Before either of the two giants could think of anything to do, the evil laughter they'd been hearing in their heads came from around their feet. Both of them looked down to see Orochimaru standing between them, arms crossed. Naruto's look of surprise quickly turned to anger. He raised his foot and was about to bring it down on Orochimaru when Orochimaru jumped back. Orochimaru grinned crazily up at Naruto and began to make hand signs. Within seconds Orochimaru's hands were spread out palms pointing at Gaara.

"Forbidden Jutsu! Mind Corruption: Assault!"

Gaara suddenly clutched his head in pain as Orochimaru's jutsu assaulted his mind. Naruto looked alarmed and asked, "Gaara? Are you okay?"

"My mind...is being invaded...by Orochimaru!" Gaara managed to gasp out.

Naruto grabbed Gaara's shoulders and shook him, "Fight it! Come on Gaara! You've got to fight it!"

Orochimaru laughed quietly and said, "Don't be a fool. One of you was doomed to be my slave from the start. Pity. I really thought someone like Kakashi or Sasuke would come out on top."

He made the hand signs again, his chakra rushing out into another jutsu.

"Forbidden Jutsu! Mind Corruption: Assault!"

Gaara fell to his knees in pain, grasping his head. He wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer...

As Gaara and Naruto fought off Orochimaru's forbidden jutsu, Jiraiya was just joining Tsunade in the basement of the Hokage Mansion.

"Well Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked as soon as he hit the bottom stair. "Got any ideas?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Tsunade said. "I remember reading about another case like this. Of course, there wasn't any giants involved. Back then, a powerful ninja used a jutsu that was able to control the minds of other ninja by implanting a piece of his chakra inside their bodies. That's likely what Orochimaru is doing."

"But what about the growing?" Shizune said.

"That's something Orochimaru developed on his own. The jutsu crystallizes chakra and stimulates from within the ninja's growth patterns, causing them to expand. By mixing these two jutsu together he's able to expand certain ninja and control their minds at the same time. Think about it. If one piece of Orochimaru's chakra can start taking control, just enough to want to force the ninja to keep growing, then imagine what a bigger dose of his chakra could do. As the ninja fight each other, they start absorbing more and more of his chakra. By the time only one giant remains..."

"He'll be nothing more than Orochimaru's puppet." Jiraiya said in disgust.

"Exactly." Tsunade said opening a scroll. "Which is why we have to dilute Orochimaru's chakra. The growth problem can be fixed after that."

Tsunade held out the scroll and explained her plan. It would be risky since in order to purify the ninja's chakra, they'd have to be extremely close. Not only that, it would take awhile to perform. On top of all that, they still had to deal with Orochimaru. Things were starting to look grim.