The Road to Toad

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Finals are over. I got hit by a drunk driver, my left leg and foot are broken, my ribs are cracked. My flash drive was crushed, I lost all my progress.

But I can still write, I got that going for me, which is nice.

I'm going to try and proof read this, but don't be surprised if you find grammatical mistakes.

And about the previous chapters grammatical mistakes. All I have to say is that I had finals. So I really didn't have time to proof read.

Oh, and I'm completely skipping the Danzo fight. Why? Because it'll be surmised later. You know, when *bleep!

XxX

"These puppets of yours, they're better than I give them credit for." Hiruzen quipped as he dodged a sword strike coming from Orochimaru. But as he dodged to the left, rolling along the ground, he was met face to face with the first Hokage's fist impacting on his stomach. With a loud grunt, he was propelled backwards, hitting the wall divider with a loud 'Thump'.

He then heard Orochimaru's condescending laughter as he looked up and towards his previous student.

"Kukuku, don't misunderstand Sensei. They may be puppets, but they are the originals. I wouldn't underestimate them again if I were you." Orochimaru laughed. Hiruzen spit out blood, and steadily used his staff to stand.

'Hiruzen, try to get close and engage the first in a grappling match. I have an idea.' Enma whispered. Hiruzen didn't indicate he heard anything, and just proceeded to run straight towards his two opponents.

With a loud battle cry, he swung his staff like a baseball bat. Orochimaru didn't move from where he was, and just looked on amused.

Suddenly, the first Hokage was in front of Orochimaru, his hand raised and prepared to block the staff.

With a powerful shockwave, the staff connected with the first's open hand. Dust bellowing at the force behind the attack. The first Hokage didn't even flinch, as he just looked on impassively, Hiruzen's staff still gripped in his hand.

"Is that it Sensei? Pure brute force? You have grown senile!" Orochimaru taunted as he looked at the scene. He was about to gaud Hiruzen further, but the sudden burst of smoke from Hiruzen's staff silenced him.

"Gotcha!" Enma shouted as he appeared from the smoke and gripped the first's arm with his hands and tail. The first didn't react, only looking on impassively at what was happening.

"Now Hiruzen!" Enma shouted as he pulled hard and flipped the Hokage over his shoulders. Before the first could react fast enough, Hiruzen was upon him.

Hiruzen shot a punch forward that hit the first Hokage's backside, bending it in a very uncomfortable manner. But he didn't let up, as he kicked low towards the first's still falling body. The kick landed on the first's head, snapping it towards the right.

Finally the first landed on the ground. Dust sprang forth from his landing space, and clouded Orochimaru's vision.

As the dust cleared, Orochimaru clicked his teeth at what he saw.

The first Hokage's head was halfway buried into the sand, his body bent awkwardly.

He watched as the First Hokage's body start to disintegrate. Into the body of the sound team he had used to fight Sasuke Uchiha. He didn't know which of the three, and

"Now. For you!" Orochimaru's attention returned to Hiruzen, who had suddenly charged at him, fist raised and ready to deliver a powerful haymaker to his face.

Hiruzen shot his fist forward, but Orochimaru managed to dodge at the last second, moving his head slightly to the right as the fist passed by his ear.

He couldn't react to the other punch that was the follow up however.

He was launched back, by another white monkey fist had connected whereas Hiruzen couldn't. He flipped in the air and landed on his feet, skidding on the ground as the force was enough to still propel him backwards.

He clicked his teeth in frustration as he tasted iron. That punch was strong, but he had faced harder from someone else. But still, it was enough to draw blood and slightly dislocate his jaw.

Orochimaru gripped his lower jaw and, with a loud pop, he pushed it back in place. He opened his mouth and moved his lower jaw, just to test if it was still usable.

Satisfied that it was still usable and wasn't mush, he glared at Hiruzen and readied himself for a close up fight. He wasn't stupid enough to have his previous Sensei have the advantage of long range; he knew too many techniques for that to be viable.

Orochimaru steadied himself. While Hiruzen, having Enma back in his staff form, had taken a defensive position seeing Orochimaru ready himself.

After a few more seconds of staring at each other, Orochimaru sprang into action. He kicked his leg on the ground and launched at Hiruzen, sword poised to pierce.

Hiruzen saw the attack coming and sidestepped to the left, he watched as Orochimaru flew past him. But he didn't get anymore than that. As snakes suddenly grappled him and constricted themselves on his arms and legs.

Orochimaru, who had landed just past Hiruzen, let out a laugh at hearing his Sensei's surprise.

"Kukuku. Remember Sensei, look underneath the underneath. You were the one to teach me that. I'm rather disappointed that you don't take your own advice." Orochimaru said condescendingly. Hiruzen dropped Enma as a snake bit into his left arm and left leg. And suddenly, his arm and leg were numb. He glared at Orochimaru, wincing as he felt the effects of poison enter his system.

"You didn't see the snakes I had positioned right behind me? Oh dear Sensei. You need glasses! Kukuku. And don't worry about those snakes. Their venom won't kill you, only paralyze you." Orochimaru explained, his voice containing a hidden glee. He approached Hiruzen, who, at this point, was trying his hardest to regain control of his body.

"However, their venom is something special. Though you're paralyzed from head to toe…" Orochimaru shot his sword forward, wounding Hiruzen on his right cheek. He would have winced and let out a pained shout. But his body wasn't responding. "You still feel pain. Pity you can't scream. But beggars can't be choosers, or so the saying goes." Orochimaru said. Hiruzen struggled against the snakes constricting him, and the venom paralyzing him.

"Oh well, pity you had to die so anti-climatically Sensei." Orochimaru said as he raised his sword, ready to behead the paralyzed Hokage. "Such a sad end to a powerful shinobi." Orochimaru slashed down.

But before the sword could cut through Hiruzen's neck. A loud 'Clang!' followed with the sound of the air being cut by shuriken made Orochimaru jumped back in alarm. Orochimaru couldn't help but hiss in annoyance.

He had failed to notice the barrier had been broken, and that several leaf shinobi had invaded the battlefield.

He cursed those four incompetent fools. All they had to do was keep their hands on the barrier! And they failed at even that!

"Give it up Orochimaru, you're surrounded, the sand and sound forces have been defeated, you're all alone now." The voice of his previous accursed team mate rang from behind him. And he couldn't help but smirk.

"Oh? And why, pray tell, do you think I'll just surrender? I've come too far to just up and leave Jiraiya." He said as calmly as he could muster. He heard Jiraiya snort from behind him.

"Yeah, you've come far. From my team mate, to my best friend, to my mortal enemy. Just give up Orochimaru, Suna's Jinchuriki is out like a light, all your forces are on full on retreat mode. The only ones here are you; you're four lapdogs, and several prisoners." Jiraiya calmly stated. Orochimaru had had enough and turned around and faced his team mate.

He scowled at the sight of the man, from his red vest, to his olive undershirt. His white hair and his wooden clogs. He even loathed the two elder toads on his shoulders. He loathed this man.

And yet, he wasn't what caught his attention. Behind the man, cuffed by several ANBU, clothes torn and tattered. Sun-kissed blonde hair waving in the air, was Naruto Uzumaki.

However, that wasn't the only thing he noticed, he also noticed the scowling face of Danzo in the sea of faces surrounding him. This wasn't a cause for his attention, but the mere fact that Danzo was missing his right arm, with several wounds around his body was the cue that Orochimaru needed.

He may have failed at killing his Sensei, but he had a nice consolation prize. And the destruction of the village was a nice bonus as well.

Orochimaru let out a low chuckle as he looked around his person. Carefully taking note of the several angry faces around the crowd, the several impassive ones as well.

"It seems that my invasion has done more things for this village then I would have imagined." Orochimaru goaded, which prompted some shinobi to scowl and take up arms, ready to attack the Sannin.

Orochimaru let out a low laugh as he looked around, looking between all the scowling faces. Before he sent his look towards one person, this one shackled by ANBU.

"And I have you to thank for that Naruto-kun! Without you, my invasion would never have been as destruction filled as I'd have ever hoped!" Orochimaru cackled as Naruto looked down, regret obvious in his face.

The shinobi around Orochimaru spared a glance at the young boy, some had looks of disgust, distrust, and anger. While some had looks of pity, sadness, and impassiveness.

"I have to ask though," Orochimaru continued as he looked at Jiraiya. "How did you manage to break the barrier?"

Jiraiya just smirked at his team mate, before showing him a seal he always kept on himself.

"Surplus of negation seals. You're good at seal making Orochimaru, I'll give you that. But all your seals have one weak spot. It requires a certain person to control the sealed object." Jiraiya explained, Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at his explanation.

"I didn't ask about seals, I asked about the barrier." Orochimaru said. While Jiraiya just chuckled.

"Four corners. You're barrier needs seals on four corners. And each corner had one person on it. Easy enough to take out someone who had their hands on the ground. Just my luck as well I had a red-head. Potty-mouth that one, but still." Jiraiya trailed. Orochimaru just chuckled.

"Ah yes. Tayuya has a rather, 'uncouth' personality." Orochimaru said. Jiraiya ended the banter right then and there as he looked at him, all business.

"Now, are you coming with us? Or do I have to take you by force?" Jiraiya asked with a war veteran's voice. Orochimaru chuckled as he held out his hands.

"I surrender."

XxX

Several minutes before…..

"Jump!" Naruto warned as he saw streams of sand erupt from the ground and start circling Gamajin.

"Got it!" Gamajin reacted quickly, barely dodging the sand as it enclosed into a stalactite that would have otherwise killed both of them via crushing.

As Gamajin stayed airborne, he was suddenly assaulted by multiple sand shuriken that was coming at him at blinding speeds. He twisted his body in time as two sand shuriken sailed past his body, one missing his head by a few inches. But the third shuriken was coming at him dead on, and with no room to dodge or at least move, he raised his arms in front of him to try and catch the shuriken.

But this wasn't needed, as the giant sand shuriken was blindsided by Jiraiya with a Rasengan, veering it off course and high into the air.

Gamajin landed on his feet, as Jiraiya landed on a nearby rooftop. They all stared at the Shukaku, who was steadily laughing louder and louder.

Naruto stared at the giant raccoon, and looked down at Jiraiya, as if he had a brilliant idea.

Naruto's ideas work, both they are far from brilliant.

"Hey Ero-sennin!" Naruto shouted from atop Gamajin's head. Jiraiya looked up, as well as Fukasaku and Shima, all wondering what Naruto had to say.

"I got an idea!" Naruto shouted, making Jiraiya and both elders raise an eyebrow.

Before Jiraiya could ask what his idea was, Naruto leaned down and whispered something to Gamajin. Who looked up at his summoner with an incredulous look.

"…Are you sure about this?" Gamajin asked, his fox-like ears twitching in anticipation for Naruto's answer. Naruto only nodded and grinned at the faux fox-toad.

"…Very well." Gamajin nodded his head in an affirmative. And, for the umpteenth time that day, Jiraiya was shocked at what Naruto had thought of.

Gamajin raised his hands to his head, and promptly gripped Naruto in his right hand, before he leaned down and grabbed Jiraiya into his right. Surprising the toad sannin and the elder toads.

"Fukasaku-sama, Shima-sama, I ask you to leave Jiraiya-sama's shoulders." Gamajin calmly requested the elder toads to remove themselves from the toad sannin. They both numbly nodded, not really sure what was happening. But all the confusion was turned into shock at what happened after they left Jiraiya's shoulders.

Faster than Jiraiya could react, Gamajin pulled both his arms holding both humans into his hands behind him. And, after a few seconds of silence, Gamajin promptly chucked both humans like darts straight towards the laughing Shukaku.

"ARE YOU CRAAAAZZYYYYYY?!" Jiraiya's voice echoed as he left the three toads behind. Naruto just laughing at how fast they were going.

As the toads watched both humans head straight towards the Shukaku. Gamajin suddenly keeled over, clutching his stomach in pain. Fukasaku and Shima jumped in alarm at the sudden movement, but their surprise was replaced with shock as they watched the fox-toad revert back into a regular toad.

His ears receded, leaving nothing but thin air where it once was, the tail too, was gone. The red cloak of chakra was dissipating into smaller clumps that was washed away in the wind.

Gamajin let out a gasp as the transformation finally ended, his heavy breathing worrying both elder toads. But as he straitened his body, he let out a deep breath to steady his heartbeat.

"It seems that the transformation only works if Naruto is connected with the toad." Gamajin stated, which earned him a nod from Fukasaku.

"You're right, but we'll talk about that later. Right now, what exactly does Naruto-chan have in mind?" Shima asked, while Gamajin just smirked mysteriously.

"It is either the smartest plan that will give us the win," Gamajin stated, as he readied himself to re-engage the Shukaku. He bent his legs low towards the ground, kicking up small hills of dirt behind his feet. Fukasaku noticed this and signaled for Shima to jump on Gamajin. Both elders did so, landing on top of his head. "Or…" Gamajin trailed as he steadied himself. "It is the stupidest, most convoluted plan anyone has ever thought of!" Gamajin finished as he kicked his legs, launching towards the Shukaku at breakneck pace, velocity rings forming around him as he cut through the air. The glass around the buildings he was passing vibrated as he passed, shattering them as he went pass them. Not too long after he launched, he had caught up to the still airborne Naruto and Jiraiya, and passed them. He was steadily closing unto the Shukaku, and he raised his fist to strike.

The fist landed, but not on the Shukaku. It landed on the Shukaku's shield defense, stopping the punch with a loud 'thud!' The force of the blow rattling the nearby buildings and causing a mini-quake around the perimeter of both giant beings.

Gamajin reeled his fist back in pain, but he didn't let up on the offensive as he swiped low with his leg. Sweeping the ground in the hope of taking the Shukaku off its feet. But that too was blocked, and as the foot landed on the wall of sand, it was steadily enveloped by it. Gamajin looked on in alarm as he struggled to get his foot free, and as he looked up at the Shukaku's smiling face, he knew he was in trouble.

Thankfully, the two elders toads reacted fast enough. Fukasaku launched a ball of water at the sand wrapped around Gamajin's foot. While Shima blew out wind that struck the sand. The combined force of the water balls and wind blew the sand away from the foot, giving Gamajin ample time to yank his foot away from the wet sand.

The Shukaku looked annoyed at what happened, but as it prepared to counter with its own offensive. Its attention suddenly shifted straight forward as he heard shouting.

Jiraiya had his arm forward, Rasengan spiraling around in his arms, ready to take a big chunk away from the Shukaku.

The Shukaku raised his arm in defense, his wall surrounding his arm for extra protection, but as the sand wall rose, he failed to notice another being enclosing into his position, which was carefully positioned so he was blocked by the Sannin's body.

The being landed on the Shukaku's sand reinforced arm, hand raised with a several paper bombs in a ball. The being buried the ball deep into the wall. The being jumped away from the wall just in time as the ball exploded, imploding the sand wall into itself and crystallizing it from the inside out from the heat. The Shukaku looked on in shock as its wall crumbled into crystal glass. But his attention returned to the Sannin, who was dangerously close.

In a fit of desperation, Shukaku raised its arm and readied himself to crash down unto the sannin. But to his surprise, the arm was held back by the two elder toad's tongues. Both wrapped around the forearm and holding it back from crashing down.

The Shukaku was out of options now, and it opted to just close its eyes and wait for the incoming strike.

But again, to his surprise, the strike never came. What he felt however, was something landing on its nose. The Shukaku opened his eyes, only to stare into the eyes of the sannin, who had a deathly smirk on his face.

"I was right. That student of mine is crazy." Jiraiya said as he looked down into the eyes of the Shukaku. Shukaku narrowed his eyes at what he just said. But before it could react to Jiraiya's statement. A shadow passed by its peripheral vision. He looked up, snapping its head straight up to look at what that shadow was.

Jiraiya managed to hold on, but the smirk on his face didn't let up as he watched the Shukaku's face twist in shocking realization.

There, next to the body of his jailor, next to Gaara's body. Was a grinning Naruto Uzumaki, a piece of paper in his right hand flapping in the wind.

"I DoN't BeL-"

"Believe it you sucka!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the seal unto the back of Gaara.

The Shukaku let out an angered howl as it felt his body start deteriorating. It's giant sand body falling unto the destroyed streets of Konoha. Chunk by chunk, steadily but surely, it was being sealed back into Gaara.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The Shukaku roared once more as its body finally fell apart, leaving only the head that was slowly falling. The last bits of the Shukaku finally disappeared as the head of sand landed on the ground with a loud 'Thud!'

Gamajin and the elders watched the scene unfold a few meters away, and they couldn't help but smile at what happened.

"The biggest gambit. A double distraction. Hiding behind Jiraiya-chan's figure as they sailed towards the Shukaku, the Shukaku couldn't defend against the paper ball bomb." Fukasaku said as he watched the head crumble on the ground.

"And, as the Shukaku was distracted by Jiraiya-chan's attack. Naruto-chan used the explosion's shockwave to propel himself high into the air." Shima continued as she smiled at the ingenuity of the plan.

"But, that was all a distraction. Jiraiya was never the threat, it was Naruto." Gamajin finished with a smirk. His black obi now openly flapping in the wind. He let out a deep breath, and looked upon the body of Naruto Uzumaki, who was dusting himself from the sand.

"Truly an amazing summoner. I look forward to working with him in the near future." Gamajin lamented as he let a small smile appear on his lips. He then promptly dispelled himself, leaving behind a great wall of white smoke.

XxX

"Whooo!" Naruto shouted as he jumped into the air, fist pumping as excitement coursed through his veins. The sand all but forgotten as he jumped up and down repeatedly, much like he did during his match with Neji. But he was taken out of his musings by the sound of the wind being cut. He turned his head just in time, as two shuriken the back of his head, cutting pieces of his hair by their close proximity.

He looked up and narrowed his eyes as he saw two shinobi with purplish gray uniforms and masks standing on a nearby mountain of rubble. He watched as both shinobi take out more shuriken from their pouches, and prepared to launch them at him.

But to his and the enemy shinobi's surprise. The two enemy shinobi were suddenly blindsided by a red blur. The two shinobi's heads collided with each other, sending each other up in the air. Naruto watched as both shinobi land somewhere in the horizon. He returned his gaze to where the two shinobi were previously standing on. There, he saw his new Sensei standing with a slight smirk on his face.

"Don't celebrate yet kid. We're being invaded right now." Jiraiya told Naruto, who only looked at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, what?!" Naruto shouted incredulously. Jiraiya just chuckled at his reaction.

"Long story short kid, Suna and Oto teamed up to take us down. I have information that Oto is behind this alliance, but nothing solid." Jiraiya explained as he jumped down towards Naruto. But his smirking face scowled as he looked behind Naruto, and saw the steadily standing form of Gaara.

Naruto noticed his face scowl, and turned around and looked at Gaara, who had his body leaning forward, his hair covering his face.

Naruto noticed the sand start to gather around Gaara, before they launched at Naruto.

But he just side-stepped.

It was slow. So painfully slow. Slower than a shuriken being thrown. Naruto dodged another wave of sand coming at him, and he started to walk forward. Towards the body of Gaara, who was shaking, whether this is with anger or fear? He didn't know.

Each step he took echoed through the fallen buildings. The distant sound of fighting was inaudible as he put one foot forward, carefully closing in on Gaara.

As he dodged another wave of sand, he heard the air being cut by a projectile. He jumped in time as kunai landed on the ground where he once was. He looked around and tried to find the source of the attack. And to his surprise, two figures materialized around Gaara. One had her arms around the red haired boy, while one was standing in front of Gaara in a fighting stance.

He heard sobbing, and he looked up and behind the boy protectively in front of Gaara.

He couldn't hear what was being said, he could only hear the sobs in between words. But to his surprise, tendrils of sand slowly gripped the protective boy's legs, as well as the girls. The slow gait of the sand crawling up their legs surprised the two figures.

The protective figure turned around with wide eyes as he looked at Gaara.

"Wha? W-what the hell Gaara?!" The boy shouted, sweat falling down his chin and making his kabuki make up run. But he didn't care about that; he was more scared for his life.

"Gaara! Please! Stop this! It's over!" The girl shouted in desperation as she clutched onto Gaara. Who didn't at all react to her scared voice.

"…..Do not stop me. I will not have my existence erased!" Gaara shouted as the sand started to pick up the face, now halfway up both boy and girl's bodies.

The girl sobbed again, and she hugged the young boy even tighter. But the sand didn't let up, as more of her body was being engulfed by the sand.

The boy with the kabuki face just sighed, before he turned around and looked at Naruto, who was looking at the scene with a somber face.

"Hey kid…" Naruto looked up at the boy's own somber face.

"Whatever happens, just don't let Gaara die. Please? He's my, our brother." The boy said.

Naruto nodded his head. "I promise."

The boy let out a small snort like chuckle. "Heh, I'll hold you to that. The name's Kankuro. My sister's called Temari. And our brother over here…" Kankuro trailed as he leaned his body to the side, so Naruto could see Gaara's body. Kankuro pat Gaara's head, his hand staying on top of Gaara's red hair.

"He's called Gaara. You're the same as him. At least, that's what I'm guessing; your fight with him was something else." Kankuro chuckled, but his voice was strained, as the sand reached his shoulders now. Temari looked up, and glanced at Naruto.

"You're different though aren't you? You aren't like him." Temari asked with tears in her eyes.

Naruto let out a small chuckle, "Yeah. I ain't like him…" He trailed with a ghost of a smile on his face. "He's better then me."

The sand abruptly stopped as it was about to cover both shinobi's faces.

Gaara's body shook, garnering the shinobi's attentions.

Gaara muttered something under his breath, Naruto didn't hear it. So he leaned forward and cupped his ear.

"What was that?" He asked as he leaned forward.

To his surprise, the sand covering both Sand shinobi's bodies began to fall to the ground.

Temari and Kankuro looked at Gaara in shock, surprised he had suddenly done that.

"…I'm not." Gaara's raspy voice echoed through the air with the faint sound of battle in the horizon. Naruto raised an eyebrow at his words. While Temari and Kankuro just looked on at Gaara. Confusion evident in their faces.

"What was'at?" Naruto asked. Gaara just growled.

"I'm not better than you!" Gaara shouted furiously. Naruto took a step back in surprise. Not really expecting that kind of outburst.

"I'm a monster. I killed my mother, killed the closest thing to a mother I had. I killed countless people that tried to assassinate me, ordered by my father! I'm not better than you! I'm a monster!" Gaara shouted as the sand around his feet stiffened once more. Naruto readied himself to dodge once more, expecting the sand to start flying again.

But again, he was surprised as Temari and Kankuro stood in front of Gaara, the former hugging the red haired boy, while the latter had his arms wide open.

"Just stop Gaara!" Temari shouted as she hugged the red haired boy. Gaara didn't hear it, as the sand suddenly shot past Temari and Kankuro, heading straight towards Naruto.

Naruto grit his teeth as he jumped to the left, narrowly dodging the sand.

"This is why you're better than me!" Naruto shouted as he landed on the ground, but Gaara didn't let up, as he had to dodge another wave of sand coming from his right. He rolled forward, feeling the sand brush past his back.

"I don't get it!" Gaara shouted as he redoubled his efforts to hit Naruto. Not bothering to move Temari and Kankuro from his field of vision. He only had one target.

And that target was wearing orange.

"I'm not better than you! You have team mates that care about you! You have people that cheer for you! These people want you to win, to survive! I'm a monster! No one wants to see me alive!" Gaara shouted om agony, letting loose everything he had bottled up inside.

Naruto had heard enough.

"Shut up!" He shouted with as much passion as he could muster. The approaching sand suddenly halted, right in front of Naruto's face.

And to Naruto's credit, he didn't even flinch.

"Stop telling me your sob story! Everyone has one!" Naruto shouted as he brushed past the sand tendril, walking past it with a scowl on his face.

Each step he took seemed to echo throughout the immediate vicinity. Like he was a man with a mission that he was determined to see to the end.

And that scared Gaara.

"No! Stay away from me!" Gaara shouted frantically as more sand tendrils appeared and flew forward towards Naruto's approaching form.

But Naruto just sidestepped the slow tendrils.

"G-Gaara! Stop! You're weak! We have to leave!" Temari shouted almost hysterical at seeing her younger brother in fear.

"Stay away! Stay away from me!" Gaara shouted again and again, wanting Naruto to just disappear from his sight.

Naruto was having none of it as he just continued moving forward.

With each tendril he side-stepped. Gaara's voice grew more hysterical. But his tendrils slowed as he continued.

Naruto knew he was on his last legs, and so did Gaara's siblings.

As he side-stepped one last tendril. He stared down on the terrified face of Gaara. He didn't even register the determined faces of Temari and Kankuro.

But before either two could do anything. Naruto beat them to it by a head.

Literally.

With a loud THUD! Naruto's forehead crashed on Gaara's. Stunning the red haired boy. And shocking the spectators.

Blood dripped down on their foreheads. Who's? Naruto didn't care. Gaara needed to hear what he was going to say.

"You're an even bigger idiot then I am! What gives you the right to ignore your brother and sister's feelings you asshole!" Naruto shouted his voice full of anger.

Not stopping for a second. Naruto removed his forehead from Gaara's.

And promptly repeated banging his head on Gaara's again.

"You may have assassins on you butt everyday. You may have killed your mother, you may have an even bigger reason to hate everyone then I do." Naruto ranted as blood dripped from his forehead.

"But don't you forget!" Naruto shouted as he removed his forehead once again from Gaara's.

And repeated the process of crashing both their foreheads together.

"Don't you ever forget! You have a family! You have a brother and sister that care for you! And heck! You even have a father! Get that through your thick skull you red haired bastard!" Naruto shouted with all his leftover vigor.

Gaara's face began contorting, first from anger. Then to pain. Before it finally settled to a pained expression.

Naruto looked Gaara in the eyes. And in them, Gaara finally saw why Naruto wanted him to understand.

He wasn't the only one in pain. Everyone hurts as well.

Tears formed in Gaara's eyes. And before long, he had streams of tears cascading down from his eyes.

XxX

Jiraiya patiently watched the scene unfold in front of him. Was this appropriate at the time? Heck no. There was an invasion going on. But was it what the kid needed? Of course it was. He was silently thanking Kami that no one dared attack them while this was going on. As the fighting seemed to have moved to another part of the village.

He let out a sigh as an explosion rocked the general vicinity. Surprising the four kids as they steadied their bodies.

"Hey kid!" Jiraiya called out to Naruto, who looked at him with confusion.

"We need to hurry this up kid; people still need back-up. Make a shadow clone and just escort those three to the precinct. The desk jockey's there will know what to do."

Sure that sounded callous and cold. But death was evident around him now. The world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

He watched as Naruto looked behind him, his face contorting from confusion, shock, and sadness.

Naruto looked back towards Jiraiya, and he knew what Naruto was going to ask. It was evident on his face.

"Can't we-"

"No." Jiraiya cut him off before he could finish the sentence. Naruto recoiled. Flabbergasted at the cold tone Jiraiya was using.

After all, he hadn't seen this side of the goofy Sannin before.

"Listen kid. This world isn't a 'make nice-nice' with each other world. We are trained soldiers. We are supposed to remove our humanity and just continue on without them." Jiraiya stated coldly.

Jiraiya observed as Naruto looked down and clenched his hands, curling them into tight fists.

Jiraiya sighed. "But listen kid." Jiraiya continued, garnering Naruto's attention.

"The good shinobi will kill without his humanity and will never have his humanity ever again." Jiraiya explained. "But to be truly great. A shinobi knows when to switch his humanity on and off. When to kill, and when to spare a life. Right now, not capturing them would make you a good shinobi. Because if we don't take them, someone else will kill them. We're in a battlefield kid." Jiraiya stated matter-of-factly.

"So just follow whatever I have to say, and before long. You'll be great like me. Heck, you're showing greatness right now." Jiraiya grinned cheekily at Naruto. Trying to encourage the young boy.

Naruto still had his eyes closed, but his fists had uncurled into open palms. Jiraiya watched as he sighed. Before he formed a cross hand-seal.

XxX

"Damn it! Everyone fall back!" Fuji Keima ordered his men.

It was a cowardly move, but they didn't have a choice. They didn't have enough men to push back the advancing waves of Sound Shinobi coming at them from the front.

So the best move was to fall back and regroup. There was no way they were going to repel these men with the way they were shorthanded.

He turned around once he was sure that all his men had fallen behind him. But to his surprise, his men had remained stationary. Almost glued to the ground staring at the buildings.

"What's wrong with you! I ordered you all to retreat! Don't jus-"

Fuji Keima never got to finish his sentence as his head was severed from his body by a giant shuriken coated in wind chakra.

And before long, all the other men fell with him, blood splattering from their bodies as they all fell one by one.

Several seconds after the last Leaf Shinobi fell. Sand Shinobi landed on the ground, breathing heavily and looking a little ragged.

They were soon met up with the other force of Shinobi's. Namely the Sound force.

"Heh. We got them good. They didn't expect a two-pronged attack." The Sound captain said rather smugly as he watched his men and the Sand Shinobi dispatch any other stragglers.

"Yeah, you could say that again. But man, they had more men in the village then I thought. We had to fight through three other teams of Leaf Shinobi's." The sand captain managed to say through ragged breaths.

"Yeah, well looks like we finished up this general area anyway. There won't be any other Leaf Shinobi's here seeing as we had already met up. So just relax for now. We'll get new orders as soon as the last stragglers fall." The Sound captain told the Sand captain. Who let out a deep breath of appreciation.

But, unbeknownst to them. They were being stalked by a fearsome man. A legend in his own right. The great toad sage of Konoha. And self proclaimed 'super pervert.'

With a swift gust of wind. The entire area suddenly smelled like rotten eggs.

"Phew! What is tha-"

With a loud "BOOM!" The entire area erupted into flames. Leveling the general vicinity.

Too extravagant? Yes. Necessary? Of course.

They had wiped the area clean of any Leaf civilian and Shinobi. There was nothing else there but enemies that needed to be killed.

"Katon: Jigoku no kusatta bakuhatsu (Fire release: Hell's Rotten Explosion)."

XxX

For the next several minutes. These field leveling explosions rocketed the village, effectively stopping the advance of enemy Sound Shinobi. Fearing for their lives as each explosion shook the very ground they were running on.

Finally, after a final explosion. Everything went silent. Surprising the majority of Shinobi. As this was uncommon, even in wartime. Normally, a sudden silence meant-

A loud explosion suddenly shook the area. This one, astronomically bigger than the previous ones.

The explosion threw the Sand and Sound shinobi. And they all immediately turned tale and ran. Fearing the worst if they stayed there.

And as the fleeing invaders left the general vicinity, the Leaf Shinobi couldn't tear their eyes from the damage that not only the explosions cost, but also the general fighting by the invaders.

Never in all their lives did they imagine this kind of damage would happen to this mighty village. And for once, for once in the lives of this generation of Leaf Shinobi's. They questioned the strength of each other.

Buildings were crumbling, streets were destroyed. Trees uprooted, entire city blocks, leveled.

The damage was unbelievable.

But as they took in the damage. They noticed something was weird with one general area.

Namely, the area where two bijuu fought all out.

Quite frankly, the damage done by the invaders was palpable to the damage done by the two bijuu fighting.

There was only where the buildings once stood. And the area was leveled to flat ground.

Like the bottom of a fishbowl filled with sand. It was flat, and oh so empty.

As the Leaf Shinobi took in the damage. They failed to notice one man who had caused all of the explosions just a few minutes ago.

"Listen here you Shinobi." All the Leaf Shinobi turned to the one man, one white haired legend who had addressed them all.

"The damage has been done. And now is not the time for looking it over. The enemy has been routed. But that does not mean there are no more enemies lurking around!" The legend of a man shouted. Trying to gather everyone's attention as to how bad the situation still is.

But while most of the Leaf Shinobi's attention were on the legendary Sannin. Some noticed the small figure right beside him.

The one wearing nothing but his orange jacket with no undershirt along with orange pants that were tattered.

But before some Shinobi could call him out. The Sannin spoke up once more.

"Right now. We need to find our leader and rally under him. There would be no sense in retaliating against our attackers. We are weak enough as it is. Right now, we need leadership. We need someone to rally under. Someone to lead us." The sannin's voice reverberated through the ranks. Giving them confidence on what to do next.

"We find our leader. That is the best way to move forward from this." The sannin paused, as if contemplating what to say next. He looked to his left, and stared at the orange clad boy looking on the ground in shame.

The sannin took a deep breath. Before he ordered one last thing.

"If we find any stragglers. There will be no prisoners." Was the last thing he said before he took the boy and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

XxX

Fuck this shit. Everything hurts.

I feel like this chapter is going to confuse some people. Namely because of the way events are jumbled. But this is the best I can do right now. I'll get to re-editing this chapter later.

The next chapter will explain why Jiraiya did what he did. Needless to say, there will be repercussions to destroying parts of the village.

And about Danzo… Yeah. This will be explained in the after-war meeting that will happen in a few more chapters.

There won't be anymore fighting for the next chapters. But there will be more drama than normal.

As for Orochimaru surrendering. Well. Even a Snake can't escape if it's trapped by stone walls. That means. He would have died trying to escape.

But don't think that Orochimaru will just be a background character in the next arc (Village restoration arc). He will have a lot to answer for.

Now that the invasion arc is over. I will summarize what happened as Naruto summoned Shima.

First: He summoned Shima and activated sage mode completely by accident.

Second: Orochimaru was intrigued by this.

Third: The Kyuubi was not comfortable sharing his body with another chakra source. Namely nature that was drawn in by Naruto. As it was still not trusting of Naruto. Meaning that it will not likely accept Naruto's own power and tried to overwrite his power with its own.

Fourth: Naruto fought Neji to a draw. But Neji had tried to hard, and expelled all the Nature chakra from Naruto's body. The Nature Chakra that was repressing the Kyuubi's chakra from taking over.

Fifth: They Kyuubi's chakra exploded through Naruto's body. Making him go berserk.

Sixth: Gaara found this the best time to prove his 'existence'. And promptly entered the ring to fight Naruto.

Seventh: Naruto 'beat' Gaara. But seeing his own blood. Gaara went berserk. Thus causing Naruto and Gaara to lose it and both fought through most of the village.

Eighth: Naruto removed ¼ of the Kyuubi's seal. Giving him some semblance of control of the Kyuubi's chakra. This happened right after the Kyuubi fought against the giant shukaku and lost.

Ninth: Naruto summoned Gamajin. And summoning him using the Kyuubi's chakra did more than just summon the toad martial artist. It transformed the giant toad to a fox/toad hybrid. That increased his bloodlust, but also gave him even more powerful physical strength and speed.

Tenth: Naruto beat Gaara. And right after probably convinced him that he had it better than he himself did. This also led to the capture of all three sand siblings. Per the order of Jiraiya.

Eleventh: Jiraiya leveled parts of the village to scare away the approaching forces of Sound and Sand. Routing them using fear.

Twelfth: Jiraiya and the other Leaf shinobi's managed to break through the barrier by knocking out Tayuya. And thus giving aid to the third Hokage and Danzo. But not without Danzo losing his right arm.

Thirteenth: Konohagakure had captured Orochimaru.

That about sums it up. Anyway. The next arc will deal with the rebuilding of the village and the repercussions of several characters actions during the invasion arc. I won't name who. But the two most prominent is Naruto Uzumaki and Jiraiya.

Anyway. I'm still in the hospital. And my ribs are still killing me. So I'm ending this here.

C.O.Y.L out, peace!