บท 28: The Invasion
It was after Naruto's fight with Neji. I saw Baki shifting in his position and moving closer to the Anbu I and everyone else knew was Kabuto disguised. After my fight, under the excuse of the matches getting possibly more dangerous, the civilians were removed from the arena, leaving only the Ninjas from Konoha. Reality was that everyone had already been evacuated to the bunkers, with the Finals being used as a cover. I had been informed of the plan by Ibiki when I told him of both the Kazekage and Kabuto.
"Guys, when I tell you to close your eyes, please do so"
The gang looked at me with confusion written all over their faces. Tenten was the one who vocalized their doubts, though not to my surprise.
"Hm? Why would you ask that?"
"Can you guys just do it?"
They relented quite quickly, and I was pretty sure that, had Shikamaru been here instead of fighting Temari, he would've caught on to the fact that something was going on quite quickly. He did have an IQ above 200 for something, right?
"Thanks guys, believe me you won't regret it"
And they didn't
*
"As Shikamaru *cough* forfeited, Temari is the winner *cough*"
Everyone was booing Shikamaru, while Choji and I laughed at Ino's face. It was obvious to anyone who knew Shikamaru that he would forfeit. He only reached this far to ensure his advancement to Chunin and because I and his mother forced him to. Oh yeah, she could be as scary as every mother.
It was already time for Sasuke's fight against Gaara and, as if rehearsed, he appeared at the last second. Unfortunately, Orochimaru seemed to have already lost his patience, as I noted Kabuto moving to put everyone to sleep.
"Guys, close your eyes!"
Since they were ready, they did as I said. Thanks to everything being prepared beforehand, no one fell in Kabuto's Genjutsu. When I was about to jump into action, I realized the Hokage and Orochimaru had already disappeared. I was ready to follow them, but I was suddenly attacked by someone unexpected.
"Sand Coffin!"
"Dammit Gaara! Why me of all people?!"
I had barely escaped on time with a Substitution Jutsu, but I still couldn't wrap my mind around why Gaara attacked me of all people. Then I realized something. The current Gaara wanted validation and, in his delusional state, thought that beating Sasuke would validate his existence. Since I was stronger than Sasuke currently... could it be that I was his objective because of that?
"You... Ryota Inuzuka... your death will vallidate my existence..."
Listening to his slow and almost hissing voice in reality was way more threatening than in the anime. Even more so when you can feel the amount of sadness and hatred that came from both Gaara and Shukaku, making it a killer combo for the weak of heart. Something I had realized I wasn't when I fought against Sasori. I knew that wasn't part of my personality, so I could only guess that it had to do with me being half Uzumaki and being in another body.
I had to deal with Gaara, even if I didn't want to. That was when I realized something bad. Gaara was running for Tenten. I couldn't allow that happening. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to her with me being the cause of it. Flickering in front of her, I was faced with a rampaging Gaara who was slowly turning into the Ichibi.
"Suiton: Drilling Water Spears!"
Spewing water from my mouth, it took the shape of many spears. Gaara created a shield of sand, which only served for said sand to get wet and, in consecuence, become useless. Realizing that I was a weird sort of natural enemy for him, he quickly began running out of Konoha. As much as I would've loved to just allow him to leave, I had to follow him. But then I remembered something.
I was torn between two choices. I could either turn around and go help the old man against Orochimaru and both Shodai and Nidaime Hokage's, Hashirama and Tobirama Senju. I knew the end result of both fights and, as such, I decided to do the most logical in my mind.
"Naruto, Sasuke, I leave Gaara to you both! I'll go help Hokage-sama!"
I at least knew nobody would die on their end, but I didn't want the old man to die. Not when I could've helped him, lest I wanted to feel guilty for the rest of my life.
My mind made up, I began flickering towards the Hokage's Tower, where the actual main battle was taking place. Here, plot armor didn't work its magic.
"Fuck!"
On my way to the tower, a lot of invading nin from Suna and Oto tried to attack me. Key word being tried. I either dodged them and kept moving forwards or simply pierced them with a Water Sword. I realized I had to move faster. Tenten and the rest were safe, since Kakashi and Guy were both in the Arena and I had left Guremaru with them as a failsafe. It was only when I was getting closer to the tower that I realized how fucked I would be if I didn't make it in time.
Orochimaru's underlings were about to create the barrier. Thus, I did something I had never thought of doing.
"Nagareru Tsume"
I used most most dangerous technique as a boost in speed while flickering. The result was catastrophic, since I literally tore apart anything in the way. I could feel my stomach turn when I was bathed in blood. I thought I was ready to kill and my mind was made up, but actually doing so -and in such an unsightly manner- wasn't what I expected for my first time. Neither was I expecting to kill so many people.
When I crashed -since landing wasn't what I did- in the rooftop of the tower, the barrier closed behind me. Both Orochimaru and Hiruzen were surprised to se me in there, but I was happy to see Orochimaru's scowl when he realized I was the one who had trashed his plan. And I had even more information to give.
"Hey, say, why didn't I see, smell or at least feel Danzo defending Konoha? Wouldn't you know, Snake-san?"
The traitor just looked at me with an amused expression and then hissed something I didn't really liked hearing.
"You're interesting, Ryota Inuzuka... you'll prove a worthy test subject"
"Yeah... I'd rather not! Perhaps we can already get to the fighting? I want to be baack home eating with mom by nightime"
Orochimaru once again frowned at my lack of fear towards him, but Hiruzen actually laughed at that. I didn't understand exactly why, but he did.
"Ryota-shounen, you made it just in time, but you aren't ready for this stage"
"I know that much... but at least I can stop a bad ending from happening" [1]
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[1] Ultra Crimson Death Flag Raised
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