Konoha Crush (Arc)

The Invasion of Konoha arc is from Part I of the series that spans from chapters 115 to 138 of the manga and episodes 68 to 80 of the Naruto anime. The previous arc directly leads into this one.

Orochimaru vs. The Third Hokage
Three giant snakes are summoned and break down the walls guarding Konoha, then proceed to wreak havoc on the village. Meanwhile, approximately one-hundred and twenty Sand and Sound ninjas invade the village. The Sand joins the attack because their Feudal Lord had mistreated their village and showed favors toward Konoha; this attack is to show that Sunagakure treated as second rate in their own country.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru fights the Third Hokage. Orochimaru shows his secret: he had created a ninjutsu to grant him immortality. Orochimaru's spirit is able to live forever, but he must change bodies frequently. Orochimaru also mastered Summoning: Impure World Resurrection, which allowed him to summon the souls of the previous Hokages at the cost of sacrificing his Sound Genin. Attempting to stop this technique, the Third performs Technique Neutralize, managing to the third coffin. Sarutobi then uses Summoning Technique to summon Monkey King Enma.

The summoned Hokages, though perfect in form to the original and retaining all their abilities, have lost their personalities, and are merely Orochimaru's slaves. They cannot be killed, since their bodies simply regenerate. the Third realizes that he must do something about their souls, and uses Dead Demon Consuming Seal, the same technique the Fourth Hokage used to seal the demon fox. Sarutobi is able to sacrifice two Shadow Clones to seal away the souls of the previous two Hokages, and then attempts to kill Orochimaru by destroying Orochimaru's soul. However, Sarutobi was low on chakra and stamina, and thus opts to do the next best thing: seal away Orochimaru's arms, so Orochimaru is unable to perform any more jutsu. The Third dies, still with a smile on his face.

Naruto vs. Gaara
Sasuke, Shino, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Naruto chase after Temari and Kankuro, who were charged with protecting Gaara until Gaara recovered from his fight with Sasuke. Shikamaru drops off to stop nine Sound Jonin from following them, though Shikamaru was low on chakra. Asuma comes to bail him out. Kankuro stops to fight Sasuke, giving enough time for Gaara to recover. However, Shino declares that they are opponents, since they were supposed to fight during the Chunin Exam. Shino was able to defeat Kankuro by placing a female bug on him. The scent of this bug attracted all of Shino's other bugs, and these overpowered Kankuro, but Shino is also rendered unconscious after being poisoned earlier in the fight, until his father comes to his aid to remove the poison. Finally, Sasuke fights Gaara. Gaara begins to transform into his Shukaku state, overpowering and defeating Sasuke.

When Sasuke was about to be killed, Naruto and Sakura arrive. Gaara still attempts to kill Sasuke when Sakura places herself between them. Gaara traps Sakura in one of his Shukaku Sand Claws and pins her to a tree. Then he taunts Naruto, stating that unless he defeats Gaara, Sakura will eventually be crushed by the sand claw trapping her to the tree.

At first Naruto is clearly overpowered, but later in the fight he gains more ground by using clever tactics and employing the techniques Jiraiya taught him. Naruto uses A Thousand Years of Death to injure the partial Shukaku form to prevent any movement, then uses the Uzumaki Naruto 2k Combo to pound Gaara, surprising everyone watching their battle. However, Gaara then transforms into the full Shukaku form and attempts to finish Naruto off with his Sand Binding Coffin and Sand Waterfall Funeral techniques. However, Naruto is able to break out of Gaara's Sand Binding Coffin by summoning Gamabunta, and after a little convincing from Gamakichi, Gamabunta decides to fight Shukaku.

However, Gaara then uses his Feigning Sleep Technique to call out Shukaku's real powers. As Gamabunta was no match, Naruto would have to force Gaara awake. Using a combo transformation, Naruto transforms Gamabunta into the form of the demon fox, which is able to grab Shukaku long enough for Naruto to punch Gaara awake. Angered, Gaara attempts to trap Naruto in his Sand Binding Coffin technique again. Though Gamabunta fails in an attempt to stop Gaara's attack, Naruto escapes with the demon fox's chakra. He launches himself at Gaara but is unable to reach him with his fist, so Naruto head butts him. As blood trickles down both their foreheads, Gaara's Shukaku form crumbles around them. The two each only have enough chakra for one more attack. Gaara and Naruto launch themselves at each other and Naruto knocks Gaara down with one final punch.

Despite being unable to walk, Naruto crawls to Gaara to make sure he is defeated. The two then, realize they are almost alike to each other; they both have monsters in their bodies, which lead them to be ostracized by the people in their village. While Gaara wonders why Naruto is so strong, Naruto explains to Gaara that although he knows exactly what Gaara went through growing up being hated by everyone, he would not let him take away those that saved him from the hell of being alone and unloved, even if it meant killing Gaara. As Naruto continues to crawl towards Gaara, a recovered Sasuke drops next to him and informs him that Sakura is now free of Gaara's sand claw and is safe. Temari and Kankuro drop by Gaara and face off with Sasuke when Gaara tells them that he gives up and asks them not to fight anymore. The two agree and take Gaara away from the scene. After seeing the job was done, Naruto fell asleep due to exhaustion.

In the end, what enables Naruto to triumph is his devotion to those important to him, which turns out to be a source of much greater strength than Gaara's hatred. After the battle ends, Gaara wonders whether he would be able to love again and apologizes to Temari and Kankuro.

Also, as Gaara was an opponent that Sasuke could not face equally, this reverses Naruto and Sasuke's roles in their rivalry and induces deep feelings of inferiority in Sasuke despite the facade of superiority that he continues to maintain. Later on, a funeral is held for the Third Hokage.

Epilogue
The invasion is called off, since Orochimaru cannot use any more techniques, and the Sand and Sound shinobi retreat. The surviving Sand ninja also find the body of the Kazekage, and they realized that Orochimaru murdered their leader and disguised himself as the Kazekage, thereby playing both sides of the alliance he created, resulting in them reestablishing their alliance with Konoha.