Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 18: Because We

Naruto's body crashed right through a tree with a sickening crack.

"Ow!"

"Ow" was definitely an understatement. He hadn't been damaged quite badly, but being punched through a tree by an arm made of sand definitely hurt. It felt just like when the real Shukaku punched him in the face.

'Pfff,' He heard Shukaku snorting in his head. 'My punch was much harder than that!'

His relentless assault with hundreds of shadow clones couldn't even get pass Gaara's defense. Whenever he and his clones approached Gaara, the redhead would just swat them away either with the monstrous strength of Shukaku, or with a wide, quick blast of wind.

'Naruto, taijutsu won't do anything against him! Try some ninjutsu!' Kokuoh urged him.

'I know! But what to use...'

From afar, Gaara growled.

"Why do you try so hard...? You're weak... Why struggling meaninglessly...? Why won't you just DIE!"

On his sand arms, the shape of a lot of shuriken started forming. Naruto understood immediately what was going to happen.

Blocking will just slow down his momentum. He will have to match the attack with his own attack...!

The gears in his mind immediately came to life full speed. The image of a kunai with all of the necessary details appeared in his head: the sharp diamond-shaped tip, the handle wrapped in cloth with a ring at the end, the black steel material, the way Tenten's father smashed his hammer on the red steel to shape the appearance of the ninja knife, the skills of all the shinobi who wielded this particular weapon...

"Sand Shuriken!"

"Multiply by 100! Creation: Weapon Projection Jutsu!"

A barrage of kunai formed around Naruto and launched themselves towards Gaara just as a barrage of shuriken made of sand shot our from Gaara's arms. The two storms of weapons met in midair, steel clashed with sand. The air was suddenly full of loud clanging noises.

'Alright! Finally got that jutsu down!'

'Not perfect, you mean.'

True, the kunai created by Naruto's chakra were now all popping into smoke after stopping the barrage of sand shuriken coming from Gaara.

'You don't need to say it like that...' Naruto pouted.

'Well, I was really surprised when the old man could pull that jutsu out with only one try, you know,' Isobu noted. 'I didn't think he had the structure of the weapon so perfectly, or had the chakra density to create them like that.'

During the training month, Naruto had once shown Hiruzen the jutsu. While he was complaining loudly about how hard it was to create the weapons perfectly from only chakra, the old man just pondered in thought, and after about five minutes of thinking, he suddenly smiled, and made some hand signs. After a puff of smoke, a perfect shuriken appeared on his hand, sharp and sturdy as if it was a real shuriken made from real steel, not from chakra, before the gaping mouth of Naruto and the amusing face of Jiraiya.

'Well, to be fair, he had been working with a shuriken for decades before Naruto was even born,' Kokuoh said wisely. 'So it's no wonder why he knew the shuriken so thoroughly just like the back of his hand... Watch out!'

Looking up, Naruto saw Gaara descending on his head with his left clawed arm lunging at him. This time, the redhead was the one who initiated combat first.

Not even stopping to think, Naruto reacted instinctively.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Five clones appeared in front of the real Naruto and took the blunt force of the punch. They exploded violently, sending Gaara flying, and from within the smokescreen, the real Naruto emerged; on his hand, there was a piece of paper with sealing formulae written on it.

"What is this?" Naruto stared at the piece of paper on Jiraiya's hand.

The Toad Sage chuckled. "It's a seal I designed to suppress the power of Tailed Beasts within a jinchuriki. I originally created it to help you control the Kyuubi in case you one day needed it... But I think you won't need it anymore, right?"

"So why don't you keep it?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "I'm giving this to you to use against Gaara when you two clash later. If what I heard about Gaara was true, he was a psychopath. And there is no way to stop him if he unleashes the full power of Shukaku on the village. But I believe you won't like to fight him if you can, will you? So what you need to do is to get close to him and stick this to his forehead when Shukaku's chakra goes out of control."

'The pervert is right,' Naruto heard Gyuuki inside his head. 'The structure that seal is based on is an advanced structure which is usually used to suppress a very large and powerful amount of chakra.It basically blocks the movement of chakra in a person's body when applied, making the applicant unable to access the chakra of us inside them anymore, at least for a short time enough for him to calm down. It is pretty useless if used directly against us, but through the jinchuriki... it is a completely different story. He is good, I admit.'

Naruto looked at the seal on Jiraiya's hand worriedly for a while. Then, he reached out his hand and took it. "Thanks, Pervy Sage. You and the old man, be careful against Orochimaru, too."

"You don't have to remind me about that," the Sage answered him with a confident smirk.

"Because you're like me, Gaara! I understand all your pain, being treated as a monster... So I will do anything to save you from the darkness! I AM YOUR FRIEND!"

Naruto's hand lashed out at Gaara's forehead. Just another step...

'On your left, Naruto!'

'Huh?'

He immediately raised his arm to block, but couldn't stop another giant heavy arm made of sand, Gaara's right arm, from striking him at the ribs on the left side of his body and throwing him away before he could touch the other jinchuriki. Naruto was once again sent flying like a ragdoll, but thankfully, no bone was broken.

Naruto groaned and crawled up. It freaking hurt. Not only in the body, but in his heart also.

Now I finally understand what old man Hashirama felt when he had to face Madara in battle...

To apply the seal on Gaara's forehead, he needed to move closer to him, enough for his hand to reach Gaara's head. But if he wants to do that, he must move faster than Gaara or his sand could react.

'Naruto, use our chakra now! It's your only chance against Gaara right now!'

'Ugh... I had hoped we wouldn't need to resort to this...'

Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak was, right now, the ultimate trump card Naruto had in his arsenal. With the chakra the Beasts inside him granted him, every aspect of Naruto's body was enhanced massively, from the muscle strength, chakra, power of jutsu to even his senses. Not as destructive as when he was in his full Tailed Beast Mode, when he could spam Tailed Beast Bombs like crazy of course, but this was more than enough. He was incredibly powerful already when he was in this state.

But unfortunately for Naruto, the greatest problem lies exactly there.

With the absurd amount of power this mode gave him, he had no way to tone it down. Even a normal Rasengan created in this mode could easily blast Gaara to shred even when he was in his half-transformation. That's the reason why Naruto didn't enter this state right when their fight started; he feared that he could accidentally kill Gaara with a stray Rasengan or something.

He still remembered that time when he was sparring with Jiraiya...

"Holy shit."

Those were the only words Jiraiya could say before the sight of destruction in front of him.

Apparently, Naruto's buffed-with-Tailed Beast-chakra Rasengan had just blown a boulder the size of a house to smithereen. Yes, a normal Rasengan.

"Well, it's just that powerful," Naruto shrugged. "I just cannot control the destructive power when it is unleashed, so..."

"Naruto," the perverted sage turned to the blonde, his left eye twitched. "Never use this chakra cloak thing during a 'capture alive' mission, understand?"

Naruto gulped.

So, mowing down everything with maximum destructive power? Piece of cake. Beating someone to a pulp, while keeping him alive and healthy? That's a completely different story.

And there was another limit: he couldn't stay in this mode longer than three minutes, with the body of a kid he was having now.

But there's no time to hesitate now... For his plan to work, he needed speed, and the Cloak was the only thing which could give him what he needed now.

Naruto nodded, and immediately, the incredibly potent chakra of the Tailed Beasts rushed into Naruto's chakra network. With an explosion of energy, his chakra cloak started forming.

Naruto's chakra cloak also got a drastic change in appearance. His whole body was clad in long-sleeved black body armor with golden symbols of the seal engraved into it. The golden overcoat was still there, but now, it was sleeveless with shoulder pads and was held together by a strap at the waist, making it look more like a half-cape with nine splitting tails at the end. An aura of golden energy covered his whole body from his heels to the tip of his spiky hair. If there was anything to say about it, it's just Naruto looked even more badass than he was before...

Well, had he not been still a midget, anyway.

With his newly acquired speed, Naruto dashed at Gaara. The Shukaku jinchuriki growled, and thrust his arms forward; hands made of sand burst out from the ground and launched themselves at the blonde Konoha shinobi like missiles. But Naruto's speed, together with his enhanced senses and reflex, allowed him to dodge all the sand missiles easily.

Only a few steps more. Maybe he wouldn't have to resort to fighting after all...

His legs moved faster. His hand lashed out; the seal was ready to be applied on Gaara's forehead...

Then he felt his face colliding with something hard.

A high and long wall made of rock, sand and some kinds of very hard ore suddenly erected from the ground, right at the place he was aiming at.

However fast and good reflex you are, if there is a wall suddenly appearing in your running path, and you're charging full speed at it, the natural result is that you will smash your face into it. Kakashi had learnt this the hard way when he first invented his Chidori.

Well, maybe not if you have the power of supernatural magical eyes, but...

Screw Newton and his Laws of Physics.

Naruto's collision with the wall caused a sickeningly loud "boom", and a human-shape crater appeared on the wall. But the sudden halt didn't slow the blonde jinchuriki down.

Naruto rushed into the wall again, this time on purpose. On his hand, his other signature jutsu, the Rasengan, started forming. With a loud battle cry, the spiraling sphere collided with the large wall, and this time, he managed to plow right through it. The sand shield immediately erected itself around Gaara, blocking him from view, and Naruto's fist crashed against it.

"Heh."

But Naruto's speed right now was at least equal to Lee's with five Gates opened. In a flash, the blonde disappeared from Gaara's view and before the Sand jinchuriki could even realize, his face ate a very nasty punch from Naruto who had just snuck through the protective barrier with sheer speed.

Then Gaara collapsed into a pile of sand.

What...?

'To your right, Naruto!'

Naruto turned his head, and he paled when he saw what was going to happen.

Gaara, a few steps away, in his half-transformed state, was kneeling on the ground with his head raised high. In front of his mouth, a black sphere the size of a basketball had formed.

Tailed Beast Bomb. He was preparing to fire a freaking Tailed Beast Bomb.

Having faced them, and even used them many times before, Naruto knew like the back of his hand how powerful and destructive a Tailed Beast Bomb is. That time when he went four-tailed and used a smaller Tailed Beast Bomb than this one, he utterly obliterated three Rashomon gates Orochimaru summoned and made a gigantic crater on the ground. Another time, he blasted the freaking Pain, protected by his Shinra Tensei, off to the sky when he was in six-tailed state. Tailed Beast Bombs, unless you have hax dimensional phasing power like Obito, or the ability to teleport them to another place like Minato, are unavoidable.

And even if somehow Naruto managed to avoid it, the angle Gaara was aiming at meant he would take down at least a quarter of Konoha, which was two miles behind Naruto's back.

And there is no time to stop Gaara from firing the deadly ball anyway. He will have to...

'Kurama!'

'I know!'

Naruto opened his right hand. Immediately, chakra started spinning in his palm, taking the form of his prized Rasengan. Two more hands made of chakra sprouted from his wrist and wove around the sphere, and in just two seconds, his signature Rasenshuriken was formed. The air whipped around him, and the clearing was suddenly filled with loud screeching noises.

The chakra shuriken left Naruto's hand right as the deadly black sphere shot out from Gaara's mouth. The two projectile attacks flew towards each other, and when everyone expected a nasty collision and an earthshaking explosion...

The ball soared over the shuriken.

Now!

Right then, the shuriken detonated. From under the Tailed Beast Bomb, air suddenly exploded into a wrathful tornado, and the black ball of chakra was shot upward by the pressure of the whirlwind. The Tailed Beast Bomb rocketed into the blue sky... twenty meters... fifty... sixty...

Then the forest shook with a loud explosion in the sky. A huge shockwave washed across the clearing, and would have swept Naruto off his feet had he not been ready.

'Alright!'

'Naruto, around you!'

Naruto heard the warning, but it was too late. From every direction around him, a large amount of sand burst out from the ground, and immediately closed in around him as if he was a living magnet.

The Tailed Beast Bomb was just a distraction. What Gaara was really aiming for was this: trapping him inside his cocoon of sand and crush him with his Sand Burial.

How could Shukaku be such a good tactician, by the way?

'Hey!'

In just a second, Naruto was completely locked inside a very thick and very heavy pyramid of sand, unable to even move a muscle.

Naruto cursed when the sand started constricting around his body. If he doesn't do anything soon, he will be crushed to a pulp for sure...!

No choice then...

Naruto quickly gathered all the chakra in his golden cloak. With a loud yell, the chakra exploded, taking down the sand prison holding him with a loud "bang". He escaped death barely, but his Tailed Beast Cloak also dissipated as a result.

Then suddenly, Gaara's sand arms extended from afar and slammed into Naruto's body with the speed of two rockets. Naruto was pushed into the tree trunk, oxygen was taken out of his lungs when the two clawed hands grabbed him and squeezed hard.

"Urgh..."

If it was only sand, Shukaku's power might have been able to help him get out. But this arm was a construct made from both sand and a very large and dense amount of chakra from the other Shukaku, and controlled actively by Gaara's mind; Naruto's Shukaku couldn't dispel it.

"Die, Uzumaki!" Gaara shouted in glee, squeezing his two hands up harder and crushed the blonde jinchuriki in a loud plop.

"Chidori!"

...or at least, that's what would have happened had Sasuke arrived just two seconds later.

Gaara screamed when the lightning-charged hand of Sasuke tore through his two sand arms and cut them off his body. Suddenly being cut off from Gaara's control, the two grotesque hands flinched midair and collapsed into sand again, freeing Naruto.

Sasuke spun on midair and delivered a rolling kick on Gaara's face. The red-haired jinchuriki's body plunged to the ground and connected with the dirt in a loud "thud".

"I knew you wouldn't be able to do it without my help," the Uchiha turned to Naruto with his trademark smirk on his face.

Naruto smiled. Despite being annoyed by Sasuke's arrogant antic, he was still glad for his big damned hero moment.

"I hate to say this, but thank you for being on time."

"Blood...?"

The two turned back to Gaara, whose body was twitching wildly. The two sand arms were separated from his body, revealing his two bloody normal arms below.

"Blood... My... blood... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! My blooooooooood!"

"Oh crap," muttered Naruto.

In front of them, Gaara's body started morphing again. Sand once again crawled up his bleeding arms and his body, healing them and melding them into even more grotesque Shukaku-like shapes.

And the worst thing is, a tail-like appendage had sprouted out of his tailbone. Being a jinchuriki himself, Naruto knew what would happen when a transformation started to advance to the "tail" state.

It's just a little bit more before he turned completely into Shukaku.

'Shit, we'll have to stop him before he goes into full Tailed Beast Mode, or else...'

"That is Shukaku?" Sasuke stared at the creature in front of them. "Wow, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life."

'Release me you guys! Release me! I'll flay that Uchiha alive!' Shukaku screamed hysterically inside Naruto's mind while the other Tailed Beasts had to try their best to hold the tanuki back from taking over Naruto's body and blasting Sasuke to bits.

The Shukaku-fied Gaara raised his arms, and Naruto's eyes widened when he realized what was going to happen.

"Shit! Jump!"

Sasuke, however, hadn't even waited for the command. His Sharingan allowed him to see the existence of chakra in a human's body, and such an absurd amount of chakra exploding around Gaara right now must not be a good sign at all. He had already leapt into the air before Gaara slammed his hands downward.

The ground exploded. Tendrils of sand shot out everywhere from below the surface, skewering through the trees standing on their way like they were made of paper. Naruto and Sasuke had to jump around frantically while trying to prevent the deadly spears from turning them into Swiss cheese... or anything similar their world has.

"Naruto, do something!" Sasuke screamed hysterically while trying to cut a sand spike off with his sword.

"What? Why me?" Naruto screamed back while zigzagging around the field, dodging multiple tendrils trying to pierce him from below in the process.

"I don't know, because you have a bigass fox in your belly? DO SOMETHING!"

'...Shukaku? I changed my mind; let's kill that Uchiha.'

'Not you too!? This is not the time!'

A stray pebble hit Sasuke's hand, knocking his sword away. Some tendrils of sand pierced through the blade, shattering it in the process.

"Oh come ON! Not again!"

Okay Naruto, think... How did you defeat Gaara the first time?

'If you ever think of doing that again Naruto, I'll murder you by these two hands; Madara and everything be damned,' Shukaku growled menacingly in his head, and Naruto shuddered. Shukaku, despite the fact that it had been a long time, was still sore about that incident whenever someone reminded her about it, accidental or on purpose.

Well, a girl definitely won't react nicely if you suddenly poke her in the butt, you know. Especially with a kunai that explodes.

'Naruto, flood the field with a powerful water jutsu! It will slow the movement of the sand down!' Isobu said, and Naruto immediately understood. He flipped through some hand seals for a jutsu Jiraiya had just taught you during his training month.

Luckily, this was the forest, so there was a lot of groundwater underground.

"Water Style: Spring Burst!"

The ground rumbled, and water erupted from every crack on the surface, soaking the whole battlefield in an instant.

The basic concept of this jutsu was using water-element chakra to stimulate the activity of the groundwater veins underground to pull them onto the surface, making a small puddle of clean water for the user to consume. It was created by Jiraiya with the purpose of making a temporary water source in case there wasn't any closeby. But give it to Naruto, with his mediocre chakra control and incredible reserve of chakra...

Well, let's just say "a spring" is an extreme understatement.

'Well, that's not what I expected, but it's effective,' Isobu sweatdropped.

"Spring? This is a freaking lake!" Sasuke exclaimed while landing on the water surface.

"Well, sorry for having a lot of chakra without enough control!" Naruto retorted.

The powerful explosion of water also had a good effect of blasting Gaara to the air. The sand-covered jinchuriki plunged down from twenty feet above and collided with the water surface in a very loud "splash". With a loud roar, he burst out of the water, only to see two Naruto charging at him, holding a huge blue swirling ball of chakra.

"Sorry Gaara, but you have to stop now!"

The two orbs of chakra descended on Gaara, and his eyes gleamed madly.

"Wind Style: Sandstorm Devastation!"

The deadly sand burst erupted from Gaara's mouth like a cannon blast, blowing the two Naruto away before they could deliver their attacks. The two blondes crashed into the water, the two Rasengan on their hands dispersed violently, sending water everywhere. Gaara followed the two crashing blondes with a satisfied grin and crouched down, ready to leap after them for the killing blow...

Then he was shocked. Literally.

Lightning danced across the water surface from Sasuke's palm, which was now submerged in the water, and ran through Gaara's body with a violent force. The Suna jinchuriki screamed out in pain; his body went numb with each arc of lightning piercing his body. Even the protective sand armor around him couldn't protect him from the electricity channeled through the very conductive water he was standing on.

"Naruto! Now!" Sasuke screamed out, and Naruto, cloaked again in his golden chakra cloak, shot forward in a yellow flash. The lightning chakra from Sasuke's Shocking Web Jutsu was dancing across his body too, but the cloak had protected him from the worst effect of the jutsu. His hand lashed out and the seal was slapped on Gaara's forehead.

The red haired jinchuriki's body immediately cringed up. He could feel Shukaku's chakra retreating from his network, and the sand appendages falling from his body part by part.

'No! I was just so close! I can't be stopped like this! No... NOOOOOOOOOO!'

Those were the last words Shukaku could scream out before Gaara's body slumped down, consciousness leaving him. The redhead collapsed forward, right into Naruto's wide opening arms which caught him.

"Finally, it's over," the blonde breathed out.

Right at that time, Kankuro and Temari landed near them.

"Get away from my brother!" Temari screamed, brandishing her fan, ready to blast both Naruto and Sasuke with her Wind Scythe Jutsu. Naruto just raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, we have just beaten your jinchuriki brother. And now, you are trying to threaten us?"

Temari cringed. Even though there was no hostility in Naruto's voice, she could still feel the threat coming from those words.

"W-well, even if I have to die here, I'm not going to allow you to—"

"Wait nee-chan!" Kankuro jumped in hastily. "Konoha shinobi, we're sorry for what our brother had done, but we are here in peace. We're not going to fight you. Please, just return our brother to us and we'll leave."

"Sorry, but that's impossible for now," said Naruto calmly. "Your brother tried to pick a fight with us outside of the Chuunin Exam, and as a representative of Sunagakure, this is an action which might lead to war between the two villages. Therefore, returning him to you or not is not within our authority. We will need to consult the Hokage before making the final decision. Now, if you're ready, we're going back to the village. You can come with us if you want."

Temari and Kankuro winced, but they knew they had been defeated. Meanwhile, Sasuke stared at Naruto as if the blonde had just grown another head.

"Okay, it's final; you're not Naruto. Naruto cannot say those words you have just spouted out. Where is the real Naruto?"

Naruto pouted. "I hate you, Sasuke."

Mentally, he gave Kokuoh a thumbs-up. 'Kokuoh, that speech was awesome!'

'Told you,' the horse answered with a smirk.

"Okay, let's go!"

With those words, Naruto departed with Gaara on his shoulder, and the two Suna jinchuriki followed him quietly without a word. Sasuke also followed, but not before he took a glance back at the battlefield, at the huge lake made from Naruto's jutsu.

Naruto... Just how strong have you become...?

Juugo landed on the ground with a loud "thud".

"Where are you?! Come out here so I can kill you!"

Actually, he didn't even need to ask. Nature chakra allowed him to feel the presents of others without being a sensor himself. So it was not hard for him to find out about the children who were hiding behind a small house at the side of the street.

He grinned madly; his right hand twisted into some kind of strange cannon with six small barrels circling another bigger one. Chakra started gathering inside the barrels. A simple blast of that is more than enough to vaporize the enemies and the area around them...

Then suddenly, Shikamaru emerged from behind the house and launched a handful of shuriken at Juugo. The deadly weapons soared through the air, but they didn't even faze the man a little bit. He swung his morphed arm, knocking away all the throwing stars in one swipe, while laughing crazily.

"Spiked Human Bullet Tank!"

Then suddenly, a spinning human boulder descended down Juugo's head from nowhere. The 69 kilogram of Choji's weight, multiplied by the Expansion Jutsu, together with the kunai poking out from every part of his body, made the deadly jutsu even deadlier. The menacing ball of flesh slammed down hard on Juugo, and for a split second the monstrous man seemed to be crushed, but then a loud growl came, and the technique stopped dead on its track and was gradually pushed back by the man who was supposed to be smashed to paste under it. There wasn't any sign of injury; he was still laughing.

But that was just the first part of Shikamaru's plan. His shadow, connected with Choji's, immediately lashed out upon the chubby boy's contact with Juugo and latched onto the monstrous man's shadow. Juugo cringed; his movement faltered for a moment, and that's all Shikamaru needed.

"Kiba, now!"

"On it! FANG OVER FANG!"

At the command, Kiba and Akamaru rushed in like two mini tornadoes, charging at Juugo in his prized clan jutsu. With both his hands busy holding Choji's back, there was no way for him to block the incoming human drills coming from both of his sides and slamming into him with the force of two torpedoes. Loud crashing noises echoed through the air, and the ground was covered in a big cloud of dust.

Or at least, that's what he hoped. But he could not expect to lower his guard now.

"Neji, your turn!"

From behind Juugo, the Hyuuga prodigy charged. With the Byakugan activated, he could see clearly their enemy within the cloud of dust: a bright body which seemed to be made purely of chakra. He rushed in, his hands glowing with chakra, and started launching palms after palms at Juugo, who was too busy with the three direct assaults to notice him slipping towards him from behind.

"Shino!"

All of Shino's hive rushed in at once towards the site of collision. This is a matter of life and death; there is no time to be stingy. They latched onto Juugo's body and started draining every bit of chakra they could from him.

For a few seconds, there was no sound except for the wheezing and grinding noises coming from Kiba, Akamaru and Choji. Shikamaru held his breath; did they do it?

The dust cleared, giving him the answer immediately.

Guess not...

Juugo was still standing. His two hands were still holding Choji in place. Or more exactly, his two original hands. Two more arms, made of the same black substance covering his body, had sprouted from his shoulders, and were now blocking the advance of the two drills which were Kiba and Akamaru.

Shino's insects fell down from Juugo's body one by one, and the Aburame cringed when he saw what happened to them. They were all petrified.

And Neji had to stumble back in fear and pain when he saw both his hands burnt quite badly from touching the body of the man.

Juugo let out a small chuckle. Then he did something unexpected and started walking, pushing Choji back in process. Shikamaru was horrified when he felt his body started moving, closer to where Juugo was.

What the...? How is it possible...?

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

"What?! Ino, no!"

Shikamaru's scream arrived a second too late, because Ino's soul had already left her body, and with a "whoosh", it soared through the air, and flew into Juugo's body. Ino's real body slumped down to the ground.

For a while, there was no sound in the air, except for the grinding sounds coming from Choji, Kiba and Akamaru.

Then suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and she let out a terrified scream. At the same time, Juugo cackled, and his four arms threw Choji, Akamaru and Kiba away like four mere ragdolls. Despite his buffed weight and mass, Choji found himself flying through the air as if he was just made from cotton. Luckily, he managed to turn back to normal before slamming into Shino who was on his way, so the Aburame boy wasn't flattened under his weight.

Ino curled up into a ball on the ground, shivering like crazy. Shikamaru hastily released his jutsu and grabbed her, but in just a blink of an eye, Juugo was towering over him with his right arm morphed into a cannon barrel.

So I'm going to die here... what a drag...

He closed his eyes, waiting for the blow to fall...

"LEAF EXTREME HURRICANE!"

A blur of green rammed into Juugo's body and smashed him away. The mutated man flew over Neji's head, and knocked down another building when his body plunged hard into it with a series of "boom", "crack" and "smash".

With a "thud", Gai landed in front of the sprawling children.

"Fear not! The mighty Green Beast of Konohagakure is here for your assistance!"

"Oh? Then who was the one who made them need assistance at the first place?" Kurenai landed next to him, growling.

That mutation, Kakashi thought, there is no mistake. This man is a member of that clan... But somehow...

"Do you know him, Kakashi?"

The cyclops jonin shook his head; his eyes didn't leave the man who was crawling out of the rubble. "I don't. But I've faced someone with this ability before, during the Third War. That man was incredibly powerful. Minato-sensei managed to kill him in no time, but... From what Sensei told me, he was a member of the Ryuudou clan, the ones with a special kekkei genkai which allowed them to absorb chakra from the environment..."

What Kakashi had just said sent shiver down all the jonin's backs. They all knew that not everyone could utilize nature chakra. Nature chakra is much, much stronger than chakra in a human body. Only the strongest people who were trained in Sage Arts could harness that incredible power. And if that man was a member of the clan which specialized in using that chakra...

"Kurenai, Asuma, you two bring the genin out of here. I and Gai will deal with him."

Normally, Kurenai would object. But in a situation like this, she knew what she had to do, and what she should do. She nodded, and jumped towards the genin, Asuma behind her.

"We can... still... fight..." Kiba grunted, pushing himself up. Kurenai stopped him.

"I know you can, but not here. There are other places which need us more. Just leave this place to Kakashi and Gai; they can handle it."

From afar, Juugo had managed to shrug all the debris off his body. With a loud roar like an injured beast, he leapt at the Konoha shinobi again, his fist cocked back, ready to deliver a smash of vengeance.

But the movement didn't escape the jonin's eyes.

"Third Gate: Gate of Life... OPEN!"

Gai was the first person to react. Chakra exploded from his body and before anyone else could even move a muscle, he had appeared in the way Juugo was moving and intercepted the mutated man with a nasty kick to the chest. Juugo was knocked away once more, but before he could even touch the ground, the taijutsu master had appeared next to him again and drilled him into the surface of the earth with a punch so powerful it made a human-sized crater in the asphalt.

The bushy brow taijutsu master skidded on the ground, facing the human-shaped hole on the ground warily. And his premonition didn't fail him when Juugo broke out of the asphalt growling madly, bruises covering his body.

"Still has power to fight?" he grinned. "Then it's time for me to show you the full power of my youth!"

He cracked his knuckles, ready to open another Gates...

"Aaaaaaahhhh!"

Heads turned towards Ino, who had just bolted up from all her shivering and trembling.

"Ino? Ino, are you alright?" Asuma slapped her slightly on her cheek.

"It's... it's horrible..." the Yamanaka heiress shuddered, "When I used the Mind Transfer Jutsu on him... I saw something very strange. There are... there are two of him... in his head... But one of them... he was chained and gagged behind... while the other... he looked just like him over there... and when he saw me, he immediately rushed in... he nearly killed my soul in there..."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. Personality disorder?

"But... the other one... when he saw me..." Ino continued. "His eyes had been lifeless and full of despair, but when he saw me, he started struggling... And the evil one cringed a bit... that's how I was able to get away..."

"So he's like... having some monster inside his body, and cannot control it, and it took control of his body?" Choji pondered.

"Y... yeah... that's what I think... but..."

"Alright, enough talking," Kakashi's voice cut the two children short. "Kurenai, Asuma, genin, go, now!"

The aforementioned people looked at each other in worry, then nodded and jumped away, leaving Kakashi and Gai to deal with the enemy.

Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate, revealing his Sharingan.

"Gai, change of plan; we will capture him alive."

Zaku Abumi was scared.

Otogakure shinobi aren't "scared" of anything. All those years of training under Orochimaru had beaten fear out of their systems.

But right now, he could be very sure the sensation he was feeling in his chest was nothing but fear.

Well, who wouldn't, considering the fact that he was tied up by metres of ninja wire and hovering above him was hundreds of sharp, pointy weapons ready to rain down on his head?

Looking away, he saw Dosu, who was in no better condition than him.

"You're such a youthful opponent, Oto-shinobi-san!" he heard his teammate's opponent saying. "But you had tried to harm my comrades, and I, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, cannot tolerate such actions! Because of that... it's time for me to unleash all my power!"

The green brat took out the weights on his legs, and both the Oto shinobi shuddered when the two set of weights reached the ground and made two loud explosions.

And Dosu got pummeled to the ground from every direction.

"STOP RIGHT THERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE BITCH TO DIE!"

Lee's fist stopped dead right before he could land another blow to Dosu's exposed bloody head. Tenten's hands froze in place as she was about to skewer Zaku with her weapons. Everyone's eyes turned to Kin, who was holding a kunai to Sakura's throat.

"Wait," Lee hastily retreated, and ready to jump towards Kin to rescue his comrade. "Don't..."

"I said. DON'T. MOVE," the Oto kunoichi snarled, pressing the knife into Sakura's throat. Beads of blood could be seen appearing on the pearly skin of the girl.

"No! Don't do it, please!" Lee screamed out desperately. "We will do as you told! Just please... ARGH!"

The fist clad in the sound-generating device of Dosu slammed into Lee's stomach, and suddenly the boy felt excruciating pain, as if his body was going to explode. He gasped out and collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach.

"You... coward..."

"Lee!" Tenten screamed; she turned her eyes away from Zaku for two seconds, and that was enough to cost her the whole battle. With a loud "whoosh", all the wire tying Zaku up snapped apart, and before the weapon mistress could even do anything, the Oto genin had aimed both his hands at her with a maniacal grin.

"Slicing Sound Wave!"

Tenten was blasted into a tree trunk by the extremely compressed burst of air. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious; all of her weapons also fell down to the ground one by one.

"How dare you... using her as hostage..." Lee gritted out in fury, but Dosu stomped his foot on his head, pushing him to the ground, immobilizing him at the same time.

"That hurt, bastard," the mummy shinobi growled out. He turned back to Kin. "Kill the bitch. I want to see him suffer seeing his precious 'blossom' die."

"With pleasure," the kunoichi smiled sadistically. Her arm holding the kunai raised high, and the deadly knife came down on Sakura's throat.

And her hand was stopped dead on its way by another hand.

"WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. TO. MY. DAUGHTER?"

Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-CLANG!

Hayate and Genma disengaged from their adversary after a brutal dance of their blades.

The army of mutated monsters couldn't get pass the main gate of Konohagakure. They were held in place by the shinobi of Konoha: Ibiki Morino, the head of the Torture and Interrogation Division, who had just incapacitated five enemies at once with his secret torturing technique; Tsume Inuzuka and her clansmen from the Inuzuka clan, who ripped apart the rank of the army with their signature Fang jutsu; Yugao Uzuki, together with her ANBU team, cutting down experiments after experiments, before a cage of wood rose from the ground, locking a bunch of enemies inside.

The problem was the enemy the two were facing.

This man... he alone would be enough to compensate for the whole army of experiments the others were facing. Different from the other experiments, he was a true ninja. He was definitely trained well to become a weapon. His skills far exceeded ones of other shinobi; facing both Hayate and Genma at the same time, he still fought on par with them, and sometimes he even managed to push them back. His weapons, made of his one bones, were just as strong and sturdy as weapons made of genuine steel.

"Shikotsumyaku..." Genma growled. He had realized who the enemy in front of him was. "Possessing this kekkei genkai... You must be the sole survivor of the Kaguya clan, the only person who was gifted this power... Kimimaro Kaguya... correct?"

The man, now known as Kimimaro, calmly swatted Genma's machete away with one of his bone swords. "I bear that name, indeed. Dance of the Larch."

All over his arms and body, bones sprouted out. They blocked the strikes coming from Genma and Hayate, and as their weapons were locked in place, he spun.

The katana and machete were ripped from their respective wielders' hands. They flew away and impaled the earth with two "thud"s, the blades buried deep into the ground. At the same time, the sharp bones in his body swept across the two disarmed shinobi, leaving deep gashes on their flak jackets, their arms and their thighs.

Kimimaro rushed in like a storm, his bone swords raised high, ready for the final blow...

"Fire Style: Burning Ash!" Genma screamed out desperately, spitting a cloud of gunpowder at the advancing Kaguya. Suddenly assaulted by hot black powder to the face, Kimimaro stopped dead on his track, and was immediately engulfed in a blazing fire ball when Genma pulled out a lighter from his pocket and ignited it.

Did it work...?

"Dance of the Clematis!"

The flame was swept away with a loud "whoosh". The bone swords on Kimimaro's hands were now replaced by a long spearlike weapon, which seemed to be made from, disturbingly, a human spine, with smaller bones lining along its length like spikes. Crusts of bones were falling from his body; the Kaguya had covered himself with a layer of bone like an armor to negate the damage.

A lance, huh...

Then Kimimaro swung his weapon. The Konoha elite guard was caught completely off guard when the spine stretched out like a snake and wrapped around him.

What...!? How is this possible...?

Genma's eyes widened. Those sharp thorns of bone aren't there just for show. When he was completely tied up by the spine, they would impale themselves into his body and kill him from the inside out.

The match is becoming more and more one-sided. If he doesn't do anything...

Everything happened in five seconds. Genma kicked the ground and leapt up, right before the whip-spear could close up against him, then threw a handful of shuriken at Kimimaro. The Kaguya followed his movement on the air idly, and flicked his right arm. The whip-spear stretched like a snake, curling itself on the air and writhing around, blocking the way of the throwing stars easily and lashing out at Genma at the same time. The Konoha shinobi pulled out two kunai to parry them, and the noise of steel clashing with calcium echoed through the air.

The whip managed to graze Genma's shoulder, and he winced; there were something in that bone which made him feel like his arm was disintegrating. He slumped down to the ground, and in a blink of an eye, Kimimaro was in front of him, his right arm now had something like a huge drill made of calcium grated into it.

The menacing weapon descended down his head, and Genma couldn't even blink; his head was going to be drilled to bits. What a terrible way to die...

CLANG!

Kimimaro stumbled back when the blade of a katana collided with his drill-arm.

"You're not gonna kill my comrade that easily, when I'm still here."

Too absorbed into the fight, both Genma and the Kaguya had forgotten that they're not the only fighters in the field.

Hayate was now standing between the two shinobi. On his hands, in a double grip, was a sword no one had ever seen him using before. It was a six feet long nodachi, much longer than the normal katana he preferred using. The blade glimmered in sunlight, and anyone who looked closely could realize the shade of red gleaming across the cold steel. Hayate didn't move the sword an inch, yet the air around the blade hummed slightly as if the sword itself was singing.

"This... this is..."

"A new sword..." Kimimaro glanced at the nodachi on the Konoha swordmaster's hands impassively. Hayate glared back at him; anyone who paid close attention might see the corner of his mouth rising up slightly.

"It's time to even the odds."

"Gai!"

"On it! Leaf Searing Wind!"

The Fifth Gate-buffed rolling kick tore through the air, burning a trail of flame on its way before slamming into Juugo's body and sending him flying across the air. He crashed into a thick wall of earth which has five dog heads made of mud engraved into it. Immediately, the ground cracked open and from underground, mud surged up, covered Juugo and hardened immediately, immobilizing him.

"Did we get him?" Gai stared at the mud statue in front of them.

"No, not yet," Kakashi shook his head.

And right on cue, the statue exploded, showing an enraged Juugo inside. His transformation had advanced even further: all the skin on his body had turned completely dark, and his eye color had changed from white and ruby red to black with yellow irises. A black stripe ran from the middle of his forehead down the bridge of his nose. Some kind of strange black horn which looked like a happuri covered his face. And from his back, jet booster-like cylinders had sprouted out and were now all aiming at the two Konoha shinobi.

This is not gonna be pretty...

A giant beam of chakra shot out towards the Konoha jonin with a loud cry of glee from Juugo. It was so large; there's no way the two jonin could avoid it...!

No choice... I will have to use this, and finish this battle fast!

Kakashi's Sharingan morphed into its Mangekyo Sharingan form.

"Kamui!"

Space twisted. A wormhole opened right on the way of the beam and swallowed it whole right before it could vaporize the two jonin. The beam struggled to pass through, but even with all those power, there was no way it could cut through the fabric of dimensions.

From somewhere far away, a certain Akatsuki member with a swirly mask suddenly cringed and silently thanked the god he wasn't using his ability right now.

After three seconds, the beam finally lost its power and died down.

"Seventh Gate, Gate of Wonder... OPEN! DAYTIME TIGER!"

And Juugo found himself swallowed by a tiger made of pure compressed air. He screamed out in pain; even when his body was enhanced to the maximum limit with his Sage Transformation, the technique's power was still too incredible for it to handle. The technique rushed passed him and exploded, taking down another rather large chunk of Konohagakure with it.

Juugo was sent sprawling away. Blood spewed out from his mouth; never before had there been anyone who could injure him this much. But his body would heal up soon anyway, thanks to the nature chakra...

Then he saw Kakashi rushing in; the man's right hand was glowing blue with the symbol of a kanji letter on each of his fingertips.

"Five Elements Seal!"

What the...?

Orochimaru was startled when he felt Juugo's immense chakra suddenly disappearing.

How could Juugo be defeated? Are Konoha shinobi that strong?

"What's wrong, Orochimaru?" the voice of his old teacher rose next to his ears. "Finally realized that you will never be able to destroy Konoha as you wish?"

"SHUT UP! WHY! WON'T! YOU! DIE! ALREADY!"

Orochimaru snarled angrily. The old senile just didn't know when to give up. He was 69 years old already, and he was slower and weaker than him! And yet, somehow, Orochimaru couldn't land the killing blow. In fact, he was being pushed back, bits by bits.

The Kusanagi was a deadly weapon. Not only was it incredibly sharp, sturdy and able to stretch as long as the user wanted, the poison in, not on, the blade was so lethal one scratch it made on a person's skin could ensure a very painful death. One stab of the sword, and the victim would be as good as perishing.

But that's if he managed to land a stab in the first place.

Orochimaru cursed mentally. If only he could use a jutsu...

"How many times do I have to explain to you... Do you know the reason why you're weak, Orochimaru?"

The snake man raised his katana to block the staff swinging at his midsection. "Weak? Ha! Don't make me laugh!" He struggled, pushing the old man back. "I have mastered hundreds of jutsu, killed a Kage, and got a hand on immortality already! And after I kill you..."

"You still don't understand. Oh, but it is obvious," the Hokage chuckled. "True power can only be acquired by fighting for the sake of the others. How can someone like you, who abandoned his village, abandoned his comrades, abandoned even his followers, understand that simple fact?"

"Fuck you, old geezer!" Orochimaru spat. "If those puny weaklings out there are that important to you, I'll make you die in regret and despair when my army crushes them to bits!"

"Crush them?" Sarutobi chuckled again. "You have overestimated yourself too much, Orochimaru. Konoha shinobi are strong not because they have kekkei genkai, powerful ninjutsu or incredible chakra. They are strong because they always fight with all their hearts to protect the ones they love..."

"Ugh!"

Iruka kneeled on the ground, breathing heavily.

In front of him, corpses of Oto shinobi littered the corridor.

He had fought valiantly. With only two kunai and a few shuriken as weapons, he had fended off the whole group of invaders, and even managed to kill a few of them.

But that was still not enough. There were still five more left. And they were advancing towards him, their weapon raised high.

"You bastard," the one in the middle snarled. "How dare you killing half of our squad like that! I'll kill you!"

"Like you're the one to talk, after trying to kill our students," Iruka shot back between gasps. The wounds on his body were bleeding badly. But he wouldn't back out; no, not when the lives of his students were being threatened!

"You're not in the position to talk big now, teacher," the Oto shinobi laughed cruelly.

Iruka gritted his teeth. His head was getting light due to the blood loss, and his muscles felt weak. He forced himself to stand up; if he didn't finish this fast...

"Gah!"

A kunai lodged into his stomach. It's not like he didn't see that coming; he just couldn't move to dodge it. Iruka slumped back down on the ground; the two kunai he was holding slipped off his hands, falling to the wooden floor.

"What's wrong, oh so mighty teacher? Does it hurt?" The voice of an Oto ninja rose above his head mockingly. "I was going to finish you quickly, but you have humiliated us so badly we cannot stand it. So, prepare to feel pain."

And Iruka felt another kunai stabbing his right arm, piercing clean through the bones. He howled in pain; it was too much, too excruciating... If only the bastard just cut it off cleanly...

"It is painful, isn't it? But it's not done yet; there is more! And more! And more!"

The Oto shinobi added each "more" with a stab to Iruka's body. All the others burst out laughing each time the kunai pierced the poor chuunin's skin, flesh and bone.

You... bastards...

"And you're dead now!" The torturer announced, and the kunai descended, ready to deal the decisive blow to Iruka's heart. The chuunin could only lie on the ground helplessly; his body couldn't move anymore; there was no way he could avoid death this time...

"NO!"

"What!? You're...! Guh!"

"Gah!"

"Ugh!"

"No! Ahh!"

"Ahhh!"

What's happening? He could hear the sounds, but couldn't see... Was someone fighting the Oto shinobi in his place?

"No, Iruka-kun! No no no...! Please don't die...!"

The voice of a woman echoing around his ears was the last thing he knew before everything sank completely into darkness.

"...When people precious to them are in danger, they can become much, much more powerful than anything you can imagine..."

"I said, WHAT. ARE YOU DOING. TO MY DAUGHTER?" Mebuki Haruno growled out in fury, squeezing the arm on her hand harder.

"What the... Release me old hag! I'll kill you for this!" Kin screeched, glaring at the woman who was gripping her arm. And that was her biggest mistake.

"Wrong answer."

SNAP!

Kin howled in agony when her right arm was broken like a twig by the seemingly harmless civilian woman behind her. Her kunai fell from her now useless hand to the ground and embedded itself on the grassy earth with a "thud". And before she could even do anything, she felt herself lifted up by the neck.

"Get out of here, or I'll break her neck," the scary woman growled at Zaku and Dosu. The situation was reversed once again; the one who took hostage now became the hostage herself.

Instead of backing down, Zaku raised his hands, blasting another burst of sound wave at Kin and the two Haruno. The older woman pulled the other two aside, and the blast rushed pass them, bringing down a large chunk of the wall behind.

"You... You dare throwing away the life of your teammate like that?" Mebuki asked, thoroughly disgusted.

"This is not the time to worry about other people, hag!" Zaku laughed arrogantly. "Continuous Slicing Sound Wave!"

Blasts after blasts of airwave rained down Mebuki's head. But even though she was holding the two girls on her arms while dodging left and right frantically, the woman didn't seem to get any kind of tiredness or discomfort.

Her movements... they were definitely not the movements of a civilian. They were the movements of a veteran kunoichi.

And that veteran kunoichi's eyes were gleaming dangerously at Zaku.

"W-wait, what... are you... AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Kin could only scream out those words when the older woman suddenly grabbed her collar and threw her at Zaku at the speed of a cannonball. But rather than catching her, Zaku blasted her out of the way with another Slicing Sound Wave. The girl crashed into the ground; her broken arm was hanging at a very strange angle. Blood spurted out of her mouth.

"Zaku, you fool!" Dosu yelled at his teammate. "What the fuck are you doing, shooting down teammates like that?"

"So what?" The haughty Oto genin snapped back. "She's on the way!"

"Idiot! Do you realize how screwed we are right now? That woman is not a normal civilian; she must be at least a chuunin-level kunoichi!" Dosu screamed out; he was the only one of the team who realized the danger. "And you went around and disabled your own teammate like that!"

"Oh please! I'll bring her down in one shot!" Zaku snorted. "Slicing Sound... Guh!"

All the air in his lungs was pushed out due to Mebuki's fist burying in his gut.

But it was nothing. The punch really hurt, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. His training in Otogakure was much worse than this.

"I-is that all you go... waaaaahhhh?!"

"SHAAAAAAANNAROOOOOO!"

And Zaku felt himself lifted off the ground. He weighted sixty kilograms, and yet he was launched away like a ragdoll just from a punch from a seemingly fragile woman.

What... the fuck...?!

"Sakura-san inherited that strength from her mother... So youthful..." Lee muttered in awe.

Zaku was sent rolling on the ground. His face skidded on the hard concrete of the hospital yard painfully.

"A... argh... Fucking bitch..." he choked out.

"I already told you, idiot," Dosu muttered. He made a leap towards the blonde woman, intending to punch her head off from behind. The Haruno woman spun on her heels, catching Dosu's fist on her hand. He smirked; the woman was a fool, his weapon is most effective at this range.

Chakra rushed into the device. This woman is too dangerous; he will need to put everything he has into this blast...!

Then...

BOOM!

To his shock, horror and pain, the device suddenly exploded violently, taking his left arm and a chunk of flesh on the right side of his body together with it. A slight shockwave of chakra washed through the yard, and Dosu slumped to the ground.

"W... what have you done...?" he gasped weakly, glaring at the woman who was now towering over him.

"A lesson for you: never use such a large amount of chakra in an over-reinforced weapon, it will just cause you more harm than good," was the cold answer coming from the Leaf woman.

She... overloaded my weapon with her own chakra... in just that instant...

Now Dosu understood. That woman... She didn't have superior firepower, didn't have superhuman strength, didn't even have vast amount of chakra... What she had just done... it's not even a jutsu. With just simple reinforcement of her body with chakra, she had knocked them all down... easily...

The blonde woman turned away. "You have made a very big mistake trying to harm my daughter. Just lie there and face your retribution."

"Ugh... what happened...?" Tenten groaned, finally waking up. She gasped upon seeing the curb stomp battle in front of her eyes.

"It was so youthful!" said Lee enthusiastically. "I've never know Sakura-san's mother was this strong! No wonder why Sakura-san is so awesome...! I'LL HAVE TO PUSH MYSELF EVEN MORE..."

"ENOOOOOOOOOUGH!"

Everyone's head snapped back. Zaku had stood up; both his arms were aiming at the Konoha shinobi and his chakra was spiking up dangerously.

"Konoha bastards... I'LL BLOW ALL YOU AWAY!"

"No!" The three Konoha shinobi sprang up on their feet, but they knew it was hopeless. No one was fast enough to stop him. That jutsu will bring down everything, the hospital, the shinobi, everything...

"Ultimate Supersonic Slicing..."

"No, you won't."

And Zaku felt his heart exploding before he could unleash his jutsu. Literally. He gasped out his last breath and fell to the ground, dead.

Hiashi Hyuuga glared at the body from behind distastefully.

"I'm not here to see what you were up to."

"Still as ruthless as ever, Hiashi," Mebuki noted with a smile. The Hyuuga head didn't even smile back. He looked around.

"I thought you had gone evacuated, Haruno-san. Where is your husband?"

"My husband is assisting the evacuation in the hospital now," Mebuki replied. "And seriously, all those years and you still couldn't get that stick out of your ass?"

"Wait," Lee blurted out staring at the two adults in front of him. "You two know each other?"

Hiashi kept silence, but the Haruno lady answered. "Of course we know each other. We used to be in the same team: me, my husband and him. But I retired after I married Kizashi and had Sakura, so it's natural you don't hear about me very much. My name is Mebuki Haruno, by the way."

"Mebuki... Mebuki..." Tenten muttered in her breath. Why does that name sound so familiar?

"Wait," she asked when Mebuki started lifting her daughter up bridal style. "Are you, by any chance, related to Mebuki Takamachi?"

"Hmm?" The Haruno lady blinked. "Well, it was my birth name, before I married Kizashi, but..."

"No. FREAKING. WAY. You're THAT Mebuki Takamachi? The kunoichi who made chuunin with nothing but taijutsu and Reinforcement technique?"

Everyone stared at Tenten, who was holding her mouth, her eyes widened.

"You are so cool! Can I have your autograph please? Can you train me? I want to become a powerful kunoichi like you and Tsunade-sama! Please please please..."

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Did I just get a fangirl, Hiashi?" Mebuki looked at her ex-teammate. The Hyuuga didn't answer, but anyone who paid attention could see a slight smirk on his face.

"Now you know the horror of having fangirls, Haruno-san."

"Oh shut up."

"...And never forget; Konoha never betrays others, so our friends will always be here for us in need..."

"Captain! Suna has turned against us; they're attacking all of our bases right now!"

"What? How is that possible... Argh!"

A blade of wind slashed through the tent, decapitating the Oto captain and his subordinate with a nasty "squelch".

"Suna shinobi! FOR SUNAGAKURE! FOR THE KAZEKAGE! FOR OUR LONG-LASTING ALLIANCE!"

The Oto force couldn't even know what had hit them.

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes looking at the new sword on his opponent's hands.

He didn't know what was so special about that sword. But even so, when he looked at the blade, he could feel some strange sensations crawling up his skin. Could it be...?

He shrugged it away. Lowering his stance, he charged at the swordsman, his drill-arm surging forward, intending to impale his enemy.

With a weapon as big and heavy as his bone drill, blocking is not an option. It will just crush through whatever his enemy uses to block easily as if they were made of paper.

And to his surprise, his enemy didn't even seem to have any intention to dodge or block. Instead, he made a wide, fast swing aiming at his shoulder, clearly intending to cleave him in half.

But an attack like this was nothing. He raised his drill-arm, and the blade of the sword was stopped dead on its track. His bones are as hard as steel; blocking something like this is just a child's play...

Then he felt pain. Several gashes suddenly appeared on his chest from nowhere. He gasped out and leapt back, but the damage was done; blood was now leaking out of the wounds on his chest, and his white haori was shredded into bits of cloth on the ground.

But he didn't have time to panic, as the swordsman had already closed in again, and launched an uppercut at him. This time, Kimimaro didn't dare being rash; bones burst out from under his skin, covering his whole body right before the blade could connect. The blade clashed with the bone armor, cutting it into pieces, but couldn't damage the Oto ninja any further.

The two ninja disengaged, and Kimimaro retreated a few steps, while looking at his opponent calculatingly.

"You fought better," he noted. It's very hard to believe the man could still keep his calm demeanor after that. "Especially after bringing out that sword. What is it? It is definitely not a normal sword."

Hayate chuckled. "Good for you to realize it. But will you survive long enough to know of its special power?"

The swordsman closed in again. The length of his weapon gave him a clear advantage. But this time, Kimimaro had anticipated it and leapt back before it could deal any damage to him. And he realized it.

"So that's its ability," he muttered. "When you strike with that sword, not only one, but at least three slashes come out... This sword can cut through space-time to deliver an unavoidable series of slashes at the same time... Dangerous ability, indeed."

"Realize it, huh?" Hayate smirked. "Then you need to know that when Muramasa is drawn, blood will shed. You are such a formidable enemy you have the honor to taste its blade."

"Indeed," Kimimaro answered calmly. "But I wonder whose blood will shed if you continue to use that sword longer."

So he figured that out too...

Muramasa, the sword named after its creator, the famous swordsmith Sengo Muramasa, was not a normal sword. It was said to be so sharp that it could cut through even the fabric of dimensions, but it was also said to be a bloodthirsty sword which drained its wielder's blood each time it was unsheathed. Hayate had inherited the sword from his deceased kenjutsu master, but he never dared to use it, because of the deadly drawback.

And right now, his hands and forearms were, indeed, bleeding quite badly. He was starting to feel light-headed from losing blood.

"Heh, so what?" Despite the pain wrecking through his body, Hayate still smirked. "This is more than enough to handle you. And I will finish you in the next strike!" he bluffed, hoping his opponent would catch it and back down.

And he caught it, indeed. But instead of backing down...

"You are right. Then I think it's time for me to use my full power."

Sweat formed on the swordsman's forehead when strange black markings started spreading out from a strange symbol on Kimimaro's chest. Not good...

"You are not fighting alone! Leaf Style: Crescent Moon Dance!"

Kimimaro snapped his head back to see three Genma leaping at him, their machetes swinging at him, aiming for his neck, his waist and his legs.

SQUELCH!

The three Genma were impaled with extreme prejudice by a barrage of bones shot out from Kimimaro's body. Kimimaro didn't bother to look back again; his eyes returned to Hayate, who, with his sword, was ready to charge in again.

He completely missed the slight smirk blooming on one of the Genma's face.

BOOM!

The Genma clones exploded with an incredible force.

Different from what people think, the Clone Explosion jutsu is not that hard to learn and use. As long as the user can use the Shadow Clone Jutsu effectively, the Clone Explosion can be a great addition to his arsenal if he wants things to blow up.

And it can become even deadlier if the clones used are buffed with elemental chakra, like Genma was doing right now. Soon, the clearing was drowned in fire.

The real Genma ran back to where Hayate was clutching his arm in pain. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm alright..." answered the swordsman with a heavy sigh. "I didn't expect I needed to unseal this sword, though... That guy is so strong..."

"I know..." the elite guard agreed. "But it seems we got him..."

"No, you didn't."

The two Konoha shinobi snapped their heads up in shock.

From within the inferno, Kimimaro walked out. There were some burning marks on his body, but they were quickly covered by the dark skin similar to what was on the other experiments' bodies. His body had now morphed into a form similar to a dinosaur, with six large bone spikes sprouting out of his back and a long tail, also spiked with bones. Dark power was radiating from him, sending shivers down the two Konoha shinobi's spines.

"You are very strong, Konoha shinobi. You have pushed me to the point I have to resort to this. But now, it's over."

So strong... I could even feel his chakra from here... Is he... even human...?

Hayate raised his sword, but his eyes suddenly widened, and he collapsed on the ground. Using Muramasa had taken too much from his body; he couldn't even stand properly any more.

Damn it... is this really the end...?

"DANCE OF THE SEE..."

"WIND SCYTHE JUTSU!"

Before Kimimaro could unleash his final jutsu, he was blown away by a massive tornado. The man flew through the trees in the forest, his body crashed into the ground painfully.

"What...?"

All three combatants exclaimed at the same time when thirty Sunagakure shinobi landed around them.

"Sorry for being late, Konoha friends," the leader of the group, Baki, glanced back at Genma and Hayate. "From now on, just leave this to us."

"No... This cannot be!"

Orochimaru exclaimed in horror seeing all of his plans collapsed piece by piece in front of his eyes. The old Sarutobi smiled triumphantly in answer.

"Yes, it can, and it already happened! Your army was crushed, your most powerful subordinates were defeated, and your ally had turned against you. You have failed, Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru's pale face turned a brilliant purple shade with fury. Everything he had spent months to plan, the elite forces he had spent years to train, the experiments he had spent years to create and perfect, were now all crumbling to dust, because of a senile old man and the ragtag bunch of misfits he called his "shinobi"!

It cannot be! He is Orochimaru! He is the one who got closest to the secret of immortality! How could he be defeated so easily and shamefully?!

"At least if I cannot destroy Konoha, I can destroy you instead!" he snarled. He swung Kusanagi in a deadly arc at the old Hokage's shoulder, intending to cleave him in half, but the old man just nimbly dodged to a side, and the sword just slashed at air.

"You are desperate, Orochimaru," the old man continued to taunt him, in his annoyingly calm voice. "You are so desperate that you have to resort to Impure World Reanimation to fight me. Your movement is slowing down. And do you really think that I couldn't figure out the trick behind that jutsu?"

What...?

"Tobirama-sensei, when he first invented that jutsu, didn't note anything about its drawbacks into the Forbidden Scroll. Now I understand why he did that; he had been confident that only he could use the jutsu effectively, and anyone who dared using it to bring back someone powerful would suffer from the consequence. That's the reason why you cannot use any ninjutsu after that, and also the reason you have to erase their personalities; you don't have enough chakra to balance with the people you summoned, and you're too scared of them overcoming your control!"

Shit... He already figured it out...!

He cannot risk it any more; he needs to retreat now, and come back some other days...!

"It's too late to back down now, Orochimaru. You're within my Divine Zodiac Sealing Formation!"

Orochimaru's head snapped back when the words of Jiraiya reached his ears. He was standing within a sealing formation on the ground, drawn from Jiraiya's blood in the shape of a circle with the symbols of the 12 Zodiacs covering it.

Being an adept in Fuinjutsu himself, this seal was not something Orochimaru was unfamiliar with. Designed by Mito Uzumaki herself, it was the most powerful Fuinjutsu Konohagakure possessed, even stronger than the Eight Trigram Sealing Style Minato Namikaze had used to seal the Kyuubi. It was designed to continuously and rapidly absorb the chakra of the individual targeted without fail. There was a rumor that the Uzumaki woman had used this seal to seal the Kyuubi into herself.

And right now, Orochimaru was standing right on top of it.

The dead last had spent all those time, when the Hokage was fending him off, to prepare this...!

"SEAL!"

And immediately, Orochimaru felt drained. Every bit of chakra seemed to leave his body at once; he couldn't even feel his leg any more; his body collapsed on the ground, and his body screamed out in agony. The three zombie Kage suddenly halted their movements, as there was not enough chakra pumping into the control talismans in their heads to keep them in bound any more. He desperately leapt up, intending to get away from the draining circle under him, but suddenly, arms made of rock and magma burst out from the ground and grabbed his body, stopping him from moving completely.

There was no other choice for him. His mouth gaped wide, and from the inside, another body crawled out, allowing him to get away.

And by doing that, he had put the final nail on his coffin himself.

"And this is the end," Sarutobi finished, then with a very quick swing, the Adamantine Staff finally met the targets it had been following all the times: the heads of the three zombie Kage, and the control talismans inside of them.

Orochimaru's eyes widened when the three dead Kage reformed again, but this time, their eyes had regained the fire of their own wills coming back.

"Ah, this is much better," Tobirama cracked his neck. "It feels great to have control of my body again."

"So that is the one who dared summon us back in our full power," Hashirama noted, glaring at Orochimaru who had just landed a few steps away.

"No... I'm not going to be defeated like this!" Orochimaru screamed, and clapped his hands. From underground, three coffins burst out and swallowed the three resurrected Kage, and started sinking down into the ground again.

At least I still have them in my hands... and the next time, everything will be different! Orochimaru thought when the coffin containing the Kazekage disappeared into the ground completely. He looked at the Sound Four, and they dispelled the barrier around the stadium, ready to depart.

Then suddenly, the two coffins containing the two Hokage shone brightly and exploded.

What the...? How...?

"Fool," the voice of Tobirama suddenly rose right next to his ears. "Next time, if you want to resurrect someone, don't ever choose the jutsu's creator himself who is much stronger than you and knows things about the jutsu that you cannot ever know."

And Orochimaru felt his body cut in half, courtesy of the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Slash. Snakes crawled out from the two halves of his body, reconnecting them, but he knew that he wouldn't last very long.

Not against three most powerful Hokage in the history, the Mizukage, and Jiraiya at the same time.

"Heh. Hehehehehe..."

"Seems he finally lost it," Mei noted.

"YOU WON'T GET ME THAT EASILY! EIGHT BRANCHES JUTSU!"

And everyone was sent flying. The stadium exploded when a gigantic serpent with eight heads and eight tails exploded from Orochimaru's body. It's just like a Tailed Beast was suddenly unleashed right inside the village...!

The civilians, who were sleeping soundly under Kakashi's genjutsu before, were all flung into the sky, and were now falling into the ground in a dangerous speed. They would all die before anyone could do anything...

"Wood Style: Cushioning Flowerbed!"

From everywhere within Konoha, flowers of all colors suddenly bloomed. They looked very fragile, but they took the collisions from the falling civilians easily as if they were made from the best type of rubber available to human. All the flying people landed on top of the flowerbed, completely unharmed.

"Seems this trick still works," The First Hokage said with a smile.

"Wow, this is incredible!" Mei said in awe. Mizukage or not, she is still a woman. And women like pretty things, no exception.

"We cannot let this snake destroy the village!" Jiraiya bellowed, snapping everyone out of their trances. The snake was now scrambling around, trying to crush everything it could reach. From one of its mouths, Orochimaru emerged, cackling madly.

"See that, old geezer? SEE THAT? NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, YOU WON'T STOP ME FROM DESTROYING KONOHA! HAHAHAHA!"

"I will take it out of the village first," Tobirama glanced back at the other shinobi. He jumped on the serpent, and with a bright flash, both snake and man disappeared from view, only to appear in the forest a few miles from Konoha.

Sarutobi looked at his helpers. "Alright, let's gooo..."

Before he could finish the sentence, he had collapsed on the ground. The battle before, using a lot of jutsu and the Gates had drained him so much he had no more strength to even stand properly.

But his body didn't reach the ground, because Jiraiya had managed to catch him on his arms. The old Hokage looked at his student, regret filling his eyes.

"I'm sorry Jiraiya... It seems I can only do this much..."

The Toad Sage let out a chuckle. "Believe it or not, you're old, sensei. Just take a nice rest. We will take it from here."

"That's great," Sarutobi breathed out, and his body went limp, his eyes closed. Jiraiya looked back at Mei, who was walking towards them.

"Lady Mizukage, can I entrust my sensei to you?"

Mei answered him with a smile. "Of course, Jiraiya-sama." She took the old man from Jiraiya's hands, and the Toad Sage looked back at Hashirama.

"So Lord First, are you going?"

The ex-Hokage grinned. "You're Saru's student, right? It seems he had trained you very well. Of course I'll come with you."

"Then... SUMMONING JUTSU!"

With a loud "pop" and a big cloud of smoke, Gamabunta the Toad Boss appeared in the stadium ruin.

"Bunta, see that snake over there?" Jiraiya pointed at the white serpent from afar. "We need to go there and stop it!"

"What?" Gamabunta grumbled unhappily. "It's been so long since you last summoned me, and the first thing you do is asking me to fight for you? And that snake... Isn't that the Eight Branches Jutsu? Who dare use that disgusting technique?"

"Orochimaru. Now, are we going or not Bunta? I'll have a drink with you later," Jiraiya answered exasperatedly. Hearing the name, the Chief Toad didn't complain any more, but he was still grumbling something which sounded like "ungrateful brats" in his throat. With an incredible leap, the toad took off, bringing the two shinobi back to the battlefield.

"What was that?!"

Temari started in horror when she felt the ground shook as a giant serpent with eight heads and eight tails suddenly appeared from nowhere and landed on the ground about two miles away from where they were.

"Think we should go there and check?" Sasuke looked at Naruto, whose head was also looking at the direction.

Naruto nodded in worry. "Yeah, I think..."

Then he thought of Gaara who was still sleeping on his shoulder. What should he do now...?

His eyes glanced at the sky, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"On second thought, we don't need to. Let's just leave it to Pervy Sage and his companions."

One second later, Gamabunta landed on the ground with another slight earthquake.

For a climactic battle, it's kinda disappointing that the final battle was totally one-sided.

Even if you are, or have become the legendary monster Yamata-no-Orochi, the monster known to have needed the power of a god to slay, facing the three people who might be considered the most powerful in the whole history of the world, including one who was considered the fastest human and the ultimate master of Water in his era, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku together with the Chief Toad Gamabunta, and the man who was known as the God of Shinobi, armed with the power which could subdue even the most powerful Tailed Beast and Madara Uchiha at the same time... well...

"Sage Art Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands!"

And it's not a very bright idea to piss them off too, you know. Or try to destroy their village.

The thousand hands surged forward from the giant wood statue, impaling the writhing body of the serpent which was rampaging around, furious as its target had been robbed. The giant snake screeched in pain, thrashing around wildly as the chakra inside its body was being suppressed by the wood stakes. The eight scaly heads raised high, and from the mouths, snakes burst out, within each of which a copy of the Kusanagi poked out, aiming at the three Leaf shinobi.

"Water Style: Water Slicing Wave!"

But the snake couldn't even reach their targets. The very sharp wave of water coming from the Second Hokage's mouth had cut them into pieces when they're still in the air, and snake meat rained down the forest clearing.

"Sage Art: Gate of the Great God, Sixteen Seals!"

From the sky, sixteen torii gates fell down and trapped the tails and heads under them, completely locking the serpent from moving again.

"Now it's our turn Bunta!"

"You don't need to remind me!"

"Sage Art Collaboration: Fire Style: Toad Flame Bomb!"

And the snake, together with a whole one mile radius of the forest was drown in a sea of fire coming from the Toad Sage. For a while, no sound could be heard except for the cracking and burning noise of the trees and the agony screeching coming from the snake.

Finally, the flame died down, and Jiraiya jumped down from Gamabunta's back. He grabbed Orochimaru's neck which was now poking out of a lifeless mouth of the dead snake body.

"Any last word, Orochimaru?" he growled. The Snake Sannin just glared at him and sneered.

"Think that's enough to stop me, fool? You can kill my body here, but you're not going to get rid of me that easily. Soon, I'll come back, stronger than ever, and you'll all pay for humiliating me today! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. But then, they closed, and to Orochimaru's surprise, a sad smile appeared on the Toad Sage's mouth.

"You know Orochimaru... Since the time we're in Team 7, I've always admired you. No matter how hard I tried, you're always the better person. Everyone had always favored you over me... Sometimes, I was so jealous of you... But no matter what, I still consider you the best friend I've ever had... If you turn your head, we can give you a chance..."

Orochimaru seemed stunned in a second.

Then...

"Heh. Heh. HAHAHAHA! Oh, this is so rich!" he laughed like a mad man. "The dead last wants to give me a chance! Like hell I need the pity of Konoha losers! Just kill me and be done with it!"

And he spat on Jiraiya's face.

The Toad Sage didn't say anything for five seconds. At the sixth, he opened his eyes, and the stern expression once again returned to his face.

"Very well. If that was your choice..."

He opened his hand, and a Rasengan appeared on his palm.

"Good bye, Orochimaru," he said and thrust the deadly ball of chakra into Orochimaru's torso. Enhanced with nature chakra, the jutsu easily drilled through the body and tore apart all the Snake Sannin's organs to shred.

And with that, the invasion of Konoha came to a close.

Jiraiya threw the body to the ground, and used a quick fire jutsu to incinerate it. Then he turned and walked away, back to the village.

"Jiraiya-kun, are you all right?" On his shoulder, Lady Shima asked worriedly.

The man didn't answer, but if anyone paid attention, they could see one, and only one drop of tears trickling down his cheek.

"Well well well... This is getting interesting..."

--------------------------------------------------

Definition

Creation: Weapon Projection Jutsu

Classification: Ninjutsu

Rank: B

Class: Support, Offensive

Range: Close to Mid-ranged

A ninjutsu invented by Naruto Uzumaki, based on his knowledge about Creation of All Things. The user shapes his chakra into the design of a weapon whose blueprint is created, or recreated, inside the user's mind. That weapon can be used to fight normally, or be multiplied and launched at the enemies as projectiles. The more detailed the user knows about the weapon itself, and the higher the density of the user's chakra is, the more durable the weapons projected will be. Because of that, not many people can use this jutsu effectively, and the more complicated the weapon is, the harder it is to project.

Water Style: Spring Burst

Classification: Ninjutsu

Rank: C

Class: Support

Range: Close-ranged

Developed by Jiraiya, this jutsu utilizes the user's Water element chakra to stimulate the activity of the groundwater veins underground, in order to pull the water to the surface, making a temporary supply for the user in case he is in need of water in an urgent situation. This is a fairly easy jutsu to use, as long as the user has access to Water element chakra.

Wood Style: Cushioning Flowerbed

Classification: Ninjutsu

Rank: C

Class: Support

Range: Self to Close-ranged

A ninjutsu utilizing Wood Style. The user creates a patch of flowers on the ground to catch someone falling from a high place. The flowers are so strong and durable they can handle the weight of a lot of people and objects. The First Hokage also usually used this jutsu to decorate Konohagakure during his reign.

Divine Zodiac Sealing Formation

Classification: Fuinjutsu

Rank: S

Class: Offensive, Support

Range: Close-ranged

The most powerful sealing jutsu known to Konohagakure, originated from Uzushiogakure. This sealing jutsu can be applied on a human's body, an object, or even the ground itself. The user draws the sealing formation with his own blood with the shapes of the twelve divine zodiacs surrounding the sealing circle. Anything standing inside the sealing circle will have its chakra drained into the object the circle is on very quickly and without failure, no exception. The chakra will stay inside the sealing vessel until they are broken, or the user decides to release the seal himself. Mito Uzumaki had sealed Kurama into her own body using this fuinjutsu: she drew the sealing formation onto her stomach then latched herself on Kurama's body until the vixen was completely sealed inside her body.