Here we are. Thanks for the comments! It's about to go down this chapter, and then it's really really gonna go down next one. Basically the main event so far.

Naruto was having a hard time calming down after Hinata's fight. He was by far the loudest of everybody in the stadium cheering. Normally that was something that Tsunade would beat out of him. Except she'd taken his advice, and actually won a bet for once. She too, was standing up roaring, only being outmatched by Naruto's shouts.

The only two people in the crowd not cheering were Shizune and Jiraiya, though the latter had a big smile on his face. They both knew that Tsunade winning a bet was generally a bad omen. As happy as they were for Naruto and his teammate, they couldn't shake the bad feeling that they had in their mind.

Naruto was completely oblivious to them though, and kept up his loud shouting and clapping to the point where they nearly had to delay the next match because of him. Only the fact that Shino had his own opportunity made him settle down.

Shino's match was a masterclass in what being shinobi was truly about. The boy was not traditionally powerful, and anyone who didn't know of the Aburame would surely count him out compared to the others around him. He was quiet, to the point of almost being nonexistent in larger groups.

In Naruto's eyes though, he was something else. Loyal, observant, clever, and above all, deceptive. Fighting Shino was like trying to fight your own shadow. Just when you thought you had it, he slipped through your grasp. His movements were precise and his strategy was always sound. He knew what he was capable of and wouldn't over extend himself in an effort to be flashy or make something impossible happen. He just wore you down. That's exactly what he did to Kankuro.

The puppet user must've thought he'd taken Shino down at least three times, only to find that it was an insect clone. They both had elected to fight in the more forested area of the arena, knowing that hiding their presence was a big part of their styles. Shino was just a little better at it. He used the tree's and his bugs to the maximum of their potential, and eventually he exhausted Kankuro's chakra supply with his insects. He'd even survived a poison bomb and kept going, though he needed a medic after he was declared the winner. He probably had at least some immunity to the poison. The Aburame knew their stuff when it came to deceitful fighting.

Naruto once again cheered, albeit from his seat this time, as standing with a cast and a crutch was difficult. He beamed with pride. Technically Shino was on team 8, but Naruto considered his whole graduating class to be his teammates if he was being honest.

Kiba's fight was next, with Kin Tsuchi. He and Akamaru made their way to the arena floor with big smiles on their faces, but weren't greeted by genjutsu user from sound. After 10 minutes he was declared the winner, much to his dismay. He'd been itching to fight her. More than likely just for a fight in general, but at least he'd moved on to the next round.

That meant it was Sasuke's turn, and Naruto grew quiet in a sea of chaos as the crowd erupted. It was clear that the Uchiha was the main event for them, and even better that he was fighting the Kazekage's son. It had within it the potential to be one of the greatest Chunin exam fights they'd ever seen. That didn't ease Naruto's worry though. He had plenty of faith in Sasuke, but it only took one slip up to be grabbed by that sand. He'd been there. He'd experienced it. He'd feel better if Sasuke didn't have to go through it. Hopefully he wouldn't mess around and go right for his trump card. He obviously wouldn't be able to outlast Gaara in a battle of stamina, not without the amount of chakra he had.

Naruto rolled his eyes as Sasuke landed next to Genma, hands in his pockets, as if he was in line for ramen instead of about to fight an unstable jinchuuriki. His opponent appeared in a whisper of sand. Eyes cold, chakra boiling just beneath the surface.

"Will you be the one," Gaara said, "to prove my existence?"

Sasuke narrowed his dark eyes. "The only existence I care about is his. You're just a stepping stone for me. A pebble on my path to the mountain."

"You're just like the others. You will prove my existence. Mother will have your blood."

Sasuke's eyes swirled red. "Proctor. Start the fight."

Genma nodded and looked at Gaara. He received no response, as the redhead was staring down Sasuke. That was enough for him. His hand cut through the air, and he leapt back.

Immediately Sasuke snared Gaara in a genjutsu with his eyes. It was foolish of him to look into them in the first place. He flashed to the right, but the boy's head turned to follow him. His connection to the genjutsu was simply gone. He tried again, as Gaara was still staring at him. He paid closer attention this time, and felt it take hold, but as soon as it clicked into place it was just gone. That was odd, he didn't see him cause any physical pain, and didn't feel him flare his chakra either. It was like he was constantly defending against genjutsu without much effort. Annoying, but it explained why he was so willing to look into the sharingan.

Fine by him, genjutsu was never really his style anyway. He paused his sprint, and flicked through hand signs, ending in the tiger. A grand fireball erupted from his mouth, nearly white hot, and large enough to swallow the boy whole. He was an Uchiha, and this is what they wanted. He'd give them a show, before he ended the fight.

The sand rose as expected, and defended against the fire. The force of the techniques meeting made the ground rumble. The fire died, and the sand glowed red, but held easily. Sasuke shrugged internally, well aware that would be the result. The crowd roared, their Uchiha showing off the signature fire. He whipped out two kunai, throwing one with each hand straight for Gaara. Immediately, he grabbed and threw two shuriken out wide to wrap around the wall that would inevitably rise. The shuriken whistled through the air, curving around the building wall of sand. The kunai struck it and fell. The shuriken suffered the same fate, as two more walls rose, one on each side of Gaara.

This was nothing Sasuke hadn't expected or prepared for. Just because you knew something was going to happen though didn't mean you shouldn't test it for yourself. Gaara could have gotten faster in the previous month, just as he had. It seemed that was the case, however minor the change was. That also fell within his plans.

Gaara hadn't attacked yet, only defended, but Sasuke could tell that he was getting restless. It wouldn't be long before he went on the offense. Then the real fun would begin, and he would have a chance to taste revenge.

It wasn't more than a moment or two before Gaara began to send out his sand. Sasuke in his previous attacks, and maneuvered just close enough that it would entice Gaara. Now, as large tendrils of it came racing after him, he did what his pride had long since decided wasn't worth his time. He retreated.

His training for the last month certainly hadn't gone to waste. His speed was vicious with his elevated chakra control. Paired with his fully matured base sharingan, dodging the sand as he moved further and further away was little more than child's play.

He finished his barrage of dodges by backhand springing up onto the wall of the arena. He stuck there on the side, crouched down, and took in the arena with his famed dojutsu. Gaara's sand didn't follow him, but it hovered near the base where he'd leapt from. The rocks and ninja tools from Hinata's fight all registered all at once to him. He saw Naruto, sitting front row, with the rest of their class that hadn't passed. Hinata in the competitors booth with those that did. Neji had returned at some point. All of it flashed into his brain in a split second. Gaara moved for the first time, and his sharingan filled him with the new information it collected.

The redheaded boy in the middle of the arena uncrossed his arms. He seemed to be interrupted by a flash of pain, his hand coming up to press against his eye, and Sasuke's eyes picked up the surge of chakra within him. Gaara soon recovered, and his hands came together in a single seal, and the sand retracted itself as if called by him. This was a surprise to Sasuke, and hurt the chances of his strategy working. Or so he thought, until he saw the Sand rise into a sphere surrounding the boy. It was a few inches thick, and laden with dense chakra. An ultimate defense. Good thing he had a jutsu that could cut through anything.

As he smiled to himself, he saw a small portion of sand coalesce into an eye, hovering far above the dome. The chakra it linked to told him that it would be Gaara's only way to determine what was going on outside his shield. He'd have to take a page out of Naruto's book to take care of that.

Sasuke laxed his chakra, and slid smoothly down the wall. Slowly walking towards Gaara, he circulated his chakra, warming up his system. He paused, and put his hands into a plus sign. He'd seen Naruto do it a thousand times, and his eyes had long since snagged the jutsu from him. This was the first time since his chakra had developed enough that he'd felt like he truly needed it though.

His clone took off to the side, out of sight, out of mind. He knew he could trust it to do its job though. It was time for all his hard work to pay off. He thought about the time that a thunderstorm had overtaken the village. He'd been 7 at the time. The thunder scared him. He'd run to his brother, knowing his father wouldn't tolerate the weakness. Itachi said it was okay, that everything would be alright. He poked him in the forehead, the way Sasuke had always hated. Before he could complain to his big brother, a massive bolt of lightning struck the top of the gate to the compound. Perhaps it had been an omen.

He channeled the rage the memory brought up, compressed it down in his core with his chakra. He combined it with the feeling of that hugely powerful force of nature striking down. He precisely flowed through hand signs. There were only three seals, but his chakra became dangerously active. He grabbed onto his left wrist to stabilize it, and poured chakra into his palm. The air smelled of ozone, and the hair all over his body stood on end. Lightning chakra began to crackly and gather in his hand, until it sounded like the birds the jutsu was named after.

He spoke only one word, but he spoke it with conviction.

"Chidori!"

And then he rushed the Jinchuuriki of the One Tailed Beast.

—-

Naruto watched as his best friend used first his own signature jutsu, and then Kakashi-sensei's original jutsu. The power was palpable from where he was sitting, even with his sensory ability dulled.

He was too nervous to be outwardly proud though. He knew that this was the moment that would decide the fight. He was sitting forward on the edge of his seat, his hand gripping his crutch tightly. He briefly heard Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei discussing the technique, perhaps explaining it to the others, but he paid it no mind.

Time seemed to slow down as Sasuke took off sprinting. He was noticeably faster than his already improved speed. As he streaked across the ground, the lightning built up in his hand tore a trench through it. It destroyed dirt, rocks, sand, everything in its path.

Sand began jutting out from him in lances from Gaara's sphere. That was when Sasuke's shadow clone revealed its reason for existence. High up in the air, streaking through it was the second Sasuke. Was that lightning crackling around him? It was hard to tell, but he was moving fast. Really fast. He was headed straight for the eye of sand that Gaara had created. He didn't necessarily have to destroy it, only block it's view.

The eye bobbed and weaved as the clone came for it. A burst of fire left its mouth, wide angled and slow. Just before the clone entered its own flames, something slipped out of it's hand.

As the real Sasuke began strafing through the sand attacks, the clone's fire enveloped the eye. It wouldn't destroy it, it wasn't even a strong attack compared to the first one he'd used. It would block it's line of sight though. The flames dissipated quickly, but the object was soon revealed to be a smoke bomb. It burst in mid air and hovered.

The plan was definitely working. As the eye's sight was blocked, the sand around became less of a threat. Every footstep that made contact, the sand would rush at that spot. By the time it got there it was only spearing empty air, rather than the speeding Uchiha. It was now entirely reactive to his touch.

He was only 3 steps away now, a distance he could cover in a near instant. As his foot touched the ground, and his chakra blasted through it, his sharingan showed him what would happen. The precognition of the dojutsu was perhaps it's most valuable asset, even more so than the ability to copy jutsu. He was the chakra shift and the sand, saw the way it would spear out in hundreds of spikes right at him to try and counter his rush. Yet another smirk appeared on his face.

His next move was more of a lunge than a step or a sprint. His right foot came into contact with the ground, chakra rushing through it just like all the previous steps. This time though, he used it to launch himself at a near 45 degree angle to the left. He'd made it all the way to the side of the sphere. Out of the danger of the sand spikes.

His left foot planted hard, and his whole body rotated. Like throwing his most powerful punch, but with his hand as a blade. The lightning crackled as it crossed into his field of vision, nearly cutting off his eyesight. The sand was now rushing towards him. It wouldn't make it in time to stop him. He was too fast while wielding the chidori.

His hand met the sand, and the lack of resistance was nearly a shock to him. Even when he'd been training for the technique, the rocks he'd been using it on had felt tougher than this. The lightning sheathed hand slipped through unimpeded. This was it. He'd put the jutsu right through Gaara, and make him pay. He would give the Sand genin what he deserved, for hurting his friend. For crippling his brother.

The lightning parted the sand as if it was in control of it, but when the part of his hand covered in chakra slipped all the way through, he slowed abruptly. Now that there was no chakra to dissuade the sand, it clamped onto his arm tight, jarring his shoulder.

His momentum carried him though, and he gritted his teeth to keep it going. His hand struck something and buried itself a few inches deep before he was brought to a halt. He let the lightning chakra rip its way back up his arm to his shoulder, breaking him free from the sand. The sand spears were on him now, and one clipped his thigh before he leapt back quickly, once again out of the reach of the sand.

All of it happened in an instant, and Naruto watched with a horror and fascination growing in his eyes. The moment Sasuke landed from his retreat, a brutal, blood curdling scream cut through the air. It was coming from Gaara's sand sphere.

"What is this…" Naruto's chakra enhanced hearing heard. "Blood?… IT'S MY BLOOD!?" His voice was different now. Crazed. Like he barely had control over it.

"YOU WILL NOT ERASE MY EXISTENCE. I WON'T ALLOW IT. MOTHER WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD!"

That didn't sound good. The sand receded from its sphere around Gaara and began swirling around him. His right shoulder had a chunk of sand over it, almost like a bandage. As he watched, Naruto saw it grow steadily, covering his entire arm. It continued to grow in volume, turning into a massive clawed arm of sand, with dark blue marks swirling across it. Naruto tried to focus on what was happening, but feathers began to dance across his vision, and he grew unusually tired.

Then all hell broke loose.

Then genjutsu flooding Naruto's system was a powerful one. A-rank without a doubt. Spreading it over the crowd made it easier to break though, the user's hold wouldn't be that as secure as normal. It took Naruto a considerable effort to summon the chakra and control to break it. Under normal circumstances what he was able to use wouldn't be enough, but his chakra had a potency rarely seen in the shinobi world. His chakra expelled the foreign breach in his system, and the world sharpened into a horrifying clarity.

Fights were beginning to break out across the arena. The Leaf's ANBU and higher level shinobi were trying to protect the unconscious civilians and lower level shinobi. He turned to Jiraiya and Tsunade. Shizune was already up and gone. The Sannin were discussing the plan. As they talked, a purple barrier went up on the roof of a building, one very near to the Hokage tower. In the center of the arena, Sasuke was circling Gaara slowly, trying to find an opening. The red head was holding his head with his hand, clearly suffering from a massive headache. As he watched, Hinata joined Sasuke in the arena. His team. They needed him.

"Pervy Sage. Remove the seal." Naruto said, holding up his blue shirt. He was trying his best to sound authoritative and certain.

"What?" Jiraiya said.

"Absolutely not, Naruto." Tsunade said. "We don't know what the consequences of the chakra will be."

Naruto should his head and flexed his fist. "It. Doesn't. Matter." He said. "My team is down there fighting a jinchuuriki and what good am I as the Leaf's if I can't help them! How can I be the Hokage and protect the village if I CAN'T EVEN PROTECT MY FRIENDS!" His anger was burning dangerously hot.

"You have to listen to her, Naruto. It could ruin your limbs permanently."

Naruto growled at him. Actually growled. "The Hokage, your sensei, is under attack. The village is under attack. There's a jinchuuriki running loose" a giant crash interrupted him, and a massive three headed snake could be seen breaking down one of the walls. "And there's a fucking Snake destroying our walls. The village needs me. Remove the seal or I'll go down there with it on, and probably die!" The last words barely escaped his mouth as he yelled his voice hoarse and ran out of breath. He heaved to try and catch, staring at Jiraiya in both anger and desperation.

Jiraiya took a moment to consider it, but a moment was all he had. He held up his hand. "Five pronged Seal—"

"Jiraiya no!" Tsunade argued.

"It's his decision Tsunade, and he's my charge." He sounded sorrowful. "Besides, he's right. He'll just go get himself killed if I don't. He's beaten worse odds before." Jiraiya said. He looked Naruto in his eyes, spending one last precious moment to communicate years of their bond. And then he struck Naruto with his jutsu.

The pain wasn't quite blinding, but it was a shock to his system nonetheless. The force of Jiraiya striking him lifted him off the ground, and his body folded slightly around his stomach. He began to fall backwards, and as he did he felt it. The rush of chakra. His chakra. The Nine Tails' chakra. Then the signatures of everybody around him.

The sheer amount of information flowing into him overloaded his senses, and he lost consciousness before he hit the ground.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Naruto woke up on his back. But he was in the arena anymore. He was in a foot of water. He was his within his seal. A growl came from behind the bars.

Shorter chapter because the next chapter will probably be long, but I wanted the invasion to be the start of a chapter, rather than start it this chapter and then stop in the middle of it or make this one super long.

As always, thank you for the all the follows, comments and favorites. The story is currently at 641 followers and 486 favorites. Almost 500! I really didn't expect this for my first story so I really appreciate all the love it's received. I know there's a lot of stuff that can be fixed but I hope my writing is getting better as we move on! Only a few chapters left until the time skip!