Chapter 19 - Chapter 19: The invasion had begun

Naruto watched with narrowed eyes as chaos seemed to make its presence known across the whole stadium in just a moment. 'No doubt about it. The invasion has begun. And most probably, this is not the only place that is being attacked. Oto and Suna shinobi would most likely be attacking the most vulnerable areas as well….like the academy.' His eyes narrowed at the last thought in silent anger.

It was a perfect strategy to kickstart Konoha's destruction. If they attack the foundation of shinobi in the village, the field where the future generation of shinobi were born and bred, Konoha would be absolutely crippled. The amount of time it would take to recover from such an attack would be so long that it wasn't even funny.

'I really hope ero-sennin is still in village. For now though, I have other things to concentrate on.' He sensed foreign chakra in his system, a genjutsu settling on him, trying to put him to sleep. A quick pulse of his chakra shattered the genjutsu, and just in time too. His danger sense rang in alarm, alerting him of a threat behind his back. He didn't need to turn around to find out what it was, he already knew.

Just as the arm of sand reached him, red lightning wildly danced around his body. Naruto ducked right under it, and spun on his heel, thrusting his right palm right into Gaara's chest. Only then he got a good look at what Gaara had transformed into.

His right arm had transformed into a giant claw of sand, which had purple lines, looking suspiciously like seal markings. His gourd seemed to have melted into sand, having spread over his right arm and his back. A huge tail had formed on his back, which Naruto deduced had enough swing force behind it to smack someone right into unconsciousness. Naruto then saw where he had struck and smirked. Gaara's chest was uncovered by the sand, exposed for all to strike.

He amped up the lightning, causing lightning to streak across Gaara's body. Gaara roared in pain, his muscles spasming and contracting against his will. On instinct, his tail swung around with devastating force to strike Naruto away. Naruto neatly backflipped away, and was up in his stance immediately, his Hiraishin kuni held in both hands, reverse grip.

The shock of Naruto's lightning was enough to throw Gaara back several feet, light burns appearing on the places that weren't shielded by his sand. Gaara sat up groaning, putting both of his hands on either side of his head. Naruto knew well enough what was going on, and this was his chance to stop it. Just as he was about to rush at Gaara, four figures dropped between the two of them, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes. The eyes narrowed further when two more figures jumped right in front of him.

Sasuke saw the genjutsu and easily dispelled it, wondering what the hell was going on. He then set his eyes on the arena, seeing Naruto face off against all the three siblings?

Sasuke frowned, looking around. The entire population of the audience seemed to have fallen asleep, most likely the result of a genjutsu. Looking back at the field, he made a split-second decision and jumped off, landing right in front of Naruto and dropping into his stance. 'I may not know what is going on, but I'll be dammed if I let you fight all of them alone! You already have stolen one of my fights, I won't let you do it again!'

Genma was not entirely surprised when the invasion began. The senior shinobi had been briefed upon the invasion by the Sandaime, so they already had their orders on what to do. Genma looked at Naruto, who was in a fighting stance against the sand siblings and a jonin, most likely their sensei. He chewed on the senbon he always kept in his mouth. 'Considering what I've seen up until now, Naruto could easily hold his own against those. But it's better not to take chances!'

He jumped in front of Naruto as well, noting with slight surprise that the Uchiha arrived as well. 'Good, I wouldn't mind some extra backup, especially an Uchiha.' He took his stance as well, facing the four sand shinobi.

Baki sweated a bit as he looked at his opponents. A jonin of Konoha, one who he could likely take on and win, but he wasn't sure if his students could win against the other two.

He wasn't that much worried about the Uchiha. While he had won his fight in the prelims, he had shown nothing special over there. If Temari and Kankuro were to team up, they could likely defeat him. But it was the blonde that he was most worried about.

The cold, azure eyes that reminded him of a legendary shinobi of the past. Those eyes contained no mercy, only cold deadliness that could kill you in the blink of an eye. Uzumaki Naruto had just become a major obstacle in their plans. With the Hiraishin no jutsu, Namikaze Minato had finished off a thousand of Iwa's shinobi in mere seconds, single-handedly securing Konoha's victory of the third great shinobi war. Baki had no doubt that his son could do the same. He had almost defeated Gaara, and would likely have if the signal for the invasion hadn't been given and he hadn't interfered. They would have to tread carefully.

Looking back at Gaara, he noted the various burns on him that were healing slowly, but surely. A bad sign, considering that the redhead was clutching his head, no doubt fighting an inner debate. "Temari, Kankuro," he spoke in a low voice. Once he had their attention, he said, "Gaara's a vital part of the invasion. But right now, he can't fight. Take him to a secure place until he heals and recovers his chakra. Once he is fully recovered, resume your mission."

Kankuro nodded and picked Gaara up, "Understood." Temari nervously glanced at the opposing side, specifically at Naruto. For the last two days, she had spent most of her time thinking on what she would do if she and Naruto faced each other in the invasion. After much thought and deliberation, she had come to the conclusion that she won't be able to bring herself to kill Naruto. Her feelings for the blonde were only growing. She pushed back her tears on seeing him now; his eyes were colder than what they had been two days ago. She could see no hesitation in them, only iron-hard resolve.

Kankuro nudged her, "Let's go, Temari." Steeling her own resolve, she nodded and they both jumped over the stadium walls, heading into the forests of Konoha.

Genma made a sound of irritation, and slightly turned his head to address the two genin. He didn't know why this decision made sense, but he had no choice. Kakashi had already issued his orders to him. The nerve of that cyclops…

"Uchiha Sasuke," he spoke in a serious tone, drawing the attention of the said Uchiha. "You have been said to be above your peers, so I'm going to assume that you are chunin level already." He was interrupted by a smirking Sasuke.

"You want me to pursue them and defeat Gaara, right?"

Genma nodded. He hated sending genin, who he didn't even know the level of, after a murderous, homicidal psychopath who was also a jinchuriki. But orders were orders, after all. "Try to hold out as long as you can. I'll send backup as soon as I can!"

Sasuke snorted. "Backup won't be necessary. I'll defeat them!" He shot Naruto a challenging look before jumping after the three siblings over the wall.

Naruto watched as his teammate disappeared over the wall. Arrogant, impulsive idiot. Not dropping his guard, he addressed the proctor. "Genma-san, was it a good idea to send him alone to fight an unstable jinchuriki? Particularly when he has no backup?"

Genma replied, "Sorry kid, but I had no other choice at the moment. Kakashi already gave me orders to send you to him once the invasion begins! Report to him for your assignment immediately!"

Naruto did not like the situation at all, but could do little about it. Nodding, he immediately located Kakashi's marker and flashed away, leaving Genma and Baki to face off. Genma began in his usual lazy drawl, "You guys have a lot of nerve, attacking us like you did."

Baki scoffed as he pulled out a kunai, "Less talk, more fighting, tree hugger."

XXXXXXX

Kakashi was keeping a close eye on his surroundings, and couldn't help but worry when Sasuke leapt off in pursuit of the siblings. Naruto would have been a way better choice, but he had not counted Sasuke's disqualification as a part of his plans. He could only hope Sasuke remained alive until backup arrived. 'Backup….now that's an idea.'

He was posted for protection duty. He was to ensure that the civilians were safely transported to safety under the protection of the ANBU. He looked over to the arena, and saw Naruto nodding at something that Genma said and vanishing a moment later. That was perhaps the only reason he did not jump in surprise when Naruto suddenly appeared beside him.

"Naruto, you are working with me today, if only temporarily. The forces would soon be swarming in the stadium any moment. The ANBU are clearing the stadium of the civilians. We will be tackling the forces inside the stadium."

Naruto nodded seriously. "Was it really a good idea to send Sasuke after those three instead of me, sensei?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. He had already questioned himself that plenty of time already. "Not really, but I'm hoping he would be able to hold out until I send you after him. Now pay attention! The first of the forces are coming!"

Indeed, the sand and the sound shinobi had started entering the stadium. Naruto narrowed his eyes and made a half ram sign. Kakashi watched curiously as a shadow clone popped into existence, with the same seriousness on his face. He watched as Naruto pulled out a scroll from his right hip pouch and handed it over to the clone. "You know what to do."

The clone nodded and vanished a moment later. Kakashi turned serious, "What was that you gave to your clone, Naruto? And where is he going?"

Naruto gave him a smirk, "Don't worry, sensei. Just a little help for our dear Hokage."

Kakashi narrowed his eye, but let it go. He trusted Naruto not to do anything stupid in this situation. "Alright, I'll trust you on this one. But first, you engage them with Gai. I'll join you in a moment and tell you when you have to go!"

Naruto nodded and almost flinched when Gai appeared by his side. "Yosh! Let's go, Naruto! We'll show them the consequences of their unyouthfulness!"

Naruto just muttered, "Hai, whatever you say."

The two of them vanished, appearing on the battlefield. Kakashi looked around; the ANBU were engaging the shinobi on the stands, providing cover for panicking civilians to escape and head to the shelters. He easily dealt with the two shinobi that were headed his way, slitting their throats within a minute. He looked over the stands, trying to find where his pink haired student had crawled off to. He spotted her in the very back, and smiled. She had dragged the entirety of team 10 with her in the back, in the hopes that they won't be discovered. He had to give it her; the girl had grown some balls to be able to get her comrades into a safe zone in the middle of the enemy.

He stealthily made his way to her. "Sakura!" He was immensely proud when she immediately turned to face him, a kunai in hand. She immediately lowered the kunai. "Kakashi-sensei! Don't scare me like that!"

Kakashi eye smiled, but then turned serious when Sakura asked him. "Sensei? Do you know where Sasuke-kun and Naruto are?"

Kakashi contemplated on what to tell her. "I know where Naruto is right now, but you don't worry about him right now. As for Sasuke, I've got a mission for you."

Sakura blinked, "A mission?"

XXXXXXX

Hiruzen took note of the feathers falling as he turned his head towards the Kazekage. The other man took the same action and as their eyes met, a smoke bomb exploded on the balcony hiding them from view. The Hokage's attendant yelled for him to run but it was too late as a kunai buried itself in his chest. The Kazekage leapt to the roof with the Hokage under his arm and a kunai to the old man's throat. A team of ANBU darted after them but had to turn as the Kazekage's attendants appeared behind them. With a quick slice the two men became four, but the pieces of the bodies didn't drop as they tossed off their cloaks, revealing four teens. The four now exposed Oto-nin quickly flashed through seals before pushing their palms out and naming their collaboration jutsu. "Shishienjin!"

A purple wall came into existence in front of them, taking the shape of a cubic barrier. An ANBU was about to test the barrier when the voice of the ANBU captain rang out.

"Don't touch the shield, or you will burn!" he said to the ANBU standing by his side.

"But taicho, what about Hokage-sama?!"

The captain grit his teeth and looked at the four Oto-nin holding up the barrier. He was not a fool; whatever was going to happen inside the barrier, it would likely be something big and dangerous enough to kill the hokage. If he attacked the Oto shinobi, there was a chance that the danger inside the barrier would be unleashed onto the village. He could not take that chance.

Not to mention, the four nin had secondary barriers around themselves, the function of which they were unaware of. He had no idea how to release either of the barriers. Their odds were very, very bad.

"Guess we'll have to have some faith in our Hokage….."

XXXXXXX

The clone watched from his hidden perch with calculative days as a purple barrier went up on the roof of the building of the Kage box. "So they decided to use that barrier…not bad," he mused as the barrier went up as tall as almost four hundred feet.

"Good thing the old man already has a mark on him. Otherwise, doing this would have been almost impossible," he remarked to himself as he flashed away.

XXXXXXX

Hiruzen glared at the smirking form of his former student. He had entirely expected this to happen, so he had worn his battle robes under his hokage robes.

"Orochimaru…..," He whispered, ready for any trick his student might pull. Orochimaru noticed this and chuckled.

"It seems you expected all of this sensei. It didn't miss my attention that the Konoha shinobi were rather, unusually tense."

Orochimaru looked at the old, but determined form of his sensei and almost chuckled. Did he really think he would win against him today? He was already pushing himself at the age of seventy, which was no age to be exerting yourself as a shinobi. Not to mention, he had a guaranteed success, with his newest ace in the hole.

Orochimaru smirked deviously, "Do you think you can defeat me at your age, sensei?"

Hiruzen ignored the taunt and said, "This time you went really far, Orochimaru. It was my greatest mistake to let you escape that day, but no more. Today, you will die, even if I have to take you with me."

Orochimaru asked curiously, "Where is all this courage coming from, sensei?"

Hiruzen was stoic and instantly replied, "This is….my will of fire. As long as it burns strong within me, I can guarantee your defeat. You can never defeat someone whose will of fire burns strong."

Orochimaru chuckled, which turned into a full laugh, "What courage you display in the face of your death, sensei. But today, I'll show you just how weak your will of fire is, that is, when I extinguish it and raze this village to ashes."

Hiruzen glared at him, and was about to attack when something flashed blue in his peripheral vision. He almost fell due to surprise. "Naruto! What are you doing here?!"

His heartbeat increased rapidly as he saw the blonde standing right beside him inside the barrier, facing Orochimaru. Before he could enter the state of outright panic, Naruto raised a hand. "Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I'm just a clone."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes curiously as he set his eyes upon the blonde mystery that was Uzumaki Naruto. When he had first encountered the genin in the forbidden forest, he had been slightly impressed that the boy had been able to kill his summons with complete ease. Not only that, but he had formed an impressive tag team with the youngest Uchiha and managed to put him on the ropes. Now one month later, he had been surprised by the blonde, yet again, when he managed to learn to learn and apparently, master the incredibly difficult and complex Hiraishin no jutsu, the jutsu that earned the Yondaime his name of 'Yellow Flash'. He then proceeded to best a Hyuga in taijutsu, and utterly humiliate him. Not only that, but he managed to completely turn the tables on a jinchuriki, without using his own bijuu chakra.

Here was a dangerous combination of genius, power and skill, that too at such a young age. Even Itachi hadn't shown such abilities at this age, and that guy was right up there with Orochimaru and the Yondaime in terms of being a genius.

Right now, he curiously watched the interaction between his former sensei and the genin. Perhaps he was here to offer some help to the old fool?

Hiruzen almost sagged in relief that the Naruto beside him was just a clone. No matter how powerful and talented Naruto was for his age, he was not ready to deal with the likes of Orochimaru just yet. "So why are you here?"

The clone then pulled out a scroll and held it out to the old leader. "Prime sent me to give you this."

Hiruzen accepted the scroll with a raised eyebrow. Most probably, 'prime' was the original Naruto. "What is it?"

The clone smiled, "Some reinforcements, just in case. Use it only when things really get out of hand. Remember," he gave a look so serious that Hiruzen thought he might as well be looking at one of his senior jonin, "Prime is counting on you to use it, Hokage-sama. Don't disappoint him."

The clone then vanished in a poof of smoke, leaving an amused Hokage, despite the situation he was in. Tucking the scroll securely on his waist, he turned to his equally amused student. He settled into the Sarutobi clan's taijutsu stance. "Shall we begin then, my wayward student?"

XXXXXXX

Back down in the arena, it was a bloodbath. Suna and Oto shinobi were on the ground, either dead or knocked out. But mostly dead. Gai and Naruto had almost been like a force of hurricane. Gai had tore through the forces with his powerful taijutsu, breaking bones and ending lives with only one or two hits.

Naruto on the other hand, decided not to use the Hiraishin, instead choosing to rely on his flash step. With his tri-pronged kunai coated in wind chakra, combined with his speed, almost nobody escaped his slash. He also made full use of his ability of a slower perception. He was flash stepping across the whole arena so fast that even a blur was difficult to spot. In a single flash step, Naruto would sometimes slash two enemies simultaneously, ending their lives in an instant. In a few seconds, it would be all over and a new group of shinobi would enter the arena, only to suffer the same fate as their dead comrades.

"This is getting kind of boring…..," Naruto muttered as he ended the life of another Oto shinobi. This was the third batch he and Gai had taken care of, and Naruto was not impressed, at all. No shinobi was able to counter his speed; before they could even begin thinking of a counter, Naruto would catch them off-guard in their blind-spot and slash! Dead. Everyone moved almost painfully slow for him to kill. "I wonder if this is how dad felt, being the fastest man alive."

"Naruto!" Naruto turned around to catch the challenging grin of Gai-sensei. "How many?"

Naruto internally sighed at how hyper the man was. He really did not see how one could be so hyped after killing so many shinobi. Still, he would humor the guy. "Sixty-eight," he replied after going over it in his mind for a second.

The reaction from Gai caused him to flinch in alarm. Gai cried tears as he held up a fist, "OH! IT SEEMS I HAVE BEEN BESTED IN COUNT!"

Naruto looked at Gai as if he had started speaking Latin. Since when had this become a freaking competition?! He slowly started freaking out as Gai began to make absurd promises of how he would do 5000 push-ups if he lost again. If he couldn't do that, he would run 500 laps around the village on his hands. If he couldn't do that-

"Alright, that's enough Gai!" Kakashi's voice came as he jumped his way towards them. Kakashi landed right next to Naruto, who was blinking as if coming out of a trance. Kakashi gazed at Naruto with slight concern; working with Gai for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. He knew that from firsthand experience.

Leaning down a bit, he whispered in Naruto's ear, "You okay?"

That seemed to do the trick, as Naruto shook his head to clear it, probably from the excess youthfulness. "Thanks," he murmured, but quickly added, "But don't think we are good. I'm still upset with you."

Kakashi nodded to himself. He would have to correct his mistake with Naruto once this was all over. "We'll talk later then."

Naruto nodded, putting his kunai back in his pouch. "So what am I doing now?"

Kakashi first asked him, "Can you really handle the Ichibi as you are now? How much chakra have you left?"

Naruto chuckled and patted his stomach with a fist, "Don't underestimate me, Kakashi-sensei. I've yet to fully spend even a quarter of my total reserves. I will manage. Now where am I going?"

Kakashi smirked under his mask. 'He really does have ridiculous reserves of chakra,' he mentally whistled. Outwardly, he spoke, "You are a sensor, right? Sasuke went in pursuit of the sand siblings, so as a backup, I sent Sakura and Shikamaru to track him down with the aid of my summon, Pakkun. Shikamaru probably had pursuers, so you'll meet him on your way to Sasuke. Meet up with him, track them down, and stop the Ichibi from rampaging the village."

Naruto nodded, "Roger that."

He placed two fingers on the ground and in just two seconds, he had the location of Shikamaru locked on his sensory radar. "Got you," he whispered. He stood up and leapt up to jump over the stadium wall.

Kakashi sighed and turned to Gai, who looked like he was about to burst with joy upon seeing Naruto go. Before he could open his mouth, Kakashi pointed behind him towards the oncoming shinobi. He rushed past him and killed the first sound ninja. "Concentrate Gai, otherwise you'll lose to me as well."

Probably one of his many bad ideas, but really, who was counting?

His instinct alerted him to something approaching at high speed, but not at him. It was approaching at the squad of enemy forces. He watched, fascinated, as a highly compressed ball of impacted right between the shinobi forces. It exploded with the compressed wind with great force, easily taking out seven of the enemy shinobi. Kakashi looked up with his sharingan to see Naruto standing on the wall, a smirk on his face. With a two-fingered salute, he was gone in a flash-step.

"YOSH! LET'S GO WITH OUR YOUTH AT FULL POWER!"

Yup, one of his bad ideas.

Naruto watched with narrowed eyes as chaos seemed to make its presence known across the whole stadium in just a moment. 'No doubt about it. The invasion has begun. And most probably, this is not the only place that is being attacked. Oto and Suna shinobi would most likely be attacking the most vulnerable areas as well….like the academy.' His eyes narrowed at the last thought in silent anger.

It was a perfect strategy to kickstart Konoha's destruction. If they attack the foundation of shinobi in the village, the field where the future generation of shinobi were born and bred, Konoha would be absolutely crippled. The amount of time it would take to recover from such an attack would be so long that it wasn't even funny.

'I really hope ero-sennin is still in village. For now though, I have other things to concentrate on.' He sensed foreign chakra in his system, a genjutsu settling on him, trying to put him to sleep. A quick pulse of his chakra shattered the genjutsu, and just in time too. His danger sense rang in alarm, alerting him of a threat behind his back. He didn't need to turn around to find out what it was, he already knew.

Just as the arm of sand reached him, red lightning wildly danced around his body. Naruto ducked right under it, and spun on his heel, thrusting his right palm right into Gaara's chest. Only then he got a good look at what Gaara had transformed into.

His right arm had transformed into a giant claw of sand, which had purple lines, looking suspiciously like seal markings. His gourd seemed to have melted into sand, having spread over his right arm and his back. A huge tail had formed on his back, which Naruto deduced had enough swing force behind it to smack someone right into unconsciousness. Naruto then saw where he had struck and smirked. Gaara's chest was uncovered by the sand, exposed for all to strike.

He amped up the lightning, causing lightning to streak across Gaara's body. Gaara roared in pain, his muscles spasming and contracting against his will. On instinct, his tail swung around with devastating force to strike Naruto away. Naruto neatly backflipped away, and was up in his stance immediately, his Hiraishin kuni held in both hands, reverse grip.

The shock of Naruto's lightning was enough to throw Gaara back several feet, light burns appearing on the places that weren't shielded by his sand. Gaara sat up groaning, putting both of his hands on either side of his head. Naruto knew well enough what was going on, and this was his chance to stop it. Just as he was about to rush at Gaara, four figures dropped between the two of them, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes. The eyes narrowed further when two more figures jumped right in front of him.

Sasuke saw the genjutsu and easily dispelled it, wondering what the hell was going on. He then set his eyes on the arena, seeing Naruto face off against all the three siblings?

Sasuke frowned, looking around. The entire population of the audience seemed to have fallen asleep, most likely the result of a genjutsu. Looking back at the field, he made a split-second decision and jumped off, landing right in front of Naruto and dropping into his stance. 'I may not know what is going on, but I'll be dammed if I let you fight all of them alone! You already have stolen one of my fights, I won't let you do it again!'

Genma was not entirely surprised when the invasion began. The senior shinobi had been briefed upon the invasion by the Sandaime, so they already had their orders on what to do. Genma looked at Naruto, who was in a fighting stance against the sand siblings and a jonin, most likely their sensei. He chewed on the senbon he always kept in his mouth. 'Considering what I've seen up until now, Naruto could easily hold his own against those. But it's better not to take chances!'

He jumped in front of Naruto as well, noting with slight surprise that the Uchiha arrived as well. 'Good, I wouldn't mind some extra backup, especially an Uchiha.' He took his stance as well, facing the four sand shinobi.

Baki sweated a bit as he looked at his opponents. A jonin of Konoha, one who he could likely take on and win, but he wasn't sure if his students could win against the other two.

He wasn't that much worried about the Uchiha. While he had won his fight in the prelims, he had shown nothing special over there. If Temari and Kankuro were to team up, they could likely defeat him. But it was the blonde that he was most worried about.

The cold, azure eyes that reminded him of a legendary shinobi of the past. Those eyes contained no mercy, only cold deadliness that could kill you in the blink of an eye. Uzumaki Naruto had just become a major obstacle in their plans. With the Hiraishin no jutsu, Namikaze Minato had finished off a thousand of Iwa's shinobi in mere seconds, single-handedly securing Konoha's victory of the third great shinobi war. Baki had no doubt that his son could do the same. He had almost defeated Gaara, and would likely have if the signal for the invasion hadn't been given and he hadn't interfered. They would have to tread carefully.

Looking back at Gaara, he noted the various burns on him that were healing slowly, but surely. A bad sign, considering that the redhead was clutching his head, no doubt fighting an inner debate. "Temari, Kankuro," he spoke in a low voice. Once he had their attention, he said, "Gaara's a vital part of the invasion. But right now, he can't fight. Take him to a secure place until he heals and recovers his chakra. Once he is fully recovered, resume your mission."

Kankuro nodded and picked Gaara up, "Understood." Temari nervously glanced at the opposing side, specifically at Naruto. For the last two days, she had spent most of her time thinking on what she would do if she and Naruto faced each other in the invasion. After much thought and deliberation, she had come to the conclusion that she won't be able to bring herself to kill Naruto. Her feelings for the blonde were only growing. She pushed back her tears on seeing him now; his eyes were colder than what they had been two days ago. She could see no hesitation in them, only iron-hard resolve.

Kankuro nudged her, "Let's go, Temari." Steeling her own resolve, she nodded and they both jumped over the stadium walls, heading into the forests of Konoha.

Genma made a sound of irritation, and slightly turned his head to address the two genin. He didn't know why this decision made sense, but he had no choice. Kakashi had already issued his orders to him. The nerve of that cyclops…

"Uchiha Sasuke," he spoke in a serious tone, drawing the attention of the said Uchiha. "You have been said to be above your peers, so I'm going to assume that you are chunin level already." He was interrupted by a smirking Sasuke.

"You want me to pursue them and defeat Gaara, right?"

Genma nodded. He hated sending genin, who he didn't even know the level of, after a murderous, homicidal psychopath who was also a jinchuriki. But orders were orders, after all. "Try to hold out as long as you can. I'll send backup as soon as I can!"

Sasuke snorted. "Backup won't be necessary. I'll defeat them!" He shot Naruto a challenging look before jumping after the three siblings over the wall.

Naruto watched as his teammate disappeared over the wall. Arrogant, impulsive idiot. Not dropping his guard, he addressed the proctor. "Genma-san, was it a good idea to send him alone to fight an unstable jinchuriki? Particularly when he has no backup?"

Genma replied, "Sorry kid, but I had no other choice at the moment. Kakashi already gave me orders to send you to him once the invasion begins! Report to him for your assignment immediately!"

Naruto did not like the situation at all, but could do little about it. Nodding, he immediately located Kakashi's marker and flashed away, leaving Genma and Baki to face off. Genma began in his usual lazy drawl, "You guys have a lot of nerve, attacking us like you did."

Baki scoffed as he pulled out a kunai, "Less talk, more fighting, tree hugger."

XXXXXXX

Kakashi was keeping a close eye on his surroundings, and couldn't help but worry when Sasuke leapt off in pursuit of the siblings. Naruto would have been a way better choice, but he had not counted Sasuke's disqualification as a part of his plans. He could only hope Sasuke remained alive until backup arrived. 'Backup….now that's an idea.'

He was posted for protection duty. He was to ensure that the civilians were safely transported to safety under the protection of the ANBU. He looked over to the arena, and saw Naruto nodding at something that Genma said and vanishing a moment later. That was perhaps the only reason he did not jump in surprise when Naruto suddenly appeared beside him.

"Naruto, you are working with me today, if only temporarily. The forces would soon be swarming in the stadium any moment. The ANBU are clearing the stadium of the civilians. We will be tackling the forces inside the stadium."

Naruto nodded seriously. "Was it really a good idea to send Sasuke after those three instead of me, sensei?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. He had already questioned himself that plenty of time already. "Not really, but I'm hoping he would be able to hold out until I send you after him. Now pay attention! The first of the forces are coming!"

Indeed, the sand and the sound shinobi had started entering the stadium. Naruto narrowed his eyes and made a half ram sign. Kakashi watched curiously as a shadow clone popped into existence, with the same seriousness on his face. He watched as Naruto pulled out a scroll from his right hip pouch and handed it over to the clone. "You know what to do."

The clone nodded and vanished a moment later. Kakashi turned serious, "What was that you gave to your clone, Naruto? And where is he going?"

Naruto gave him a smirk, "Don't worry, sensei. Just a little help for our dear Hokage."

Kakashi narrowed his eye, but let it go. He trusted Naruto not to do anything stupid in this situation. "Alright, I'll trust you on this one. But first, you engage them with Gai. I'll join you in a moment and tell you when you have to go!"

Naruto nodded and almost flinched when Gai appeared by his side. "Yosh! Let's go, Naruto! We'll show them the consequences of their unyouthfulness!"

Naruto just muttered, "Hai, whatever you say."

The two of them vanished, appearing on the battlefield. Kakashi looked around; the ANBU were engaging the shinobi on the stands, providing cover for panicking civilians to escape and head to the shelters. He easily dealt with the two shinobi that were headed his way, slitting their throats within a minute. He looked over the stands, trying to find where his pink haired student had crawled off to. He spotted her in the very back, and smiled. She had dragged the entirety of team 10 with her in the back, in the hopes that they won't be discovered. He had to give it her; the girl had grown some balls to be able to get her comrades into a safe zone in the middle of the enemy.

He stealthily made his way to her. "Sakura!" He was immensely proud when she immediately turned to face him, a kunai in hand. She immediately lowered the kunai. "Kakashi-sensei! Don't scare me like that!"

Kakashi eye smiled, but then turned serious when Sakura asked him. "Sensei? Do you know where Sasuke-kun and Naruto are?"

Kakashi contemplated on what to tell her. "I know where Naruto is right now, but you don't worry about him right now. As for Sasuke, I've got a mission for you."

Sakura blinked, "A mission?"

XXXXXXX

Hiruzen took note of the feathers falling as he turned his head towards the Kazekage. The other man took the same action and as their eyes met, a smoke bomb exploded on the balcony hiding them from view. The Hokage's attendant yelled for him to run but it was too late as a kunai buried itself in his chest. The Kazekage leapt to the roof with the Hokage under his arm and a kunai to the old man's throat. A team of ANBU darted after them but had to turn as the Kazekage's attendants appeared behind them. With a quick slice the two men became four, but the pieces of the bodies didn't drop as they tossed off their cloaks, revealing four teens. The four now exposed Oto-nin quickly flashed through seals before pushing their palms out and naming their collaboration jutsu. "Shishienjin!"

A purple wall came into existence in front of them, taking the shape of a cubic barrier. An ANBU was about to test the barrier when the voice of the ANBU captain rang out.

"Don't touch the shield, or you will burn!" he said to the ANBU standing by his side.

"But taicho, what about Hokage-sama?!"

The captain grit his teeth and looked at the four Oto-nin holding up the barrier. He was not a fool; whatever was going to happen inside the barrier, it would likely be something big and dangerous enough to kill the hokage. If he attacked the Oto shinobi, there was a chance that the danger inside the barrier would be unleashed onto the village. He could not take that chance.

Not to mention, the four nin had secondary barriers around themselves, the function of which they were unaware of. He had no idea how to release either of the barriers. Their odds were very, very bad.

"Guess we'll have to have some faith in our Hokage….."

XXXXXXX

The clone watched from his hidden perch with calculative days as a purple barrier went up on the roof of the building of the Kage box. "So they decided to use that barrier…not bad," he mused as the barrier went up as tall as almost four hundred feet.

"Good thing the old man already has a mark on him. Otherwise, doing this would have been almost impossible," he remarked to himself as he flashed away.

XXXXXXX

Hiruzen glared at the smirking form of his former student. He had entirely expected this to happen, so he had worn his battle robes under his hokage robes.

"Orochimaru…..," He whispered, ready for any trick his student might pull. Orochimaru noticed this and chuckled.

"It seems you expected all of this sensei. It didn't miss my attention that the Konoha shinobi were rather, unusually tense."

Orochimaru looked at the old, but determined form of his sensei and almost chuckled. Did he really think he would win against him today? He was already pushing himself at the age of seventy, which was no age to be exerting yourself as a shinobi. Not to mention, he had a guaranteed success, with his newest ace in the hole.

Orochimaru smirked deviously, "Do you think you can defeat me at your age, sensei?"

Hiruzen ignored the taunt and said, "This time you went really far, Orochimaru. It was my greatest mistake to let you escape that day, but no more. Today, you will die, even if I have to take you with me."

Orochimaru asked curiously, "Where is all this courage coming from, sensei?"

Hiruzen was stoic and instantly replied, "This is….my will of fire. As long as it burns strong within me, I can guarantee your defeat. You can never defeat someone whose will of fire burns strong."

Orochimaru chuckled, which turned into a full laugh, "What courage you display in the face of your death, sensei. But today, I'll show you just how weak your will of fire is, that is, when I extinguish it and raze this village to ashes."

Hiruzen glared at him, and was about to attack when something flashed blue in his peripheral vision. He almost fell due to surprise. "Naruto! What are you doing here?!"

His heartbeat increased rapidly as he saw the blonde standing right beside him inside the barrier, facing Orochimaru. Before he could enter the state of outright panic, Naruto raised a hand. "Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I'm just a clone."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes curiously as he set his eyes upon the blonde mystery that was Uzumaki Naruto. When he had first encountered the genin in the forbidden forest, he had been slightly impressed that the boy had been able to kill his summons with complete ease. Not only that, but he had formed an impressive tag team with the youngest Uchiha and managed to put him on the ropes. Now one month later, he had been surprised by the blonde, yet again, when he managed to learn to learn and apparently, master the incredibly difficult and complex Hiraishin no jutsu, the jutsu that earned the Yondaime his name of 'Yellow Flash'. He then proceeded to best a Hyuga in taijutsu, and utterly humiliate him. Not only that, but he managed to completely turn the tables on a jinchuriki, without using his own bijuu chakra.

Here was a dangerous combination of genius, power and skill, that too at such a young age. Even Itachi hadn't shown such abilities at this age, and that guy was right up there with Orochimaru and the Yondaime in terms of being a genius.

Right now, he curiously watched the interaction between his former sensei and the genin. Perhaps he was here to offer some help to the old fool?

Hiruzen almost sagged in relief that the Naruto beside him was just a clone. No matter how powerful and talented Naruto was for his age, he was not ready to deal with the likes of Orochimaru just yet. "So why are you here?"

The clone then pulled out a scroll and held it out to the old leader. "Prime sent me to give you this."

Hiruzen accepted the scroll with a raised eyebrow. Most probably, 'prime' was the original Naruto. "What is it?"

The clone smiled, "Some reinforcements, just in case. Use it only when things really get out of hand. Remember," he gave a look so serious that Hiruzen thought he might as well be looking at one of his senior jonin, "Prime is counting on you to use it, Hokage-sama. Don't disappoint him."

The clone then vanished in a poof of smoke, leaving an amused Hokage, despite the situation he was in. Tucking the scroll securely on his waist, he turned to his equally amused student. He settled into the Sarutobi clan's taijutsu stance. "Shall we begin then, my wayward student?"

XXXXXXX

Back down in the arena, it was a bloodbath. Suna and Oto shinobi were on the ground, either dead or knocked out. But mostly dead. Gai and Naruto had almost been like a force of hurricane. Gai had tore through the forces with his powerful taijutsu, breaking bones and ending lives with only one or two hits.

Naruto on the other hand, decided not to use the Hiraishin, instead choosing to rely on his flash step. With his tri-pronged kunai coated in wind chakra, combined with his speed, almost nobody escaped his slash. He also made full use of his ability of a slower perception. He was flash stepping across the whole arena so fast that even a blur was difficult to spot. In a single flash step, Naruto would sometimes slash two enemies simultaneously, ending their lives in an instant. In a few seconds, it would be all over and a new group of shinobi would enter the arena, only to suffer the same fate as their dead comrades.

"This is getting kind of boring…..," Naruto muttered as he ended the life of another Oto shinobi. This was the third batch he and Gai had taken care of, and Naruto was not impressed, at all. No shinobi was able to counter his speed; before they could even begin thinking of a counter, Naruto would catch them off-guard in their blind-spot and slash! Dead. Everyone moved almost painfully slow for him to kill. "I wonder if this is how dad felt, being the fastest man alive."

"Naruto!" Naruto turned around to catch the challenging grin of Gai-sensei. "How many?"

Naruto internally sighed at how hyper the man was. He really did not see how one could be so hyped after killing so many shinobi. Still, he would humor the guy. "Sixty-eight," he replied after going over it in his mind for a second.

The reaction from Gai caused him to flinch in alarm. Gai cried tears as he held up a fist, "OH! IT SEEMS I HAVE BEEN BESTED IN COUNT!"

Naruto looked at Gai as if he had started speaking Latin. Since when had this become a freaking competition?! He slowly started freaking out as Gai began to make absurd promises of how he would do 5000 push-ups if he lost again. If he couldn't do that, he would run 500 laps around the village on his hands. If he couldn't do that-

"Alright, that's enough Gai!" Kakashi's voice came as he jumped his way towards them. Kakashi landed right next to Naruto, who was blinking as if coming out of a trance. Kakashi gazed at Naruto with slight concern; working with Gai for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. He knew that from firsthand experience.

Leaning down a bit, he whispered in Naruto's ear, "You okay?"

That seemed to do the trick, as Naruto shook his head to clear it, probably from the excess youthfulness. "Thanks," he murmured, but quickly added, "But don't think we are good. I'm still upset with you."

Kakashi nodded to himself. He would have to correct his mistake with Naruto once this was all over. "We'll talk later then."

Naruto nodded, putting his kunai back in his pouch. "So what am I doing now?"

Kakashi first asked him, "Can you really handle the Ichibi as you are now? How much chakra have you left?"

Naruto chuckled and patted his stomach with a fist, "Don't underestimate me, Kakashi-sensei. I've yet to fully spend even a quarter of my total reserves. I will manage. Now where am I going?"

Kakashi smirked under his mask. 'He really does have ridiculous reserves of chakra,' he mentally whistled. Outwardly, he spoke, "You are a sensor, right? Sasuke went in pursuit of the sand siblings, so as a backup, I sent Sakura and Shikamaru to track him down with the aid of my summon, Pakkun. Shikamaru probably had pursuers, so you'll meet him on your way to Sasuke. Meet up with him, track them down, and stop the Ichibi from rampaging the village."

Naruto nodded, "Roger that."

He placed two fingers on the ground and in just two seconds, he had the location of Shikamaru locked on his sensory radar. "Got you," he whispered. He stood up and leapt up to jump over the stadium wall.

Kakashi sighed and turned to Gai, who looked like he was about to burst with joy upon seeing Naruto go. Before he could open his mouth, Kakashi pointed behind him towards the oncoming shinobi. He rushed past him and killed the first sound ninja. "Concentrate Gai, otherwise you'll lose to me as well."

Probably one of his many bad ideas, but really, who was counting?

His instinct alerted him to something approaching at high speed, but not at him. It was approaching at the squad of enemy forces. He watched, fascinated, as a highly compressed ball of impacted right between the shinobi forces. It exploded with the compressed wind with great force, easily taking out seven of the enemy shinobi. Kakashi looked up with his sharingan to see Naruto standing on the wall, a smirk on his face. With a two-fingered salute, he was gone in a flash-step.

"YOSH! LET'S GO WITH OUR YOUTH AT FULL POWER!"

Yup, one of his bad ideas.