Chapter 5: Finals and the Invasion

Author's Notes:

Phantom- So here we are after quite some time! I'm glad to be able to return to this fanfic, as technically it was my first fanfic (I believe?) that I posted on this site. It's going to be quite interesting to continue with the story of Naruto as the new Witch-King of Angmar. Morgoth, anything you'd like to add?

Morgoth- Why of course, we've decided to also use multiple elements from other fantasy type of fandoms that would fit in with Lord of the Rings such as Warhammer, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, etc.

Phantom- We will not be using the Elder Scrolls series in this story however, since we already have one of those out right now. If you want to find out what elements we're planning on using, then you'll just have to read along in order to find out.

Morgoth- Also, this story like many others that I'm working on with him, will start taking a very dark turn. As you've already seen with Neji's brutal execution, Naruto's already starting to become more twisted, easily killing someone simply for insulting him. Also, I apologize in advance, but we're not using the Kekkei Genkai as originally planned.

Phantom- The only one that will remain will be the Sharingan, however it will serve a purpose far greater than simply being another power that Naruto has at his disposal. But enough said. Let's cut right to the chase and get the show on the road!

Morgoth- Right, right. Onwards.

The crowd was still in a state of shock even as the medical team that had been standing by in case of this situation occurring was transporting Neji's body out of the arena. Members of the Hyuuga clan were silently mourning the loss of one of their strongest prodigies, with even members of the Main House bowing their heads in respect for the fallen Branch member. Hinata was currently sobbing into her father's sleeve, even more shocked than the rest of the crowd at her cousin's brutal execution and the fact that it had come at the hands of the one that she admired and loved. Hiashi sat in stoic silence, an arm around his second daughter who had finally figured out that Neji had not lived through his battle and was sitting silently while fighting back tears.

Naruto returned to the viewing balcony and stood amongst the rest of the finalists and began idly cleaning his dagger-like sword with a cloth that he had pulled from within his robes, ignoring the looks he was getting from the finalists from the Leaf, as well as the remaining Rookies that were watching with them.

The finalists from the Sand village however seemed to have different reactions to Neji's execution than those of the Leaf. Gaara had an insane bloodthirsty grin on his face, his irises contracting in such a way that made him seem even more unstable than before. Kankuro had a smirk on his face, though the faint drippings of sweat down his brow denoted that he himself was a little unnerved by the display. Either that or his catsuit was not suited for today's weather. Temari had a clear look of disgust in her eye, but seemed otherwise unfazed for the most part.

The Rookies however… it was clear that they still hadn't processed that the dead last was able to brutally murder the previous Rookie of the Year in cold blood.

Once Neji's body had been removed from the field and the ground had cleaned of the blood that remained, Genma glanced around to see if the crowd had calmed down somewhat. They hadn't really calmed down yet, but he pushed on nonetheless.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha and Sabaku no Gaara please come down to the arena?"

Gaara instantly reappeared in a swirl of sand to the right of the proctor, but there was no sign of Sasuke anywhere. Ino glanced around before turning to Sakura.

"Where the heck is Sasuke? He wouldn't miss his match would he?"

"Maybe he's just getting some last minute training in?" Sakura replied. Then a sudden thought occurred and she slumped slightly. "Or he's taken after Kakashi-sensei and is trying to be 'fashionably late' to everything now…"

"He better not be late," Naruto remarked. "I still want to fight him in the event that he wins. I refuse to fight a coward that doesn't bother to show up to a fight."

Sakura fought the urge to glare at Naruto for insinuating that Sasuke was a coward. While she would have loved to yell at him to prove him wrong, she did just see him slaughter the prodigy of the Hyuuga. Compared to that, she stood no chance against him at this point, so she wisely stayed silent.

"I repeat, will Sasuke Uchiha please come down to the arena, or he will forfeit his match!" Genma called out once more.

By now the crowd was beginning to get restless, wondering aloud to one another where the last Uchiha might be. Gaara was getting obviously frustrated with this turn of events, having wanted to fight the Uchiha on the basis that he was strong, and thus would prove his existence long enough for him to face off against the blonde in the robes. He didn't want to win by a default, for where was the fun in that?

"Very well, since Sasuke Uchiha has not come down to the arena, the winner by forfeit is-"

Genma was interrupted when an ANBU agent appeared next to him and whispered in his ear. The proctor looked clearly annoyed, but nodded nonetheless, turning back to the crowd and the increasingly irritable jinchuuriki.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, we will be giving Sasuke Uchiha another ten minutes to get to this arena. If he isn't here by the end of that time period, he WILL be disqualified."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief at those words before praying silently that Sasuke would get to the arena in time. Ino shared this look of relief as well. The rest of the Rookies however, including the Sand Genin who were in the finals, didn't share this sentiment.

"Why the hell does Sasuke get special treatment again!?" Kiba yelled. "I'm calling serious bullshit, this is so not fair!"

"Normally I would not agree with you in such a thing Kiba, but in this case I am. This is indeed annoying," Shino replied, a faint tone of irritation in his stoic voice.

"What a drag," Shikamaru groaned. "I can seriously bet that if that was anyone else, they'd have been disqualified five minutes ago." He sighed before uttering his other signature phrase. "Troublesome."

"What's so special about that punk anyways?" Kankuro asked. "I mean seriously, does this Village wait on him hand and foot or something? This is ridiculous!"

Temari nodded at her brother. "If the exams had been hosted in Sand, I can definitely say he'd be kicked out for even thinking of pulling a stunt like this."

Naruto said nothing, merely standing impassively at the balcony looking over the arena. But on the inside, he was definitely fuming.

"Never thought I'd agree with Kiba of all people on this, but what the hell!?" he mentally ranted. "Why is it that this Village is so intent on giving Sasuke whatever he wants whenever he wants it?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sauron crooned from within. "He'll always be their shining star, their prize prodigy, groomed for the purpose of taking revenge on his brother and rebuilding the Uchiha clan, thus providing the Village with a new batch of loyal Sharingan users." She paused for a moment before speaking once more. "Actually that's quite a sound plan to be honest, despite the gaping hole in it that could cause the Uchiha clan to become even more conceited and dependent on the Village due to Sasuke being handed everything he wants."

"I get that, but it's seriously annoying. Like Shikamaru said, if anyone else was late they'd be disqualified. Hell, if I was late I'm pretty sure I'd be not only disqualified but banned from taking the exams for a while."

"That's just the way they are Naruto. They'll continue to scorn you, and those who say they're on your side may not be there forever."

"Danzo and Orika will. That I can be certain of."

"They might, that's true," Sauron admitted. "But your so-called allies and friends in the Genin force, whose to say they'll be at your side? If they learn that you contain me, the 'Kyuubi no Kitsune,' they'll discard you just like the rest of this Village's inhabitants. Trust me, I know these things."

Naruto shook his head for a moment.

"Regardless, their precious Uchiha will always be their knight in shining armor, while you're just the obstacle in their way. You shouldn't trust them. Don't ask for their acknowledgement, don't ask for their appreciation. Look around you Naruto, what do you see on their faces when they look at you right now?"

Naruto glanced around the arena, taking in the sight of the civilians in the crowd, especially the emotions on their face when they looked his way.

"Fear."

"Yes Naruto, fear. How does it feel, knowing that they fear you as such?"

"It feels… good. I feel… satisfied."

"Yes! Now you see it don't you Naruto? Fear is the key," Sauron whispered. "And when I'm through with you, all will fear you and rejoice, love you and despair! Nothing will stand in your way!"

"Perhaps…"

Naruto shook himself out of his thoughts as Genma began speaking once more. As far as he could tell, there was no Sasuke in sight. The mere thought of it sparked fury in Naruto, his armored fist unconsciously clenching tighter.

How dare Sasuke not show up, even with the amount of favoritism in this village allowing him a second chance to show up?

"For the last time, if Sasuke Uchiha does not come down to the arena, he will be disqualified!"

No one came down to the arena. Genma sighed and glanced up at the Hokage. The Sandaime met the proctor's gaze and nodded.

"It seems that despite the extra time, Sasuke Uchiha has not arrived. Therefore, the winner by disqualification is Sabaku-"

Immediately a swirl of leaves spun into existence within the arena, quickly fading to reveal Kakashi Hatake dressed in his usual attire, orange book in hand with Sasuke Uchiha at his side. Sasuke was dressed in a black one-piece with an Uchiha fan on the back, with bandages wrapped around his arms and belt-like straps over top of them.

"Sorry, are we late?" Kakashi drawled lazily.

"Very much so," Genma growled. "Your student was almost disqualified twice."

Upon hearing those words, Sasuke's Sharingan activated as he swiftly spun to glare at Kakashi, who had the decency to look somewhat sheepish.

"Umm, oops?"

"You think!?" Sasuke snarled. "You specifically told me that we wouldn't be late for my match despite your so-called 'last-minute training,' yet I was almost disqualified because of you! Twice!"

"Well, technically you're not disqualified yet," Kakashi replied, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Yeah, barely," Genma muttered.

Sasuke groaned and slapped a bandaged palm against his forehead and ran it down his face. His Sharingan now deactivated, he turned his gaze to Genma.

"So am I still allowed to fight?"

"By a slim margin, yes. But if you try and pull a stunt like that in the Jonin Exam, you'll be demoted back to Genin before you can get a chance to even explain yourself," Genma replied.

Kakashi opened his mouth to retort, only for Sasuke to hold up a hand to silence his sensei.

"Sensei, just shut up before you make me look even more like an idiot today than you already have."

Kakashi sighed and vanished in a Shunshin, reappearing in the observation deck with the Rookies and finalists, as well as Might Guy wheeling in Lee on a wheelchair (the pair having only just arrived a moment before Kakashi and Sasuke's entrance)

"I must say my rival, that was very reckless, even by your standards," Guy remarked, uncharacteristically serious. "You don't jeopardize your students' chances for promotion in favor of arriving in style. It doesn't work like that!"

"You're one to talk about jeopardizing a student's chances," Kakashi retorted lazily. "With you teaching Lee the Eight Gates and all."

"I did that so he could have a trump card in his arsenal despite being unable to use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu!"

"Hey!"

Both Jonin froze and turned to face the one who yelled, surprised to see it being the robed blonde who now had a clear look of irritation on his face.

"Have your little pissing contest somewhere else alright?" Naruto growled. "The fight's about to start, and I want to see what they're capable of so I can plan for fighting whoever wins."

"Wait, you actually won Naruto?" Kakashi asked, slightly surprised. "Where's Neji then? I didn't see him around anywhere."

Naruto shook his head and turned back to the arena. Kakashi raised an eyebrow and turned to Guy, who was solemn once more.

"What? Was it something I said?"

Guy's eyes narrowed at Kakashi.

"Kakashi, I apparently see that you apparently have no faith in any of your students with the exception of the one down there, but that's beside the point," Guy said in a low voice. "The reason Neji isn't here is because he's dead. Naruto killed him during their match."

The silver-haired Jonin's visible eye widened. He certainly hadn't trained Naruto during the month training period, and to his knowledge, no one else that he knew had trained him either.

"Did he use the Curse Mark or the power of his burden?"

"No. Just swordsmanship, hand to hand combat, and the usage of some strange green chakra that took the form of flames."

Kakashi was perplexed. If Naruto hadn't relied on the Kyuubi's power or that of the Curse Mark, then he must have been trained by someone to get strong enough to kill a Genin of Neji's calibur. But the question was, who trained him?

Not for the first time, Kakashi wondered if Hiruzen's suspicions about Danzo having a hand in Naruto's growth had a grain of truth to them.

Either unaware or uncaring of what his squad leader was currently thinking, Naruto focused on the arena below him. Sasuke had settled in a Taijutsu stance with his arms crossed in front of his upper chest and lower face, his fingers clawing inward towards his face. Gaara simply crossed his arms and stood impassively, the cork rocketing into the air as a small amount of sand began float into the air.

Naruto's irises flashed black with twin red tomoe for a brief moment before returning back to icy blue. He raised an eyebrow at the latent chakra laced throughout the sand, as well as the familiar chakra within Gaara's body.

"Lady Sauron, that chakra is that of a Bijuu correct?"

"You would be correct, Naruto," Sauron replied. "That is the chakra of the Ichibi no Tanuki, Shukaku. While considered the weakest of the other Bijuu, he is still a force to be reckoned with due to his sand manipulation. Be wary of the fact that he has always been a bloodthirsty one, even for Bijuu standards, so don't be surprised that his host has been overtaken with madness."

"I see."

Gaara began to grip his forehead with his hand, muttering pleas under his breath, soft-spoken pleas to a "mother" as he begged her to forgive him for something. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the sight, glancing at Kakashi.

"Kakashi, Gaara is a jinchuuriki, correct?"

"As far as we can tell, yes," Kakashi replied softly. "Why?"

"Then it is his Bijuu that he is communicating with?"

Kakashi remained silent, gazing down at the unstable jinchuuriki down in the arena. At this point sand had begun to pool out of the gourd and writhe into ominous tendrils from the ground. The redhead was chuckling darkly as the sand began to morph into larger tendrils.

"Most likely."

Naruto turned back to the arena, proceeding to watch with newfound interest. The silver-haired Jonin eyed Naruto for a moment before focusing back on the approaching match.

The two shinobi stood across from one another, still frozen motionless in their respective stances. Genma looked between the two of them and raised his hand before bringing it down in a swift chop, vacating the arena as he did.

Sasuke quickly leapt backwards to avoid the arm of sand that lashed out from behind Gaara's back, flinging a barrage of shuriken towards the Sand nin. Just as expected, a shield of sand reflexively appeared to catch the metal stars, Gaara standing there without moving a muscle. Sasuke raised an eyebrow before crouching back in his stance.

"Seems that shield is as quick as ever," he muttered. "Let's hope this training paid off."

The last Uchiha activated his Sharingan and shot forward with surprising speed, lashing out with a kick that was blocked by the sand shield. Quickly rolling aside before the sand was able to grasp his leg, Sasuke stood and held his hands in a seal.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A large fireball rocketed from Sasuke's mouth, barrelling straight for Gaara. The redhead scoffed as his shield of sand reformed in front of his body, right as the fireball impacted against it.

Sasuke smirked, right as Gaara's eyes narrowed.

As the smoke cleared, the sand shield had been permanently frozen in a solid wave of glass. Sasuke grinned as Gaara's frown deepened further than it already was.

"You actually managed to turn my sand to glass," Gaara growled.

"Indeed," Sasuke replied. "Now that you're sand is out of the way, this should leave you wide open!"

Sasuke shot forward in a spinning roundhouse kick that slammed into Gaara's head and sent the other Genin flying into the wall. Rock Lee noticed the move that Sasuke used, and a look of outrage appeared on his face.

"He stole my move again!"

Guy turned to Kakashi, ready to launch into a tirade against his rival for allowing Sasuke to copy a comrade's technique when he heard a scoff from Naruto.

"Your move?" Naruto remarked, removing his armored hand from the railing of the balcony. "If I remember correctly, the Konoha Senpū (Leaf Whirlwind) is not a Taijutsu move unique to you and Might Guy alone. It is in fact a rather common technique that anyone with some degree of skill in Taijutsu can learn, so therefore while Sasuke may have used his Sharingan to copy it from you at some point, that does not make it your move. It's like if he managed to copy the Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Dragon Technique) during our mission to Wave: it's a common enough move that it wouldn't have been labeled as 'Zabuza's' move."

The Rookies stood in silence, still having a bit of trouble connecting this current Naruto to the one they knew from before. Not only was he using sound logic in his argument, but he was actually defending Sasuke, if only by association.

"Oh look, he survived."

They all turned their attention back to the fight just in time to see that Gaara was crumpled against the wall, his skin cracking apart and turning brown, only it was not armor that had cracked off like before. The face cracked off to reveal a hollow shell of sand in the form of the Ichibi jinchuuriki, said shell quickly shattering back into the sand from whence it came as the ground beside the glass structure turned to sand. Gaara chuckled darkly for a moment as he rose up from the sand and stood beside the structure, composing himself back into a calm demeanor.

"Not bad Uchiha," Gaara remarked in a monotone. "Turning my sand to glass and attacking instantly afterwards was a solid plan. However, you incorrectly assumed that the sand comprising my shield was all of the sand in my gourd."

As he spoke, the sand that comprised the shell floated into the air and returned to said gourd, as well as the sand on the ground from where Gaara emerged. Sasuke watched the movements of the sand warily, stepping back into his previous stance. Gaara uncrossed his arms as the final grains flew into his gourd, before stretching out his hand.

Immediately sand erupted from the earth and formed into three obelisk-shaped formations in a wide circle around the Sand Genin. Gaara quickly stretched out his other hand and clenched them both into fists.

Sand shot out of the structures in the shape of clawed hands marked with blue veins, lashing out at the Uchiha heir. Sasuke frowned and activated his Sharingan and begun using his rather impressive speed and agility to dodge the rocketing towards him. Naruto watched carefully, noting his teammate's current skill level.

"He's been training hard it seems."

"Impressive speed I suppose… for a worthless mortal," Sauron replied. "It will not save him though."

"Unless he has something that can punch through both Gaara's defense and current attack strategy," Naruto thought back. "You would be correct. He won't win this fight. But knowing Sasuke and the fact that Kakashi taught him, he might have a trump card and is just waiting for the best moment to show off the strength of the Uchiha."

Naruto received naught but a chuckle from the Lady of Mordor, as he focused back on the fight.

Sasuke was continuing to flip out of the way of the incoming sand arms, now interposed with sharpened tendrils that attempted to spear him whenever he dodged a claw. All the while Gaara stood impassively, occasionally gesturing with his hands to direct the sand towards their target.

The black-haired Genin narrowed his crimson eyes, Sharingan darting from side to side before leaping out of the way of another barrage of clawed hands. Sasuke swiftly flung a pair of kunai towards Gaara with a flick of his wrists. Gaara sighed in boredom as the sand shield instinctively caught the kunai in midair, only for his eyes to narrow as the handles of the knives began smoking. Seconds later the explosive tags wrapped around the kunai detonated, exploding right in Gaara's face.

As the smoke cleared, the sand had separated but was quickly reforming. Gaara's face was set carefully yet still showed a bit of shock.

"Another surprising tactic," he mused.

Immediately Sasuke flipped through his handsigns and settled on a single one before inhaling deeply.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique)"

Sasuke threw his head forward and expelled a massive burst of flames from his mouth in the form of a concentrated spray of fire in place of a single fireball. The flames quickly surged towards the pillars of solid sand, engulfing them in fire and coating the arena in smoke once more. Sasuke quickly leapt out of the dark cloud and allowed himself a cocky smirk.

"Try dealing with that," he whispered.

His arrogant smirk quickly faded when he heard the next set of words that Gaara called out.

"Futon: Daitoppa!"

A relatively widespread but low-powered gust of wind blasted from Gaara's mouth, clearing away the smoke to reveal that the Sand Genin was still relatively unharmed, save for a few streaks of soot on his clothes. His sand obelisks however had been solidified into glass like the sand shield before them.

Gaara's eyes flicked from side to side, taking in the gleaming glass structures before focusing back on the Uchiha.

"I suppose you believe you have achieved something haven't you?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, crouching slightly in response to those words. Gaara's eyes narrowed as he continued speaking.

"You must think yourself so clever to have turned my sand to glass so that I cannot use it, don't you?" he remarked. "You think that this proves your strength over me, due to the fact that you so cleverly deprived me of my sand. But you would be wrong."

Gaara raised his hand in the air, his palm facing towards his opponent.

"And in all honesty, against another opponent, that might have worked," he admitted. "But I'm not most opponents."

With those words, Gaara clenched his hand into a fist.

The glass sculptures instantly shattered into fine fragments, almost resembling the sand that it had once been. The semi-transparent sand quickly formed into a tendril that coiled around Gaara as he unclenched his fist, a mad gleam in his eyes. Sasuke's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the new sand surrounding Gaara. The Suna Genin crossed his arms and grinned.

"Unfortunately for you, I deliberately let you solidify my sand into glass," Gaara remarked, much to Sasuke's horror. "After all, this is an exhibition of our abilities to see if we are worthy to be promoted to Chunin. You really didn't think I would come here without a few tricks up my sleeve?"

With a gesture of his hand, Gaara sent the glass sand rocketing right at Sasuke. Sasuke quickly backflipped over the sand, a small portion grazing his right shoulder.

To the shock of the crowd and those watching in the balcony, Sasuke yelled in pain and leapt further away, gripping his shoulder as blood began seeping through his fingers and staining his bandages.

The Kage were watching with interest, each featuring differing levels of shock and in some cases worry.

The Sandaime looked clearly worried for Sasuke at this point, as the boy was not only facing a Jinchuuriki, but one who could apparently turn anything into sand and manipulate it somehow. Kira the Otokage was watching with a smile on her face, clearly interested in the battle taking place below them. And Rasa?

Rasa was shocked that Gaara had somehow managed to find a way to continue to manipulate his sand even if it had been turned to glass. The auburn-haired man idly fingered the small gourd on his belt that contained his signature Gold Dust, an odd feeling of pride welling up in him.

"Lord Kazekage," Hiruzen remarked. "Did you know your son could do that?"

"No, I was unaware of this new advancement in Gaara's powers," Rasa admitted. "To think that he kept it secret from me and seems so proficient in wielding it is quite astounding."

"And terrifying," Jiraiya said from his corner. "His sand manipulation was scary before, but now that the sand can cut? The kid's gotten a whole lot more dangerous now."

"Yes," Rasa replied. "Gaara truly is one of our most valuable shinobi."

"I agree," Kira said in response, her honey-colored eyes still focused on the match. "However, I'm afraid that Gaara's glass sand might not be as perfected as you believe it to be Lord Kazekage."

"What?" Rasa said in shock.

Hiruzen and Jiraiya eyed the woman in surprise as Kira turned to them.

"Aren't any of you able to sense chakra levels? If you were, you'd be able to tell quite easily what the greatest flaw of Gaara's technique would be."

The other three shinobi stared at the Otokage in confusion before turning back to watch the match.

"Is that blood!?" Sakura yelled frantically.

"Looks like it," Kankuro replied. "Now is when things get really crazy."

"What the hell do you mean by that!?" Ino screamed at the puppeteer.

Kankuro winced and rubbed where his ears would be under his hood. Temari shook her head and glanced back at the two Konoha kunoichi.

"The reason Kankuro is saying that is because your boy-toy down there is screwed."

The two girls looked ready to explode, their faces turning red as they prepared to launch into a tirade against the older girl who apparently had no faith in Sasuke's abilities.

"She may be correct," Naruto mused. "Gaara does seem to be getting a little excited down there…"

He quickly turned to Kankuro and Temari and raised an eyebrow.

"Does he have a blood fetish?" he asked with a straight face.

"W-what!? No! Gaara doesn't have a blood fetish!" Temari angrily replied.

"That we know of…" Kankuro muttered under his breath.

"I see," Naruto remarked. "So then it's the Ichibi then, fueling his mental instability?"

The two members of the Sand Siblings stared at the robed blonde in shock, not even sure how he knew in the first place that Gaara was a jinchuuriki. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he turned back to the fight.

"Seems I was correct then."

Meanwhile in the arena, Sasuke was dodging to the best of his abilities, taking care to make sure that no more of the glass sand touched him. Already the cut on his shoulder had bled a decent amount and Sasuke had no intentions of allowing another hit to land.

Every now and again as he dodged, Sasuke would hurl a couple shuriken or kunai at Gaara, occasionally having an explosive tag wrapped around the handle. Gaara merely kept batting them aside with his glass sand, usually creating a new crater (if an explosive tag was attached) that Sasuke had to watch out for while dodging.

Gaara finally sighed and halted his hand gesturing, causing the glass sand to freeze in place and return to circle around his body. Sasuke watched the phenomenon warily, unsure of what was going to happen.

"I see it now Sasuke Uchiha," Gaara remarked. "You are not strong enough to fulfill my existence until I am able to fight the blonde one in the robes."

"Robes?" Sasuke muttered, glancing up at the balcony.

Immediately he noticed Naruto, cloaked in black robes and armor while looking down at the arena, an impassive expression on his face. For a brief second, Sasuke felt a small amount of anger rise up, only to begin hearing the whispers in the back of his mind. Whispers that he knew came from his Curse Mark.

Shaking his head, Sasuke cleared his mind and focused away from the Mark. He didn't need its dark power. Not now.

"Unfortunately with this fact now realized," Gaara said as he raised his other hand. "This means that I am going to kill you now."

Gaara clapped his hands together and channeled his chakra. Sasuke quickly noticed the glass sand moving behind Gaara, so he swiftly activated his Sharingan. The glass sand quickly expanded in volume and then exploded from behind Gaara in the form of a massive wave at the sound of his words.

"Garasu Suna Takanami! (Glass Sand Tidal Wave)"

The tidal wave of translucent sand lashed out as Sasuke quickly began backflipping to avoid Gaara's attack. Yet while he moved, tendrils and spikes of glass fragments speared out from the wave in an attempt to catch him off guard, occasionally firing from the ground where the wave had crested before rising again to follow him once more.

Naruto watched with great interest as Gaara covered the entire arena floor with glass sand, Sauron also observing from within Naruto's body with a smirk on her face.

As the sand continued to expand outward, Sasuke leapt up the wall and crouched on it. Applying a layer of chakra from his feet, Sasuke stood horizontally as he gazed down at the layer of glass fragments covering the ground.

"This just got a lot trickier," Sasuke thought to himself.

"Are you just going to hide on the wall like a coward?" Gaara called out, the glass sand writhing slightly. "Just because you're up there doesn't mean I can't hit you with my sand if I want to."

Kakashi stared at his student carefully with his visible eye, pondering what Sasuke might do next. Was he going to use the technique that he taught him during the month-long training period? Or was he going to wait, and use it at another time?

Sasuke pondered what to do, weighing in his options before finally making a decision. Crouching back on the wall, his Sharingan flared as he flipped through his handseals before grasping his left wrist with his hand and holding his hand towards the wall. Kakashi smirked behind his mask as he saw what Sasuke was doing.

"So you're going to use it then Sasuke?"

"Kakashi! You didn't teach Sasuke that move!" Guy yelled in alarm.

"He needed it in order to beat Gaara, so it was only logical that I teach it to him," Kakashi replied.

"That's beside the point Kakashi! You don't go and teach a Genin, especially one with some mental instability and a Curse Mark the Chidori for Kami's sake!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed upon hearing Guy's exclamation.

"The Chidori? Isn't that the move that Kakashi used back in the Wave mission?"

"Either that or it's a slightly weaker version of that move," Sauron replied, shaking her head within the throne she was lounging on in the mindscape. "Either way, yet another example of favoritism from your so-called sensei if he's willing to teach one of his prized techniques to only one of his students."

Naruto said nothing in response.

Meanwhile bluish-white lightning began generating from Sasuke's palm, echoing with a sound of birds chirping throughout the entire arena. Gaara noted the amount of lightning and narrowed his eyes, recalling a decent amount of his sand to surround him.

Sasuke roared and began charging down the wall, the lightning trailing from his hand and leaving a trench carved in the stone. Gaara quickly gestured with his hand and sent a flurry of tendrils from the glass sand. His eyes narrowed as the sand quickly solidified once more into solid glass (though notably in the rough shape of lightning bolts this time) due to the ambient electricity generated from Sasuke's technique.

His mind made up, Gaara swiftly dropped the remainder of the glass sand hurtling towards Sasuke and crossed his arms in an X shape over his chest. The glass sand surrounding him rose and morphed into a spherical shield around the Suna Genin, still somewhat translucent but not enough to see Gaara within. Sasuke continued his straightforward path, his lightning-charged palm now held out to the side as he rushed towards the glass shield. Right as he reached the sphere, he thrust his hand forward in a spearing motion.

"Chidori!"

The lightning-coated hand passed through the glass and hit its mark. Nobody said anything, still shocked at what was occurring below them.

"He… he did it!" Sakura cheered happily, Ino cheering alongside her.

Naruto scoffed, gaining the attention of not only the two kunoichi but also the rest of the occupants on the balcony.

"It's not over yet."

Right as he finished speaking those words, a bloodcurdling scream echoed from within the glass sphere as Sasuke screamed in pain.

Gritting his teeth, the Uchiha heir generated another Chidori and cut himself free, removing his arm as spikes erupted from the sphere. Sasuke gripped his left arm and fought the urge to scream once more as he (and the crowd) beheld the gashes and cuts littering the limb, blood pouring out onto the ground.

With another bellow of rage, the glass sphere exploded back into glass sand as Gaara reemerged, looking furious while gripping the bleeding wound on his shoulder. Removing his bloodstained hand he made a clawing motion in the direction of Sasuke, the glass sand moving to obey his command.

Sasuke looked at his arm, then at the enraged jinchuuriki, then at the incoming wave of glass. He then came to a conclusion that he didn't like to admit, but he had no choice.

"I forfeit!"

He quickly rolled out of the way of the glass sand, grimacing as he did, right as the proctor stepped in front of him.

"Winner by forfeit: Sabaku no Gaara!"

Gaara breathed in deeply and slowly calmed down, the glass sand returning to his side as he returned the cork to his gourd of regular sand. Removing a small scroll with a seal on the side, Gaara directed the glass sand into the scroll and rolled it back up. Slipping it into one of the pouches on his belt, Gaara walked towards the exit as a trio of medics ran onto the field to tend to the wounded Uchiha.

The redheaded Genin sighed wearily as he climbed the stairs and sat down on a chair in the balcony, falling still as he sat and waited for the next chance he would get to fight.

"You see the problem with his technique?" Kira remarked. "You can definitely see it if you look at him now."

"I believe I do," Rasa said. "While more powerful than his normal sand in terms of cutting power, the glass sand takes more chakra in order to manipulate it."

"Regardless, it is still a devastating technique," Hiruzen replied. "If Gaara were to catch a target off guard with the glass sand, he'd be able to eliminate them quickly and thus avoid the chakra drain."

"I suppose so," Rasa remarked. "Despite this, for him to have created such a technique on his own, I must commend my son."

"Yes, it is impressive," Hiruzen said in response. "However, given his current level of bloodthirstiness, I'm not sure if he should be promoted yet."

"Unfortunately I must agree with the Hokage on this," Kira said, glancing at Rasa.

The man sighed before nodding.

"I must agree as well. Strong as he may be, Gaara isn't fully stable yet. Until that day comes, he will not be promoted."

The other two Kage nodded, Jiraiya simply pondering their conversation from his place in the box.

The Rookies stood in shock, their minds not comprehending the fact that Sasuke had actually forfeited his match. For someone like Sasuke to give up, it was inconceivable in their eyes.

Naruto meanwhile was giving a grudging nod of respect to the Uchiha.

"I'll admit, I'm surprised he actually realized that he was unable to defeat Gaara," he remarked. "I would have expected him to continue fighting on the belief that he could win simply because he was an Uchiha."

"You know Naruto, Sasuke isn't that arrogant to think that a name alone will get him through his trials," Kakashi said, a faint admonishing tone in his voice. "And you shouldn't say things like that about your teammates."

"Well pardon me for not seeing any of that in all the time we've been teammates," Naruto replied. "All I saw was the usual 'I don't need teammates, they'll only get in my way,' spiel he gave us on the day of the bell test."

Kakashi didn't bother to reply, having instead begun to move towards the stairs, most likely to go check on his student. Naruto shook his head at the sight.

"And he wonders why I don't consider him my teacher," he muttered to himself.

Once more a faint musical chuckle was heard from the back of his mind, Sauron apparently finding the situation humorous.

Kakashi walked into the medical bay and strode over to where Sasuke was currently sitting with his shirt off, with one of the Med-Nins currently holding a small pair of tweezers and was extracting small shards of Gaara's glass sand from his arm. The Uchiha glanced at Kakashi before focusing on the ground once more, occasionally wincing when a shard was removed.

The silver-haired Jonin glanced around the room awkwardly, seemingly trying not to focus on Sasuke. Or the body lying under a sheet on the table across the room.

"So Sasuke-"

"Sensei," Sasuke said lowly. "Right now I'm having fragments of glass sand removed from my arm, and I'm in quite a lot of pain. My arm feels like shit, and my pride has been shattered. I'm not in the mood to talk right now."

Kakashi froze for a moment before opening his mouth, only to stop as Sasuke held up his uninjured arm.

"And if you offer to leave me any reading material while I'm going through this, I swear to Kami I will Chidori your book into oblivion."

With that, Sasuke fell silent again as the Med-Nin reached for another fragment with her tweezers, Kakashi still standing there not saying anything, all while desperately trying not to look at Neji's corpse.

"I can't believe that the puppet user quit before his match, after all that trash talking of his," Kiba remarked.

"Indeed," Shino replied. "Though I'm not sure whether or not this is fortunate for myself."

"Why not?" Sakura asked. "You get a free pass to the semi-finals, so that's good right?"

"Perhaps, but that would mean I have to battle the Suna girl currently attempting to give Shikamaru brain damage with that fan of hers," Shino said, gesturing towards the field.

Kiba winced as a particularly harsh blow struck Shikamaru across the head.

"I see your point man," he muttered.

"Not only that, but should I win against her and make it to the finals," Shino said lowly, a faint tone of worry in his voice. "I'd have to fight someone I cannot hope to win."

"Which do you think would be more trouble Shino? Naruto or Gaara?" Ino asked.

"Between a sand user who can kill you with a simple hand gesture and all of the earth around you, to a blonde enigma who uses unknown techniques and brutally slaughtered his own comrade…" Shino paused as a small drop of sweat ran down his forehead. "I'm still weighing my options."

"Yeah," Sakura replied, stifling a small shiver. "I really wouldn't want to fight Naruto as he is now. Before, he was just a lovable idiot who gave it his all, and now?"

She glanced to Naruto, who made no motion to acknowledge that he had even heard what she said. A blank look was in his eye, and while he appeared to be watching the fight, Sakura believed that Naruto didn't seem all "there" to be honest.

"I have no idea what to describe him as now…"

"So what exactly do you plan to do for battling Gaara?" Sauron asked from where she lounged on her throne. "Use the information at your disposal thus far to come up with a strategy for use against him."

Naruto paced in front of the faintly shimmering barrier separating him from his tenant, an armored hand on his chin as he began running through various scenarios in his head.

"From what we saw in his match with Sasuke, Gaara doesn't use the glass sand exclusively, but will not hesitate to capitalize on an opponent crystallizing his sand into glass," Naruto said thoughtfully. "He will even allow them to form glass from his sand for the purpose of crushing it into small fragments and using it in battle. Regardless, his manipulation of both regular and glass sand is unparalleled by anyone else we've seen."

"To be fair, there aren't many sand users that we've seen. Continue."

"However, there are downsides to his techniques," Naruto remarked. "His sand shield can be broken with enough blunt force, as shown in his battle with Rock Lee. His sand armor is quite strong, but riddled with weak points and consumes large amounts of chakra, even for jinchuuriki. And while his glass sand has the advantage of cutting power in addition to crushing force, it too seems to take more chakra to manipulate, though not as much as sustaining the armor."

"Correct," Sauron replied. "So what do you intend to do about it?"

"If I can continue to evade his attacks either by agility or by my shadow technique, I might be able to catch him off guard with a pulse of spiritual energy to stun him before hitting him continuously with a flurry of attacks."

Sauron sighed and shook her head.

"While that may work, I don't believe you should focus on such a straightforward plan. Integrate that tactic with your final strategy, but don't make it the focal point of taking him down," Sauron said, standing from her throne and walking down towards the barrier. "If at all possible, it may be best to avoid using some of your other Wraith abilities at this point to not attract more attention to yourself."

Naruto groaned and walked to the barrier to stand across from Sauron.

"Then what would you have me do? Gaara might be able to counter my flail after seeing it in battle against Neji, and I don't want to glass his sand with the Soul Fire."

Sauron threw back her head and burst into laughter, her vermillion eyes flashing orange as her amusement grew. Naruto narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

"How naive you are my champion," Sauron remarked once her laughter ceased. "Did you happen to forget that Soul Fire does not act like traditional flames in that it doesn't burn like you would think it to?"

The blonde froze and looked up, thinking back to his training with Sauron. A sheepish grin formed on his face as he put a hand on the back of his head.

"Oh. Right."

"Right indeed," Sauron replied, an amused smirk on her face. "But that's not the only trick in your arsenal, right Naruto? Surely you must have something else that could combat Gaara's sand?"

Naruto thought for a moment before grinning.

"Oh, I see what you mean."

"Yes," Sauron purred, her eyes flashing golden for the briefest of moments. "You have a plan of action now?"

"I do indeed," Naruto replied.

"Good. Then tell me of your current plan…"

Naruto refocused on the world around him as he exited the mindscape. Shaking his head, he glanced down at the field to see Shikamaru still dodging the wind blasts of the fan-wielding Suna Genin.

"Odd," Naruto mused. "I would have expected him to forfeit a while ago."

"You wouldn't be the first."

Naruto turned to see his male teammate walking over towards him, his injured arm wrapped in bandages and hanging in a sling while his opposite shoulder was wrapped as well. A couple of small adhesive patches were attached to his face, and while Sasuke showed some discomfort he seemed relatively unfazed. The blonde eyed the arm before looking back at Sasuke's face.

"I trust they patched you up sufficiently?"

"Yes," Sasuke muttered lowly, still quite irritated. "Still wish I didn't have to forfeit my match though."

"You could have continued the fight if you wished to," Naruto remarked.

"And risk dying or crippling myself to the point of ending my shinobi career?" Sasuke retorted angrily, his Sharingan briefly flaring. "No thanks. I'd like to remain alive and intact so I can see the life leave Itachi's eyes when I get my revenge."

Naruto shrugged. "I suppose so."

The two stood in silence for a few moments, seemingly watching the "battle" below them. Sasuke glanced at his teammate, his eyes focusing on the similar mark to his own on Naruto's neck, said mark currently showing partially from Naruto's robes.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were given one of those too?"

"Didn't see the point," Naruto replied. "What difference would it have made?"

"You could have gotten it sealed up earlier if you let someone know."

Naruto said nothing as he turned away from his teammate, shifting his robes slightly to cover the shuriken-shaped mark on his neck. Sasuke watched the motion, idly rubbing his neck as his own mark pulsed slightly. He glanced back down at the arena, to see that Shikamaru had managed to trap Temari in his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Technique) before doing something that was completely expected from anyone who knew the Nara clan.

"I give up."

The outrage of the crowd didn't manage to fully drown out Shikamaru giving his reasons for forfeiting before quickly leaving to avoid getting another blow to the head from Temari's massive fan.

Once the blond girl had calmed down and left the arena, Genma looked up at the balcony.

"Would Sabaku no Gaara and Naruto Uzumaki please come down to the arena? Your match is about to begin."

Naruto stretched idly and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and prepared to move towards the arena when Sasuke grabbed his shoulder.

"Whatever you do Naruto, don't you dare lose to him," Sasuke growled.

Naruto smirked. "The thought never crossed my mind."

With that, Sasuke removed his hand as Naruto disappeared in a swirl of shadow and reappeared beside the proctor right as Gaara appeared in a spiral of sand. Genma glanced at each Genin carefully.

"Now while the rules may allow killing," he said, focusing on both competitors. "I would prefer it if you do not win by ending the life of your opponent. If one of you appears to be going for a killing blow after you have clearly won, you will be restrained. Understood?"

Both Genin gave a slight nod, the cork flying out of Gaara's gourd as Naruto unsheathed the blade of his sword by an inch with his thumb. Genma raised his hand and brought it down before vanishing in a Shunshin.

Gaara immediately went on the offensive, launching a wave of sand from his gourd. Naruto unsheathed his sword in response and slashed at the sand to deflect it before leaping back several feet to avoid an arm forming out of the sand. Landing in a crouch, Naruto placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes.

Flames ignited on the ground as Naruto lifted his hand, taking with him the hilt of a sword. Standing up as he lifted his hand, Naruto pulled a massive brass greatsword from the flames, the blade about as tall as he was with the blade being wider than the width of his arm. He took the enormous blade in hand and swung it experimentally before moving it towards his back, the sword fixating itself there despite the lack of a sheath. Naruto then took his first sword in his right hand and leveled the blade until it was lying horizontally while pointed at Gaara, his free hand lying parallel to the sword.

Black-ringed eyes narrowed at the sight of the massive blade on Naruto's back, Gaara gestured with his hand to cause the sand to form a tendril around him. He crossed his arms as small lumps began forming on the tendril, slowly increasing in size as he gazed at his opponent.

"Rendan Suna Shigure! (Successive Shots Sand Drizzle)"

The lumps finished forming and quickly fired out like bullets, lancing through the air towards their blonde target.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he swiftly diffused each projectile with a precise slash of his sword. Raising the sword in front of him, Naruto focused as pale green energy formed along the blade with a shape reminiscent of flames. Gripping the blade with both hands, he lifted the sword into the air and brought it down, launching a projectile of the flame-like energy at Gaara. The sand quickly coiled around Gaara to block the energy blast, giving Naruto enough time to disappear in a spiral of shadow.

Reappearing behind Gaara, Naruto flipped through his handseals and inhaled deeply.

"Futon: Shinkugyoku! (Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets)"

He swiftly exhaled, firing off a barrage of small spherical blasts of wind at his fellow jinchuuriki. Gaara quickly spun, his sand rising up to block the shots, only for the wind bullets to punch through the shield of sand.

Gaara began to dodge to the best of his abilities, but as a shinobi focused mainly on stationary combat with the use of his sand, his mobility was not the best that it could be. As a result, a few of the bullets of wind were able to connect long enough to leave gashes on his arms and shoulder. The Ichibi jinchuuriki glared at the blood dripping from the wounds left behind before focusing back on Naruto, rage clear on his face.

This was the second time that he had seen his blood today, and Gaara was clearly not happy about that.

His robed opponent quickly slashed through the air with his sword, firing off another blast of energy before vanishing and reappearing a few feet from the left and launching another, finishing off by reappearing to Gaara's left and letting another projectile fly from his blade. The red-haired Genin swiftly crossed his arms in an X in front of his chest, his sand instinctively coiling around his body to deflect the energy coming at him from several directions at once. The projectiles collided with his sand shield and exploded, dispersing the sand in multiple directions around the field.

As Gaara shook his head and prepared to recall his sand, Naruto appeared directly behind him in a swirl of shadow with sword in hand. Naruto charged up his fist with pale blue energy before punching towards Gaara, a fist-sized projectile firing off and managing to connect with the Suna Genin.

Gaara froze as pale energy pulsed over his body, growling angrily as he struggled to move. Naruto capitalized on this and leapt into the air and brought his sword down in a stabbing motion. Right as the blade was about to connect, a mad grin formed on Gaara's face as he raised his hand and clenched his fist. Immediately the sand shield reformed around the blade, stopping its downward path and holding it in place.

Naruto swore and yanked on the sword, only for the weapon to stubbornly refuse to be moved from the grip of Gaara's sand. Gaara began chuckling darkly as he gestured with his free hand. Becoming aware of the sound of sand to his left, Naruto pulled as hard as he could on the blade before glancing over to see the clawed arm forming out of the sand and reaching towards him.

His mind made up, Naruto gripped the pommel of the sword and vaulted over it, just barely leaping over the grasping fingers of the sand, and landed several feet away. Gaara grinned as the arm of sand removed the sword and held it up for Naruto and all the spectators to see.

With an evil-sounding chuckle, Gaara clenched his fist, the arm of sand mimicking his movements and crushing the sword into small fragments of metal. As Gaara began laughing maniacally, Naruto stared at the shattered remains of his sword before looking back up at his opponent.

"You broke my blade."

A faint pale green light flashed in Naruto's eyes, nearly all of his teeth briefly extending into fangs before receding. His Curse Mark pulsed, then lay still, not activating like some of the Jonin watching the match thought it would have.

Within Naruto's body and very soul, Sauron allowed herself a smirk, her crimson eyes flashing orange. She slowly raised a hand in the air and snapped her fingers.

As this was happening, Naruto removed the massive brass greatsword from his back and held it in front of his body with both hands. Immediately the enormous blade ignited in flames that seemed to generate from the sword itself. Gaara looked over the blade and scoffed.

"You didn't pay attention to the match with the Uchiha did you? Fire won't help you here!"

Up on the balcony, Sasuke watched the fight carefully. While he had briefly activated his Sharingan at the start of the match, he promptly deactivated it upon noting that Naruto was not using any chakra in his sword attacks. He gazed at the flame-coated blade, not entirely sure what his teammate was planning.

"I know you're not that much of an idiot to use a tactic you already know failed for me," he thought to himself. "So just what are you up to Naruto?"

Naruto lifted the greatsword higher as the flames appeared to intensify, before twisting the blade so the edge was facing Gaara. He reared the sword back behind his head and gripped it tightly before bringing it back in a forward arc towards Gaara.

Unlike the energy projectiles launched before from his previous sword, this one was much larger and comprised of actual flames instead of energy in the shape of flames. It was also considerably faster despite its larger size, and the heat was like walking into an inferno. Gaara's eyes widened in shock as he swiftly formed a coating of sand armor before raising his shield.

The wave of flame cleaved through the shield instantly, leaving Gaara defenseless. With barely enough time to think, Gaara dove to the side, his arm getting caught in the flames during the tail end of his leap. Landing to his left, the pain finally set in and Gaara let out a yell of agony.

Naruto smirked as Gaara grimaced and gripped his injured arm, the sand armor coating it now blackened with what appeared to be molten cracks littering its surface. The last vestiges of fire flickered out on the greatsword, prompting Naruto to replace it on his back. Gaara grit his teeth and released his hold on the sand armor on his arm, allowing the now blackened sand to crack off and fall to the ground. Gaara's pants sleeve had been burnt off, and several burns marred the skin along his arm.

Gaara snarled angrily as he gripped his injured arm, glancing up as Naruto began speaking.

"What was that about flames being useless against you?" Naruto called out mockingly.

Gaara's face contorted in rage as the earth beneath his feet broke down into sand and began to slide up his body towards the injured limb. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he swiftly knelt and placed a hand on the ground once more. Focusing his energy, he spoke yet again.

"Congregate the light of the moon," he chanted softly. "Cast judgement upon these wicked souls, and smite them with your malevolent brilliance.

Pale green flames ignited beneath his palm as he lifted himself from the ground, taking forth from the flames a sword of similar build to the sword Gaara had just broken. The main differences between this blade and the previous however was that the current one appeared to be better forged and was a sleeker design compared to the original. Naruto idly spun the sword in a circle in his hand before holding it in front of his body with both hands, the flat of the blade facing his opponent.

Gaara meanwhile had stood up as the sand that coated his arm fell to the ground, revealing unblemished skin beneath it for a brief instant before his sand armor reformed over the limb. He flexed the fingers on that hand for a moment as he focused back on the robed blonde across from him. Narrowing his eyes, Gaara took note of the new sword in his opponent's hands.

After the fiasco with that massive greatsword, he didn't want to take any chances against whatever tricks that new blade might have.

Gesturing with his hand, Gaara launched a clawed arm of sand at his opponent. Naruto simply adjusted his grip on his weapon and continued to hold it in front of his body. Removing one hand from the hilt, Naruto placed his palm against the flat of the blade as the arm of sand shot towards him.

The blade began to resonate with a light purple glow as Naruto replaced his hand on the hilt and tilted the sword so it pointed horizontally at the incoming projectile. Rearing back, Naruto lunged in a two-handed stab, impaling the arm of sand on the blade of his sword. With a twist of his wrist Naruto slashed to the right, dispersing the arm before spinning and slashing the blade horizontally in the air, launching a crescent of lilac energy right at Gaara. Gaara swiftly crossed his arms in front of his body, forming a much thicker shield of sand a few feet in front of him.

Upon seeing the energy projectile slicing through the shield of sand as if it wasn't even there, Gaara reacted quickly and spread his arms out to the side while increasing the thickness of the sand armor on his torso using the rest of the sand on his body.

Naruto's projectile impacted with Gaara's chest before exploding and sending the Suna Genin flying into the wall. Gaara slid down the wall and knelt for a moment before standing, the sand focused on his chest redistributing back to it's previous form across his entire body. Naruto watched his opponent rise, idly flicking his sword to the side as the still present purple energy faded away from the blade.

Gaara shook his head, hearing the whispers of "mother" in the back of his mind, encouraging him and urging him to crush the interloper before them, drenching his sand with the blonde's blood.

Calming himself somewhat, Gaara focused and closed his eyes as he felt the chakra of his tenant flow through him, focusing into the redhead's arms.

"You know, closing one's eyes in battle is the easiest way to get yourself killed."

Gaara's eyes snapped open to see Naruto having appeared in front of him, sword raised as the blade began glowing with lilac energy. He swiped with his hand to form a shield of sand, only for Naruto to slash his sword across it, disrupting the shield and forcing the sand away. Gaara continued frantically gesturing with his hands, reforming shield after shield as Naruto continued cutting them down. As Gaara formed one last shield, Naruto batted it aside with his blade right before the glow faded.

The Suna Genin panted softly as he stood from his hunched position, while Naruto lifted his sword once more.

"It seems you cannot hold back my attacks any longer," Naruto remarked. "How unfortunate."

The robed blonde brought the blade down, only for Gaara to roll out of the way, his other sleeve getting caught by the blade and tearing off in the process. Gaara quickly stood and spread his arms out to his sides as dark blue markings reminiscent of Naruto and Sasuke's Curse Marks formed on his skin.

Gaara clapped his hands together, instantly causing the sand spread across the ground to surge forward and converge on Naruto. He eyed the surrounding waves of sand, a grudging note of respect in his eyes.

"You let me blow apart your shields in order to spread the sand around the arena to use in a trap technique of some sorts," Naruto mused. "You have quite the tactical mind Sabaku no Gaara."

The sand crested and slammed into the blonde jinchuuriki as Gaara held out his hands. The mound of sand quickly formed into the rough shape of a pyramid as Gaara slapped his hands on to the sand-covered ground. The serpentine markings on his arms shifted, moving from his skin onto the sand before enveloping the pyramid of sand and interlocking to form an intricate fuinjutsu.

Gaara wiped the sweat from his brow before standing, a bloodthirsty grin on his face as he raised his open hand.

"To think that he had progressed far enough to utilize that in his arsenal," Rasa mused as he watched the fight below.

Hiruzen raised his eyebrow before Jiraiya stepped forward.

"Gaara appears to have used fuinjutsu in order to seal Naruto away in that structure of sand, most likely so he can crush the structure and Naruto at the same time to win the match. But where did he get the fuinjutsu in the first place to use the technique?"

"They appear to have originated from his arms," Kira replied. "They formed on his skin before transferring onto the sand and interlocking once Naruto Uzumaki was trapped within. A clever strategy, even utilizing his the sand dispersed from his shield to facilitate the beginning of the technique."

Hiruzen looked down at the arena as Gaara began raising his hand. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed as he focused on the Kazekage.

"Where did that seal actually come from?" he asked.

Rasa gazed at the sand, deep in thought, before looking back at the Gama Sennin.

"I believe it came from the Shukaku. The Tanuki does have natural Cursed Seal markings on its body, so it's possible that Gaara managed to tap into enough of Shukaku's power in order to manifest the markings for use in this technique," Rasa replied. "If that is the case, Naruto Uzumaki is finished."

The Sandaime Hokage and Jiraiya swiftly looked to the arena, alarm clear on their faces, with concern being clearly evident in Hiruzen's eyes. Kira let out a soft chuckle, causing the other four occupants of the box to look at the Otokage in confusion.

"I wouldn't count him out just yet. He may still have a trick or two up those sleeves of his," she remarked with a small smile.

Gaara chuckled darkly as he prepared to clench his hand into a fist.

"Sabaku So-"

A small plume of fire ignited from the top of the pyramid, causing Gaara to pause his movement in shock. The flame continued to to grow in size before ripping down the side of the structure of sand facing away from Gaara and spiralling forward on the front side.

The sand pyramid exploded in a rotating coil of flames, Naruto standing directly in the center of it with his massive brass sword removed from his back with flames ignited along the blade. The robed blonde stood and brushed sand off of his shoulders, gigantic sword still in hand, his other blade now sheathed at his side. Naruto tilted his head until a faint -crack- was heard from his neck before aligning himself to face Gaara.

"An impressive technique, of that there is no doubt," Naruto remarked. "Had I been any other opponent, that might have succeeded. Unfortunately for you, I am not most opponents."

Gaara's eyes widened as he heard his own words against the Uchiha repeat for him, his fingers twitching softly as his pupils dilated. Naruto stared impassively at his fellow jinchuuriki before sighing and stabbing the brass greatsword into the ground, the blade reigniting in flames once more.

"If that was the best you could do, then I'm afraid you've lost this battle."

The flames emanating from the blade intensified, the ground where the point was stabbed beginning to melt around the metal. Tilting the sword diagonally from its impaled position on the ground, Naruto gripped the hilt tightly and ripped the blade free with an upward slash, unleashing a massive wave of fire that traveled along the ground towards Gaara. Gaara snapped out of his shock just in time to notice the fiery projectile rocketing towards him. With no time to dodge, Gaara swiftly sent almost all his sand armor to his torso once more and pumped a massive amount of chakra into it, even as the remainder of his sand coiled into a shield in front of him.

The wave of fire ripped through the shield and slammed into Gaara, exploding and sending him flying into the wall once more.

Naruto swung the massive sword to the side, the flames lingering on the blade dying out before he replaced it on his back. Reaching into his robe, Naruto unsheathed the dagger-like sword and slowly walked towards where Gaara currently lay.

The red-haired jinchuuriki wasn't doing so good, his sand armor having not protected him completely from harm. The sand was blackened with molten cracks littering its surface, a large gash-like burn lashing askew across Gaara's torso. Blood dripped from the rent skin, the smell of charred flesh lingering in the air around him. Gaara's black-ringed eyes slowly opened and focused on the grievous wound that marred his body, seemingly unable to comprehend what his eyes were showing him.

Gaara reached forward with a slightly shaking hand and gently placed his fingers on the wound, wincing in pain at the contact. Removing his hand, Gaara stared at the blood coating his fingers, his eyes widening at the sight.

"Blood?" he asked himself, shock evident in his tone. "Is this… my blood?"

Naruto continued to walk slowly towards him, short blade in hand as he sighed and shook his head.

"You truly must be naive to not recognize your own blood," he remarked. "Or perhaps you were never one to face true hardship in your life if that is your reaction to that wound."

He stopped, standing a couple feet in front of the downed jinchuuriki, Gaara's eyes still blankly staring at the red staining his fingers and dripping onto his palm. Naruto pointed the blade at Gaara, who slowly focused on the weapon aimed at his head.

"Since we could be considered of the same 'breed' of sacrifice," Naruto said calmly. "And that I am feeling merciful for some odd reason, I will give you this one chance to surrender and keep your life."

Gaara looked up at Naruto, his blank gaze instantly distorting into fury.

"You spilled my BLOOD!"

The Ichibi jinchuuriki stood as best he could and threw a right hook at the robed blonde. Naruto sighed and lazily tilted his head to the side before grabbing the offending limb in his armored grip. Gripping the arm tightly, Naruto slammed it into the wall and proceeded to flip his dagger into a reversed grip and stab it through Gaara's hand and into the wall.

Gaara's sensation of pain finally peaked, and the red-haired Genin began screaming in agony. Naruto swiftly unsheathed the sword at his side and delivered a swift slash to Gaara's leg, forcing him down to his knees.

"Very well then, if that is your choice, then so be it. Death it is."

Naruto reared back with his argent greatsword, preparing to impale Gaara through the chest even as Genma reappeared in the arena. Gaara's eyes closed for the briefest of moments, before snapping open.

Gaara's eyes now sported black sclera and gleaming gold irises with a cross shaped pupil, a new grin forming on his face. Whereas before Gaara's grin gleamed with bloodlust and a hint of madness, this grin was full on psychotic and bloodthirsty. Gaara let out a series of insane high-pitched cackles as he clenched his free hand into a clawing motion.

"You really are a hopeless case aren't you Gaara!?"

Naruto's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before a massive clawed arm of sand erupted from the ground and smacked him in the torso and sent him flying into the opposite wall.

Gaara stood, still giggling maniacally as he ripped the dagger free from his hand. Flexing the fingers on the hand as the wound began to steam and slowly close up, Gaara lifted the blade and licked the blood from the weapon before tossing it aside. Naruto stood groggily, leaning on his sword to steady himself as Gaara burst into laughter once more.

Seconds later a steady stream of white feathers began to fall around the arena. Immediately the civilians and some of the Genin slumped over and passed out, with the Kage box exploding shortly after.

Temari and Kankuro swiftly leapt into the arena and restrained Gaara while their sensei barked orders to them. The two siblings kept a tight grip on Gaara as they leapt from the stadium, their sensei leaping in another direction. Naruto shook his head for a moment before focusing on the fleeing trio of Suna Genin, uncaring of the large amount of shinobi forces from the villages of Leaf, Sound, and Sand leaping around in the carnage of battle.

"You really think you'll escape me?" he muttered, a faint gleam of green appearing in his eyes.

He winced and placed a hand on his chest, removing it to take note of the blood now splattered on his gauntlet. Clenching his hand into a fist, Naruto grit his teeth as a faint aura of pale green became visible around his body, even as the wounds left by Gaara's sand claw healed at a rapid pace.

"No, you shall not escape from me!" Naruto roared.

"Indeed he won't Naruto," Sauron whispered from within his mind. "And why should he? He managed to wound you, spill your blood. Find him. End him!"

As she spoke, Naruto's face contorted with fury, the aura around him flickering with red as it intensified in strength. Raising his sword high, Naruto let out an unearthly shriek of rage that immediately chilled the hearts of those around him, both enemy and "ally" alike. Even those in the Kage box paused in their battle, freezing at the sound of that ungodly wail.

His rage having peaked, Naruto swept his sword to his side and leapt from the ground and landed on the roof of the arena, pausing for the briefest of moments before rocketing off into the forests after the Sand Siblings, a faint trail of energy of the palest green following behind him.

Immediately at the sound of the insane cackling of the Shukaku, as well as the appearance of the white feathers in the air, Kira and Rasa shared a look and nodded before raising a single handseal each. Hiruzen and Jiraiya's eyes widened right as the explosion triggered.

Out of the smoke cloud, four figures quickly leapt onto the rooftops, two of them covered in soot. Hiruzen glared at the two Kages standing across from him.

"I should have figured you'd plan something like this, Orika."

The newly-revealed Orika let out a devious giggle as she reached up to her face and tore it off, revealing her true features beneath it: snow-white skin, sickly golden eyes with a serpentine pupil, purple markings around her eyelids and jutting down towards her nose. Rasa merely flexed his hand as black markings formed around his own eyes, markings that immediately sparked an even stronger resemblance between him and his son.

"Nothing ever seems to get past you, eh Sarutobi-sensei?" Orika drawled with a smirk, her canines elongating slightly into fangs. "Something tells me you suspected this all along."

"Well, I immediately thought you were going to make a move of some sort," Sarutobi replied. "However, I will admit I did not anticipate your involvement in this Lord Kazekage."

Rasa shifted slightly as his infamous Gold Dust began pooling out of the small gourd on his belt.

"I'd tell you it's nothing personal Lord Hokage," he remarked. "But if I did I would be lying. Given how much the Wind Daimyo has been sending missions away from Suna and to Konoha, our value as a shinobi village has been diminished by our own Feudal Lord. So with that in mind…"

Rasa raised his hands as the Gold Dust began to rise around him, forming into tendrils not unlike that of the sand his son manipulated.

"What better way to reestablish our value as a shinobi village than to eliminate the one lowering our value?"

Thrusting his hand forward, Rasa sent a swift wave of gold at the Sandaime Hokage. Hiruzen quickly leapt out of the way, right as Jiraiya landed beside him. The remaining loyal Sannin looked at the Kazekage with narrowed eyes.

"Funny thing is, he actually does have a point," the white-haired man remarked to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen said nothing in response, merely removing his ceremonial robes to reveal his battle armor beneath them. Upon seeing her sensei's attire, Orika chuckled.

"Feeling sentimental sensei?" she said merrily. "I'm touched."

Raising a hand, Orika snapped her fingers. As the sharp sound reverberated through the air, four shinobi wearing brown garments and purple ropes tied around their waists as belts dropped on to the corner of the rooftop.

"Do it!" Orika called out.

Nodding towards the leader of the Sound village, the four shinobi formed a single handseal before clapping their hands together. Their chakra flared and quickly turned dark purple as black markings spread from their necks onto the sides of their faces.

"Shishienjin! (Four Violet Flames Formation)"

As the name suggested, violet flames exploded from the four shinobi and quickly formed a rectangular barrier of purple fire, with each of the four standing at the corners of the technique.

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the sight of the barrier before turning to his wayward student.

"You don't want anyone to interfere, do you?"

"Of course not," Orika admitted. "Strong independent woman I may be, but even I know my limits, however large and unreachable they are."

Jiraiya chuckled as he settled into the Taijutsu style the Toads of his contract had taught him.

"Still as arrogant as ever Orika?" he asked wryly.

"Still chasing anything with breasts and a skirt Jiraiya?" Orika replied, a smirk on her face.

The white-haired Sannin immediately adopted a look of mock sorrow as he placed a hand over his heart.

"Oh you wound me Orika!" he wailed dramatically. "You still think I am but a lowly pervert, do you not? Well fear not, for I am not a pervert…"

Orika immediately realized what he was going to say, as well as Hiruzen, who made a move to stop his other student.

"I am a SUPER PERVERT!" Jiraiya bellowed with a mad gleam in his eye.

Hiruzen sighed and considered summoning Enma purely for the reason of having something to slam his head into. Meanwhile, a noticeable drop of sweat ran down the sides of everyone else's heads, from the four shinobi holding up the barrier to Orika and Rasa.

The auburn-haired man slowly turned to his female companion.

"Is he serious?"

"Unfortunately," Orika replied in a low voice. "You'd think he'd grow out of it at his age, but in his case it seems that age merely empowered his perversion."

Rasa paused for a moment.

"I thought you two were the same age?"

Seconds after that sentence left his mouth Orika spun to face him so quickly that a faint -crack- was heard from her neck, immediately opening her mouth and extending the blade of the Kusanagi to pass less than an inch from his skin. Rasa swiftly raised his hands in surrender, prompting Orika to retract the blade before regurgitating it fully into her hand. Spinning the sword for a second to remove the saliva from the blade, she turned back to the Kazekage with a mad grin.

"Never ask a lady her age young man," she remarked softly. "Lest they try and kill you for it."

Rasa turned away from her and focused back on the duo in front of them.

"Joking aside," he remarked. "I'll deal with the proclaimed 'Super-Pervert,' while you take on Sarutobi."

"Fine," Orika muttered. "Just leave some for me to dissect later."

Upon hearing those words, Jiraiya noticeably gulped. Rasa shook his head before gesturing towards the Sannin, a wave of Gold Dust surging towards him. As Jiraiya began dodging the sea of gold, Orika focused back on her sensei.

"Well then Sensei, shall we dance?" Orika said gleefully, a gleam in her golden eyes.

"Indeed we shall."

Orika leapt at Hiruzen, Kusanagi in hand, as she began attacking with a flurry of slashes. Despite his obvious advanced age, Hiruzen had little trouble dodging the blows of Orika's sword. Waiting for an opening, Hiruzen swiftly found his chance and caught Orika off guard with a kick to the stomach. As the snake-like woman was sent flying back a few feet, flipping in the air to land on her feet, Hiruzen flipped through his handseals and inhaled a deep breath.

"Katon: Karyu Endan! (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)"

Hiruzen threw his head forward and expelled a massive bullet of fire that quickly split into three projectiles in the shape of dragons. The fire dragons swiftly circled around and locked in on Orika from the front and sides, diving towards her with a roar in their maw. Orika merely grinned and impaled the Kusanagi on the roof before flipping through her own hand signs.

"Doton: Doryuheki! (Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall)"

A slab of earth emerged from the rooftop in front of Orika, right in the path of the flame dragons. The fiery projectiles quickly impacted against the wall and exploded, crumbling the wall yet not dealing any direct damage to Orika. Hiruzen's eyes narrowed as Orika's grin grew wider.

She clapped her hands together and said three words that immediately ignited the chill of fear running down Hiruzen's spine.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei! (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)"

Hiruzen's blood ran cold as sweat began to bead along his brow, as two coffins rose from the ground beside Orika. Her fanged grin grew more malicious as the lids of the coffins slowly fell forward, revealing the contents inside.

And while Hiruzen gazed upon the contents of the coffins in horror, the rooftop rang with Orika's gleefully maniacal laughter.

End Chapter

Phantom: Whew! Done! And in a somewhat reasonable time frame too, especially for a chapter started just after posting the latest in There and Back Again. I honestly have only one reason for this chapter getting finished so quickly, and that is definitely Morgoth keeping me motivated to write this out, as well as pitching ideas here and there. Without him, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it this far as a writer on this site. So this one's for you buddy!

Morgoth: Thank you. Now, travel onwards, for the Great Journey Awaits.

Update: 9/6/16

Phantom: Sorry for any confusion, but I noticed some grammatical errors when reading back over this at this time, and embarrassingly enough some of the "behind the scenes" work between me and Morgoth. So yeah, sorry about that, and hopefully you'll be seeing a new chapter to Nightmare Incarnate shortly after this update. Provided I can find the time to work around my classes.