A/N: Sorry it took so long. My current place of residence temporarily lost power and WiFi for quite some time Can't blame it all on that though, because afterwards I got distracted by other things. And then I kept editing this. Again, really really sorry it took so long. I assure you, I'm still committed to finishing this fic.

Chapter 26: The Beast Unleashed, Begin the Invasion

For a moment, not a sound could be heard, but soon the silence gave way to the roar of the crowd as the most of the spectators began to cheer loudly, much to the disdain of Naruto's friends and the few who were sympathetic to his status as a jinchūriki.

But to Hinata, there was nothing but the sight of Sasuke's hand through Naruto's chest. Shino looked at his friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata, I…"

"It's a clone," Hinata suddenly said.

"I have been monitoring the entire fight," Neji spoke. "And…"

"It's a clone!" Hinata insisted. "Just look. That Naruto will poof away and the real one will pop up." She turned back to the arena. "You'll see." The clones Naruto made poofed away, one after the other. "Here it comes." The last clone poofed away, but the Naruto who was stabbed remained, even as Sasuke pulled his hand out of his chest. Hinata watched as Naruto dropped to his knees and fell forward. "No…" she whispered. "No no no… He can't… He can't be…" Tears formed in her eyes.

"Woah, brutal," Kakuro commented. "I didn't think a leaf shinobi would kill one of their own." Temari nodded, surprised by the outcome, though most of her focus was on her other brother, who had a hand to his head and was muttering words she couldn't make out but left her feeling uneasy. "Oh well. Too bad for him."

Kakashi looked at his sensei son. 'It's my fault,' he thought. 'It's my jutsu that did this. I'm sorry sensei, Kushina.'

Asuma put a hand on Kurenai shoulder as the Genjutsu Mistress stared sadly at her fallen student. It was not the first time someone she knew died. Her parents and a few friends of hers have died in the line of duty. That came with the job. But still, her student was young and just starting out.

Inari started to cry against his mother while Karin clung to Haku for emotional support. Haku did her best but he himself was having trouble keeping it together. It had not been that long since he lost his master Zabuza, and now he had watch another precious person fall.

Ino, Choji, Kiba, and even Sakura looked in horror at what Sasuke had done. 'It's the curse mark. It has to be! That's the only reason I can think of to explain why Sasuke would do this!' the pink-haired girl reasoned in her mind.

"Bastard! How could he?" Kiba growled.

Sasuke crouched down leaned toward the fallen genin. "This is because of your stubbornness," he whispered. "You shouldn't have tried to beat an elite." Naruto didn't saying anything as his vision faded.

"Well, this is annoying."

Naruto opened his eyes and found himself lying face up in the sewer that was his mindscape, slowly sinking. He tried to move his body, but found he could do no more than turn his head. So he turned it to the right and looked at the Nine-Tailed Fox. "What… What happened?" He felt so tired. So weak.

"You're dead, or rather dying. The only things keeping you alive are me and your Uzumaki heritage."

"I just… can't believe… Sasuke would…"

"You kill you? Really?" the fox said in disbelief. "All your life, people have wanted to kill you. You know that."

"But… they never…"

"The only reason they never killed you was because if you died, your Hokage would have hunted them down. Not because he cares, but because they would have weakened the village's strength by ridding it of it's jinchūriki and disrupting the balance of power."

"No… he…"

"Humans are all the same. They're selfish. They hate what is different and only tolerate it so long as they can use it. To those in charge you're nothing more than a tool! A weapon!"

"No…"

"You can hear them, can't you?" the demon asked. "Their cheers? They celebrate your death!"

He could. He could hear them. He could hear the roar of the crowd as they cheered Sasuke on for what he did. "Stop it…"

"He's gonna get away with it too. The chunin exams allow killing, even if it's someone from your own village."

"Stop…"

"And then you'll fade from the memories of your 'friends'."

"No more... Please..."

A devious smirk formed on the demon's fox's face. "And what of the little Hyūga girl, assuming she survives the coming invasion." Naruto's eyes widened. "Will she give in to the her father's wishes and marry Sasuke?"

"No… Never…" Naruto's hands clenched as the image of such an event popped in his head.

And the fox's grin only grew more. "Perhaps not, but then what will become of her? Will she be dragged to him against her will?" The boy's teeth gritted. "Will she run and be hunted down? Killed or given her clan's seal?" He shut his eyes and tried to cover his ears, not wanting to hear anymore. "Or will everything that's happened be too much, and she succeeds where you failed all those years ago."

"No…" The image of the girl he loved lying face down in a pool of red with a bloody kunai was more than he could bear. "Hinata…"

"No matter what happens after this, she will suffer. And the very people you seek to be accepted by, who reject you time and time again, will the ones who cause it."

Naruto didn't say anything, could say anything. His mind was plagued with horrible flashes of Hinata's future. And as the images seared themselves into his brain, the boy stood, suddenly having the energy to move, and walked toward one of the bars of the Nine-Tails's cage, as if in a trance, and touched it. The fox demon's clawed finger touched the other side and red chakra poured out. "They call you monster. Show them what a real monster looks like." It flowed into the boy, who felt invigorated, overflowing with power…

And overflowing with hate...

Genma sighed as he looked at the fallen genin. It was always sad to see a shinobi die so young, but it wasn't that uncommon nor against the rules of the final exam. "The winner is..."

He didn't get to finish, interrupted by the explosion of red chakra emanating from the young blond that knocked him off his feet, same with Sasuke, and silencing the cheers.

Sasuke pushed himself off the ground and looked at Naruto in disbelief as the blond stood on his feet. "Impossible," he muttered softly as the blond genin began to stand.

Hinata's eyes lit up. "He's ok! He's ok!"

"Hinata." The young Hyūga looked toward Shino, from whom loud buzzing noises could be heard, as if something was agitating his insects. "I fear that is not the case."

She about to asked what he was talking about when she saw it. The red chakra had formed a dense, transparent cloak in the shape of a fox.

And the chakra cloak had engrossed everyone's attention so much, no one noticed the ripple pattern in his eyes.

None but a few that is.

Jiraiya's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. 'He… He has Nagato's eyes! But how?'

The Fourth Kazekage was also stunned by this new development. "I must say, this match has been more entertaining and enlightening then I had suspected it would be."

The Hokage ignored him, much too focused on these developments.

The killing intent Sasuke was feeling was suffocating. And the strangest thing was that it was all coming from Naruto. Then, faster than Sasuke could see even with his Sharingan, the young jinchūriki had closed the gape between them and with a roundhouse kick to the side, sent Sasuke flying across the arena. Sasuke managed to recover, but not fast enough as Naruto was once again upon and unleashed a devastating punch that hit Sasuke's cheek and knocking him down. Rubbing his jaw and seeing that it isn't broken, Sasuke backed back, figuring he'd have the advantage if he fought him at a distance. But Naruto swiped his hand, and a chakra claw extended out doing the same, scratching Sasuke's chest and drawing blood. Sasuke started going through the handsigns for his fire jutsu, but the chakra claw slammed into him and pinned him to a wall. Naruto forced his chakra hand to dig deeper into the wall, slowly crushing Sasuke against the wall. Sasuke let out a cry of pain as he felt his ribs start to crack.

Genma managed to get back on his feet. 'Not good! They're taking this too far! I need to end this before it gets even worse.' "Enough! As proctor I'm..."

"No!" Sasuke shouted as the curse mark started engulfing his entire body. "It's not over!" Similar to what happened to Naruto, dark purple chakra exploded from his body, releasing him the the grip of Naruto's chakra claw. His skin turned dark grey, same with the whites of his eyes. His hair grew longer and changed to a dark shade of blue. A black cross mark marred the bridge of his nose, and webbed hand-like wings grew from his back.

Anko gasped. "He's unlocked the second stage?! How?"

At the top of the stadium, Kabuto, disguised as an ANBU, smirked.

Flashback: Approximately one month ago

"So this will help me unlock the full power of the curse mark?" Sasuke asked he looked at the pill in his hand that Kabuto gave him. The two were in the forest, away from prying eyes. "What's the catch?"

"Well, for it to work, you'll have to die," Kabuto answered, which Sasuke responded to by raising his eyebrow. "That's where this comes in," he tapped the large barrel next to him.

"And this will make me stronger than Itachi?"

"It'll be the first real step on the true path to power you'll need to take," the bespectacled ninja replied. "You're curse seal is only in its first stage. That pill with simulate and advance it to its second level. However the increase in the seal's power will also increase its affect on you body, killing you. You'll need to spend a few hours in this barrel in a death-like state in order to allow your body to get accustomed to it."

"Tempting as it is, I'm supposed to trust you? A spy?" Kabuto had revealed his true allegiance, seeing as it was pointless to keep it a secret since Dosu already blabbed about it to the Hokage.

"Your death gives us nothing Sasuke. Making you strong furthers Lord Orochimaru's goals. After all, we're no friend of Itachi's either."

Sasuke looked at the little pill in his hand and thought for a moment. "Fine. Let's get this over with." He popped it in his mouth.

Present

'Seems it was worth it. I feel so much more powerful now!' Sasuke thought as he spread his new wings.

Karin had collapsed. The malice in both Naruto and Sasuke's chakra was too much for her. Sakura gasped, unable to comprehend what had happened to her fellow leaf genin. 'Sasuke, what has happened to you?'

The other rookie genin were also in a state of shock. Choji even dropped his bag of chips. "It looks like things are getting really crazy," Kiba remarked as he tried to comfort Akamaru, who was shivering in fear under the pressure of their enormous power.

Naruto released a primal growl before charging at Sasuke and threw a punch. Sasuke jumped into the air, and with the help of his wings, hovered in the air while Naruto's attack hit the wall, leaving a crater. Sasuke then used his Phoenix Flower Jutsu and rained fire upon the enraged jinchuriki, who dodged and weaved to avoid the deadly fireballs. He then dive bombed Naruto and drove him into the ground. Sasuke flew back up and unleashed a large, powerful fireball toward his down opponent.

But the flaming projectile was knocked aside by Naruto's chakra tail and the boy stood once more. He reach out and a chakra hand shot toward Sasuke. The flying Uchiha tried to dodge, but the hand managed to grab his leg. Sasuke hissed as the chakra burned his skin before being slammed into the ground. But Naruto wasn't done as he flipped Sasuke overhead and slammed him back down again, repeating the process three more times before throwing him against the wall.

Sasuke pulled himself out, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "That all you got?" he taunted as he charge.

Sakura gasped as she watched to two boys battle. 'W-what… What happened to them?' She looked to Sasuke just as he recovered from a kick Naruto hit him with. 'Sasuke…'

'How?' Neji thought as he stared at Naruto. 'That boy was the deadlast, so how can he have this kind of power?'

Kankuro and Temari stared down at the arena surprised by how powerful their chakra felt and the damage their battle was causing. They never felt anything like this except when Gaara was on a rampage. "Those two… They're monsters!" The puppeteer remarked.

"Naruto isn't a monster!" Hinata yelled at him, angered by the remark. "He's just... Not in his right mind at the moment," she said. 'Come on Naruto. This isn't you! Please, fight it!'

The sand puppeteer was about to retort when a loud, blood-curdling scream. "Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" All the genin looked back and gasped at what they saw. Kankuro was the only one to speak, managing to utter a single phrase.

"Oh shit."

"That enough, both of you! This match is over and if you two continue to fight, you'll both be disqualified," Genma informed them. But his words fell on deaf ears as the two powered up genin continued to fight with no sign of stopping anytime soon.

From the box where the two kage and Jiraiya watched, the Hokage motioned for one of his ANBU, who appeared next to him seemingly from nowhere. "Tell you men to be ready to intervene on my signal," he whispered. The ANBU nodded and vanished. "Jiraiya."

"Got it," he responded, knowing what his teacher wanted of him. He took out two chakra-suppressing seal tags to use on Naruto and Sasuke, in case the ANBU failed to stop them, and once the two were incapacitated, he would check Naruto's seal for any compromising changes.

Sasuke pinned Naruto against the wall, but a headbutt from the jinchūriki followed by a claw swipe forced Sasuke away and left scratches on his left cheek. And Naruto wasn't done yet as he slammed into the Uchiha shoulder first and knocked him further away. Sasuke managed to recover and stared at Naruto, enraged by the damage he had taken. Naruto stared back with equal malice.

Genma was about to forcibly subdue them when all of a sudden, streak flew from where the finalists were watching the match and landed in between the two powered-up fighter, kicking up dust.

"Hehehe, your blood…" The dust cleared to show Gaara, but he was different. The left half of his body was consumed in sand and molded into the form of the demon Shukaku. "You're blood... will make mother happy!" he shouted, laughing like a madman as he send a waves of sand against both Naruto and Sasuke.

Kabuto waited where he was and saw a subtle handsign from the Fourth Kazekage. That was his cue. 'Now the fun really begins,' he thought as he went through the necessary handsigns.

Feathers rain down on the audience confusing them until one by one, they fell asleep. Hinata felt her eyelids grow heavy as fatigue washed over her. 'Wha... What is...' She yawn as her legs turned to jelly and she had to hold on to the railing for support. 'How... am I... so... tired?' And then it hit. 'Is this... genjutsu?' She tested her theory by using the genjutsu release technique and her fatigue faded. She saw that Shino and Neji had also broken the genjutsu's hold on them, but Shikamaru was out cold. Hinata ran to him to released the genjutsu, but when she did, he was still asleep. She tried two more times but still he did not stir. "Why isn't this working?" She used her Byakugan to check his chakra network, and was confused by what she saw. "Odd, his chakra network is normal, but he's still... Wait a minute." An annoyed look came across her face. "Are you seriously trying to take a nap right now? Something weird is going on so get up!" she yelled.

Shikamaru groaned and opened his eyes. "Troublesome woman. Fine. Can't blame a guy for trying."

Hinata walked over to Shino and her cousin. "What's going on anyway? First Gaara goes nuts, then a genjutsu knocks almost everyone out, and it looks like the other Sand guys have disappeared."

"Just take a look," Neji told her.

Hinata did so and was surprised by what she was seeing. There were civilian that seemed unaffected by the genjutsu and they began attacking Leaf shinobi, revealing themselves to be Sand and Sound shinobi in disguise. "Huh? But I thought the Hidden Sand was our ally?"

"It seems that is no longer the case," Shino concluded. "I suggest we return to our respective senseis for orders." The genin nodded and left to look for their teachers in a hurry.

Because the invasion had begun. And it would take everything they had to survive.

Alpha: It's finally done. Again, really sorry everyone. But when I was on a roll with this chapter, life took away power. And WiFi. And my computer charger. That was not a good time.

Naruto: At least you're finally back. But next chapter, finish quicker.

Sasuke: He's right. The sooner you finish this story, the sooner you can start one that doesn't make we a villain. Because I'm not a villain, I'm an anti-hero. Big difference.

Alpha: Working on it. I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to the rest of this arc. Things are gonna continue to stray from the show, with a major difference in the next arc. So, something to look forward to.