Konoha crush
"Ino, wake up."
Ino heard Shikamaru's urgent voice, and she groggily opened her eyes.
"Ugh, what happened? I saw some white feathers, and I fell asleep."
Ino mumbled while holding her head, but a loud explosion jolted her awake. The explosion was very close to them; she could feel the air twist from its heat.
Thankfully, Choji took action and covered his friends with his body; the explosion had thrown small pebbles towards them like they were bullets.
Thump
Choji's large body managed to block the majority of the pebbles. Which saved Ino and Shikamaru from becoming casualties.
"Choji, are you alright?!"
"Why are there explosions happening so close to the stands? I am a patient; I barely healed after my previous fight."
Ino asked with confusion and shock. Medical ninjutsu had barely healed, but she decided to come and watch the tournament anyway.
It turns out feathers fell from the sky and she became unconscious, and now an explosion went off near her. Was the world trying to kill her?
"Ino, we were caught in an area-wide genjutsu. Shikamaru saw it coming and broke us out."
"But we have to hurry; Sensei is in danger, and Konoha is under attack."
Choji urgently spoke about their situation. After they woke up, the first thing they saw was that their Hokage was trapped, and Asuma was held a hostage.
This was dangerous, but they were Asuma's students; they had to do something to save their sensei.
"What? Sensei!"
Ino turned to look at the situation and saw a barrier covering the main rooftop. Hokage was trapped with three men inside the barrier.
And outside the barrier, Kabuto was holding Asuma hostage.
"That's Seinor Kabuto; was he pretending to be a genin this whole time?"
Ino exclaimed; she thought Kabuto was Konoha genin who had failed the chunin exams many times, but it turns out he was a strong enemy ninja.
"Guys, we have to do something. Hokage Sama can't fight because they are threatening him with Asuma sensei's life."
"We have to rescue Asuma sensei quickly."
Shikamaru analyzed the situation; both Ino and Choji were ready after hearing this. Ino got up, ignoring the pain in her thigh.
"Okay, let's do this."
Choji banged his fists together. Ino Shika Cho took their positions. Shikamaru stood behind Choji, and Ino flipped her hair back.
Their team was ready.
"Ha!"
Just before they were about to launch an attack, a purple blur struck Kabuto. This blur was Anko Mitarashi, who had sneaked up on him.
"Please don't meddle in our business, senior."
Yet Kabuto seemed to have expected this and twisted his head at an impossible angle.
"Go to hell!"
Anko gritted her teeth in anger, and her hands turned into snakes. Which snapped at Kabuto from below.
"Sigh, I told you not to disturb me."
Slaaaash
Anko's eyes widened in shock; she felt Kabuto's hand slash through her stomach completely.
Kabuto just used a chakra scalpel to cut Anko. This was a medical ninjutsu designed to save people, but in Kabuto's hands, it was the sharpest weapon.
"You are so weak, Senior Anko; this is why Lord Orochimaru abandoned you."
Bang
Bang
Kabuto taunted Anko and ignored her body falling off the roof. Anko's body hit the ground in two pieces; her lower half and upper half were severed.
Anko had lost really badly; she was already unconscious at this point with her eyes rolled back. And she had fallen right in front of Team Shikamaru.
"On second thought, we probably should not save sensei."
Ino gulped and backed away; this was Anko, a special Jonin. And she was cut in half like nothing.
"We should call somebody; this is way beyond our league. Where are our fathers?"
Shikamaru bit his nails and looked around; there was too much chaos going on.
A massive, one-tailed beast was also rampaging in the village; maybe their fathers were trying to stop that beast.
"We need to ask for help. Who is the strongest guy we know that can help?"
Shikamaru asked his friends, and then all three genin looked at each other and named a single person.
"Let's ask Sato. He was supposedly the two tails who appeared a few years ago."
"Two tails has to be stronger than one tail and a guy like Kabuto, right?"
"Besides that, he is the next Raikage. He's gotta be strong."
Shikamaru was analyzing their chances with Sato. He could only ask for help from one person due to time limitations.
Choosing the right person was important, but they didn't have the luxury of waiting for the right guy. The Hokage was being beaten badly right now.
Team Shikamaru decided to take their chances with Sato.
"Let's go and get Sato."
"He was poisoned a while ago; I just hope he can still use his strength right now."
Shikamaru muttered as he ran towards the hospital with his team. They avoided the ninja battles going on and sneaked their way into the hospital.
Arriving at the place, they were stuck with another problem.
"We are here, but how are we supposed to find him in this place?"
Ino looked around; they didn't know where Sato could be right now.
This was a big hospital, and for all they knew, Sato could have been knocked out by the genjutsu too.
Bang
BANG
Raaaaaagh
That's when terrible smashing and yelling sounds came from a single direction.
Ino Shika Cho looked at each other and ran towards the sounds. Hoping to find a clue there.
"Let me go! I will smash this barrier into dust!"
"Railgun- Umph."
When the Ino Shika Cho trio came to the location of the noise, they saw an angry Sato being held back by three adults.
Sato had a bright, scary-looking lightning ball in his hand, which he wanted to smash into their room for some reason. And everyone else was trying to stop him.
"Sato Sama, don't do it. If the barrier isn't broken, we will turn to dust from your railgun."
Samui exclaimed, trying to calm Sato down. Sato definitely inherited Raikage's short temper, Samui thought nervously.
"Sato kun. What's going on?"
Ino arrived and waved cheerfully; she seemed to have forgotten their sensei's danger completely.
But Choji didn't forget. He was a very loyal man. He decided to tell Sato about Asuma and get his help immediately.
They did not have much time.
"Sato, we need your help, please."
Choji urgently spoke and ran towards the door. His actions were so fast that Sato couldn't complete his next sentence.
"Wait, there is a barrier; don't come into this room."
Choji heard Sato and panicked. He managed to stop somehow, but there was one problem. He was walking too fast.
Foooosh
Which meant he had a lot of momentum and couldn't control his body. Choji's belly mistakenly touched the invisible barrier, and he spontaneously ignited.
"Choji!"
Shikamaru exclaimed, he quickly used his shadow to pull Choji back.
But this was no simple barrier; it was a barrier that could trap multiple Hokage. Kabuto had even modified it to work without external support.
This was fully automatic, it was not so easy to crack.
Fooosh
That's why as soon as Shikamaru's shadow touched Choji, beyond all reason the shadow itself caught on fire.
Shikamaru's eyes shrunk, and he quickly released his shadow mid pull. Although he had separated Choji from the barrier barely.
"Cough Cough."
Shikamaru's presence of mind saved both Choji and himself; Choji was coughing hard yet shakily got up. He was safe. This made Sato sigh with relief.
"Why are you in such a hurry, Choji? You should thank Shikamaru. Without him, you wouldn't have survived."
"Guys there is a flame barrier around our room. Kabuto trapped us, so we can't get out."
"I tried to break it many times; it just did not move. I was about to railgun it when you guys showed up."
"By the way which clan made this jutsu? Why is it so overpowered?"
Sato gritted his teeth; he was cursing the inventor while punching the barrier.
Foosh
This action ignited his body immediately, but Sato shrugged it off like nothing happened and took his hand back.
The raw display of Raikage durability made Ino Shika Cho gulp. They had seen the strength of the barrier firsthand, and Sato ignored the damage completely.
Sato was definitely the right choice, he was very strong. Now he just needs to go and save-
Ino suddenly paused her thoughts and widened her eyes.
"Wait a second."
"If you are trapped in a barrier, how are we supposed to save Asuma sensei?"
"Shit, we chose the wrong target. We should have asked someone else for help."
Ino pulled her hair in despair; Shikamaru and Choji were also desperate. They had bet on Sato, hoping he would save Asuma.
Now they were out of time, and Sato was trapped within a jutsu. They made the wrong choice.
"Darn it. We are so useless; if only I was trapped in there instead of Sato, our sensei could have been saved."
Choji was about to cry. Although he didn't show many emotions, but Choji was the most emotional guy in their group.
Shikamaru patted the injured Choji feeling defeated. Even Shikamaru had given up, as he knew they didn't have enough time to search for someone else.
Only Ino seemed to have a bright light in her eyes.
"Wait, it's possible. One of us can take Sato's place so Sato can get out."
Ino exclaimed like she found a solution, and Shikamaru twitched his lips and shook his head.
"We can't do that Ino. The whole room is covered in a barrier."
"We can't get in, and they can't get out, understand?"
Shikamaru rubbed his head, but Ino rolled her eyes. She spoke while pulling out a voodoo doll from her pocket.
"I know, Shikamaru, I am not an idiot. Sato kun can't come out physically, but we can transfer his consciousness into this doll."
"He can possess someone strong like Sasuke and defeat Kabuto, then return to his own body. It's the perfect plan!"
Ino happily showed off her voodoo doll; she didn't get a chance to use her body swap justu in her match. But she can use it now.
The only problem was that Sato needed to agree to this temporary possession.
"Wait a second, hold on. Sato Sama is not doing that. Sato sama is a very important person."
"Your village's problems have nothing to do with us, you can't ask him to do something so dangerous."
Yet Ino's hopes were dashed immediately by Samui. She could not agree to this transaction. This was way too risky.
Samui wouldn't allow Sato to take such a risk. They will find a different solution. If not, Konoha can handle their problems themselves. This was not hidden cloud's concern.
"Samui is right Ino. I am NOT swapping bodies with anyone. I hate that troupe."
And then, as the final nail in the coffin. Sato himself denied this idea directly. Much to team Shikamaru's dismay.
"No need to look at me like that, infact you guys don't know. But attempting this would be lethal for you."
"There is great danger right infront of you, and I bet you didn't even notice it."
Advanced chapters ahead on patréon
www.patréon.com/ImagineMaker
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone