Genma looked at the burns on his body and winced remembering how it hurt when he got burned. He looked at the crowd and smiled, ''Second match of the chunin exam finals, Subaku no Gaara Vs Rock Lee!'' Genma said aloud. Both contestants made their way to the battle ground.
Genma looked between Lee and Gaara he could tell that the two were going to give the crowd a good match, ''Are both fighters ready?'' He asked earning a nod from Lee while Gaara gave no response his face just remained emotionless, ''Begin!'' He yelled and jumped to his seat where a medic was waiting for him to take care of his burns.
One could tell Gaara was a bit excited about the match because the moment Genma said the match could begin sand shot out from his gourd and swirled around him.
Lee studied his opponent for a moment. Gai had told him that his opponent was dangerous and he should be careful. He had also been told to take off his weights should the situation require him to do so. He did not have to ask for permission to take off his weights this time.
Lee got into his Taijutsu stance and motioned for Gaara to come at him with his right hand. Gaara wasted no time as his said shot towards Lee at fast speeds. Lee jumped back to avoid the sand. When he landed on the ground the sand was waiting for him. He was forced to use his great reflexes to avoid the sand from catching him.
Gai had warned him to avoid being caught by the sand at all costs.
Lee rushed at Gaara, who had been in the same position since the match began. He attacked Gaara on his left side by attempting to kick him. Sand blocked Lee's foot preventing him from hitting Gaara. Lee blurred to Gaara's right attempted to kick the sand genin again. The sand protected Gaara, again, forcing Lee to jump back.
Sand shot towards Lee at a fast pace. Lee readied himself and when the sand reached him and attempted to kick it away. A mistake on his part as a part of the sand was blown away by the force of his kick and a part was not, the part that remained almost wrapped itself around his leg. He did enough to blur away from sight.
Lee landed on the ground and studied Gaara. The Sand made it difficult for him to hit his opponent. He needed speed to bypass the defense.
Lee ran towards Gaara with a plan in thought. He appeared in front of Gaara looking as if he wanted to punch the genin. Gaara's sand tried to wrap itself around Lee, only for Lee to disappear and appear behind Gaara. Lee swung his leg attempting to kick Gaara from behind. But just as he was about to land a hit the sand appeared and blocked his kick.
Lee jumped away from Gaara. Bypassing Gaara's sand was proving to be harder than he had thought it would be at his current speed level.
The crowd was cheering as the fight was certainly entertaining even when none had landed a hit on one another.
At the contestant's booth, Kankuro had a wide smile admiring Gaara's sand. No one had ever landed a hit on Gaara. Gaara was untouchable with his sand and there was no way Lee would be able to touch Gaara...well that was according to him.
Lee appeared in front of Gaara and attempted to punch Gaara with the strongest punch he could master. The sand tried to block his punch but the punch broke through. Just as it was about to make contact with Gaara another wave of sand appeared in its path and this time blocked Lee's punch.
Lee did not stop with just a powerful punch. He spun around swinging his leg bringing forth his most powerful kick. Gaara brought forward his sand to block the kick. But the sand did not stand a chance against the power behind Lee's kick. Lee's foot marched towards Gaara's face but again just as it was about to hit more sand blocked its path. But the results where different this time, even the sand shielding Gaara, he was sent flying away towards the wall. Gaara's sand created a cushion before he hit the wall.
Gaara smiled maniacally at Lee and walked a bit towards Lee before he stopped. He moved his sand with his hand this time. When he was moving it with his hands it was moving at a faster speed than before.
A wave of sand almost wrapped Lee from behind but Lee disappeared from sight dodging the sand, albeit barely.
Lee rushed at Gaara dodging waves of sand that where trying to wrap themselves on him. Lee dodged each sand attack skillfully. When he reached Gaara he was unable to attack the jinchuriku as he found large amounts of sand waiting for him. Lee quickly disappeared from view avoiding the sand.
If Lee was going to break through Gaara's defense he would have to step up his game. Lee looked at his sensei as if asking for permission. Gai nodded making Lee smile. Despite Gai having already giving him permission to take off his weights during his fight it felt right asking for permission again.
He took of the weights on his legs and held them with both his hands. Gaara only raised an eye brow wondering what his opponent was up to. Lee let go of the weights.
Boom
They hit the ground and shook the stadium slightly. The weights created two craters on the battlefield. Almost everyone had wide eyes at the effects of Lee's weights. It was just unimaginable how a young lad like Lee could be able to wear such heavy weights and still move as fast as he had been moving so far in his match against Gaara. Gai just smiled proudly at his student. It was not easy for Lee to be able to wear such heavy weights but through hard work they did it. It was his efforts along with Lee's dedication to being the best Taijutsu user that made Lee became what he was today, a shinobi he was proud to call his student.
Lee took a taijutsu stance with a serious expression on his face.
Lee vanished from his spot. Only a select few saw him move. The others just blinked a few times looking around the battlefield. Their efforts were rewarded as Lee appeared behind Gaara. Gaara turned around with wide eyes showing his shock at Lee's speed. Lee swung his right leg at Gaara. Gaara's sand was unable to react fast enough to leap into his defense. Lee's kick connected with Gaara's face.
Gaara was sent flying but before he could hit the walls Lee appeared above him facing down and kicked him hard on the face. Gaara crashed down the ground creating a crater.
Lee landed on the ground gracefully and waited for his opponent to recover. Gaara stood up from the crater and brushed his fingers against his mouth. He looked at his fingers and saw blood.
To some it was most shocking because none had ever seen Gaara bleed before. It was shocking to see that someone had the speed to bypass through Gaara's sand and hurt Gaara. Not even jonins had been unable to hurt Gaara but a genin from Konoha had just done it. It was unbelievable.
Gaara smiled maliciously, ''Blood, my blood,'' He said to himself then looked back at Lee, ''Mother wants your blood,'' Gaara said maliciously, ''I must feed on your blood to prove my existence and erase yours.''
Lee looked at Gaara showing a bit of confusion but he later shrugged it off and dashed towards Gaara. Only small gusts of winds could be seen upon where he had been standing. A large wall of sand appeared in front of him blocking his path. Lee jumped up passing the wall. While he was still in air he began to rotate furiously towards Gaara.
''Konoha Senpuu!'' Lee yelled as he delivered a spinning kick to Gaara. Gaara's sand came to the rescue and blocked Lee's kick. Lee spun around and attempted to kick Gaara with his other leg but the sand blocked his kick again. Lee flashed out of sight and appeared behind Gaara. He swung his right hand and delivered a punch at Gaara's face. Gaara had been unable to block due to the speed on the attack. With his full speed Lee was able to bypass Gaara's defense. The punch sent him flying but Gaara quickly recovered and landed down the ground gracefully.
Lee watched with wide eyes as sand around Gaara's face began to peel off. Gaara's thin layer of sand reformed again on his skin. It was his secondary defense mechanism. Lee gritted his teeth in frustrations. So far he had not been able to damage Gaara. It was like all his efforts where pointless. To win he had to risky measures.
Lee suddenly blurred out of sight. He was running at his speed's peak. Lee kicked Gaara into air and used shadow of the Dancing leaf to get behind Gaara while still in flight. He let loose of his bandages and wrapped it around Gaara restraining him as gravity began to pull them down.
''This should end the match!'' Lee exclaimed confidently. He and Gaara began to rotate furiously while they fell down the grown as a spinning vortex. Gaara hit the ground head first. Lee was also hurt as the technique was a double edged sword. But Lee being the user of the technique received less damage than his opponent. Lee panted as he watched the debris where Gaara was lying.
The crowd began to cheer, applauding the technique and also thinking that the match was over. But everyone's celebrations where cut shot as Gaara let out a maniacal laughter.
Lee could not believe what his eyes were showing him as he watched Gaara stumbled up and stood up with a maniacal grin, and blood dripping from his mouth. His sand swirled furiously around him, ''I must really drink your blood mother wants it.''
Large torrents of sand began to fire at Lee mercilessly. Lee did his best to dodge all of the attacks. But keeping up with Gaara's sand was tiring him. Gaara was sending the sand at Lee tirelessly without even taking a break. With the smile on his face it was obvious that he wanted to crush Lee with his sand.
Lee found himself backed against the arena's battle floor. He was left to only think of defense as Gaara at been attacking him with his sand furiously. A wave of sand appeared in front him stretched as if it was welcoming him for an embrace. Gaara grinned and made a fist encasing the sand around Lee.
''Subaku Kyuu!'' Gaara said as his said seemingly wrapped itself around Lee. Nothing happened there was no blood that fell rained down the ground. Gaara was aware that he did not catch Lee because he did not feel him on his sand.
Lee appeared a few feet away from his previous position. Some let out a sigh of relief seeing that the match was not over.
''It seems that I cannot defeat as I am,'' Lee said seriously looking at Gaara, ''Then I must...'' He trailed off, ''First Gate! Gate of opening!'' Lee yelled as the aura around him began to change, ''Second Gate! Gate of Healing!'' His skin began to change its normal color, ''Third Gate! Gate of Life, Fourth Gate! Gate of Pain, Fifth Gate! Gate of Limit!'' Lee yelled. He was surrounded by a blue aura and veins around his body had bulged. Gust of winds picked up where Lee was standing.
The crowd was awed at the power Lee was emitting. It was defiantly not the power of your normal genin.
''This will surely end it!'' He said and disappeared.
Only jonins were able to follow his movements. Others did not see him move. Naruto was able to see him he had his Sharingan activated; he did not deactivate it after his match with Neji.
The next thing the crowd was Gaara in flight. Lee was striking him at inhuman speeds. It gave Gaara no chance to defend himself. Lee suddenly appeared above Gaara, ''Reverse Lotus!'' He yelled as he hit Gaara with a final powerful punch and kick at the same time. Gaara was sent crashing down like a bullet. He hit the ground creating a large crater. Some with experienced eyes saw that Gaara's gourd turned into sand and created a sand cushion before he hit the ground.
Lee landed at the unwelcoming ground harshly due to the use of his technique. He had already closed his gates as he could no longer contain them. His body was bruised and his clothes where tattered. His breathing was labored and he was on his knees as he was unable to stand. The technique used too much power at once and left him without strength. It was why he used it as a last resort.
The crowd cheered gracefully at the power of Lee's attack. They thought that it was surely over, as they believed that no one could stand again after crashing down the way Gaara did.
The dust cleared revealing Gaara lying down in a crater. Sand was peeling of his skin and more blood continued to drip from his mouth. His sand had absorbed much of the damage he could have suffered.
''Sand Coffin!'' Gaara said with his hand raised while he was still lying down. Lee found himself at the mercy of Gaara's sand. He tried to escape but his muscles were torn apart and he was out of strength because he had opened Five Gates and used Reverse Lotus. The sand caught Lee's left leg and Hand crashing them.
''Arg!'' Lee screamed in pain as Gaara's sand crushed his hand and leg. He landed on the ground harshly.
Gaara got to his feet slowly looking slightly worn out but had no significant damage on his body. Gaara chuckled darkly, ''Mother will now have your now have your blood!'' He yelled like a crazed person.
Gaara's sand short towards an immobile Lee. Guy tensed knowing that Lee would surely die if Gaara caught him with his sand. In his condition, Lee could not do anything it was now up to him as a loving sensei to protect his student.
He rushed to the stadium to save Lee. He was not alone a bandaged Genma had the same thoughts as him. Guy was able to get to Lee before Gaara's sand. He took Lee out of the path of the sand while Genma appeared before Gaara.
''This match is over.'' He said sternly.
Gaara ignored him and looked over to Guy and Lee, ''Why did you save him?'' He asked his features having returned to his emotionless and cold facade.
''He is my student, my pride and joy.'' Guy replied almost breaking into tears as he walked away taking Lee to the medics. Lee had pushed himself too far. Opening the Gates did damage to his body and Gaara's last attack did further damage, he feared the worst looking at his unconscious student, who had passed out because of pain that had gripped him.
Genma looked at the murmuring crowd, ''Winner, Subaku no Gaara!''
The crowd applauded they had witnessed a truly great match. Gaara silently made his way back to the contestant's booth. He did not need a medic, as he was fine.
Naruto was somewhat pleased with what he had seen. Both Gaara and Lee where capable genins. Lee had reached an amazing feat. To be able to compete with a jinchuriku at the level he was. The boy was truly something, possibly the best genin in terms of hard work and dedication.
''Will Subaku no Kankuro and Uchiha Sasuke step forward please!'' Genma called out.
Sasuke smiled excitedly and went into the arena. He was finally going to test himself against capable opponents. After watching Gaara fight, he now wanted to him also.
Kankuro stepped forward but stopped before reaching the middle of the arena, ''Proctor, I forfeit.''
His words where welcomed with boos all over the stadium. Kankuro seemed not to care about the jeers. The crowd had been waiting for Sasuke to fight. Some had come to the finals just to watch the only survivor of the Uchiha clan. With Kankuro giving up they were being denied an opportunity to see Sasuke fight and observe what he was capable of. Many saw Sasuke as a genius as he was the best student at everything he did when he was still at the academy.
Genma looked at Kankuro without interest. He thought that if he did not w he should have never come to the stadium.
Sasuke was now fuming. He wanted to fight and would do anything to get that opportunity. He turned and stared at Kankuro with his Sharingan eyes, ''Why? Are you afraid of me?'' Sasuke said with a smirk trying to get Kankuro to reconsider his decision.
The crowd seemed to think the same way as Sasuke. However, it had no effect on Kankuro. He turned around and walked away.
Sasuke gritted his teeth seeing that his attempt had failed. He held out his right hand and lightning began to sparkle on his palm. No sooner than later, a sound of chirping birds rang throughout the stadium.
Jonins recognized Sasuke's jutsu as Kakashi's trademark assassination jutsu.
''Chidori!'' Sasuke yelled as he ran towards Kankuro. If Kankuro did not want to fight he would force him to. Many did not see a problem with Sasuke's actions, in fact they cheered.
Kankuro was alarmed and turned around. He saw the jutsu at Sasuke's hand widened his eyes. He did not actually think that the brat would go that far.
Lucky for him Genma knew how dangerous the Jutsu was. Genma intercepted Sasuke and gripped his right tightly making him loose control over his Jutsu. The Chidori burst into sparkles of lightning before disappearing.
Sasuke gave Genma a death glare but Genma ignored it. He stared at Kankuro, ''You are lucky I stopped him if I had not that Jutsu would have killed you.''
Kankuro scoffed and walked away earning more boos from the crowd.
''Let me go!'' Sasuke yelled as Genma was still holding his arm.
Genma ignored Sasuke again and looked back at the crowd, ''Uchiha Sasuke will proceed to the next round!'' He said.
Kakashi as Sasuke's sensei appeared beside Genma and Sasuke. Genma let go of Sasuke. Kakashi touched Sasuke's shoulder and both disappeared in swirl of leafs. They appeared where the rest of the Konoha 12 where.
Genma sighed, ''Will Nara Shikamaru and Temari step forward please!''
Both contestants walked into the ring. Temari looked liked she was the only of the two one to be prepared to fight. Shikamaru had his usual bored expression.
Genma looked between both fighters, ''Are both fighters ready?'' He asked earning nods from both fighters, ''Final match of the first round begin!'' He said and jumped back to his seat.
Temari being the only who seemed to be eager to fight charged first at Shikamaru. She had seen him fight once and did not think that he could beat her. She thought no believed that she was going to get an easy win.
Her large fan was in her hands as she attempted to smack Shikamaru with it. Shikamaru dodged her attempted and landed down as he began to compute ways of winning the match. After a minute, he had already computed several ways to end the match.
The fight continued on as Temari showed her skills with a fan. The fan was used to generate powerful wind jutsu's. Temari was certainly a skilled wind user which was no surprise as Suna was famous for breeding wind users. Wind affinity despite being very powerful was very rare. Not a lot of people had a natural affinity to wind. It was a joy to see someone such as Temari demonstrates her skills with a fan.
While Temari was on the attack Shikamaru was running around the battlefield dodging Temari's attacks and throwing explosive tags at the girl. Luckily for Temari none of the explosives tags hit her. She was not once caught in the explosions. Despite dodging most of Temari's attacks Shikamaru was unfortunate and was hit by one of Temari's attacks. Luckily, for him it did not give him much damage all did was to give him a few cuts.
Shikamaru was also trying to catch Temari with his Shadow possession jutsu. He was skillfully trying in the best way he could to catch her. It was most surprising at how hard Shikamaru seemed to be fighting. None had ever seen Shikamaru try anything that hard unless a life was in danger.
The results had gone the way Shikamaru had predicted. He finally was able to catch Temari and restrain her with his Shadows. He forced her to pick up a kunai and point it to her neck with his shadows. He was controlling her movements and could make her to whatever that he wanted her to do.
Temari had thought that the match was over and she had lost but Shikamaru ended up forfeiting the match. She was surprised that he could forfeit the match when he was in the position to win.
His reasons where that, ''It was too troublesome to continue on, he had little chakra left and he just wanted to get the promotion.''
Temari could have refused to accept that she was winner of the match but she accepted it. Her pride as a Kunoichi had taken a bite because she did not proceed to the next round because of her skills but because her opponent had chosen to give up when he had her backed against the wall.
The match in whole was rather worth watching. The crowd loved it and cheered at the end despite Shikamaru forfeiting when he could have won the match.
Genma stood in the middle of the arena, ''We will now take a 20 minutes break before we...'' He trailed off as Gaara shunshined into the battlefield.
''I don't need a break, let us continue now.'' Gaara said emotionlessly.
Genma sighed and looked at the Hokage as if asking what to do. The Sandaime just smiled at him telling him to do what he felt was right as the proctor.
''Okay, since one of the competitors seems not to need a break will begin the second round,'' Genma said earning cheers from the crowd, which seemed not to want the break, ''The Matches will be as follows, Winner of match one will face Winner of Match Two, and the winner of match three will face the winner of match four!'' Genma said.
''The first match of the second round will be U...'' He trailed off remembering something important.
A young woman from the crowd sitting at a seat near the fighting area of the arena spoke for him, ''Namikaze Naruto!''
The young woman earned chuckles from some spectators.
Genma coughed to get everyone to return their attention to him, ''Thank you,'' He said looking at the young woman, ''The match will be Namikaze Naruto Vs Subaku no Gaara. Now since Gaara is already here will Namikaze Naruto step forward please!''
Naruto appeared in the middle of the arena in a burst of flames.
''You can begin.'' Genma said returning to his seat.
Gaara grinned maliciously at Naruto, ''Mother has been waiting to feed on your blood.''
Naruto raised a single brow. It was not the same time he had heard Gaara say mother and blood. He figured it was the Shukaku whispering things to his mind. Given what Zetsu had gathered about Gaara's childhood it was not surprising that Gaara would give into Shukaku's influence.
''I have seen the extent of your power, thus I have no reason to test you myself,'' Naruto said not bothering to reply on Gaara's words, ''I will not hold back.'' Naruto said.
Naruto did hand seals and kneaded chakra inside body turning it into fire. ''Fire Release: Majestic Fire destruction!''
Naruto expelled a stream of dense flames that ignited upon reaching their target, Gaara. The fire expanded covering most of the fighting ground of the arena. Naruto held the flames for some time wanting to see how Gaara's sand would hold on.
Gaara was in the middle of dense and intensive sand. A few where starting to fear for his safety. It was like he had been thrown in a pit of flames. Gaara had seen the flames coming and had his sand created a dome of sand around him. The sand held on but the intense heat of the flames heated his sand and made it unbearable for him. The intense heat inside his sand made it hard for him to breath. The heat was sulking out the oxygen inside his shell.
Naruto stopped his jutsu before he cooked Gaara alive. The flames cleared and Gaara's protective sand crumbled down into dust. Gaara fell on his knees with wide eyes sweating and trying to catch his breath. Once he had caught his breath, he got up from his knees and stood up.
Kage booth
''Your genin certainly is brutal Hokage-done.'' The Kazekage said.
The Sandaime nodded, ''Yes he is.''
''Still I am interested on how he will do against my Gaara.'' The 'Kazekage' said.
''I think he will win the match, so far we have only seen him use fire jutsu perfectly and I don't believe that is all he can do. I believe there is much more we will see from him.'' The Sandaime replied. Jiraiya nodded agreeing with his sensei. He heard when Naruto said he would not hold back he wanted to see what he could do when he was not holding back.
The 'Kazekage' said nothing further. He chose to admire Naruto's skills and eyes.
Back at the fight
''You did well surviving that.'' Naruto complemented. He felt he needed to do so. No one could take his jutsu not be incarnated. But Gaara had defended himself well against his intense flames. It was worth complimenting.
''...But will you be able to stand after my next assault?''
Naruto asked rhetorically. His Sharingan morphed into its Mangekyou state. Most who knew of the Mangekyou widened their eyes, to see Naruto wielding the Mangekyou at such a young age was defiantly shocking. Not even Itachi, who was a prodigy and a master of the Sharingan, had awakened his Mangekyou at a young age.
The 'Kazekage's' eyes lit yellow for a moment upon seeing the powerful Mangekyou Sharingan. He knew full well what one had to do to awaken it. He had done a lot of research about it. The Mangekyou made him admire Naruto even more than he was currently. He would be so feared if he could have both Sasuke and Naruto by his side. He wondered if Naruto had the Mangekyou when he fought him at the forest of death.
Naruto crossed his hands on his chest while Gaara just watched him. A blue chakra began to form around him. The chakra became dark blue and took a form of a skeletal humanoid that surrounded Naruto. The beat's head though skeletal had dark yellow eyes and a thin skeletal chin. The beast grew to a larger size and unleashed a roar. Its size was enough for Naruto, as he wanted to be able to move freely in the confined space. The beast stretched out both its hands as blue chakra blades formed.
''Susano'o!'' Naruto said.
Naruto's Susano'o shocked many who had never seen anything like this before. At the Kage booth the elder shinobi who where knew what it was just widened their eyes. The Kazekage chuckled darkly inwardly and sat at the edge of his seat. Jiraiya and the Sandaime did not notice as their eyes where firmly on Naruto.
Gaara just continued to watch Naruto emotionlessly with his sand swirling around him.
The crowd was awed by what they were seeing they were seeing. They never expected such a thing from a genin at the chunin exams. It was like watching a jounin exam, not a couple of genins displaying their strength.
''My incomplete Susano'o Vs your 'perfect' defense. Shall will see which is the stronger?'' Naruto said to Gaara monotonously
He was not expecting Gaara to answer his question. Even if Gaara wanted to answer Naruto did not give him a chance as his Susano'o began its charge. The Susano'o swung its right blade towards Gaara. Gaara created a wall of sand on his left to protect himself from the attack. The blade had much power and broke through the defense. Gaara reinforced his defense with more dense sand. This time the blade hit a wall but still pushed him.
Naruto's Susano'o swung its left blade at a fast pace towards Gaara. His sand was still holding back the blade on his left and much of his effort was focused on holding back the other blade. He could not block the next attack. He jumped back abandoning his sand.
The Susano'o's blades returned next to Naruto. Gaara sent a wave of sand towards Naruto. The Susano'o swung its blade and propelled the sand away from it with its blade.
The Susano'o fused its blades making one long blade and wielded it with its right arm. It swung the blade towards Gaara, who created a dense wall of sand in front of himself to avoid being hit. Naruto's attack broke through the sand and hit Gaara. The power of the attack sent him crashing towards the wall of the arena. Gaara created a large dent on the wall with his crashing. He winced as he felt like Lee had thrown his weights on top of him.
The Susano'o brought its left hand created a fist sending it towards Gaara. The punch hit Gaara dead on and broke though the wall. Gaara let out a scream of pain as he felt the impact of the huge punch that hit his whole body. His second protective layer of sand was starting to peel off due to the damage his body was taking.
The Susano'o dragged Gaara from the wall and dropped him in the middle of the arena. His mouth was pouring out small amounts of blood. While Gaara was still lying down the Susano'o raised its right hand and slammed Gaara down the ground. The attack created a large crater on the battlefield.
The Susano'o did not stop with its attack it picked up Gaara from the crater and threw him towards the wall. Gaara's gourd burst into sand and crated a cushion for him to hit, but he still created a large dent on the wall. All of his sand had now peeled off his skin. His body was heavily bruised and parts of his body where now bleeding also. His breathing had become labored. Had he been a normal person he would not have been conscious right now. The ferocity of the attacks where too intense for a normal person to take them and remain standing or alive for that matter. Because of his sand, he only had a few broken ribs.
Feathers began to fall inside the stadium and the crowd began to fall asleep.
''Genjutsu, I guess the invasion has started.'' Naruto said to himself.
No sooner than later fights began to break out inside the stadium. Naruto deactivated his Susano'o. When he looked at Gaara he saw the genin's siblings running away from the stadium with him. He looked at Sasuke and saw the Genin going after them. Naruto shook his head Gaara was in no condition to fight unless he used Shukaku's chakra. The chakra would heal and make him stronger than he was.
Naruto suddenly on his knees under extreme pain. Using Susano'o had its benefits but it put his body under extreme pain. The pain had lessoned from the first time he had used it. With a lot more training he would be able to use it without any pain. Despite his body being the perfect vessel to wield, any amount of power he was still of young age and needed to grow his body into a more mature body.
Naruto got up from his knees and found himself surrounded by 10 shinobi's. The shinobi's smirked at him as if they promised him pain. They were all Sound ninja's. Judging from what Naruto could sense from them, they did not seen to be strong.
''Do you wish to dance with me?'' Naruto asked nonchalantly. He did not wait for a respond as his Mangekyou activated. A second later, his Susano'o flared to life.
With a single swipe of its blade, the Susano'o blew the jounin's away from Naruto. The Sound ninja's where hit hard as they did not have time to react. Naruto had attacked instantly without giving them a chance to ready for his Susano'o's attacks. The Susano'o's size receded and it became a rib cage surrounding Naruto. The Shinobi's Naruto had attacked got up and prepared to fight Naruto. Naruto sighed placing his hands on his waist. He was almost embarrassed for thinking that his attack had incapacitated the Ninja's. By the clothing the Ninja's wore, Naruto could say some of them were Jounin's, but their level of strength paled in comparism to the strength of jounin's from Konoha.
Naruto deactivated his Susano'o. He flashed through hand seals.
''Fire Style: Majestic Flame Destroyer!''
Gathering chakra inside his body and turning it into flames, he expelled a large amount of flames that spread out like a wave of water. It was just as big as the one he had used on Neji. It was a good thing for him, as he had never tested the jutsu on many people.
One of the Jonins tried protecting himself and his comrades, ''Water Style: Water encampment Wall!'' He yelled as a wall of water tried putting out the flames. However, the flames spread out wide and where impossible to contain or dodge. One Suiton Jutsu could not stop the dense flames.
The flames reached the jounin's and began to eat away their flesh. They let out screams of pain as the flames began to incarnate. Naruto just watched impassively as his jutsu incarnated the sound invaders.
He turned around and jumped on the roof of the stadium. Looking around he saw a purple barrier on top of the academy building. Naruto figured that must have been where the leaders of both sides where fighting. Naruto looked carefully inside the barrier and found that it was Orochimaru fighting the Hokage not the Kazekage. He concluded that Orochimaru had impersonated the Kazekage as he did with the Kusa-nin at the Forest of death.
Naruto was sure the Sandaime could take care of himself even if Orochimaru was his opponent. Despite the Sandaime being old and just a shelf of his former self he was still capable of defeating even the likes of Sannin's. He was by no means a push over because he was old. Naruto acknowledged that fact about the Sandaime was still strong despite his old age.
The barrier was set so that no one could enter nor leave. It was a perfect place to fight without annoyances interrupting.
At the walls of the village large snake summons were destroying the villages walls. Konoha shinobi were trying in futile to stop the summons from entering the village. As Konoha shinobi tried holding off the summons, large toad summons puffed into existence and began to wrestle with the snake summons. It was given that Jiraiya had been the one to summon the toads given that he was the only one who had the toad contract.
Naruto activated his Susano'o again. It was still a ribcage surrounding him. He wanted to fight deal with some Sound and Sand shinobi.
''Earth Style: Mud Dragon!''
A mud dragon hit Naruto from behind. The jutsu crashed into his Susano'o and sent him crashing down the ground from the roof top. Naruto was so busy with his thoughts he forgot that he was in the middle of an invasion. Naruto hit the ground and created a larger crater.
He was unharmed from the attack. His Susano'o shielded him from being hit by the earth style jutsu. The Susano'o absorbed any damage Naruto would have suffered. Naruto was sent crashing because the Susano'o was not rooted down to anything but to Naruto. It went everywhere Naruto went.
Naruto got up from the small crater unharmed his Susano'o still protecting him. He looked up at the room to see those who had attacked him.
''I tend to be careless knowing that my Susano'o is active guess I should deactivate it.'' He said to himself. Deactivating would also save him from using too much chakra. Susano'o consumed a lot of chakra from its user. Despite his vast pools of chakra Naruto was not above acknowledging that keeping a Susano'o activated for longer periods would take a huge bite off his chakra.
Two ninja's jumped down from the roof and surrounded him. Naruto did not move at all his Mangekyou scanned them while his face remained impassive.
''Orochimaru-sama has some business to attend with you. He wants you to come with us if you refuse we will take you by force. That attack earlier was just to show you we can take you by force.'' The one at Naruto's front said. He wore standard Jounin attire and a Sound forehead protector.
''Oh..'' Naruto muttered with a raised brow.
''I would prefer if you refused because I want to see what the great Sharingan can do,'' The one at Naruto's back said sarcastic while walking into his front, ''I bet I can take you on by myself.'' He exclaimed arrogantly.
Naruto observed both Jounin's they were stronger than the previous once and seemed confident of their abilities. However, underestimating the power of the Sharingan was foolish thing to do.
''That is rather foolish.'' Naruto said turning his one visible eye to the jounin who dared to mock his doujutsu.
''Foolish?''
Naruto gave no response he pointed at the jounin, ''Tsukuyomi!''
The Sound jounin found himself warped into another world. The world he was in was bloody red and black even the sky was all red and black. All sides to be just endless void of red and black. Under his feet a giant eye in the same form as Naruto's Mangekyou Sharingan appeared. The look of the eye was menacing, cold, and devoid of any emotions. The eye brought fear to the jounin. He was suddenly pulled up into the air with both his hands stretched; He was nailed on a cross.
Naruto appeared before the jounin. His face still showed no emotion. With his right hand he had a black blade which he pointed straight at the jounin.
''This is my world, in here I control everything, I see everything. For 72 hours, I will put you through an uncomfortable situation because of your arrogance.'' Naruto said his tone devoid of any emotion.
''T-this i-is not happening it's just a genjutsu!'' The Sound jounin yelled.
Naruto responded by piercing the man on his chest again, and again. The Jounin screamed in agony at the pain he felt. Naruto's blade entered his body second by second without mercy. No blood dripped from his body, as the blade did not leave a wound.
The Sound jounin stopped screaming after a few hours. Naruto cancelled his jutsu.
In the real world, the jounin Naruto had put under Tsukuyomi fell down to the ground unconscious. Only a second had passed in the real world.
Tsukuyomi is the most powerful Genjutsu in existence. Only those from the Uchiha clan to have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan can perform it. The torture done in the world of Tsukuyomi affected the mind bringing psychological trauma which was almost impossible to cure unless one was a medical expert. It only required eye contacted to be casted. However, it consumed a lot of chakra and put a lot of strain on his left eye, which he used to cast the powerful genjutsu.
''He only lasted for 32 hours.'' Naruto said to himself.
The other jounin bent down to his friend seeing him fall. He touched his neck and felt his beat albeit barely. He turned and faced Naruto glaring at him with all the anger he could will. His best friend was down and he did not know what had happened to him. What he knew was that Naruto must have been there one to harm his friend, ''What did you do to him?'' He demanded.
Naruto was unfazed by the anger of his opponent. Nevertheless, he did answer the question, ''I tortured him.'' He replied simply as if it was insignificant.
The jounin gritted his teeth in anger, ''You little bastard, I will make sure you pay from this!'' He said forgetting his mission.
He took out a kunai and rushed at Naruto blindly in anger. He tried stabbing Naruto with his Kunai several times but Naruto dodged the sluggish attacks. The man was blinded by his fury that he could no longer fight at his level best. Naruto disdained weak-minded fools of shinobi who could not control their emotions.
As the Sound jounin grew frustrated, his anger reached new heights. He could explode at any moment as his frustrations added to his anger.
Naruto made eye contact with the jounin, ''Sharingan: Genjutsu!''
He trapped the man in a genjutsu. He hated fighting enemies who had no fight in them. It was a waste of his time and efforts.
The Sound jounin found himself trapped in another world. The world's sky reflected a rather huge eye version of Naruto's Mangekyou Sharingan. This made the world appear blood-red. The Sound jounin quickly realized that it must have been genjutsu. However, before he could try to dispel it a monstrous shadow with nine-tails appeared before him.
The Kyuubi stepped forward slowly in a menacing form. Its large bangs glared at the jounin and its blood-red eyes looked through his very soul. He thought it was a genjutsu but he could defiantly feel powerful and hateful aura the Kyuubi emitted. The fear that had gripped him felt like it was real.
''W-what's going o-on here?'' He stuttered in fear.
In response the Kyuubi grinned darkly making the jounin shudder at the dark grin. It was far scarier than he had seen from Orochimaru when he was excited about something.
'Kai!' The jounin yelled
'Kai!'
The genjutsu did not disappear. It was not an easy genjutsu to break if one was not adept to genjutsu. Naruto had hit a jackpot the jounin he had caught with his genjutsu was not adept to genjutsu.
The genjutsu Naruto used was his only genjutsu aside of Tsukuyomi. Like any other genjutsu this genjutsu trapped a person inside an illusion. Despite it being easy to detect because of the change of scenery it was hard to break. The genjutsu was similar to demonic illusions. Instead of showing people what they feared to cause trauma to victims Naruto's genjutsu fed on the fear of a person. The more a victim became fearful the harder it became to break. It had a time limit of a single minute.
The Kyuubi rushed towards the Sound jounin. It raised its paw and attempted to squash the jounin. The Sound Nin was in a state of shock as he was trying to figure out what was happening to him. He thought he was under a genjutsu but it did not dispel when he tried to disrupt chakra inside his body. Still he held little hope that it was still a Genjutsu. He watched as the Kyuubi's paw hit him compelling him down the ground.
It held him there leaving only his upper body visible. Its head closed the distance with him. He could perfectly see those cold blood-red eyes. The Kyuubi held the man and threw him up. It opened its mouth waiting for the man to fall into its mouth so it could devour him.
The Sound jounin eyes widened when he saw that he was falling straight into the Kyuubi's mouth. He let out a scream of fear as he kicked in flight trying to move away so that the Kyuubi did not devour him. His attempts where fruitless as he continue to fall directly into the wide mouth of a beast the struck fear into anyone who came across its path. His body began to tremble as the thought of death sneaked into his mind. He did not want to die; he feared death despite the fact that as a shinobi he saw death each day of his life.
''Help me! Someone please!'' He yelled in despair but help did not come. The Kyuubi got its meal and chewed it gracefully.
The Sound jounin thought he was dead but was surprised to find himself alive. His relief was cut shot as he saw the Kyuubi rushing towards him. He began to run away from the beast in despair. Though he did not feel any pain he was experiencing any emotion he would feel if he had come across a situation such as this one in real life. Everything felt real it was just that he felt no physical pain but emotionally he was damaged.
The Kyuubi finally caught up with him and tore his body apart piece by piece while he screamed wishing for death but none came. The process repeated five times before the Kyuubi stopped as the jounin's wife and daughter appeared before him. He could only mouth what he wanted to say as his voice had abandoned him; nevertheless, his family did not hear him.
The Kyuubi devoured them again and, again while he watched. It was the most horrifying thing he could see. He felt lost without knowing what to do. His family was being killed over and over again while he watched. He could not say it was a genjutsu as everything felt real. He dropped to his knees as the situation threw him into true despair. He no longer hoped that he could escape from the nightmare.
However, he kept mouthing, ''Please stop! Please stop!'' as tears poured out of his eyes.
He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he saw Naruto staring at him. He looked at his trembling eyes and then around he saw that they had returned to Konoha.
Naruto appeared closer to him and whispered into his ear, ''Run away! Tell Orochimaru that I refuse to follow him should he persist I will find a way to kill him sooner than I would like.''
The Sound Jounin nodded vigorously while trembling and crying. Despite his condition, he crawled away from Naruto.
A minute later Naruto sensed something behind him. When he turned around a foot crashed into his face. The kick sent him flying away. Naruto regained control over his body, flipped in midair, and landed down the ground with legs touching first then his hands.
The kick was hard and had a lot of power behind him. Naruto had been unable to dodge due to the speed and unable to block because he was also off guard. Naruto recognized the man who had kicked him as Baki, Gaara's sensei. Another thing he took notice of was that the man was avoiding eye contact with him.
Baki had seen what was going on with the different battlefields. He did not like what he had seen. Konoha was winning the invasion. It seemed that they had prepared like they knew they were going to invade. If Gaara had been taking part it would not have mattered. But there was another thing he could do ensure that things went his way, kidnapping the son of the Yondaime Hokage. Unlike any other children of past and present Hokage's Naruto was different. Konoha loved the Yondaime more than they loved first Hokage. Capturing Naruto would force Konoha to give into their demands. They would not dare abandon try to abandon the only child of their greatest hero. If word got out that they had abandoned the son of The Yellow Flash it would certainly take a huge bite off their image and economical structure. Very few villages would want to associate them if they abandon him.
Baki smiled inwardly his plan was indigenous
''You will come with me.'' Baki said in a commanding tone. He said it still avoiding making eye contact with Naruto's eyes.
''No.'' Naruto replied as his Sharingan returned to normal. Keeping his Mangekyou activated while not using any of the Mangekyou's abilities would only tire him out.
''I guess I have no choice then but to take you by force.'' Baki said and blurred out of sight.
He appeared in front of Naruto and attempted to punch him. Naruto blocked the punch with both his hands. Baki swung his right foot high trying to kick Naruto. Naruto brought out both his hands to block the kick. The power behind the kick pushed Naruto back a few feet. Baki suddenly appeared in front of Naruto with his right foot raised. He attempted to kick Naruto on his chest. Naruto blocked the kick by both his hands as he could not dodge despite being able to predict what Baki was going to do. The power of the kick sent Naruto flying away. Naruto regained his balance and touched the ground with his hands and legs so that he could stop.
Naruto rose up and looked at Baki. The man was considerably strong he was worthy of being a sensei to a jinchuriki. Fighting someone like him without his Mangekyou active would prove to be a nasty thing for him. Before Naruto activated his Mangekyou Kakashi and Guy appeared in front of him, both in battle stances.
''Naruto, you go after Sasuke, he went after Gaara. Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino and Neji have already gone after him, but I think they will need your help,'' Kakashi said, ''We will deal with this one.''
Guy nodded, ''Yes Naruto-kun let your flames of youth burn brightly by saving your comrades!''
Naruto turned around, ''Fine!'' he said.
''Oh Naruto before you go take this,'' Kakashi said handing Naruto a small piece of paper with a seal written on it, ''I got it from Jiraiya-sama, it's a suppression seal it should be able to suppress Gaara's chakra should he try to use his bijuu's chakra.'' Kakashi said eye smiling at Naruto.
Naruto took the seal and disappeared out of sight.
Baki could have tried to follow him but in front of him where two of Konoha's most powerful Jounin. He could not get just past them. Guy was the fastest and Kakashi had the Sharingan and a number of jutsu's in his arsenal. He prided himself in his strength but taking on both the famed copy-ninja and the green beast was a bit too much even for him.
''Let's go Guy!'' Kakashi said to which Guy nodded and both man charged at the Sand jounin.
A few minutes later
Naruto was running at top speed outside the walls of Konoha. By the direction in which the Sand siblings took he could pinpoint their general location. He would be able to find them given that there would surely be battles. Sasuke and the others would defiantly be fighting the Sand genin's. If Sasuke was not there they would not to fight but Sasuke did whatever he wanted so he would not listen even if his comrades told him not to fight.
On his way outside the walls of Konoha, Naruto had seen Jiraiya battling against several shinobi's from Sunagakure and The Sound village. Despite the numbers, being against him Jiraiya was devouring his opponents with ease. It was not a surprising thing for Naruto to see. Jiraiya was indeed powerful despite that he was no longer in his prime. The man was already above 50 and still fought like he was 20 years old. Still despite Jiraiya's impressive power he was nowhere near, the level of power Madara and Hashirama held.
Naruto sensed a bijuu's chakra around the forest he was currently headed towards and increased his pace. If Gaara was using Shukaku's power it meant that he was in a position to fight at the highest level. A jinchuriki using his bijuu's chakra was not someone any normal person could fight on equal ground. A jinchuriki fighting using his bijuu's chakra can take on wounds that would immobile anyone and continue to fight as if nothing happened.
A few minutes later Naruto arrived at the location his fellow genins where fighting. A sound of chirping birds was welcomed into his ears. Naruto stopped on top of a tree and observed what was going on.
He watched as Sasuke rushed at Gaara with his right arm palm sparkling electricity. Sasuke was covered by flame-like patterns all over his body. Sasuke had activated his cursed seal to be able to fight Gaara. Gaara had materialized a tail and a large right hand. They were features of Shukaku but Gaara had willed them. It was not that Shukaku was trying to take control over Gaara. Gaara was very much in control and with the creepy smile on his face one could tell he was enjoying himself.
Sasuke attempted to pierce through Gaara's chest, but Gaara brought out his mini-Shukaku hand and blocked the jutsu. The power of the jutsu cut through Gaara's hand but did not reach his chest. Sasuke gritted his teeth and tried to get away from Gaara. However, before he could Gaara's tail was swung hitting the Uchiha on his chest sending him crashing towards the trees.
Gaara's hand reformed again as he laughed maniacally, ''More! More! Come at me with everything you have!'' Gaara yelled like a mentally unstable person. His bloodthirsty nature had taken complete control over him.
Gaara ran towards Sasuke and hit him on his chest. Sasuke groaned as he was compelled to the tree almost breaking it in half.
Gaara grinned evilly as he picked up Sasuke by his transformed hand. His other hand began to pummel Sasuke continuously. After a few minutes Sasuke's flame-like patterns receded back to the cursed mark of heaven.
Gaara kicked Sasuke into the air and waited for Sasuke fall on his path so he could kick the Uchiha again. Just when Sasuke was about to be kicked Naruto appeared in front of Gaara and Kicked the Suna Genin in the face sending him flying. Sasuke hit the ground with a thud. Nevertheless, he quickly got up and glared dangerously at Naruto.
''What are you doing?'' Sasuke asked rhetorically, ''I don't need your help I can take him by myself.'' Sasuke said.
Naruto looked the young Uchiha and took a step towards the young Uchiha. What he was seeing picked up his interest. ''Ho, you finally matured your Sharingan.'' Naruto said stretching his left hand towards Sasuke face. Sasuke made no attempt to try and get out of the way. Naruto touched Sasuke's forehead making Sasuke recall the times Itachi used to poke him on his forehead.
Sasuke took a step back as the thoughts of Itachi invaded his mind. Itachi's name always and thoughts always brought a darker side of him.
Naruto's hand closed Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke was consumed by his thoughts to think of what Naruto might try to do to him. Naruto swung his right hand and hit Sasuke at the back of his neck knocking the Uchiha out. Sasuke fell down to the ground with a thud. Naruto did not attempt to catch him.
''Hey Naruto!'' A voice called out behind Naruto. Naruto recognized the voice as Shikamaru's, ''We will take care of Sasuke you handle Gaara.'' Shikamaru said. He was standing under a tree with Kiba, Neji and Shino. Kiba seemed to be wounded though not badly enough to threaten his life. Temari and Kankuro were tied together next to the Konoha genins.
Naruto said nothing; he jumped up onto a tree branch and looked at Gaara. Taking a fight with another Jinchuriki would not be good for his health if he did not fight seriously. He had been fighting for too long now and had used high-level jutsu's including the chakra consuming Susano'o and Tsukuyomi. He was not running out of chakra, he just knew that it would end up nasty for him fighting a jinchuriki for a prolonged time. He was also a jinchuriki but he never used the Kyuubi's chakra. He never used it all when fighting. Naruto chose to fight with his own power. The main problem was that Gaara could turn into Shukaku. If Gaara did succeed in taking the form of the Ichibi, it would prove to be nasty.
Nevertheless, should he be fighting with Kyuubi's chakra he would not have to worry about anything. The Kyuubi was the strongest of all the bijuu's, it would be damning to his pride to lose to any jinchuriki when he had the strongest bijuu sealed inside of him.
Naruto activated his Mangekyou preparing to fight with the Sand Jinchuriki. He needed to go all out from the beginning to end the fight at a short time.
''Naruto,'' Gaara called with a dark look spread across his face, ''Mother wants me to devour you for what you did earlier to me, and so I will. Your blood smells good to me, I can tell it is delicious!'' Gaara said and ran towards Naruto.
Gaara tried slashing Naruto's chest horizontally with his claw. Naruto was able to predict the attempt thus he side stepped. He was still faster than Gaara which made it easy for Naruto to dodge Gaara's attack. Naruto caught Gaara's left hand and spun around twice picking up speed. He threw Gaara and sent him crashing towards the tree.
Gaara recovered rather quickly and jumped at Naruto again. He was faster than before. His clawed fist crashed into a tree branch Naruto was standing on and shattered it. Naruto had jumped up not intending to try and block the attack. The power behind the strike would have proved that blocking was useless.
Naruto blurred out of sight and appeared behind Gaara. He was going for a kick from behind but Gaara's tail stood in the way. The tail swung and hit Naruto with enough power to send him crashing down the ground. There was nothing more annoying than getting hit by something you could see. His sharingan was able to predict the attack but in the position he was in, he was unable to dodge the attack.
Gaara turned around and grinned madly, ''Where is all that power you had? I want to see it again. Show it to me!''
Gaara said as he jumped to where Naruto had fallen. Naruto stood up and did a hand seal, ''Fire Style: Great Fireball!'' Naruto expelled the chakra inside his body he had turned into fire. The fire ball he breathed out rushed towards the oncoming Gaara. Gaara brought out his tail and clawed arm to shield himself.
The flames intense heat burned Gaara's materialized arm and tail making melting it. The materialized parts in Gaara's body crumbled down like sand.
Gaara fell onto the ground with his legs,''HAHAHAHAHA'' he started laughing like a maniac, ''That's the power I want to see, I want more of it!'' He said growing another tail and two hands.
Naruto saw this and knew that it was a matter of time before Gaara turned into Shukaku.
Gaara took off at a very fast pace and appeared in front of Naruto. Gaara swung his right hand attempting to hit Naruto. Naruto blocked the hit and attempted to hit Gaara, but the jinchuriki blocked his attempt with his left hand. Gaara caught Naruto's right foot and threw the blond away. Naruto was sent crashing towards the trees by Gaara.
Naruto groaned as he tried getting up but before his attempt could be a success Gaara appeared above him. Both Gaara's clawed hands where speeding down towards him. Naruto could only bring both his hands to block. The power of the strike resulted in making his attempt to block useless. The double hand punch grounded Naruto.
Gaara jumped up attempting to squash Naruto under his feet. This time was able to escape Gaara's strike. Gaara hit the ground with his legs created a large crater.
''That would have been nasty if I got hit.'' Naruto said to himself.
Gaara raised both his clawed hands pointing at Naruto. He began to shoot sand bullets at Naruto. Naruto jumped around the trees dodging the sand bullets. Gaara only increased the number of bullets he fired at Naruto. He was laughing maniacally as he was enjoying watching Naruto dance around. It was quite an amusing scene for him to watch.
A dark blue ribcage surrounded Naruto protecting him from Gaara's bullets. The Susano'o blocked all of Gaara's sand bullets Naruto was unable to dodge. Gaara finally stopped allowing Naruto a chance to catch his breath. Naruto deactivated his Mangekyou and prepared for another around.
The sand siblings watched their brother fight against the son of the Yondaime Hokage. He had defeated Gaara before but when Gaara became what he was now he was almost impossible to defeat. It was why they did not want to be close to the battlefield or else they would also be caught in the cross fire. However, there was nothing they could do since the opposition who defeated them had tied them and where currently standing behind them watching the fight.
Temari admired the strength Naruto showed at the stadium. However, watching the fight now Naruto was at the defensive while Gaara was on the attack. She was begging to think that he would not be able to pull off a victory this time.
Naruto channeled chakra into his feet for more speed. He suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of Gaara. He punched Gaara on his gut with a powerful punch. He proceeded to punch Gaara at his face several times before jumping up. Naruto swung his right leg towards Gaara. The leg connected with Gaara's face sending him crashing towards the trees.
Naruto landed gracefully on the ground panting slightly. He held a hand seal and converted the chakra kneaded inside his body into fire, ''Fire Style: Flame Dragon Caterwaul!'' Naruto said as he expelled five small flame dragons. The dragons sped towards Gaara. They were set to explode upon hitting their targets. Four hit Gaara's arms and one hit Gaara's tail. All three materialized body parts explodes exploded into flames.
Gaara let loose of a pained scream because of the explosion, ''I refuse to be beaten!'' Gaara yelled out as he leaked considerable amount of demonic chakra. An explosion of chakra rocketed around him.
Naruto remained calm despite knowing the dangers that was knocking. It was of no good losing calm because things were not looking good. If anything loosing calm made a person make rush decisions resulting in mistakes that one would not have made had he remained calm.
Naruto watched as the debris cleared. Gaara had transformed into a chibi Shukaku. Naruto created a wood clone and sent it towards the mini Shukaku. The wood clone sped towards Gaara and engaged him in a fight.
While the clone kept Gaara busy, Naruto converted chakra inside his body into dense and intense fire going through hand seals. ''Fire Style: Majestic Fire Destruction!'' Naruto said as he expelled a stream of intense flames towards Gaara.
The clone was to keep Gaara busy while Naruto performed his jutsu so that it could not get away. The stream of fire hit Gaara and the clone setting them ablaze. Both where engulfed in a sea of flames of intense heat. The fire spread out wide incarnating everything it touched. Naruto knew Gaara would not be incarnated by the fire because of his form. His real body was inside of the beast he had become. The chibi Shukaku was like an armour. The flames would only burn the 'armour'.
Naruto stopped his jutsu and watched as the mini Shukaku crumbled down into dust leaving a slightly burned Gaara. The sand genin was breathing heavily and his shirt was burned off his body leaving him bear chested.
Gaara began to leak large amounts of demonic chakra that would make anyone run away for their lives. Naruto knew what was coming. He could not put Gaara under Tsukuyomi as psychological trauma to Gaara would only free Shukaku since Gaara's mind was already unstable. He was forced to use the chakra suppression seal Kakashi had given him.
Naruto rushed to appear in front of Gaara. He took out the piece of paper and placed it on Gaara's forehead. The chakra Gaara was leaking disappeared. Gaara fell down with a thud on his back.
Naruto followed him his example by following down on his knees. He breathed heavily for a minute before standing up again.
Shikamaru and the others started to walk over to Naruto with their prisoners seeing that Gaara was down. Sasuke too walked with them since he had already come to after Naruto had knocked him out. He was very angry when he woke up but a thought sneaked into his mind. He decided to take up that thought to make up for being knocked out by Naruto.
''I lost, again,'' Gaara said weakly to himself. His eyes travelled weakly towards Naruto, ''How are you stronger than me?'' he asked surprisingly calm for someone who was like a maniac.
''I train harder than you,'' Naruto replied, ''But I have been once told that you can be truly powerful when you fight to protect your precious people.''
''Precious people?''
''People you care about.'' Naruto responded.
''Fighting to protect your precious people? Is that why you are strong?''
''I already told you, I am strong because I train hard to become strong. As for my precious people they are all dead,'' Naruto replied nonchalantly, ''I must praise you for your strength had you fully transformed into Shukaku I would have lost.'' Naruto said his left eye narrowing behind him as he sensed several chakra signatures from behind. He turned around and raised a brow seeing a wide grin from Sasuke.
Shikamaru was the first to speak, ''Are you alright Naruto?'' Shikamaru asked with a bit of concern in his voice. He saw Naruto fall to his knees and just wanted to make sure he was all right.
Naruto nodded, ''Yes, Just a bit worn out,'' He replied his eyes going back to Sasuke, ''I see, you copied my Majestic Fire Destruction.'' Naruto guessed correctly. Sasuke's grin only widened.
''What do we do about them?'' Neji asked 'them' referring to the Sand siblings.
''It is only logical that we take them back to Konoha given that they are children of the Kazekage. They would prove to be essential in future negositians with Sunagakure.'' Shino said keeping his calm demeanor.
''I agree with Shino.'' Shikamaru said his tone having gone back to his usual lazy tone.
''No,'' Naruto said getting the attention of everyone, ''Free them and allow them to return home.'' Naruto said.
''Who are you to tell us what to do? And Shino makes a good point why should we do what you say?'' Kiba fumed out of nowhere. However, Naruto blissfully ignored him.
The other genin's gave Naruto a question look, ''The Kazekage is probably dead,'' Naruto said making Kankuro and Temari's eyes widen, ''The 'Kazekage' who was at the chunin exam finals was not the Kazekage but rather Orochimaru impersonating the Kazekage. When Suna realize that their leader was killed they will abandon the Sound and return home.''
Shino nodded along with Shikamaru, ''Assuming that Orochimaru had manipulated Suna to believe that he was the Kazekage after having killed the real Kazekage, it is highly unlikely that Konoha will take any action against Suna.'' Shikamaru spoke his thoughts.
They untied the two tied Sand siblings. Temari gave Naruto a grateful smile, which Naruto did not return making the girl frown. She tried her best not to let her temper get the best of her. She hated being ignored especially by someone she was trying to show that she was grateful too. However, in her current situation she could do nothing.
Naruto disappeared away from the group making his way back to Konoha. Temari and Kankuro picked up Gaara and headed towards the wind country. After they had made a distance between themselves with the Konoha group Gaara said two words that made his siblings almost cry.
''I'm sorry.''
With Naruto
A few minutes later Naruto reached the walls of Konoha. He looked around and saw that the fighting had already stopped. He had sensed multiple chakra signatures making their way away from Konohagakure when he was returning to the village. The wounded were being treated by many medical ninja's within the walls of the village. The barrier that was set on top of the academy had disappeared also.
Naruto disappeared to the shinobi district. He wanted to allow his body to rest. He did not really care about any other details. What mattered most was that Konoha had won the invasion.