Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:
Chunin Exams Arc Part 2:
Chapter 51: The feathers fall
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Naruto turned in surprise, to see Temari sauntering over with a teasing smirk. She walked with an exaggerated sway to her hips. His mouth became dry, and butterflies danced in his stomach for more reasons than he'd care to admit aloud.
"Hey Temari," He greeted her. "I take it you heard about the negotiations."
The blonde-haired girl smiled. "Yes, my father and the council, not that I'm complaining." Temari made a point of looking him up and down, causing Naruto's face to burn. "I think I could get used to the idea of marriage to you."
Her words made Naruto pause, it was hard to tell if Temari was just teasing him or not. "Yes, well, hopefully it doesn't come to that. Gr–the Hokage is apparently trying to find other solutions. Flexibility is important in negotiations." He cursed himself, for his near slip. The last thing they needed was the Sand getting the idea that Gramps was only fighting so hard because of his closeness to Naruto.
"Indeed, it is. I'm very flexible." Somehow, Naruto doubted Temari was talking about negotiating. It put some rather stirring thoughts in his head. As though she could read them, Temari smirked even wider.
"Temari of the Sand and Shikamaru Nara of the Leaf, your match is next." Genma suddenly called. Naruto was never more grateful to hear Genma's voice. If it wouldn't give it away, he'd have breathed a sigh of relief as Temari turned her focus from him.
She began to walk away, tossing over her shoulder. "Perhaps if you're ever in the Hidden Sand I can show you around, among other things."
A shiver went down Naruto's spine, it wasn't an unpleasant sensation. Naruto shook his head; he did his best to not stare as Temari continued that sway in her walk. It was much more distracting when she was walking away.
The feeling of a hard stare boring into him shook Naruto from the confusing feelings Temari evoked in him. He glanced to the side, acutely aware of a pair of onyx eyes boring into him reproachfully with a sense of indignation. It was not hard to guess what Sasuki was thinking, as she stood next to Sakura. After he'd searched within and found some of the answers he'd been seeking, he thought he understood some of her reactions better, though he still had no idea how to react to them.
'That's another problem I gotta solve. I learned my lesson; it doesn't help to put things off because you're afraid.' Naruto thought resolutely.
He'd pondered long and hard on the situation with Sasuki and concluded what needed to be done. The more … confusing part could be set aside, for now, or at least until he'd had time to wrap his mind around it. But today he'd finally deal with the rift between them.
It was time he set his feet and faced this problem head on! Naruto set his jaw and marched up to Sasuki and Sakura with a determined stride.
"We need to talk," he said, leaving no room for argument. Sasuki looked at him sullenly, likely looking for any way out.
"Uh, Sakura and I–" Her attempt to blow him off was interrupted by a sharp elbow to the ribs by Sakura.
The pink-haired girl glared. "Need to do nothing right now, go!"
Sasuki gritted her teeth, but ultimately pushed herself away from the wall and moved closer to him. "Fine, let's go."
Naruto hid his amusement at Sasuki being treated like a poorly behaved child by Sakura. It reminded him of happier times, when his grandfather would scold the girl for being overly moody. He didn't bother to lead Sasuki far, just enough that they were away from prying eyes and curious ears, a small hallway tucked away from the path to the competitor's box.
Sasuki leaned against the concrete wall with a huff and glared at him. "What do you want? I'd have thought you'd be very eager to watch that next match."
He sighed, swiping a hand through his hair, careful not to remove it from its ponytail. "First off, Temari and I were talking about the fact her village is demanding I marry her to make up for the fact I have their most important bloodline. Gramps is fighting it right now, and I don't wanna be forced to marry anyone."
The raven-haired girls eyes widened, before narrowing in suspicion. "What was with the flirting then?"
"I don't know, maybe that's just how she is, maybe she finds me attractive. But if you'd pay attention, I wasn't exactly flirting back." He shot back. Admittedly, it wasn't because he wasn't attracted to Temari, rather, he just had no experience and having an older girl pursue him like that flustered him. Of course, Sasuki didn't need to know that. "But that's not why I brought you here, we need to talk about this thing that's going on with us, the animosity and everything."
Sasuki scoffed. "What about it? I still don't want to forgive you."
"I'm through groveling, my apologies have been made. But I won't let this be the end of our friendship. Even if it means I have to be a massive pain in your butt trying to be your friend. Just like back then."
Neither needed him to specify what he meant. They both remembered the months after the massacre. Sasuki scowled angrily. "Stubborn Jackass!" She bit out.
"Jerk!"
"Bitch!"
Naruto raised an amused eyebrow at that last insult from Sasuki, not really having any heat on his side, he was more amused than anything to see her fired up. The Uchiha girl panted angrily, as she tried staring daggers at him. That tended to be more effective if you weren't conflicted. For the first time, Naruto let his amusement show. He smirked at Sasuki.
"Feel better after getting that out of your system?" he joked.
Sasuki let out a frustrated scream, slamming a fist into the wall and causing the sturdy concrete to crack. "Dammit Naruto, can't you ever just leave me alone!"
"Nuh-uh, I told you years ago, no matter what, I'm gonna be there for you." He replied stubbornly.
She growled lowly, but finally seemed to settle. "You never could let something go when you got it into your head." She mused. "You're not giving this up, are you?" Sasuki asked with resignation.
"Nope." He confirmed again.
"Fine." Sasuki rolled her eyes in exasperation. She began to walk away, though quickly turned around to point at Naruto and tell him, "But I still haven't forgiven you!" With a huff, she whipped her long raven hair and strode away.
"Tsundere much?" He chuckled quietly.
Naruto began to follow after her, but before he reached the end of the hall, Gaara's short figure stepped across his path. The redhead's cold green eyes bored into him, containing a look Naruto couldn't quite place.
He tensed, prepared for an attack. There were ten feet separating them, nothing even for a normal shinobi. Luckily, it seemed Gaara wasn't there for a fight. Instead, he asked the most curious question.
"Why do you show care for others? You're like me, so why do you care for that girl? You fought on behalf of the other one, too. And when I tried to kill that fool, you stopped me. I don't get it."
Blinking in confusion, Naruto answered. "Why do I care about others? Cause they're my friends, people I love and admire."
Gaara gripped his head in pain. "Love? What foolishness."
"Are you telling me you don't feel love for anyone, not even your siblings out there?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
"Don't try and judge me by your standards. Love, family? The only bonds I have with my family are the kind I want to wrap around their necks. Only bonds of hate. I thought, since you're like me, maybe you'd understand. But clearly, I was wrong. Unlike you, I was born a monster." Gaara explained in his creepy monotone voice.
Naruto wanted to scoff at the notion, clearly the boy had taken to heart what people said about jinchuriki. But there was something in Gaara's eyes that gave him pause. "You know, just because we have tailed beasts sealed inside us, it doesn't make us the beast. You' talking pretty crazy there."
"Oh really, so did you kill your mother too?" Gaara asked, bringing Naruto up short. "You see, my father sealed Shukaku into my while I was in the room. So, when I was born, my mother died from the strain. I was given life by that murder. My father wanted me to be the salvation of the village. He pampered me, protected me, taught me the secrets of the shinobi arts. For a while I thought that was love. But that's when it started."
Finding himself drawn into the boy's story in a mix of curiosity and horror, Naruto asked. "When what started?"
The redhead grinned madly. "Since I was six years old, my father has tried to have me killed countless times."
"That doesn't make sense, you said you were pampered." Naruto cut in with a furrowed brow.
Gaara's grin slipped away. "When you become too strong, people fear you. The sealing jutsu that was used on me gave me … emotional problems. Even the fools in my village began to notice. Something inside me was broken. I couldn't control my powers properly. My father brought me into the world as a weapon, but now that weapon threatened the village it was meant to protect. To the people of the village, I am a relic they want to get rid of. I had failed at the one purpose I was born for. To exist for no reason is the same as being dead. So, what was left for me, why did I exist?"
To exist for now reason is the same as being dead? The words shook Naruto to his core. They reminded him of something, a distant memory he thought he'd left behind. 'It's like before I met Grandpa. But so much worse.' Naruto found himself unable to say anything.
"For a long time, I pondered that question. Then I found it. As I killed the sent to kill me failed and I killed them in turn, I found peace. That's when I realized that I would love only myself and fight for only myself. Just as the death of my mother gave me life, the death of others sustains me. I kill to prove my existence. That makes me almost happy. And with how crowded the world is? I'll never stop existing."
With Naruto frozen in place, Gaara turned to leave. As the demented redhead walked away, he turned his head to say one more thing. "As a failed weapon, I'll kill this villages successful one. Killing you … that will prove my existence like never before.
The hallway echoed with his footsteps as Gaara walked away. For a minute, Naruto stayed in place. He was too shocked to move. Gaara's world view was so twisted and warped. 'I always heard stories, but is this really what other jinchuriki deal with?'
'Not all. I'd say that boy is the extreme of jinchuriki being maligned. You are probably the opposite end of the spectrum.' The fox answered, surprisingly serious
After a moment to gather himself, Naruto returned to the competitor's box. He tried not to let any of the turmoil he was feeling show, as he approached his teammates. They seemed in high spirits.
Sakura eyed him curiously, as he walked towards them and took up place beside her, sandwiching her between he and Sasuki.
"So, did you settle things?" She asked him as Naruto leaned against the rail.
"More or less." He replied with a shrug.
"Hn."
Sakura beamed at him. "That's a relief, I can finally stop playing middleman."
Naruto felt a twinge of guilt. The past month must've been hard on Sakura, constantly hanging out with one of them and not the other, dealing with their gripes about each other.
The three settled into an easy silence, as they watched the rest of Temari and Shikamaru's match. It helped to forget his disturbing encounter with Gaara. Instead, he decided to revel in the high of having his best friend back on speaking terms and enjoying watching a finals match just like old times.
It was a match of wits more than jutsu. Naruto wasn't terribly surprised when the lazy bum eventually gave up despite trapping Temari with his shadow. He'd used the lingering earth spires from Sakura's fight to weave his shadow across the ground despite Temari's belief she was out of range.
After a brief break, Genma stepped into the middle of the arena floor again. "The next match is Sasuki Uchiha of the Leaf versus Samui of the Cloud."
Sasuki gave off a fierce smirk. "Finally, I get a chance to test out Kakashi's training." She didn't wait for a second, using a teleportation to disappear and reappear in the arena.
"Well, she's sure fired up." He commented with a smirk.
"Yeah, he must have been getting annoyed waiting to fight. She went first in the prelims." Sakura hid a giggle behind her hand.
Samui was much more subdued, disappearing in a swirl of water and reappearing on the arena floor opposite Sasuki. Naruto watched her curiously. "She has an affinity for water, a little odd for a Cloud ninja. I can't wait to see what tricks she's got."
"I'm just surprised how many other genin here have specialized Teleportation's. It's supposed to be a chunin level jutsu, so I figured we'd be the only ones."
Naruto nodded in agreement. He'd hazard a guess that Samui wasn't the only one on her team that could do teleportation. From experience watching, he knew this year's crop was particularly strong. Naruto turned his attention to the arena fully, eager for this fight.
Genma looked between the two competitors.
"Fight."
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Sasuki tensed as the proctor announced the beginning, her Sharingan activated on instinct hard-wired in from training. She blinked in surprise as the first thing Samui did was disappear from another Teleportation. She didn't let her guard down, turning slowly as she scanned the arena. What could Samui be doing? In her first fight she'd tried to get close, Sasuki had been expecting the same.
She didn't have to wait long after Samui's disappearance for something to occur. A film of chakra descended on the arena, it reminded her of Zabuza's Hidden Mist Jutsu, yet there was no mist. Everything was colored in a thin veil of pale blue chakra.
There was no time to ponder the odd occurrence, for Samui came racing out of the trees bordering the arena.
Sasuki drew her Tanto, lightning blazed across the blade as she prepared to meet Samui's charge. That never came, instead, Samui stopped, her hands flashing through seals that Sasuki's Sharingan recorded. Samui pursed her lips and unleashed a blast of water.
With an air of calmness, Sasuki flipped out of the way. The blast was so intense it carved a trench in the earth and shattered a stone spike left by Sakura's fight. Even before Sasuki had landed, she'd begun to plan a counter, and it was a good thing she was already finished with the hand seals, because Samui had finished hers and a whip of water was headed straight for Sasuki.
"Lightning Style–"
Sasuki broke off the jutsu as an odd image flashed through her mind, something attacking her. On instinct driven in by Kakashi, she heeded the warning and stepped backwards.
A hiss escaped her lips as a shallow cut opened on her forearm. Sasuki stared in shock as the wound slowly dripped her crimson blood onto the dirt.
'But she's nowhere near me!' It couldn't possibly be genjutsu, even if her Sharingan didn't catch it, the pain from the slash should have broken it. She would also have noticed chakra flow like Samui used in the preliminaries. 'Then what is it?'
Before she could think further, she received another flash. With what happened last time, she threw herself well clear. Then another flash, and another after that. Soon Sasuki found herself completely dodging, and not just the strange attacks that shouldn't be possible. No, Samui had yet to move, she took the occasional well-timed pot shot that made with a water jutsu that Sasuki forced to make a particularly desperate escape attempt.
'She still hasn't moved!' Sasuki had to do something about the two-sided attacks she faced, so in the middle of one of her flips, she created a shadow clone sealessly.
The clone pushed off Sasuki, launching high into the air. Sasuki herself reached into her tool pouch to retrieve her shuriken, and the second she received the next flash, tossed the shuriken in the direction it was coming from. She was satisfied when no attack was forthcoming. At the same moment, her clone finished its jutsu. Lighting sparked around its hand.
Sasuki knew what was supposed to happen. The Chidori was the first step to another jutsu. Only it never got to that. Her clone suddenly dispersed, and she received referred memories about her clone receiving a sudden jolt of pulsing electricity that made it disperse.
"Just what the hell is going on here?" She muttered to herself. The only way it should be possible for the lightning to backfire was if … there was something conductive in the air! Like water. The ion particles would make sure the electricity transferred in close range. Sasuki could almost kick herself. She hadn't even considered the first jutsu might be elemental.
Before she could be attacked again, Sasuki performed a tiger seal. 'Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!' Her chest bulged out, fire burned in her lungs, then forced its way up her throat. Her head snapped forward and unleashed a blast of flames with no distinct shape.
The flames raced through the air, hissing and spitting as they burned off the layer of chakra-infused water in the air. With their intense heat, the thin layer of vapor disappeared within a few seconds. Sasuki grinned savagely as a second Samui was revealed, much closer than the other and with a tanto drawn, the blade stained with Sasuki's blood.
"Well, it seems my Nin-Genjutsu has been discovered, very uncool." Samui commented.
Sasuki didn't let her opportunity go to waste. In the blink of an eye, a Chidori was chirping away in her hand. Gripping her wrist, Sasuki forced even more chakra into the technique.
"Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!"
The lightning flared, and a larger pulse burst forth, taking the form of a fierce lightning tiger that zipped towards Samui, still attached to the Chidori with a cord of lightning.
The beast was on Samui before she could hope to do anything, far too fast for a genin to react. As thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity raced through the busty blonde, Samui collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Across the arena, her double dispersed into a burst of lightning.
From the edges of the arena, Genma approached and examined Samui closely. He must have been satisfied she was unconscious, for he raised his hand and declared, "The winner is Sasuki Uchiha."
The crowd roared in excitement, but she paid them no mind.
Sasuki panted, both exhausted and exhilarated from a great match. The Cloud kunoichi was a strong opponent. At first, she'd dismissed her due to the way Naruto looked at her. He saw Samui as a woman, just like he did Temari. But the truth was Samui was a skilled opponent, and Sasuki had loved the fight. Not to mention, she was curious about the term Samui had mentioned.
'Nin-Genjutsu, is that a ninjutsu technique with illusion aspects? That sounds interesting.'
It was fortuitous timing that Naruto had forced her into moving towards mending fences, because he was the first one she went to for advice on jutsu creation and unraveling techniques. If anyone could help her explore this interesting new possibility, it would be him.
'But I still haven't forgiven him.' Now, if only she could make herself believe that.
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Naruto was very impressed with Sasuki's fight with Samui. Both of them had shown advanced skills and planning beyond many genin. 'I'd heard of the Raikage's Nin-Taijutsu, but Nin-Genjutsu? Interesting. And Sasuki's Sharingan is sure advancing.' Being able to sense the minute shifts in chakra that indicated Samui's true position was a testament to Sasuki's growth.
Regardless of how she tried to hide it, Samui's chakra signature was condensed compared to the rest of the illusion. It was easy to see for him with his training and the fact he was standing still, but Sasuki had seen it in the midst of battle. Even if it was clear she didn't understand at first.
"Proctor, I'm withdrawing!"
He was startled out of his reflection by Kankuro's loud shout. Naruto looked at the Sand shinobi oddly. Why would he withdraw right now, after so much effort to get here? It didn't make a lick of sense. Sure, Shino wasn't the best opponent for a puppet user, but it wasn't a hopeless battle.
It didn't fit. He felt a tinge of something he couldn't quite place, like a hot burr in his sandal.
Naruto tried to shake that odd feeling away, as Sasuki emerged from the entrance. She strode right up to them; her gaze found his quickly. "You're helping me figure out how she infused illusions into a ninjutsu." Sasuki declared.
"You realize we have the Sharingan and just need eye contact to cast them, right?" He fired back with a snort of amusement.
But Sasuki wouldn't be deterred. "And you realize that thing can actually fool the Sharingan a bit. Not many could do that, and clearly pain doesn't break it. I wanna know how it works."
"Fine." He relented. "I was curious about it anyways."
Sakura chuckled. "It's good to have you two bantering again, I missed this." She said with an easy-going smile.
For a minute, everything was quiet and calm in the box. Naruto stood with his teammates in companionable silence. Then Genma shattered it.
"Next is the last match of the first round, Naruto Uchiha versus Gaara of the Sand."
A spike in killing intent slammed down on Naruto, though he easily shrugged it off, turning to glance at Gaara, who was trying to stare a hole through him. Their encounter from earlier came swimming to the surface.
'So, the little trash-panda mutt's container wants to play. This should be fun.' The nine-tails growled.
Naruto snorted in amusement at the fox's nickname for his fellow tailed beast. He turned to his teammates and grinned. "Well, see ya after I beat him."
With a casual wave, he disappeared, leaving no trace behind from his teleportation. He reappeared on the arena floor, much transformed since he'd first taken to it nearly an hour before. The numerous fights had torn the ground apart, left scorch marks and craters, and even gouged out slashes in the concrete wall.
Gaara arrived in his swirl of sand, the foul chakra of his tailed beast whipping about in an invisible hurricane. The cork on his gourd groaned ominously. In response, Naruto gripped the hilt of Senbonzakura tightly. As much as he tried to act confident and cheerful with his teammates, he realized this would be a tough fight. Their match had become far more important than just a competition to advance in rank. This was a battle of wills and philosophy.
Without taking his eyes off Gaara, he spoke to Genma. "You're gonna wanna get back before starting this thing." He warned.
"Duly noted." Genma replied with a smirk, the jonin took the advice, speeding to the edge of the boundary wall. With chakra augmenting his voice, the jonin shouted. "BEGIN!" before disappearing to the top of the wall.
Before the last syllable, Naruto whipped out Senbonzakura and unleashed the full might of his blade at the same time Gaara's sand raced from the gourd. Steel sand poured into the air in rivulets, forming a vast sea of glittering tendrils of sand as thick as an ox. The gleaming cloud drew gasps of awe, but Naruto was focused on the cloud of writhing sand that rose to meet it. The two clouds met, crashing, and tearing at each other like raging waves.
'I'll stay back for now, probe for openings. After all, I've got the advantage when it comes to manipulating form.' Naruto guided his sand swiftly, he sought to wrestle Gaara's sand into submission, all the while having small pieces break off in spikes and seek to spear through the smaller redhead. Every time, they were met by a small shield of sand.
Gritting his teeth, Naruto struggled against the slippery mass of sand. Even though it wasn't a physical struggle, his muscles were tensed and straining, and he could feel his chakra draining faster than it ever had. He had to pour extra chakra in to resist the sheer strength of Gaara's sand. 'Damn bastard is already using Shukaku's chakra.' It felt as if he was trying to wrangle the beast itself!
'A bit pathetic, do you wanna do the same?'
'No, I wanna see how I do, he hasn't transformed at all yet.' Naruto replied. Perhaps it was foolish, but his pride wouldn't let him accept help yet. He wanted to prove he could beat Gaara on his own.
He and Gaara battered each other's defenses, Tendrils branched out and crashed upon the main masses of sand and steel respectively.
Amidst the struggle, Naruto found himself distracted by something he was feeling on the edge of his sensing range, significant chakra signatures moving about the borders of the village, their strength ranging from chunin to jonin. 'What the hell is going on, are we running some kind of drill? Or did Gramps order that many guards?'
His distraction cost him. While he was distracted by the odd troop movements, a small tendril of Gaara's sand had slithered behind Naruto. At the last moment he sensed it as the sand snapped towards him.
On instinct, he activated a Flash Step to move thirty meters away, but not before receiving a gash to the back of his calf. "Dammit!" He cursed as his blood stained the ground.
"Mother wants your blood Uchiha. My existence will be proven!" Gaara shouted, his eyes wide and crazed as he tried to attack Naruto with a barrage of sand bullets.
Naruto used another Flash Step to dodge; his vision swam as he came out of it. He'd been using it more often than usual today, and it was taking its toll. Even his sharingan could only do so much to mitigate tunnel vision when he was trying to apply space-time to a teleportation.
Gaara was not dissuaded by the constant dodging. Like a shark smelling blood, he attacked with a renewed ferocity and madness. Naruto did his best to counter and dodge, trying his best not to lose ground.
Finally, he had enough of the stalemate. It was time to try something new. Naruto waved his arms and squeezed his fists, making his steel sand solidify into multiple huge kanabo that began to try and hammer against Gaara's sand defense. The redhead was forced to split his sand, part for defense, the other for attack.
The sharing kept track of the tendrils and waves of sand Gaara sent after him, allowing him to avoid them as he continued to press his attack.
Naruto let out a grunt of exertion as he tried to bash through Gaara's defenses. He had to find a way to not only get the defense dealt with, but also the offense. "But how?"
He dodged another tendril of sand and lashed out at it with a tendril of his own. Something odd caught his eye. Some of the grains of Gaara's silica based sand and his steel based mixed together, and his sand easily outmuscled and pinned down Gaara's. The steel weighed more than silica sand. A savage grin stretched across his face. 'That'll do.'
For an instant, he stopped dodging, focusing on his sand. The kanabo's burst apart, reforming into a massive drill that blocked out the sun and cast the arena floor into shadow.
"Try defending this, Gaara!" He shouted, sweeping his arm down. The oversized drill began to rotate as it fell, gaining velocity as it did. For the first time in the fight, he saw something besides anger in Gaara's face. Surprise.
The sheer mass of the drill forced Gaara to gather his sand into a dense shield in mid-air, at least ten feet thick if not more and reinforced with potent tailed-beast chakra.
A blast of air and sheer force burst out as the two masses met. There was a terrible screeching, as his metal attempted to bore into the sand that was hard as stone, sparks rained down, drawing fearful shrieks from the crowd. Neither one of them gained ground, the shield held firm, and the drill wasn't stopping. It felt like the clash would never end.
Naruto growled and forced even more chakra into his construct. Finally, something gave. A tiny trickle of sand slid off the shield, and that was all he needed.
In an instant, the tip of his drill collapsed and began to burrow into Gaara's sand. As the drill slowly disappeared into the shield, it turned a dark brown, and then a dull grey. For a moment, the sand held firm. Then clumps began to fall, ever increasing in speed and frequency.
"My sand! Mother, why are you abandoning me?" Gaara exclaimed in shock.
"Steel weighs more than sand, pay attention in chemistry dummy!" Naruto taunted. A white-blue blade of chakra emerged from Senbonzakura's hilt, and Naruto raced forward with a Flash Step.
He appeared in front of his enemy in a blur. Gaara's eyes widened in panic, his sand struggled to reach him, Naruto could feel it fighting fiercely. But it was too late.
Naruto's wind blade slashed forward, slicing into Gaara's shoulder as the redhead threw himself backwards. Crimson blood flowed from the wound.
For a moment, everything was silent. Then Gaara let loose a terrible scream as he stared at his wound in horror. "BLOOD, IT'S MY BLOOD!"
To Naruto's surprise, he felt a surge of force from Gaara's sand. He only had a millisecond to activate his incomplete Flash Step, before the sand sprang to the boy's defense. It slammed down right where Naruto would have been standing.
"What the hell, how'd it do that?" Naruto cursed. Though he was quickly distracted as white feathers began to fall on the stadium.
With his Sharingan, Naruto easily saw through and broke the illusion. But it wasn't the same for the crowd. One by one they slumped down into a deep sleep, even as the stadium devolved into chaos for shinobi. Explosions echoed in the distance. Sound and even Sand shinobi began pouring into the stadium, over the walls and through the entrances.
The invasion by the Sound and Sand had begun.
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Well, what did you think? This chapter had a lot of action, and Naruto gained a new understanding of Gaara's motivations. Now, he has an invasion to deal with!
Once again, I'd like to thank my patrons for the support. I want to continue growing as a writer and exploring new stories, and that's just making me enjoy my main ones even more. Chapter 55 is up on Pa treon right now, along with two chapters of a new Bleach/Naruto crossover Story, and two different version of a One Piece story.
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