Alright, the invasion is underway, and people are picking sides who may have been on the side lines. That, and Naruto has to deal with the idea that several people she considered friends are now attacking her village. Not pretty, is it? You gotta feel for her here. :( Let's see how this all goes down!

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to this date, NotS...

has 246 faves,

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182,483 words (including the authors notes we'll round down to 175k)

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disclaimer me-I DON'T own Naruto.

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"My blooooooooooooood!"

The blood curdling scream made Naruto want to cover her ears to block it out. Nothing had chilled her to the bone like this before. Even so, by the time the scream faded to an echo in the air she was already hurtling down the stairs back to the contestants box.

Crap, she thought, I hope they don't think Sasuke-kun went to far; they have to know he's only doing this to protect me!

Back in the box, Temari was gripping the railing so hard her knuckles had turned white, spewing killing intent so strong even Shino had to supress a shiver running up his spine.

"How dare he," she growled through gritted teeth.

"Hey, calm down," Kankuro said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be okay; Sasuke's not trying to kill him, just getting a point across." The baleful look his sister shot back at him was enough to make lesser shinobi pee themselves.

"Do you have any idea what he's just done? Gaara's never been hurt," she reminded him. "Never."

"Yeah, but he's never tried to kidnap someones girlfriend and claim her as his sister before, either. Things are a bit crazy, sis." He looked out to the battlefield where Sasuke had retreated several yards away from Gaara's collapsing sand sphere. "I'm just saying I understand. I ticked off, too, and worried about what this will do to Gaara, but," he said, lowering his voice, "we can punch his lights out later. Right now, things about to go to heck, so we need to keep our cool." The oldest sand sibling pursed her lips before heaving a sigh.

"...fine, but when this is over-ah crap." There was a slapping sound a nearby bodies began to hit the floor in the seats above them while feathers floated on the breeze. All around the evidence of the new genjutsu was showing even as the fellow occupants of the combatants box worked to shake it off. Temari cast her eyes about before turning to ask her brother another question.

"Where's Naruto?"

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There was a slapping sound as the man hit the floor, unexpectedly released from the bonds holding him. He groaned as his stiffened muscles declined to respond, freezing as he felt someone stoop next to him.

"Wasn't ready, huh? I told Temari to tell you you were being released today." The man on the floor turned his head to see Baki, the leader of Suna's gennin team, standing over him. "Well, I suppose you'll need a little help," he continued, hooking his arms around Hayate's and pulling him up before slinging the weak man's arm over his own shoulders."

*coucgh*

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because you look like you need help easing back into moving."

"No, I mean, letting me go." Baki sighed.

"THe answer to that, would be that girl, Naruto." Hayate coughed in surprise. "Yes, odd, isn't it? But she had an effect on my genin, and now, well, they want her to be happy."

"So...you chose the Leaf over Sand?" Baki grimaced as he supported the leaf jounin up the stairs.

"Not really. I already know we will lose in this invasion, even if we had managed to defeat your forces today. We would be too decimated and unable to take advantage. The future of my village is your village. The way my genin feel about Naruto has assured that. This is her home, where she is happy, and so they will make sure that it is preserved." He helped the other man to sit at the table where food had been prepared, as Temari had told him. Looking around Hayate saw several maps laying on other surfaces. He coughed again.

"Here, water." Hayate accepted it gratefully, taking a long drink before setting the glass down.

"The invasion has started?"

"Yes."

"But you are not fighting?"

"...No."

"Why?" Baki turned his face away.

"I cannot turn against my village, and to be out there, fighting, would end me labeled as a traitor, even if I were only to battle Sound-nin."

"And yet you release me to help fight your people." Baki turned to face him agian.

"No; to fight sound I have released you." He gestured to the maps. "I have here several of the locations and plans of attack of the sound-nin to be used at your disposal. None of it can be traced to me, and you are likely too weak to fight on your own regardless." He lifted a scroll from off the table. "When you are done eating, I will activate this scroll, which will wrap me in chains, making it appear as though I was careless and snuck up on."

"Still, by releasing me you must know I will be fighting, and killing, Sand-nin as well as sound." Baki breathed deeply.

"Is it not every shinobi's right to protect his home? You will kill my comrades, but many more will survive today, and in the future, from the actions I have taken, though it tears my heart to do so." Hayate nodded.

*cough*

"Thank-you," he said, standing. "I will do my best to preserve the lives of your comrades."

"...thank-you."

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"Where'sw Naruto?"

"Here," came a flustered voice. Turning they saw Haku, Naruto's friend, holding the sleeping girl in her arms.

"Is she alright? WHat happened?" Kin answered.

"Naruto has no talent for genjutsu. Haku must have put off the genjutsu for herself before catching Naruto, who it looks like was coming down the stairs." Temari nodded before glancing back out to the field.

"Good; Kankuro? We need to get Gaara out of here, now. He's weak from Sasuke's attack, and with all this fighting, he might release it still."

"Right, I'll be right behind you," he said she she jumped down to their brother. He turned to face the other gennin. "What ever happens, know we did our best to stop it. Tell Naruto we're sorry...and Kin? It's time to chose," he said, joining his gensister.

"Come on, Gaara, let's get out of here!"

"Ugh...fine..."

"Kai!" Kin and Haku huddled over Naruto who slowly woke up, rubbing her eyes.

"Whah? What happened?" She blinked. "Haku-chan? What are you doing here?"

"Pft, you should should have realized I've been shadowing you ever since you got back to the village. I have to make sure your okay, and it's a good thing I did, too, otherwise you would have fallen down those stairs and gotten hurt!"

"What? I still don't get it. Why did I fall asleep on the stairs?"

"What a drag...it's because someone's cast a genjutsu, Naruto."

"What? Why? Is someone cheating? Wait...where are Temari and Kankuro?"

"They left with Gaara a moment ago," Shino spoke up, standing by the railing. "They seemed in a hurry to remove him from the fighting."

"Woah, they must be even more ticked at Sasuke than I thought." Tenten shook her head.

"No, Naruto, the exam is over. You need to see this." The older girl gestured out to the rest of the coliseum. Naruto rose slowly, almost afraid of what she would see. As she cast her eyes about, she wished she'd never looked, sadly turning her gaze towards Kin.

"Kin...they're Sound village."

"...I know."

"THen why? Why are you doing this? WHy didn't you tell us? I thought you were my friend!" Kin clutched her head.

"I don't, I can't, I didn't know! I didn't know this was going to happen!" She sobbed. "He, he never told us about this, I swear it Naruto!" Naruto nodded, still looking out on the scene.

"Alright, so, what are you going to do? We both know I can't fight you like that, but I'm not gonna stand by and let everyone else who's precious to me die." Kin looked at her friend in shock.

"I'm...precious to you?" Naruto nodded.

"Of course; Like I said, you're my friend and I would die for you, Kin, but if you want to support those who want to kill my other friends, then how can we still call each other 'friend'?" Kin looked back out where everyone else was finding, Kankuro's words returning to her like a sledgehammer:There's a bond stronger than any loyalty to your village, and that's the one to your friends.

"It's not fair," she cried. "Orochimaru was supposed to be good! He took us in when no one else did, and he made us strong! Why did he have to do this?" Naruto put a hand on her shoudler.

"My nee-chan used to look up to him, too, maybe even more than you, and she can testify first hand that Orochimaru only helps you as long as you are useful to him. After that, he casts you aside, like he did to her." Cast aside, she thoguht, wiping away he tears. Is that what happened to Zaku, then? I haven't seen him in three days. Was his usefulness over?

"I can't promise that things will always be good, but, Kin-chan, I do promise that you will always have friends here, and we won't turn our backs on you." Kin looked one last time out at the battle, and once at Dosu, then back to Naruto. She lifted her hands and began untying the knot that held her headband.

"Naruto, it's true I have bonds with those in Sound, but none of them have ever been as strong as the one I have with you. Recently," she continued, "I learned a lesson from someone. He said that friends are more important than the village, and I believe him." She looked Naruto full on the face, her hand, clutching her headband extended. "I choose you, Naruto, who has trusted me so much, though we've known each other for so short a time. I renounce...the Sound Village and Orochimaru." She dropped her headband, letting it clatter to the floor. "And," she added, "I will fight to protect my friends' village." Naruto smiled joyously.

"Thank-you," she whispered, moving to hug her only to be interrupted by Sakura, who came flying down the stairs.

"Naruto, Sasuke's followed Gaara! Kakashi Sensei is sending us to find him." The remaining shinobi looked at the pinkette in startlement.

"Sakura? But, why? Won't his sensei go after him?" Sakura waved away Kin's comment, taking in the hug she's interrupted and the fallen headband. She was happy for Naruto that she'd managed to keep Kin as a friend after this crazy invasion started, but there would be time to talk about that later.

"He's got a lot of people to fight right now, and he's protecting the spectators and such. He's afraid that Gaara will release his beast and kill Sasuke if we don't stop him." Naruto nodded.

"Alright, let's go!" The two of them jumped, following the ninja hound that had been tailing behind Sakura before, one of Kakashi's dog summons.

"Hey, wait for me," Kin yelled out, pausing as she recalled her teammate.

"Dosu?" He had remained sitting in the same position almost since the beginning of the invasion. He grunted, arms crossed.

"I may have owed Orochimaru-sama once, but my dead ended the moment he sent us to our deaths. Still, Sound is my village, and I don't think I want to fight them." He shook his head. "I'm glad you've made your decision, Kin, but I'm not close to Naruto like you. I can't switch sides during the battle." Kin looked down sadly before Haku spoke up, leaning down into his face, hands on her hips.

"So, all talk after all, huh?"

"Hmph."

"Did you tell me once that friends, especially teammates, are most imporant." She pointed at Kin. "She's your teammate, and she's fighting. And...and me..." Kin caught Dosu wince even as Haku blinked away her tears. "I thought we'd become friends. So what about me? I'm leaf, so I'm going to fight. What are you going to do." Kin gasped as Dosu stood almost straight up, towering over each of them.

"You...are not...fighting."

"Yes-I-am," she said firmly, emphasizing her point by poking his chest with her index. "This is where my friends are, and the person I want to protect, so I'm fighting, no matter what you say." She waved a hand, indicatating that Kin should catch up with Naruto, also not wanting her to see the tears in her eyes.

"I thought...I thought, after all that time we had together, all those d, d," she swallowed a lump. "All those meet ups, you weren't really that bad after all, but you really are just scum," she said. "That, and a coward." With those parting words she jumped down, following Kin, weaving through the battle field, tying on a leaf headband from a fallen shinobi.

Dosu watched her go, then dropped to his knees.

Why? Why not switch sides? You already have, haven't you? You haven't been working for Orochimaru for almost a month now. Is it because of Zaku? He shook his head. You haven't even seen him in days, and he never listened when you tried to explain about Orochimaru betraying us. Naruto's right; when our usefulness is over, he discards us. Who knows what he did to Zaku. It's too late now. I never really liked to many people in the Sound village anyways. Those that I did already disappeared on other missions. Orochimaru probably killed them, too. All I have left, all I care about now...are Kin...and...

Down in the field Haku had caught up to Kin, the latter of who was making good use of her new technique she'd used against Shino. In this kind of fight there wasn't must use for genjutsu. She wasn't skilled enough to take on this many opponents in that way. She kind of wished she'd been more like Naruto: a taijutsu or ninjutsu specialist. Haku was fairing better, but then she was more skilled to start with, and her recent concerns for Naruto had caused her to under go training again. She wasn't quite as fast as she had been, but she was quick still, and there was plenty of water on the ground from the jounin level fighters water jutsu's. Still she hadn't revealed her ice mirrors yet, and she didn't have a full range of vision, which was why she didn't notice the figure behind her until the shinobi collapsed at her feet. She jumped, turing to face her new opponent, only to see a shinobi with a half bandaged face, no shirt, camo pants, and a familiar gauntlet...

"Dosu-kun!"

"I fight," he said, grasping his gauntlet as he prepared to attack again, "for my friends. Especially my girl ones." He rushed another opponent, this one being a shinobi who had managed to get inside Kin's gaurd, missing Haku's blush.

Okay, we'll have to talk about that later, she thought, glancing at the forest, but for now, since we're too far behind to catch up, we'll just need to cover her back as best we can. It looks like this group had planned on following her and Sakura anyway. She smiled. It is good...to have a purpose...

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"Are you sure your gennin should go after him," Gai asked Kakashi, frowning as he sent a sound shinobi flying across the arena with a right hook.

"Mah, mah, of course," Kakashi said, stabbing a sand nin through the ribs before through his kunai and another one. "They're only gennin, so it's less likely they'll be considered enough of a threat to follow, and Naruto really is the best person to talk to those three if they don't catch Sasuke before he catches them."

"Still," Gai said, kicking one nin into another before they crashed into the wall, "even I can tell what that boy is, Kakashi. What if he-" Kakashi smiled warmly.

"I have faith in my students," he said, slashing at a kunoichi with her face covered except for two small slits for her eyes to see through. He followed up with an uppercut and another slash to the ribs before moving on. "They'll manage."

"Yosh! Such youthful belief from my eternal rival! You inspire even me to greater heights of belief in my own students. Lee," he declared, clutching a fist as he cried, looking into the sky even as he kicked backwards at another opponent, "I know you will recover!"

...okay, I'll just pretend I didn't-hurk! Kakashi looked down in surprise to see kunai had just barely penetrated his flak jacket. Good thing I wore a thick one today he thought, but how- His eyes widened as he realized this was the same kunouchi he'd thought he'd just killed, and through the cut in her clothes he could see her skin slowly healing. His eyes narrowed as he lifted his headband, jumping back from her to avoid further damage. Her healing is almost on par with Naruto's...

"Gai, watch my back. This one is going to require...special attention." The girl took a stance, making a motion that said it clearly:

"Bring it on!"

Well, of COURSE they had to pick Naruto's side! Did anyone really think they wouldn't? (besides momabear :P)

How did you like the handling for Kin and Dosu? I had to work on those a little bit, but I think I did alright. I had to alert it slightly to use some lines from my original idea where Kin was more conflicted that I have written her character to be SINCE the planning...but I think it did it smoothly. After all, as I may remind you, Kin had NOT made a decision last time she talked to Naruto about her future in Sound just what she was going to do. Naruto just took it for granted that she'd leave. *sigh* Thats Naruto for ya!

Next chapter will have some major stuff, then i'll be pumping out the last few chapters every couple of days or so. I'm one chapter away from my pre-written material, and I don't have to re-write hardly any of it!

Also, this is everyone's last chance to guess as to the who/how of Naruto's revelation. If you don't have an FF account, please give me some other way to contact you privately to avoid possibly giving away spoilers. And remember that I need both the WHO and the HOW for your guess to count.

Thanks for hand on with me. I hope you continue to enjoy the ride. :)

ps- for kyu-chan who reveiwed last chapter:

and KYU-CHAN ONLY!

Seriously, if you're not Kyu-chan, STOP-READING!

Kyu-chan,

You've made a guess on the how, but you haven't narrowed it down to *1* person, and you only get one person. Sorry! Please give me your final guess.

~CaptainFlye