Invictus

by Raging Smurf

When I died, I never thought I'd get a second chance at life, let alone another chance as the protagonist of an anime. Getting another chance in a world with Snake pedos, heart thieves, and peepers with doomsday capabilities wasn't a part of the memo. But I ain't selling my life cheap, that's for damn sure. Male OC NarutoInsert. Chapters 1-4 prologue.

45. Chainbreaker

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The reviews on last chapter had a few people saying how the Omakes being added in previous chapters would be helpful, so that's what I'll probably be doing.

Faranon423: It was Itachi acting as 'Weasel' that told Sasuke about Rin and Naruto, back during the last day for preparations. Itachi technically can't be executed for breaking that law when he's a missing nin. But it was Naruto that Sasuke spoke with afterwards.

The Jingo: Give me more of your Sasuke insert fic. It's shaping up to be very good. Feed me!

On my Sasuke Insert, I actually have the first two chapters written because I flatlined on writing the latest chapter of my Harry Potter story. I'm just not particularly wanting to have multiple stories to write at the same time. I'll end up feeling compelled to juggle updates around and it could mess with the flow of all the stories. But should I make the Sasuke fic 3rd person or 1st person?

The last part is on pairings.

After careful consideration that lasted for a combined couple hours of my life over the last two weeks, I'm going to have it be Rin/Sasuke. I like Shikamaru a lot, but the way I've planned out the story, and how I've written the characters, makes it where the two would work best from a writing perspective. I know many people were hoping for Shikamaru, but in the end, I think what I've chosen is what I should do. It was not an easy decision.

But yeah, the next part of the finals is here and it's a special one.

---

Letter from Uzumaki Ashina to Senju Tobirama.

Tobi, and yes, I know you detest that name but I enjoy irritating my apprentice. The idea you had on getting your Hiraishin marker to work with a water affinity was an excellent one. You took the idea I had on the communication rings I was trying to make and mixed the physical portion of a summoning jutsu into the matrix. You're special, kid, and I'm proud to have helped you on your way.

And don't tell Hashirama this next part. He won't appreciate the effort like you would. I made a rudimentary Senjutsu anchor tethered to water especially. I carved it into a crystal ball and used my blood for the prototype. Anything within a mile that has a connection to water, including moisture in the air, is made visible in the ball and refracts the light into a high definition live image.

The hot springs are full of water and mist in the air. Maybe I'll gift a better version to him when he eventually marries.

P.S. Your question about my Bloodline ability is a yes. It can pierce through it. And no, I don't think that part can be inherited. It might be uniquely potent for me from my chakra.

Encoded*. The Flying Thunder God is a potent weapon against those with the Sharingan. I'm sure you had that in mind when you asked for my help on it. Use it for kill shots only, you don't want a possible weakness to be noticed. Perhaps creating a mist cloud while doing it would help distract the Uchiha boy you've been trying to kill. Izuna, wasn't it? Message me for assistance and I shall help you without hesitation. Madara must die, and his brother will not let you and Hashirama work in tandem to kill him. I have traps and seals that I can plant discreetly. My water refraction jutsu makes me practically invisible to even a Hyuga's sight, if you were wondering how I would sneak around.

---

"Begin!"

I instantly Shunshined straight at Gaara, stabbing my blade directly towards his chest.

Predicably, sand immediately formed a barrier against my attack to protect him. Gaara didn't move one bit, just looking at me.

I shifted to the side and avoided the sand from grabbing at me as it lashed out at me and I slashed again, my sword clanging against his automatic protection. I kept testing to see if I could outpace the reaction of the sand, slashing at his chest, spinning to stab at his arm, and so on. But it looked like it was just fast enough to stop me.

Right as his sand shot out of his gourd en masse to crush me, I Shunshined away to a safe distance.

Putting my sword back onto my back, I made a cross seal to create a dozen Kage bunshin.

The dozen copies spread out and began working in tandem by 'trying' to attack Gaara by rushing in and retreating before his sand could kill them. They'd obviously get killed eventually, but I needed his focus on them.

Pulsing chakra into the storage seal etched in my bracer, I let the water stored flow out and I made multiple hand seals for a variation of the Falling Rain Needles jutsu, given that it wasn't raining.

Honestly, water was absolutely broken if you had a creative mind. It was naturally malleable compared to the other elements and you could seal it for later use. Granted, earth and wind literally made up the planet and atmosphere, so it might just be me being biased about my own affinity.

The water rose from the ground and formed into over a hundred needles, pointed straight at Gaara. I made one final hand seal and the water responded to my command, shooting straight at Gaara. I didn't see what happened because a column of sand shot forward and reached towards me.

A Shunshin 50 yards away and a quick application of Lightning enhancement fixed it in an instant, giving me another opening. Water Jutsu would make his sand heavier and slower to use, but Lightning would be better to pierce. Unfortunately, I didn't trust myself to not accidentally kill him with the Jutsu I knew that could tear through his sand armour.

Thinking through the next idea out of several to take him down, I shouted at the surviving clones in English.

"Plan 3!"

My clones immediately stopped their hit and run strategy and fired several water jutsu at Gaara, soaking his armour and the ground around him as the boy blocked the attacks.

Rushing forward, I channeled lightning chakra into my hand and smashed it into the ground right where the water was, blue electricity snaking through the water and at Gaara.

It evidently did something because Gaara spasmed and started screaming, his protective sand armour on his skin showing cracks from the lightning.

Shouting in English for them to pop, my clones disappeared and I rushed towards Gaara, planning on breaking his armour down without chakra. I needed to conserve as much as I could.

I reached Gaara, slid on my knees under a blast of sand, and punched at his face. His barrier came up, but it was waterlogged just enough where I was quicker without any chakra assistance. My fist struck his face and a few chips of sand came off, revealing his skin under the cracks.

Gaara's eyes widened and screamed, his Killing Intent spiking higher. He lashed out point blank with his sand, but I avoided it by leaping over him, twisting in midair and driving a kick to his temple, another crack in his armour from my foot striking faster than his defense.

Gaara wised up to what I did and his sand completely covered him, lashing out in spikes similar to a porcupine.

My eyes widened and I flipped backwards, leaning back as I landed to prevent from being turned into a kebab by the one spike. It still wasn't enough and I felt the spike hit me, my armour stopping it from penetrating. Still freaking hurt from blunt impact, but it wasn't bad.

Gaara's cocoon of sand opened up and I saw him giving me a look of hatred.

"How did you know about my sand?" He demanded, his eyes feral.

I scoffed and punched the spike of darkened sand that almost impaled me, shattering it with just my strength.

"A sly fox told me." I smiled tauntingly, staying on the balls of my feet to get ready to move.

Gaara's face twitched and I felt his chakra spasm like before, meaning Shukaku may have been less than pleased.

Gaara's cocoon crumbled and reformed to try and grab me, but I dodged the attack, bolting towards him again.

I decided that a sword would be better to probably hit him without losing a hand and drew it again, swinging it towards his neck.

Gaara's sand went to block it, but I decided to test something. I carefully pulsed some chakra through the blade to lengthen the reach by a few inches, my Bloodline ability acting as the tip of the blade.

What happened next surprised me as much as Gaara. My chakra tore through his sand shield like nothing and my sword slid through his defense, cutting through his armour, and opened up a cut on his cheek.

My sensing was then overloaded by a blast of chakra and bloodlust.

Gaara screamed like he'd been set on fire and his sand moved much faster than it should have and hardened, smashing into my chest and sending me flying back into the wall of the arena on the other side.

I temporarily saw black when my head struck the wall and I fell face first on the ground. Groaning from the impact, I got up and started coughing, the coppery taste of blood on my tongue.

My sword had clattered to the side and I picked it up, looking up at who had just launched me into a wall.

Gaara had his hand on his face and pulled it away, looking at his own blood.

We're dead. We're so dead. I thought frantically, realizing that Gaara might be about to flip out.

I have to find a way to not kill him.

Gaara slowly looked up to me, his eyes boring into mine.

"You," He began to say, his whole body tensed, "You... Made. Me. Bleed. YOU MADE ME BLEED!!!" His voice turned into a howl and his sand launched towards me much faster than it should have. Whatever Shukaku was doing, it made Gaara's chakra more potent and made his sand movement more flexible, because no other way was possible.

I Shunshined out of the way, resigned to having to burn a little more chakra than I'd hoped to bring him down.

Not stopping, I slid under the sand reaching for my head and popped back up, still running at him. I shot forward and landed a kick to his face, cracking half his armour off the left side of his head.

I felt his sand brush against my leg as I took off out of the way, but it didn't grab me.

The crowd was cheering as I avoided it, and I'd heard gasps when the sand would try and trap me. They were definitely entertained by me almost getting crushed like a roach.

"That the best you got?!" I shouted, twirling my sword to taunt the other redhead, "I've fought things that would terrify your pet tanuki!"

My opponent still had a malevolent expression and his sand split up into multiple small clouds, darting towards me.

I made a half seal to send water at Gaara to obscure his line of sight.

Suiton: Teppodama.

I spat the ball of water at Gaara, pacing my Shunshin to be right behind it.

The water exploded against the wall of sand he made with the unused sand of his and I punched my way through the mud-like sand without slowing down. I did the same thing when I got within reach of Gaara again, discreetly pulsing some golden chakra into the edge of my blade, and slashed at him. The boy, even if he was physically weak and slow compared to me, somehow managed to avoid most of it, leaving only a massive chunk of armour torn away from his shoulder.

Gaara's armour was self repairing, but I could outpace it if I pushed myself. Several slashes and swings had Gaara's eyes wide in terror, the boy's sand doing everything it could to slow my attacks down enough for him to not get hit. With a shout of exertion, I swung my blade at his shoulder and my right leg lashed out, striking his face when his sand stopped my sword.

Gaara got sent flying, along with his sand. His sand had tried to catch my foot, and the impact of my hit dragged his sand with him, the weak grip it tried to tighten around my foot pulling on my ankle. I staggered forward and spat water on my foot to weaken it, kicking the sand off me irritably.

Pulling himself up, Gaara's Killing Intent spiked again, his eyes flashing a different colour.

"If you let Shukaku out to play," I roared, forming a Chidori in my right hand and channeling it through my sword, "I'll tear your heart out!"

Gaara stared at my hand and the screeching blade held in it, and his expression hardened, his eyes reverting back to their normal green.

"Prove your existence without help!" I shifted the shape of the Chidori running through my blade and I aimed at Gaara.

Chidori Senbon.

Jiraiya had explained how he made his hair senbon jutsu work and I adapted parts of it to properly modify the Chidori. Props to Sasuke for managing it without the insight in Canon.

Several senbon shaped bolts of lightning flew at Gaara, a faint whistle and the scent of ozone present. Gaara's sand rushed towards his front to protect him, but lightning was strong against the sand. The senbon tore through and a few struck Gaara in the chest, shattering his armour.

Seeing an opening, I rushed towards him again, a plan at the forefront of my mind.

---

It's almost like seeing Shisui again. Itachi thought to himself, seeing the Uzumaki Jinchuriki move across the battlefield using the Shunshin.

Itachi had thought Sasuke was decent with the technique, but Uzumaki Naruto seemed to have taken a leaf out of Shisui's book and took it a step further than most, using it in quick bursts and stringing them together.

Shisui never said anything about him speaking with either Jinchuriki. I wonder how Naruto thought of it. And how is he able to move at that speed without a Sharingan?

Itachi started to miss small flashes of movement, so he activated his Sharingan, his face and eyes hidden behind the hood of his jacket. He was instantly able to trace the movements with ease now, no longer needing to focus at all.

The speed. The strength. The diverse Ninjutsu arsenal. Uzumaki Naruto was extremely dangerous, more dangerous than any at that age that wasn't Shisui or himself.

Killing the Ichibi Jinchuriki would simplify things. There would be no reason to capture Jinchuriki if we must wait for it to reform. He would be the easiest to kill. Killing the Nibi would be too risky, the same going for Killer B.

The Raikage would undoubtedly try and kill him if his brother was threatened. Itachi just prayed that Sasuke would never be foolish enough to pick a fight with either in the future.

Refocusing on the fight, Itachi pondered the idea that slowly crept into his thoughts on what to do to protect Sasuke.

---

Gaara was wide open. This might be the opening I need to jam the seal over top of his. His stomach was visible and the armour was shattered.

As I shot forward with the Shunshin, I made three hand seals to hit him with more water.

Suiton: Mizurappa.

I blasted water out of my mouth similar to a waterfall and directed it at Gaara, the water sloshing all across the ground as it enveloped him. Darting to the left, I twisted on my leg and shot towards him, my hand glowing purple in preparation for hitting his seal.

I got to him and my fingers jabbed into his water soaked stomach, my eyes widening in shock as my fingers sunk deeper into his flesh. 'Gaara' disintegrated into muddy sand.

Sand clone.

I pulled my arm out as fast as I could, but the sand managed to grip my fingers and squeezed, a loud crack breaking through the quiet.

The pain registered a second later and I bit back a scream, yanking my hand away. I instantly regretted looking down at my hand. Thankfully, my fingers were still attached to my hand. But the first three were stripped of skin and were broken in more than one section, while my pinky was thankfully spared.

I fought back the urge to start retching and ducked under another wave of sand from behind me, Gaara coming out of his sandscreen.

"Yes!" He shouted, his eyes wide and practically shining with glee, "Mother wants your blood!"

Gaara had hidden in the cloud of sand that I mistook for an attack and I got a broken hand for my troubles.

I cradled my damaged hand, being my dominant right hand, and fixed him with a look of hatred.

"There's only one thing your mother is getting, you ginger sand rat!" I was pissed. I couldn't shape the chakra needed to seal his connection with Shukaku until my bones fused back together, and I couldn't use my sword properly to tear through his sand.

Not breaking eye contact, I grabbed my middle finger and forced the broken bones in place, a grinding feeling in my hand followed by crackles and pops were audible.

I lifted up my bloodied right hand, my completely jacked up middle finger raised up in classic 'Fuck you' gesture.

"Suck it!" I shouted, keeping my hand up.

Gaara's eyes narrowed and another column of sand shot towards me. I Shunshined out of the way, glad that I lowered the needed seals to just a half seal from rigorous training, including my off hand for situations like this.

I grabbed one of several dozen exploding tags in my pockets and flung one at Gaara, waiting to trigger it. Once it reached him, I detonated it and his sand stopped the explosion, but the concussive wave still messed with his equilibrium as intended.

Grabbing my sword a little awkwardly, I stuck it to my wrist with chakra, tightening the grip my chakra had on it. I might have less maneuverability in slashing, but stabbing was just fine.

With Gaara distracted for a moment, I grabbed several shuriken and flung them with my left hand, aimed at his face.

Gaara blocked them and I instantly made another half seal as I was running at him full speed, tightening my lips to build pressure.

Suiton: Tenkyu.

I spat several dangerously sharp water senbon out of my mouth, this version a more advanced version of what Ino did.

The senbon pinged against Gaara's armour and obscured where I swung my blade at him, as intended.

The sword came dangerously close to hitting him when his sand kicked in. We were just a few feet away and Gaara's eyes were looking directly at mine.

"Now, you die." He said, sand snaking up my hand.

I ignored the sand in favour of driving my left arm forward, a golden chakra blade forming in it. The blade cut into the armour on his shoulder, a gasp escaping him and his eyes widened.

"No! No! No!" He screamed, clutching at his shoulder, refusing believe he'd been cut.

I pulled my arms back and Shunshined away again, jumping over a crater left by one of Rin's exploding tags.

With Gaara regrouping to find a way to murder me, I glanced down at my hand and noticed the pain had subsided, but my fingers still felt too stiff to flex and the digits were still red and looked awful.

Grabbing ahold of Kurama's chakra, I gritted my teeth as I kept it on an extremely tight leash and pushed a small amount of it into the tenketsu of my fingers to heal it faster. I tried to ignore the sizzling sound of new skin growing, as well as the feeling that made me want to scratch it.

By the time Gaara was seeing straight, I was already mostly healed. I flexed my fingers as a test and there was no issue, causing me to grin.

"It's gonna take more than you using sand to kill me!" I shouted from a safe distance, "I'm not one of those Suna civis you likely killed!"

Gaara actually laughed at what I said.

"They were weak." He said viciously, the gap in his armour I made already covered up,"They were nothing to me."

Honestly, how is he not completely batshit insane from being injured? Does he have more restraint than I thought?

I pulled another kunai with a tag strapped to it from my belt.

"Care to join them, demon?" I grinned toothily, prepared to resume the fight.

Gaara manipulated his sand and I Shunshined once more.

---

Hiruzen was fighting the urge to fidget as Naruto kept fighting the Suna Jinchuriki. It almost looked like someone playing chicken with an extremely dangerous tiger that could crush you with sand.

You are refraining from using the more lethal techniques you have, Naruto. Why?

The only reason he could think of why is that Naruto didn't want to kill the other boy. But that may need to be the case.

Naruto had fought against Momochi Zabuza and defeated him. He had fought and survived Orochimaru. Even an extremely dangerous Sabaku no Gaara couldn't compare to those two right now.

Naruto, you had no qualms about killing when you needed to. It pains me, but the time may be now. I cannot lose you like I lost Itachi. Konoha, no matter how much its people may reject you right now, can't lose you.

Hiruzen prayed that he wasn't about to see a boy he saw as a grandson get killed for his attempt at mercy. He'd lost too much already. A boy with near boundless potential was more valuable than an old man past his prime.

---

Ay noticed the concern on the Sandaime's face as the Uzumaki boy had yet another near miss from attacking the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi.

He didn't need to be told that Sabaku no Gaara was a Jinchuriki. The boy was like a far worse version of what Yugito come close to being. He was sadistically violent while being the son of the Kazekage. Those two traits didn't go together well when the child was a Jinchuriki that was scorned by the village.

Watching the boy rant and rave like a rabid beast hit too close to home. It reminded him of what B could have been if his brother hadn't brushed the anger off when he was recently made a Jinchuriki. Yugito had it much worse, but he as the Raikage and a war hero B convinced them of their ridiculous thinking.

Suna evidently didn't do anything remotely similar to what Kumo did to prevent their Jinchuriki from being homicidal. That's not how you made strong Jinchuriki that would tear the world apart to protect their village.

To be united by hatred is a fragile alliance at best. Had been something his father had told him the Nidaime Raikage had said leading up to the assault on Uzu. Can't say he could refute it though. War occurred once again between the other villages, regardless of the shared losses at Uzushiogakure.

Ay smirked as Uzumaki Naruto Shunshined once again to avoid the sand trying to crush him and struck at the armour covering the other Jinchuriki.

He doesn't have a Sharingan, so how is he managing to process the movement with such precision?

Even if an alliance didn't pan out, Ay would still want to speak with the boy. Speed freaks didn't appear all that often and the last two to come from Konoha were Uchiha Shisui and Namikaze.

The last name he thought of had him glancing at the blonde girl that was also named Uzumaki. The two had similar facial features, looked the same age, and were very close. Twins, undoubtedly. The blonde girl was trained by Hatake and was capable of using the Rasengan. Of course, Hatake may know how to do the Jutsu and taught it to his Jinchuriki student, but it still had him thinking.

He pushed those thoughts aside and refocused on the fight at hand.

---

The 13th tag of mine exploded against Gaara's defense and I was growing angry. I'd been conservative in my chakra use, hoping to save it for the invasion, but Gaara wasn't making it easy. The weather was extremely hot and the heat was making the water evaporate quicker and made his sand less waterlogged.

Tossing another one, I shot another ball of water at Gaara's barrier, the soft impact of water hitting sand being heard.

My pre-prepared seals were up next and I decided I'd use one. Pulling out four tags meant for a particular reason, that being a localized gravity one, I made four Kage bunshin and had them Shunshin to the corner, while I used a heftier jutsu to distract Gaara.

Suiton: Water Severing Wave.

The last of the water in my storage seals was used in this jutsu to cut down on the chakra cost, even if I had used comparatively low amounts from what I'd expended against Orochimaru or Jiraiya and Kakashi when I sparred with them.

The blade of water made a distinct sound as it tore through the air and straight at Gaara. The high velocity water actually drilled through the protection and pushed Gaara back several feet onto his back, his armour cracked once more.

Gaara slowly rose back to his feet, looking a little worse for wear, but otherwise fine.

Honestly, you're damned hard to kill and I almost don't know how not to kill you. Stupid OP jutsu.

Good news though. The tags were placed and my clones were no longer necessary. I whistled as a signal and they popped, returning their chakra back to me.

I slowly walked towards him and went for a route I doubted would work until I decisively beat him.

"Killing people doesn't fill that emptiness you feel, Gaara," I said gently, ignoring everything else around us, "I know that emptiness. The fear they have in their eyes when they look at us. The hate. The scorn. I know it all. Killing doesn't help."

"I will not listen!" Gaara shouted, sand rising up around him, "I have been lied to and almost killed before! My uncle tried to kill me. I can trust no one!"

I pressed out my sensing further and I winced how much Rin's chakra was spasming in a particular way.

She's terrified.

Fox, tell her everything's all right. I'm prepared to bug out in a second. Actually, let me talk with her... No response.

Fox?

"I can't connect your minds. I don't know why."

Of course that happens.

Then tell her I'm fine and I'm not going to get myself killed.

"I'm moving my consciousness towards her. I'm not getting the sensation of dying because of your stupidity, meatbag.

I felt Kurama's chakra shift a bit, indicating he was in Rin's mindscape now.

"Your uncle tried to kill you?" I raised a brow, putting up my sword as a sign of not wanting to cause anything.

I started hearing booing from the fight coming to a stop, so I flipped the crowd off, causing even louder boos.

I ignored it and fixed my gaze on Gaara, not breaking eye contact.

"I've had people try to kill me. Pierced lung and a Genjutsu to try and drive me insane." I said flatly, walking closer.

Gaara was exactly right where the radius of the gravity seals reached, meaning he was screwed when I knew when to rush towards him.

"You desire killing and violence as your method to rage at a world that hates you. At least that's how you see it, don't you?" I asked.

"I won't let you fill my thoughts with your poison!" He spat, grabbing at his head, "Everyone seeks to kill me. They only respect my power because they fear me. I will not let you kill me by pretending you understand!"

I sighed sadly and said one last thing.

"It takes strength to resist the darkness that's in us, Gaara. Only the weak embrace it." I said firmly, my mind made up on Gaara's lack of caring.

Gaara started laughing at me with a cruel smirk on his face.

"It is more powerful than you could ever know, Uzumaki."

"And those who oppose it are more powerful than you can possibly imagine." My blade was now in my hand, pointed straight at Gaara as I stood defiant against one of many dangers I willingly took to protect this world.

"I will kill you last, Uzumaki! I'll kill your sister to prove my existence again! I'll keep killing your friends so you will know how my existence was before I was strong." His voice deepened to something not human.

I decided to give Gaara the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was Shukaku speaking for a second.

"I'm going to make you bleed, Shukaku!" I snarled, spiking my chakra and planting my legs in a position to sprint.

At this point, I decided politeness was overrated and I gripped my sword tighter and charged up a Chidori to channel through it, launching myself at Gaara.

I really hope you don't become the next Jinchuriki to get impaled by this, man.

Gaara's sand broke off into two sections, one twirled around to act like a smokescreen to hide him, while the other shot towards me.

With lightning chakra speeding up my thoughts and my plan made, a half seal with my left hand had a beachball sized water projectile launched at exactly where Gaara's chakra signature was. A small corridor was made for me to run through, making the next part easy.

My charge abruptly stopped as I sensed where the radius of the gravity seals were at and I activated them instantly.

They took effect and Gaara fell to his knees, the sand falling to the ground as he lost concentration.

I ran forward and deactivated the seals right before I crossed the threshold, sword raised.

Gaara was backing away from me, flinging the little sand he had left at the moment. He got out of the range of the gravity seal and his sand from earlier circled back and was coming from behind me.

The moment I reached Gaara and was out of the seal radius, I reactivated it. Almost all of Gaara's sand was trapped temporarily in the trap.

I flung another low level water jutsu at Gaara to distract him and turned 180 degrees, reaching into my pocket reserved for the makeshift shield seals that were the same kind Rin used against Sasuke.

I chucked several up and over the gravity seals, the tags dropping to the ground. I activated them and almost half of Gaara's sand was sealed away by my tags.

Fuinjutsu is OP.

I turned to Gaara and for the first time, I saw genuine fear in his eyes. The pain I caused might have even been welcome by him to some degree. But I had taken his strength from him. His sand protected him and I just sealed half of it away, with the other half barely being moveable from the weight of it.

Gaara's fear was the most primal kind. He knew I was going to kill him. He believed that I was like him and was going to kill him because I could.

But I'm not him.

I raised my sword and ran at him, mindful of the little remaining sand he had.

A whip of sand shot at me, but I slashed it away with my crackling and screeching blade infused with a Chidori. The whip reformed and tried to hit me again, but I still slashed through it.

Gaara growled and threw all the sand he had at me. I jumped in the air and discharged the Chidori in the mass of sand, causing it to explode away. A few trace particles stuck to me and made it look like my clothes and armour was smoking as my feet hit the ground and I swung diagonally at Gaara's shoulder, his sand so diminished that his defense only had the sand armour sticking to his skin.

I slashed and hacked at the armour, chipping it away at the stomach. Gaara tried to cover the weakening area with his arms, but my fist striking his face had him staggering back.

At last, I saw his exposed stomach and I punched his face with my right fist, grabbing his shoulder with my left and pulling him close enough to drive my knee into his unprotected gut.

He gasped as the air was driven out of him and he collapsed in front of me, coughing profusely.

The roar of the crowd had grown to a near deafening wave of sound at me breaking through his defense. I didn't need the Byakugan to tell that the Suna nin were shocked by what just happened.

I kicked Gaara onto his back and grabbed his collar, my blade resting inches from his face.

"Do you understand what your predicament is?" I demanded, forcing enough of Kurama's chakra into my system to change my pupils and eye colour, "I have your life in my hands. I am your god."

I looked up at the proctor in warning.

"He doesn't concede!" I shouted, turning to look back down at my defeated opponent.

"I'm stronger, Gaara," I said quietly, "I'm stronger because I fought for something greater than myself." I kept staring into his green eyes, begging him to understand. "I fought for my sister, my friends, and my village. I know about the plan to attack Konoha. I could have killed you instead of granting you mercy."

Gaara was silent, not saying anything.

"You're wrong that you think you have no one. Your brother and sister love you. When I first met you guys, Temari was worried about you when we were flaring our chakra. She wasn't scared of you, she was scared for you."

I loosened my grip on his collar.

"I'm stronger than you because I have something greater than myself to fight for," I put my sword up, preparing to close his seal, "Please think about that."

Gaara swallowed and he looked down.

"You're right." Was Gaara's reply, barely more than a whisper.

I gasped in shock, my thoughts temporarily blanking out that I actually got through to him.

"You're stronger." His voice was filled with bloodlust.

Before I could weave the signs needed to close his seal off, a small mass of sand from the ground wrapped around my throat, slowly tightening. I clawed at my throat frantically and started choking, my airway cut off. I was panicking from possibly suffocating again that I kept trying to pull at the sand instead of making hand seals.

A small portion of sand darted behind me and I heard one of the seals in the matrix break, releasing a large portion of sand.

I felt it strike me and started wrapping around me, slowly constricting.

I showed you mercy! I snarled internally, my rage overwhelming my temporary paralyzing fear.

I could hear several voices shouting, including Rin screaming.

The sand wrapped around my throat loosened and I started shouting at Gaara.

"I showed you mercy!"

I desperately tried to pull my arms out of the cocoon of sand slowly crushing me, but it was too thick even with only half available.

"You should not have shown me mercy," Gaara said coldly, "You will prove my existence, and so will your sister." His hand reached out and the sand constricted more.

I bit back a scream as I felt my armour start to give, my breathing becoming more difficult.

I forced my fingers to move into a certain position to make a hand seal and I spat a water senbon at Gaara, aiming for his face. My aim was off and it tore a chunk of his hair off and he squeezed harder.

I thought I heard a crack and I heard familiar screaming in the background as I kept shooting senbon at Gaara to get him to stop. It didn't work and I felt a rib break, causing me to scream.

I'm not dying! I refuse! I won't die again!

The only thing I could do without hand seals that could get me out of this might very well hurt me.

My nervous system could handle lightning speeding it up for a few seconds, but I almost had temporary paralysis when I tried to manifest the armour portion, which was what I needed to break the sand.

Another cracking sound coming from my chest and a spurt of blood coming from my mouth had me deciding to do it. Screw Ay if he bitches about me reverse engineering it. He's a jabroni if he complains or tries to kill me.

"You won't survive what's about to happen." Gaara said, sand forming into the shape of a creature with one tail.

I frantically forced my chakra to adopt a lightning nature to it and started discharging it, trying to push the sand off of my ribs and limbs. An opening occurred and I drew in a deep breath, forcing lightning chakra throughout my tenketsu. I shut my eyes and I heard the crackle of lightning, my entire body feeling like it was burning.

The sand exploded away from me and the entire world was moving at a crawl, Gaara's hand going up to form a ram sign.

My hearing waa overwhelmed by the whine of electricity surrounding me, my vision was wreathed in crackling blue, and everything was moving impossibly slow.

You're not going to sleep.

My entire body sped through hand seals and I formed a Chidori, and I shot towards Gaara in a blue flash.

My lightning coated arm was driven elbow deep through Gaara's shoulder, his face just inches from mine. My arm felt warm and wet from my hand being coated in Gaara's blood, a crackling and sizzling sound coming from the lightning coating my fist burning away the blood into a disgusting coppery mist.

To the most of the world, I teleported in a flash and I had just landed a crippling hit on someone who had been about to kill me seconds ago.

Gaara's eyes widened and he fell backwards, clutching at his chest as he let at a blood curdling scream of pain.

My body gave out and the rudimentary Lightning Cloak disappeared, leaving me a mess with limbs that felt like Jell-O. As I hit the ground, I grabbed ahold of Kurama's chakra to force my nerves to stop spasming. The deliciously toxic chakra flowed through my tenketsu and all the nerve pain and broken bones faded, leaving me extremely hyperactive and violent.

I jumped up and walked to the writhing form of Gaara, pulling a blank seal tag out of my pocket. I bit down hard on the pad of my thumb with a sharpened canine and smeared my blood on the paper in a certain pattern, pulsing chakra into it.

I straddled Gaara and punched his face to get him to look at me.

"I should kill you," I growled, my rage at him not even under the surface, "But I'll just make sure you don't bleed out and lose consciousness."

I jammed the intentionally botched exploding tag into his open wound and triggered it with a hand seal. Gaara began howling as the tag sputtered and ignited, cauterizing the potentially lethal wound.

Gaara tried to grab at the wound, but I punched him hard in the face to stop him. I kept punching him, venting my anger at him not listening to me. For not accepting my mercy. After his face was covered in blood from his busted lip and broken nose, I got off him and ripped his shirt off forcefully, revealing his pale and thin chest.

I could hear what sounded like Temari screaming for me to stop, but I ignored it.

I pressed my hand against his chest and pulsed some chakra into it, revealing his seal.

My God, your village is atrocious at seal work.

Comparing his seal to mine was like comparing the Mona Lisa to a drunk vomiting on a canvas and calling it abstract art. It's a steaming pile of excrement.

Without an ounce of pity, I made the proper hand seals to start the technique, my fingertips glowing purple.

Once my fingers started glowing, I heard several people start shouting and I felt multiple chakra signatures sharpen like they thought I was going to rip Shukaku out of him or something.

But there were two signatures that practically exploded in reaction, one of them being Yugito.

I jammed my fingers onto his seal without breaking eye contact. Gaara whimpered and he looked ready to cry as the markings appeared over his seal.

"Kaasan," He barely choked out, looking around like he couldn't see anything, "I can't hear you, Kaasan. Give her back." His eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.

I stood up and looked at the proctor, pointing towards Gaara's unconscious body.

"He concedes." I said flatly, holding onto Kurama's chakra for just a few more seconds.

"Sabaku no Gaara is unable to continue. The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!"

The moment I was announced as the winner, I turned towards the Kage box and made a single hand seal, my eyes fixed on the person right next to Hiruzen.

Raiton: Gian.

I blasted a Bijuu chakra enhanced bolt of lightning straight at Orochimaru without any warning at all, the usually blue bolt of energy a dark purple from Kurama's assistance.

Orochimaru evidently didn't expect it, given that he didn't move.

Whoever the hell his bodyguard was reacted to the high speed jutsu, leaped forward and lifted his left hand up, palm aimed at the Jutsu.

To my shock, the man's hand absorbed the Jutsu in a way almost identical to my seals. The next action taken had me almost paralyzed in shock.

A golden chakra blade, identical to mine, came out of his right hand and he cut off his left arm at the elbow, kicking it away before it hit the ground.

The limb then exploded into a crackling purple blast.

I suddenly felt a Genjutsu start to hit me and I looked up, several glowing feathers raining down on the stadium.

---

I flexed my chakra forcefully and shattered the feeling of drowsiness hitting me, turning towards my friends.

Sasuke was looking around, his entire body tensed in worry at a Genjutsu trying and failing to ensnare him. Rin had almost fallen forward, but I felt her chakra flare like mine and she had her knife out. Hinata was attempting to wake up either Shikamaru or Ino, because I couldn't see them.

I sensed several suppressed chakra signatures flare throughout the stadium, obviously being Suna and Oto nin.

In that instant, everything exploded into chaos. Several Jonin level chakra signatures appeared from all across the stadium, many of them wearing Konoha flak jackets. Others also appeared, the men and women being Suna and Oto nin. My face tightened as I felt multiple weak signatures vanish and I realized they were killing civilians.

I made several dozen Kage bunshin and ordered them to begin attacking the traitors to protect the civilians.

Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma were all prepped for a fight and jumped into action, attacking the different opponents that were making a beeline towards their students.

They're all clan heirs. I realized. Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, and Sasuke were clan heirs while Rin was a Jinchuriki.

I made a Kage bunshin to guard Gaara and I shot towards my friends, my sword back in my hand.

I got to the edge of the arena, leaped up to the balcony and slashed at an Oto nin charging at Rin, his face covered up.

The man avoided the first strike, but I kept up my assault and landed several glancing hits on him. The last attack had me pulsing lightning into my blade, shocking him as he blocked the hit with a kunai.

He screamed and fell to his knees, his pain ending as I swung my sword across his neck, decapitating him instantly.

The others seemed to be pulled from their shock as the man's head rolled and they started fighting back.

"Rin!" I shouted, "Kage bunshin, now!"

We both made several Kage bunshin and they immediately created a barrier of blades and jutsu to hold off any Shinobi that slipped through the ring of death left by our Jonin Senseis. I could kill Jonin, and Rin and Sasuke might be able to in tandem, but the others couldn't. Not yet.

I kept my blade in constant motion, relying on blade work instead of jutsu because of the passed out civilians right in the line of fire. A Suna kunoichi had her body bisected diagonally as I stretched my blade's length with my Bloodline, her eyes frozen in shock. I simply pressed on and tightened my resolve, refusing to let anyone hurt Rin and my friends.

I heard the sound of fighting coming from where the others were, their chakra flaring and unfamiliar signatures near them retreating or sometimes vanishing as they died. But eventually, we were going to be overwhelmed if we didn't start indiscriminately using heavy Ninjutsu.

"Back up!" I shouted to the others, blurring through hand seals. They backed away and I shut my eyes and focused building up chakra in my gut, condensing it into water.

Suiton: Suijinheki. (Water Wall).

I shot a jet of water out of my mouth and I turned left to right, creating a see-through wall of water that stopped anymore from coming through.

"We have to get out of here," I turned to them, noting the fear they had was similar to mine, "This arena is a death trap." Like clockwork, I heard a loud chirping noise and I turned to see Kakashi ramming a Chidori through someone's heart several meters away. Kakashi kicked the corpse off his arm and fixed me with a look from his Sharingan.

"I know you'll refuse to go to the evacuation center, so your orders are simple." He said in a tone as cold as ice. This wasn't the Kakashi that was a teacher and friend. This was the veteran of war and a child soldier that emerged as a dangerous killer. "Don't die and kill anything that tries."

I nodded and I flinched when some feedback from my clones came back.

Gai shouted Kakashi's name and we turned to see what the man, who had several unconscious Shinobi surrounding him, was pointing at.

The Kage box was closed off completely by a purplish barrier, the sight making my heart sink.

Don't die on me, old man. Ero-sennin. I don't want you to go.

"That's not good." Kakashi breathed, his eyes tracing the battlefield.

We both zoned in on another sight, right where Gaara was at.

Baki was fighting Hayate and winning, the chronically ill man breathing heavily as he tried to hold back the Suna jonin.

I didn't plan on anyone reversing what I did, so I jumped off the balcony and shot a ball of water at Baki before my feet even hit the ground.

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted, rushing towards me.

Baki managed to kick Hayate away and fired a wind jutsu at mine, stopping my attack from hitting him. An explosion of water and wind obscured us seeing each other for a second, but I was a sensor.

I Shunshined through the mist and slashed at where he was, aiming for his chest. Baki stepped back and used a wind blade to divert my strike, drawing a kunai to protect himself from my follow-up stabs and slashes.

Baki was good. Extremely good. Similar to Zabuza. But I had Kakashi on my side.

A crackling and snarling wolf made of lightning came racing towards the two of us and I disengaged, darting away with the assist of chakra.

Baki sunk into the ground and shot out several meters away to avoid Kakashi's jutsu, charging at a vicious looking Copycat nin.

Trusting that Kakashi could take him on without issue, I zeroed in on Temari and Kankuro, the two trying to get to their brother.

My bunshin had been killed during the opening attack, but I was here now. I dashed towards Gaara's unconscious body and held my sword over his head, glaring at the two.

"One more step and I'll kill him!" I shouted, focusing my sensing on Rin's signature to make sure they were all ok.

My teeth were gritted from several 'lights' vanishing in my vision where Rin was at, the feeling extremely disturbing and doing nothing to ease my fear for everyone I cared about.

Temari stopped in her tracks and eyed me with fear, glancing down at her brother.

I saw a flash of flames in my peripheral and saw Baki getting launched across the arena and landed at their feet, his clothes smoking.

Kakashi Shunshined right next to me a second later, looking indifferent to the recent fight with the Jonin.

"Care to tell me why you tried to kill the Kazekage?" He asked me, his eyes still on Baki.

"Orochimaru in disguise," I shrugged, keeping my sword next to Gaara's throat, "I have no idea who has my Bloodline ability and is guarding him. Any ideas?"

Kakashi cursed under his breath, still looking at Baki.

"I have an idea, but not here."

That had me extremely curious, but my mind focused on something extremely hot feeling barrelling towards us.

"Scatter!" I shouted, disappearing in a flash, leaving an after image from my Shunshin.

Probably the largest fireball I've ever seen tore through the ground from somewhere in the stadium directly towards where we were at and was on a course to hit Gaara.

Thank God for my lightning enhancement, because I made hand seals as fast as I could and fired a water Jutsu at it.

Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.

The blast of water had a decent amount of chakra put into it, but it still didn't stop all the flames. It took Kakashi mimicking what I did and blasted his own jutsu at it to extinguish it.

I felt a blur of chakra storm towards me, it was still a blur with my thoughts going much faster from lightning chakra.

A Genjutsu hit me before the figure came out of the mist, my sight and my hearing in my left ear going dark. We relied on our ears for balance, and messing with it could mess with your equilibrium.

I barely managed to blindly swing at the figure to stop him from killing me, but I felt a foot smash into my chest and I got sent flying ass over teakettle away from Kakashi. The pain had broken the Genjutsu and I caught a flash of a masked figure with long black hair in a ponytail rushing towards Kakashi, who was next to Gaara.

The mysterious Suna or Oto nin clashed with Kakashi, the two a blur of kicks and punches.

Kakashi, if judging him as comparable to Zabuza in Canon, was an entirely different beast from what he would have been if Rin and I weren't here. I was able to match Zabuza in prowess and defeated him, but this was ridiculous.

Kakashi flipped over his opponent and swung his legs at the man's head, vaulting off the man's forearm as it came up to block. A kunai glinted in Kakashi's hand as he slashed at the man's head, his arm being grabbed and shoved to the side.

I blinked and turned to face Baki, who was running towards Gaara. Growling, I charged at the Jonin to stop him from taking Gaara, using some more Ninjutsu.

Raiton: Raikyu.

Several balls of lightning manifested in front of me and shot at Baki, forcing him to engage me.

The Futon user spat balls of air at each of my balls of lightning, the electricity petering out when hit by its natural weakness.

The distance closed between us and I smashed my blade into the kunai he had to block my attack. The impact caused Baki to grit his teeth from the force I was exerting, his one visible eye narrowed.

I pulled back and stabbed at him, his arm twisting with my movement and he spun away slightly, avoiding contact with my sword. I kept up my attack, trying to break through his defense. But he wasn't a Jonin for nothing. I backed away after he twisted away from another slash and I Shunshined away, turning around and slashing at his back.

Baki twisted away, but didn't avoid my attack completely. His flak jacket was torn from my slash, a massive gash in the side of it.

"Damnit." He growled, patting his side like he was checking to make sure he wasn't hurt. "I have to thank that Oto nin for holding up Hatake. I don't have a chance at killing him."

I couldn't think of a single person in Orochimaru's service that could match Kakashi and was skilled in Genjutsu.

Glancing to the right, my heart started thundering in fear.

Kakashi was on the defensive against the assailant and had taken a few hits judging by the torn state of his flak jacket.

The son of the White Fang charged lightning throughout his body in a way Sasuke did in Canon as a counter to the speed of his opponent as they clashed together.

Chidori Nagashi.

The assailant couldn't avoid the stream of lightning and his body stiffened involuntarily, giving Kakashi a chance to attack.

A kunai slash across the man's face screeched against either metal or hardened porcelain and Kakashi's foot struck his face as the silver haired man spun 360 degrees to deliver another kick to the man's chest, knocking him backwards several feet.

In an impressive display of recovery, the masked man stopped Kakashi's continued offensive and the two traded blows with their taijutsu skills. Several of the attacks seemed like they were predicted on both men's parts, neither getting into a seamless rhythm without either one stopping it with a deft jab or kick.

The deadlock ended when Kakashi's lightning coated kunai stab was checked and his thigh was struck by a kick, his leg giving out. A punch smashed into his face and a point blank blast of wind chakra from a half seal had him flying into the wall.

"Kakashi!" I shouted, torn between stopping Gaara from being taken and helping Kakashi.

The decision was taken out of my hands when the mysterious individual blurred towards me again. I slashed at him, but he jumped and flipped over me, driving a kick towards my head.

I barely pivoted and blocked the hit, but it made my arm go numb from how hard his foot struck my forearm. I watched as the figure rushed towards Gaara, a kunai in his hand.

Oh crap. I realized what he was trying to do. He was trying to kill Suna's Jinchuriki.

No idea who this guy was, but I wasn't planning on him killing Gaara.

I Shunshined at him, channeling lightning chakra into my blade. The kunai gripped in his right arm starting whistling like Rin's tanto as he spun without looking at me and blocked my attack, diverted my momentum to make me stagger and kept on running.

Who the hell is this guy? I thought frantically, unsure that even Kakashi could have pulled that off as cleanly.

I kept on playing hit and run with the Shunshin to slow him down enough for Kakashi to get back into the fight, but Baki screwed me over when he fired a wind jutsu that forced me to avoid it.

Mask man flicked his hands too fast for me to track and another fireball shot towards me, actually managing to impact the wind jutsu as if he knew where it was going to be.

I made a hand seal, pooling a nearly painful amount of water chakra in my gut and unleashed it.

Suiton: Teppodama.

One hand seal was needed for this jutsu and it was a simple jack of all trades Suiton jutsu that could be used both offensively and defensively in a pinch. Sadly, it wasn't a dedicated one, so it wasn't the best jutsu, only a quick cast kind.

The two jutsu, one being beefed up by devouring the wind chakra, clashed in a collosal explosion, a massive cloud of mist enveloping the area.

Since it was my water, my sensory ability was connected to it and I felt something flying through the mist, causing me to duck. Several kunai came flying at me and they flew over me as I jumped up.

I felt Baki behind me and I turned, but my vision went white and my ears rang as an earthshaking explosion occurred that sent me back to the ground.

Exploding tags. I managed to think, my eyes unfocused from the concussive wave. The kunai evidently had tags on them. Unfortunately, I had dropped my sword and couldn't immediately see it.

I vaguely sensed Kakashi racing towards Gaara, likely where mystery jerk was. I managed to roll on my back and saw that Baki was closer to the explosion and was unconscious, blood flowing freely from his nose and ears. I pushed myself up and staggered towards Kakashi, ignoring Baki's unconscious form.

I glanced towards my right and saw Hayate was nursing a broken arm and was coughing wetly, but he looked at me and gestured towards somewhere behind me.

The clashing of steel and combat was still constant, but the number of civilians that were here was less. There was obviously preparation for civilians to be evacuated and for an attack on the stadium. I just hoped the village itself outside was as prepared from the letter I sent.

Kakashi and the mystery guy, I'll call him Teme, had their kunai locked and their hands wrapped together in a grapple.

Refusing to let Kakashi possibly die, I turned away from Hayate and pulsed lightning chakra through my body, knowing I could only keep up my muscle nerves going faster for a few seconds at a time, and shot towards the two faster than I could with a Shunshin.

Teme managed to catch a glimpse of me and side kicked towards me with his left leg, trying to catch me while he and Kakashi were in a deadlock. I pressed my hands onto his leg and flipped over him, reaching out with my arm to grab at his hood. I ended up doing something better and wrapped my fingers around his hair as I reached the apex of my jump, pulling as hard as I could.

Teme grunted in pain and arched backwards to stop his hair from being yanked as my feet touched the ground and he was almost bent over backwards by my weight pulling on his head.

Kakashi took advantage and slipped a cut towards his arm, opening up a decent sized wound.

A backheel kick to my stomach and a swift kunai slash had me falling backwards with the bottom half of Teme's hair in my grip, courtesy of him cutting it off himself.

I flipped my legs and arched my back to get back up instantly and started attacking him, Kakashi right alongside me.

Between everyone, Rin and I worked in tandem the best, with Sasuke working together very well with either of us. Hinata was excellent when Rin or I focused on medium range, but Hinata had less tactical flexibility in her abilities than Sasuke. But at least she'd improved immensely.

Kakashi was something else though. Our fighting styles were similar, meaning I could improvise only slightly and we'd be able to avoid getting in each other's way.

My fist sailed towards the porcelain mask and I overextended intentionally, letting him push my arm aside. I ducked down and swung my leg at him as I twisted my body, grinning as his other arm caught the kick.

His first arm wasn't in a position to stop the kick aimed at his face from Kakashi. Teme's head jerked back from the hit and I formed a Rasengan in my hand, thrusting my hand at his chest. He managed to shift out of the way in time, the sleeve of the arm he shoved at my wrist with getting shredded, along with the inside of his forearm getting cut instead of his chest getting torn to shreds.

Kakashi and I stood right next to each, the older of us breathing a little heavily.

"You okay, Kakashi?" I kept my eyes on our opponent, noticing how he didn't look tired at all.

"I'm glad I started training seriously." He muttered, his left eye focused on our enemy.

I was mindful of any signatures near us or near any I was familiar with. Gai and Asuma were still tearing their way through enemy Shinobi, even though they were outnumbered, and the Genin were clustered together like they were supposed to when up against deadlier opponents. I could sense the worry Rin had, but she wasn't distressed, hopefully meaning none of them were hurt.

I refocused on the man in front of us and I signaled Kakashi to choose plan 4.

Kakashi clicked his tongue as an affirmative and I Shunshined forward, a Rasengan in hand. I was easily tracked and the man looked to intercept me, but a blast of wind from Kakashi sent me on a different trajectory.

A swift adjustment from him wasn't enough when I slashed at him with a chakra blade in my left hand as he was focusing on my Rasengan.

He jumped and twisted midair to avoid being hit by me, but a concentrated ball of water from Kakashi struck him dead on, sending him flying several meters away from us.

I Shunshined again and I stabbed at his downed body, his body exploding into crows.

Crows.

CROWS?! I practically screamed, the entire world spinning in horror at the realization of who I had been fighting. Only one person used crows. Only one person with long black hair, skill with Genjutsu, and was strong enough to take on both Kakashi and me at the same time and still have the upper hand.

Itachi.

Why was Itachi here?! I was fighting Itachi!

The world seemed to truly spin as Itachi rushed towards me as he rematerialized, his attacks focused on me. I couldn't keep up with him with the constant whirlwind of death that was his attacks and I felt his foot strike my face after blocking several of the hits I couldn't dodge, sending me to the ground.

Kakashi reached us as I hit the ground and he slashed at Itachi, missing as Itachi stepped aside.

"It's Itachi!" I shouted at Kakashi, jumping up and making a hand seal to shoot a water senbon at Itachi. Itachi slashed at it with a kunai and backed away from Kakashi slowly.

Kakashi's eyes widened and he backed away as well, his breathing shallow.

"How do you know?" He asked shakily, his grip on his kunai tightening.

"His chakra." I lied, avoiding his eyes like the plague, "It felt familiar. I was trying to remember it."

"It seems you are as perceptive as you were before, Uzumaki Naruto." Itachi said with little emotion. "I wonder how my little brother feels being in your shadow."

I felt my chakra respond to my fury at the sight of the Uchiha in front of me. He was here for a reason.

"Do not look into his eyes," Kakashi said sharply, "Only a Sharingan can resist Genjutsu like his."

Kakashi sounded genuinely frightened. His body language showed he was trying to shield me from Itachi, even if he knew he didn't have a chance at killing him.

"Don't look in his eyes either, Kakashi." I said as well, not wanting Kakashi to be hit by the Tsukuyomi, "He might have something up his sleeve."

"You cannot hope to fathom the depths of my power." Itachi said, "Not even a Jinchuriki is capable of defeating me."

"I already know what your abilities are, Itachi!" Kakashi growled, his chakra flaring with his emotion. "You won't get what you're seeking from my student!"

Itachi tilted his head at Kakashi, his expression unreadable through his mask.

"You don't have the strength to stop me." Itachi's hands blurred so fast that I couldn't even hope to see.

Kaiton: Goryuka no Jutsu.

A massive fire dragon came roaring at us, causing the two of us to Shunshin in different directions.

The Jutsu was so large that I lost sight of Itachi and I couldn't get a read on his signature.

I stopped and focused, finally seeing Itachi racing towards me, his speed terrifying now that he wasn't holding back.

Our forearms clashed and I swung my leg at his face, but his whole body seemed to flow around it. I kept throwing punches and kicks, trying to stay as agile as I could. A double scissor kick to his chest was predicted and he grabbed my trailing leg, flinging me aside.

I landed on my back and saw his foot come crashing towards my face. I rolled to the side and lashed out with a kick, which he jumped over.

A chakra blade sprouted from my hand and I slashed at him as I jumped up to give me space, but he rushed in as I stood up.

He sent three rapid punches at my face, followed by a spinning kick to my face.

I only managed to stop the first punch because of how fast he was moving. I couldn't seem to see him. The first hit made my ears ring, the second caused my teeth to cut the inside of my mouth, and the kick rattled my head so badly that I swore I felt teeth fall out.

I blindly lashed out to grab at him, but he grabbed me instead, pulling me close and driving his knee into my groin.

I gasped and fell to my knees, my vision swimming as I started retching from the pain and nausea.

"There is no honour in the Shinobi world," Itachi said coldly, grabbing me by the hair and pulling me up. I screamed in pain as my entire body weight was being felt by my scalp.

"Kakashi." I managed to say through the pain and nausea, but Itachi chuckled darkly.

"He's indisposed." I was dragged to face where Kakashi's unconscious form lay in a cratered portion of the wall almost 100 meters away, his head rolled back to show he was completely out.

I'm going to kill you! I screamed internally. You're not Sasuke's to kill now!

I was praying that Sasuke, Rin, and the others didn't see what was happening. Hopefully they were occupied fighting.

"Do you hate me?" Itachi dragged me to face him, looking down at me.

I refused to look him in the eye, but I looked up and spat at his face.

Itachi jammed a thumb in my eye in retaliation, just enough to hurt slightly, causing me to freeze in terror.

"I was going to capture the Ichibi's Jinchuriki, but you and Kakashi distracted me."

Pressing out my sensing, I couldn't help but freak out at the lack of Gaara, his siblings, and Baki.

They'd taken him while we were fighting!

That was when I realized that Itachi planned this. He planned on betraying the Akatsuki and would blame Gaara's death on me or a faceless Oto nin. But Kakashi and I complicated matters. If we had stayed put, Itachi would have incinerated both Baki and Gaara with his fire jutsu.

You're a genius and a loyal Shinobi for protecting Konoha, but you hurt Sasuke and you were going to break him enough to try and kill Rin or me. I'm going to make you hurt in a way that will break older brothers like us.

As I was about to say I knew that he killed his clan to protect Sasuke, the most ungodly level of Killing Intent I ever felt came from the Kage box. Both Itachi and I, as well as most of the people fighting, stared at the purple barrier as it exploded, catapulting someone down towards us.

I vaguely felt Hiruzen's chakra still up above alongside several others, but everyone gazed at the crater that held somebody.

I heard Itachi breath quicken for a moment as I saw a man with red hair climb out of the crater, a sizzling stump where his right arm was supposed to be.

He turned out to be an Edo Tensei because I saw the limb regenerate.

Who the hell is this guy? I thought, but that stopped mattering much when he turned his very familiar violet eyes towards Itachi and me.

To this day, I'm not sure I can put into words how Itachi sounded when he said two words that encompassed the human definition of fear as he let go of me and let me fall to the ground.

"Oh shit."

'Itachi' turned out to be a Kage bunshin as it popped and I saw what was the real Itachi running away from where Kakashi was and towards a hole in the wall made by an errant jutsu.

Uchiha Itachi, S-rank missing nin, and one of the most dangerous Uchiha in history, Shunshined out of the stadium like the devil was on his heels.

Gai and Asuma noticed the Edo and the two pursued him as the familiar looking man charged dead on at the wall and tore through it, seemingly following Itachi.

I pulled myself up as the fighting resumed once again, my head hurting from the hit from Itachi's clone.

Staggering towards Kakashi, I saw Rin and Sasuke pull him out of the wall as Shikamaru, Hinata, and Ino were in a circle around them.

Hinata spotted me first and said something to get the other's attention, but I leaned down to grab my sword before speeding up my pace.

"Naruto!" Rin called towards me, setting down Kakashi as gently as she and Sasuke could manage, "What happened?"

"Attacked by somebody stronger than Kakashi and I together." I said grimly, checking Kakashi's head.

There was a large knot on the back of his head and the crown of his head was stained red.

"Hold his neck steady," I instructed, hoping he didn't have any damage to his spine, "Hinata, do you see any fractures in his neck or blood in his skull?" I asked sharply, needing to get to Gaara as soon as possible.

If they tried to remove the seal I put on him, they could just as easily shatter Gaara's seal and unleash Shukaku. In that case, the only way to stop him would be for Itachi to try and control him with his Sharingan, or Jiraiya and the others brought the damned thing down and seal it in the only one that could handle it no problem.

Karin.

No! I won't let her be cursed with that burden!

I turned to Hinata expectantly as she looked at Kakashi with her Byakugan.

"There's swelling where his head struck the wall," She said, making a few hand seals for the Mystical Palms jutsu, "I can fix the swelling."

Kakashi was needed in the fight, even if he had a killer headache.

"Fix the swelling," I instructed, pressing my weight on Kakashi's right arm, "Rin, hold his left arm down. Sasuke, hold his head steady for Hinata." Kakashi was liable to start swinging after getting a beat down from Itachi.

Hinata pressed her glowing hands on Kakashi's head, her Byakugan activated and brow furrowed. Ino and Shikamaru were covering us, but most of the fighting was concentrated away from us because of Asuma and Gai tearing their way through a great deal of the ambush team at the stadium. Hopefully that meant they could reinforce the others all across the village.

"Almost done." Hinata muttered, her brow furrowed, pressing her fingers directly on Kakashi's scalp.

Seconds later, Kakashi's eyes flew open and he predictably reacted violently at being held down.

"Kakashi!" I shouted, grabbing his head to stop him from hurting Hinata or Sasuke accidentally.

The silver haired man calmed down at the sight of me and looked around, still visibly tense.

"Where is he?" He asked almost frantically, rising up after the three of us got off him.

"He took off after a red haired Edo Tensei got blasted from the Kage box." I answered, my head jerking towards multiple chakra signatures that had my head hurting from their potency.

Ay and B leaped down from the Kage box, the older of the two wreathed in lightning and cratered the ground from the impact. The two men looked beat up, Ay having several cuts on his arms and chest while B's glasses were missing and his Jonin jacket was stained red.

"Yugito!" Ay roared, looking at the blonde woman in the stands who had been completely still after the Edo Tensei appeared, "With me!" He then charged forward, B right behind his brother.

Yugito flared her chakra and rushed out of the stadium with them, the fighting now over.

Kakashi jumped up onto the balcony and shouted to the rest of the Konoha Shinobi in the stadium.

"Get the rest of the civilians to the shelters! Broken Kunai! I repeat, Broken Kunai!"

Broken Kunai was a code term that was reserved for when Konoha was under direct attack and all enemy Shinobi were to be executed without any restrictions on taking prisoners. All were to be terminated.

"I have to get to the Hokage," Kakashi jumped down and looked at me, preparing to rush towards the Kage box, "You, Rin, and Sasuke have to get to the shelters. You can't be taken."

Before I could tell him he could shove it, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, trying to reach the Hokage.

"What did he say?" Rin asked, the others looking at me expectantly.

I knew none of them were going to stay out of this fight, so I made the choice of making sure they were safe.

"We stick together and do what we can," I lied. I then looked at Rin. "We have to find Gaara. They might shatter his seal if they try to reverse what I did. It'll be the Kyuubi attack all over again."

All of them paled at that, especially Rin and Sasuke.

"Where do we find him?" Ino asked fearfully, her eyes wide and her face ashen.

"Just follow me." I replied, drawing my sword, "We're going to be making a dash for the village outskirts and circle around to try and find him. Kill anyone who tries to stop us. They will do the same."

I pulsed chakra into my legs and ran out of the exit that was made by the redhead with violet eyes, the others following me.

---

Rewind to Naruto firing the lightning at Orochimaru

.

Hiruzen watched as Naruto fired a Jutsu at the Kage box, his eyes widening at the action.

He shifted away from the vicinity in a blur of movement, but the Jutsu never landed. The Kazekage's body guard rushed forward and held up his hand, absorbing the Jutsu completely.

Hiruzen and Jiraiya's clone got ready for action, the old man having been forewarned last night of Ashina's resurrection.

What was revealed to be Ashina cut his own arm off with a chakra blade and kicked it away, the limb exploding in a crackling blast.

"What is the meaning of this, Sarutobi?!" Ay demanded, lightning crackling up his hands and arms. "Your Jinchuriki just tried to kill one of us!"

"I would be asking Kazekage-sama why he has resurrected an Uzumaki to fight for him," Hiruzen growled, his eyes focused on Rasa, "I know you and Orochimaru are planning to kill me."

Rasa leaned his head back and laughed, the laugh all too familiar.

"Ah, yes. Rasa was very open to betraying Konoha," 'Rasa' said in a voice that had haunted Hiruzen's dreams as his greatest failure. A failure greater than his inability to prevent his Sensei's death, "But I am quite selfish in killing you and Jiraiya."

Orochimaru vanished in a swirl of leaves, Ashina in tow, and reappeared on the roof of the building.

Hiruzen and Jiraiya's clone followed, the clone staying back and preparing to summon Jiraiya himself.

The Raikage and Killer B followed, maintaining some distance.

Right as they all got on the roof, Orochimaru made a hand seal and Ashina mimicked it, a flash of chakra coming from his hands.

A massive wall of purple chakra formed around them, the chakra shimmering lightly. Hiruzen recognized it as an extremely advanced barrier that could hold up to even S-rank Shinobi.

He seeks to trap me, it seems.

Judging by Ashina making the barrier, Hiruzen deduced that 4 Kage bunshin from the Uzukage were surrounding them to keep the barrier active.

Ay practically disappeared in a flash of crackling blue, driving a meaty fist into one of the walls, the only evidence of damage being a small crack at the point of impact.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on!" Ay shouted, sounding ready to start cracking heads.

"My apologies, Raikage-sama," Orochimaru bowed, tearing his disguise away to reveal a pale face with black hair and golden eyes that seemed to taunt Hiruzen, "But I wish to make a proposition that I'm sure you can't refuse."

"Orochimaru of the Sannin," Ay's lip curled in disgust, "An offer from you is like a bottle of shit marked as whiskey."

"You haven't heard my offer."

"Spit it out, snake," Ay growled, his body tensed and coiled like a spring ready to shoot forward, "I have little patience for traitors."

"Very well," Orochimaru smirked, his eyes flicking to Hiruzen, "Konoha is your village's greatest rival and its destruction will be in your best interest as Raikage."

"Better the devil you know than the one you don't." Ay spat, glancing at B as a signal for the perfect Jinchuriki to draw his blades, all six of them being flung in the air and being caught by the man.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Rin are the children of Namikaze and are descended from Uzumaki Ashina." Orochimaru said simply, "Both are Jinchuriki."

Hiruzen never expected Orochimaru to try and levy support from the Raikage through that route. This was a catastrophe, one that was rapidly getting worse.

To Hiruzen's horror, Ay's gaze turned to him.

"Are they now?"

"Orochimaru was part of the Akatsuki," Jiraiya's clone said sharply, the tag connected to Jiraiya clasped in his hand, "That was how Konoha originally learned of them."

Ay turned towards Orochimaru, still looking ready to fight.

"My brother is a Jinchuriki. I know what you bastards plan to do. I'll rip every one of you traitors apart before I let you take my brother from me!" Ay roared, his entire body wreathed in chakra.

"I can offer you the names of the Akatsuki members and their leader." Orochimaru smiled, his face tensed like he was uncertain that Ay would accept.

"You're too late," Ay spat, his entire body now covered in electricity, "Konoha already told me the names of the Akatsuki and that they're hunting Jinchuriki!"

Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock at the proclamation.

Orochimaru knows nothing of our mysterious benefactor. Hiruzen thought, relieved that Ay saw the ploy for what it was.

"Nothing you offer me, not even Namikaze having twin Jinchuriki or the destruction of Konoha will make me risk my brother's life!" Ay let out a near animal roar and raced forward, ready to tear Orochimaru's head off.

Ashina blurred forward and vanished, causing Ay to pause for a fraction of a second as he ran.

Ashina reappeared above Ay and smashed his palm into his shoulder, placing a mark on the man.

It was identical to Rin's tag used on Sasuke, freezing Ay in place.

B practically flew towards Ashina and the Uzumaki formed a chakra blade to engage the Jinchuriki, the Raikage pulsing his chakra to shatter the seal on him in a flare of light and chakra.

As Ashina faced off against the two juggernauts and held his own while guiding them away to the other side of the roof, Hiruzen was glaring at Orochimaru, his will as cold as ice.

The hesitation from years ago was gone. No longer was Orochimaru the mislead and broken child that was further broken by the deaths of so many people in the wars he served in. Hiruzen's unwelcome guest in the middle of the night told him what Orochimaru did to prolong his life. It was so unnatural that even nature itself rejected him and ensured he could never be a sage like Jiraiya.

Orochimaru killed innocents. He would desecrate the men that were practically fathers of his morality and gave him the skills to protect Konoha for more than half a century.

'The boy you trained is gone.' The Uzumaki had said. 'Consumed by his fear of death.'

I will do my duty as Hokage. And like drawing poison from a wound, I will free Konoha, the world, and myself of you! Hiruzen shouted internally.

Orochimaru blurred through hand seals and launched a massive fire dragon at Hiruzen, hiding him from sight.

Hiruzen made his own hand seals and pooled chakra in his stomach, expelling it in front of him.

Suiton: Suijinheki.

A wall of water formed and stopped Orochimaru's jutsu dead in its tracks, a loud hiss audible from the water vaporizing as the two clashed.

"Summon him!" Hiruzen roared at Jiraiya's clone, biting his thumb to summon Enma.

Hiruzen and the clone both slammed their hands into the ground, the clone popping from the use of chakra as it pulsed all of its reserves into the tag it slammed into the ground.

Enma appeared in a puff of smoke, his eyes fixed on Hiruzen. While Jiraiya appeared two seconds later.

"The time has come, Enma-sama." Hiruzen said, blurring through hand seals to drop the water wall and fired his own Fire dragon at Orochimaru, his traitorous student making hand seals and slamming it into the ground, forming a wall from the roof and shingles.

The dragon roared as it crashed into the wall with a rush of superheated air making a breeze, the impact scorching the wall black.

"Good." Enma said simply, transforming into a staff that Hiruzen grasped as he looked to his right.

Jiraiya, in all his glory, stood with two toads on his shoulders, his chakra denser and burning brighter than he had ever felt. If Hiruzen looked at Jiraiya's eyes, he would have noticed the usually dark colour was replaced by a golden yellow with a horizontal pupil.

Jiraiya had managed to improve his Senjutsu abilities to the point where his feet didn't become webbed, but his face still had a few more muted toadlike features.

"I was hoping Ashina was somewhere else." Jiraiya muttered, glancing at the three other individuals clashing in a flurry of fists, blades, and chakra. "Less collateral."

"Plant the tags on my Senseis and we can bring down Ashina."

Jiraiya nodded and he blurred through hand seals, whispering something to his toads.

"Kami, I hope this Hurin bastard is better at seals than he is open about who the hell he is." Jiraiya said, the toad named Pa shooting oil from his mouth.

Jiraiya blasted a massive stream of fire from his mouth, mixing with the oil and turning the flame into a near blinding level of heat. The one named Ma added a wind jutsu to it and Hiruzen felt himself already sweating from the ambient heat radiating from it.

The massive jutsu crashed into where Orochimaru was with a earthshaking boom, the odds of his barrier of roofing holding up an impossible thought.

Hiruzen ripped off his robes and readied himself, knowing Orochimaru wouldn't exchange ninjutsu with the both of them constantly.

He heard Jiraiya mutter 'Oh shit' when the fire faded away and showed a scorched wall of wood that was still barely intact after the Senjutsu enhanced jutsu from his student hit it.

"Kill Orochimaru," Hiruzen said, almost surprised by how cold his voice sounded, 'I will fight my mentors." It was the last two words that were painful to say.

The wood parted and Hiruzen saw the two men who struck fear in the hearts of thousands during the Warring States period, and tens of thousands during the First Shinobi War.

Tobirama and Hashirama looked at him, their eyes progressively growing wider.

"Hiru-" Hashirama began to say, his voice catching as he looked at someone he hadn't seen in decades.

"How long has it been?" Tobirama asked slowly, looking down at his hands.

"Almost 50 years, Sensei." Hiruzen said, a tear going down his face.

"Saru." Tobirama continued, looking confused by what that meant, "What is going on? Why were we summoned?"

"I was summoned moments before you, Tobirama." Hashirama said to his younger brother. "I was told Konoha was under attack."

Tobirama's head turned sharply towards where Ashina was fighting two elite Shinobi, his chakra flaring.

"Ashina-sensei?" Tobirama looked shocked at the man's young appearance, glancing at his own hands. "Why did you summon us, Saru?"

"I summoned you." Orochimaru hissed behind them, causing the two to turn towards him.

Tobirama charged at Orochimaru, but a hand seal made by the Snake Sannin had Tobirama freezing.

"What in Kami's name are you?" Tobirama asked icily, his chakra thrashing in an attempt to break free. "Your chakra doesn't match your body."

"Kukuku. Ashina said the same thing." Orochimaru smiled, pulling the sword of Kusanagi from his throat.

"A pity you're not a woman." Tobirama said coldly, eliciting a scowl from Orochimaru.

"Ashina said the same thing not long before his entire village was destroyed, along with every Uzumaki except the twins of his great granddaughter."

The Senju brothers staggered like they'd been struck, the both of them now trying to break free.

"What?" Tobirama asked, the normally stoic man sounding lost at the thought of a clan he had lived with during his apprenticeship being almost completely exterminated.

"And," Orochimaru added cruelly, "Tsunade is the only Senju alive, and there are only three Uchiha still alive."

Tobirama and Hashirama reacted even worse at those two bombshells.

"I will destroy you as I destroyed Madara to protect Konoha." Hashirama said coldly, continuing to flex his chakra.

Hiruzen and Jiraiya stayed back for now, hoping that one of the two could break free and give an opening since Orochimaru was looking directly at them instead of the dead Kages.

"I have a better idea." Orochimaru said, pulling out two kunai with seal tags on them.

"Jiraiya." Hiruzen warned, but his former student was already in motion.

Several things happened in the next few seconds.

The first kunai entered the back of Hashirama's head and his expression flattened, the Shodai now rushing towards Jiraiya. Tobirama was next and charged at Hiruzen.

Hiruzen used his staff's ability to extend and stabbed at Hashirama as he rushed towards Jiraiya to distract him, giving Jiraiya an opening to engage Orochimaru in a brutal clash of chakra enhanced flesh and steel.

With the Nidaime and Shodai on an intercept course with him, Hiruzen clenched his teeth and prepared for the hardest fight of his life.

Tobirama lead first, sending several punches and kicks at him that Hiruzen deflected away with his staff, extending it to knock Tobirama back. Hashirama was immediately on him and was also stressing his defense with taijutsu, a flying kick aimed at his face after a blur of punches.

Hiruzen ducked under the kick and retaliated with a side kick to the Shodai's ribs, knocking him on his back.

A flying spin kick and an attempt to mark him from Tobirama was stopped by Hiruzen as he pulsed wind chakra through his staff and twirled the weapon, severing Tobirama's legs and his left arm as the rest of him fell behind him.

Don't. Don't. Hiruzen fought the urge to reach out to his Sensei to help him, the thought of what he did a horrifying one.

The temporary incapacitation let him focus on Hashirama, who leaped backwards into the air with assistance from chakra and made a hand seal, the ground shaking around them.

With agility and speed that defied his age, Hiruzen dashed away from the multitude of trees that sprouted from the roof, courtesy of Hashirama's Jutsu, and the trees shifted to try and grab him like a swirling mass of limbs.

Stretching the reach of a transformed Enma further, Hiruzen twirled him as he charged towards Hashirama, tearing through the wood that attempted to latch onto him with wind chakra being pulsed through the staff.

Blasting a ball of fire at a particularly large tree in front of him and exploding it with a powerful swing, Hiruzen straightened the staff vertically and extended it again, climbing to the top rapidly while maintaining his balance on it.

Leaping forward as he reached the top, Hiruzen twisted and grabbed the staff, swinging it down with all his might to hit a previously out of range Hashirama.

It said quite a bit about Orochimaru's skill with the Edo Tensei, or the complete and total hampering that occurred when suppressing a Resurrection's personality, that Hashirama wasn't fast enough to avoid getting his arm torn off at the shoulder.

The Edo looked unfazed, the limb slowly regenerating as the Shodai Hokage ran towards where Hiruzen landed.

As he landed on his feet, Hiruzen launched another offensive on a temporarily one armed Hashirama, swinging and twirling his staff in a constant stream of attacks.

The Edo Tensei of Hashirama was dismembered after several exchanges and was kicked away, struggling to get up.

Hiruzen turned instinctively towards his blind spot and saw a water dragon forming from Tobirama, who was a distance away, and he substituted with a chunk of roofing right as the dragon reached its apex.

Hiruzen didn't waste a moment and flung several lightning coated shuriken at Hashirama to make him pause to avoid them and threw Enma in the air, freeing both his hands for a jutsu.

Doton: Duryudan.

He spat out mud and it expanded, forming into a dragon as it began shooting high velocity mud balls at its target.

Kaiton: Karyudan.

The added fire jutsu ignited the balls of mud and Tobirama barely fired a water jutsu to stop the first few, but was struck and ripped apart by the impact of the next ones.

Hiruzen turned away and caught Enma as he fell back towards him, the whole exchange lasting less than five seconds.

Hashirama had been running towards him at that time after his leg reformed and Hiruzen put his entire focus on him, swinging Enma up to protect himself with a grace and lethality borne from decades of use.

Trying to conserve his energy, Hiruzen let Hashirama set the pace, an occasional jab with the end of his staff occurring. He needed an opening to plant the tag on the back of his neck to cancel the control, but the constant presence of Tobirama prevented him from doing it on both.

Hiruzen had originally thought he could do it, but his body was proving to be a very uncooperative weapon for his will.

Tobirama will arrive in 3. 2... Tobirama-sensei?

Hiruzen ducked under a kick from Hashirama and diverted it further away with a twist of his staff, glancing at Tobirama.

The distinct blue armour of the Nidaime was racing towards where Ashina was holding his own against the Raikage and his brother.

Despite the heightened risk for his potential allies, Hiruzen smirked as he blocked another of Hashirama's attacks.

Both of them, perhaps not. But one? I can do this. I will do this.

Hiruzen steeled himself and gritted his teeth, raging against the dying of the light that was his aged body.

---

Ashina's internal thoughts were a constant stream of profanity aimed at Orochimaru from the moment he caught the lightning jutsu from his grandson and cut his own arm off.

Every moment was seen by him with perfect clarity, but his body was not under his control. He was a slave to Orochimaru. That meant he saw every match in the final, including his grandchildren. The inability to protect them. The boy that looked painfully similar to his eldest son, who resembled him the most out of his children, and the blonde girl that would have looked exactly like Kushina if not for her hair and whisker marks.

Ashina was thinking these things as the Yondaime Raikage and the Hachibi Jinchuriki prepared to fight him, the two looking and feeling dangerous.

Won't be the first Kage or Jinchuriki I've killed. He thought.And they won't be the last. He finished darkly, his body shooting forward to engage them.

He didn't lie about his chakra causing the seal to not work properly. His personality wasn't suppressed and he could slightly tweak his movements to his needs, including his fighting style and thinking making him more lethal.

He'd vanished and jumped over the rapidly approaching muscle head, driving his palm into his shoulder to plant a seal.

The man predicably froze and the Uzumaki swung a chakra blade up to stop the first of many slashes coming at him from the Jinchuriki.

Ashina backed away and weathered the storm of blows, avoiding every single one by batting them aside or shifting to the side minutely.

The sword style he pioneered was inspired by something no one alive would know. Minimal movement, sweeping blade movement, and a focus on putting yourself in the eye of the hurricane.

The attacks of the Kumo Jinchuriki were precisely the kind his fighting style was built for, along with Uchiha kenjutsu users.

Ashina abruptly stopped his movements to let himself get impaled by 3 blades, driving his own into the Jinchuriki's chest.

The Raikage had then broken out of the seal trap and tried to stop him, but the stab still connected and opened up a gash in his target's chest, blood beginning to flow.

Ashina lost focus again and his body went on auto pilot, resuming the standard katas and patterns that could be exploited and picked apart.

Patience. He thought into himself, waiting for the right moment.

The moment came when his sensing caught the Raikage charging from behind him after he flashed away, his lightning coated hand outstretched like a spear.

Ashina forced his body to respond to his commands and formed a blade in a backhand position, driving it backwards as he felt the arm pierce through where his heart would have been elbow deep.

Ashina smirked as he used his other arm to stab the man in the wrist of the arm that impaled him, ignoring the horizontal slash from the Jinchuriki that took his head off and everything faded to black for a few seconds.

The Raikage cursed as he pulled his bleeding arm out, touching his side which had a wound in it similar to his wrist.

"How the hell did he pierce through my armour?" He said, surprised by such a possibility.

"Magic." Ashina laughed, his head reformed.

The Bloodline ability of his, when properly trained over the course of his own self study that took years, acted as a counter to most types of elemental release. It could tear through Earth almost as well as lightning and through lightning like a wind blade.

Ashina managed to take control again and made several Kage bunshin, each of them shimmering into nothingness and running away.

With his bunshin mentally free to work out how to break him out, Ashina lost control again, his body flipping up to his feet again and started fighting the two again.

Another flurry of slashes had him diverting, blocking, or getting cut by them, the Raikage acting as an extremely quick juggernaut that would try and land devastating hits on him.

Most would consider fighting a Kage and a perfect Jinchuriki at the same time impressive, but Ashina constantly raged against the ineptitude of his body when control was stripped from him and only instinct remained.

He'd killed the most dangerous Uchiha before Madara was born. And Ashina became the most powerful Shinobi alive after he had finished the task he took when he left Uzu.

Ashina finally was overwhelmed by the Raikage's speed combined with the Jinchuriki's storm of swords and had his arm taken off, with a chakra assisted kick caving in his chest and had him flying back from the impact.

Before he could get up, the two men rushed from opposite directions almost too fast for his eyes to track, but he could still sense them coming.

"Double Lariat!" The Raikage roared, his arm out to clothesline him.

Ashina felt his head get ripped off and he saw his own headless corpse fall to the ground as the two men finished their combination attack.

The Raikage has a brother he'd wage war for. Killer B is fortunate to have that. Both are fortunate.

"Taste my Iron claw!" Ay spat on his corpse, moving through hand seals to incinerate the headless body.

"Let's go, bro!" B shouted, raising his hand up and the two clashed arms in a high five, turning towards Orochimaru and the two resurrected Hokage.

"The Nidaime has the Hiraishin to use." Ay said to his brother, "Remember how we fought Namikaze."

Neither of them realized his head had regenerated the body.

"Heads up!" Ashina managed to shout through the control, blurring through hand seals.

Suiton: Water oil bullet.

Ashina manipulated the water chakra he pooled in his gut into a flammable liquid and blasted black oil all over the area, coating the roof around them with a foul and sticky liquid.

Hurry up, clones! Ashina shouted in his mind, glaring at the edge of the roof. Nature chakra that they were gathering while invisible would overwhelm the leash on his mind for a short while, enough to try and speak to the Raikage.

The two men turned and split, avoiding the oil. Ashina sparked fire chakra in his hand and dropped a small ball of fire, igniting it. A loud woosh and a gust of wind from the explosion knocked him down and staggered the Jinchuriki, while the Raikage avoided it in a flash of blue as he ran out of range.

Ashina rushed towards Killer B and crafted another chakra blade, slashing at his chest again.

A roar of fury from the Raikage echoed across the area as he flashed in front of his slash, catching the hit on his arm bracer.

Ashina sensed the combat occurring between Hiruzen and Hashirama, as well as Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

I must break out. He thought. He then grinned as he felt Tobirama rushing to aid him.

Tobirama fired a water jutsu at the Raikage's back and the fight started again with greater intensity.

The Raikage split away and engaged Tobirama, flashing towards the Senju known for his speed and intelligence.

Ashina kept sensing where the two were behind him as he began a vicious offensive against Killer B, his blade darting out at the taller man's heart.

The Jinchuriki flipped over him and his multiple blades acted like the tentacles of an octopus lashing out to protect their wielder.

Ashina's sensory abilities felt Tobirama get kicked away, the Raikage pursuing him further. The distinct feeling of Tobirama's chakra vanishing and reappearing meant he had managed to place a Hiraishin marker somewhere and avoided a hit from the Kumo leader.

The Jinchuriki of said village lashed out at him once more in a storm of blades that Ashina struggled to stop, but he managed.

A blade lock ensued and Ashina was pushed on his back foot, straining to hold his opponent back.

"You caused a fuss with the Hachibi," B laughed, pressing harder, "But you ain't nothin compared to Killer B!"

That was the moment one of his clones gathering Nature chakra popped, returning back to him.

Ashina felt the leash weaken and he grinned viciously, his eyes glowing a bright yellow from the Nature chakra gathered.

"Then best of luck, my strapping young buck." He then let his blade vanish, ducking under the blades coming towards him.

His movements were his own now and the nature chakra flowing through him sped up his reflexes to a level similar to his base state when he was alive as an older man. He launched his own attack on the Jinchuriki and he was outpacing him, forcing his opponent to retreat as a slash was aimed at his head, then one towards his leg, followed by his other hand sprouting a blade to attack even faster.

One of B's swords broke as his golden blade tore through it with the assist of Senjutsu and his hand pressed into the man's chest, a seal being placed on him.

Killer B was trapped for second, giving Ashina enough time to stab at his heart.

"I'm sorry." He said, knowing the lively Jinchuriki would die from this attack.

Before his sword could land the killing blow, a bolt of lightning struck his arm and diverted the strike into B's shoulder, sinking deep into flesh.

B growled in pain and grabbed Ashina's shoulder, pulling him into a headbutt and kicking him away.

Ashina went airborne and spun around to face them, making a single hand seal.

Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu.

He pulled water vapor from the air to form the dragon and sent it straight at B and the Raikage, who had Tobirama in a head lock and the severed arm of his student in his hand.

B tanked the hit, multiple tentacles coming out to act as a shield. The Raikage chucked the one armed Tobirama in front of it and rushed away, avoiding the Jutsu.

The dragon struck the roof with a roar and boom, spraying water all across the roof as it exploded.

Landing on his feet without issue, Ashina glanced at the two men, gauging how tired or wounded they may be.

The Raikage had several cuts on his arms, courtesy of the red haired man's blade work, and Tobirama seemed to have planted a gravity seal or two on him, judging by his left arm sagging slightly.

B, on the other hand, had a deep stab wound in his shoulder that had to be limiting the mobility in the limb and had a few cuts on him as well, but the two of them hardly had any diminishment in their reserves.

Tobirama reformed and went to rush towards them, but Ashina flicked his fingers in a half seal and sent a whip of water at him.

Tobirama didn't expect that, and he wouldn't have, even if he had control over his mind. Tobirama was less antsy about having his back turned only because he was a sensor, unlike somebody else who hated having his back turned.

The whip of water wrapped itself around Tobirama's leg and pulled him down. Ashina twirled it around his head and flung it at his student again, wrapping it around his arms to stop any Ninjutsu.

Kami, I love Senjutsu enhanced Ninjutsu. He thought, knowing Tobirama would never be restrained this well with such a juvenile technique.

"I've suppressed Orochimaru's connection to me for a moment," Ashina said to the two men, glancing at the snake that was fighting Jiraiya, the two having torn apart their section of the battlefield with constant fire and earth jutsu, "Jiraiya can shatter the connection, but you two must be prepared. Orochimaru told me of the Akatsuki, and two of them are here."

The Raikage's chakra sharpened so harshly that Ashina twitched for a moment, remembering all too well how much his inner eye would get irritated by chakra flares when he was a boy.

"Where are they and who are they?!" The Raikage demanded, his focus unwavering in case the Uzumaki's control slipped.

"One of them is currently fighting my grandson in the arena," Ashina replied, feeling Itachi's presence without issue, "Uchiha Itachi."

The Raikage shot towards the barrier again, smashing at it repeatedly. The sound of fist meeting chakra was what cut through the air as Ay roared in anger.

"How do I break this?" He demanded, punching it again.

"Start fighting Orochimaru so Jiraiya can sever my connection. Now stop acting like a fucking toddler and punch something that isn't an inanimate object!" Ashina shouted angrily, his control slipping.

Ay spat at his feet, but nodded and signaled B to follow him.

Ashina gritted his teeth as he felt himself slipping, his water whip collapsing enough for Tobirama to free himself to try and attack him.

"Clone," Ashina barked, ducking under a kick from Tobirama, twirling his body 180 degrees and kicking him so hard his spine snapped, his student being folded like a chair in the wrong direction, "Pop!"

Another clone popped and replenished his Senjutsu abilities and he charged at his student. He focused on taijutsu, coating the surface of his arms with water to prevent Tobirama from marking him. His student blocked several punches and caught an axe kick from Ashina, spinning on his leg to fling him away. Ashina turned invisible midair and made another bunshin, the both of them making hand seals.

Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu.

Two water dragons launched themselves towards their targets, one being Hashirama, who was fighting Hiruzen.

The other one struck the water wall Tobirama erected in an impressive time, the two jutsu exploding and the roof beneath them collapsed.

Ashina leaped over the small chasm and went straight back into the fight.

The old Uzumaki reached out with his chakra and manipulated the mist in the air, Nature chakra doing its job again for making the water malleable to his will.

Several chains of water wrapped around Tobirama, who flashed away with his Hiraishin marker several meters away to escape it.

Ashina scowled at having to deal with this again. The Hiraishin was the most irritating display of Fuinjutsu to fight against, and it was made all the worse because he'd never had the inclination to make his own marker and rearrange his fighting style like the Yondaime Hokage had done to center around it.

Ashina growled irritably and barked an order to his invisible shadow clone, giving it orders that Tobirama wouldn't understand.

Tobirama had made two shadow clones of his own and they did something similar, sending two water bullets at him.

Ashina slammed his hand into the ground and Shunshined away, the seal he planted acting as a rudimentary shield seal that would absorb the two before they exploded.

As he raced around the explosion of water, his shadow clone rushed through hand seals to manipulate mist around them to mask his chakra signature from Tobirama.

His Shunshin brought him to Tobirama's bunshin as he turned invisible from manipulating the light with water chakra and, under the cover of the mist, snapped the clones neck, while spitting a water senbon at the other.

The clone dodged the senbon after hearing the other clone pop, but Ashina's clone ran towards it and slashed at it with a chakra blade, forcing it to fight.

Ashina ran towards the real Tobirama and weaved more hand seals, making several Mizu bunshin from the standing water that was starting to build up from the multitude of Suiton jutsu used throughout all the fighting.

Tobirama went through hand seals and hundreds of water senbon formed from the water around his feet, flying forward.

Tobirama followed it up with more jutsu and spat several water senbon at Ashina and the water clones at an extremely fast rate and velocity to hold him off. Ashina deflected each one aimed at him, his defense perfect. Ashina blitzed towards his student, his off hand making constant half seals to shape the water around them into chains that lashed out again at Tobirama, who tried to flash away.

Ashina memorized where Tobirama had flashed to earlier and his bunshin, which had killed Tobirama's clone, had planted a gravity seal and a chakra suppressant one into the ground, even if the material it was planted on would only last a few seconds.

Tobirama appeared where his marker was and his body froze as the seals triggered, leaving him vulnerable as Ashina shot towards him with his hand glowing an eery blue from the chakra of the Earth being concentrated in the digits.

With a roar of triumph, Ashina smashed his hand into Tobirama's face, forcing a sizable portion of nature chakra into his student.

The action caused Tobirama's eyes to lose their misty look as his mind was returned to him for a few seconds as the chakra from his Sensei overrode the commands.

"Sensei," Tobirama breathed a sigh of relief, "You look younger."

Ashina couldn't help but laugh, glancing at an overwhelmed Orochimaru a distance away.

A giant snake had been summoned and was fighting B, while the Raikage fought Orochimaru and Jiraiya was rapidly approaching them.

"Tobi," Ashina said sharply, using his off hand to make more Kage bunshin to delay Jiraiya so he could talk to Tobirama, "Listen carefully. I discovered who sent the Kinkaku force at you. The gold and silver brothers received information about our rendezvous point from an Uchiha."

The mission that Tobirama's team was on was top secret, even the ones on the mission didn't know its true purpose. Ashina himself was on his way to meet with them, but Tobirama had been ambushed by the Kinkaku force.

Tobirama thrashed under his hand in rage, trying to look at him.

"Hold still or the suppression breaks," Ashina ordered, clamping down harder, "You never did fix the Yin fluctuations, you lazy bastard."

"Well it's helping us now, isn't it?" Tobirama said flatly, referencing his ability to slip out of his control.

"I'm not dignifying that with a response." Ashina said just as flatly.

Jiraiya finally tore through the bunshin, even the invisible ones were countered with ease.

Senjutsu...Is broken.

"Ashina," Jiraiya breathed, his clothes having multiple cuts in them and his sleeve covered in blackish blood, "Nidaime-sama."

Even now, after over 25 years, Jiraiya still looked just as decent of a person as he was when he was in Uzu trying to woo all the women there in a rather ridiculous display of seduction skills.

Ashina also recognized the two old toads on Jiraiya's shoulders, the two of them giving him a glare from what he did years ago.

I needed the oil, amphibians. He thought viciously, remembering the fustercluck that resulted in him going at it with Gamabunta when he was in his twenties.

"Shut up with the reunion bullshit and mark me with the tramp stamp in your pocket, boy," Ashina said irritably, struggling to hold a trashing Tobirama in place, "We can talk after my body stops trying to kill you."

Jiraiya immediately rushed forward in a white and red blur, vaulting over Ashina's head and slamming the tag into his neck.

The chakra that restrained his own and had him acting like an obedient dog melted away as the seal his clone personally made and gave to Hiruzen took effect, his elation soaring.

"Agghhh," Ashina roared, his shout turning into a laugh of joy, "Back from the grave!"

His chains were broken. He was free!

Jiraiya circled around and had a swirling ball of chakra in his hand that reminded him of a miniature Bijuudama.

"Can you break the connection Orochimaru has with the Nidaime?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes darting towards his Sensei.

"No, but I'll hold him. Now go help Hiruzen." Ashina lied through his teeth, letting Jiraiya go to aid the aged Hiruzen against Hashirama.

"Tobirama," Ashina into his student's ear, pressing a seal on him to suppress his chakra temporary, "I need you to mark me with you Hiraishin anchor. There are two Uchiha that must be killed. One can become just as bad as Madara and the other will protect him."

Tobirama nodded without hesitation.

"I will not let Konoha be cursed with another like Madara. And what happened to Uzu?" Tobirama added the last part with a deep sadness.

"I'll tell you when I have the chance," Ashina promised, "It pertains to why the one Uchiha needs killed."

Ashina deactivated the suppressant and reached out his left arm, letting Tobirama mark him.

"When the seal deactivates, flash to me." Ashina finished by reactivating the seal, his prized student collapsing in his arms.

The act had him involuntarily shivering for a moment, reminding him of that dark night when he found Tobirama collapsed from chakra exhaustion and surrounded by corpses, seemingly left for dead and clinging to life.

---

"Tobi!" He shouted, collapsing to his knees to try and hold his student, "Stay with me. You don't have my fucking permission to die!"

"S-sensei," Tobirama choked out, blood covering his entire front, his pristine armour, parade level at times, was shredded and barely clinging together as blood flowed in a non-stop stream from his chest and mouth, "Did Saru and the others get away? Please, I must know." His student practically begged him, more blood coming from a hacking cough.

"They got away." Ashina nodded, clutching his student's shoulders.

Tobirama's shoulders sagged in relief, a blood caked smile appearing on his face.

"Kagami and Danzo are skilled. They'll be excellent lieutenants for Hiruzen. Hiru-" He began coughing again, his breath a death rattle, "Hiruzen is the Sandaime now. He'll be greater than I could ever be."

"Don't talk like that!" Ashina shouted, his eyes filling with tears, "I'm going to get you out of here. You're not dying."

"I'm sorry, Sensei." Tobi coughed wetly, "But I'm not an optimist like Hashirama. I know I'm not long for this world. My brothers call for me. A pity I didn't complete the mission. I don't like things being...un...finished." Ashina felt his student's chakra fade into a cold emptiness as the light in his eyes faded.

"Tobirama." Ashina shook the man, refusing to accept what his senses told him, "Tobirama!" Ashina kept shaking him, his eyes clouding from unshed tears. "I should have done it alone." He started openly crying. "I did this. I should have killed him myself." His anguish slowly faded and gave way to anger. A fire in his soul at the death caused by him.

Ashina raged in fury and pain, shaking his student and calling his name to try and rouse him from a never ending sleep. With a gentleness not out of place of a parent holding a child, Ashina set his student's body down as he stood up.

'I will kill him and all that follow.' Ashina swore, his eyes turning to look at the survivors that clung to life.

The wrath of the Uzumaki clan head went unquenched as he tortured information from the mortally wounded survivors of Tobirama's last stand.

Senju Tobirama died without ever knowing the mission Ashina had requested he help him with, simply trusting his Sensei's secretive nature about a subject that was obviously sensitive enough for him to not even send a message in code.

---

Ashina looked towards the six others fighting, looking at them carefully.

Orochimaru was being beaten severely by the combined efforts of the Kumo duo, the two maintaining cohesive teamwork while Orochimaru had summoned a snake to try and hold B off as he confronted the Raikage with the assistant of his blade.

Hashirama was fighting Jiraiya and Hiruzen at the same time, the reanimation rapidly loosing momentum with the added assistance from the white haired Sannin.

'Sannin'. A name given because they survived a monster. I wonder what they call the bastards I didn't kill in my own home. Fortunate?

Ashina couldn't afford to be stopped. Hashirama mustn't be freed until he reached the mask temple to finish his task. The traps laid by his bunshin were set up throughout the village and the tags his clone stole from his grandchildren's apartment were added into the mix, an absolute death trap formed for his own use.

Konoha's enemies will know the fear the coalition felt when they were rendered sightless by my mist and were cut down by me.

Ashina cupped his hands over his mouth to magnify his voice.

"Orochimaru!" He roared, dropping his hands to form a hand seal, firing a water dragon at him.

Orochimaru couldn't avoid it on time, having been locked in combat with Ay, and was sent flying like a ragdoll from the near hit off the dragon crashing next to him.

Orochimaru turned to face him as he got up from the impact, the Raikage also pausing to look at him.

Ashina grinned and charged all the remaining Nature chakra he had in his body into his hands, making a single hand seal.

"I'm going to kill your replacement vessel!" He shouted, "And Itachi will be where I'm at, Raikage!" He then turned on his heel and Shunshined at the barrier, slamming his right hand into it so he didn't lose Tobirama's anchor.

The barrier glowed a bright red at the point of impact and a groaning sound came from the chakra construct, shifting into a high pitched shrieking noise.

The barrier exploded and came crashing down, blasting Ashina into the air from the impact.

As he started falling, Ashina saw the sizzling stump of his arm and laughed.

Wouldn't be the first time I've gotten a first person perspective of having something removed. Fuck you for beheading me, Orochimaru. I didn't enjoy the last thing my vision saw.

Ashina started cackling as he rapidly approached the ground, thinking of the best thing to say.

"Cannonball!"

He smashed into the arena floor, landing ass first. The explosion caused by his posterior would have been something to laugh and joke about, but a chakra signature in the stands had his fury back to the front.

He managed to ignore it with supreme will and turned to his grandson, the boy being held by his hair from Uchiha Itachi.

'Itachi' popped and Ashina felt the real one take off running. Ashina jumped from the crater and ran out as well, his destination the Mask Temple.

Nothing mattered until he got the mask. It was the catalyst of killing everyone who needed killing.

---

I have discovered something truly terrifying that has left me questioning so many things about the nature of life itself in this world.With the assistance of esoteric seal work that I could count on one hand the individuals alive who could even remotely understand it has unveiled a truly hellish prospect.

Returning from the dead, in the flesh, is possible.

Acting similar to a summoning jutsu like the Edo Tensei Tobirama devised, a soul can be summoned from a type of mark planted on a living being after they have been killed.

If multiple people were theoretically marked with these anchors, one could live forever by overwhelming the chakra and will of the host in a constant stream of parasitic consumption.

I was called a madman and delirious from paranoia when I brought up the possibility of such a horrid thing after a certain event occurred, but this experiment proves it is possible.

This will not be put down past being anything but a mad gimmick. I'll personally kill anyone who tries to mimic him.This specific note will be torched after I transcribe it in code and place it in the vault with the other abominations of nature I've theorized as possible with seals that make my skin crawl.

Research note of Uzumaki Ashina, Shodai Uzukage, beginning stages of the First Shinobi War.

---

END CHAPTER:

Massive chapter and some more things are revealed. There will likely be at least two more parts to this, perhaps one more. The two major POVs for the invasion will be Naruto and Ashina, but Itachi and Kisame will have a POV dedicated to them.

Anyway, here's a new chapter that's earlier than most lately. Cheers.

Raging.