THE ROAD LESS TAKEN

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

DANIEL NIEVES

AN: Damn, I haven't updated in two months… I really can't offer an excuse. Sorry for the long wait and hopefully I can finish this fic within the next three months. But that might not happen, I just found out I might be going to South America for four months in April so we'll see.

I

Kotetsu and Izumo were hanging out at the front gate, having just relieved the previous watch standers, the chuunin were exceptionally bored. Everyone important had come in the village while they were off so they hadn't gotten to meet any Daimyo's or hot princesses that needed escorted. So imagine their surprise when an hour into their shift, two lone figures walked towards them, one having supposedly been dead.

One was a busty blonde, her heaving chest the epitome of every man's wet dreams, with a chocolate brown eyes and fearsome strength. It was Tsunade of the Sannin. The other was a jounin who was rumored to have been transferred to the Kiri ANBU department. Lilac colored hair, hazel eyes and a considerable bust herself, Mitarashi Anko walked up to the chuunins.

Despite her change in attire, she still brought a nosebleed to the chuunins on guard duty. She had on tight ANBU style pants with the shin guards she always wore. Instead of a fish net top, she had on a black spandex shirt with the standard Konoha green Jounin flak vest. "Mitarashi Anko, reporting for duty." She spoke levelly, not really paying attention to the Chuunin, but to the stadium in the distance where the finals were being held.

'Naruto.'

"Senju Tsunade, Chief of Medicine reporting for duty." Tsunade spoke and the chuunins shuddered as she glared at them for checking her out.

"Kotetsu, lead them to the stadium and brief the Hokage immediately." Izumo ordered. Kotetsu looked at his best friend and nodded, before the three shinobi disappeared via shunshin and headed in the direction of the stadium.

Minato was thoroughly enjoying the fight between Rock Lee and Gaara. Despite Lee's obvious disadvantages, the boy was a superior ninja and he'd be damned if he left that kid a Genin. Sure, he hadn't watched enough of the fight to see if the seventeen year old had the mind of a chuunin but his fighting prowess was just enough to clench it for him. Minato felt a disturbance in the air, his eyes swiveling over to the Kazekage as three bodies appeared in front of him, his hand on his tri-tipped kunai.

Electric blue eyes swerved up to look at the intruders. It was Kotetsu, one of the chuunin guards with Mitarashi Anko and Senju Tsunade. 'Tsunade's alive?' he thought to himself as he was already going through the hand seals for the Kuchiyose no jutsu. There was a small poof of smoke and Gamatatsu appeared. "How can I help you oyabun?" the fat, yellow toad asked in his high pitched voice.

"Go to Jiraiya and tell him Tsunade's alive. Tell him to get here now." Minato demanded. "I'll give you a treat later." He promised the frog, before it disappeared in another compilation of smoke.

"Explain yourselves…follow me." Minato ordered, standing up to his feet and giving the Kazekage an apologetic look. "Forgive me for the abruptness, but there is an urgent matter that has to be taken care of." Minato spoke gravely.

"Please Yondaime-dono, can it not wait until after the Finals. My son is here fighting his guts out to prove to all of us his existence, allow him that much." The Kazekage begged.

"It cannot." Minato spoke regrettably, before grabbing the two elite jounin and disappearing in a flash of yellow.

They reappeared in the Hokage's office. "What the fuck is going on?" Minato spoke after setting a silencer seal on the room. "Tsunade, you're supposed to be dead, and Anko, did you complete your mission without compromising us."

Anko chose to speak first. "The target Kazama Arashi has been assassinated. Konoha has not been compromised as it appears that I was killed in the blast as well. Tsunade found me and healed me as I almost did die and brought me here to Konoha." Anko spoke, bowing her head down before the Hokage.

"Good job. Did you confirm the identity of the Mizukage and have any possible information?" Minato asked calmly.

"The Mizukage is an Uchiha, as to whether he is Madara I do not know, though it appears to be so. The Mizukage is the leader of the infamous Akatsuki and they are planning to come to Konoha and take Naruto to steal the Kyuubi away from him. Now with the death of Arashi, he might show up a hell of a lot sooner."

Minato pondered it for a moment. "I thought you said Konoha was not implicated in the attack." He stated, before boring his gaze into her hazel eyes.

"That is true, Konoha is not implicated through evidence. The Mizukage cannot legally go to war with us without major backfire from the Daimyo of Mizu no Kuni. But, Uchiha Madara is not stupid, and he Uchiha Madara can go to war with us here in Konoha." Anko replied.

Minato nodded his understanding. "Do you think he'd be that bold?" Minato asked.

"We killed his son, wouldn't you? Not to mention the backing he has from Akatsuki, Pain the guy who murdered Hittori Hanzou, Konan, Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame as well as a few others…"

Minato bowed his head, knowing full well that if someone were to kill Naruto or Kakashi, Hokage be damned someone would die. "Roger that. Anko-chan, thank you for completing the mission, feel free to return to the Chuunin Finals and see Naruto. It's pretty evident on your face that it's where you want to be." Minato spoke, giving her a small wave of dismissal.

Anko smiled at the Hokage. "Thank you Minato-sama." And with that she disappeared using Shunshin again.

"And you Tsunade-san, where the hell have you been?"

II

Rock Lee's body bursted with chakra as his muscles expanded and stretched, nearly causing him to cry out in pain. Eyes alit with the power of youth, he sprinted towards the stoic red head disappearing from the jinchiruuki's line of sight and punching him in the stomach hard enough to nearly make him vomit. Blood and saliva flew from his mouth, his eyes widening in pain as the spandex clad genin was so fast, his sand hadn't even thought of rising up in defense.

Rock Lee charged up his chakra in his fists and punched the red head in the ribs, hearing them snap under the ruthless punch. Gaara's sand rose up to protect him, saving him from a bone crunching kick to his face. Gaara feebly tried to control the sand and get it to wrap around the teen, but he quickly moved out of the way and gave Gaara an uppercut, sending him flying in the air.

Lee disappeared behind him and set up the Kage Buyo, unleashing his bandages as they wrapped themselves tightly around Gaara, squeezing his ribs and torso with ungodly pressure, to the point where Gaara was about to pass out from pain.

Only once had he been so viciously beaten… and that had been in the fight against Yugito, the other jinchiruuki. No one besides that insufferable two tailed bitch had even hurt him, until now. Gaara squeezed his eyes shut, hoping it'd shut out the pain, but it did not.

They flipped upside down as Lee screamed out, "Omote Renge!" The spun again, and Gaara had no choice as they were seconds from crashing hard into the earth. Dissolving his gourd into sand, he wrapped it around the two of them.

Lee spun faster to shrug away the sand, but it would not budge, it simply held them up there in midair. "What are you doing, accept defeat to the power of youth!" Lee screamed.

"Never, I will never lose to you! I'd rather feed our blood to mother than lose to you!" Gaara shot back, "Sabaku Kyuu!" he screamed as the sand crushed them both inside the tomb of doom.

Blood sprayed in the air from both combatants as they fell to the ground and landed in a bloody heap. Lee tried to stand up, his bones refusing, giving out on him as the sand had crushed his lower spine and legs. "I will not give up, that it is my nindo." Lee yelled as he crawled towards the motionless Gaara.

Gripping a kunai tightly in his hand, he held it poised over the jinchiruuki's throat. "Yield." He said simply, shutting out the pain that threatened to overcome him.

Gaara's body dissolved into sand. "Suna bunshin?" Lee asked stupefied. "How?"

Gaara reappeared in front of him, lips bruised and bloody, nose broken with twin steams of blood pouring down his face. "It does not matter, prepare yourself to die!" Gaara spoke, bloodlust heavy in his voice. He outstretched his hand and sand wrapped itself around Lee, forcibly lifting him up in the air.

Naruto looked onwards from the stands. "Stop it, the match is over, he can't defend himself you bastard." Naruto shouted from the bleachers.

Gaara paid him no mind. Iruka appeared in front of him, "The match is over Gaara-san, you win. Let him go." The jounin warned him. Gaara smirked at him, and maneuvered the sand so it slowly started to come off Lee, as the sand slid down his back.

Naruto released the breath he'd been holding. Suddenly there was a loud crunch as Gaara broke Lee's spine, still smirking. Tears found their way to Naruto's eyes as his good friend Lee passed out from the pain, and fell to the earth harshly.

Disappearing with speed he didn't know he had, he reappeared over Lee's crouched body as well as Gai, who he too had tears streaming down his face. Naruto looked at Lee's broken body before checking to see if he had a pulse…

He did… it was weak, but he was still alive. "Medics!!!" Naruto shouted and three white clad medics appeared, stretching in tow as they laid Lee out on it. Gaara was still watching and smirking. After the Medics and Gai took Lee away, Naruto unleashed killer intent to Gaara, his eyes red with malevolence.

Iruka saw this and grabbed Naruto's arm. "Don't or you'll be disqualified." Iruka spoke with authority.

"Hai." Naruto nodded numbly, before looking at Gaara, canines bared. "I don't care if you're the Kazekage's son and next Kazekage. I don't care that I'm supposed to marry your sister, and frankly I don't give a flying fuck about our village's alliance. After I beat this next opponent and me and you face off, I will show you the same mercy you showed my friend Lee…

"Killing you would be a mercy that I will not give you. I will maim you and cripple you, until you are less than nothing, until even the Ichibi that you hold inside of you can no longer heal you. I vow that on everything I love, I will make you regret what you did, if it's the last thing I do." Naruto spoke calmly, the power and aura of jounin coming off him in waves.

"Feel free to try, Chibi Yondaime." Gaara shot back, before disappearing in a cloud of sand.

"You alright?" Iruka asked him.

Tears staining his face, Naruto turned to look at him. "Could that have been me, so cold and ruthless to do that to somebody so defenseless?" Naruto questioned, though the question wasn't really directed at Iruka but himself. "Could that have been me?"

"The next match is Namikaze Naruto versus Sabaku no Temari." Iruka shouted and saw the stricken look on Naruto's face. Clearly he had not expected that.

Temari appeared in the ground level of the stadium, using her fan as transport. She gave Naruto an apologetic look, bummed that fate would toss them in this situation.

"Give up Tema-chan. I'm not in a mood to be fucked with and I wish to do you no harm." Naruto spoke.

Temari looked into his steely gaze and nearly urinated herself. The look on Naruto's face was haunting, something that she could of expected from Gaara but never from Naruto. His eyebrows were furrowed in anger, his blue eyes cold and detached. His lips curled back in a snarl, this was a side of him she never wanted to witness.

He stood there snarling, his tight black thermal shirt fitting his body perfectly, flaunting the torso that lay beneath it. Black, baggy ninja pants and black shinobi sandals finished the look. He looked dangerous, every bit of a shinobi he was.

Wrapped around his shoulders was the strap to the sheath of his kodaichi, one hand behind his back holding the handle of the weapon, ready to draw it at any second.

Temari, unwilling to look bad in front of her peers back flipped a few feet away from him and unleashed her fan, spreading it to the three moon visage. "It's over." She boasted. She cocked back and poured as much wind chakra she could before launching it at Naruto, a vortex of cutting wind flying towards him.

Just as it was about to hit him, he disappeared in a flash. "It is." He replied, kodaichi at her neck.

"Maybe…" She taunted, looking for an escape and from beneath the ground came six kage bunshins, kodaichis drawn and aimed at her vital points.

"Give up." Naruto repeated, his kodaichi digging into her jugular. One little slice and she'd be dead.

Realizing there was no escape, she bowed her head. "Proctor, I give up." She turned around to face Naruto, but he was already walking away, his head downcast.

Why did Gaara do that to Lee?

Would Naruto really cripple Gaara and possibly fuck the whole alliance up?

Seeing that the match was over, Iruka called out the next match. "Sakura and Kankuro, you're next!"

III

Naruto stood outside the emergency room where Lee was being taken care of. Tears still streaming down his face, he remembered the times he and Lee shared since they were kids, always rivaling and trying to outdo each other. Lee didn't deserve this.

After a few seconds, Gai stepped out of the room looking morbid. "Gai-sensei, what happened, what's going on with Lee?" Naruto begged desperately.

Gai looked up, before he looked away, his voice choked up with unwilling sobs. "Lee's paralyzed, he'll live, but he'll never walk again, the amounts of fractures in his spine are so numerous that he's lucky to even have mobility in his arms and hands. His days as a ninja are over." Gai spoke, before walking away, giving the blonde teen a small wave. "Fuck him up Naruto, don't let that Suna bastard get away with it." Gai spoke, shaking Naruto out of his reverie.

Gai never spoke like that.

Naruto watched him leave before leaning against the wall precariously. Why?

"I'm sorry about Lee…" a sympathetic voice spoke, one that was eerily familiar. Blue eyes met hazel. "How are you doing Naruto-kun?" Anko spoke softly, before standing close to him, peering at him through her half lidded almond shaped eyes.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you transfer to Kiri or some shit like that?" Naruto demanded.

"Yeah, that was the cover story." Anko replied sympathetically. "I didn't want to leave you, but I had to." She continued, walking up to him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

He looked at her, blue orbs ablaze, brushing her hand off. "You lied to me, you told me I was nothing but a game, and that you never loved me… Maybe you did have some mission in Kiri, but you didn't have to do me like that." Naruto snarled, the look on his face was enough to scare Anko.

"I had to…" Anko replied sadly.

Naruto gave her a disbelieving look as he summoned a cigarette and lighter through a nifty seal he created with his father. Lighting up the cigarette, he took a deep drag in an attempt to calm himself down, but it was hard, the woman he loved dearly stood in front of him making excuses for her actions. "Whatever…" Naruto bit back what he was about to say next.

"That too was part of my mission." Anko revealed.

Blue orbs met hazel and for a few seconds it was like the world stopped, and nothing else mattered. "Why?"

"It's classified as a SS-ranked mission, but you're going to find out anyway in the next hour or so. Sunagakure allied itself with Otogakure and are planning to attack Konoha during the Chuunin Finals. Temari was sent here by the Kazekage to woo you into marriage, making it that much easier to kill you during the exams. The only thing standing in the way was me, and because Sunagakure needed to believe that you were feeling something for her, so I needed to destroy you in the worst way possible so you would rebound to her in your anger." She shot back.

"No way, Temari wouldn't…" Naruto looked at Anko, horror stricken, his eyes alit with tears. "She couldn't, she's not like that…"

"Sorry, Naru-chan. So I need you to understand something, I did what I had to because it benefitted Konoha on the whole, but never have I stopped loving you." Anko confessed, grabbing him by the back of his neck and pulling him forward towards her. "I still love you and I'm sorry for hurting you the way I did."

Naruto looked into her eyes, tears still streaming. "I never got over you…" he admitted softly. "I couldn't even sleep with her, I tried, but all I could think about was you."

Before he could say anything else, her soft lips were pressed against his and he didn't have time to fight it, had he actually wanted to, which he didn't. Without thinking of the impeding attack, he grabbed at her, touching as much skin as possible.

His tongue was insistent, pushing between her teeth as he pulled her flush to him, his hands on the small of her back. "I still love you." He murmured into her mouth.

She whimpered under his ministration, her arms wrapped around him, unwilling to let him go. They both pulled apart and looked each other in the eye, gasping slightly.

"I love you." They both blurted out simultaneously.

"I'm sorry Naruto for everything that I had to do." Anko apologized once more, pulling him into another kiss. All her feelings, her regret, her lust, her love was poured into it as she sent them stumbling into one of the medic rooms, pushing him down onto the bed.

"Anko…" Naruto spoke, stopping her in her tracks.

"Yes?"

"Tell me that this is real, and that you're not going anywhere. Is this really happening?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, it's real." Before she could say anything else, he flipped there positions so he was on top, claiming her lips once more for another kiss. He was unbelievably hard, he was needing her more than she could ever know. His fingers at the waistband of her pants, slowly pulling them down to reveal the flesh underneath. She had pulled off her spandex shirt and the fishnet top, leaving her very naked under Naruto who was still fully clothed.

"Still dressed? We got to fix that." Anko said, pulling down his baggy pants as he pulled off his thermal shirt and fishnet top, tossing his clothes askew.

They stared into each other's eyes again, and they were home one thrust later. Naruto's lips were kissing any bare flesh they could find, his thrusts on tempo with hers, as she grinded her hips and he almost lost control immediately.

"I love you Anko." Naruto whispered.

IV

Sasuke's eyes twitched in annoyance. Where the hell was that bastard Naruto at? He had disappeared after Lee's fight and hadn't returned. He had missed on both Sakura's fight as well as his. Sakura had been poisoned, but she had showed exactly why she was Tsunade's apprentice as she healed herself and landed vicious punches on the long distanced puppet user.

After breaking his puppets and shattering them into nothing more than woodchips, he had reluctantly given up.

Sasuke on the other hand had fought for nearly an hour against Shikamaru. The sixteen year old was definitely a superb genius as he eluded Sasuke's Goukakyuu and anything else he threw at him. The only reason Sasuke even won was because Shikamaru had run out of chakra by the time that Sasuke charged up his Chidori Nagashi, knocking the genin out as electricity fired up his system.

Vanishing via shunshin, he headed down to the hospital corps to see if Naruto was still with Lee. As he walked through the halls, he could sense Naruto here, within ten yards. The two had been able to do that for a while, sense each other through chakra.

Stepping into one of the rooms, he saw Naruto and Anko, half naked as they put their clothes back on. Arching his eyebrow at the lovers, Sasuke opened his mouth. "So, back together?"

Naruto stared at him in shock. "Ugh…" Sasuke looked at Anko, giving her a disbelieving glare. Shaking his head at the two, Sasuke looked over at Naruto.

"You're match with Gaara is about to start. You should hurry." Sasuke said pointedly, before leaving the room.

Sasuke stormed off heading back to the stadium. Naruto and Anko back together, he didn't know what to think about it. Not to mention, where did the blonde daughter of the Kazekage fit into this?

V

Brushing all thoughts of the violet haired jounin out of his mind, Naruto headed towards the arena, focused on doing on thing… crippling Gaara. He'd never forget the eerie smile on the Suna genin's face as he crippled Lee. He would completely and utterly embarrass him in front of everyone, Shukaku be damned.

As he stepped outside, he saw Gaara already waiting for him, a smug smile on his face. "Are you ready, chibi Yondaime?" Gaara asked menacingly, as the sand whipped around him, forming a half open cocoon. Naruto saw that his chances of penetrating it were bleak, but then again, he really hadn't been slacking in the month of training.

His body had been tested to limits he'd never known before, and despite the pain, the results were well worth it. "This is the only chance you have to give up Gaara, before I humiliate you in front of everyone." Naruto spoke, his voice heavy with sadness at Lee's predicament. "If you choose to fight, know that you will be completely outclassed. You don't stand a chance."

"You are funny Naruto. I will not give up, I am the vessel for the Shukaku no Ichibi. One tail should be enough for you." Gaara retaliated.

"I have nine bitch." Naruto fired back. Iruka looked at the two, wary of starting the match.

"Begin." Iruka called out, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto launched forward, his body a blur and attempted to connect a punch with Gaara's face but the sand blacked it, before reaching towards him to wrap around him. Naruto saw it and backed up, running through a set of hand seals as he did. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Naruto sucked in air, combining it with chakra as he did and felt the fire chakra build up in his chest. He blew it out and a large fireball was launched at Gaara, encompassing his entire sand barrier.

The fireball dissipated and Gaara was unscathed. "You are too slow, Naruto." Gaara said, laughing cruelly.

Naruto held his arm out, before clasping it like Sasuke did for his Chidori with his other hand. His chakra spiked and suddenly a burst of flames rise from his hand up to his elbow, completely engulfed. "Who says that's the fastest I can go?" Naruto asked, smiling at the redhead.

Before Gaara could even muster up the energy to contemplate what that meant, Naruto was gone, faster than before. Suddenly he appeared in front of Gaara, running around him in circles, not attacking, and the fire grew stronger, now heating Gaara up.

"Damn you Nami…" Gaara was shut up as Naruto's flame covered fist slammed into his face, his sand too slow to even move to protect him. The flames were hot, hotter than any pain Gaara had ever known, and he felt the skin peel as flames burned away at them. His teeth, his tongue was on fire.

"Houkaken!"

Gaara pulled back, slamming his wave off sand into Naruto to send him away from him. Gaara's left side of his face was gone, marred away by flames and puckered with holes, blood and pus surfacing. "You're going to die!!!" Gaara screamed, even as the Ichibi's chakra began to regroup the sinewy skin of his face.

"You sure you don't want to give up?" Naruto questioned, before disappearing again in a blur.

Gaara's eyes swiveled around trying to catch Naruto, but it was useless, it was as if he were taking on the Yondaime one on one. Naruto appeared above him and punched him on the top of his forehead, his right leg rising before he even landed to land an excruciating kick to Gaara's neck, sending him flying sideways.

Gaara's face cracked against the side of the Chuunin stadium. Perhaps he had underestimated the blonde? Before he could even think of anything else, his mouth involuntarily opened up and let out a high pitched scream, blood gushing from his mouth. Gaara looked down to find a kunai shoved into his stomach to the hilt.

"You should have given up when I gave you the chance." Naruto whispered in Gaara's ear, before kicking him in the stomach as he pulled the kunai out, sending Gaara smacking into the wall again.

Naruto backed up and watched the jinchiruuki warily. It seemed as if no matter what he did, the Ichibi would start healing, Gaara's muscles started to regroup in his face and an eerily gold glow emerged from the wound that Naruto left.

He had a few jutsus in his arsenals. He had already mastered the fire element in his time prior to the chuunin exams. He knew the Kuchiyose no Jutsu as well as the Rasengan and a few variations of it. Naruto took off after Gaara again, weaving around the sand that was aimed for his face, before leaping up in the air, spinning around and kicking Gaara in the face. Still in midair, he spun again, kicking Gaara with his other foot.

Landing casually on the soft grass, he immediately launched a set of shuriken at Gaara's face, but Gaara reacted timely with his sand, sending the shuriken spinning away from his wildly. This did not deter Naruto, who ducked under a wave of sand, before planting his foot under Gaara's chin, sending Gaara flying up in the air.

Naruto followed up with a Kage Buyo that Lee had taught him and the two fighters flew in the air, with Naruto beneath him. "This is for Lee, I call it the Renge no Namikaze Rasengan." Naruto growled out, before punching Gaara in the ribs, breaking two in the process. Naruto landed another punch to his kidneys, knocking him up in the air, even higher still.

Gaara let out an angry shriek, the sand unable to catch up, leaving him defenseless as Naruto landed a crippling blow to his spine, then a vicious punch to Gaara's neck, before spinning around to face him in midair.

Gaara's teal eyes peered into Naruto's cold cerulean orbs and saw that the eyes were void of life. Naruto hated Gaara so much that there was nothing left in his pristine gaze. The two hung there, face to face in midair, before Naruto held his hand out and spiked his chakra, as a swirling vortex of blue began to form in his hand.

The chakra continued to swirl and the vortex shaped a sphere, nearly unstable as chakra continued spinning recklessly in it. "FUCK YOU NAMIKAZE!" Gaara yelled, but it was inconsequential.

Naruto smirked, his eyes turning into blue orbs with a black slit, before slamming the Rasengan into Gaara's stomach, smiling cruelly as Gaara let out a terrified, pain filled scream. Naruto clenched Gaara by the front of his shirt to keep him in place as the two started their descent back to the earth.

The deadly sphere continued spinning, digging into Gaara's torso and they crashed hard into the dirt, leaving both fighters motionless. "Holy shit." Iruka spoke, from the sidelines.

There was a momentary silence, no one dared to speak, some even held there breaths. Surprisingly enough, Gaara was the first to move, stirring slightly as he rolled away from Naruto, fear etched on his face. "Why do you fight so hard for him?" Gaara asked, "If you fight for yourself and only yourself, you could be so much stronger." Gaara said shivering as his stood back on his feet, his torso marred beyond recognition.

Blood pooled around his feet, his guts nearly falling out of his stomach, damaged far beyond what the Ichibi could heal in the meantime. Naruto rolled over, standing up to his feet as well. "Because he was a friend, a close one at that. All my life, people have been wary of me because I am the vessel for the Kyuubi no Kitsune and because I'm the Yondaime, but Rock Lee did not care and befriended me anyway. He was there for me as well as a few others when my father ignored me, and he did not care for either fact and treated me like he wanted to be treated. I fight for him because despite the fact that he cannot use genjutsu or ninjutsu, he continued fighting, striving to become a worthy ninja in Konoha's eyes, a dream that is truly worth fighting for.

"He was an honorable shinobi, striving so hard and you showed him no mercy, even though he was already defeated and could no longer fight, you aimed to crush his dreams. So I will not rest until I crush yours right before your eyes." Naruto finished, allowing the Kyuubi's chakra to heal his sore body up a bit.

"You leaf nin are so pathetic, which is why you will all die here today." Gaara spoke and suddenly sand burst from the ground, swirling around his misshapen figure as he transformed right before Naruto's eyes, becoming a sand tanuki of sorts, the killer intent leaking from him made Naruto want to pause in fear.

There was the sound of a trumpet, and suddenly two large snakes appeared in the background, bursting through the walls.

"Konoha will fall." Gaara said, his lips forming a demonic smile.

VI

Sasuke looked in the distance and saw a two headed snake burst through Konoha's gates, and suddenly there was a flood of Oto jounin and chuunin. "We're under attack!" Sasuke called out loudly for everyone to hear and prepare, before his eyes turned blood red with three tomoes swimming in each.

Sasuke leaped over the railing and onto the chuunin floor stadium, avoiding the kunai that was aimed his way before stabbing an Oto nin in the forehead before he could reach Naruto, who was backing away from Gaara.

"Naruto, what the fuck are you doing?" Sasuke yelled, before leaping at another group of Oto chuunin, hacking and slashing with his katana. In the distance he could see the Konoha twelve fighting their own battles as well as their jounin senseis.

Before Sasuke could retaliate and do something else, a loud, booming voice called out Shinra Tensei and suddenly everyone was blown backwards.

Sasuke blacked out momentarily. When he awoke, Konoha was leveled and half of it was in ruins. "Foolish little brother, you are still so very weak."

Sasuke froze, immediately recognizing the voice and seeing that it belonged to his older brother Itachi, the man he swore to kill for so long.

Sasuke turned around to face the bearer of the voice and saw Itachi's blood red Mangekyou eyes. He looked the same as when he left, except he was clad in a black cloak with red clouds on them. "Uchiha Itachi!" Sasuke snarled, sliding into a defensive stance.

"I hope you have been well, otouto." Itachi said forming the smallest of smiles.

Everything that he had been working so hard for was made for this moment, this opportunity to kill the one man who had taken his father's life. "Prepare to die Itachi."

"You should be the one prepare foolish otouto, we came and finished the job we started years ago, that Shinra Tensei you heard was unleashed in the middle of the Uchiha district, the Uchiha are no more." Itachi spoke.

Sasuke's eyes filled with tears and his clenched fist built up with electricity. "Uchiha Itachi!!!"

VII

Jiraiya was watching Naruto fight from the stands when he saw a pair of snakes slam into the village gates and penetrate and suddenly there was a flood of Oto and Suna shinobi. He knew of their impeding invasion and knew that Konoha was more than ready to face them, having already known of their plans.

Leaping from his seat into the fray, he saw two figures in the distance. One was a beautiful dark haired woman, but she disappeared in a swirl of paper, and Jiraiya immediately recognized her as Konan. "You're supposed to be dead." Jiraiya mused. He looked at the other man and immediately recognized him as Akatsuki, but before he could move, the man unleashed a 'Shinra Tensei' and suddenly half the village had exploded in an explosion of dirt and cement.

If that was Konan, then he would have to be…

"Yahiko!?"

VIII

Minato immediately saw through Orochimaru's disguise and kicked the older shinobi out of his way, seeing the two headed snake in the distance. Before he could do much about it, an explosion rocked Konoha and suddenly the Uchiha district vanished, along with half the village. Minato's eyes filled with tears and he grabbed a tri tipped kunai, seeing the masses of intruders that came into his villages.

"Kage Kunai no Jutsu." He calmly spoke, multiplying his kunai a hundred fold before launching them at the intruders, disappearing in a yellow flash. He reappeared, severing the heads and throats of as many foreign shinobi as he could in seconds, before disappearing into the next seal and reappearing in the next.

Out of his peripherals, he saw the Sandaime Sarutobi engaged in battle with Orochimaru on top of the skybox.

Before he could disappear again, a punch slammed into his stomach, bending him over from the pain. As he looked up, there were four bodies caped in black cloaks with red clouds and identical eyes. "Prepare for my Pain Yondaime-sama." One of the bodies spoke. "This path of pain, is the true and only path of righteousness."

The invasion had begun.

End of Chapter Twelve

List of Jutsus:

Omote Renge/ Primary Lotus: A-ranked Kinjutsu that Rock Lee and Maito Gai primarily use. The jutsu is solely based off taijutsu as the user wraps himself tightly to his opponent, before spinning as fast as possible and crashing hard back to the earth. The main reason it's a kinjutsu is because of the wear and tear it does to the user, effectively a double edged sword.

Sabaku Kyuu/ Sand Coffin: Gaara envelops his opponent and sand, and then using chakra crushes them to pieces with the pressurized sand itself, killing the opponent.

Chidori Nagashi/ Chidori Current: Rather than getting up close and personal with a Chidori, Sasuke instead channels the lightning chakra through his katana, or even his body himself. While not as damaging as the Chidori, it's still a solid B-ranked jutsu.

Kage Buyo/ Shadow of the Dancing Leaf: Another taijutsu move that after knocking an opponent in the air, the user shadows the opponent by floating underneath them, putting them in a vunerable aerial position and setting them up for something worse.

Katon: Goukakyuu/ Fire Style: Grand Fireball- enough said, Sasuke uses it a lot. A really big fireball.

Houkaken/Flame fist: One of Naruto's unique jutsus, created to emulate Sasuke's chidori's thrusting action. Rather than electricity, Naruto uses fire to land searing blows to opponents. B-ranked.

Renge no Namikaze Rasengan/ Namikaze Spiral Sphere Lotus: S-ranked jutsu. Naruto created after training with Lee in their younger years. After using Kage Buyo, Naruto unleashes powerful punches and kicks to send the opponent higher in the air, before flipping in front of them and slamming a lethal Rasengan, while holding on, not allowing the opponent to spiral away.

Shinra Tensei: Pain's technique, god Pain uses gravity and chakra to blow shit away from him, powerful stuff. (lame)

Hiraishin/Flying Thunder God: Minato's jutsu in which using kunai marked with specific seals, he can travel nearly instantaneously through each seal, effectively summoning himself to another spot without using chakra like Shunshin. This jutsu is why he got the name Kiiroi Senko, Yellow Flash, because he used it effectively to wipe out platoons of Iwa nin in mere seconds. Because of the complexity of the jutsu, not only does no one else know it, but it hasn't been duplicated.

A/N: Like I said before, I'm really sorry for the wait. But hopefully you enjoyed reading this chapter, more than I enjoyed writing it. Three more chapters to go before I finish this fic and move onto the next one, and hopefully it won't be long before I finish this, hopefully before the summer starts.

Oh yea, definitely not going to South America so expect the next chapter of Requiem of a Demon in two weeks. Should take no more than that, and I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am. Lastly, what did you think of Anko's return to Konoha and back with Naruto? I still don't know what I'm going to do about the Anko/Naru/Temari situation, but all will be revealed by the fifteenth chapter.

Have a good one.

Ja Ne!

Daniel Nieves