Bab 5: 32
Realizing the danger they were in, Sasuke struggled to get up but his body refused to do so.
"Damnit, where finished!" Sasuke thought angrily, as he couldn't believe that it was all going to end here. "It will take nothing short of a miracle to save us now!"
Now that he had finally dealt with the final "annoyance", Gaara prepared to finish Sakura off, and planned to deal with Ino and Pakkun next. Leaving Sasuke last, so that could savour killing him, after all the pain he had caused him.
Hidden in the trees, a terrified Temari could only watch in horror, as her younger brother transformed more and more into the monster that had haunted her nightmares for most of her life. Knowing that there was nothing she could do, for as far as she was concerned, the three Genin were as good as dead, no-one could stop Gaara now.
But just as Gaara was about to deliver the final blow to Sakura and end her life, a large crescent shape blade of Wind appeared and severed Gaara's demonic hand from the rest of his arm. After which Gaara was sent flying backwards into a large tree several meters away, thanks to a powerful kick to the face from a yellow blur, which suddenly appeared in front of him.
After crashing into the tree, Gaara raised his head to see who had kicked him.
When he looked up, he was surprised to see that the person was none other than Naruto. Who was now standing next to the injured Sasuke and in front of the now knocked out Sakura, with a serious look on his face, (despite having a Toad on his head), as he held his Katana forward.
"Looks like I just made it."
-With Naruto and the others-
"N-N-Naruto!?" said Sasuke in surprise after seeing the blonde boy.
Glancing at Sasuke and seeing his weaken stated, Naruto just nodded before glancing over at Sakura and then Ino, who were both knocked out.
Seeing this Naruto growled, since if there was one thing he couldn't stand it was seeing his friends hurt.
"Sasuke, can you move?"
"I think so" grunted Sasuke as he slowly pushed himself up.
"Good, because I need you to free Sakura and then get Ino and protect them both, since they might get caught in the crossfire when I attack Gaara."
"Naruto you can't be serious?! That guy isn't normal!" Sasuke warned, while looking at Gaara who was staring at them. "Even you can't take him on by yourself given the state your in."
Looking at Naruto, Sasuke could tell that Naruto wasn't exactly a hundred precent, given how he was panting little, indicating that he had been running at top speed to get here in time. Also given Naruto's state after his last battle, the Uchiha wondered if the blonde had any Chakra left to fight with.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, just protect the girls" Naruto said before taking Gamakichi off his head and putting him next to Sasuke.
"Sorry Gamakichi, but it's probably safer if you stay here with Sasuke, you might get hit when I start fighting."
"Okay Naruto, just make sure you stay safe, since you owe me some snacks" said the small Toad, "Oh and give that creepy guy one from me."
Smirking at this Naruto just nodded, before jumping over to another tree, ensuring that Gaara's attention was focused on him and that he wouldn't go after the others.
Watching Naruto move away from Sasuke and onto a large tree branch to his far right, Gaara turned to face the young Senju heir. Who just stared coldly at him, without as much as a hit of fear in his eyes.
Seeing this, the young Suna Genin grinned before breaking into a crazed laugh, "Heh, Heh, Heh, hahahahaha…Yes, at last you've finally appeared. I knew you would eventually come. The Uchiha proved to be entertaining for a time, but now at last you've come…and the true battle can finally begin!"
After saying this, Gaara then allowed his Sand to cover his entire upper body and took on an ever more demonic looking appearance than before, shocking Naruto and the others. The only part of his body that was not covered in sand was his legs.
"This should prove to be interesting" thought Sai, who had been following Naruto since he left the stadium and was hiding in a large tree and prepared to watch the battle.
After getting over his shock of seeing Gaara's new appearance, a now frowning Naruto sheathed his sword.
Seeing this Gaara also frowned, "What are you doing, don't tell me you're planning to run away?"
"Not on your life" Naruto replied angrily, "You told me a while back that you wanted to see me angry again. Well congratulations, you've got your wish, as nothing pisses me off more than when people start hurting my friends!"
-Enter Naruto OST- Heavy Violence-
After Naruto said this, the two young Shinobi stared angrily at one another and prepared to attack.
Naruto made the first move, within a blink of an eye the blonde disappeared and reappeared right in front of the Suna Genin and delivered a super charged punch to his face, sending the red headed boy flying backwards.
"Fast!" was all Temari could think, who watching from her hiding spot, after which she saw Naruto appear on Gaara's right side, while he was still in mid-air, and sent his crashing right through a tree with powerful kick.
As Gaara was smashed through the tree, Naruto reappeared behind Gaara in mid-air, and once again hit him with another powerful kick, that sent the boy flying in the opposite direction and into another tree.
"H-H-How is possible? Gaara is actually being overpowered!" thought Temari in shock. "Is this the power of the Senju Clan?"
"What's wrong Gaara? Had enough already, because I'm only getting warmed up" Naruto yelled as he landed on a tree directly in front of Gaara. Who was slowly getting back up on his feet and glaring angrily at Naruto.
"Get up!" the blonde boy yelled. "I'm not done with you yet! You're going to pay for what you did to my friends!"
"Damn him, my sand can barely protect me from his attacks" Gaara thought angrily as his sand slowly reformed itself.
Not willing to let Naruto hammer away at his defence with his super human strength. Gaara quickly opened his mouth and fired a massive blast of Wind at Naruto. Who quickly drew his Katana and used his Surasshu-fū (Wind Slash) to cut right through Gaara's Wind attack, causing it to dissipate, and fly straight towards Gaara.
But before the fast moving attack could hit the Suna boy, Gaara jumped into the air, causing the Wind blade to slice right through the tree.
After avoiding the attack, Gaara then extended his demonic sand arm forward at Naruto in an attempt to grab him.
Seeing this, Naruto immediately re-sheathed his Katana and side-stepped Gaara's arm and grabbed hold of it with both his arms and used his super strength to swing the Suna jinchūriki around and into another tree.
After slamming Gaara into another three Naruto then formed a single hand-seal and used the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) to create several replicas of himself and had them attack his opponent.
As the clones leapt forward and flew towards the large dust cloud that formed around Gaara, after he was slammed into the tree. They suddenly heard Gaara yell "Fūton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Wind Style: Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough)!" from within the dust cloud.
After which a massive blast of Sand and Wind erupted, blowing away the dust cloud and destroying the clones in one go.
Once clones were all gone Gaara then yelled "Suna Shuriken (Sand Shuriken)!" as he swung his arms and fired dozens of Sand shaped Shurikens from his arms.
Acting fast Naruto quickly re-drew his Katana again and used the Hien no Jutsu (Flying Swallow technique) to cover his Katana with Wind Chakra and used it destroy the Sand Shuriken as they were about to hit him.
When all the Sand Shuriken were dealt with, Naruto then jumped towards Gaara, who unleashed yet another massive blast of Wind from his mouth and fired it at Naruto. Who then used his Surasshu-fū technique to cut through the Wind attack again, and sliced through the large tree branch Gaara had just be standing on, (before he was force to jump away), causing it to fall to the ground.
Seeing Gaara evade his attack Naruto then quickly created another clone of himself and used it to throw him at Gaara. Who was still flying in mid-air and could not avoid Naruto's sword slash, which severed Gaara's tail from him, causing it to revert into Sand and fall to the ground.
After cutting Gaara's tail off, Naruto then quickly propelled himself off the side of a nearby tree and delivered a powerful spinning kick into Gaara's back, damaging his jinchūriki form again and smashing him through two large trees. Before being punched again in the face by the clone Naruto made earlier and being sent flying backwards into yet another tree.
"Guwa!" cried Gaara in pain as be crashed into the tree.
"Gaara!" cried Temari.
"Looks like Senju is holding nothing back" Sai muttered to himself, who was rather impressed with how well Naruto was dealing with Gaara.
"Those were some nice moves the kid just pulled" commented Pakkun as he watched the battle unfold. "So that's the Naruto kid Kakashi has been telling me about, he sure wasn't kidding when he said the kid was a powerhouse like his mother."
"Alright Naruto, sock it to him" cheered Gamakichi.
"Unbelievable, it took everything I had just to wound Gaara, and that was just when he was partially transformed" thought Sasuke in disbelief. "And yet Naruto is knocking him around like he was some kind of ball and damaging him in ways I never could."
"Hey duck butt head, didn't Naruto tell you to do something?" Gamakichi said, as he looked up at the Uchiha, who was still watching Naruto fight Gaara.
Realizing that the little toad was right, Sasuke slowly made his way over to Sakura and freed her from the large sand arm. But before he went over, he spared an angry glare at the small orange toad for what he just called him.
After being smashed into the tree a badly injured Gaara slowly got back on to his feet, his jinchūriki form was already in a sorry state and was struggle to reform due to all the damage he took. Had the sand not absorbed the majority of Naruto's attack, Gaara was certain his body would be in shambles.
Just as his jinchūriki form had reformed, he heard Naruto's voice above him, shouting out "Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Style: Wild Water Wave)!"
When Gaara looked up, he saw Naruto standing up on a large tree overlooking him and spewing out a large stream of Water at him.
At the same time a second Naruto appeared on Gaara's left and spat severed large blasts of Water at him from his mouth.
When the attacks hit, Gaara was able withstand them thanks to the sand that covered his body. But when the attacks ended, the Suna Genin could not help but wonder what the young Senju was up to. Since Water attacks of those levels would not hurt him in his current form, the most they could do was wet his sand.
He of course soon got his answer when a third Naruto appeared in front of him and hit him right in the stomach with an enhanced punch. But the big difference in this punch was the effect it had, where it not only sent Gaara flying through three trees this time. But it also destroyed most of the sand around his body and crippled him.
"Gaara…! No, he's seriously hurt!" Temari thought fearfully as she watched her younger brother smash through three trees and crash into a fourth.
"Unyagh!" cried Gaara in pain from the devastating punch. "What's going on…? What happened…? How did he break through my sand so easily? Why didn't it absorb the force of the punch?"
"Did you really think that I spent all my time training in just my Mokuton Bloodline limit and Kenjutsu?" Naruto asked as he and his two clones stood on a large tree opposite Gaara, looking down on him. "I also spent the past month coming up with a way to defeat you ultimate defence. Your sand is fast and strong, especially when it is compressed. But that's only when it's dry, when its wet, it's no better than mud."
"Impossible…!" a stunned Temari thought, "He actually found a way to defeat Gaara's sand defence and make it worthless!"
"Not bad for a blonde" Sai thought to himself.
"Now I'm going to end this!" Naruto said and he started to form a long series of various hand-seals, which Temari recognised from watching Naruto's battle with Yugito. At the same time Naruto started to gather a large amount of moisture from the air and the trees, causing many of the surrounding trees to dry up and wither.
When he finished, Naruto then yelled "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)!" where a massive Dragon made out of Water formed around him and then headed straight for the injured Gaara.
At the same time Naruto's two clones, who had been busy gathering their Chakra into their hands and converting it into Lightning, released their Lightning into the Water Dragon and yelled "Raisuiryūdan (Lightning Water Dragon Bullet)!"
From his position, the injured Gaara, (who could not move thanks to his injuries), watched in horror as the massive Lightning enhanced Water Dragon flew towards him at immense speed, and struck him with tremendous force. That sent him through the tree and crashing into the ground with incredible force, causing a large explosion that covered much of the ground bellow in dust.
-End Naruto OST- Heavy Violence-
After a few minutes the dust finally settled, showing Gaara laying the middle of a large crater, conscious but unable to move. Thanks to his injuries and because his body was numb from the Lightning that had run through his body when he was hit by the attack.
"Gaara!" a worried Temari thought when she saw her brother's state. "How is this possible? How can anyone? Let alone a kid like him, be able to completely overpower Gaara in his current form? It should be impossible."
"Nice one Naruto!" cheered Gamakichi.
"How does he keep doing it?" thought Sasuke in awe, as he carried the now free Sakura on his back, and went over to the unconscious Ino.
"Unbelievable, I don't believe my eyes" muttered Pakkun, (who was standing next to Ino), after seeing Naruto's last attack.
"This Guy" Gaara thought painfully as he stared up at Naruto, "Just what is he, where does he get all this strength and power from?"
After thinking this Gaara then remembered what Naruto said to him when he confronted him several weeks back."
-Enter Flashback-
"What is your goal?" Gaara asked.
"What?" replied the Senju heir.
"Why do you seek power?"
For a moment Naruto said nothing and just stared back at Gaara, unsure why he had asked him this. But eventually he spoke, "I want to become strong because I want to protect the people I care about."
-End Flashback-
After remembering Naruto's words from back then and remembering how Naruto said he was going to make him pay for attacking his friends. Gaara then started to remember his own childhood, and how people feared and hated him, how he was always alone with no friends, his only companion being the sand that protected him, like a mother's embrace.
Remembering the pain and anguish he suffered when growing up, he also remembered how Naruto said he pitied him when he said that he had no-one he cared about or would risk his life for.
Angered by Naruto's words and the memories of his harsh childhood, Gaara swore to himself that he would not lose to someone like Naruto, who believed that by protecting others was the source of strength. He would not lose to someone who had no hatred and fought for others instead of himself.
At the same time Naruto ordered one of his two clones to jump forward and a finish Gaara off.
"There's no way…There is now way…" Gaara thought over and over in his head, as he saw the clone falling towards his with his fist raised, before shouting. "THERE'S NO WAY I WILL LOSE TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"
In that moment a massive amount of sand suddenly exploded from the ground underneath Gaara and flew straight into the air, destroying the clone that was about to attack Gaara. After which a massive cloud of smoke suddenly erupted, forcing Naruto, his clones and everyone else to move back.
When the smoke cleared, they saw Gaara's fully released form, which towered over them like a small mountain.
"What is that?" Sasuke asked himself as he carried to two girls and stood next to Pakkun, who knew this wasn't good.
"He's done it…" Temari thought fearfully, "He's finally unleashed his perfect form."
"This is not good" Sai thought with a large frown, where he prepared to move away.
"Fuck!" the Senju heir cursed when he saw Gaara's new form. "That must be the released form of his Biju…damnit…this is exactly what I hoped wouldn't happen. I should've finished him off sooner when I had the chance. There's no way I can use Hokage Shiki Jijun Jutsu Kakuan Nitten Suishu (Hokage Style Sixty-Year-Old Technique Enclosed Hermitage Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands), even if I was at a hundred precent, it just too big…Looks like I have no other choice."
"Sasuke!" Naruto cried as he turned to the raven haired Uchiha, "Take Sakura-chan and Ino-chan and get as far back as you possibly can, if you stay here you're likely to get killed."
"Naruto! Don't tell me you're actually thinking of taking on that thing?!" Sasuke yelled back, "Not even you could possible beat something that enormous; we all need to get out of here now!"
"This is no time to argue, just go, I'll be fine" Naruto replied before turning to another direction. "I suggest that you get out of here too…fan-girl!
Surprised by how Naruto knew she was nearby, the Kazekage's daughter remained silent and before she could say anything. She saw Naruto and is last remaining clone bite their right thumbs and started to perform a set of familiar hand-seals.
-Enter Naruto OST- Sannin Battle theme (Original)-
"Summoning?!" Temari realized, "Don't tell me he's actually going to try and fight Gaara? There's no way he can summon anything that is large or powerful enough to stand up to Gaara in his perfect form…it's not possible!"
"What the hell are you doing Naruto?" Sasuke thought who also recognised the hand set.
"Could he actually be trying to summon what I think he's going to summon?" Sai muttered to himself when he saw the two Naruto's forming hand-seals
"If this is how you want to do things Gaara, that's fine by me…let's take this fight to the next level!" the two Naruto's shouted together as they looked up at their adversary.
At the same time Naruto made contact with the Kyubi, "Alright you stupid fox, it's rent time, I need your Chakra and I am going to need twice the amount of Chakra you gave me when I first used it."
"And why exactly should I help you?" asked Kyubi with a slight growl after Naruto called him stupid.
"Because if you don't then he'll probably kill me, and I'll be sure to take you with me" Naruto replied. "So tell me what would bother you more? Dying along with a lowly human or having "your" host losing to the host of a weakling like Shukaku? Since that is basically what would happen should I lose this fight?"
At the mention of losing to Shukaku, Naruto could hear the Kyubi growling angrily, unaware of the small smirk that appeared on the blonde's face. Who was silently congratulating himself on playing on the fox's ego, after hearing the Kyubi refer to Shukaku as a weakling in previous conversations. It was obvious that the fox had very little respect for his fellow Biju; hence the idea of losing to him in any way would greatly aggravate the nine-tailed demon.
"Very well boy, I will give you want you need, just make sure you do not lose to that worthless fool Shukaku!" the Kyubi replied before sending Naruto his Chakra.
After receiving the Kyuubi's Chakra and finishing their hand-seals. The two Naruto's slammed their hands onto the tree branch they were standing on and yelled "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"
After slamming their hands onto the tree branch, the surrounding area was filled by two gigantic clouds of smoke, forcing the people below to once again move back.
As the smoke slowly began to blow away, two gigantic figures could be made out. But once the smoke finally blew away, they became fully visible, and revealed that Naruto and his clone had summoned a giant Slug and Toad, who were equal in size to Gaara's current form.
But the thing that shocked most people was that these were not just any giant Slug and Toad. These were the leaders of their respected tribes, the Slug Queen Katsuyu and the great Chief Toad Gamabunta, the personal summonses of the Slug Princess Tsunade and the Toad Sage Jiraiya.
"Are those…?" a shocked Sasuke thought, when he saw the two summonses, recognising them from the descriptions he had read about them from books on the Sannin.
"But how…?" thought a wide eyed Temari. Who like Sasuke recognised the two summonses from the stories she had heard from veteran Shinobi in her village about the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja).
"It's amazing that he summoned just one of them…let alone the two of them in a situation like this" said Pakkun in awe.
"Incredible" muttered a surprised Sai, who had a shocked expression on his face, which was extremely rare for anyone to see, given his ROOT training. "Danzo-sama will indeed be interested to know this."
-End Naruto OST- Sannin Battle theme (Original)-
"Naruto…" Sasuke thought is disbelief over what the blonde had just done. "How do you keep doing things like this?"
At the same time, as he looked up at his blonde comrade, standing up on Gamabunta's head. Sasuke could not help but be reminded of an image he had once seen of the massive Toad, with the Yondaime Hokage standing on his head, just like Naruto. This image grew even stronger, when Sasuke thought on the resemblance between Naruto and the former Hokage, which was only highlighted by the coat Naruto was wearing. In fact if Sasuke hadn't known any better he would have believed that the two were related.
"What the hell is this guy?" a worried Temari thought, who couldn't believe that Naruto summoned two such enormous summonses to fight for him.
-In Konoha-
Currently inside the village a massive three headed Snake rampaged through the village, destroying, entire buildings and swatting away any brave Konoha Shinobi that dared to try and get in its way.
Just when the massive summon was about to crush several Konoha Shinobi who had tried to block its path. The three Shinobi suddenly saw several dozen chains made out of Chakra erupted out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the Snakes body, pinning it to the ground.
When the three Shinobi turned around they saw Kushina standing not far from them, with her hand touching the ground.
"Uzumaki-san?" said one of the Shinobi, who recognised the red headed Jonin.
"Don't move" yelled Kushina, who could see the giant Snake struggling and trying to break free.
Not wanting to give it a chance, Kushina quickly held out her hand and fired three more Chakra chains with spike tips, which flew through the air and went underneath the Snake's chins and then up through their heads, killing the three headed creature instantly and causing it to puff away.
Once the Snake was dealt with, the three Jonin quickly thanked the red headed woman for saving them. After which the four of them jumped onto the rooftop of a nearby building and then made their way to another one of the giant Snakes. But as they leaped across the buildings, Kushina suddenly heard one of the other Shinobi speak.
"What the hell are those things?" said one of the Shinobi as he pointed to the distance to three massive figures.
When she turned, a look of concern appeared on Kushina's face, as she realized who and what the three large figures were. Even though it was hard to tell given how far they were, she could still just make out their appearance.
"The large one to the left is Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Sand Waterfall), jinchūriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku (The One-tailed Shukaku), in his fully released form. The other two facing him are the Chief Toad Gamabunta and the Slug Queen Katsuyu."
"Wait, does that mean that Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama are facing off against Suna's jinchūriki?" asked one of the other Shinobi.
"No replied Kushina, "Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama are both fighting with the Sandaime Hokage-sama at the stadium."
"Then who summoned them?" asked the same Shinobi, since last he checked only Jiraiya and Tsunade could summon those two summonses.
"My student…Naruto."
"Naruto…?" the Shinobi asked in confusion, not really understanding the female Uzumaki, until it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. "Wait…! As in Senju Naruto, Tsunade-sama's son!"
After Kushina nodded in confirmation, the three Shinobi jaws hit the ground and then went back a fourth to the three large creatures and Kushina.
"But how is that even possible?" asked the third Shinobi, who was the first to come out of his stupor. "I understand the boy may be gifted, but still to be able to summon one such as Gamabunta-sama or Katsuyu-sama…it goes far beyond normal Shinobi skill, let alone summoning both of them."
"Trust me, Naruto is anything but normal" said Kushina. "Besides it can be no-one else, since as I said, Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama are with the Hokage-sama and Naruto is the only person who has ever been allowed to form a contract with both the Slugs and the Toads."
When Kushina finished the three Shinobi were left stunned, since it was unheard of for anyone, let alone Genin, to form a contract with not one but two separate summons, especially ones of such size.
As the three Shinobi tried to sort this new information out, Kushina stared at the three large beings. After seeing Gaara in his release form, Kushina wanted nothing more than to race over and help her student. But she if she did, there would be no-one left to stop the Snakes from destroy the village, since more of Konoha's Shinobi were busy getting the civilians to the shelters and holding back the enemy.
There was also the fact that she was too far away to be of any use and by the time she got to Naruto and the others it would be too late to do anything.
This left her with only one option, to continue her mission in stopping the Snakes and trust that Naruto, Gamabunta and Katsuyu would be able to stop the mad jinchūriki.
"Come you three, stop day dreaming, we have overgrown reptiles to deal with" Kushina yelled, waking the three Shinobi from their stupors and causing them to follow after her, as she raced off to deal with the next Snake.
-With Naruto-
After summoning Gamabunta and Katsuyu, Naruto, who was atop Gamabunta's head, fell to his knee panting heavily.
Like many time before, using the Kyubi's Chakra had left its toll on the young Senju's body, leaving him weak and exhausted. Even with the food pill that he took earlier, Naruto found himself feeling extremely tired and worn, not even his clone was immune from the side-effects of using the Kyuubi's Chakra. Given how it disappeared in a puff of smoke, shortly after summoning Katsuyu.
But despite the side-effects of using the Kyubi's Chakra, Naruto was still quite pleased with himself, since with Gamabunta and Katsuyu fighting with him, he could take on Gaara in his current form.
"Yes, Yes, YES!" Gaara shouted excitedly in his new form, followed by an insane laugh, after seeing Naruto summon the two massive summonses. "You are the perfect pray… even now, your power continues to grow and you continue to challenge me. When I kill you, I will truly have proven my existence to the world!"
"What the hell is going on here?" spoke Gambunta suddenly, before looking up at Naruto on his head.
"You again, what the hell do you want?" grumbled the Toad Chief.
"Hello Naruto-dono, I am pleased see you again, do you require my assistance?" the Slug Queen asked after turning to look at Naruto.
"Hey" Naruto greeted with a tired smile and way, "Sorry to bother you two, but I need both your help to defeat this guy."
"Huh?" said Gamabunta, before he and Katsuyu looked over at Gaara.
"Suna no Shukaku (Shukaku of the Sand)" said the large Toad Boss with a frown, recognising the large Biju.
"That's him, I'm fighting his host Gaara, who transformed into this, which is why I need your help" answered Naruto, believing the two summonses would help him.
"Forget it" replied Gamabunta suddenly.
"WHAT?!" shouted Naruto, not believing that the large Toad just told him that he was abandoning him in his hour of need.
"Why the hell should I fight a guy like him?" asked the Toad Chief, "It's just plain stupid, only an idiot would take him head on."
"Why? Because you told Ero-sennin, Kaa-chan and the others that you would make me one of your subordinate and help me out when I am in trouble!" Naruto yelled as he stood up in anger and started to stamp his foot furiously on the large Toad's head. "A Boss is supposed to help his subordinate out when they are in trouble, isn't that your morale code!"
"I'll admit, I did say that I would make you my subordinate" replied Gamabunta, acknowledging that he said that. "But, we still haven't had a drink yet."
"Are you're crazy? I can't drink alcohol, I'm only twelve, I'm not fucking twenty!" cried Naruto. "You're just making excuses, so that you won't have to help me!"
"Hmph" said the large Toad, not denying the accusation.
"You need not worry Naruto-dono, I shall assist you in your battle" said Katsuyu.
"Really?" asked Naruto happily as he turned to the giant female Slug.
"Of course, you're my summoner and I am obligated to help you when you call."
"Tsk, like I said only an idiot would" grumbled Gamabunta.
"Hey, don't insult Katsuyu-san, she at least knows something about loyalty and honour and is going help me" Naruto retorted angrily, forgetting how tired he was, and stamped his foot on the large Toad's head again.
"Watch your mouth brat!" Gamabunta shouted, "Don't you dare insult my honour, if I wanted to I could go back home and let you fall to your death."
"Oh yea, I dare you to try!" Naruto replied before jumping onto the Chief Toad's head and sticking out his tongue and saying "NNaahh!"
This action of course infuriated the Toad Boss, since Naruto could really get under his skin at times.
Luckily before things could get further out of hand, Katsuyu suddenly spoke, gaining both Naruto and Gamabunta's attention.
"I will admit that fighting someone like Shukaku would be extremely difficult, even for one such as me" spoke the Slug Queen. "But if you were to help Gamabunta-san, our chances of victory would greatly increase."
"Pfff…And why exactly should I help this kid, especially after all the cheek he's given me?" asked the Toad Boss.
"Oh come on Pops don't be like that, help Naruto out" spoke Gamakichi, who suddenly appeared on top of Naruto's head. "Even you said that Naruto had a lot of potential like his pops."
"Gamakichi! What the hell are you doing here?"
"I was board, and I hadn't see Naruto in a while, so I came out to play with him" replied the small before pointing over to Gaara.
"But anyway, you see that guy over there; he was picking on me!"
"What did you just say?" Gamabunta asked angrily, while glaring at Gaara. Since if there was one thing the Boss Toad would not stand for, it was someone picking on his kids.
"Yea, he tried to squash me more than once. If it wasn't for Naruto protecting me from him… he would have" replied the small orange Toad with a wink to Naruto.
Seeing the wink, Naruto nodded back his thanks and smiled, he also made a note to triple the amount of snacks he would give Gamakichi later.
"I see, okay then" Gamabunta said as he slowly drew out his dagger, not knowing that he had been tricked into the fight by his son and Naruto. "Kid! As of this moment I officially accept you as my subordinate."
"Katsuya! Can I count of your help?"
"Of course!" the Slug Queen replied with a nod.
"Good" said the Chief Toad before turning back to Gaara,
"You're going to pay for what you did…you damn flunky!" yelled Gamabunta before jumping forward to attack Gaara.
"Hang tight brat!" shouted Gamabunta as he moved forward with tremendous speed and cut Gaara's right arm off.
"Nice one Chief!" yelled Naruto as he did his best to stay on the massive Toad, when he crashed landed back onto the ground. But after cutting Gaara's arm off, Gamabunta also lost his dagger, where it crashed to the ground and caused a small shockwave near Sasuke and the others. Who were watching the battle from below.
As soon as Gamabunta had severed Gaara's arm, Katsuya made he own attack, where she spat out a large blob of acid at Gaara. Who blocked it his other remaining arm, causing a large portion of it to vaporize from the acid, before reforming again. After which Gaara then extended his massive arm forward and wrapped it around the large Slug and attempted to squeeze her like a zit.
But before this could happen, Katsuya exploded into a thousand small slugs, allowing her to escape from Gaara's hold and move over to Gamabunta and Naruto, before reforming again.
"As I feared this will not be an easy battle" said the female Slug.
"You think?" retorted the Boss Toad, "That guy's body was so heavy I could barely cut through his arm with my dagger, which I lost now."
"We'll have to end this battle quickly, before we destroy the surrounding landscape" said Katsuya.
"Hey, Gamabunta-san, Katsuya-san, Ino-chan, Sakura-chan and Sasuke are down there, so please be careful when you're fighting. If you can, could lure him away from here, that way they're less likely to get caught in the fight."
"Sakura-chan, Ino-chan?" asked Gamabunta, noticing the suffixes Naruto was using when mentioning the two girls. (1)
"There's his "this" pops" said Gamakichi as he held up his pinkie finger. "Naruto is quite the player here."
Hearing this, the large Toad smirked in an amusement.
"Ah yes, I see, Tsunade-sama has mention to me several times, that she is rather vexed with the number of young girls Naruto-dono has relationships with" commented Katsuya.
"I am not having a relationship with anyone!" yelled an annoyed Naruto, who was blushing slightly from the remark.
"Heh, Heh, Heh, come on brat don't be like that" said Gamabunta with a large smirk. "Jiraiya has told me all kinds of things involving the number of girls he has seen you hang around with. Just tell us which one of them is you favourite?"
"They're just my friends!" shouted a now irritated Naruto, "And I don't have any favourites! So don't believe anything that Ero-sennin says, knowing him and his perverted mind, he just made those stories up for those stupid books of his."
"Oh come on Naruto, there's not wrong with being popular with girls" teased Gamakichi.
"Can we please focus on the battle now and away from my personal life?" cried a frustrated Naruto, who was two steps away from tossing the small toad into the air for causing all this.
Before any of the summonses could respond, Gaara suddenly started shouting.
"Interesting, Interesting… Not bad Senju Naruto! Not Bad at all!"
"Shit!" thought Temari, when she heard Gaara, knowing what was to come next and decided to move further away from the battle.
At the same time, the real Gaara appeared on top of his Biju's form head.
"You have proven to be a much more entertaining opponent than I had imagined, Senju Naruto" said Gaara when he appeared. "As a reward, I shall show you the true strength of the Suna no Keshin (Incarnation of Sand)."
"Watch it brat, that kid is about to unleash his Biju and its true power" said Gamabunta when he saw Gaara preforming a single hand-seal.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked not fully understanding what the Chief Toad was saying.
"When the host of Shukaku is awake, the Biju's true power is limited, which is why his hosts sleep so little. It also prevents him from eating away their personality. But if they were to sleep, then his true power would be released… and if I'm right, that kid is planning on using the Tanuki no Jutsu (Force Sleep Technique) to unleash Shukaku."
"Gamabunta-san is correct, we should prepare for what is to come" said Katsuya with concern in her voice.
"Crap, this isn't good" Naruto thought before he suddenly heard Gaara's Biju form yelling.
"YYAATTTTAA! I Finally Free Baby!"
"So that's Shukaku" Naruto said after seeing the way Gaara's Biju's form was acting now.
"Man that is one funky Biju" Gamakichi remarked.
"Oh Yea, and I've even found some people I want to kill!" shouted Shukaku while pointing at Gambunta, Naruto and Katsuya. After which his then yelled "Futon: Renkuden (Wind Style: Compressed Air Ball)!" and fired a large high speed blast of Wind from his mouth.
"MOVE!" shouted Gamabunta as he jumped into the air to avoid the attack, while Katsuya once again divided herself into thousands of small slugs.
After jumping up into the air Gamabunta formed and single hand seal and yelled "Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Style: Gunshot)!" before firing a large compressed ball of Water at the large Biju.
Seeing this, Shukaku fired yet another large blast of Wind to intercept the Water attack.
When the two attacks collided, they exploded, causing the Water to fall to the ground bellow like a shower.
"It's like a storm" said Pakkun as the Water rained down on him and Sasuke, "And I already just had a bath."
"What Kind of battle is this?" Sasuke asked himself, who placed the two girls down to watch the battle and couldn't believe the scale of the attacks, which were reshaping the landscape around him.
"Well this is annoying" muttered Sai as he shielded his face with his arm.
After the two attack hit, Katsuya suddenly reformed behind Shukaku and rammed right into him. But because of how heavy he was, she was unable to push him very far, where the large Biju then grabbed hold of her with his one remaining arm and threw her away.
Recovering quickly, Katsuya then yelled "Zesshi Nensan (Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid)!" and spat out a large concentrated blast of acid at the oversized Tanuki. Who countered with another blast of Wind and sent the acid flying across the surrounding area, causing many trees to be melted.
After countering Katsuya's attack, Shukaku fired several more blasts of Wind at the Slug Queen, but before the attacks could hit. Gamabunta landed in front of Katsuya and fired two more blasts of Water and intercepted them. But he was unable to block the third Wind blast, which hit him dead on, causing a large explosion and sending the Chief Toad crashing into the Katsuya.
"Oh Yeah! I killed them! I killed them!" cheered the large Biju. "Two for the price of one… Oh Yeah!"
But as the large Biju continued to cheer for "killing" the two large summonses. Gamabunta and Katsuya both suddenly emerged from the smoke caused by the explosion.
"That hurt you bastard!" the Toad Boss yelled angrily, where he and Katsuya rammed into Shukaku and pushed the oversized Biju away, tearing up the surrounding ground in the process.
"Katsuya, I'm sorry to ask this, but can you avoid using your acid anymore?" Naruto asked as he turned to the female Slug. "I know that would make the fight more difficult, but if Shukaku counters with his Wind blast again, it could cause the acid to fall on Ino-chan, Sakura-chan and Sasuke."
"Very well Naruto-dono" replied the large female Slug. "But we need to be more careful, and avoid taking hits like the one before."
"Yea, I know" spoke Gamabunta. "Those blasts have a lot of Chakra moulded into them; I can't take many more hits like that. We need to wake that kid up, or else this battle will never end."
"How do I wake him up?" Naruto asked.
"Just Punch him!" replied the Toad Boss, before he and Katsuya were force to separate to avoid another powerful Wind blast from Shukaku.
After dodging Shukaku's attack Gamabunta quickly leapt over the Biju and grabbed hold of him with his webbed hands. But before Naruto could jump over to Gaara, Shukaku pushed him away.
"Damnit, you need to stay still longer otherwise I can't jump onto him!" yelled Naruto.
"That's easier said than done" the Toad Boss retorted, "I don't have any claws or fangs to help me hold onto him."
"Perhaps I could be of some assistance then" said Katsuya as she moved next to Gamabunta. "If I can come up behind Shukaku, we can pin him between us, allowing Naruto-dono to jump onto Shukaku."
"Hhhmmm that might just work" said Gamabunta as he thought on it. Originally he was planning on use a Henge (Transformation) to change into something with fangs or claws. But the problem with that idea was that he wasn't very good at Henges, hence Katsuya's plan was much better.
"Okay then let's do, it!" the large Toad said before he and Katsuya were force to separate again, after Shukaku fired a massive ball of Wind at them.
The attack was so powerful that when it exploded, it unleashed a powerful blast of Wind, destroying many trees and forced Sai, Sasuke and Pakkun to hold onto the trees they were standing on, and not be blown away.
When the Wind ball exploded, Katsuya tried to circle around Shukaku, but before she get into position, Shukaku sent her flying back with a swipe from his large tail.
Gamabunta who tried to play interference was also pushed back by Shukaku. Who backhanded the Toad Boss with his arm and fired another powerful Wind ball.
Acting fast Gamabunta quickly jumped into the air to avoid the powerful attack, allowing Shukaku fire another blast a Katsuya. Who narrowly avoided it by splitting herself up again, although many of her miniature forms were unable to avoid the attack fully, and were sent flying across the air.
"What a battle" said Sasuke after seeing the amount of destruction the three creatures were causing as they fought.
"This place may not be safe for much longer, I may be force to move into the air" Sai thought as he shielded his face from the shockwave of another Wind ball that had just exploded.
"Damn it…his power is increasing by the minute, if we don't end this soon, we won't be able to stop him" grumbled the Chief Toad.
"Then let's do it already" Naruto said before asking Gamkichi to get off his head, knowing that it would not be safe for the small toad once he jumped off his father's head.
"Alirght!" yelled Gamabunta before jumping into the air and spat out a massive ball of Water at the Biju, who quickly blocked it by firing one of his Wind balls. But as soon as the two attacks collided, Gamabunta burst through the shower of Water and rammed right into the massive Tanuki, pushing the Biju back a small bit.
At that moment Katsuya, who had finally gathered all her miniature forms together, appeared behind the Sand spirit and rammed into his back, pinning him in between the two massive summonses.
"Okay Naruto…Now is your chance!" Gamabunta shouted, as he and Katsuya pushed Shukaku between them.
"Right!" yelled Naruto as he jumped into the air towards Gaara and charged up his fist with Chakra.
"This is your wakeup call!" Naruto yelled and he slammed his super charged first right into Gaara's face sending the Suna boy flying out of Shukaku's forehead and nearly off its head entirely.
"NNNoooo, I just got out...! I can't go back in already!" screamed Shukaku before his spirit returned to his seal.
"Nice, he was actually able to dispel the Jutsu" Pakkun said.
But surprisingly Shukaku form remained, indicating that Gaara still has some power left.
"Well done, Naruto-dono, but this battle is not yet over, your opponent can still fight" said Katsuya as she did her best to keep the Sand Biju between her and Gamabunta.
"Damn, this brat is a tough one, I didn't think he would still have this much power left?!" Gamabunta said angrily as he tried to hold back the Sand Biju.
Just as Katsuya said when Naruto looked up he saw Gaara standing up on Shukaku's head, holding his injured face and glaring angrily at the blonde Senju.
"Crap, I held too much back when I punched him" Naruto thought angrily. (2)
"Damn him" Gaara thought angrily as he glared at the spikey haired blond. "He dispelled by Jutsu!"
Wanting to end this battle now, Naruto quickly raced towards Gaara. But before he could get even half way, his feet started to sink into Shukaku, stopping him in his tracks. After which Gaara then held out his hand and yelled "Sabaku Kyū (Sand Binding Coffin)!" and had some of the Sand that made up Shukaku's body converge on Naruto.
"Naruto-dono!" said Katsuya in concern.
"Pops you need to help him!" shouted Gamakichi.
"Right!" said the Toad Boss before he spat out his long tongue and had is surround Naruto protecting him from the sand.
"That won't help" yelled Gaara, where he then had the sand underneath Naruto form around him.
"Just how much power does this brat have?!" Gamabunta asked, after retracting his tongue and struggle to keep Gaara in between him and Katsuya.
"Now you will finally die" Gaara said furiously as the sand around Naruto began to cover him, "My existence will not perish!"
"There's no way I am going to lose to you! I will protect both my friends and Konoha!" Naruto yelled as he channelled a large portion of his remaining Chakra into his fist and slammed it down onto the Shukaku's face.
When Naruto slammed his fist into Shukaku's face, a large explosion erupted, causing sand to fly everywhere blocking everyone's view of Naruto.
But before anyone could even wonder what happened to the blonde, Naruto emerged out of the cloud, flying towards Gaara. Who tried to stop him with his Sand, which Naruto easily broke through with his inhuman like strength and punched Gaara right in the face again. This time holding nothing back and sending the elder boy flying off Shukaku's head.
Soon after, Shukaku's body finaly began to crack before finally dissolving into sand again.
"Is it over, did he win?" Sasuke asked, seeing Gaara's Biju's form dissolve.
"I think so" replied Pakkun
"You did good kid" Gamabunta thought, "Despite your worn out state from using the Kyuubi's Chakra; you were still able to find the strength to fight on. Even though you're probably the most stubborn, reckless, cheeky, smart arse brat I have every come across…you've a lot of promise in you."
"Hey, Katsuya, if it's alright with you, can you stay here and make sure the kid is okay?" Gamabunta asked. "Unfortunately I can't stay as I am at my limit and need to head back."
"Of course Gamabunta-san, and thank you, "replied the Slug Queen, who knew Gamabunta needed to head home to recover. Given how she had no bones she could take more hits than the Toad Boss and last longer in battle.
Nodding his thanks, Gamabunta looked up to Gamakichi who was still on his head. "You ready Gamakichi?"
"Yep, replied the small Toad, before he and his father, disappeared in a large burst of smoke, followed by Gamabunta's dagger.
The resulting explosion blew the still falling Naruto, crashing into a nearby tree.
"Oooh" moaned Naruto as he rubbed his head after hitting the tree. "Damn that oversized Toad, why the hell did he do that?"
"Naruto-dono, are you well?" Katsuya asked as she made her way over to the tree Naruto was on.
"Yea, I'm okay" the blonde replied as she slowly got back up to his feet and made his way up to the top of the tree. "But can you tell me where Gaara landed?"
"He landed in that direction" the Slug queen answered, turning to her right.
Nodding his thanks Naruto quickly leapt off the tree he was on and made his way to where Katsuya told him to go.
Shortly after, Naruto found the Suna boy, laying on the ground in a small crater, covered in bruises, his head bleeding from Naruto's last punch and his clothes destroyed, caked with dried blood and dirt.
When Gaara saw the blonde boy land nearby, Gaara began to wonder what made the Senju heir so powerful. He also began to wonder why someone who had not hatred in his heart was so much stronger than him, who lived for only himself and killed anyone who got in his way.
As Naruto drew closer to him, Gaara suddenly started to feel something he had never felt before…fear. He was afraid of Naruto…he was afraid of dying…he was afraid that Naruto would kill him.
"S-S-St-Stay back… Don't come near me!" cried a now frightened Gaara. "My existence will not be extinguished…I will not die!"
But despite Gaara's cries, Naruto continued to make his way toward the sand wielding boy.
But just when Naruto was only six feet away from Gaara, Temari and Kankuro suddenly appeared in front of Gaara, preventing Naruto from getting any closer.
"We won't let you touch him" Temari said with determined look on her face, which was mimicked by Kankuro.
"I've never seen Gaara so hurt, or in such a weakened state. Just what the hell did that Senju kid do to him?" a concerned Kankuro thought as he glanced at his younger brother.
"Tsk, I don't have the time or the energy for this" Naruto thought angrily, since he was already pretty tired from using the Kyubi's energy. He also wanted to wrap up things here quickly so that he could get back to the village and help.
But just as Naruto was about to say something to Suna siblings, Sasuke appeared out of one of the trees and landed next to him.
"Sasuke, what are doing here?"
"What does it look like dope…helping you" the Uchiha replied, who still had his curse markings covering the left side of his face, causing Naruto to be concerned.
"Where are the girls? You should be protecting them."
"They're safe, I also left Kakashi's dog Pakkun to watch over them."
Even though the idea of Pakkun protecting Ino and Sakura did not inspire much confidence in Naruto, the blonde knew the girls were in good hands. He was also grateful for the assist from Sasuke since together they could easy deal with both Temari and Kankuro, despite both of them being fairly worn out.
As the four Genin faced off, each Genin prepared to attack. But before anything could happen, several dozen ink Snakes appeared out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the three sibling's bodies.
"What the…" cried Temari in surprise.
"Damnit" yelled Kankuro, before he and his sister fell to the ground next to Gaara, who was also bound by the ink Snakes. Even though it was unneeded, given how his body couldn't move from his injuries.
"Nicely done, Naruto" greeted Sai as he appeared out of nearby tree in front of Naruto and Sasuke.
"Sai!" Sasuke said with a frown, "What are you doing here?"
"Just helping your worthless butt Uchiha" Sai answered with his usual fake smile, causing Sasuke to glare at him.
"Heh, like I believe that" Naruto thought with his own frown. "I bet he's been following and watching us from a distance, ever since we left the village. My guess is that he is trying to gain more Intel on our abilities for Danzo and would only intervene when it was needed to."
Ignoring the raven haired boy's glare, Sai went over to Gaara and drew his Tanto and pointed it at Gaara. Who was staring back at him with a mixture of anger and fear in his eyes.
"Now if you don't mind, I will wrap things up here" the ROOT agent replied as he prepared to finish off Gaara with his blade.
"Gaara!" cried Temari and Kankuro together, when they saw what Sai was preparing to do, and futilely tried to break free from their binds.
But before Sai could deliver the fatal blow, he was stopped by a sudden shout from Naruto who yelled "STOP!"
After stopping his blade just as he was about to pierce Gaara's jugular, the young ROOT agent turned to the blonde.
"Is there a problem Naruto" Sai as with a raised eyebrow, all the while keeping a close eyes on Gaara as well.
"They're defeated, there's no need to kill them."
"Aren't you forgetting something, Suna has betrayed us, they have allied with Oto and they have attacked our village. They are our enemy…and all enemies of Konoha must be killed, especially him" spoke Sai as he looked down at Gaara with any emotion. "He is Suna's jinchūriki and is therefore a serious threat to our village and cannot be allowed to live, if he were to transform again he could do a great deal of damage to Konoha."
"He isn't a threat to the village now, he doesn't have enough Chakra to fight anymore and his body is too damage to move."
"As long as he lives he is a threat to the village" Sai retorted coolly.
"I was the one who fought and defeated him, and I am the one who will decide what to do with him" Naruto said forcefully and took a step forward to highlight his point. "And I will not let you kill a defenceless person in cold blood, even if he is an enemy."
"And what would you have us do with him…let him go?" Sai asked with a sarcastic tone and another fake smile.
"We'll take him prisoner" Naruto replied.
"And them?" the dark haired boy asked as he glanced at the bound Kankuro and Temari, who shared worried looks with one another.
"Them as well."
"I see" Sai replied calmly "And what if for argument sake, I ignored your request and decided to kill them."
"I would stop you" Naruto replied with a determined look in his eyes.
For a moment the two Genin just stared at one another, entering into a battle of wills.
But eventually after a few minutes of staring, Sai removed
his tanto from Gaara's neck and sheathed it.
"Very well then, we'll take them as prisoners."
Nodding to this Naruto was about to jump up to the top of a nearby tree, but before he could, Sai suddenly spoke again.
"You should know Naruto that I am actually a bit disappointed with you."
"Why's that" Naruto asked as he turned to the pale face boy, who still had his fake smile on.
"For such a strong and gifted Shinobi, you're really a naïve, soft hearted idiot, who doesn't deserve to be a Shinobi of Konoha."
"Hmph, coming from you Sai, I'll take that as a complement" Naruto replied with a smirk, before he jumped up to the tree to call Katsuya over.
"He's a strange one I'll give him that" Sai thought with a raised eyebrow. "But still if seems that Danzo-sama was correct. Naruto has clearly been influence by the Sandaime Hokage-sama's teaching, and if he is to be any use to Konoha he will have to be purged of those beliefs."
During their little stand-off, Naruto had once again proven to Sai that even though he had immense potential as a Shinobi, who could possibly lead Konoha to greatness. He still lacked the heart and will to do what was necessary. He had first he shown this at the battle on the bridge in Nami no Kuni (Wave Country), when he stopped Kakashi from killing Zabuza.
And now once again he had shown this naivety and soft-heartiness, to a person he had just being fighting against. Naruto even threaten to fight him should he try to kill Gaara, and although Sai was fairly certain he could take on and defeat both Sasuke and Naruto in their weaken states. He decided not to since Gaara and his siblings would prove to be useful hostages, since they were the children of the Yondaime Kazekage and probably have valuable Intel on their village. Not to mention they would be useful bargaining chips for future negotiations with Suna, once they had dealt with the invasion, especially Gaara given his status as a jinchūriki.
Once Katsuya arrived Naruto asked the Slug Queen to transport Gaara, his siblings, as well as Sakura and Ino.
The Slug Queen was of course happy to help and used her Katsuyu Daibunretsu (Slug Great Division) technique to have several medium size versions of herself leave he body and act as transport for the three Suna Siblings. She even created two more and sent them over to where Sasuke had left Sakura and Ino and brought them over to them.
As Naruto loaded Gaara onto one of the Katsuya clones, the red headed boy suddenly spoke.
"Do not think just because you spared by life I will show you the same mercy. I am not weak like you. I promise you, one day I will kill you for what you have done to me, and make you suffer for all the pain you have caused me, I will feed your blood to my mother…I swear it!"
"You can try."
Gaara of course did not respond to this and just glared angrily at the blonde boy. Who slowly walked away from him, although as he did, Sai turned and spoke to him.
"Still want to keep him alive?" the dark haired boy asked with another fake smile.
"I'm sure" Naruto replied before he jump up onto a tree and then up on to Katsuya "…whether he appreciates it or not."
"Naruto what are you doing?" Sasuke asked when he saw the blonde boy jump up on top of Katsuya.
"I'm heading back to Konoha with Katsuya, she's told me they're still having trouble with the giant Snakes in the village, so I'm going to help. You guys stay with Gaara and the others and make sure they don't try to escape."
Before Sasuke could say anything to stop the blonde, Katsuya took off with surprising speed for a giant Slug.
"That kid seems to be always on the go" mutter Pakkun, who was standing next to the two Katsuya clones that were carrying the unconscious Sakura and Ino.
"Naruto certainly doesn't like to sit still for very long, don't you think Sasuke?" Sai asked with his usual fake smile when he turned to his team-mate.
"Shut up Sai!" Sasuke replied angrily before they began to make their way back to Konoha.
-With Naruto-
After leaving Sasuke and Sai and exhausted Naruto rested on Katsuya's head, who offered to heal Naruto's injuries, which he had suffered while battling Gaara.
As Katsuya healed his minor injuries, Naruto took out another food pill to help keep him going. Although he still had enough Chakra to fight, his body was worn out from using the Kyuubi's Chakra.
"Kaa-chan is probably going to kill me once she finds out that I've taken more food pills" Naruto thought as he swallowed the pill. "But I can't worry about that now, I need to be able to help."
When Naruto and Katsuya arrived at outer wall, the two could clearly see that the invading force had broken through all of Konoha's outer defences and had moved into the centre of the village with the giant Snakes leading the way.
"Damnit things are bad" Naruto thought before he suddenly felt a presence, after which two masked Shinobi appeared on the outer wall in front of him.
"Surprised by the sudden appearance of the Shinobi, Naruto prepared to defend himself and was about to order Katsuya to attack, but stopped when he realized that the two Shinobi were ANBU.
"Peace, Naruto-san we mean you no harm" spoke one of the ANBU wearing a Badger shape ANBU mask as he held up his hand in a peaceful manner.
"We are with Konoha's Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (Special Assassination and Tactical Squad), also known as ANBU" said the ANBU with a bird shaped masked.
"How do I know that you are both the real deal? The last ANBU I met turned out to be an enemy and nearly killed me" Naruto said, as he kept his guard up.
"Because they're with me" spoke a new voice, after which a familiar scared face man appeared next to the ANBU.
"Hey I know you…" Naruto said in recognition when he saw the man. "You're the examiner from the first exam…Morino Ibiki."
"Good to see you alive brat," the scared man replied with a nod. "Now if you don't mind telling me what are you doing here, and why are you on Katsuya-sama? When he saw her, we assumed that you were Tsunade-sama."
For the next few minutes, Naruto explained his orders from Kakashi about stopping Gaara to Ibiki and then went on to give a brief rundown of want happened.
When Naruto finished explaining what happened, both Ibiki and the ANBU were stunned by the news that mere Genin, not only fought and defeated a jinchūriki. But also summoned two of the three legendary summons of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja).
"Incredible" thought the one of ANBU in awe.
"Truly one would expect nothing less from the son of Tsunade-sama" thought the other ANBU admiration.
"Jeez, what the hell is with this kid?" thought Ibiki thought with a small bead of sweat falling down his face. After hearing such a story, Ibiki would normally think that the kid was lying, since it was too ridiculous to believe. Yet the proof was staring him right in the face, or to be exact, Naruto was standing right on top of it.
Furthermore, Ibiki had received reports from several of his people stating that they had seen a giant Toad and Slug battling another massive creature outside the village.
When he first heard the reports, the man naturally assumed that Jiraiya and Tsunade were battling the creature. It was also why when he later heard the reports that a giant Slug was heading for the village. He assumed that it was Tsunade riding on top of it, which was why, he and the ANBU came to the outer wall, in the hope of asking for her help against the giant Snakes.
After learning the truth, the head of Konoha's ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force, was force to doing something he never imagined to do.
"Hey kid I have a favour to ask?"
"Yea what is it?"
"We're having a lot of trouble with those giant Snakes that are attacking the village. Right now Kushina is trying to deal with them herself, but she could do with some help, before the Snakes can do anymore damage to the village."
"Kushina-sensei!" thought Naruto before he focus back on Ibiki. "But what about the enemy, they've already reached the centre of the village?"
"Leave them to us, we have a plan for them" the scared man replied.
"What do you mean?" the blonde boy asked not fully understanding what Ibiki was saying.
"Konoha has a manual in the event that the village comes under attack by an enemy" answered the Bird masked ANBU. "Stage one, involves us eliminating all enemy forces that have infiltrated the village."
"But in the event that we are unable to, we immediately move to Stage two," continued the Badger masked ANBU. "In other words, evacuate all civilians and non-combatants to designated shelters around the village and slow the enemy's advance, after which we move to Stage three."
"And what does that involve?" Naruto asked.
"That all Shinobi forces around the village are to attack and eliminate the enemy from the village, and that stage should begin at any minute, since the civilians have all reached the shelters."
Nodding in understanding, Naruto quickly had Katsuya go through the large gab in the wall that one of the giant Snakes made earlier and headed towards the nearest giant Snake.
"Ibiki-taicho, are you sure this is a wise decision?" asked the Bird masked ANBU.
"Agreed, to be honest I don't like idea of sending a boy like him into battle" said the other ANBU.
"I don't like it much either, but right now we need use everything we've got to drive the enemy back, and that boy can clearly do things we cannot" the scared face man replied. Who at the same time could not help but find the whole situation disgraceful, since it was supposed to be the adults who protect the kids, not the other way around.
Shortly after though, the three men's attention was soon turned elsewhere when they heard a large bird cry.
"That's the signal, it's time to get into position" said Ibiki to the two ANBU who nodded and Shunshin'd (Body flickered) away.
Before joining them Ibiki took one last look at Naruto, and wished the kid luck, while at the same time hoping the blonde boy stayed safe. Knowing that if anything happened to the spikey haired blonde, his mother Tsunade would come after him and would do things that would make even the scared face man shudder in fear.
-With Naruto-
As Naruto and Katsuya moved through the ruined part of the village, Naruto formed a single hand-seal and created a dozen Shadow clones of himself.
"Naruto-dono, what are you doing?" the Slug Queen asked in surprise.
"I'm getting off here, you help Kushina-sensei out with those oversized Snakes…I'll be able to help more if I'm down there."
"With respects Naruto-dono, I believe it would be better if you stayed with me, where I can protect you" replied Katsuya.
"Thanks Katsuya but I'll be fine, besides I'm worried about Kaa-chan, Ero-sennin and Jiji, and want to see if they are okay."
Sighing at this, the large Slug Queen just nodded, knowing that she would not be able to convince Naruto not to leave her.
"Very well Naruto-dono, but please, take one of my clones with you, that way I can keep in contact with you and come should you need help. I can also send you healing Chakra in the event that you are injured and cannot heal yourself."
Agreeing to this, Naruto took the miniature Katsuya clone that appeared below his feet and placed it on his shoulder. After which he then ordered his clones to move out, where they jumped down into the village and scattered, to do what they could to help.
-At Konoha's Memorial Stone-
Currently kneeling in front of the Konoha Memorial Stone was a lone woman with long purple hair, dressed in ANBU attire. She did not pay much attention to the distant sounds of the battle going on in the village, as her attention was focused on the Memorial Stone.
After a few minutes she raised her hands and traced over one of the names written on the stone…the name of her now deceased lover.
"I will avenge you…Hayate" said the women before a determined look appeared on her face and she stood up and placed her Cat ANBU mask on. After which she turned around to face four more ANBU, who had just appeared.
Shortly after the five ANBU heard the bird's cry from above.
"There's the signal. Let's go." said an ANBU wearing a Tiger Mask.
"Hai replied the woman before they all Shunshin'd away in a puff of smoke.
In the centre of the Konoha, two squads of Oto and Suna Shinobis were racing through the streets at top speed.
Suddenly though a hail of Shuriken appeared from above, halting the Shinobi's advance and taking out a member from each squad, while the remaining other members deflected the rest with their Kunai.
When the two Shinobi groups looked up they saw five ANBU looking down at them from a small bridge above them.
"That's as far as you go, you will not take another step further into our village!" declared the purple haired female ANBU.
In another part of the village the Hyuga Clan head Hyuga Hiashi was busy fighting over two dozen Suna Shinobi, using his superior Jūken fighting techniques to defeat any who came near him.
As the battle progressed five Suna-nins tried a direct attack, hoping to overwhelm the Hyuga Clan head with their numbers. But instead Hiashi sent three of them flying back with a single palm strike, the remaining two then tried to attack him from both the front and behind. Only to be sent flying back as well by Hiashi, who used his lightning fast Jūken strikes to defeat them.
After dealing with the five Suna-nins, the remaining seventeen Suna Shinobi surrounded the man and kept the distance from the man.
"What are you guys doing?" spoke the leader of the two groups. "He's only one man!"
Seeing that the enemy were preparing to attack all at once, Hiashi decided to strike first and began to spin around at high speed. After which he then yelled "Kaiten (Revolving Heaven)!" where a massive spinning dome, that was easily three times the size of Neji's, formed around him, sending all seventh Shinobi flying into the air.
When the technique ended, Hiashi was left standing in the middle of a large crater, while the defeated Suna Shinobi crashed down onto the ground around him.
"The Hyuga Clan are the strongest in Konoha, you would be wise to remember it" said Hiashi with his Byakugan activated.
In yet another part of the village the fathers of Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were busy fighting a large group of Suna Shinobi, using the special techniques of their respected Clans along with their patented Ino-Shika-Cho formation to defeat their opponents.
Not far from where the senior Ino-Shika-Cho members were fighting. The Inuzuka Clan head Inuzuka Tsume, her daughter Hana and their canine partners were leading several other members of their Clan and the cainine partners in an attack on several Suna Shinobi on the rooftop of a large building.
In the centre of Konoha, Kushina and her team were just finishing off another one of the giant serpents, where the red head had just bound the snake up in her chains.
But as she stabbed the two headed Snake in both its heads with the pointed tip of one of her chains, causing it to disappear. Another large Snake appeared out of the ground behind her and bared it fangs down on her before it prepared to swallow her up with one glop.
"Kushina-san!" yelled on of the Konoha Shinobi, when he saw the large Snake.
"Shit!" thought Kushina, realizing he was finished, but just the massive Snake descended down on her, a large female voice suddenly shouted "Zesshi Nensan!" After which large yellow paste hit the Snake, covering its entire body.
Within seconds the creature screamed out in pain as it began to melt before exploding in a puff of smoke.
Still in shock over what happened and that she was still alive, Kushina slowly turned in the direction of the attack where she saw the massive Slug Queen tower over the Konoha building not far from her.
Quickly making her way over to the Slug Queen, Kushina leapt over several buildings and then onto the large female Slug's head.
"Thanks for the assist Katsuya-sama, looks like I owe you one" said the red headed Jonin.
"My pleasure Kushina-san" replied the Slug Queen.
"Not to sound ungrateful, but what are you doing here, where are Gamabunta and Naruto and what happened to that Suna kid?"
"The Suna jinchūriki was defeated by Naruto-dono, Gamabunta-san and I and has been captured along with his siblings. After which Gambunta-san returned to Myōbokuzan (Mount Myōboku) to recuperate from injuries and Naruto-done has left to check on Tsunade-sama, as well as help with the battle."
"Damn kid," Kushina mumbled angrily, "I swear he won't be happy until he gets himself killed." After saying this Kushin silently swore that once this battle was over she would bash some common sense into the blonde for being so reckless, that is unless his mother got to him first.
"You need worry about Naruto-sono too much Kushina-san. Before he left Naruto-dono took one of my clones with him, so I am in constant contact with him."
After hearing this Kushina nodded, and although this news did help settle her concerns a little, it still did no ease them entirely.
Soon after though Kushina pushed aside her thoughts for her students and turned to the last remaining Snake summon, which was making its way over to her and Katsuya.
As the creature drew closer, its it large fangs at them, showing it was not afraid of them.
"Katsuya, if it's okay with you can I count on your help with dealing with this overgrown reptile?" Kushina ask. Given how Katsuya and her did not have a contract and the Slug Queen was under no obligation to help her.
"Of course, Kushina-san, Narurto-dono requested that I was to help until all the summonses were dealt with."
Pleased to hear this, Kushina thanked the Slug Queen again and then turned to face the last Snake summon together.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone