If you think I own Naruto, I can sell you the Golden Gate bridge…
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Chapter Twenty-Nine – The Invasion Begins
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Hinata blinked a few times as she started to feel tired, then she realised what was happening.
"Kai! Everyone, do a dispell, now!"
Despite the surprise and unexpectedness of the demand, all the other Konoha nin followed suit as Kin and Temari drew their weapons and turned to engage.
"This is troublesome." Shikamaru said as he caught the two Kunoichi in his shadow. "I guess that this is an invasion. Hinata?"
Hinata nodded and moved in front of the two kunoichi, then Neji stood beside her.
"Stand them up, please. Neji, sixty-four."
Kin slumped in the shadow's grip as Temari tried her hardest to break free. Neji nodded as he mirrored his cousin's stance.
"You are within range of my divination," They both declared in unison. "Eight Trigrams Sixty-four palms!"
Kin had closed her eyes, so she didn't see the strikes that Hinata used to send her into blissful unconsciousness. Temari, on the other hand, was still struggling when Neji's hands blurred and managed to jerk backwards as Shikamaru released his shadow. Between her resistance and the initial strikes, she fell backwards over the railing.
"Look! Above the Kage box!" Naruto shouted and everyone looked up to see a cube of purple chakra forming.
"Oh, this isn't good." Shikamaru stated. Hinata looked across at the oddly-silent arena and her face hardened.
"Naruto-kun, remember what Kurenai-sensei taught you? We need a chakra pulse to cover the arena, and do it now!"
Naruto nodded and started to focus as Hinata's gaze dropped to Gaara and the two figures that had joined him. A moment later, Temari also joined the Suna group, then Kankuro and Temari grabbed Gaara and leapt out of the arena.
"Naruto, pulse!"
"KAI!"
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"Kukukukuku, at last, old man, you're mine." The Kazakage gloated. Sarutobi glared at him.
"Orochimaru." He stated.
"Oh, indeed." Orochimaru replied with a smirk, shedding the Kage robes and hat. "I promised I'd return and pay Konoha back for what they did to me, and here I am."
"You cannot win." Hiruzen stated, shedding his own outer robes to reveal his shinobi outfit.
"No-one is going to help you." Orochimaru gloated. "You can see that my guards have erected a barrier that no-one can get through, it's just you and me, old man."
Sarutobi glared at his student and shifted into a defensive stance.
"I am still a match for you, Orochimaru."
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Naruto watched as Sasuke got up, released from the genjitsu by the pulse, then dashed off after Gaara.
"Shit!" Kiba snarled as below them, Baki engaged Kakashi in battle. "We need to get after them, who knows what they're planning!"
"I'm staying for a moment to help Sarutobi." Naruto stated. "Hinata, Kiba, track Gaara, take whoever you wish. When you find him, use the dagger to summon me, just as I showed you. Come!"
Summoning his sword into his hand, Naruto launched himself off the balcony and towards the purple cube. Hinata grabbed Shikamaru and pulled him onto Kyouka.
"Kiba, Akamaru, you have Sasuke's scent?"
"We know what he smells like." Kiba confirmed.
"I am coming too!" Lee shouted. "My speed and strength will be needed whe we face Gaara!"
"I'll help Naruto." Neji said, moving to the edge of the balcony. "My Byakugan may be of some help against that barrier."
"Oh shit." Kiba said almost converstionally and everyone still on the balcony followed his gaze to where two giant snakes were advancing towards the walls. For a moment, they remained motionless, then Hinata clapped her hands, startling them. "Let's move! Lee, sprint to Tiger Forest and tell the tigers we need help, then catch up with us!"
"I'm gone!" Lee shouted, the second word fading as he vanished, leaving his leg-weights behind.
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Kabuto killed the Anbu heading towards barrier surrounding Orochimaru and Sarutoi, then his gaze dropped to the arena and he frowned.
"Okay, Sasuke, where did you go?"
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Honoka stared at the snakes approaching the wall, then leapt out of her seat and sprinted up a pillar to the roof where she encountered a familiar figure.
"Jiraiya! I need you!"
Jiraiya glanced at her. "You've been reinforcing the walls, can they hold?"
"Get me in front of that snake, it's heading for a natural strongpoint." Honoka commanded and Jiraiya nodded.
"Jump on."
Honoka leapt onto his back as the white-haired sannin crouched, then launched himself forwards at a speed that Honoka couldn't have matched without aid.
"It's gonna be close." He noted and Honoka nodded.
"Just buy me… thirty-seven seconds to reinforce the wall, then another seventy-three to create a seal to banish that thing."
"Not a problem." Jiraiya grinned as he hurtled across the roofs and trees to the rapidly-approaching wall. "Anything for a beauty such as yourself."
Honoka glared at him. "This is no time for flirting!"
"There's always time for flirting!"
A pale blur rocketed past them and Honoka grinned. "Once you drop me off, can you deal with the other snake? My backup will be waiting for me."
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Orochimaru cursed as Sarutobi managed to block his sword. Somehow he had forgotten that his teacher's summons could transform into a staff, one that was effectively indestructible.
At least he had a backup plan that he was more than happy to use.
Leaping back, Orochimaru made several blurring hand-signs and the roof buckled as a coffin rose up from where he had stored it before. A second one rose, then a third one and Sarutobi paled as he saw the writing on the coffins.
"Orochimaru, you didn't… How could you!"
"Edo Tensei: Imperfect World Resurrection." Orochimaru gloated as the three coffins opened to reveal the decaying forms of the First, Second and Fourth Hokages. "You can cope with one Kage-level opponant, Hriuzen, but can you cope with four?"
The coffins seemed to glow and the three decaying bodies seemed to rebuild themselves, returning to how they had been in their prime before they opened their eyes and stepped out of the coffins.
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"Not good!" Neji snapped to Naruto and the ANBU operatives. "Orochimaru's just summoned three to help him, and I can't see any weak spots in this thing."
"Ha." The six-armed man gloated. "As long as we remain as anchors, the barrier can't be broken."
Naruto grinned and made a familiar hand-signe. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
"What are you planning, Naruto?" Neji asked as three of the new Narutos smashed a hole into the roof, allowing almost a dozen to pour through it. Naruto threw a superior smirk at him, then plunged his sword into the roof, as did one of his remaining clones. As the noise of destruction echoed up through the hole, Naruto and his clone started running around the barrier, their swords almost effortlessly slicing through the tiles and support beams.
"Very clever." Neji admitted. "Very, very clever. I hope it's in time."
"What is he doing?" one of the ANBU asked.
"If it works, it'll take down the barrier." Neji replied with a smirk, watching Naruto's progress. "And it's something that only Naruto would think of."
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"How dare you do this, Orochimaru!" Sarutobi snarled, his face contorting with fury and Orochimaru laughed.
"I do it because I can, old man." Orochimaru smirked.
"But to summon Senju Hirashima, Senju Tobirama and Namikaze Minato…"
The three former Hokages looked at each other.
"Brother, it has been a while."
"Indeed it has, brother. Sarutobi, you've become old."
"Hey old man, how's my son doing?"
Sarutobi looked away guiltily and Minato frowned.
"What happened?"
"The council removed Naruto's heritage from him, banning him from claiming to be either a Namikaze or an Uzumaki." Sarutobi said and all three Hokages stared at him.
"The council did what?" Tobirama asked. "Why would ninja do such a thing?"
"It was mainly the civilian council." Sarutobi said and Tobirama frowned.
"When I set up the Civilian Council, it was to oversee the non-shinobi aspects of Konohagakure. How did they gain power over the ninja, how did they gain power over you?"
"You see, proof that the old man's lost it." Orochimaru smirked, moving behind the first two Hokages and raising a pair of Kunai with seals wrapped around them. "Now I think it's time to… what the?"
The entire roof suddenly dropped and the four Sound Shinobi fell, the sudden and unexpected movement destroying their concentration and disrupting the barrier, making it collapse. An instant later, the ANBU charged in and attacked Orochimaru while Neji moved to stand by Sarutobi. A moment after that, two of the three resurrected Hokages turned to dust and dissipated as Orochimaru released his technique as he defended himself from the new threat.
"Why haven't you faded, Minato?" Sarutobi asked as a dozen sword-swinging blonds thundered past, ignoring the small group as they charged Orochimaru. A flash of red showed that the original had departed.
"I don't know, but I can feel myself fading fast." Minato said slowly. "Tell me, what happened to Naruto? What happened to my son?"
"What happened was I was tired, and my advisors used that against me." Sarutobi said sadly. "They removed his legacy, his inheritance and stripped him of his name with the support of the Daimyo, but he didn't let that stop him. He has a new name, a new clan and new friends, and he has brought a full-blood Uzumaki to the village to revive your wife's clan in parallel with the one he is building, the Kagetora clan."
"Kushina used to mention the Gokatora." Minato mused and Sarutobi nodded.
"I have recognised the Kagetora as the Gokatora recreated, since the tigers the Gokatora used are now allied to Naruto and their techniques are his to use."
Minato nodded even as his skin started to turn grey.
"Naruto is engaged to my cousin, Hinata. It started as friendship and soon became love" Neji offered and Minato smiled at him.
"It is good that the contract was adhered to, even despite what has happened." Minato said. "Sarutobi, if you can, give him the Hiraishin as my apology. The scroll for it…"
"Was destroyed." Sarutobi sighed. "Your mansion and everything in it is gone, student of my student. I am sorry."
Minato sighed and lowered his head, his voice fading. "Then tell him I am sorry. And that I lo…"
Neji and Sarutobi watched as Minato faded away, his body vanishing in the breeze.
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Orochimaru cursed as he blocked yet another attack from that never-be-damned-enough blond, then ducked under an attack from one of the ANBU. The attack had misfired, but if his forces vould still get in, then he had a chance of winning.
Fighting free, he looked across just in time to see the first Summons smash into the wall surrounding Konoha, thin his right arm seemed to erupt in agony as the blond thrust a red-glowing dagger into his palm.
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The impact of the giant snake caused Honoka to her knees as the bled-off kinetic energy lashed through the reinforcement seals. Most of it was transformed and used to reinforce the wall itself, but enough escaped that Honoka felt as if she'd been caught in a mid-level raiton trap.
Thanking Kami that she'd had (barely) enough time to reinforce the wall before the summons had hit, Honoka split her focus between fixing the weak parts of the seal and starting to form an area-effect seal that would banish any and all summons, regardless of their energy levels.
Up on the wall, Haku stood, respendent in his new robes which had been designed to cover him both in his normal form and the Tiger Warrior form he now held. His chakra merged with Hyou's, he summoned ice lances and arrows from the moisture in the air, sending them to strike at the weak and vulnerable points of the summons looming before him. On either side, Shinobi fought, the Konoha-nin trying to hold the wall, the Suna and Oto-nin trying to take it. Haku ignored them, his task was in front of him, and he needed all his concentration if he was not going to let his cousin down.
He knew that he probably couldn't cause the summons to dispel, but his task was simple. To buy as much time as he could, regardless of cost.
Haku knew his duty, and he would perform it. He always performed his duty to the best of his ability, it was his nindo.
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"Kuchyose no Jutsu: Food Cart Destroyer!"
Jiraiya slammed his blooded hand against the ground and a seal formed around it, then a giant toad with twin swords materialised in the air above the incoming snake. Dropping down, it landed on the enemy sunnons, causing it to dispel as well as knocking down all the surrounding ninja with the force of its impact.
"Thanks Gamahiro!" Jiraiya shouted, then a massive impact sounded.
"Oh shit." Jiraiya whispered, seeing yet a third snake strike at the walls, this one actually managing to break through. As the snake slithered through, Jiraiya saw a large group of shinobi following it.
"Oh, that isn't good!" he whispered, glancing back to ensure that the first snake hadn't made it through. A moment later, a strange glow suddenly spread through the village and both snakes vanished, as did Gamahiro.
"An anti-summons seal." Jiraiya smirked. "Well, that helps. Nice one, girly. Nice one. Well, time to help out again."
Jiraya channeled chakra to his legs and leapt towards the distant battle.
