, he knew that if he couldn't have him, then no one must be allowed to either.

The pride shining in Kakashi's lone eye – his sharingan having been hastily covered up when Naruto's last attack had been launched – was unmistakable. It was somewhat subdued by the knowledge that he had not played major part in the growth of his sensei's son, but he consoled himself with the promise to do better in the future. Still, despite his misgivings and feelings of failure, he was proud of his student, and pseudo little brother, and he knew that his sensei would have been as well.

The members of the Konoha population present in the stadium found their long held beliefs under heavy attack. The child that they had long since tried to put down had grown and flourished into a phenomenal ninja, a legend in the making. Their feelings of shame and regret were further worsened by the chilling resemblance the boy bore to their much beloved deceased Yondaime Hokage. The knowledge of that resemblance, in addition to the blazing speed that the young genin had just displayed, caused many of them to find themselves beginning to draw conclusions about the child's heritage. Still, even without the possibility of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki being the hokage's son, the enthusiastic cheering of the foreigners around them told them quite clearly that they had misjudged the genin, and that in doing so, they had betrayed the ideal that Senju Hashirama had fought to create; the very Will of Fire that Namikaze Minato had given his life for.

Naruto calmly observed the cheering crowd before him, listening to their shouted praises, and in some cases, marriage proposals. Smothering a huff of amused laughter at that last bit, his senses suddenly warned him of an approaching chakra signature, causing him to turn his gaze to the space in front of Gaara's prone figure, just in time for Temari and Kankuro to materialize out of their shunshin. The two Suna genin promptly froze when they noticed the cool scrutiny of the blond haired Konoha genin, completely afraid to make a move lest he decide to harm them.

Without taking his eyes off the two, Naruto probed the chakra available to him at level six. He had to fight back a pleased smile when he realized he still had the equivalent of the Sanbi's chakra capacity left; his absolute mastery over the lightning element insured that his jutsu used the least amount of chakra necessary for the maximum amount of damage. Also, the fact that the levels of the seal were not linear in power, but roughly exponential, meant that he probably wouldn't have to release another level to deal with the coming invasion.

It was just as he reached that conclusion that the enemies struck.

Naruto didn't even flinch when the Kage's box exploded in a cloud of smoke, knowing from past lives that the Sandaime Hokage could handle Orochimaru and his bag of tricks for at least half an hour before he would need backup. His attention was instead focused on the rapidly approaching hail of pointy death launched by the multitude of invading ninja who wanted to snuff out what was obviously Konoha's greatest potential. Noticing that the majority of the Konoha ninja were tied up fending off the invaders, Naruto did not bother waiting for help. As he turned to handle the attack headed his way, he saw that Konoha jounins had finally noticed the numerous kunai and shuriken bearing down on him, but were unable to move to help him. As the projectiles got closer, Naruto merely raised his two hands to them and intoned,

Jiton: Tengoku no Sekiryoku (Magnetic Release: Heavenly Repulsion).

Heads turned to his direction in slight interest when they heard him speak and then jaws summarily dropped as their owners registered their rapidly returning projectiles, all unerringly aimed at only invading Shinobi. The faster ninja amongst them were able to dodge, but a handful of them were still either injured or killed by the reflected assault.

Before the ninja could adjust to Naruto's baffling act, he went and pulled another one.

Bringing up a single handed ram seal, while also unsealing his ninjato from a previously invisible tattoo on his arm, he molded half of the chakra he currently possessed and then clearly stated,

Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)

Across the grounds, some enemy ninjas paled in disbelieving horror as two hundred solid replicas of the shirtless genin materialized without sound or smoke in the center of the stadium, all armed with the same sword. Naruto gave a satisfied nod when his senses revealed that each of the clones had high jounin level reserves.

As if the sudden arrival of backup was not enough, the clones formed a hand seal in eerie synchronization and spoke with one voice,

Shunko (Flash Cry)

A third of the invading forces present in the stadium died in the first few seconds before the light given off by the jutsu had faded. Of those that were left, all the chunin perished in the next ten seconds, while only thirty clones were forcefully dispersed, and all by jounins as they slew the chunins around them. Now, of the six hundred enemy ninja present in the stands, only about a hundred and fifty remained.

Some of the more cowardly ninja surrendered once they saw the rapid decrease in their numbers, and they were knocked out and taken away to a makeshift prison in the meantime. The others were ruthlessly cut down by the relatively more numerous Konoha ninja amongst them. All in all, it had taken under ten minutes from start to finish for the stadium to be brought under control, with only a handful of Konoha ninjas dead; three minutes after Naruto's clones had joined the fray.

The fighting done for now, the ninjas turned to watch as the numerous blonds all turned in unison to face the original, who was still standing in the center of the stadium. To those watching, it seemed as though Naruto merely nodded at his clones before they all suddenly took off into the rest of the village, no doubt to help fight off the intruders there. However, he had actually transmitted instructions to them to go and handle the rest of the intruders, focusing their efforts on the Academy, the Shelters and the Hospital.

In the confusion brought on by the sudden attack, Temari and Kankuro had taken the chance to collect Gaara and flee the stadium, heading into the forest via a hole that Naruto had put in the wall. They had not gone unnoticed however as Kabuto, in his disguise as a Konoha Anbu, had followed them, intending to see to the Suna Jinchuuriki in order for him to be able to play his part in the invasion. With a foreboding smirk on his face, he realized that he would probably have to inject his master's trial drug into him to stimulate the regeneration of his tenant's chakra.

Kakashi, seeing that the enemies in the vicinity had been subdued, turned to the genin near him to give them their orders for the defense of Konoha. After he had sent off the members of the Rookie Nine present, he turned to call Naruto over, just in time to watch him vanish from the stadium, heading to who knows where. With an exasperated sigh, he turned his focus to the huge barrier separating the Hokage and Orochimaru from the others, and went to see what he could do.

Ibiki sighed in frustration as another batch of Konoha ninja were casually wiped out by the humongous snake summons brought by the invading Suna and Oto ninjas. The five snakes, including the three headed one, had long since smashed huge holes in Konoha's towering walls; the only thing keeping them outside was the constant onslaught of Konoha Shinobi fighting to stall them. Still, at the rate things were going, Ibiki knew that they would have to pull back and allow the summons, as well as the ninja who summoned them, to fully breach the walls. Before he could deliver the order for a tactical retreat, a shouted cry heralded the arrival of the Toad Sannin,

Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu (Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique).

With a might cloud of smoke, one of the five huge snakes was ruthlessly crushed by an equally large toad armed with twin swords. Standing on the head of the toad, white hair fluttering in the wind, Jiraiya gazed down on the ninja who were now staring at him in awe and gratitude. With a smile on his face, he was about to commence his usual introductory dance routine, when with a flash of light and boom of thunder, his godson was suddenly standing beside him.

Many of the gathered ninja flinched in shock at the sudden appearance of the genin, and most of them couldn't help but liken his arrival to that of the Yondaime Hokage. The similarity was further enhanced by the fact that Naruto had finally gotten some clothes to where; a white cloak with lightning bolts at the bottom worn over a blue muscle shirt, with his headband back around his forehead.

Turning to his godfather, Naruto spoke while the ninja were still adjusting to his sudden presence,

"The Old man needs your help; Orochimaru has trapped him in a barrier in the stadium and the Konoha ninjas can't get in. I can take over from you here."

Giving his godson an assessing look, Jiraiya, to the consternation of the Konoha ninja who had been waiting for him, gave Naruto a nod and turned to leap towards the stadium. Just as the invading ninjas were beginning to smirk at the Toad Sannin's departure, Naruto jumped towards them, and while still in the air, he bit his thumb, blurred through three hand seals, and slapped his hands down in midair,

Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)

The cloud of smoke that was formed covered everything in the vicinity, making the people present unable to see. When it finally cleared, the enemy ninja could do naught but blink at what they saw.

Naruto stood on the head of the toad which a few Konoha jounins identified as the Master swordsman of the Toad clan, Gamahiro, while around him were Gamaken and two other equally huge toads. While the ninja were taking in the arrivals of the Toads, a buzz of sound heralded the sudden arrival of ten of Naruto's clones, all clad in lightning and all wielding a sword crackling with lightning chakra.

The standoff between the two factions was abruptly broken when Naruto appeared in front of the jounin leading the invading forces present, ninjato already pierced through his heart, and a cold look in his blue eyes. The Konoha ninjas, bolstered by the presence of the summons and the obvious skill of the blond haired genin – as evidenced by Jiraiya's faith in him, surged forward with a unified war cry,

"For the Will of Fire!"

Iruka's hand trembled almost unnoticeably as he watched some of his remaining fellow Academy instructors struggle to maintain the earth wall that was keeping the enemy ninjas out of the Academy. Once the invasion had started, the academy instructors had gathered as many young children as they could and, just as they had practiced, they all fled towards the academy, intending to use the secret passage there to take them to the Shelters. However, they had gotten waylaid by dozens of enemy ninjas and in the struggle, only about half of the Academy instructors had survived to get everyone inside the Academy and safe for the moment.

Iruka knew that the enemies were just toying with them since they hadn't even tried to break through the windows that were undefended in the room they were holed up in. The Konoha people present were able to watch as most of the gathered invaders lounged around while, from time to time, one of them would launch an attack at the earth wall defending the place. It was a bad situation because keeping up the wall drained chakra regardless of if it was under assault or not, and the Konoha ninjas didn't dare take it down even if no one was attacking it, since they couldn't guarantee that they could bring it back up fast enough.

Some of the children whimpered as one of the three chunin holding the walls slumped over in chakra exhaustion; the other two, now fronting more of the chakra cost wouldn't last much longer. The fifty or so invaders outside, sensing weakness, slowly began to make congregate at the entrance, waiting for the wall to finally fall.

Inside the room, the teachers and children watched them approach, when suddenly, with a flash of light and a boom of rolling thunder, there were three blond haired shirtless figures kneeling in the midst of the enemies. Iruka only had time to question, "Naruto?"

Before the three copies of his favorite student were in motion, swinging their lightning charged ninjatos and scything down the invaders. The enemies, expecting little resistance at the Academy, had sent only genin with a handful of chunin. Against foes that were jounin level before using a body enhancement jutsu, they were dead in seconds.

The children broke out in cheers when they noticed that all the enemies had been taken down, too relieved to actually care about the dead bodies before their eyes. The chunins finally let down the earth wall and collapsed in exhaustion. The three clones entered the academy while deactivating their lightning jutsu, and immediately moved to attend to the injured ninja amongst them, their hands glowing green with the Shousen no Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique). Around them, children cheered, and Iruka smiled in relief and pride at the blond haired ninjas before him.

Back at the stadium, the three Naruto clones still present arrived at the barrier on the roof just in time to hear Jiraiya curse,

"Damn it! The only way in is to disable the barrier with a counter seal and that will take too long to make."

The smirking form of Tayuya, one of Orochimaru's elite Sound ninja, taunted the Konoha Shinobi gathered around the huge barrier, unable to do anything from outside, while inside, their hokage battled against three Kages.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth as he began to take out sealing supplies to get started on the counter seal, when he noticed three of his godson's clones standing there. The Anbu around him followed his gaze when the sensed the three newcomers and wondered what they were doing there.

The clone in the lead exchanged looks with the other two and, with a unified nod, the two beside him each placed one of their hands on him while also forming a ram seal with the other. The hands placed on the lead clone's shoulders began to glow blue and before any of those present could react, the other two clones transferred all of their remaining chakra to him and smoothly faded out of existence. Now armed with slightly more chakra than he was created with, the lone clone stepped forward to face Tayuya, who couldn't help but spit out,

"And just what the fuck do you think you're going to do huh, Shit face?"

In response, the clone slowly wove five hand seals and with a chilling finality, he solemnly intoned,

Raiton Kinjutsu: Oni no Kugutsu (Lightning Release Forbidden Technique: Demonic Puppetry).

Tayuya screamed as the clone abruptly hijacked the electrical impulses running along her nervous system, forcibly ripping control of her body from her brain. The ninjas present watched on in something like horror as, against her will, Tayuya's hands separated from the seal they were holding, causing the barrier jutsu to fail.

With a flicker and huge surge of chakra, the barrier imploded on itself owing to the sudden imbalance of chakra input. The feedback forced chakra into all four Oto-nin connected to it, instantly killing three of them while permanently removing Tayuya's ability to use chakra and knocking her unconscious.

Quickly recovering from their slight surprise at Naruto's technique, the Anbu and Jiraiya prepared to leap to the Hokage's aid once the barrier fully vanished. They noticed that the clone was panting on the floor after releasing the technique, indicating that its chakra costs were massive.

The clone watched with gritted teeth, as the barrier faded enough for him to see the Sandaime simultaneously engaging the Shodaime and Orochimaru, while the Nidaime snuck up on him. Noticing that the Hokage was getting tired, and had probably failed to sense the presence of his other teacher, the clone prepared the last of its chakra.

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he noticed what the clone had just seen, and it was in that moment that the barrier finally vanished. Even as he was blurring across the distance between them, he knew that he would not make it time.

Suddenly, the area around the Nidaime exploded as something slammed into him, allowing the Hokage to finally disengage from his two opponents and retreat to the arriving backup.

The dust cleared to reveal the damaged body of the Nidaime, smashed into the ground by a lightning encased clone holding in its down thrust arm, a swirling ball of blue chakra. With a glance in the direction of the Konoha entourage, the clone finally dispelled – having used up all of its chakra in that last move.

Determined not to waste the chance that Naruto had given him, The Sandaime Hokage straightened and gathered his chakra around him, suddenly appearing as the Kami no Shinobi of legends. The Toad Sannin stepped up to his right, while to his left, the Copy Ninja and the Green Beast of Konoha took their position, ready to face down their enemies. Before the battle could resume, Jiraiya unsealed a roll of sealing tags and with a nod to the Anbu captain present, tossed it at him; knowing his teammate's love for forbidden jutsu, they had planned for just such an occasion. With an unspoken signal, the two sides clashed.

The original Naruto coolly surveyed the smoking battleground before him. All the snake summons had been dealt with, and he was pleased to note that the toads had sustained minor injuries at worst. With a graceful and respectful bow towards the five toads, he allowed them to return to their home on Mount Myouboku.

During the course of the battle at the walls, he had been receiving periodic updates from all his clones scattered throughout the village; with the arrival of the Shunko using clones, the Konoha ninjas had been able to summarily defeat and subdue the invaders with minimal casualties. Now, all that were left were negligible pockets of resistance which wouldn't last much longer. With a mental command for his clones to begin tending to the wounded, Naruto vanished in what was rapidly becoming his signature – a flash of blue-white light and the rolling sound of thunder, leaving behind a group of Konoha ninja who would tell of his prowess in the days, weeks, months and years to come.

Jiraiya panted next to his teacher as he gathered himself to reengage with the Shodaime and Orochimaru. The Konoha ninja had caught a lucky break earlier on and, after many powerful exchanges, they had managed to seal up the Nidaime hokage. With the odds improved in their favor, they had driven Orochimaru and his summoned puppet back, leaving Orochimaru just as run down as they were and damaging the Shodaime numerous times - forcing him to pause at various intervals to regenerate.

At this point, Kakashi was barely standing, exhausted from the prolonged use of his Sharingan in such a high level battle. Gai's muscles were strained to their limit as he fought to keep the Keimon (Gate of View) open; he had been forced to release six of the eight celestial gates in order to keep up with the monstrous Kage level ninjas around him.

Still, things were not going as well as they could be. The nigh invincibility imparted on the Shodaime by Orochimaru's technique meant that, whereas the Konoha ninja had managed to tire out Orochimaru and even damaged the summoned puppet, Hashirama was still as fresh as a daisy, with unlimited chakra to call upon. If Hashirama were still merely human, the combined might of The Kami no Shinobi, the Toad Sage, the Copy Shinobi, and the Green Beast of Konoha would have been enough to put him down by now. However, everytime they dealt what would have been a fatal blow, he just shrugged it off and healed himself. Add to that problem the fact that he couldn't run out of chakra like they could, and you get an untenable situation.

The sound of palms meeting in a clap drew the attention of the Konoha ninja to find Hashirama about to launch another Mokuton attack at them. Sarutobi, knowing that the others could not keep up with such a stalemate for much longer, prepared to sacrifice himself to give them the opening they needed. However, the next events showed that Orochimaru was also tired of the stalemate and intended to bring the battle to a close. Hashirama's dead voice intoned,

Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan (Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees).

The ground between the two factions erupted in a mass of rapidly growing trees, all reaching forward to kill the Konoha ninja. Sarutobi and Jiraiya furiously harnessed their flagging chakra to pull off a combination fire jutsu, hoping that it would be enough to check the army killing attack bearing down on them.

They needn't have bothered.

With a boom of sound, Naruto's voice suddenly roared through the air, originating from the space in between the Konoha contingent and the approaching trees,

Raiton: Rairyuu no Houkou (Lightning Release: Roar of the Lightning Dragon).

Out of Naruto's mouth emerged a massive torrent of yellow crackling devastation. The attack rapidly expanded to match the size of the approaching trees and when the two met, the explosion was felt throughout the entire village. While the ninjas were blinded by the light, the Anbu captain felt a body breeze past him, while plucking a sealing tag from his hand. The light and dust finally cleared to reveal splinters, sawdust, and ,in some cases, ash.

Orochimaru let loose an annoyed hiss and spun to command the Shodaime hokage; only for his eyes to widen in surprise when he caught the sealing tag planted on the chest of the summoned Kage by a fading blond haired clone. Before he could react, the seal activated and sealed up his puppet, permanently. The Snake Sannin's infuriated gaze cut back to the Konoha ninjas to find the slightly hunched over and out of breath form of Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.

Having finally regained his breath after such an expenditure of chakra - enough to summon four Gamabuntas, Naruto straightened and faced Orochimaru, sensing, but not reacting to, the appearance of the Sandaime, Jiraiya, Kakashi and Gai at his side. No one stopped to ask what a genin was doing standing shoulder to shoulder with Konoha's most powerful ninja; indeed, if one tilted their head and squinted, it would look like Namikaze Minato was the one standing in Naruto's place.

Even Orochimaru had to acknowledge that he had lost the battle. With a frustrated glance at the captured figure of the only surviving one of his Oto elites, he vanished before the eyes of the gathered Konoha ninja, trailing away like dispersing smoke.

For a moment, the stadium was silent as the Ninjas present looked around in case Orochimaru was still lying in wait. With a bone weary sigh, Sarutobi finally relaxed from his ready stance, causing the others to break out in smiles of relief, with even some vocalized cheers amongst them. The Sandaime's gnarled hand came to rest on Naruto's gold locks and he ruffled them with a fond and proud smile on his face. The surrounding ninja also aimed smiles of gratitude at the genin in their midst, still too relieved at surviving the ordeal to begin questioning just how they had survived.

A few miles from the walls of Konoha, Kabuto stepped over the unconscious bodies of the two older sand siblings, slowing approaching the prone form of the Ichibi jinchuuriki. With deft movements, his hands reached into a pocket to extract a syringe filled with viscous white liquid. With the smooth and steady hands of a veteran medic, he administered the cocktail to Gaara, and promptly high tailed it out of there, pausing to grab the two unconscious teenagers on his way – just on a whim.

All across Konoha, eyes widened in terror as a thick miasma of madness inducing bloodlust suddenly overlaid the village. Civilians crumbled to their knees, with some of them throwing up in sheer fear, while others passed out under the onslaught. Almost as one, ninjas turned to face the general direction from which the feeling was originating and when they beheld the approaching behemoth, sheer pandemonium broke out.

The hokage, trailed by Jiraiya, Kakashi, Gai, Naruto, and the Anbu captain arrived at the wall upon which Ibiki stood, facing the slowly approaching form of the One-Tailed Desert Raccoon, Shukaku.

Jiraiya cursed when he realized that his chakra was too low to pull off summoning Gamabunta, and the hard look in his sensei's eyes told him he was almost out as well. He barely managed not to twitch when, with the buzzing of electricity, numerous blond clones arrive around them. Counting them, he quickly estimated there to be about twenty clones present, all with their lightning jutsu deactivated.

Naruto probed his chakra network and had to fight back a sigh when he realized that he only had about twenty percent of his chakra left…slightly not enough for what he intended to do. Determined not to release another level of his seal, he cast a considering glance at the clones around him and with a nod, he sent a mental command towards them.

In unison, twenty hands came up to point towards the original Naruto, while the other twenty formed ram seals. Strands of blue chakra reached from the outstretched hands to connect with the original and the more sensitive ninja were able to sense the transfer of chakra taking place. Naruto's clones had been fighting for a while and were nowhere near full capacity. Still, they were able to raise his chakra enough to be able to handle the massive working he was about to pull off.

As the clones, finally devoid of all chakra, vanished from sight, Naruto turned back to the approaching Ichibi. He cast his gaze upwards and was gratified to note that the clouds had fully gathered and darkened sufficiently; it cost less chakra when he didn't have to setup the proper conditions for his intended jutsu.

While the gathered ninja looked on, wondering what Naruto planned to do, he stepped forward to the edge of the wall, and began to mold all the chakra he had left; causing some people to flinch as his body suddenly exploded in a raging blue storm of chakra.

Slowly, he bit his thumb and his hands came up to form hand seals.

Bird

The skies above suddenly darkened further as Naruto's chakra reached out to begin affecting its surroundings, priming the air for the powerful jutsu about to be performed.

Boar

Lightning began to leap from cloud to cloud as his chakra discharged, sparking off a cascade of electrical eruptions across the skies. Near constant rolling thunder boomed across the heavens as lightning lit up the darkened skies. At this point, eyes were locked on the darkened clouds as their owners felt their hair standing on end on account of the extremely charged air. Even Shukaku had paused in his approach to observe what was happening. Only Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Kakashi were watching Naruto, and so, they were the only ones who noticed how much strain the technique was putting him under.

Ram

Suddenly, the chakra surrounding Naruto leapt to the skies as single bolt of lightning, as though it were a signal flare.

Then, Naruto spoke in a voice that echoed across the entire village and seemed to speak to the very heavens themselves.

And the heavens spoke back.

Raiton Kuchiyose: Raijuu (Lightning Summoning: Thunder Beast)!

The very skies trembled with a sudden roar of thunder, and the air exploded with a blinding flash of lightning. Naruto, completely drained of chakra, swayed on the spot and then slowly fell over backwards…into the waiting arms of the Sandaime Hokage. Before his eyes closed, he was able to catch a glimpse of the 300 foot tall lightning wolf he had summoned bounding towards the figure of the One-Tailed Demon, and then he knew no more.

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