Act I: Chapter 13

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'Naruto POV:'

Sand continued to rise into the air.

There were sand particles all around me, and if they weren't racing towards the towering figure ahead of me, I would have inhaled them. Shukaku's tail, both legs, and most of his body up to his sternum had formed. As I raced across rooftops, dodging fights between the Jonin of the 3 villages, more and more of the one-tails was forming.

A massive chakra signature rapidly depleted from my senses in the direction of the Kage battle. It was the same sense that I got whenever someone was killed. The chakra didn't disperse from their body immediately, but it would over a short amount of time. However it was even more pronounced at that moment because of the sheer size of the chakra.

Before I could even react to that information, another chakra signature faded away in a completely different manner. It was like I could feel someone disintegrating, and leaving this plane of existence. It was the most bizarre sensing experience I had to date.

'Was that one of the Edo Tensei?'

I wasn't allowed to ponder on the events happening in the Kage's battle because of a chakra signature appearing in between myself and the still forming Shukaku. I vaguely recognized it, but couldn't put a face to it. Luckily, I didn't have to. My opponent decided to reveal herself.

Temari planted her feet on a roof between us, and her fan unfurled. I knew what was coming and had a plan for it. I sealed my sword back into my metal wristband. By the time she swung her fan at me and sent gale force winds heading in my direction, a clone had appeared next to me and we were both done with our hand signs.

'Fire trumps wind.'

A fireball about thirty feet in diameter leapt from my mouth, and my clone reinforced it with his own Grand Breakthrough. I wasn't totally confident in my fireball's ability to overpower Temari's wind ninjutsu, hence my clone's intervention. Yet I didn't expect the world in front of me to practically erupt into fire and speed her direction, once all three jutsu impacted.

Temari didn't miss a beat, and I felt her shunshin to a rooftop to my right. My clone and I were both halfway to the new rooftop by the time she came to a stop and reoriented herself with the world.

That was the problem with Shunshin, it took just a moment for your mind to catch back up to your body. The only person capable of overcoming that particular handicap was Shisui, and he had become a legend because of it.

This all accumulated to Temari not having enough time to punish me while I was in mid-air. I touched down on the same roof as her just as she closed her fan and prepared herself for close combat. My clone and I split. I moved to her left side just as he moved to her right. Both of us opened with a signature of the Strong Fist style.

I lead with Dynamic Entry towards her face, and my clone lead with Dynamic Entry towards her feet.

Temari showcased an adequate amount of skill, and the flat of her fan rose up to block my foot from hitting her skull. At the same time she slightly leapt out of the way of my clone's kick and used the momentum to send her own kick that hit his face, dispelling him.

Unfortunately for her, she was still airborne when I planted my feet and sent another kick towards her midsection that connected. She did have time to reinforce her body with chakra prior though, so the damage was minimal and would only lead to bruising in the near future.

I read her right hook, and tapped it away from my face with my left hand before I countered with my own right hook that hit her on her left cheekbone. Once again, my strength wasn't good enough to knock her out or break any bones. I found myself impressed with the girl, but I did not stop my onslaught.

My training with the Strong Fist took over and soon I dismantled the daughter of Sunagakure's Kage. She was a long range fighter, and I didn't give her enough space or time to create the distance she needed.

I left her knocked out on a random rooftop in Konoha, with a chakra suppressing seal attached to her forehead and her limbs tied with rope. Without her chakra, it would take her significantly longer to escape. She had to wake up and recover enough from my beating to even accomplish that. I didn't have the time to do anything else to assure she didn't free herself because of what was currently standing a hundred yards in front of me.

Shukaku is here…

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Kakashi POV:

"You should have known better than to fuck with the Yondaime."

I almost snorted at Jiraiya's comment. He was using a playful tone of voice meant to annoy Orochimaru. Orochimaru's face contorted even further into rage, if it was possible. Minato-sensei had already pissed him off when he revealed his ability to counter Edo Tensei and kill Rasa.

'Minato evened the playing field.' I realized, as I took stock of the situation again. 'Unfortunately, we still have to deal with two of the most powerful shinobi to ever exist.'

"He's fast." Hashirama's eyebrows were nearly to the top of his skull when he said the words. "He's faster than you, brother."

Tobirama was staring in the direction of my disappearing sensei. "He's improved upon the Flying Raijin…" He answered his brother quietly, as if he was surprised.

"Enough!" Orochimaru snarled before his voice returned to his normal slithery tone. "I will still have my revenge, sensei."

"No." Hiruzen corrected as he twirled his infamous bo staff in his hands and dipped into a battle stance. "I will finally be able to rectify my greatest failure."

"We shall see…" Orochimaru chuckled before narrowing his eyes. "Kill them."

"I'm sorry Hiruzen. I cannot stop myself." Tobirama said as his hands rose to begin rapidly moving through hand seals.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya…"

I didn't react to the massive amounts of water that flew towards us because Jiraiya was already countering with a jutsu that I knew well. He spit mud in a line on the ground in front of us before his chakra surged. Just as the massive wall of water was about to collide with our bodies, a towering cliff of earth rose into the air above us. The water hit the overpowered mud wall, and the impact shook the roof and barrier around us. With a flex of my legs I appeared on top of the wall, quicker than both Jiraiya and Hiruzen.

Lightning danced down my skin, visible for everyone to see, as it leaked outside of my neural pathways.

"...will you stall the two of them, while I deal with Orochimaru?" Hiruzen continued his sentence once they joined me on top of Jiraiya's jutsu.

"I would prefer…" Jiraiya began.

"It is my mistake to correct, Jiraiya…" The Sandaime interrupted Jiraiya before he could ask to deal with Orochimaru himself. Jiraiya had been chasing his former teammate for a long time now, always unable to track down his whereabouts. Now that he had him so close and willing to fight, he was eager to dispatch his former teammate, comrade, and friend.

"Yes sir." I answered as my sharingan scoured the battlefield beneath me. The Two Senju brothers tensed, and so did we. I picked out my target, as it was obvious who I would engage out of the two Senju brothers. Jiraiya would have to deal with the Mokuton in his own way while I kept Tobirama at bay.

Once more, I flexed my legs and chakra and I impacted the water's surface beneath me like a lighting bolt. I was a bit surprised to see the barrier that Orochimaru's minions had erected wasn't filtering out the massive amounts of water that Tobirama had summoned. It was unfortunate, because he instantly gained a battlefield advantage with his water affinity.

I was in front of Tobirama before Jiraiya ever engaged Hashirama. I mentally berated myself for acting too early and trying to impress the people inside of the barrier. I led with taijutsu and thought I would steal Guy's favorite way of opening. My opponent surprised me when he blocked my lightning enhanced Dynamic Entry with both of his forearms.

His right hand gripped my shin, and I felt the familiar burning sensation of fuinjutsu being applied to skin. My eyes widened and had I not been a student of the Yondaime, I wouldn't have realized that Tobirama had marked me the original version of the Flying Raijin.

The analytical side of me praised Tobirama for his quick reactions and tactical genius. He saw me move twice during the duration of the fight and realized that he would need to mark me to be able to react and keep up with me. It was the same thing sensei realized when he engaged a younger A, the current Yondaime, with his lightning armor.

My fathers white chakra saber left a blazing trail through the air and opened up the neck of the Nidaime, causing him to let go of me and allow me to disengage for just a moment.

Unfortunately for Tobirama, I had done enough research as a younger man full of grief to remove my sensei's fuinjutsu from my own body. It took me less than a second to begin to mold the chakra I needed to remove the mark from my body, and I still had to abandon the technique.

My opponent hadn't allowed me the time I needed and instantly activated the Flying Raijin. He appeared in front of me, torn neck and all, with his hands locked into the bird hand seal and a mouth full of chakra. My sharingan's chakra seeing capabilities and lightning enhanced reflexes was the only thing that saved me and allowed me to dodge the water that would have cut me in two.

I ducked under the water and went for a more debilitating cut this time. His head separated from his body, before my legs lashed out and the two parts of his body went in opposite directions from each other.

I was on high alert when I finally removed the fuinjutsu mark on my shin.

"A Hatake with a sharingan, a version of the jutsu of every reigning Raikage in my time, and the fuinjutsu knowledge to actively remove enemy seals. The village sure has become interesting since I left this world." The Nidaime calmly said as his body floated over to where his head sat talking to me and reattached itself in a flurry of paper.

"It's an honor to meet you sir." I couldn't help myself. Tobirama was a legend, and I had just successfully decapitated him. That was something any shinobi could be proud of. And his prodigious use of sensing was still available to him, allowing him to make accurate deductions about me.

I felt, and saw the buildup of chakra to my right and had to actively force myself not to look at the massive wooden branches that were growing and launching themselves towards Jiraiya.

Instead, I was defending myself from a hail of kunai courtesy of my opponent.

'Shit.'

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'Naruto POV:'

"HA HA HA, I'M FINALLY FREEEEE!"

Even though I had seen the anime, and I knew the personality of the one-tails, it surprised me to see him act the way that he did. I stood on a rooftop staring at the massive beast of chakra and sand. It was so large and its chakra was so dense my senses were practically useless while I was so close to the tailed beast.

Beneath its massive feet the rubble of civilian buildings and a market street lay destroyed. I wondered how many people Gaara had killed just while releasing Shukaku. How many were crushed to death? How many never saw it coming? How many children?

Yet as I stood there, I wasn't sure what to do.

Three Anbu made themselves known about fifty feet from me on another building. Fire leapt from every single one of their mouths. Shukaku didn't even notice them until the fire touched his skin.

His eyes found them and he frowned. With a wave of his hand, a massive ball of swirling wind rocketed towards the house the Anbu stood on. Luckily, all three of them were highly trained shinobi and they flickered out of existence just as the attack reached them.

The house disappeared in a flurry of wood, wind, and other household goods.

I couldn't hide my shock at the casual display of power. I could only produce the same results with maybe 5 clones all overpowering their wind ninjutsu. Even then I doubted my ability to shred an entire house full of wind and mortar to shreds.

'It was a casual flick of his hand. He didn't even try…'

I couldn't help the way my arm shook a little as I realized what I was going up against. Kage normally fought and subdued Bijuu and it was a close thing. How was I supposed to do anything to stop what I was witnessing in front of me? What could I even do?

More jutsu impacted the side of Shukaku, and once again he waved his hand to destroy another building. I just stood there. If he had noticed me and sent the same attack towards me at that moment, I probably wouldn't have moved because of my fear and shock. I was freezing for the first time in my shinobi career.

'Stop being a fucking pussy, Naruto!'

I clenched my fist and jaw, trying to jolt myself back into the fight.

'Think damn it! How can we kill Gaara?!'

I stopped that train of thought with a realization and instantly began looking for where I knew Gaara's unconscious form would be attached to Shukaku's head. Did I really need to kill Gaara because the Sandaime said so? Gaara was a psychopath at the moment, but he had the capacity for good in the future. His power was undeniable and his role in the coming war was invaluable. A bit of my previous lifes bias crept into my psyche. Gaara was one of my favorite characters in shippuden.

'And if he is killed then Shukaku is killed with him. BUT when Shukaku reforms he will be easy pickings for the Akatsuki. One look from Itachi and Shukaku would walk into the Gedo Mezu with no problem…'

I made my mind up then and there. I reached into my kunai pouch and retrieved another chakra suppression seal. Shukaku could not be allowed to roam free in the village and I can't kill Gaara. But I had to do something before more destruction was caused and more lives were taken. I primed my chakra and cast my most frequent jutsu.

Four copies of myself appeared around me and we rocketed off with unspoken commands. All of us jumped off of the roof and hit the deserted streets of Konoha. It would be best if Shukaku never saw us coming. The Anbu continuously fired off jutsu after jutsu keeping the massive beast of chakra busy.

I ran through the city streets faster than any civilian had a chance to, and faster than most shinobi could on their best day. I was burning through chakra trying to make it to the Tanuki's foot as fast as possible. I knew that the longer I took, the more people could die, and the longer this invasion took.

It didn't take me long to be just underneath the knee of the massive sand raccoon. I didn't even bother to look up and check to see if the one-tails had seen me or was aware of my presence. I just jumped as high as I could and stuck myself to his sandy skin. I thought it would be similar to the tree walking exercise but I was wrong and I almost slid off of his sandy body before I pumped more chakra in and held myself there.

It was a testament to my reactions, and training my chakra control that I was able to adapt fast enough and catch myself. But once I did, I poured chakra into my core and started running up the raccoon's body.

"What the…"

I felt the voice reverberate through the sand and into my legs. It caused me to look up. My blue eyes met the black eyes of Shukaku, and that's when I knew I was in trouble.

Shukaku inhaled a deep breath, preparing himself to launch an attack at me, and I froze again. I didn't even have time to reject the chakra presence I felt come over my coils and forcibly replace themselves with me. Next thing I knew, I was looking up at the back of Shukaku's swinging tail and memories from a popped clone were being filtered by my mind. Dust was kicked up beneath me, as Shukaku's attack traveled to the ground and impacted it.

'My clone used a replacement on me and saved my ass…'

I once again set my feet and continued my climb up the body of Shukaku. Only this time, I was already on his back and rapidly advancing up to his shoulder. I felt Shukaku inhale again, and this time I prepared myself to move if I needed to.

When Shukaku released another breath of air I saw him aim it towards his right arm. Buildings past his arm disappeared from the earth because of the swirling hurricane that leapt from his mouth. I got another set of memories telling me that the winds were just as powerful as I expected them to be. They cut through my clone, ignoring the protection of my fuinjutsu enhanced armor.

"Fucking hell!" I snarled as I sped up to the neck of Shukaku.

I had a renewed sense of urgency. I saw two more copies of myself approaching from Shukaku's chest and his left arm. They were all close to his nose and he had his eyes on them. Although he didn't see me.

Despite the fact that three of us had survived this far. Despite the fact that, given the odds, we should reach Gaara before he launched another attack. I couldn't help the unease that spread throughout me. I increased my efforts to reach the unconscious boy on top of Shukaku's forehead.

I reached the peak of Shukaku's head and I could see that I would be the first to reach Gaara. So I held the chakra suppression seal in my hand tightly in my hand and I jumped, while reaching out to the boy's skin. I was an inch away from ending this nightmare when it happened.

Something pulled at my chest, hands, and right thigh.

I soared past Gaara's unconscious body, in an uncontrollable tumble through the air. And then, without warning, I stopped. It took me a moment to gather my surroundings, but when I did I was not prepared for what I saw.

I was floating upright in the air, about fifty feet away from the One-tails. He wasn't grabbing me, but his hand was extended out in front of him slightly. It was like he had grabbed onto my chest, my hands, and my right thigh with telekinesis and was holding me there in the air.

His eyes bored into mine.

"NUISANCE!"

I cried out in pain and tried to move my hands to my ears as the insane One-tails yelled at me. I couldn't though, my hands wouldn't budge. It was like the metal in the glove on my hands was stuck in mid-air. It was then that I realized what was holding me aloft.

'Magnet release?'

"DIE!"

'Oh shit!'

Shukaku inhaled another deep breath of air while looking right at me as if he was going to blow me to pieces. I did my best to curl up as I sent reinforcing chakra throughout my body. All that I really accomplished was bringing my legs in front of my chest, as my hands wouldn't move. Hopefully I could withstand what he was about to send at me.

Shukaku exhaled.

Panic gripped my chest just as a flash of gleaming metal impacted the chest of Shukaku. It was a sword, as long as one of shukaku's arms, and as wide as a house. It had entered right where the heart of a tanuki should be. Unfortunately, I knew that wouldn't be enough to kill the One-tails. Fortunately, it saved me from being torn to shreds by a bijuu powered wind jutsu causing it to fly into the air above me instead of at me. It also distracted the One-tails enough for him to stop controlling the metal on my form, causing me to drop out of the air.

For a normal human without chakra, a fall from a hundred feet into the air would have been terrifying, and catastrophic. For me? It was just another day of the week and was the least of my worries. In fact, when I landed on the ground I was more worried with taking off my gloves, chest piece, the rest of my kunai and shuriken from the pouch on my thigh, my wristband, and even my boots before sealing them away in an extra scroll I had on me than falling to my death.

Once that was done. I looked back up to see a massive orange frog with a dark blue colored vest standing in front of Shukaku. He had already retrieved his sword from the chest of the One-tails and was wielding it defensively. He stood no more than 30 yards away from where I fell.

"You've got a lot of nerve summoning me to fight this bastard, Neji…" Gamabunta's voice echoed throughout the housing district we were in.

I frowned in confusion as I heard him speak before looking at the top of his head. Sure enough, standing there with hair pulled back in a black ponytail, and taking off his chunin vest was Neji Hyuuga, jinchuriki of the Nine-tailed fox. The veins around his eyes and forehead bulged. That wasn't abnormal though. No, it was the orange cloak of chakra that covered him and the swaying 2 tails behind him that made me confused.

'He's already mastered 2 tails?'

It was then that I realized two things. One, I was no longer needed in this battle. Neji, with 2 tails attached to him with the assistance of Gamabunta, could destroy Gaara and Shukaku in a battle. The second thing was that I could not allow him to kill Gaara for the sake of the future.

"I can't control that sword. Damned frog!" Shukaku whined as he pointed at the boss summon of the toads.

"Neji!" I yelled as I jumped up to the roof of the building right behind Gamabunta. I knew he heard me when his head tilted, but he did not look back at me. It was weird knowing that a Hyuuga was looking at you, even if his eyes weren't pointed in your direction.

I held up a chakra suppression seal for him to see. He stilled for a moment before he waved a hand, motioning for me to join him on top of Gamabunta's back. I primed my chakra, and jumped before landing on the upper leg of the massive toad, and then jumped twice to get to the top of his head.

"What is that?" Neji asked, while staring at the One-tails. From up close, I could see that the hair on his head was spikier than normal, and the chakra cloak gave off a very menacing vibe. It was still nowhere near as bad as Shukaku's though, and my senses were still overloaded because of it.

Gamabunta jumped unexpectedly, but I was prepared and latched myself onto his skin with my chakra. I felt the toad below me inhale and exhale quickly before a water bullet the size of the head of the Sandaime on the hokage mountain spat from his mouth. It was broken apart by the wind bullet from Shukaku. Water dispersed and sent rain falling to the village below.

"Chakra Suppression seals. We just need to touch Gaara's skin with one of them and it'll do the rest." I told him quickly, as Gamabunta landed in an undeveloped portion of the village, crushing trees and stone beneath him.

"Who is this brat?!" Gamabunta roared as he realized I was standing on his head as well.

"Naruto…" I began to introduce myself, as I wanted to for my dad's favorite summon. I was doing my best not to be hurt by the fact that Neji held the contract and my worst fears were coming true about Jiraiya ignoring me for the jinchuriki.

"I have a more permanent plan." Neji interrupted my introduction harshly, as his eyebrows furrowed and he focused on Gaara.

"And then what?" I asked, as I put on my bullshit hat. "You can't kill a bijuu. If you kill Gaara, won't you just release the one-tails?" I asked, feigning ignorance on the topic.

"No, it will die with its host, to be reformed later."

I was not expecting Neji to know the information, but I continued on bullshitting. I had to stop him from killing Gaara. I just felt it in my bones that it wasn't the right thing to do.

"Reform where? Here?" I asked, trying to imply that we would only be delaying a battle with the One-tails until later. "These seals will stop him, and should the Hokage want him dead, we can do it in the middle of nowhere, where he can reform without any danger to the village."

Neji's head snapped to me, and his jaw was clenched. He was angry, and I could tell that my earlier assessment of him being in control of the two tails was not accurate. He seemed to be barely in control and I worried about what that might mean for me standing so close to him. I couldn't even hold a candle to the rising star without the chakra of the Nine-tails. If he lost control…

All Neji did was hold his hand out, and I quickly handed him a wad of the papers. I hissed whenever the red chakra that surrounded him touched my hand during the transition. Luckily it did nothing to the integrity of the paper or ink on it.

"Get us close. Gamabunta." Neji commanded with the same disrespectful and angry tone he had been using since he arrived. The chakra was taking its toll on him.

"Fine but tell Jiraiya he owes me, you hear?!" Gamabunta asked rhetorically. He didn't wait for a response and I had to hold on tight with my chakra because he jumped towards the One-tails who hadn't been idle.

A wave of sand and metal rose high into the air and rushed towards Gamabunta just as he moved. Gamabunta wasn't concerned in the slightest and sent another water bullet that knocked a hole in the sand despite it having elemental inferiority. It was just enough for us to pass through towards Shukaku without getting grabbed by the sand.

And then Gamabunta lashed out with his sword again, to which Shukaku fucking caught with his bare hands. Although it looked like the toad expected this because he let go of the sword and grabbed Shukaku's wrists, holding them in place where they were grabbing the sword.

I jumped as hard as I could and began sprinting down the right arm of Gamabunta. Neji did the same on the left arm.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" Shukaku roared just as I reached the wrist of Gamabunta.

Neji was faster, though and was already on the shoulder of the one-tails and rapidly approaching Gaara's position. I almost stopped because I was convinced he would reach Gaara before I needed to. Then I reminded myself anything could happen, and I should continue until I knew for sure.

I reached Shukaku's wrist, just as he turned towards Neji and quickly exhaled a wind bullet that hit the Nine-tails jinchuriki and sent him tumbling away through the air and to the ground below. It was so fast and violent that I was worried for Neji and how he might get seriously injured.

Even still, I capitalized on the distraction in the fastest and most efficient way possible. I crouched, aimed, and jumped the rest of the distance. Shukaku tried his best to react and send another wind bullet at my form.

Once again I panicked as I realized that he would fire off his jutsu before I could reach his container. Time seemed to slow as I stretched out as far as I could. I could see the wind traveling up his throat and reaching his mouth.

He wasn't quick enough to stop me, and I barreled into Gaara's form, slapping the seal on his forehead.

The effect was immediate and the sand holding Shukaku's body fell to the ground.

What I didn't expect was the bijuu powered wind bullet in his throat destabilizing. When it didn't have any direction to disperse, it decided to go in all directions and exploded.

I flew away from the location in a flurry of limbs. I flipped over and over again in mid air and only barely had the reaction time to load my body full of chakra to enhance it before tucking my limbs in.

Whatever I hit first gave way to my superior momentum quickly. It took all of the breath from my lungs. The second thing I hit also gave way to my chakra enhanced body. Then I felt impacts back to back to back all over my body until I finally came to a stop.

When the dizziness finally faded and I opened my eyes it took me a while to realize that I was surrounded by debris inside of a ruined house that looked to be on its last legs and barely standing. I tried my best to breathe, only to struggle to do so.

Pain racked through my torso as sweet sweet air filled my lungs. It tasted like copper.

'Since when did air taste like copper?'

I coughed, and the tell tale sign of blood flew from my lips to splatter on my torso. I looked at it intently before I saw something sticking out of the right side of my torso. I couldn't make out what it was.

"Naruto!"

I opened my eyes at the sound of the panicked voice. When did I close them?

Pink filled my vision, and the black tint on the edge of my sight quickly engulfed all other colors.

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A/N: Boom!

There is the end of the invasion! For Naruto at least! Let's rewind a bit.

Naruto fucks Temari up, BUT she actually put on a decent fight. The most decent fight he's had besides Lee in a long time. He's usually just barreling through his opponents pretty quickly.

Kakashi showcased some skill, and realized he wasn't the only tactical genius Konoha has ever had. Tobirama, weakened as he is, almost got Kakashi with the surprise teleport into water ninjutsu. I decided that I had shown enough of the Kage level fighting for everyone to know what was going on and to show off their skill levels. That's why you guys aren't getting a 10,000 word fight scene. Maybe that'll come later in the story.

And finally, Naruto gets humbled by the sheer destructive power of a Tailed Beast. Honestly, was there any question that he wouldn't be able to solo a Bijuu so early in his development. Hell I don't know when he would ever do it easily tbh.

The events of the invasion will be covered thoroughly in the next chapter, I believe so I ask you guys to be patient.

What did we think? Let's talk about it in the reviews!