Puppets of the Leaf

Chapter 14

By Riotv2

The situation within the arena was growing heated as several Jonin Ninja had entered it to help pacify the enraged Sand Jinchuuriki. From his place in the participant's booth, Naruto could see the Sensei of teams 7, 8, and 10, as well as Gai and several others, a mix of Chunin, and Jonin, as well as a small group who looked like Hyuuga.

He was about to go down himself when a loud bang rang out from above him, which drew the attention of just about everyone involved.

'What the hell is going on?!'

The blonde began to grow drowsy as feathers began to fall from the sky. All around the arena people were falling asleep where they sat, or stood.

'G…gen…jut…su…'

Hastily, Naruto connected chakra strings to his own body, and hit himself with a small pulse of chakra, one of the techniques he had learned from the scrolls that Chiyo had given him, and he became instantly alert to the fact that the arena was now surrounded by foreign ninja.

Naruto was not alone in this observation however.

Garra began to laugh insanely when all those who had chosen to face him, began to take stock of the situation. One of them, the one with the large sword, took a step forward.

"I'll take care of him. The rest of you go protect the civilians." As emphasis to this, Kakashi drew the large blade off of his back and held it before him in a curious stance that seemed almost nonchalant. His posture mirroring the tone in which he spoke, as if this was something he did every day. From behind him the protests of the few Hyuuga were drowned out by the cries of Konoha's Green Beast as he ranted on about the 'hipness' of his eternal rival, then, without waiting for anyone else to respond, Gai took off into the stands, much to the ruin of every Sound nin that crossed his path.

"No."

It was just a single simple word, yet everything around them seemed to stop for the one who said it. The Jounin all turned to see the one who had spoken, Hyuuga Hiashi, striding forward at a leisurely pace.

"Hatake Kakashi…The abilities of my clan have already proven to be effective against his techniques. I will finish what my daughter has started. All of you… go protect the village."

With a look to the others, Kakashi nodded then leapt up into the stands to join the one-man war being waged by Gai.

The other Leaf Jounin all followed, however the Hyuuga, branch members it seemed, hesitated until a stern look from their Clan Head sent them on their way.

By the time Hiashi's blank eyes met the gold of the Sand Gennin, his Byakugan was already active and he had settled into the opening form of the Juken.

Naruto, after 'waking up' Shikamaru, and seeing that he didn't need to do so to his teammate, took stock of the situation. All around the stadium, one on one, and even two or three on one fights were being fought, while below him, Garra was standing before someone who looked like an older version of Neji, Hinata was taking small steps backward, while staring at the mans white robed back. Above…something had happened with the Hokage, but he couldn't tell what at this point.

Naruto was torn. He had three ways to go; up, down or to the stands, and in each direction, his friends were in danger. Beside him, Sasuke was looking around him as well, the insanity from earlier forgotten, for now anyway. "Man, what a drag…" Naruto smiled faintly, only Shikamaru would describe a devastating assault on their home as being 'a drag'.

"We should find Kakashi-sensei…" The words had barely escaped the blonds lips when his teammate indicated an area of the stands.

"There." Sasuke leapt out of the box and ran along the walls towards a particularly thick fight taking place not far away. Naruto wasn't far behind him, however Shikamaru just watched them for a moment. "sigh Troublesome…" the lazy Gennin opted instead to take the stairs.

To Naruto's surprise, there were very few Jutsu being utilized by either side, it was good because it meant that there would be few casualties among the civilians in the stands.

……………………………..…….

Several Sound Ninja surrounded Kakashi, as one they all leapt at him, only to be cut down as he spun around once with his massive blade. He had to admit, this kind of combat seemed natural with this weapon, albeit messy, the immediate area around him had become drenched in blood, though the sword itself had very little on it.

Two more of the Oto Nines came rushing at him arms held back ready to throw their Kunai at him, when they were intercepted by two blurs, and it took Kakashi only a moment to recognize them for what they were.

One of the nin fell to the ground, dead, after having one of Blades 'hands' pulled from his stomach, while his partner's neck had a white appendage wrapped around his throat. He too fell after a sickening snap.

Behind him Sasuke was in the process of cutting a third nin's throat from behind, while Naruto hopped down from where ever he had been controlling his puppets from.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

"Good, the two of you are still awake…Sakura should be around here somewhere, find her and see to protecting the sleeping civilians, let her tend to any injuries, but protect her too."

Sasuke nodded but Naruto hesitated. "The Hokage…"

Kakashi dispatched another nin, then spared a glance at the Kage's box. "He can handle himself." His words held more confidence than he felt at that moment, and soon found himself too busy to worry about anything else.

……………………………………………………..

Sakura as it turned out was already tending to a civilian who had caught a stray shuriken with his shoulder. It was a good thing the man was asleep or she might not be able to clam him enough to deal with it, still… it said a lot for the strength of the jutsu that the man hadn't even woken up from the pain of the injury.

She was so engrossed with her work that she didn't notice the Sound nin looming over her until his blood sprayed across her back. He fell next to her and she turned to see both of her teammates on watch for more enemies.

"Kakashi-sensei wants us to see to the safety of the civilians, and for you to do what you're already doing." Sasuke hadn't even spared her a glance, but Naruto smirked at her briefly before sending his two puppets to intercept a ninja who was going through hand seals, in preparation for some kind of jutsu. A white arm tangled up his hands while two long flat knives were sliced through his back.

"They're not using many Jutsu…"

Sasuke who had engaged another in hand to hand combat answered over his shoulder.

"They've immobilized the civilians to keep them in place…they probably want them for hostages."

Naruto nodded, it made sense. As their fight continued, Naruto spared a glance downward to see if Hinata was alright and nearly lost control of his puppets. "W…what…?"

Neither Hyashi nor Garra had moved for several moments, and Hinata wondered if this fight would be settled purely by a battle of wills. If that was the case then her Father had every advantage, however it was not to be as the sand covered form of Garra held his massive arm back and then 'threw' several sharp blades of sand at the stoic Hyuga Clan Head.

All of the 'sand shuriken' were destroyed in the same manner Hinata had disrupted the boys attacks during their match.

Garra's bestial eyes narrowed to slits, and he made the connection. These two were from the same clan. He inwardly smiled in glee and sent attack after attack to test him. He expected for the elder Hyuga to disrupt his chakra much like the girl had, however when the man vanished in a blur of motion, he was caught off guard. Even more so when the man reappeared next to him and drove an open palm towards Garra's midsection.

Barely he managed to hop back and bring his large arm between them, which, rather than dissolve like it would have under the girls attack, exploded, sending him back even further. Garra tried vainly to recover his balance, but found that it was just not possible since the right side of his body seemed almost triple the weight of his left. He looked down to see that most of the sand that had covered his arm and ribcage was now gone.

He looked at the man again and let out a piercing, blood curdling scream of rage. More sand began to gather to him, and even as he began to regain his form, Hyashi knew that there was more going on here. The boy's chakra had begun to go insane within him, and suddenly without warning, the area was covered in thick dust as all of the chakra being gathered within him exploded outward.

From their position on top of the roof of the stadium, both the Third and Orochimaru turned to see the large explosion of white smoke.

"Kukukuku it seems as though Garra has finally started following the plan. Pretty soon, Sensei, this village will be reduced to rubble."

Sarutobi just stared in horror at the giant form that was hiding within the white smoke.

"Shall we get started ourselves?" He nodded to his four subordinates and as one they all started a series of seals. Before long a large purple barrier was erected around them.

Hyashi was stunned. Before him, through the dust screen, stood the largest mountain of chakra he had ever before encountered. It nearly took up the entire stadium floor, and it wasn't until it began to move that he realized that it was more than just a large pile of sand.

Faster than he would have thought possible for something this massive, a large wall of compacted sand swatted him into the arena wall, hard enough to leave an impression behind it.

Hinata stared in shock at the sight of her injured father. Never before had she seen anyone manage to lay a hand on him in any match he had fought in.

She was brought back to the matter of Garra's new transformation when the ground shook tremendously from the impact of a giant foot. Her vision traced its form upward, and the remaining smoke cleared in time to meet the gaze of a giant raccoon. Its eyes flashed a brilliant gold and in that gaze she saw her own death.

With a triumphant howl its massive arm came flying downward at her. She tightly shut her eyes, praying to Kami for the impending pain to be over quickly.

Silence overcame her surroundings, like the calm before a storm, time seemed to stop as images began to fly through her mind; Naruto's image seeming to linger longer than the rest, then like a lightning bolt splitting a tree, the silence was broken.

"KAITEN!"

Her eyes flew open to see a large spinning dome before her. She had seen the technique many times before, but never on this scale, while usually the dome is only slightly taller than the person creating it, this one slowly expanded in height, looking more like a small tornado than a dome, pushing back against the sand appendage that threatened to end her life. And even as it was expanding higher, the sheer force of the attack was causing the dome to sink further into the ground in an ever deepening crater.

Hinata looked up at the monster before her to see that its arm was being devastated by the technique, already it had been ground off to about mid way from its elbow and with each passing second the damage became worse.

"HINATA! RUN!"

Her breath caught in her throat. That voice…she knew instantly who it was that was defending her.

"…F…fathe..er…"

"RUN NOW!"

She could see that the battle of wills she had predicted just moments ago had come to fruition, and it was going to end soon, either with the destruction of Garra's arm, or at the cost of her father's life.

She stood shakily and only now became aware of how numb her legs had become while sitting in the awkward position she had been in. With all the speed she could muster she edged her way around the wall, using it for support, towards the entrance to the streets.

Garra's large eye tracked her progress, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the girl's father.

"LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE…MONSTER!"

With a final surge of chakra, the protective dome of the Kaiten exploded outward, taking with it most of the sand apparitions arm, well past the point of its elbow. The force of the act pushed the giant raccoon back a step as it tried to recover from the backlash.

Hinata turned to see the climactic end of their struggle. Her father's Kaiten slowed and dissipated to leave the bruised and bleeding man, standing knee deep in a hole, gasping for air.

After a mere moment, Hyashi wavered and fell forward.

"FATHER!"

Hinata made her way back to his side, falling into the crater left by his technique. She turned him over in her lap, and tried to find something, anything, she could do for him. Her Byakugan came to life, and she saw instantly that he had fully exhausted his reserves of chakra to save her life.

All of his reserves.

Most of those within the stadium paused in their various battles to gaze up at the massive form that had appeared before them. Foes were forgotten as side by side Leaf and Sound nin focused on the monster that had emerged from their worst nightmares. For the older generations of Leaf Ninja, the appearance of the Shukaku brought to mind vivid memories of the night on which the Kyuubi attacked their home. The chakra given off by this demon, while slightly different in nature, still inspired the same fear into them.

The members of Team 7 likewise stopped to see the spectacle before them. They had just witnessed the large demon swat a man in white robes into the wall of the stadium. Then, when it looked as though it was going to crush one of their own former schoolmates, one of the 'Rookie Nine' as they had come to be known, Naruto began to rush forward with his puppets, intent on trying to save her.

He was stopped when he saw that same man in white, Hinata's father, pull him self from the wall, trailing blood behind him, and leap in front of the monsters attack. He used the same technique Neji had used during their fight, and now Naruto saw that he had been lucky that Neji wasn't more proficient with it, because, in the hands of someone who, likely, had mastered the technique, it was truly awe inspiring.

Even as the man was shouting for his daughter to flee, none of those watching could muster the cognitive faculties to step in. The Kaiten was an amazingly beautiful technique, and when the dome of pure chakra began to push outward, it looked as though he would overcome this foe.

The dome surged outward forcing the demon backward into the side of the arena and the resulting crash broke the spell that had held them all in place was broken. Those watching finally realized that they were standing shoulder to shoulder with the enemy and the fighting resumed.

Naruto and Sasuke were kept busy for the next few minutes but Naruto was still able to catch glimpses of what was going on down in the ring.

Several individuals in white, grey and black robes had landed at the side of their fallen leader, even as the giant demon pulled itself free of the rubble that had been the arena's northern wall and stands.

……………………………………….

"Hinata-sama…"

The Branch member knelt down next to the girl and her father. He along with some of the others had left the fighting in the stands when the saw the head of their clan fall after his clash with the Sand's demon.

"Hinata-sama, please we must get the both of you out of here…"

"Yes Hinata-sama, Hyashi-sama must be taken to the hospital at once."

The ground shook again as Garra took a step towards them, causing them all to look up in time to see the large, only remaining, arm coming down on their location. Quickly grabbing the girl and her immobilized father, the group of Hyuga managed to leap away in time to escape the attack.

Hinata found herself on the side of the wall, being held there by the one who had grabbed her. The monster pulled his arm back out of the large crater it had made, and was preparing to launch another attack. The three Hyuga wearing the white robes of the Main House, nodded to one another, and leaped up towards the demon.

"NO, WAIT!" The branch member's shout went unanswered. The Main House members all aimed their trajectories at different locations on the demons body, and as soon as they all came into contact, they began spinning in large spheres of chakra.

"KAITEN…" Came their combined voices.

There attack seemed to do the trick for a moment. Sand sprayed away from the sections of the monsters body that they had hit, however with nothing to support them, gravity won out and they began to fall, carving three long trenches in the monsters body.

One by one their techniques faltered and the demon, seeing his chance, lashed out with sand from different places on its body and caught the three in mid air.

Their screams were brief and drowned out by the sounds of battle around them, as their bodies were crushed.

The three Hyuga Branch members, leapt as fast as they could up to the roof of the arena, hoping to get over the side and into the village before the monster caught up.

They didn't make it.

As they landed a large arm of sand crashed down onto and through the roof next to them, and into the stands below, killing all those unfortunate enough to have been sitting or fighting there.

…………………………………………………..

Naruto and Sasuke turned as one towards the opposite side of the ring from where they had been fighting. The large demon made of sand had crashed through the stands while in pursuit of the Hyuga.

Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration. That thing, was just going to keep slaughtering more people unless someone, somehow, stopped him. He looked to Sakura in the hopes of seeing the scroll he had given her before the exam, but it was nowhere to be seen.

"Sakura… where is that scroll I gave you to hold for me!?"

The pink-haired girl looked up at him in confusion for a moment before it dawned on her what he was asking.

"I had with me in my seat. It must still be there."

"Where?"

Sakura looked back towards where she had been sitting with Ino and a few others before all this started.

"Over there near that aisle, about five rows up…"

By the time she looked back at him he was already gone.

"…NARUTO! What are you doing!?"

The blonde had to use his two puppets to intercept another enemy ninja before he arrived at the indicated location.

He only knew of one other person who might be able to take that thing, but he had absolutely no idea where the old pervert had gone.

He had to move an unconscious villager off the floor before he found it.

Triumphantly he took the long scroll and moved back to where his two teammates were still working to tend to the wounded villagers.

"Naruto, what the hell did you…" Sasuke began to berate him for leaving them like he had.

"Not now Teme."

Naruto resealed his two puppets as he ran up the outside of a pillar and up onto the roof. He stood there for a moment looking across the arena towards the giant sand demon.

He took a deep breath and, after biting his thumb, tossed open the large scroll, flinging one end in an ark over the arena roof.

Instantly the area was covered in a massive amount of smoke.

…………………………………………………

The tears flowed down Hinata's cheek, weakly she managed to push herself up onto her hands and knees, and look around. When the monster had crashed through the stadium roof, the five Hyuga had fallen down into the ruined stands.

To her left she could see the two branch members tending to her father, and to her right….

Her eyes widened and she felt her breath leave her. The young Hyuga, that had grabbed her before, was lying on his back, his lifeless, pupil-less, eyes staring strait ahead at the large piece of wood that had impaled his chest.

Tentatively she reached out a trembling hand to close his eyes.

The act had been on sheer impulse. One she couldn't even begin to explain, but she knew with out a doubt, the image of the man's face would be forever ingrained into her memory of this day.

"Hinata-sama…are you alright?"

One of the other two Branch members approached her. All she could do in response was to nod her head once. He was about to help her up when a shadow loomed over them.

Looking through the debris at them was a large sand colored eye. After a moment, the eye moved downward, and the top of the monsters head came into view.

The sand there began to ungulate and grow into a mound, until it fell away revealing Garra from his waist up leering at them through the wreckage.

"…Mother still wants your blood…"

The Stadium began to shake again, as dust and other bits of wreckage began to rain down on them. The Hyuga wrapped his arms around the girl to shield her from any falling objects.

"That bastar…what in the name of Kami…"

Hinata looked up briefly to see the man's Byakugan active and his eyes showing an odd mix of fear and confusion. She cautiously activated her own bloodline only to see that the demon was not trying to bring the rest of the roof down on them, as she had thought.

In fact Garra no longer even seemed to register the fact that they were there.

Focusing her bloodlines sight beyond the Sands demon carrier, her eyes grew wide in shock at the view that now filled her vision.

"N…Naruto…"

………………………………………………

"Kkukuku…My, that boy is amusing…to think that his son would've built something like that. Ironic isn't it …Sensei."

Orochimaru cast a quick glance at the aging man beside him, expecting to see surprise written there, though he wasn't really that shocked to instead see a warm grandfatherly smile instead.

He had seen that smile many times directed at himself…at one time.

"Yes…Naruto is full of surprises." The third turned away from the spectacle Naruto was making on the roof not far away from where they were currently standing, and fixed his former student with a penetrating stare. "Shall we continue this farce or do you finally want to get serious?"

The Snake Sanin let out a hissing laughter. "Already?…You don't want to watch?"

"You could always surrender."

He shook his head in glee. This was proving to be more fun than he had anticipated. Garra may have been taking his time, but the prolonged attack on the Hyuga girl was causing quite a bit of collateral damage to the stadium…and to those civilians still in the stands. A fact that was causing the old man a great amount of pain, and Orochimaru was only too glad to prolong it. Still at least the old man still had his sense of humor.

"Very well."

Without warning the much younger ninja leapt back into their fight, trading blows back and forth, keeping his back to the stadium the entire time so the Hokage could still watch as his precious village was ripped apart one person at a time.

……………………………………………….

After issuing the orders to his team, Kakashi had begun to make his way around the oval building, leaving a trail of bodies as he went, most in two or three pieces. He had just brought his weapon down onto the shoulder of a Sound Nin who was about to stab his knife into the chest of a sleeping Chunin who hadn't dispelled the Genjutsu in time, when another explosion went off in the stadium in the vicinity of where he knew his team to be. His first thought was that more Oto/Suna forces had arrived. When he turned, however, he nearly wished that was the case.

On the roof of the building he could see the reddish form of a large fox settling into a posture that suggested it was about to leap at the Sand's Jinchuuriki. His first thought was that the seal that held the Nine-Tails had some how been released. However he couldn't feel the malicious, evil chakra that only belonged to the Kyuubi. The small amount of smoke that had surrounded it dissolved away and Kakashi was relieved to see only a single tail swishing around behind it.

That same relief turned into an exasperated groan when he saw who was standing on its head.

"Ohh Naruto…" He now knew the giant fox for what it was; the product of an overactive imagination belonging to a very hyperactive Puppeteer, who's most used, and favorite puppet was one designed to look like a small fox. It was a shape and form that Naruto had become so used to operating, that he did it on a subconscious level. As a result of that knowledge, Kakashi had to admit, a giant fox, if a giant puppet there had to be for whatever reason, would be the easiest for him to control.

'I just know that you're up there somewhere laughing right now Sensei…'

His thought process cut off immediately as more ninja tried to confront the Sharringan Swordsman.

Naruto swallowed hard against the large lump that had formed in his throat. This was going to be his first time using this puppet in battle. He mentally cursed himself for not thinking to include some traps or weapon into its massive frame, not that there had been time, nor did he have any idea he'd actually need it.

Below him the roof groaned loudly but seemed to hold the weight of his large wooden creation well enough. It was good because assuming that giant raccoon thing could use Gaara's skills, he'd need a lot of room to move.

He just stood for a moment staring across at his opponent, who was doing likewise. Neither combatant was moving, and the wait must have been getting to Garra, because the look on his face just seemed to grow angrier by the second.

Finally, having had enough of just waiting, Garra raised his intact sand arm and shot out three giant Sand Shuriken at the waiting fox.

'Well here we go…'

Naruto, throwing most of his weight into the movement of his chakra strings, forced the Giant fox into motion. It took a few quick side hops, while still remaining on the roof of the oval-shaped building. One of the three sand projectiles clipped the roof where he had just stood, and tore a good chunk of it off, while the other two continued over into the village, destroying several buildings.

Naruto mentally kicked himself, there might have been people in those buildings after all. The prospect of further destroying the village, while attempting to save it was a sobering thought.

'It looks like ranged combat is out……ok then…'

The Fox began to run along the stadium roof towards where the demon was currently standing. Garra just stood there watching it move with a sadistic smile on his face.

As Naruto neared the collapsed section of the roof, he jumped, aiming his trajectory to bring him over the head of the monster. Garra however, not having expected this, was a bit too slow in reacting, and was further caught off guard when the large whip-like tail of the fox slammed down onto the right shoulder of the Raccoon. Garra threw up his own arms to protect him from the shockwave of sand that erupted from the point of impact. A useless, automatic gesture since the sand, as if with a will of its own swerved to avoid hurting him.

The stadium rumbled and shook, the roof cracking, as the large fox landed on the other side. Naruto turned back to look at Garra's reaction to his attack. The boy was glaring daggers at him. Naruto smiled, usually pissing off one's opponent was a very sound tactic. It caused them to lose their ability to reason through certain situations, and threw them off balance.

However, it failed to occur to the blond puppeteer that Garra was already off balance. In fact he seemed right out of his mind since his match with Hinata began. So when Garra smiled and brought his hands together into a seal, the first anyone in this village had seen him use, Naruto became slightly worried.

"Hey Brat!" came a voice from behind him. He vaguely felt a slight vibration run through the large hollow puppet, as someone leapt onto its back behind him. "What the hell kind of mess did you get yourself into now?"

Naruto half turned to see a large man with long white hair striding toward him.

"It's about time you showed up Pervert-san!"

"Don't call me that!"

Naruto ignored the man until he jumped up onto the head of the fox with him.

"Can you summon one of those battle toads to help us with this guy?"

Jiraya had a look of contemplation on his face as he looked around them.

"This is not the kind of place to be having a battle on this scale."

"Ohh really…you think?!"

Jiraya promptly thumped him lightly on the head.

"Get serious…we need to lead him out of the village…"

"And how exactly do we do that?"

"What do we know about him?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "He doesn't seem too patient, and up until I showed up he's been chasing some Hyuuga around…"

Jiraya looked over the damage to the large body, both the missing arm and the three gouges in its torso seemed to be slowly regenerating…very slowly.

"The Hyuuga did all that?"

Naruto nodded.

"And now he's ignoring them in favor of you…he wants a challenge."

Naruto's eyes widened at the prospect. "So call out a toad and let's give him one."

Jiraya grinned. "So you admit your puppets not enough to…" "Not on your life Ero-baka."

With a tight smile Jiraya leaped off the fox and began to run through the hand seals for the summoning. Naruto for a moment felt a much larger concentration of chakra than he had for the other summon he'd seen, and after a large blast of white smoke, a large reddish toad appeared in the last remaining room of the stadium floor.

Naruto looked it over briefly. It had a scar over one eye and a pipe in its mouth. It also carried a tanto tucked into its sash.

Jiraya appeared on its head in some pose that Naruto supposed the man considered dramatic. Personally the blonde thought it made him look like an idiot.

The giant frog looked briefly around him, then seemed to grumble. "JIRAYA! I thought I told you never to summon me!"

Naruto nearly did a face plant. 'His own summon won't even listen to him…'

The toads long wart covered tongue reached out and grabbed the old man off its head and held him upside-down before him.

"WELL...?"

"Listen Gamabunta, you know I wouldn't have summoned you unless it was an emergency…just look around you I think this qualifies…"

The toad boss looked around again taking in the carnage that was going on around them. He saw the large, unmistakable form of the Sand Demon Shukaku, and then saw the large purple barrier behind them.

"Ahh Orochimaru, hmmm…"

"Alright… I'll help…"

His tongue loosened its grip on the old pervert and he leapt once again onto his head, only to be roughly thrown off again.

"I said I'd help…not that you could come along for the ride…"

Jiraya landed on the roof of the stadium next to the large fox puppet, which Gamabunta had only just seemed to notice.

Naruto couldn't resist. "Hey, doesn't anyone like you?"

Jiraya's head turned a new shade of red as steam came boiling out of his ears. "SHUT IT TWERP!"

Gamabunta, having watched the exchange could only chuckle, he liked that kid.

"Hey instead of just getting in the way…why don't you go see of you can help with your old teammate… your probably one of the few who could after all."

The toad hermit looked up to the barrier, and seemed to consider that. He nodded then leapt up to join the small group of ANBU who had gathered there.

Now Naruto and Gamabunta's eyes met for the first time.

"Hey kid, what's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto…uh…"

"Gamabunta; Toad Boss of the Myukabo Mountain." (Anyone know how to spell that? I can't find it.)

They nodded and turned their attention to their opponent who was also considering them in return. His hands were still held in the seal he had formed, and only after a few moments his head dropped and his arms fell to his side.

For a moment Naruto wondered if he was dead, until he could feel a large evil chakra emanating from the large sand demon. It built slowly at first, then grew to encompass the whole body. The sand colored eyes seemed to take on a new life and the regeneration of the damage done by the Hyuuga seemed to speed up considerably.

As if that wasn't enough of a warning that something was terribly wrong, the demon let our a piercing wail.

"I'm FREEEEEE!!!" The voice was highly pitched and caused all of the hair on Naruto's body to stand on end, like nails on a chalkboard.

The monster looked at both of its giant opponents, and laughed.

"You guys…your all gonna DIEEEEEE!!!!"

Without warning it sucked in a large amount of air and fired it at the two, Naruto moved to the side, and Gamabunta jumped strait up to avoid the attack, which was a feat since it was fired from almost point blank range.

The ball of air slammed through the stadium and kept crashing through the village until it crashed into the northern wall, tearing it apart in the process.

"Shukaku…Naruto! Out of the village now!" The Toad boss bellowed at him as he fired a small jet of water at the sand monster. Not really strong enough to do anything except get his attention.

Which it did…very well.

Shukaku let out a loud scream of rage and stomped after them, but halted after a moment. And looked back down at one specific section of destroyed seating. Naruto, who was still nearby, gasped when he realized what the demon meant to do.

Immediately he changed course and rammed into the side of the monster just as it was bringing its arm down into the rubble.

The impact nearly threw him off his puppet, but he managed to anchor himself with his strings. Naruto looked back at the rubble of the stadium to see Hinata and her wounded father being carried by two others making their way out onto the roof of the stadium.

The sand demon was recovering much faster this time, because it had already regained its balance and sent out two barrages of sand, one at Naruto and the other at the Hyuuga.

The blonde was off again before the sand could get a grip on any part of him, hopping after the others and overtaking them only slightly before the other attack caught them. He slapped aside the sand with the tail of his puppet, and then snatched the four of them out of mid air with that same tail while he made his way out of the village.

He paused only for a moment at the outer eastern wall, to make sure that the monster was fallowing him.

It was.

Shukaku had literally ripped his way out of the stadium and was moving towards them, surprisingly fast, while howling in rage.

"Uzumaki!"

The blonde looked down to the Hyuuga who were making their way towards him along the fox's back.

"We need to get Hiashi-sama to the hospital!"

Though he knew the man was right, he was torn. Shukaku had already gone after them once rather than follow him. If they split up now, nothing said that it wouldn't happen again.

"What about Hinata? Is she hurt?"

The girl in question was currently staring up at him, wide eyed and blushing, his question resonating in the back of her mind.

"Not badly, but we must get her to safety as well."

Naruto agreed with them, but, as much as he loathed to admit it, he needed her to stay with him…as bait.

"I need to lead that monster out of town, he won't follow me if he can just go after her again."

As if to punctuate this, the approaching demon fired another of those air bullets at them, only for it to be intercepted by an equally large water bullet. The resulting impact turned the area into a brief hurricane.

Gamabunta landed just outside the wall before them. "Let's go kid!"

Naruto nodded, but looked back at them again. "We need to go…I'm sor…"

"P…please take my father…and g…go…"

The two branch members looked at her in shock.

"Hinata-sama…"

"I w…will remain with N…Naruto-kun…and l…lead the demon away."

There was no time for an argument as the puppet lurched into a run over and beyond the wall, as the demon in question had almost caught up. As it neared the wall another water bullet from the toad boss blocked it's view of them and halted it for a moment.

"Whatever your dong do it fast."

The two looked back at him worriedly. "But…"

"I promise, I'll protect her and the village, with my life if need be!"

After a moment the two nodded and jumped down with Hyashi, and made their way back into the village, avoiding any areas of conflict they came across. Luckily the hospital wasn't far from where they had gotten off.

Quickly Naruto brought his hands together and summoned three shadow clones, each Henge'd into the likeness of the three Hyuga. Not a moment too soon it seemed as the wall before the demon was destroyed when it came barreling through. Rather than run away from it, though, like Hinata would have expected, Naruto headed strait at it, while it was focused on the frog before it.

The fox ran strait across it giving the demon a whip across the chest with its tail for good measure, followed by a glancing hit from another water blast and they continued to the tree line, followed closely by Gamabunta.

"Well what now brat?"

"How the hell should I know?! Up until now I was just trying to get it out of the village!"

"Mission accomplished, congratulations…now think of something else!"

"Um…anno…but…"

Both turned to stare at the girl, which only caused her to shrink into herself a bit. She was looking back at the monster that was still coming after them,

"… um it looks l…like all of the s…strange chakra is coming from G…Garra-san…"

Gamabunta nodded. "I see he's the demons carrier…and while he's asleep, the demon's taking him over, and by extension the sand that makes up that body."

"Huh?"

"If we wake that kid up, then the demon's link to that body, and this world, will be cut."

"Ohh ok, then let's wake him up."

Sarutobi smiled from within the purple barrier. 'Excellent work Naruto…' The two men had paused when the Toad Boss had been summoned, and shortly after that all three of them had left the arena and were making their way out of the village.

"So much for your plan. Orochimaru…"

The snake Sannin was currently gritting his teeth in annoyance. 'Only one person could've summon that toad…if the fool is here then I'll need to end this sooner than I thought.'

He grinned looked to his old teacher. "Ohh well good help is so hard to find these days…"

Orochimaru began another long series of seals, grinning all the time.

……………………………………….

Jiraya landed on the roof of the Kage's box, where several groups of ANBU had gathered in an attempt to help their leader.

The one wearing a yellow hood looked to him immediately.

"Jiraya-sama…We can't get through the barrier."

"What about under it?"

The ANBU shook his head. "No good the barrier extends under the roof as well."

"So we need to disrupt the source of the barrier then…"

He broke off as Orochimaru completed a series of seals and slammed his palm down onto the ground.

'A summoning… but what is…ohh…ohh no…'

A coffin propelled itself out of the ground, followed by a second, and after a moment despite the best efforts of Sarutobi, a third. All three had a single kanji on them; First, Second…and Fourth.

Jiraya went into action immediately. He ran towards one of the corners of the barrier shouting orders as he went.

"Call for reinforcements now, be ready to move in, whatever you do don't hesitate!"

He began his own seals and pushed both hands down onto the surface of the roof, along with a lot of chakra. "Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Suddenly the roof began to loose its integrity and seemed to melt into a brownish-green muck. The effect of the technique stretched outward and the Sound ninja inside the barrier, one with a strange white lump on his back, began to sink into the swamp. He became stuck up to his waist, and was struggling to keep the technique up. After a moment he stopped sinking, and breathed a sigh of relief.

A bite on the finger, some chakra and a small puff of smoke later, and the Oto nin was surprised to see a tiny pair of eyes pop out of the muck in front of him. The eyes were followed by a small dirty toad. The toad had a small black vest on, and when it leapt up at him, it also drew a tiny katana.

"Ohh shi…" was the only thing the ninja had time to say before the small sword was driven into his heart by the small amphibious assassin. The toad vanished in a puff of smoke, its job done, and the ninja slumped forward, dropping his section of the barrier.

The very moment it was open enough a large group of cloaked ANBU, led by Jiraya, leapt through to join the Hokage in his fight. The last two through the opening let out a scream as they were consumed in flame, when the barrier suddenly closed again. Jiraya looked at the supposedly dead ninja, to see that he now had two heads, one of which was slumped forward, with blood leaking out of his mouth.

He had no further time for contemplation of this as Orochimaru began to laugh, and applaud them.

"Well done, my old friend…well done indeed. I almost didn't think you'd make it, but I am glad that I waited for you."

At that moment, the lids on the first two coffins fell to the floor. The third Hokage's gasp only confirmed Jiraya's worst fears. A gasp that was echoed by all of the ANBU present, when two figures stepped out from the wooden boxes.

"Hello Saru…you've gotten old."

The ANBU were torn between kneeling out of respect for the first two Hokage, trying to kill Orochimaru for the insult of disturbing their souls, and throwing themselves into the barrier out of fear of what was to come.

Jiraya was just staring at the third coffin. "Orochimaru…you didn't…you couldn't have…"

The Snake user merely scoffed. "…but I did…"

The lid of the last coffin fell away to reveal yet another figure. The man stepped out of the box and looked around. His startling blue eyes locked onto first his old Sensei then Orochimaru.

"Ohh great…you're losing your touch Ero-sensei."

Horror was now written on all of their faces. Jiraya was trembling and, Orochimaru suspected, several of the ANBU appeared to have soiled themselves.

The toad sage took a stumbling step forward. "…M…Minato…"

AN: Next chapter will bring an end to the invasion. As always thanks for the reviews, keep them up.