And here is the newest chapter. Before you start, I just want to thank everyone that has been reading this story. For the first time in years I decided to see the amount of followers on this story… Over 2500? I never expected even that many people to read this story, let alone subscribe to it. So again, thank you to those that have been reading this story. It's truly astounding.
Now onto the story itself.
Chapter 13
Tough Decisions
Hanabi Hyuga was not a coward and she would never have considered anything frightening.
However, when she had caught sight of Gaara's deformed figure grabbing some random shinobi and tearing him apart, she had felt scared.
When the Genjutsu had started in the stadium, she was one of the few that were not Jonin, to expel the illusion.
Immediately, her father had told her to head towards the Hokage monument where she would be safe with the rest of the villagers that were heading there.
She nodded and had set off, not knowing that Kakashi Hatake had been asked by Hiashi to accompany her.
So when Gaara had rounded on her, she felt as if this moment was indeed her last.
Her eyes had begun to fill with tears, not able to remember her training due to the palpable killer intent the boy was aiming at her.
As he charged her, she heard an odd chirping noise before the boy fell to the ground.
"Well, I was hoping to maybe find Naruto before finding you" Kakashi said as he appeared behind Hanabi.
She stared at the man in awe.
"Keep going, I'll send a clone with you just in case" he smiled at her and she quickly nodded.
Kakashi made a familiar cross seal as an exact copy of him appeared beside her.
"Now go!"
Kakashi shot forward towards the red headed boy who seemed to have forgotten Hanabi.
'Sasuke had better find Naruto fast. If what Jiraiya said is true, he may be our only shot at beating this guy.' Kakashi thought.
Hanabi whirled around and began running through the streets again. She felt something hot running down her cheeks but she did not bother to check. She was sure they were tears.
Naruto groaned as he sat up, brushing some loose rubble off of his body.
Slowly he stood up, wincing as he felt the wounds that the nine tails was still busy healing.
He glanced around to find he had been thrown into a shop that was currently empty, and slightly demolished.
'Damn, his attack threw me far. If it wasn't for the fox, I'd be dead.'
He walked through the large hole in the wall and saw that there was chaos in the streets.
Civilians were fleeing from a small group of sound ninja all in the same uniform that were cutting down anyone unfortunate enough to get near them.
Naruto growled as he shot forward.
He was surprised when the group jumped away from him, landing in defensive positions.
'Was hoping I'd finish it quickly…'
He heard an explosion off in the distance.
"Who the hell are you guys?!" he yelled at the group.
One of them sneered at him from behind his mask. "Some Genin thinks he can take us on, pathetic."
"Why are you attacking!?" Naruto yelled.
"It's war dumbass, we attack, you die." One of the others yelled.
Naruto glared at them. "So I guess I'll just have to kill you first won't I?"
They laughed. "As if you could kill us!"
Naruto took a deep breath, knowing that once again, he was going to have blood on his hands. 'At least these guys have a fighting chance.'
Naruto shot forward, kunai in hand.
Ino Yamanaka had run into her two teammates and they were currently looking for someone.
"So that Gaara guy is a Jinchuriki?" Shikamaru asked as they crept through an alley.
Ino nodded. "That's what that Jiraiya guy said…"
"And Naruto is the only one that can stop him?" Shikamaru asked.
Ino nodded as she peeked around a corner to see if the coast was clear. She signaled the other two and they ran across the street into another alley.
"Apparently" Ino mumbled.
"How the hell is he supposed to do that? I mean, yes Naruto has gotten stronger than a lot of us, but to take on a Jinchuriki?"
Ino shrugged. "The old guy said he had some kind of sealing jutsu he could use on him."
Shikamaru sighed. "This is such a drag… Having to avoid ninja that are trying to kill us as well as an unstable Jinchuriki just to find someone that might be able to stop him…"
Ino groaned. "I know okay? But what else are we supposed to do? Fight other ninja that are stronger than us? Or maybe fight that Gaara kid ourselves? You saw how quickly he beat everyone else!"
Shikamaru nodded. "I know that… I'm just saying it's troublesome is all."
Ino suppressed the urge to scream. 'God, this lazy good for nothing is not helping the situation!'
"What happens when we find Naruto?" Choji asked.
Ino stopped for a moment.
"I mean, after what Gaara supposedly did, how did Naruto survive that?"
Ino bit her lip. Choji was right. If what her father had said was true, then Naruto was probably severely injured or dead after being hit through the stadium wall and a few buildings after. Of course that area had quickly been swarmed with sound and sand ninja which had forced them to get to the area in a roundabout way.
"I don't know… Let's just find him okay?" Ino snapped.
"Find who?"
Ino stiffened when she heard a familiar voice. The three of them looked up to see Kankuro, the puppet user that Naruto had defeated in the preliminaries.
"Crap" Ino said.
Sasuke jumped back as a barrage of shuriken embedded in the ground.
"Another kid thinking he's a Shinobi" the sand shinobi sneered.
Sasuke ground his teeth. "I don't have time for this" he said to himself.
He was currently surrounded by a multitude of Suna shinobi.
'Ten of them, at least one of them is on level with a Chunin… This is going to be a problem.'
His fist tightened. 'I could use the Chidori, but how will they counter?'
He took a step back when suddenly one of the men dropped to the ground.
"What the hell?" the man next to the collapsed shinobi yelled before collapsing to the ground himself.
The remaining Shinobi suddenly fell to the ground without another word.
"What just happened?" Sasuke wondered aloud.
"Clearly, these Shinobi are not educated as to how the Aburame work" Shino said as he appeared beside Sasuke.
'Shino…' Sasuke realized.
"You are looking for Naruto correct?" Shino asked.
Sasuke nodded.
"Then I shall help you… I wish we could track him, but his chakra is masked and therefore my Kikaichu cannot track him. So we shall have to head in the direction he was thrown."
Sasuke nodded. "Well this'll make things much easier."
"Then let us be off" Shino said.
The Third Hokage grit his teeth as he glared at his one time student.
Between them stood his two predecessors, Hashirama and Tobirama Senju.
'Dammit Orochimaru… To think you would summon these two of all people with such a despicable technique. I may have to use the Yondaime's jutsu to defeat them. Today may in fact be the end of my life…'
He glanced at the barrier and saw Jiraiya inspecting the purple wall.
'Unless Jiraiya can figure a way through that barrier jutsu…'
"I'll hold out for as long as I can, but if this fight drags on, I will use that technique to seal these two away, as well as Orochimaru" Hiruzen mumbled to himself as he tore off his Hokage robes, revealing the black battle outfit beneath.
"You will not succeed in destroying the leaf!" The Third Hokage declared.
Orochimaru simply chuckled. 'Interesting, he is not the least bit worried at the prospect of fighting the Senju brothers.'
"Well then sensei, let us see if your faith is misplaced."
Hanabi was getting closer to the monument and could make out the staircase against the rock in the distance.
She allowed herself a glimmer of hope. 'I'm in the clear!'
As she rounded a corner, the wall of a shop exploded apart, sending rubble everywhere.
She skidded to a stop, fearing what was about to happen when she heard a familiar voice.
"RASENGAN!" Another portion of the wall exploded out, forcing Hanabi to dive out of the way as a large rock nearly hit her.
Rolling to her feet, she saw a figure in the dust.
She struck her family Taijutsu stance, ready to fight if need be.
As the dust cleared, it revealed one Naruto Uzumaki, sporting a leather jacket that was barely together at this point.
He seemed to be trying to catch his breath.
"Are… are you alright?" he panted.
She nodded as she stood straight, her normal demeanor returning.
"You are the Uzumaki correct?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah, that's me." He doubled over for a moment, taking a few deep breaths. "Shouldn't you be hiding or something right now?" he asked as he looked up at her from his current position.
She nodded. "I'm trying to get to the shelter right now with the civilians and academy students."
Naruto glanced towards the Hokage Monument, fully aware of the procedure during such an event.
"I can send help if you need it" Naruto offered when he suddenly sensed something familiar.
Kakashi suddenly appeared next to Hanabi.
"Sorry for not appearing earlier, had to double back to take care of two sound ninja that were tailing us" the clone said.
"Kakashi? What are you doing here?" he asked.
Kakashi was about to answer when an explosion echoed from down the street.
Naruto whirled around to see that a large snake had just been summoned.
"Holy shit!" Naruto exclaimed.
Kakashi withdrew a kunai. "It's okay sensei, I've got it!" Naruto said as he held an arm in front of the clone. "Besides, you're low on chakra as it is; any more jutsu and I bet you'd disappear."
"You know I'm just a Kage Bunshin?" the clone asked.
Naruto nodded. "I use it all the time after all" he smiled. "Give me a second."
He glanced down at his sleeve and frowned. "I was really starting to like this jacket as well… Damn." He quickly took it off and threw it aside. He bit his thumb, drawing blood and ran it across a tattoo on his left forearm.
'A summoning tattoo, no wonder he was able to summon without me tracking the hand seals in his match against Temari, he didn't use any.' The Kakashi clone analyzed.
The tattoo was an interesting one, completely black, it was a small toad, its mouth open and its tongue circling his arm to come back to the image of the toad.
Slamming his hand on the ground, a large explosion of smoke nearly knocked Kakashi and Hanabi off of their feet.
The snake turned towards the disturbance and hissed.
The smoke faded, leaving the form of a large toad in its place.
"I need you're help Gamaken!" Naruto yelled from atop its massive head.
"Very well Naruto-san, but I apologize in advance, for I am quite clumsy."
Naruto said nothing, but Kakashi could see Naruto shake his head.
'Summons are always interesting…' Kakashi thought with a smile.
Twirling his Sasumata with surprising grace, Gamaken seemed to dance towards the snake which had begun to smash buildings around it in order to toss at the giant toad.
Gamaken quickly deflected the oncoming remains of the buildings aside using his weapon with ease.
As he struck the last oncoming building, the giant snake lunged forward at the toad.
"KEN!" Naruto yelled as a warning, however the toad had already seen the attack.
Bringing up his shield, the snake rammed its head into the defense, roaring all the while.
Gamaken pushed forward, unbalancing the snake before lifting his shield and kicking the snake in the head with his webbed foot.
The snake flew backwards, destroying buildings as it landed before disappearing in a plumb of smoke.
Naruto sighed and looked out across the village. 'No… There's more!?' As far out as the village wall to just a few streets away, were more of the snake summons, some of them sporting three heads or two.
"Dammit… This is bad… Gamaken, would you mind helping us out a bit?" Naruto asked.
Gamaken looked around the village at the sight before them. "I will do what I can Naruto-san."
Naruto nodded. "I'll have to leave it to you and some clones, I have to find the Suna Jinchuriki and stop him before he does too much damage.
Gamaken said nothing for a moment. "So, the Ichibi Jinchuriki fighting the Kyubi Jinchuriki?"
Naruto nodded. "Seems that way." Naruto hopped off of Gamaken's head and landed on one of the few intact buildings nearby.
He quickly called a few clones forth. "I'll have one of them accompany you while the others fan out and track down Gaara for me. I'm going to help her get to the others."
Gamaken nodded again as one of the clones jumped up onto his shoulder.
"Thanks again Gamaken."
With that said, Gamaken leaped away, towards the closest snake.
The other clones all scattered away in different directions.
The original Naruto leapt down and landed before the Kakashi clone and Hanabi.
"W…what's a Jinchuriki?" Hanabi asked the Kakashi clone. Naruto smacked his forehead. 'Dammit Gamaken… You just had to say that loud enough for the girl to hear.'
Kakashi looked towards Naruto. "Uh… It's complicated…" the man replied.
"It means human sacrifice. A Jinchuriki is an individual that has had a Biju sealed within their body" Naruto explained quickly. The girl looked somewhat intelligent and Naruto didn't feel like beating around the bush at the moment. "The red headed sand Genin is the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi."
Hanabi stared at Naruto for a moment. "And when the frog said he was going to fight the Kyubi Jinchuriki he meant you?"
Naruto nodded. "You seem like a smart girl, so know that what you have been told is an S ranked secret. If you reveal it to anyone else, it's a severe punishment."
Hanabi nodded. "I have a question though… Why does everyone say that the Yondaime Hokage killed the Kyubi if it's just inside of you?"
Naruto sighed. 'We're in the middle of a war and I'm stuck playing twenty questions.'
"It was a lie. The Sandaime Hokage knew of how Jinchuriki are usually treated in their villages, and to protect me, he made it so that nobody knew that the Kyubi still existed."
Hanabi nodded. "I see… I have many more questions that I would like to ask of you in the future if we are to survive this… Is that okay?"
Naruto sighed. "Yeah yeah, let's just get you going already" he picked the small girl up and threw her over his shoulder as she squealed, surprised at what had just happened.
"Hey! I'm perfectly capable of walking!" Hanabi protested, pounding her fists on Naruto's back.
"This is faster so just shut it!" Naruto snapped as he began running forward, the Kakashi clone beside him.
"So where's the real you?" Naruto asked.
"Fighting Gaara" Kakashi replied nonchalantly.
"W...what?!" Naruto exclaimed, nearly tripping.
"Watch it!" Hanabi snapped from where she was slung.
"I said shut it kid!" Naruto snapped.
Hanabi didn't reply.
"So where is that?" Naruto asked.
"Right now? No idea, however we can go back to where I last saw them when we drop her off."
Naruto nodded. "So Ero-sennin told you about my technique?"
"He mentioned it briefly but not in any detail… So you can really restrain the Ichibi?"
They rounded a corner and jumped over a large pile of debris.
"Right now? No. Gaara needs to fully release the Biju in order for the technique to work. As far as I can tell, he hasn't done that yet."
"You can sense him?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto shook his head. "No, he's too far away right now, but Ero-sennin told me that when a Biju's full power is released, every sensor type Shinobi in the area will be able to feel its power… That and a Biju is usually as big as Gamaken at least."
Kakashi chuckled at this. "That's an understatement."
Naruto grunted as they had to scale the wall of a toppled building.
"Be careful!" Hanabi grunted.
"Yeah yeah, sorry" Naruto sighed. "Why couldn't Gamaken have just kept his mouth shut about the whole Jinchuriki thing?"
Kakashi laughed. "Luck is rarely on our side."
"I said I'll keep it a secret" Hanabi said from behind.
"What's your name anyways?" Naruto asked as they reached the staircase that led to their destination.
"Hanabi Hyuga" she said, pride evident in her voice.
"Like Hinata and that Neji guy?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, Hinata is my sister."
As they ran up the stairs, Naruto became very silent.
'He's worried that Hanabi might slip up to Hinata.'
An explosion rang out across the village, some screams in the distance followed.
Naruto increased his speed up the stairs.
"I can get there on my own from here" Hanabi said from Naruto's back. Naruto stopped suddenly, causing Hanabi to squeal yet again.
"You sure?" Naruto asked. Hanabi could hear how anxious he was to go fight the invaders.
"Yes I am sure Uzumaki-san." Naruto set her down and considered her for a moment.
Another explosion echoed causing Naruto to look out at the village. In the distance, he could see Gamaken heading towards another snake, having taken care of one of them already.
"I'll see you when this is all finished and we can talk more about this secret and what accompanies it, with the Hokage there." Naruto turned and met her eyes at the last part to drive his point home, just in case.
Hanabi did not seem the least bit worried at the prospect and merely nodded.
"Okay then, stay safe."
With that, Naruto and the Kakashi clone jumped off of the stairway and plummeted towards the ground.
Hanabi watched as they landed lightly before taking off through the village.
'That explains quiet a bit about him…' Hanabi thought to herself as she watched the younger boy run off.
"So while we're searching for the real me, mind explaining the details of this Fuinjutsu to me?" Kakashi asked Naruto as they progressed forward.
Naruto nodded. "It's a jutsu only I can use, both because of the Kyubi, and that I'm an Uzumaki."
Kakashi nodded. "I take it that it requires both the Kyubi's chakra and the Uzumaki clan's unique chakra?"
"Basically. Now I guess my mother's chakra was very unique, even for an Uzumaki which allowed her to use a special technique if the Kyubi ever were to get free. Even though I don't have the same chakra as she does, we can replicate the technique using seals, my own chakra, and the Kyubi's chakra. But in order for that to work, the Biju I'm using it against has to be completely unleashed, otherwise it will fail."
"How do you know this is going to work?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto chuckled. "Well, Ero-sennin said it's a slim chance that it won't but he's pretty sure of his technique."
"So it wasn't you that created it?" Kakahsi asked.
Naruto shook his head as they jumped off of the streets and onto the rooftops.
"I guess he's had this in development before we even met. Something about in the event the Kyubi were to ever escape, we could use it to subdue him."
"So it wasn't even designed to be used against a Jinchuriki other than you?" Kakashi asked, his heart dropping.
Naruto laughed. "That's why we use the Kyubi's chakra for this. The seals Jiraiya-sensei had originally developed had to be altered for this technique to utilize the chakra of the Biju to subdue another Biju."
Kakashi nodded. "Do you have the seal on you?"
Naruto lifted his right arm up to reveal a seal tattoo on his wrist.
"This is just a temporary seal to hold the sealing scroll I have."
"So we're using a scroll to seal a Biju?" Kakashi asked, his eyebrow shooting up.
Naruto sighed. "No no… In the scroll are a set of special Kunai with the real sealing formula on them. We use them as conduits for my technique. After that, we simply reseal the Biju into the Jinchuriki host."
"Ah, good." Kakashi said stiffly.
Naruto stared at him for a moment as they jumped to another roof.
"….Did you really think I was dumb enough to try and seal a tailed beast in something as weak as a scroll?"
Kakashi nearly tripped.
"…You're kind of an asshole Kakashi-sensei."
Shino stopped suddenly for what seemed to be the ninth time.
"What is it now?" Sasuke growled.
Shino glanced in a few directions.
"Are we surrounded?" Sasuke asked in a low voice.
"No… It's Naruto…"
"What about him?" Sasuke asked as he glanced around.
"…It seems he is in multiple directions." Shino stated.
"Damn, he must be using his clone technique to help fight" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "If he keeps this up, he's going to exhaust himself."
"Perhaps… I believe you're sensei may have found the real Naruto though. My Kikaichu are sensing two Kakashi's in the village from my understanding. One is with one of the Naruto's."
"Where's the other?" Sasuke asked.
Shino turned to the Uchiha. "He is fighting an unnatural chakra full of evil… I believe this is Gaara."
Sasuke nodded. "So if Kakashi has already found Naruto what do we do now?"
A new voice answered.
"YOU DIE!"
The street seemed explode as a gust of wind tore towards the two Genin.
Both managed to dive into an alley beside them to avoid the wind jutsu.
"You couldn't sense her?!" Sasuke yelled as he scrambled to his feet.
"I apologize… I have had my Kikaichu focusing solely on locating Naruto that they have overlooked everything else."
Sasuke glared at the boy. "Well she can't be that hard to deal with… I'm sure she was injured from the fight against Naruto."
They glanced at the end of the alley to find that Temari was glaring at the two of them.
"Bold move, attacking the leaf village" Shino said as his bugs seemed to flow from his sleeves, surrounding the boy.
Sasuke shifted slightly. 'She had some pretty dangerous moves… But I'm sure I can beat her with my fire techniques.'
Temari glared at the two of them. "What happened with Uzumaki?"
Sasuke grinned. "He was kicking you're friends ass when all of this happened."
Temari sneered at this. "I very much doubt that he could have even touched Gaara."
Sasuke withdrew a kunai and readied himself. "Believe what you want, but you aren't Gaara, and we can beat you easily."
Temari swung her large fan, "We'll see about that!"
Kakashi Hatake was a superb Jonin of Konohagakure. He had over a thousand different Ninjutsu at his disposal, his Taijutsu was matched only by Maito Gai. He rarely failed a mission and had not been bested by another shinobi in combat for years.
But fighting an unstable Jinchuriki who had no inhibitions about killing innocents was trying his patience.
'He doesn't tire easily…' Kakashi thought as he jumped away from a blast of wind.
Slowly since he had run into him, Gaara had gone from half deformed to a miniature Ichibi.
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" the boy screeched.
Kakashi felt beads of sweat across his body as he leapt to the safety of a rooftop that was still intact. He had been pushing himself to the limit to avoid the boy's deadly strikes against not only him, but civilians that were trying to flee the area.
That was the worst part. He had wasted plenty of time and chakra just on defending others and made no headway in the fight.
'I've just got to stall him a bit longer… By then, I'm sure someone will have found Naruto.'
As he withdrew some Shuriken, his head throbbed for a moment.
'The clone was killed… Oh, good… Naruto has a plan.'
He sighed, now having a light at the end of the tunnel was relieving.
"Well, I guess I just need a few more minutes and then we'll have our own Jinchuriki fighting this guy."
He stowed the shuriken and crouched to the ground, going through three hand seals before grasping his wrist.
"That means, I can finally let loose, no need to worry about chakra."
Lightning and chakra flowed around his hand, making an odd chirping noise.
This caught the Suna Jinchuriki's attention.
"There you are!" he called out.
Kakashi stood up. "Here I am…" Kakashi leapt off the building to the ground, lightning trailing behind him.
Gaara shot forward, his claw reared back, ready to cleave the man into pieces.
However, Kakashi had landed before Gaara was halfway to the man.
Using his superior speed, Kakashi ran towards the boy, his technique thrusting forward.
"RAIKIRI!"
Gaara howled in agony Kakashi ducked beneath Gaara's claw and tore into his torso.
Kakashi jumped off the street and back to the roof tops before whirling around to see what kind of damage he had dealt the Jinchuriki.
The boy was hunched over in the street howling in agony.
Kakashi sighed as he allowed himself to breath freely for a moment.
He knew that Gaara was going to regenerate quickly, but Kakashi didn't know a way to defeat the boy currently.
"Come on Naruto… Get here fast."
The door to her room burst open violently and there stood Rock Lee.
"Sakura-chan are you alright?" Lee asked quickly as he approached her bed.
She nodded. "What's going on? I can see explosions not far from here!"
"We are under attack from the sound and the sand villages. I am here to help you get out of here!"
Sakura nodded and winced as she tried to get out of bed. Her body had healed a lot thanks to the hospital staff and their medical jutsu, however she was still very frail at the moment.
Rock Lee rushed to her side and slowly helped her out of her bed. She wore some plain clothes provided by the hospital so that she could walk through the grounds with the aid of crutches, without having to wear the gowns.
"I can't run though" Sakura groaned as she grasped her crutches.
"That is not a problem Sakura-chan! I shall carry you to the monument shelter!" Lee turned and knelt down. Sakura stared at him for a moment. A month ago she would have laughed at the prospect of depending on the boy, however after seeing his fight on the TV, she knew he was a powerful shinobi not to be trifled with. He had after all beaten Sasuke Uchiha.
"Thank you Lee." She slowly crawled onto Lee's back. Once she was properly situated Lee slowly stood up.
"Let us be off then Sakura-chan."
He quickly exited the room and darted down the hall past the hospital staff that were running room to room, gathering patients to take to the shelter.
"Why isn't help here?" Sakura asked Lee.
"The attacks are happening from within the village as well as at the village walls. Also the Hokage is currently trapped in some jutsu with an enemy known as Orochimaru."
Sakura gasped as she heard the name.
The pale face practically flashed before her eyes at the mere mention of his name.
"How are Sasuke and Naruto?" she asked quickly.
Lee jumped over a gurney that was exiting a room before turning down a hall towards the hospital exit.
"Sasuke is fine from what I saw. Kakashi-sensei and Jiraiya-sama have sent Sasuke out to look for Naruto."
"Why? What happened to Naruto? The TV shut off after he hit Gaara with his technique."
Rock Lee was silent for a moment as they exited the hospital and took off down the street before veering off down an alley.
"Gaara recovered from the technique and hit Naruto with some wind jutsu. He was carried away by the jutsu out of the stadium... We do not know for sure how he is doing. But Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei and Jiraiya-sama all assured us that Naruto was alive and that he must be found. They have sent multiple teams to search for him."
"Why are they looking for Naruto though? I know he's strong but what can he do in this war that would make him such a priority?"
Lee stopped suddenly and glanced around a corner before taking off down a separate alley.
"It is still something I do not fully understand as I only heard pieces of it. Our senseis were very quiet about it, but I did hear that Naruto has a technique that can defeat Gaara."
Sakura was quiet for a moment as the turned in a new direction. "Why does he need to stop Gaara though?"
"I am unsure… But Jiraiya-sama did refer to him using a word I have not heard before."
"Jiraiya? Of the Sannin?" Sakura asked. "Sorry, you keep mentioning him but I wasn't sure."
Lee nodded. "Yes that is him. From what I could gather, he has been training Naruto for the past month."
This surprised Sakura. It was no wonder Naruto had learned such a powerful technique.
"What did he call Gaara?"
"Something known as a Jinchuriki." Lee said as he turned unexpectedly.
'That sounds familiar… But where have I heard that?' Sakura wondered.
Suddenly, Lee skidded to a stop. They could hear a rattling noise nearby.
"What is that?" Sakura asked.
Suddenly, a wall exploded and a familiar wooden puppet was flung through it.
"Nikudan Sensha"
Choji's techinique was not far behind as it hit the puppet into another wall.
Ino Yamanaka quickly emerged from the hole as well. She spotted Rock Lee and Sakura and quickly waved them over.
"What are you doing here?!" Ino basically yelled at the two.
"I am trying to get Sakura-chan to the shelter!" Lee defended himself, causing Ino to go pink.
"Oh… Okay, I thought you were trying to fight or something."
Shikamaru's voice echoed behind Ino.
"He's coming!"
Ino whirled around, her hands going through seals.
She spotted the boy that was controlling the puppets trying to jump away from a shadow that was extending towards him.
"Suiton: Teppōdama!"
The ball of water rushed at Kankuro who was in midair, unable to dodge the blast.
Suddenly, a large explosion erupted in the building beside Kankuro, throwing him in the air. The shockwave of the blast disrupted the bullet of water, the heat evaporating the water instantly.
Lee looked on in horror as time slowed down. Beside him was Ino who looked on in shock, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Choji, back to his normal size, running towards them. Then of course, Sakura was on his back. He could not see any way of this ending well what with Sakura's injuries, and the explosion being so close.
Suddenly, a large shield dropped before them, straight through the buildings, blocking the explosion from their eyes.
They could still feel the heat through the shield and the sound was deafening, but they were safe. Lee wheeled around and saw a large magenta toad wielding an odd weapon.
"I apologize for my clumsiness" the toad said calmly to those in the alleyway.
Without warning it suddenly jumped straight up, avoiding a now visible snake that had tried to bite the toad.
With surprising grace, the toad twisted in the air, spinning his weapon so quickly, not even Lee could trace its movements, and brought it crashing on the snakes head.
The impact crushed the snake's head, causing it to explode in gore. Dust and wind battered at the Genin in the alleyway.
The toad landed softly on the corpse of the snake, whipping his weapon up.
"I shall now take my leave" the toad stated as it reached over them all and pulled the shield free from the buildings it had been embedded in.
It quickly secured the shield on his back and glanced side to side a few times before jumping away.
"….Wow…" Sakura stated.
"Yeah… Wow" Choji agreed.
Shino burst into a cloud of bugs as the wind jutsu tore through him.
Sasuke's fire jutsu was quickly overpowered by the wind jutsu.
'Damn how is this happening? Fire element is supposed to be strong against wind!' Sasuke thought as he was sent flying back by the blast.
He skidded to a halt, his Sharingan scanning for where Temari had disappeared to.
'If Naruto could beat her then so can I!' Sasuke thought fiercely.
He darted forward to where he had last seen the girl when Shino's voice called out.
"Behind you Sasuke!"
He dove to the side, narrowly escaping the invisible blades of wind that carved through the ground where he had just been.
'Didn't know Shino could be so loud' was Sasuke's thought.
He jumped up and off the side of a building, as Shino appeared next to him.
"I can finish her off, but you need to keep her occupied." Sasuke said.
"What are you going to do?" Shino asked.
Sasuke smirked as they landed on a roof.
"A special technique Kakashi-sensei taught me. Was going to save it for Gaara, but this'll work."
"Very well. I shall keep her occupied while you get this jutsu ready. How long do you need?"
Sasuke smirked. "Just a few spare seconds… I don't have a lot of chakra from my matches, but it'll be enough."
Shino nodded as he walked to the edge of the roof. "Be quick then."
He jumped from the edge and plummeted to the ground. Temari had spotted him quickly and sent a wind jutsu towards the falling boy.
Shino's bugs suddenly buzzed forwards from his sleeves and seemed to push the boy out of the way of the jutsu.
Shino landed safely and turned towards his opponent.
"I am surprised you have this much energy after fighting against Naruto."
Temari sneered at Shino. "I still have enough Chakra to deal with you two!"
She swung her fan at Shino who darted into an alley, effectively dodging the wind jutsu.
'That's getting annoying' Temari thought as she prepared her next jutsu.
She was surprised when suddenly, Shino appeared next to her, engaging her in Taijutsu. She dodged the first few hits, closing her fan quickly before using it to block a kunai from the boy.
She swung at him with the metal frame, missing and tearing through a wall.
'That is surprising strength' Shino thought to himself.
She planted the fan in the ground, and using it as leverage, planted a kick on Shino's chest.
The boy suddenly exploded into bugs once more.
'Ugh disgusting!' Temari thought as they swarmed her. She swung her fan back open, poured chakra into it, and blew the insects away from her.
She staggered to the side as she did this and nearly lost her balance.
'Dammit, his bugs are stealing my chakra!' she realized.
She looked around for any sign of the boy when she heard an odd chirping noise from somewhere down the street.
"What the hell is that?" Temari asked herself.
Suddenly, she saw Sasuke Uchiha drop from a building, wielding what looked to be some kind of lightning jutsu.
She smirked. "I thought the Uchiha were supposed to be smart, but clearly you don't realize that wind beats lightning."
Sasuke smirked. "Time to beat the odds then."
Suddenly he shot forward, the lightning streaking behind him.
Temari grit her teeth as Sasuke rocketed towards her.
'Dammit, just like that Uzumaki kid, he's fast!'
She swung her fan, pouring her remaining chakra into her jutsu, intending on leveling not only the Uchiha, but the buildings in the immediate vicinity.
Suddenly, Sasuke shot down an alley.
She unleashed the jutsu, sure that he would still get caught in the blast.
As soon as she unleashed her technique, the buildings began to crumble, the street tearing apart, the howl of the wind the most prominent noise. She was sure she had won.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the flash of the blue lightning from Sasuke's technique.
She had no time to react as her eyes met with red eyes. She knew there was no time to block or dodge the technique.
Just as Sasuke was about to reach his target, a building nearby exploded with such force, Sasuke and Temari were thrown aside like leaves.
Sasuke was dazed as he flew through the air the only sound he could now hear was the ringing in his ears from being so close to the blast.
Then a wave of pain crashed over him.
He felt the ground rumble a bit as he realized he was staring at the sky.
The smoke from the burning buildings looked like oil against the blue sky as Sasuke struggled to move. Glancing down, he realized that a wall must have collapsed on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
Another wave of pain racked his body suddenly. He tried to free one of his arms, but it was nearly impossible to move.
'This isn't good' Sasuke thought as he fought through the pain and continued to struggle for freedom.
Suddenly he heard something that sounded like footsteps.
'Maybe that's Shino… Or an enemy.'
Sasuke waited with bated breath when a shadow fell over his face from the figure that stood over him.
"…Still… alive… Uchiha?" a bleeding singed Temari taunted.
Her fan was missing and a large amount of her torso was left with a torn mesh undershirt.
If it was a different situation, Sasuke would have had the decency to blush.
'Dammit, this can't be it!' His Sharingan activated from the stress of the situation and suddenly a new pain engulfed him.
Sasuke screamed out, his neck feeling as if it was on fire.
Then slowly, his system was flooded with chakra. Not his normal chakra however. This one felt much more potent then anything he had felt in his life.
He grinned as he locked eyes with Temari.
'It's simple, but it'll do.'
Temari's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as she raised her kunai and positioned it beside her neck.
"To think that a simple Genjutsu would be what kills you" Sasuke murmured as with his newfound energy, he lifted the rubble off of himself.
He stood up as soon as it was clear and checked himself.
'Feel like shit, but otherwise I'm alright.' He glanced over at the blonde girl who had remained still, her kunai pressed against her neck.
"…This power… It's useful." Sasuke muttered. He had tried before during his training with Kakashi to use a powerful Genjutsu using only his Sharingan but never with such success.
He walked over to her and looked her up and down. He shook his head as certain thoughts came to the forefront of his mind. 'This isn't like me, what am I thinking?'
His hand shot towards his neck, where the source of this new power had come from.
'This thing… It's doing more than giving me power.'
He glanced at Temari and he once again thought of taking away her life. An internal struggle began to surface.
'There have been so many deaths because of the sand and sound today; taking her life is just a form of repayment… Besides, Naruto has killed before, looks like it could be fun.'
Suddenly, Itachi's face seemed to materialize in his mind. The night of the massacre, where everything he had known was taken from him.
"This is what Itachi would do…" Sasuke frowned. "…I am not that monster."
Then another face seemed to surface. A certain blonde grinning teammate. "Naruto… He's more of a brother than Itachi…" He grimaced as he felt the power of the curse seal ebb away, followed by a sharp pain in his neck that seemed to continue lingering.
Temari snapped out of the Genjutsu and dropped the kunai, surprised what she had been about to do.
She looked at the Uchiha who collapsed to the ground with a groan, clutching at his neck.
She took one step towards the boy and kicked him in the chest, causing him to fall to his back and stare up at the girl.
"I hate Genjutsu users" Temari growled as she placed her foot on Sasuke's throat.
Sasuke tried to cry out in pain, but couldn't as Temari applied more and more pressure.
The young boy began to claw at her leg as his heart began to pound.
Temari smirked at the boy as his limbs began to feel numb. His panic for air began to recede.
'…So this is dying? …It's not terrible…' Sasuke thought as his vision began to darken.
Just as he began to accept what was happening, the pressure disappeared and Sasuke felt a warmth spread among his neck.
Then he sat up, coughing painfully.
"Careful!" a female voice rang out.
He glanced at the woman the voice belonged to and saw the nurse from the preliminary matches, her hands glowing green. He looked around for the blonde girl and saw her unconscious on the ground, Shino standing over her.
"It is good to see that you are okay" Shino said, not bothering to look at the Uchiha.
Sasuke tried to speak but found that he couldn't.
"I'm not done healing you yet" Kagome answered his unasked question.
Sasuke nodded as her glowing hands reached for his neck.
"It seems that there was a fight in the building that exploded between a few Sound Shinobi and two Konoha Chunin. From what information my bugs can gather, the Chunin were winning, so the Sound shinobi used some Kamikaze tags to take them all out."
Sasuke sat and listened while Kagome healed him.
"Aren't you Naruto's teammate?" She asked Sasuke. He nodded and glanced at the girl.
"Did he win his fights? I wasn't able to catch them." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. The Chunin Exams were televised and very few people would have missed them. On top of that, she was involved with the medical team charged with healing the contestants. Or so he had assumed.
Slowly he nodded, indicating that Naruto had indeed won his matches… For the most part.
Kagome smiled. "I'm glad. He's an interesting boy."
Sasuke chuckled at this, or at least tried to. It ended up sounding more like a cough than anything.
That's when he heard some familiar voices approaching them.
Sasuke quickly stood up, withdrawing a kunai.
"It is fine Sasuke… They are not imposters." Shino said as Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Rock Lee, and Sakura rounded the corner.
Sasuke relaxed at this. If Shino said they were really their allies, he wasn't going to doubt him.
Shikamaru caught sight of them first. He lightly jogged over, the others trailing behind him as they saw Sasuke and Shino as well.
"Have any of you seen Naruto?" Sasuke croaked.
Choji gave Sasuke an odd look. "You sound like Asuma-sensei in twenty years."
Shikamaru chuckled at the joke, but no one else did.
"No we haven't" Shikamaru answered. "Just some enemies, and a giant toad."
Sasuke gave Shikamaru an odd look, but he did not explain further.
"I have located him" Shino said suddenly.
"Where?" Sasuke asked as he massaged his throat.
"He is currently stationary with a dozen ANBU and another man who seems to be of some significance."
Sasuke nodded. "Then I'll go get him, I'll need you to come with me Shino in case he starts moving again."
Shino nodded when Ino piped in.
"What about us? We were asked to find him as well" she said, placing her hand on her hip.
Sasuke looked back at the girl and then to Sakura. He gave her a slight nod, causing the pink haired girl to blush lightly.
"Protect Lee and Sakura. Get them to the shelter." Before continuing he glanced at Kagome.
"Take her as well. As far as I can tell, she isn't a Shinobi" he stated.
The group looked at the woman chuckled. "I'm not a Shinobi, but I was ordered by the medical corps to help with healing the injured that are fighting."
Sasuke nodded. "Then you'll need someone to make sure you're safe. The medic is the most important part of a squad. Choji, Ino can you accompany her?"
Shikamaru grinned. "Good call Sasuke. Keeping me with Lee and Sakura means that if we get ambushed, I can hold them with my Kagemane no Jutsu while Lee can hide Sakura before engaging in combat, same goes with Ino and Choji."
Sasuke nodded. "Let's get going. Gaara may be the key to the whole war, so let's get Naruto to kick his ass."
Naruto was surprised as his opponent dropped to the ground dead.
He and Kakashi's clone had been ambushed by a squad of sand ninja and had successfully killed the clone, leaving Naruto to deal with them alone.
He had been doing surprisingly well, using as little chakra as possible to conserve for the sealing jutsu he was sure he was going to use soon. But as soon as he had killed two of them, he knew he was going to need more than just Taijutsu. As he had begun to curse his luck, a squad of ANBU had appeared and taken care of them. But they were unlike ANBU he had encountered before, which made him wary.
He was now surrounded by several Shinobi that had just proved they were stronger than Naruto and he was worried. None of them had said a single word to him and had not put their weapons away. He had a kunai in hand and was ready to call on the Kyubi's aid when a familiar voice echoed through the street.
"Naruto Namikaze… You may put that away."
Two ANBU parted and revealed the man that Naruto had met atop the Hokage Monument.
"Danzo right?" Naruto asked.
Danzo stopped before him and stared at the blonde boy.
"You have gotten stronger" it wasn't a question.
Naruto still felt uneasy and wasn't sure he wanted to put the kunai away.
"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Despite your progress you are still no match for me."
Naruto knew this, but it still felt good to hold a weapon.
"What do you want? I'm kind of busy!" Naruto snapped.
Danzo smirked. "Right to the point, I like that. I assume you are intending on taking care of the Jinchuriki."
Naruto felt a pang of anger at the word. "Not the way I'd phrase it but yes, I'm headed towards Gaara's position."
Danzo nodded. "It would make sense to send our own Jinchuriki to fight theirs. There are very few who could contend with the power of a Biju, especially if it were to be unsealed."
Naruto said nothing as an explosion echoed from at least two miles away from their position.
"Why aren't you out their helping?" Naruto asked.
"That is not what you wanted to originally know. You are quick to forget you're original question young Namikaze. The reason I am here talking to you."
Naruto glared. 'It's not like you're forthcoming with that information anyways.'
"I have come with information about Orochimaru. He is in the village."
Naruto felt his chakra flare at the mention of the bastard's name.
"Where?!" Naruto roared.
"He is at the stadium. He has trapped the Hokage in a barrier jutsu of some kind. He intends on killing him."
Naruto's jaw clenched.
"Why challenge the Hokage? That's a stupid decision!"
Danzo nodded. "Normally I would agree, but Orochimaru was taught by Hiruzen. He knows many of the Hokage's techniques and he is not a rash man. If Orochimaru is challenging the Hokage, he is sure of his victory."
Naruto took a deep breath, processing this information. "Where's Jiraiya?"
"Jiraiya is unable to get to the Hokage because of the barrier jutsu and even then victory is not guaranteed. From what I have gathered, Orochimaru has a trump card that would destroy us all."
Naruto was about to ask if it was Gaara but Danzo quickly cut him off.
"It is not the Jinchuriki. However, Gaara is Sunagakure's key to winning the war, Orochimaru's trump card is much worse. My information states that he has a technique to raise the dead with."
Naruto said nothing for a moment as he thought of what that could mean.
"Naruto, he could raise anyone from the dead… Even the previous Hokage."
Naruto's eyes widened. "But, there's no way the old man could take on the other Hokage!"
Danzo nodded. "Hashirama Senju was considered a god amongst shinobi. Unique amongst even our Kage. If he were to be summoned, that would mean the end of Sarutobi."
Naruto bit his lip at the thought of the old man dying. "What do you expect me to be able to do? If Jiraiya can't beat him…"
"It is possible that we could win if we were to take down that barrier. I am not saying you are able to fight on even ground with Orochimaru, you would just be in the way. However, I think you could take the barrier down."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How? I've never dealt with a barrier jutsu!"
"I believe that if you used the Kyubi's chakra in conjuncture with your Rasengan, you could destroy the barrier. The Rasengan is pure shape manipulation of the chakra, but with the Kyubi's chakra, it would be much more potent."
Naruto's fist clenched. "…But I need to take care of Gaara."
Danzo nodded. "Indeed. You may be the only one available that can defeat him if he unleashes the Ichibi in full. However, even then victory is not guaranteed. You need to choose which path to take. You can go after Gaara and seal the Biju away, at the cost of Sarutobi's life. Or you can go to the stadium and destroy the barrier that separates our forces from Orochimaru. However that would allow Gaara to roam free, killing civilians, Shinobi… You're sensei even."
Naruto looked around at the ANBU surrounding him.
'What do I do? This seems like an impossible situation!'
He then glanced up at the monument. 'What would you do dad?'
'I can't use my clones for the sealing jutsu, and I don't know of a way to access the Kyubi's chakra through a clone.'
"Whichever decision you choose, my associates here shall escort you there."
Naruto took a breath, weighing each decision. He looked at Danzo before speaking one last time. Either way, he was going to have something to regret, but he had to choose between the two, and he had made his decision.
And there it is. Danzo is going to be making some more appearances in the coming chapters. I always felt that he should have been introduced much earlier on in the series but oh well.
So now you know the technique that Naruto has in store for Gaara if he needs to use it. But will he go after Gaara, or Orochimaru?!
And yes I do know that in Shippuden, the Naruto clones have used the Kyubi's chakra. But Naruto at this point isn't aware that it's possible, he's still young and inexperienced with certain things. Plus he's used the foxes chakra two or three times only. Not a lot of usage.
Sorry about not putting a lot of the Hokage fight, but I'd end up just writing what happened in Canon at this point of the battle so it's nothing we don't already know about.
Now the next chapter won't take as long as this one so keep an eye in the coming weeks, however after the next chapter I am going to spend a week going through the previous chapters and fixing grammatical errors as well as a continuity issue or two.
Once again I do want to thank everyone who is reading this fanfiction, it makes my day when I see a glowing review, or a message about how someone is enjoying the fanfiction… Then again who doesn't. I will continue bringing as much awesome story as I can for as long as I can.
Thank you everyone!