Chapter 5 - Part 1

Beginning of Invasion

As the chaos of the Chunin Exams reached its peak with the invasion of the Hidden Sand, a mysterious figure skilled in sealing techniques, seized a fleeting opportunity. In the midst of the confusion, placed a subtle but potent chakra drain seal tag on Naruto, aiming to expedite the awakening of his dormant curse seal. Knowing if he runs out of chakra he has to rely on the seal placed upon him. The man smirked to himself as he adjusted his glasses, disappearing in the chaos.

Unaware of the subtle interference, Naruto battled against the Sand forces with intensity he can muster, not knowing his chakra gradually diminishing as the seal siphoned away the energy he exerted in every jutsu. Unbeknownst to him, the curse seal stirred within, reacting to the orchestrated drain on his chakra reserves.

While helping a group of civilians, suddenly he stopped and gripped his head in pain.

The Yin seal glowed on his head ominously. Seeing him vulnerable, a sound Nin was about to seize the opportunity until Kakashi and Guy appeared in front of him, both in battle stances.

''Naruto, you go after Sasuke, he went after Gaara. Shikamaru, Kiba, and Neji have already gone after him, but I think they will need your help,'' Kakashi said, "We will deal with this one."

Guy nodded, "Yes Naruto-kun let your flames of youth burn brightly by saving your comrades!"

Naruto turned around, "Fine" he said uncharacteristically stoic.

Kakashi eye narrowed dangerously at the blonde. Naruto glanced at him and disappeared out of sight.

Naruto was running at top speed outside the walls of Konoha. By the direction in which the Sand siblings took he could pinpoint their general location. He would be able to find them given that there would surely be battles. Sasuke and the others would defiantly be fighting them. If Sasuke was not there they would not to fight but Sasuke did whatever he wanted so he would not listen even if his comrades told him not to fight.

Naruto sensed a large amount chakra around the forest he was currently headed towards so he increased his pace.

A few minutes later Naruto arrived at the location his fellow genins where fighting. A sound of chirping birds was welcomed into his ears. Naruto stopped on top of a tree and observed what was going on.

He watched as Sasuke rushed at Gaara with his right arm palm sparkling electricity. He looked exhausted but still pushed through. Sasuke charged towards Gaara but the red head materialized a tail and a large right hand. They were features of a monster but Gaara had willed them. Gaara was very much in control and with the creepy smile on his face one could tell he was enjoying himself.

Sasuke attempted to pierce through Gaara's chest, but Gaara brought out his mini-Shukaku hand and blocked the jutsu. The power of the jutsu cut through Gaara's hand but did not reach his chest. Sasuke gritted his teeth and tried to get away from Gaara. However, before he could Gaara's tail was swung hitting the Uchiha on his chest sending him crashing towards the trees.

Gaara's hand reformed again as he laughed maniacally, ''More! More! Come at me with everything you have!'' Gaara yelled like a mentally unstable person. His bloodthirsty nature had taken complete control over him.

Gaara ran towards Sasuke and hit him on his chest. Sasuke groaned as he was compelled to the tree almost breaking it in half.

Gaara grinned evilly as he picked up Sasuke by his transformed hand. His other hand began to pummel Sasuke continuously.

Gaara kicked Sasuke into the air and waited for Sasuke fall on his path so he could kick the Uchiha again. Just when Sasuke was about to be kicked Naruto appeared in front of Gaara and drop kick the Suna Genin in the face sending him flying. Sasuke hit the ground with a thud. The Uchiha grunted in pain before seeing his blonde teammate.

"It seems like the Uchiha Princess needs my help again.."

The last Uchiha eye twitched at the insult but he scoffed "Hmph you finally decided to help idiot?'' Sasuke asked rhetorically, "Well regardless I'm glad you're here, I can't take him by myself." Sasuke said, dawning a small smile towards his friend.

Moments After That

Naruto was smashed through trees by Gaara. He sailed through branches until he landed against a tree and slumped against it. Naruto grunted in pain as he sat up to look at the insane Suna ninja.

Gaara had a maniacal grin on his half demonic face, "You are weak Uzumaki! You lack power!"

Sasuke landed on Naruto's branch, looking concerned as he saw Naruto strange black markings on the right side of his body. He realized he needs to mitigate this situation before it gets out of hand.

"Naruto, get out of here. Get Sakura and run, I'll handle this guy." Sasuke clinched his fists, "If I can't win here… Then I'll never be strong enough to defeat him. Never be strong enough to protect my home."

Naruto looked at Sakura, pinned to a tree trunk with Gaara's sand slowly crushing her.

Naruto stood up and wiped the blood from his lip. He looked down at Sasuke, "Don't worry Sasuke. I won't lose here."

Naruto flipped through hand-signs and slapped his palm to the tree branch. A puff of smoke revealed a small orange toad, "Hey there, I'm Gamakichi! Got any sweets?"

Naruto flipped out, "I can't believe this crap! What's with you stupid toads? I can never get a useful one. This is really not the time for this!"

The small toad jumped onto Naruto's head and gave him a raspberry, "So you're an amphibian hater huh?"

Gaara had had enough of this, "Suna Shuriken!"

Naruto saw the spinning disks of sand coming his way and cradled Gamakichi with his body, taking the hits. He flew back and hit another branch,

Gamakichi looked at him in concern as Gaara cackled, "You see Uzumaki! Only when you fight for yourself can you truly be strong! I'll wait for you to realize this and leave your friends here to die so you can escape!"

Naruto wordlessly placed Gamakichi down and turned to face Gaara. The look in his eyes irked Gaara, who sent another salvo of sand shuriken at Naruto, hitting him dead on and sending him back again.

Naruto stood up almost immediately, a crazed looked started to gleam in his eye as the curse mark on his neck started to glow. "What is this feeling? I feel stronger… Like that didn't hurt at all…"

The blonde shook his head in the negative, "No that's not it, it's like I don't care about the pain any longer..."

Sasuke looked at Naruto with worry as he saw his strength returning to him. A burst of visible purple and red chakra erupted from Naruto, the blonde's look of confusion and awe at himself turned to a wail of pain as he clutched his head and dropped to the ground screaming. Then the screams slowly turned into chuckles then after a while a full blow manic laughter.

"That foolish old man..." He said halting everyone with his proclamation, his Yin seal was finally overpowered by the curse seal once again.

Without warning, a shadow paralysis connected to Naruto and the sound lightning coursed throughout from Sasuke's Chidori. Shikimaru with his rat sign in play spoke out, "We know the truth Naruto, if that's really even you..." He said seriously.

Sasuke became serious, "Naruto, I know you're not in control. Shikamaru! Keep him in place we can't let him roam free, he's dangerous" He warned, narrowing his eyes at the blonde.

The blonde kept a small condescending smile on his face, the Uchiha seems to have the resolve to fix things, it amused him slightly. Naruto noticed his eyes and slightly quirked an eyebrow, "Oh?, so you finally matured your Sharingan. Then tell me Sasuke, how much can you see with that Sharingan of yours?"

The Uchiha mulled over that question before shaking his head slightly, it didn't matter. Sharingan blazing, he was prepared to charge and incapacitate Naruto until suddenly the blonde appeared in-front of him and grabbed Sasuke right wrist in a tight grip. He completely perception blitz him.

Naruto then punched Sasuke square in the stomach, causing bile and blood to leak out and with an amp of chakra sent him blasting in the foliage.

Another shadow paralysis connected on him and he saw Kiba in the air. Naruto shakes his head in disappointment.

"GATSUGA" The boy screamed out, two vortexes heading towards Naruto.

The blonde just scoffs, "How boring..." Grabbing both dog and Kiba simultaneously and throwing them to collide with Shikamaru.

Neji dashed towards Naruto, but with every swing and jab his all seeing eyes can't help him land a single hit. Neji snarls at the prospect of being weaker then the village's fool. "Coward! Can all you do is dodge?"

He then put all his might into this last jab and collided directly on his chest. Neji smiled triumphantly until he was grabbed by his neck.

Naruto narrows his lone eye "Don't get cocky..." he slammed him on the ground, causing a small crater on the ground. "You insIgnificant worm"

Suddenly killer intent emitted throughout the Forest as the blonde spoke out. "Since the nuisances are out the way, how about we go for a round two..."

His lone eye turned red as he looked up with much intensity "Jinchuriki"

Chūnin Exams Stadium

Smoke covered everyone's vision. There is nothing left, the back side of the stadium and any building within a 30 mile radius was completely eviscerated. Hiruzen was exhausted completely out of chakra he gave everything and finally he achieved something he thought once unbelievable. Orochimaru was finally dead. He smiled triumphantly, panting hard.

"Finally... *pant* long last *pant*… finally he…"

SQUELCH

His eyes widen , he looked down to see a corrosive chakra covered clawed hand piercing through his chest from his back.

"Is Dead?" A familiar voice asked from behind him.

"Wh-What? " his eyes began to blur. He cough up a glob of blood and slowly turned to the side,

"You remember don't you?.."

His eyes widened in horror. In the Kazekage white robes was someone he least expected. He sputters his name.

"N-Naruto?"

"I did say I'll show you something interesting didn't I?" The blonde said smiling like the devil.

"Why... Why betray the peace I'm trying to build?" Hiruzen questioned, desperately wanting a answer.

The now revealed Naruto stared at the man he once considered his family for a few moments before speaking out. Answering his question.

"Peace? How can you obtain that with the shinobi system in place? Throughout my life I realized at a young age I wasn't free. Just a tool to the Village, a tool to be used and discarded like so many people before me.

And when I finally found light, when I finally found someone my age who actually accepted me and not curse my very existence... your shinobi killed him. Then you, the man who's been entrusted by my parents discarded me away.." He proclaimed with malice and contempt in his voice.

Hiruzen lowered his head, so many regrets, so many bad decisions he's made. He couldn't take it any more, tears began to fall down his face. "I s-see.. s-so it's a-all been a lie. Y-You've been pretending to be happy for so long.." He muttered weakly, the light from his eyes beginning to dim.

Naruto nodded, "The world believed that Naruto Uzumaki was a lovable, dumb, docile idiot but what is the real truth? Victors are those who look and plan ahead… I only pretended to be that way to one day gain the upper hand. Now the true contest is just beginning.. with you dead , I have the first stepping stone to my goal.. Bringing order to this world, something our forefathers and the Sage of Six Paths couldn't achieve." Naruto proclaimed.

Hiruzen eyes widened at the proclamation, "S-So.. y-you mean..

Naruto nodded "Yes, this age of shinobi..."

Cleave

Swiftly he pulled out his clawed hand and cleaved Hiruzen in half, killing the Saidame Hokage.

"Is over" Naruto proclaimed strongly as he stood over the old Hokage. His robes flapping in the wind.

Finally the first step is done and now he can prepare for what's next in line. His thoughts was cut off when he heard clapping. The smiling Orochimaru revealed himself. Tayuya , Guren and Kabuto by his side. Naruto looked at the Tayuya recognizing her from the Forest, he narrowed his eyes. She was about to make a snarky comment about the look he was giving her until a wave of chakra filled her senses. She took a step back in fear.

Naruto ignoring the man, closed his eye. 'Kyuubi I'm done here, make sure you destroy the clone when you're done.' The clone lone eye turned red and features turned more feral.

"Good! Marvelous! So when can I expect him so we can talk about the future." Orochimaru exclaimed, delighted at the accomplishment of this task.

Kyuubi smiled menacingly as he look towards Orochimaru and shook his head. "Soon, apparently he has to do something first, then he'll go to you"

Orochimaru let out a long sigh but nodded, still smiling like a mad man. "Very well, feel free to come by any time"

Suddenly Kyuubi handed him a scroll, which caused Orochimaru to raise a single eyebrow, "You're planning things being his back? You're truly a Fox."

Kyuubi scoffed "What the brat don't know won't kill him... yet." He then disappeared in a gust of wind, causing Orochimaru to grin wider.

"Kukukuu, honestly this has been the most exciting day I've ever experienced!" He then made a few hand signs and slammed his hand onto the ground, a large snake appearing, looking at Orochimaru, awaiting orders.

"Deal with the trash that follows me, don't let any of them live." The snake hissed in agreement as the purple barrier disappeared in an instant as Orochimaru and his companions dashed away, not wanting to deal with the pest that was Anbu.

As Hiruzen eyes dulled he couldn't help but think of the past..

Mini Flashback

A five year old Naruto was running through the forest trying to clear his mind. He always try not to dwell on the negative thoughts but it's been getting hard. He landed next to a creek with streaming water. He sees fish but has no way of catching it , he thought real hard about it until something clicked.

"Ah HAAAA, I'M AWESOME!!" He smiled brightly

He pulled a piece of fabric string from his shorts and tied it to a massive stick.

Some time has passed and he caught about 5 , after cooking it over a fire he began eating alone.

While enjoying his meal , a weird old man appeared out of no where and started sniffing his food. "Mmm? What do you got there? Smells good" A old man asked smiling softly

"AHHH" The little boy yelled and face faulted.

After scaring the living crap out of the boy , Naruto sat back up tilting his head to the side. "Oh um excuse me sir.. who are you?"

Hiruzen just smiled at the young man but before he said anything..

Grumble Grumble, Naruto stomach bubbled out loud. The pair looked at each other then started laughing. Naruto smiled

"Mann I'm hungry, here eat this old man" handing her a fish

Hiruzen eyebrow twitched but he smiled "Ohh thank you young man, this looks good" he bit it but burnt his tongue "Oww hot hot hot"

The pair started laughing again

It was getting dark and the two was looking in the sky "Look at the stars. Really put the vastness of the world in perspective. Yes.. I believe the world is boundless." Hiruzen said

Naruto smiled "really? Wow you sure know a lot old man!" looking at the sky memorized

"Yes the world is big and we must do what we can to protect it and the people we care about"

"No kidding? Is it that big? But why protect?"

"Because this is our world, it's our job to. Well someone like me can't do it forever so I'm going have to rely on you" Hiruzen said smiling softly, while going through her pockets, he pulled out a scroll. "Here have this , there's some stuff in there to help you get by, every hero should be big and strong. I'm Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, if you ever need something you can hang out in my forest grounds but you can't tell anyone about it okay it's located at the edge of the village."

Naruto eyes sparkled he was never given anything , he grabbed it while nodding. He smiled brightly

The old man stood up and smiled once again after that he started walking away.

"DON'T WORRY OLD MAN, I WILL PROTECT THIS WORLD NO MATTER WHAT I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI PROTECTOR OF THIS WORLD BELIEVE IT!!" The young blonde boy shouted. The old man smiled as he walked off. It's poetic how his story ended, it goes to show no matter how great a man is, his failures will always follow.

Flashback End

Battlefield

A fog of smoke and debris finally seeped away from the battlefield. After the abundant of coughing he jumped up to get a vantage point. Jiraiya stood atop the head of his massive toad summon as he watched Konoha forces engaging the Suna and Oto forces. Despite the fact that they had driven the enemy out of heart of the city the enemy had been putting up a dogged fight.

Suddenly Ibiki landed atop the toad's head, "Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya put up his telescope and turned to face him, "Ibiki, report."

"Jiraiya-sama, our forces were caught in several ambushes as they chased the enemy forces out of the village. They ended up getting caught in a crossfire by some of Otogakure's ninja they had held back."

Jiraiya groaned. They would win, but such an unnecessary loss of life was unsettling. Jiraiya was about to respond just as a cloaked Anbu landed on the toad, bowing to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-sama, it's about Sandaime-sama."

Jiraiya grinned widely, "So Sarutobi-sensei finally killed the snake did he?"

The Anbu flinched under his mask, "Hokage-sama was killed in combat.." The ninja stood in stunned silence atop the toad as the sounds of battle still rang out into the air. The Toad Sanin sat there and stared into the heavens, he wonders when can he achieve peace to avoid things like this. His began to ball up to a fist, and look towards the Anbu.

"Show me where Orochimaru. I'm going to stop them, I will possibly need back up as well make sure they come as soon as they can!" The Toad Sage ordered.

The Anbu nodded in the negative, "It wasn't Orochimaru..."

"What, who was it then?!"

Dark clouds started to block out the sun, it was as if the heavens was crying for the transgression that happened.

"The Nine Tails Fox container..."

Moments Later

Running up the Hokage Monument, Jiraiya narrowed his eyes thinking how everything turned out this bad. "Everyone be on guard!" He screamed out. The ninja behind him nodded and wordlessly dashed up the monument.

The group landed and all could sense the immense power emanating from the boy ahead. His presence alone set off many alarm bells. As Jiraiya approached cautiously towards Naruto, he realized how different the blonde looked.

He knew then that talking might be useless but he needed a way to reach him. As shinobi though, he also have to be prepared for the worst.

"Naruto," Jiraiya called out in a soft but firm voice.

'Naruto' didn't even acknowledge their presence, still preoccupied on testing his motor skills. Flexing his muscle; opening and closing his clawed hands. There was a loud cracking noise, and the Ninja winced. However, the blonde still didn't make sound just testing the function of his body.

The blonde slowly turned around and faced him. Everyone present tensed at seeing the blonde boy face. Even Jiraiya, the most experienced was on edge seeing his student's lone red eye.

"Sanin.."

With Naruto

Naruto said nothing; he jumped up onto a tree branch and looked at Gaara. Slowly his curse seal etched across his face.

The wind around the forest seemed to pick up as Naruto's chakra surged. Having enough power to fight Garra, he was fully prepared to fight with the Sand Jinchuriki for a second time.

''YOU INTEREST ME UZUMAKI!!,'' Gaara called with a dark look spread across his face, ''Mother wants me to devour you, and so I will. Your blood smells good to me, I can tell it is delicious!'' Gaara said and dashed towards Naruto like a bullet.

Gaara tried slashing Naruto's chest horizontally with his claw. Naruto was able to predict the attempt thus he side stepped. He is faster than Gaara which made it easy for Naruto to dodge Gaara's attack. Naruto caught Gaara's left hand and spun around twice picking up speed. He threw Gaara and sent him crashing towards the tree.

Gaara recovered rather quickly and jumped at Naruto again. He was faster than before. His clawed fist crashed into a tree branch Naruto was standing on and shattered it. Naruto had jumped up not intending to try and block the attack. The power behind the strike would have proved that blocking was useless.

Naruto blurred out of sight and appeared behind Gaara. He was going for a kick from behind but Gaara's tail stood in the way. The tail swung and hit Naruto with enough power to send him crashing down the ground.

Gaara turned around and grinned madly, "Is all that power you have? I want to see you go all out. A fight to death!! Show it to me!''

Gaara said as he jumped to where Naruto had fallen.

Naruto stood up and gather corrosive chakra on right hand, "Cleave" Naruto expelled the chakra on his hand into invisible blades. The two blades soared in great speeds and rushed towards the oncoming Gaara. Gaara brought out his tail and clawed arm to shield himself.

The intensive cleaves began to cut through Gaara's materialized arm and tail completely dismembering it. The materialized parts in Gaara's body crumbled down like sand.

Gaara fell onto the ground with his legs,''HEHEH... HAHAHAHAHA'' he started laughing like a maniac, ''That's the power I want to see, I want more of it!'' He said growing another tail and two hands.

Naruto saw this and knew that it was a matter of time before Gaara turned into Shukaku. He also smiled like a mad man. "COME YOU BEAST PROVE YOUR EXISTENCE TO ME!!!" He roared.

Gaara smiled and took off at a very fast pace and appeared in front of Naruto. Gaara swung his right hand attempting to hit Naruto. Naruto blocked the hit and attempted to hit Gaara, but the jinchuriki blocked his attempt with his left hand. Gaara caught Naruto's right foot and threw the blond away. Naruto was sent crashing towards the trees by Gaara.

Naruto just smiled as he tried getting up but before his attempt could be a success Gaara appeared above him. Both Gaara's clawed hands where speeding down towards him. Naruto could only bring both his hands to block. The power of the strike resulted in making his attempt to block useless. The double hand punch grounded Naruto.

Gaara jumped up attempting to squash Naruto under his feet. This time was able to escape Gaara's strike. Gaara hit the ground with his legs created a large crater.

''That would have been nasty if I got hit.'' Naruto said to himself.

Gaara raised both his clawed hands pointing at Naruto. He began to shoot sand bullets at Naruto. Naruto jumped around the trees dodging the sand bullets. Gaara only increased the number of bullets he fired at Naruto. He was laughing maniacally as he was enjoying watching Naruto dance around. It was quite an amusing scene for him to watch.

Naruto realized running accomplished nothing, charging up corrosive chakra in his clawed hand, he uttered his jutsu while swiping in the air.

Cleave

Dozens of sand bullets suddenly split in half. Gaara covered himself and grunted in pain when cuts and sliced appeared out of no where across his body.

"You seem to regenerate every time I cut you... well let's test the limits on that Gaara!" The blonde screamed

Naruto channeled chakra into his feet for more speed. He suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of Gaara. He punched Gaara on his gut with a powerful punch. He proceeded to punch Gaara at his face several times before jumping up. Naruto swung his right leg towards Gaara. The leg connected with Gaara's face sending him crashing towards the trees.

Naruto landed gracefully on the ground panting slightly. He held out clawed hand and converted his chakra inside his body into wind, "Wind Release : Death of a Thousand Cuts" He uttered swiping towards the red head.

The atmosphere crackled with anticipation as the air transformed into a razor-sharp symphony of countless invisible blades.

As the wind blades surged forward, everyone bore witness to an ethereal dance of destruction. The first unfortunate opponent met an invisible onslaught, their body reacting before comprehension could catch up. A storm of razor-edged wind slices carved through the air, leaving behind a trail of severed leaves and branches.

The wind blades darted through the forest, effortlessly slicing through anything in their path. Gaara, caught off guard by the seemingly invisible assailant, desperately tried to evade the onslaught, but the relentless storm pursued them like an unforgiving tide.

Leaves and twigs floated in the air, a testament to the devastation wrought by the wind blades. The once serene forest became a chaotic battleground, the air resonating with the eerie hum of the wind cuts.

In the aftermath, the Gaara lay defeated, his forms marked by countless cuts that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Gaara let loose of a pained scream, ''N-No... I refuse..'' Gaara yelled out as he leaked considerable amount of demonic chakra. An explosion of chakra rocketed around him.

"I REFUSE TO BE BEATEN!!!!"

Naruto just smiled menacingly, ready for battle against the raging beast.