章節 168: Chapter 19
Disclaimer: I have never nor do I currently own Naruto. There are some quotes in this chapter that are not mine either.
Chapter 19 – Fights & Invasion Pt.2
The ten minutes passed and the audience had returned to their seats eagerly anticipating the next round of matches. The participants themselves were also eager to get started after all the waiting during the first round.
Genma reappeared in the middle of the arena and after a look towards the Hokage he nodded and got things rolling again.
"For the first match of the second round of the Chūnin Exam Finals, will Uzumaki Naruto and Aburame Shino come down!" Genma shouted.
However, the crowd would once again be disappointed.
"I forfeit proctor-san" Shino calmly says loud enough so everyone can hear.
As he said those words the crowd booed loudly and called the boy a coward. While, most had truly been waiting for the Uchiha to fight and show off his prowess they had also been intrigued by the young Uzumaki. They were hoping to see more from him with some hoping the Aburame would push him to expose more of his abilities.
"Are you sure?" Genma asked.
He really hoped the kid would fight. If the crowd was anything to go by things were going to only get worse if there wasn't a decent fight soon.
"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious"
"Uzumaki-san is not a normal genin. His chakra is poisonous to my allies and I would lose more than I would gain even in victory" Shino finishes.
Genma nods in understanding. That Sun Tzu quote and his reasoning showed a level of intelligence that was above a mere genin.
'He might be worthy of promotion' thought a number of shinobi present.
Genma gave the genin a nod of respect.
"Very well, then the winner by forfeit Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma shouted.
The crowd grew silent as they waited for the announcement of the second match.
Kage's
"Were you able to find them?" Sarutobi asked.
"Yes Hokage-sama. They are being brought here now" the Anbu informed his leader.
"Where did you find him?" The Hokage asked.
"They were in the Uchiha cemetery visiting the boys' parents and Uchiha Obito's grave" the ANBU answered.
'Interesting, he's never visited the individual graves before. I wonder what's behind the change' the old man wondered.
"Did he give you any trouble?" the old Kage asked.
"No Hokage-sama. It seemed as if they were on their way here when we finally caught them" the ANBU answered.
Hiruzen nodded at that bit of information. It still seemed odd as the Exams had moved rather fast this year thanks to all the forfeits and relatively short fights. This meant either they had been in the village for quite some time already or something changed during the training trip. Sarutobi was betting on the former guessing the first search had missed him because he already went to the Stone likely dragging young Sasuke along.
"Very well, return to your duties. I trust everything is prepared and ready?" the Kage asked.
"Yes, Hokage-sama" the ANBU replied.
With a nod the Hokage was once again left alone with the Kazekage. Both men gave each other a nod before returning to face the arena.
"For the second match of the second round, will Yasuoto Yuudai and Yamanaka Ino come down!" Genma shouted.
Waiting Area
Naruto watched as Yuudai made his way down to the arena followed quickly by Ino. Naruto hadn't said anything except good luck to Yuudai as he was still reigning in his anger over what happened to Temari.
Katsu had already left the waiting area and was sitting with his parents. Shino had also left, but not before saying something weird.
"A garden is filled with many bugs each with a different task. Some of destruction and some of growth and rebirth. Each is a necessary element for a successful garden to grow" the bug user said to him.
Naruto could guess at what he meant, but he didn't care. He did respect the Aburame though and listened if only to humor him.
With Yuudai and Ino leaving and the Aburame gone this left him alone with Gaara. He hadn't seen the blood thirsty redhead since his mother had altered and fixed his seal. He wondered if anything had changed with the crazy sleep deprived Jinchūriki. So he turned to look at said Jinchūriki.
"Gaara"
"I'm going to kill you"
"What?"
"I said I'm going to kill you … after I make the Uchiha bleed"
"Okay"
Nope nothing had changed there. Well, he was a bit more … expressive. Naruto wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He decided to focus back on the match and deal with the homicidal blood freak later.
Arena
Ino and Yuudai stood apart from each other in front of the proctor. Ino could hear her mother distinctly yelling out words of encouragement to her. Ino was embarrassed yet grateful as despite her earlier victory she still wasn't feeling all that confident.
Yuudai was eying the blond kunoichi discreetly. He took notice of things that Temari had probably dismissed like how Ino was a bit more toned then he remembered. It looked like she had gained a little muscle and healthy weight.
He also noticed that while still a novice Ino had practiced a good deal with her tanto. He could also feel that her reserves were larger than he expected for a rookie kunoichi. That would probably lend to her being a ninjutsu specialist something rare for kunoichi, but he saw from the earlier match she still had good control.
All in all he thought she was developing very nicely as a ninja … not to mention as a woman. He couldn't help but notice her growing curves as well. She was definitely going to be a hottie.
'I'm definitely going to try and get in on the ground floor with her before more people start to notice.' Yuudai thought.
Ino was having second thoughts on continuing to fight.
'I can't beat him. I only won against Temari, because of a fluke. I should give up'
Done with their own thoughts and observations they both looked towards the proctor waiting for the signal.
"Are both fighters ready?" Genma asked.
Only Yuudai nodded, while Ino looked down.
"Proctor … I'd like to forfeit" Ino tells him.
"Are you sure Yamanaka-san?" Genma asked.
Ino's response was a nod in his direction.
"Alright then … winner of the second fight of the second round by way of forfeit …"
"Wait!" Yuudai yelled.
"Yamanaka-san, I don't know you real well but you don't seem the type to give up like this. Why are you forfeiting?" Yuudai asked the girl.
"I know I would lose" was her simple reply.
"You won your last match?" Yuudai offered.
"I only won, because Temari-san underestimated me. My whole plan revolved around her underestimating me and even then I only won through a fluke" Ino admitted.
"Still you won, don't you even want to try so that you might be promoted?" Yuudai asked.
"No, I'm not ready for that. I wasted all of my time in the academy chasing after a boy that didn't want me. I only seriously began to train after graduation. Getting this far on my first try is enough for now.
I'm going to train even harder and I'll be ready for it next time" Ino finished with a confidant smile.
Genma decided to cut in figuring it was more than time to move on as he noted the crowd beginning to get even more restless.
"Yamanaka-san do you forfeit?" He asked.
"I stand by my decision" Ino replies.
Genma nods in understanding as Ino turned to walk towards the stands.
"Winner of the Second Fight of the Second Round by way of forfeit Yasuoto Yuudai!" Genma announces.
Despite hearing her reason and even agreeing the crowd booed the young heiress as she made her way off the field. It was mainly out of frustration due to all the forfeits and the fight they had all came to see being delayed.
Ino had made it to the bottom of the steps when she heard someone yell her name. She turned to see who it was when she saw it was Yuudai.
"Hey, thanks for stopping for me" Yuudai started.
"It's okay. Sorry about forfeiting before our fight. You probably wanted to try and score more points with the judges so you can get promoted" Ino says.
"It's okay. I don't really care about getting promoted. I'm only going to be here a few more years so it won't change much for me. I am sad we didn't get to fight though" he says.
"Why? Wanted to beat up on a weak little girl" Ino says angrily.
"No, I wanted to see how much you've grown. Looking at your fight with Temari and from observing you before our match I can see you've worked hard.
You might think it was just a fluke that you won that match, but you don't win against someone like Temari without knowing some pretty serious skills. The chakra flow technique you used to imbue your sword with your chakra and make it stronger is an fairly advanced technique.
It's usually something only samurai or those interested in kenjutsu would use" Yuudai says.
"I saw how most of the Finalists had a weapon or something to use instead of standard kunai or shuriken. When I picked up a sword it just … felt right" Ino replies.
"Always happy to hear someone else say that. I felt the same way when my father gave me my first sword. I can use other weapons, but nothing compares to a sword in my opinion" Yuudai responds.
Ino only nodded as both started to make their way up the stairs until they came to the juncture where they would part.
"Umm, Ino-san …" Yuudai started getting her attention.
"After all of this is over would you like to train with me some time … and … maybe have lunch or perhaps dinner with me afterwards?" Yuudai asked nervously.
Ino was shocked. I mean sure she thought she was hot and everyone had always said she was pretty, but no one had really asked her out before.
"Umm … I-I d-don't …" Ino stammered.
There was also her feelings towards the Uchiha. After the things Naruto said to her and Ami and speaking with relatives that were or had been kunoichi she was no longer a fan girl. That didn't mean she gave up on the Uchiha completely. She still hoped to gain his attention someday.
However, after the talk with her relatives and other kunoichi she knew how dangerous being a ninja was. She didn't have time to wait around for one boy to make up his mind. Plus, she really wanted to experience being in love.
"It's okay if you don't …"
"No, no … umm, I'd like to train with you. How about we talk about lunch or dinner after that?" Ino asks with a little of her confidence returning.
"Sure, we can get together next Friday if you don't have anything else to do" Yuudai responded happily.
"Okay" she answered.
They both turned to go their separate way when Yuudai felt a pleasant weight on his back.
"Good luck in the next round" she whispered.
"Thank you" he replied.
They both returned to going their separate ways although both turned to look backwards a few times at the other.
'They're bigger than I had guessed' Yuudai thought with a little perverted smile on his face as he returned to the waiting area.
When he made it to the waiting area the Uchiha was there seemingly glaring at Naruto, while Naruto was ignoring him and seemingly in a staring competition with Gaara. That all changed when he walked in as Naruto turned to face him.
"Congrats on winning, but what took you so long to get back up here. They've already announced the next match" Naruto says.
"Then what are they still doing here?" Yuudai asked.
He noted that both Gaara and the Uchiha were still staring or glaring at Naruto. Naruto's response was a shrug.
"I don't know, but it seems like Genma is close to disqualifying both of them" Naruto says nonchalantly.
When the other boys turned to look into arena they noticed he was right. Genma was giving what looked to be a standing 10 count and he was seemingly on the number six.
"This isn't over dobe" came from the avenger.
"I will kill you" came from the blood crazed jinchūriki.
They both used shunshin no jutsu to stand in front of Genma before he could get to 10.
"What was that all about?" Yuudai asked.
"Oh some ANBU dropped the littlest Uchiha off shortly after you and the Yamanaka left. He then tried to act cool trying to say how I was the one he wanted to fight most or some crap like that" Naruto recounts.
"What did you say?" Yuudai asked.
"That you were the one I wanted to fight the most" Naruto responded without looking at him.
Yuudai smiled at that. He chose to take it as Naruto acknowledging his growth and that he thought he was a challenge.
"That's good, because you are also the one I want to fight the most" Yuudai challenges back.
This time Naruto did turn his head to look at him briefly giving a smile and a nod.
Arena
"Glad you could finally make it Uchiha. Your lucky Hokage-sama allowed you to continue after you didn't show up for your first match on time" Genma scolds the youth.
"Whatever, let's get this fight over with. There's a certain blond loser I need to beat down and this guy is in my way" Sasuke responded arrogantly.
Genma just looked at the kid like he had a death wish. When he looked over at Gaara he noticed he wasn't even paying attention to them. When he looked where the kid was the competitors booth came into view.
'What a crazy kid' he thought.
Stands
"Hey! Is that the Uchiha progeny?"
"The Uchiha fight is going to start!"
"Finally! If someone else forfeits again I'll never do business with the Leaf village again"
Kage's
Both village leaders looked down into the arena. The shadows created by the stadium giving each cover from their own thoughts.
"Heh Heh … finally…" thought the shadowy Suna Kage.
Stands
"Sasuke-kun is an Elite Uchiha …"
"It looks like everyone here is excited about watching Sasuke-kun's fight"
Unfortunately there was one person among the crowd that wasn't so excited. Rock Lee stood behind his precious Sakura-chan as she was sitting near the jōnin. As he looked out into the arena his thoughts began to fill with envy and dark thoughts as he was clenching his fists so hard blood was beginning to seep from the bandages.
'Sasuke-kun gets to face that Gaara of the Sand I couldn't defeat …'
'And Naruto-kun defeated that Neji I dreamed of beating …'
Lee heard how easily Naruto had defeated his rival, someone he had never once beaten in all the spars they had had since they joined Team 9 over a year ago. And before that his sensei had told him how Naruto had defended him from Gaara's attack while he lay sleeping in the hospital.
He turned from looking at the field to focusing on the waiting area where the remaining fighters still stood awaiting their next time.
'Why does it … … … hurt so much' Lee thought.
Behind him his teacher and role model could only look at his student sadly. His dream was over barring a miracle and he had to watch as others not only accomplished his dreams, but surpassed them. There was nothing he could do and in times like this even Gai felt unyouthful.
'Lee' he thought sadly.
Any further thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Kakashi.
"Hey Gai" Kakashi casually greeted.
"Kakashi" Gai responded unusually.
"And Lee-kun too! Your body is alright now?" The copy-nin asked.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called out recognizing the man.
"Oh sorry, sorry!"
"You must have been worried, sorry for not contacting you at all"
"That doesn't matter any more" Sakura said.
Her statement shocked those that heard. I mean how could she not care about her teacher practically abandoning her for the entire month without even a goodbye. Instead Sakura was focused entirely on Sasuke or more prudently the area of his neck where he was bitten by that freak.
'I can't see it well from here' she thought.
"Kakashi-sensei …" she said regaining the man's attention.
"On Sasuke-kun's neck … there was a mark, right?"
"Is that …"
"Don't worry" Kakashi quickly interjected interrupting her before she could say more.
With that dealt with Kakashi looked around. Since he left immediately after the preliminaries he hadn't been informed until a few minutes ago about what was going on.
'Eight ANBU for this huge arena. Only 2 small teams, what's Hokage-sama thinking?'
'No … until we figure out the enemy's plans … they are probably needed on the outside gathering information'
Meanwhile in another section of the stadium Kankurō sat and was silently freaking out. Gaara had been off all day and they hadn't really seen him in weeks. Scarier even was he was sure his psychotic blood crazed little brother had been sleeping recently, which was something that shouldn't be possible. At least not without Shikaku possessing him and trying to turn Konoha into the 2nd largest desert nation in the elemental nations.
There was also the unmistakable killing intent he was releasing. Kankurō was supposed to be in the box with him calming him down with Temari before his fight with the Uchiha. Unfortunately when he forfeited Kankurō had no idea so many others would do so as well or that the fights that did happen would finish relatively quickly.
And then Temari lost her fight due to a critical injury. He had spent most of his time since then by her bedside. Thankfully she had survived being stabbed in the chest as the blade didn't touch her heart or any other vital area's. The wound had been shallower than expected so the doctor's didn't have much trouble healing her. She would be ready to go in a few days. Unfortunately that would probably land her as a POW if the Invasion wasn't successful as he couldn't move her yet.
Still she had gotten close to the Uzumaki kid so he would probably protect her from much of the fallout. There was something else on his mind beside his homicidal little bro killing the Uchiha and his sisters' condition.
When the whole Invasion was discussed and the signal for it to begin was talked about. The Kazekage had seemed overly adamant about Gaara not killing the Uchiha scion.
'Why would father care so much about Gaara killing the Uchiha brat?'
'He never cared when Gaara would slaughter entire teams of our own chūnin and ANBU, so why would he care about him killing some other village's brat?'
'A village we're about to slaughter anyway. Something isn't right about this' he mused.
Arena
Genma stood watching the two prodigal genin. Gaara still hadn't focused on him or the Uchiha. It wasn't his problem if the kid got killed or not and the clients wouldn't stand for him cancelling the match over such a trivial matter.
'Sorry kid, but if you can't pay attention it's your neck not mine'
"Final match of the Third Round of the Chūnin Exams, Begin!" Genma shouted and lept away.
As soon as he did Sasuke attacked his seemingly unaware opponent. Unfortunately for him Gaara didn't need to be totally aware for his defense to act on his behalf. The sand rushed out of the gourd on Gaara's back to repel Sasuke's attack forcing him to back off.
'So this is the Sand Kakashi mentioned' Sasuke thought.
Gaara meanwhile just watched as Sasuke stood thinking of his next move. Normally at this point Shikaku would have tried to control him leaving him vulnerable and unable to think clearly from that point forward. Thanks to the new seal he didn't have that problem.
"Come" Gaara said.
He turned to the face the Uchiha and raised his left arm holding his hand palm side facing out towards the Uchiha.
Sasuke needed no further prompting as he threw two shuriken at the red head.
"Here I come" Sasuke replied.
Before the shuriken could even get close to cutting him Gaara's sand flowed from the gourd on his back. It poured out onto the ground before forming a figure. It became a clone of Gaara's with in it's hand between the fingers were the two shuriken Sasuke threw.
'Suna Bunshin – Sand Clone' Gaara intoned mentally.
Sand continued flowing from the gourd and instead of one there were now 4 clones each taking a cardinal position around Gaara.
Sasuke ignored the danger and attacked with speed Gaara didn't immediately recognize. Sasuke was driven back from his initial attack as Gaara directed the clone that captured the shuriken to throw them back in Sasuke's direction.
The kunai were thrown at decent speed, but nothing significant. Sasuke managed to deflect the returning shuriken easily and resume his attack as he plowed through the first clone.
He had to abandon his attack as the other three clones moved to intercept him and even if they weren't fast enough the initial clone was reforming as the sand tried to capture him forcing him to jump back.
Sasuke pelted the clones with more shuriken as he attacked again with high speed and jumped into the air. He came down on the first clone with spinning heel kick the clone tried to block with a fist. He then twisted with his hands on the ground managing to spring up and come around with a back elbow destroying the clone.
He then charged the real Gaara standing in the middle sending a fist to his neck only for it to embed into the neck of another sand clone. When the sand tried to ensnare him he yanked back forcefully and punched the clone with an open palm forcing it to dissolve.
He noticed the third Gaara that was hidden behind the now identified clone and attacked again only for Sand to shoot up and block his attempted punch. The dissolving clones had also started to reform and then split into two now giving him 7 targets.
Normally he would have activated his Sharingan and it would help him identify the real from the fake, but he was saving that for later. After all he would need all the chakra he could get if he wanted to perform that technique.
Instead he used what he trained on most during his month with Kakashi, his speed. Gaara didn't even see him before one of his clones was down and out although it was slowly recovering and an extra was forming as before.
Unfortunately it had barely regenerated the feet before another sand clone was done, and then another, and another, and soon it was just Gaara. That's when Sasuke scored the first hit of the match catching Gaara off guard.
'Fast!' 'Just like … him' Gaara thought.
An image of Rock Lee appeared as Sasuke began raining down blow after blow and managed to send Gaara flying off his feet with him landing harshly on his back. As Gaara was moving to stand the crack in his 'Suna no Yoroi – Armour of Sand' was apparent where Sasuke decked him on the cheek.
Stands
'Fast! About the same as Lee's starting speed and …' Gai thought.
'His taijutsu is … the same as mine' Lee thought.
Arena
'So that's the armor of sand eh?' Sasuke thought.
Sasuke had certainly gotten stronger that much was certain. Unfortunately it did nothing to curb his arrogance. He stood holding his hand out beckoning Gaara to attack.
Another bit of misfortune that Sasuke came across was that thanks to no longer being distracted or having to wrest his conscious from the Ichibi Gaara could think more clearly and plan. His fight with Lee and subsequent confrontation with Naruto at the hospital and after his seal was fixed taught him a lot.
He needed a way to deal with opponents that were faster than him like Lee and he found out Naruto. The jutsu he came up with was simple yet effective.
"Come on" Sasuke said.
Of course Sasuke wasn't really honorable or misguided enough to allow his opponent to fully recover as he charged again this time getting behind Gaara. The sand rushed out towards Sasuke, but he was already gone and now in front of Gaara connecting with a kick to Gaara's chest sending him flying once more.
"What's wrong …?" "Is that it?"
Stands
Of course the civilians, many females, and of course the ninja present were impressed by the so far impressive display. Sasuke looked to be utterly dominating a kid that some assumed to be the strongest and most dangerous in the field.
"In … Incredible' thought Sakura, Ino and others of the same graduating class.
Gai watched grimly as he noted Sasuke's speed had risen to be on par with Lee without his weights.
Arena
Sasuke watched as Gaara's armor was being patched up by some of the sand littering the arena floor.
'That armor … I'll rip it off' thought Sasuke.
He began to run around Gaara going so fast to most in the arena he was nothing but a blur. For Gaara it was like he was standing in the middle of a cyclone as Sasuke kicked up huge amounts of sand and dust camouflaging him as he went to attack.
With speed Gaara couldn't track Sasuke caught Gaara with a kick to his chin the strength of the attack once again lifting the red head off his feet. Before he could get too far though Sasuke grabbed him by his shirt and threw him in the opposite direction.
Both fighters staid where they were already showing signs of exhaustion.
Stands
'Sasuke-kun, you are a genius that surpasses the imagination …'
'How many years did it take for me to gain that speed …'
'But in only a month, you …'
'But as expected keeping up that kind of movement uses up a lot of stamina' Lee thought summarizing the situation.
Also having similar thoughts to Lee Kankurō watched his little brother struggle with the Uchiha.
'What are you going to do Gaara?'
'The armor of sand uses up too much chakra … you can't use it for long' thought Kankurō.
Gai couldn't help, but be curious of how Sasuke got this far along and decided to voice his thoughts to the man that trained him.
"What kind of training did you do?"
"To come this far in only a month …" Gai left off hoping not to hurt his pupil's pride.
"Sasuke had copied Lee-kun's taijutsu with the Sharingan before…"
"That's why during his training, I had Sasuke use Lee-kun's tiajutsu"
"Because he knew Lee-kun and had seen him in action before, he was able to master the style …"
"It was a lot of work, of course" Kakashi added as an after thought.
Lee heard the exchanged and was shocked, but shook his head.
'But with just that … with just taijutsu … he can't beat the sand' Lee thought.
'Kakashi you saw the fight between the hateful Gaara and the cute Lee with your own eyes …'
'You must realize that against a guy even Lee couldn't beat , some hastily learned tiajutsu won't work … so then …' Gai thought before asking.
"Why did you concentrate on mastering only taijutsu?" Gai asked his rival.
Arena
While the conversation in the stands was going on Gaara had recovered before Sasuke enough to enact a jutsu that had saved his life countless times before.
'Suna no Tate – Shield of Sand'
The sand in the arena and from his gourd swirled around Gaara and began to form what appeared to be a cocoon. Sasuke seeing this rushed to stop the jutsu before it could complete and end the match. He only got close enough to see one of Gaara's bright green eyes before the jutsu was complete and spikes of sand erupted from the sphere of sand.
Sasuke's hand made contact with sphere as a cracking sound was heard. Blood dripped from his hand and cut going across his cheek. He had been able to move his body in time to avoid being gutted by the sand spears. He quickly hopped backwards to evaluate the situation.
'Using sand to protect himself …'
'So it gets this hard when it's packed tight' Sasuke thought.
He was referencing to his hand that felt broken and the cuts on his body dripping blood from the spears he had been unable to completely dodge.
'An absolute defense?' He questioned.
Stands
'Gaara isn't … not that jutsu' thought a panicked Kankurō.
'There's no doubt about it, it's that jutsu …'
'This is bad! Gaara's forgotten about the plan entirely'
'The third eye … it's definitely that jutsu … damn Gaara' he thought.
Arena
Sure enough an eyeball was scene floating from above the sand watching Sasuke as he stood trying to recover some of his energy and figure out his next move.
Sasuke used his newly acquired speed to run and hit and kick the dome of sand in multiple areas before breaking off his attack. It did nothing.
'As I thought no good …'
An idea came to Sasuke that threatened to make him grin.
'Hiding in there … I don't know what he's up to but …'
'This is perfect, since mine also … takes some time' Sasuke thought.
Sasuke jumped back onto the wall of the arena and started going through a chain of hand seals, Ox - Rabbit - Monkey - Dragon - Rat - Bird - Ox - Snake - Dog - Tiger - Monkey.
Stands
'Damn it Gaara … you won't be able to see the signal' thought his sensei Baki.
"Damn … once he's like this there's nothing that can be done"
"Does Gaara want to miss up the plan?" Kankurō unknowingly said out loud.
Thanks to his blunder people close enough to him heard his blunder.
'Soon' thought some of them.
Meanwhile Gai was again staring at Sasuke in shock.
"No way … is that …?" Gai asked.
"The reason I trained Sasuke is … because he is the same type as me" Kakashi responded.
"I see … so that is why you only trained in taijutsu and had him greatly increase his speed" Gai says.
"Yup!" was the simple response.
Arena
The jutsu slowly encompassed Sasuke's hand as he dug it into the cement of the wall. The wall around Sasuke cracked and began to eat away as the chakra grew stronger and noise began to be omitted.
Stands
In the stands Sakura watched the fight with nothing short of awe. She couldn't believe how much different Sasuke seemed, how much stronger he had gotten since she last saw him.
"Incredible … you can clearly see the chakra in his hand. What's going on?" Sakura questioned.
Arena
Sasuke feeling the jutsu was powered up sufficiently made his move. He shot off the wall like a bullet as he headed for the dome of sand protecting his enemy.
The ground was tearing apart from the strength of the move captivating the crowd even some of the high level ninja in the arena. The sound of a thousand birds cut threw the arena.
Stands
A group of civilians sitting near the back found themselves getting sleepy. A lone ANBU stood behind them slightly bent as if hiding as his hand was grasping on of the civilians.
"What is this technique?" "And this sound?" Sakura asked loudly.
"A simple stab" Gai said.
"Huh?" Sakura asked confused.
"But it is … the Leaf's number one technician, Copy Ninja Kakashi's sole original technique"
"It's a technique specially for assassination"
"The speed of the stab and the great amount of chakra that creates the heightened flesh, because the chakra is concentrated in the hand and with the speed of the user you hear …"
"Chi Chi Chi Chi Chi … it produces a special sound like a thousand birds are running towards you"
"Thus that technique is called this …" Gai explained.
Arena
Sasuke had quickly reached the dome of sand and plunged his chakra encased hand into it calling the name of the jutsu …
"CHIDORI" he called out.
Stands
The lone ANBU stood with his hands in a locked position as if preparing to pray or something.
However, those still awake in the stands were reacting to the latest development in the fight.
"No way!" "Gaara's absolute defense has been …" Kankurō said out loud.
"Impossible" thought Baki.
"Chidori … or as it also known, the Lightning Edge (Raikiri)" Gai finished his explanation.
"Lightening Edge?" Sakura questioned.
"The Lightening Edge is … a nickname earned when Kakashi cut a bolt of lightning with that technique" Gai explained.
'Huh?' 'Cut lightning' 'Hah' thought Sakura.
"It's true name is Chidori. It is known for it's stabbing speed that pushes the limits of the human body"
"… And the huge amount of chakra that is focused in one arm. That arm then becomes the blade of a sword that can cut anything" Gai finishes.
"But … what a truly ridiculous technique it is…" Gai added quickly.
"Like you should talk, right Lee-kun?" Kakashi returned.
"Well … it's beyond my level of understanding but … what an amazing technique!" Shouted Sakura.
'I can understand … I wouldn't run with that speed straight into my opponent in that manner' thought Lee.
'Actually, I can't do it …'
'A straight forward attack makes it easy for the opponent to counter … and I don't have the 'eye' to see the counter'
'I'm jealous of your lineage Sasuke-kun …'
'That one time we fought in the past, I told you this … "Even if you can see it, if your body can't move there's nothing you can do"'
'That was my sense of superiority … but now … you have the same body speed I had … but you also have the sharingan!' thought Lee.
Kage's
"That's Kakashi's" Sarutobi says surprised.
'Impressive!' thought the Kazekage.
Arena
'I've got you' thought Sasuke.
That was until he felt something was wrong. The sand began to tighten around Sasuke's arm until it became extremely painful.
'It feels like it's cutting my arm off'
Sasuke managed to yank his arm free. What shocked those that knew of the technique was that the whole stayed open and looked empty. Sand actually started to pour slowly out of the sphere before it collapsed revealing no Gaara.
"Where is he?" Sasuke questioned.
"Suna Shigure – Sand Drizzle" came a voice from behind him.
Sasuke turned to find a completely unharmed Gaara standing behind him. He also noted sand covered Gaara's arm forming a wicked looking set of claws on the end of his fingers.
'If those things are as dense as that shield was I don't want to be hit by them' Sasuke thought.
He moved to stand, but he soon realized he couldn't. When he looked down sand was covering his ankles and slowly accumulating rising up his legs. When he looked up he was nearly blinded by sand falling from what looked like a large cloud of sand.
"H-how?" Sasuke asked.
Gaara didn't answer him as it didn't interest him. Instead he moved until he came to stand in front of Sasuke as he was still bound by the sand now at his knees. Then he quickly stabbed the Uchiha with his claws right into his stomach.
Stands
"No! Sasuke-kun! Someone save him!" Cried out Sakura.
"No, not again" said Kakashi as he was prepared to save his student.
"He's a monster … like that other one" thought a few of the civilians that still didn't like Naruto.
"What's going on? Sasuke-kun was dominating this match" thought the rest.
"I can't believe Kakashi taught him that ridiculous technique of his. Minato never liked that jutsu, it has way too many limitations" Kushina said not really caring about the fight or what happened to the Uchiha.
"Sasuke-kun!" called out Ino unable to stop herself.
Kage's
'Damn it, why did I think it was a good idea to have an unstable jinchūriki fight Sasuke-kun. If he doesn't stop he'll kill him and ruin all of my plans … I have no choice' thought the Kazekage as he gave a signal.
Stands
A genjutsu flowed through the stands knocking out civilians and unaware shinobi not skilled enough to detect it or break the illusion.
All action ceased as the word "Kai" was sounded out all over the arena. Orochimaru and the invaders in the arena suddenly grew nervous as most of the arena crowd was still awake and apparently not civilians.
Orochimaru had a bad thought cross his mind, 'It seems we were expected'.
Smoke engulfed the Kage's as they sat eying each other and their guards moved to fight each other.
Arena
Gaara unfazed by the genjutsu or the commotion had pulled his arm free of Sasuke's stomach. He was preparing for another stab when he jumped backwards. A second later Genma appeared where he stood his back facing Sasuke as several senbon stood piercing the ground around him.
Gaara was instantly joined by Kankurō and their sensei Baki. The Uchiha was kneeling on the ground blood pouring out from his large open wound as he fought to contain it.
They were soon joined by Naruto and Yuudai standing in the middle.
Stands
Kushina and the girls quickly shrugged off the genjutsu as had the ladies behind them and the girls with a little help. Shikamaru had feigned being asleep, but a slap to the back of the head by his mother got him moving. Shikamaru, Chōji, Katsu, and Shino stood with them as did Kiba, Hinata, Kurenai, Anko, Ami, and Asuma.
With such a large group they were quickly targeted by the invading force, but each attack was repelled quickly with lethal force. It took some time, but soon they were clear of any enemies in their area.
They were soon joined by Kakashi and Gai. Gai had made sure Rock Lee was some where safe before he began to fight. Kakashi's eyes strayed upon his late sensei's widow.
"Hello Kushi-chan, sorry for not meeting with you sooner. I've been a little tied up until now" Kakashi commented.
"Now isn't the time Kakashi. Where is the rest of your team?" Kushina asked.
"Sakura isn't ready for any of this so I had her stay with Lee-kun before coming here. I was hoping you would help me save Sasuke-kun from that red headed monster and heal his wounds. I remember you had some skill as a healer before you left the village" Kakashi says.
"I'm busy Kakashi, or maybe you haven't noticed but there is an Invasion going on here" Kushina said.
A stupid Sand-nin was trying to creep up on the group with four of his comrades. He had seen the group of beautiful women and girls during the Tournament and like most of the men had thoughts of taking them. Since he wasn't from Konoha and didn't recognize any of them he thought they were helpless civilian women here to cheer on some Konoha brat, probably the Uchiha.
He never even heard the spear shaped end of a chain burst from the ground or felt it stab through his heart. He barely made a sound as his body hit the unforgiving cement and blood pooled around his body.
If his friends noticed it was of no consequence as they quickly followed him into the after life as 4 more chains ripped through each of their bodies. The group with Kushina did hear and see it all.
'At times I tend to forget she was considered on par with Minato before he became Hokage' thought the group of mothers that used to be among her best friends.
'Scary' thought the girls with them.
'As expected' thought Gai.
Kushina though didn't even seem to acknowledge the men she killed or that she had killed anyone as she continued her brief conservation with Kakashi.
"I'm busy Hatake. We need to meet up with the Daimyō and get the girls to safety before we do anything else" Kushina informed the silver haired man.
"Couldn't that wait, Sasuke-kun is in desperate need of your help" Kakashi states almost begging.
Kushina turned to look into the arena.
"Shouldn't you be more worried about what's happening with the Hokage?" Kushina asked the elite jōnin.
With that everyone turned to look at the Hokage booth. Sure enough Sarutobi was surrounded by five enemy ninja including the Kazekage that seemed to be holding him hostage.
Thanks to Naruto the attack had been expected most of the would be invaders and the rogue summons were being or already were dealt with. Usually at this point the shinobi forces would have been focused on evacuating civilians, but with that already done before and during the Finals the majority of the forces had been on alert and ready to counter attack the moment Orochimaru's signal was given.
Jiraiya had luckily stumbled upon a group close to summoning three large snakes right before they were able to. Thus allowing him to use 'Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu – Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique', just as the snakes were summoned killing them as Gamihiro crushed one and then beheaded the other two after a short fight.
The snake summoners were also killed as they hadn't been able to get out of the way in time and were crushed either by Gamihiro or the explosive force that resulted from Gamihiro falling on the snake from above.
Thanks to his intervention the walls were not breached and thus the would be invaders were left to futilely attempt to destroy walls that had survived three wars and numerous previous attempts unscathed. With the invading force successfully kept out Jiraiya left the wall defenders and defenses to deal with the outside army.
The invaders that had made it inside before the signal were relatively small in number at only 100. However, these were the stronger members of the temporary alliance forged by Suna and Otogakure. Most were Jōnin ranging from Tokubetsu to the Elite, thus the defending Konoha forces found themselves in many difficult battles despite having a huge advantage in numbers.
Of course no one in the Arena knew that as more than half of those that had managed to get through were there masquerading as civilians or interested shinobi or leaders from another village.
This hadn't been expected as most of the defense was concentrated at the walls or inside of the village. The Hokage arrogantly thought the arena and Exams would be safe and the Orochimaru wouldn't interrupt them so he could test the 'last loyal' Uchiha. As such even most of his ANBU detail had been ordered away to deal with the Invading force outside of the arena leaving him with only one of his personal guard and some regular ANBU.
This was something Orochimaru took advantage of as his body guards quickly dispatched the ANBU while he dealt with the remaining guard and was able to get behind his sensei before moving things to the roof where he had the room to enact his plan.
A moment later the Hokage and Orochimaru were engulfed in a purple barrier separating the Hokage from any form of help. Of course despite the unexpected casualties this is what he wanted. This would be his last fight his crowning moment of glory. He only hoped Jiraiya and his old squad mates could deal with the mess he had left behind concerning their Jinchūriki.
With the group of ladies and the parents and two members of Team 11 Kakashi was still begging for help.
"Please Kushina, help my student" Kakashi begged.
'At least he has stopped calling me Kushi-chan after I threatened to impale him on one of my chains' said red headed woman thought.
"For the last time Kakshi, no! I have to meet up with the Daimyō and we still need to get some of this group placed some where safe" Kushina says angrily.
"Besides the Uchiha is long gone" came a new voice.
When Kakashi looked back at the arena he now noticed Naruto was the only one in the arena and he was surrounded by ten Oto jōnin. He quickly redirected his attention to the returned squad 11 member.
"What happened to Sasuke-kun?" Questioned Kakashi.
"Well, it went something like …" Yuudai began
Earlier with Naruto
"Hello Gaara, having fun I see" Naruto queried.
"Uzumaki, are you ready to die?" queried Gaara.
"H-hey … I-I'm fighting y-you here … n-not th-this loser" ground out Sasuke panting as blood lose was affecting him.
"Stay quiet Uchiha, you lost and the Exams are over" Genma butted in.
"W-what?" Sasuke asked.
"The fight is over Uchiha. Sand and Sound are invading the village at the moment. This is no longer a game, it's war" Genma replied.
"Exactly, it's war which means Gaara that I have no problem killing you or your brother or your sensei right now. I know you remember what happened when you lost control a few weeks ago" Naruto chided.
*Flash back begin*
Kushina was preparing to enforce Gaara's deteriorating seal, when he got it in his head they were trying to hurt him. He surprised them by going berserk and immediately using Shukaku's power to make a mini Shukaku version of himself.
He never even got the sand out of his gourd before chains wrapped around him stopping all of his movement and Kushina applied a paperless suppression tag to his head.
The planned operation went off without a hitch after that and when Gaara woke up he could no longer hear Shikaku. When he returned to the apartment he shared with his siblings he slept for an entire day and night then left abruptly leaving his siblings to worry for the rest of the time over where he was and what he was doing.
*Flash back end*
"You'll be on the ground and knocked out before you can even pop that cork" Naruto warned him.
To back up the threat a chain appeared and started to lengthen from the palm of his right hand completely black in color as it began to wave around.
"There is no need for that Uzumaki-san. We fear something is not right with this Invasion and have decided to retreat along with whatever of our forces will listen to us" Baki says.
"I'm glad to hear that Baki-san. If you look up onto the roof of the adjacent building you will see you made a wise decision" Naruto replied.
Indeed everyone on the arena floor looked up to see the two Kage's fighting. Only Suna recognized the man behind the veil wasn't the Kazekage, but an imposter.
"An imposter … how?" Baki questioned.
"I'm guessing that's Orochimaru and if your leader had a meeting with him, probably in private or away from the village he was probably betrayed by Orochimaru at some point during the last month" Naruto theorized.
"That … does make sense. The Kazekage was never a warm man and there was no one except for the Siblings mother that had ever managed to break through his cold, calculating exterior so not many would notice if anything was wrong. Although he's said some things I've found questionable in the last few weeks" Baki informed them.
"I thought the same thing earlier" Kankurō breaks in.
"Don't ignore me!" the Uchiha shouted.
He tried to get up to attack Gaara again only to be punched by an extended fist of Sand forcing him to fall back down again.
"If your not going to be part of the attack then you should leave immediately. It seems like your partner in this little party isn't too happy about hearing your decision" Naruto says.
As the statement was made ten Oto jōnin jumped down to surround the group.
"So the Suna trash is getting scared" taunted one of them.
"What else should we have expected from a bunch of sand rats" taunted another.
"I don't know why Orochimaru-sama even included them in this. We should have just destroyed both villages and be done with it" said another.
"That pathetic worm they called a Kage. Remember his face when Orochimaru-sama impaled him on the Kusanagi before he even saw him move" called out another.
Baki was having trouble restraining himself at this point when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Baki-san take your students and get of here, they should be your first priority. And please take care of Temari-chan, and let her know I'm sorry I didn't visit her. And that I'll make it up to her some time after this is all over" Naruto asked the man.
Baki nodded as he and the two sibs left before the Oto-nin could even do anything.
"Yuudai you should go meet up with your family. I'll find you all when this is over" Naruto tells his teammate.
Yuudai nods and is also gone leaving Naruto with Genma and Sasuke.
"Hah, three tree huggers and that one over there looks like he's going to keel over any second now. What you can do with Oto's elite" the lead jōnin says.
"Actually it'll only be one of us facing the ten of you" Naruto responds.
"Hahahaha, as if you could beat us all boy" the man taunted back.
"I don't plan to beat you. You see … I've been far to cooped up in this village and I haven't gotten a chance to kill anyone in over a month. So please do me the favor and don't run away, okay" Naruto says to the group.
"Uzumaki! What are you doing? Now isn't the time for bravado Uzumaki! I don't care how strong you think you are you are going to need help" Genma cries out.
"I appreciate the concern Genma-san, but I know exactly how strong I am and what I can handle. The Uchiha requires your immediate attention before he bleeds to death. Get him to the medical bay and come back if you still think I need help" Naruto replies.
"Fine, but I warn you Uzumaki that if you survive this there will be a lot you have to answer for" Genma says.
"Whatever, just go" was Naruto's reply.
Genma didn't want to leave the boy, but he also noticed the Uchiha's condition and the other boy had left before he could stop him. So reluctantly he left a genin alone with ten jōnin.
"Well, now that he's gone how about we get this over with. I have more important things to do then bother with a bunch of rejects like you" Naruto declares.
"You little brat! Just for that you die … slowly!" shouted one of the Oto-nin.
Back with Yuudai
Before Yuudai had even finished Kakashi was gone to the medical wing looking for Sasuke. The others were still watching Naruto as Yuudai finished.
"Shouldn't we help Naruto?" questioned Karin.
"We have to trust that Naruto-kun knows what he's doing" says Akari.
"Yeah, but that's ten jōnin level shinobi he's facing. I can tell by their chakra" Karin added.
"He'll be fine Karin-chan, but it's cute to see you worry over your cousin so much. You … wouldn't by chance have feeling s for your cousin now would you?" Kushina queried.
"W-what?" "He's my cousin Kushina Oba-san!" "I could never feel that way about him!" Karin shouted back.
Everyone laughed at the embarrassed girl. Kushina's friends only smiled at the interaction between their old friend and the young Uzumaki.
'Even in times like these Kushina can always find a bit of humor to lift everyone's spirit. Just like old times" they thought.
"Good, because I'm not ready for him to rebuild the clan just yet" Kushina responds with a teasing smile.
"We should get going. Orochimaru may have targeted the Daimyō and other leaders. Naruto said he would catch up with us later. We will just have to trust that he will" Kushina says to everyone.
"Wait, Kushina let us come with you" Yoshino asked.
"No, you all should head to the shelters. It looks like much of the Invasion has been foiled, but it's still dangerous. I will not be responsible for your safety should you decide to follow us" Kushina responds.
"We're not asking you too. It may have been awhile but we all fought together and we are still kunoichi. We can handle anything you can" Yoshino retorts.
Kushina didn't bother responding. She looked at the group she considered to be with her. Miyuki and Akari were beside her as was Karin. Yuudai was behind them to the right of his parents and Katsu was behind Yuudai to the left of his parents. Yūgao and Hayate had stayed and fought beside them so they were bringing up the rear making sure no one attacked from behind.
"Everyone ready?" Kushina asked.
She received nods of affirmation. Looking around the fighting in there section had ended or moved elsewhere so they were in the clear.
"Let's move"
Both large groups left following Kushina to the last place the Daimyō were seen. They encountered little resistance or it seemed that way as Kushina skewered anyone in front of them almost before they could even notice the groups approach. They also helped a few Konoha-nin that were on the losing end of some battles.
Arena Floor
Naruto stared at the ten men and decided on a course of action. He decided a little help wouldn't be a bad thing after all.
"I see you are all so eager for my blood. Then allow me to make the first move, 'Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Multiple Shadow Clone Technique'."
Naruto didn't even make the hand seal as he called out the technique. A hundred clones popped into existence hind him making the Sound jōnin look in shock, but Naruto wasn't done.
"Raiton Kage Bunshin – Lightning Release: Shadow Clone" "Doton Kage Bunshin – Earth Release: Shadow Clone" " Suiton Kage Bunshin – Water Release: Shadow Clone" " Katon Kage Bunshin – Fire Release: Shadow Clone" "Fūton Kage Bunshin – Wind Release: Shadow Clone" Naruto called out as he created one Kage Bunshin of each element.
The Sound jōnin stood like statues as they watched a single boy a genin no less make a small army in under a minute. The scary part was the boy didn't even lookwinded like he should have been. Hell, he should be dead from making that many clones.
The Sound jōnin weren't the only ones awed. All around the arena the battles had come to a halt. All watching the arena floor and some trying to dispel the genjutsu they were sure was flooding through their system creating the illusion of a genin performing such a feat. Especially those from the Leaf that heard him say Kage Bunshin.
'I didn't even know there was an elemental version of Kage Bunshin' thought most of them.
The group of sound ninja were so shocked they didn't even notice as Naruto pulled out five shuriken and simultaneously through them at the attacking jōnin. He then called his next jutsu breaking them of their thoughts.
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique" Naruto called out.
The shuriken were half way to their targets when they multiplied into fifty. The jōnin snapped out of their shock and broke apart some resorting to shunshin no jutsu in order to move in time. Seven of the ten were able to avoid the multiple implents of death flying at them. One more escaped, but was hit in the shoulder and leg by a few of the weapons. And another lay bleeding out as multiple puncture wounds littered his stomach, thigh, and both arms visible through his clothing.
Only one of the jōnin was killed in the initial attack. Those that escaped safely were scattered about the arena floor and seperated from each other. That was when the clones attacked. They all went after the survivors leaving Naruto to deal with the three that weren't so lucky.
He first made sure the one that died was actually dead by throwing a kunai into his skull right between the eyes. Then he repeated that with the one that was barely hanging on killing him and moving on to the one that was injured.
The injured jōnin couldn't move much at all with his leg still sporting one of the real shuriken he initially threw. Naruto pulled out a kunai and charged. The injured shinobi threw every weapon he had on him, but with his natural throwing arm uselessly hanging to his side his accuracy with his other arm was shoddy at best. It didn't help that he couldn't get any real force behind his throws.
Naruto was able to easily manuevre around the wildly inaccurate thrown projectiles and reached the jōnin quickly. The wounded shinobi's end came quickly as Naruto stabbed him in the heart with a kunai. He then created three regular Kage Bunshin and had them deal with the corpses.
When Naruto turned to see what was happening with the remaing sound-nin he found the clones were doing quite well. The Elemental KB's were standing away from the main battle launching jutsu at the confused and disoriented Sound jōnin. He noticed that one of them was already dead and three more sported various degrees of injuries.
The other three looked unharmed and seemed to be having an easy time dispatching the regular kage bunshins. They had also managed to group together instead of the three that were injured whom were seperated from each other and them fighting on their own.
Looking at the battle Naruto saw his original force of one hundred regular kage bunshins were down to nearly single digits. He was also missing the Doton Kage Bunshin as it had been using itself as a shield for the other elementals and defeated by a kamikaze type attack from the fourth dead jōnin.
The jōnin didn't even get the space to let out a free breath after they killed the last of the regular Kage Bunshin only to find one hundred more crashing down on them. Naruto had also created another five elemental kage bunshins and had the four remaining originals join the melee since they were too low on chakra to continue firing jutsu at the jōnin.
Naruto was going to join in the fighting when he heard a voice come from behind him.
"Hello, Naruto-kun"
Naruto turned coming face to face with Orochimaru's right hand man Kabuto.
"Kabuto" Naruto responded evenly.
"What brings you here Kabuto? I thought you prefer to avoid fights" Naruto questioned.
"I'm not here to fight Naruto-kun, merely to relay a message" Kabuto informs the blond.
"That being?" Naruto asked.
"Should you ever seek to become a snake look among the fields of rice" Kabuto says.
"Hmmm … message received" Naruto answered.
Kabuto merely nodded at the expected reply.
"I hope in time we can become good friends Naruto-kun" Kabuto says.
Kabuto turns to leave, but Naruto stops him.
"I also have a message for you Kabuto. Should you ever seek a new master, look me up. I think you'll find I tend to be more appreciative of those around me than most" Naruto says.
Kabuto stared at Naruto for moment.
"I am beginning to see why Orochimaru-sama is so interested in you Naruto-kun. I do hope our next conversation is just as entertaining" he says as he vanishes.
'It will be' Naruto thought.
Naruto then turned back to the fight. The original ten Sound jōnin were now down to the three that had grouped together from the begging. The rest were dead and while still seemingly unharmed the three remaining were starting to tire out.
The surprising thing was there was still around forty Kage Bunshins fighting them. From the looks of things sending in the original elementals had worked as they seemed to have killed or further injured the other three with their special abilities.
One corpse looked as if it was sliced up by several sharp blades of wind. Another looked as if it had survived an explosion only to succumb to the various burns marking his body. The last seemed to have been standing in water as it was electrocuted as smoke wafted off of it.
Looking at the situation Naruto created another sixty clones and then charged in with them right at the three jōnin. The other forty remaining clones held their ground as the reinforcements joined the frey.
After a few minutes of intense battle all the clones suddenly jumped away except one. The haggard sound-nin decided this was the original since it talked to them.
"Wow, you guys really are worthy of your rank. It's a shame your leader is Orochimaru. He never seems to realize the real value of the people around him until after they are dead. Not that he cares when they die. I think he actually prefers it when they do.
Anyway I have better things to do then play around with you anymore so this is the end. When you see the Shinigami tell him I said hello"
That was when the Sound-nin noticed the clone was glowing. It ran until it was right infront of them avoiding the weapons thrown at it and a few jutsu before it detonated.
"BOOM!"
The resulting explosion shook the entire arena once again bringing the other fights to a halt as they looked into the arena. A cloud of dark smoke however shrouded everything preventing anyone from getting a good look at what happened for several minutes.
When it did clear the only things left at the area of impact was a large scorch mark and a shoe with a foot still in it. Looking around for Naruto or the jōnin proved fruitless.
Kushina
Kushina and the girls found the Daimyō with little problem. Among her many gifts Kushina was also a sensor, one of the best. Karin was also a sensor, but she was a novice and hadn't met the Daimyō before.
After meeting up with him the Daimyō and his escorts led them to a top secret bunker built exclusively for the use of the Daimyō his family, the Hokage and his family, and their top personnel. The Daimyō had offered to let Kushina and the girls stay with him, but she politely declined and he understood. The Osegowa and Yasuoto families though did stay as the fathers were apart of his guard.
Done with that they headed toward the civilian shelters and droped off the civilian girls with Yoshino's group. Kushina wasn't an evil woman and despite not wanting them with her she knew Yoshino's group wouldn't leave her alone and go home like they should. They would drag those poor girls with them and they had no business being on the battlefield. Hate their mothers all she wanted, but Kushina couldn't allow those girls get caught up in their mess.
True to form as soon as the girls were gone Kushina tried to get the group of mothers and clan matriarchs to go home, but they weren't budging. Only Tsume and Hana left the group, but that was only because Tsume was her clans' leader and she needed to fight with them. She some times forgot the only person to ever rival her stubbornness that wasn't another Uzumaki was Yoshino.
As the large group made their way through the village they could see some of the damage done during the initial stage of the Invasion. It was surprisingly minimal and Kushina could sense the fighting in the village was coming to an end as most of the remaining Oto shinobi had surrendered or were surrounded.
The battle outside Konoha's walls was still going on, but on their way out Baki and some other pissed off Suna-nin mainly Gaara decided to kill whatever Oto-nin they saw. All in all the only battle still going on inside the village were the ones happening in the arena so the group made their way their.
When they arrived after a few small distractions they found the Arena a mess. Blood and body parts were strewn all over the stands along with other liquids that no one wanted to go near.
The arena floor was an even bigger mess with craters, blood, guts, the occasional body part, and various marks where different jutsu hit the earth. There were also many sharp and deadly tools laying around, but no one was really concerned with those.
Kushina was looking around for Naruto. She knew he was here, but looking around the arena she couldn't find him. The girls had also been looking for him only to find nothing.
"Kushina-sama can you sense Naruto-kun anywhere?" Miyuki asked.
"I …" Kushina pauses.
She was just about to tell her that she could not when she felt it. Naruto's chakra just suddenly appeared and it was near by. She expanded her senses to feel everything around her when she felt it again. Looking harder in that direction she could need feel Naruto and knew where he was.
The problem was he shouldn't be there. He was in the most dangerous place he could be, but feeling his chakra she could tell he was calm almost happy if what she was sensing was right.
'I can't let the others know not even Yūgao' Kushina thought.
"Kushina, is everything alright?" Asked Yoshino.
Everyone saw Kushina freeze up for a moment and it looked as if she was concentrating on something enough that it was noticeable.
"Everything is fine" Kushina answered without missing a beat.
"It looked like you were focusing on something. Is everything alright? Is Naruto-kun okay?" the woman asked worriedly.
Kushina knew she had to lie. Luckily she also felt what was going on around Naruto and knew she could distract the clan matriarchs with a little information.
"I couldn't find Naruto. He must be masking his chakra because I can't sense it right now, but when I was looking for him I found something else" Kushina answers.
"What was it?" Asked Yamanaka Ine.
Kushina frowned a bit at them questioning her and not letting her finish, but they just thought whatever she was going to say was bad news. It was a mere coincidence that they were right.
"The Sandiame is in trouble" Kushina said.
"What? How? Where is he?" Yoshino asked.
"He's over there" Kushina pointed to a roof where a purple barrier was with a lot of ANBU surrounding it.
"There?" Ine questioned.
"Yes, he's inside the barrier and … he's fighting Orochimaru and two other Kage level ninja, alone" Kushina answered.
The women all gasped and wondered how this happened. While the matriarchs were distracted Kushina quickly whispered to Karin, Miyuki, and Akari the situation. They weren't happy, but they nodded and agreed to wait.
'Stay safe sochi' thought Kushina.
'Stay safe Naruto-kun' thought Miyuki and Akari.
'Stay safe itoko' thought Karin.
Naruto
Naruto stood out of the way watching as the epic battle between Sarutobi and Orochimaru was nearing it's conclusion. There were times when he was sure the old man was going to die and he almost intervened, but with the last jutsu the old man had done things were ending better than he expected.
Or it was until he noticed something happening behind the old man's back. He looked to see Orochimaru was indeed manipulating his blade the famed Kusanagi as it was lifting into the air seemingly on it's own.
'It's time' Naruto thought.
He moved just as the blade stopped spinning and headed towards the old Hokage intent on piercing his back. Just before it reached the old Hokage Naruto appeared after using a simple shunshin and snatched the sword out of the air before it could reach it's intended target.
This action broke Orochimaru's mask of calmness. As he focused on the one that had stopped him from killing his old fool of a sensei.
"What have you done boy!" Orochimaru shouted.
"I think I just saved the old man's life … for the moment anyway" Naruto said casually.
At the sound of his voice the Sandiame perked up.
"Naruto-kun?" he asked turning his head slightly to look behind him.
"In the flesh" Naruto answered.
"What are you doing here? How did you get past the barrier?" The dying Hokage asked.
"It was simple really. I have many abilities granted through my kekkai genkai. One allows me to appear anywhere I want to be as long as I can see where I want to go, have been there, or know the exact location" Naruto informs them.
"But the barrier should have stopped you. This barrier in particular is one I developed to combat a similar technique from an old acquaintance of mine" Orochimaru says.
"Well I don't know what this acquaintance of yours can do, but I assure you a barrier like this has no chance against me or I obviously wouldn't be talking to you. This barrier does indeed keep people out who come in contract with the barrier, but I never needed to come into contract with it thanks to how spread out is to allow you two to battle" Naruto says.
Orochimaru scowls at this bit of information. He hadn't really thought of that little problem, but he really didn't expect anyone in Konoha to have an ability like what Naruto was describing. His main worry had been Jiraiya using his knowledge of seals to destroy or bypass the barrier, but he hadn't shown up yet. He didn't think he had to worry about anyone else except maybe Kushina. He didn't think she would interfere though after all his sensei allowed to happen to Naruto-kun.
This did make Orochimaru question something though. If anyone hated his sensei as much as he did it was Naruto. He knew for a fact the boy hated the Sandiame for his roll in all that happened to him.
'So why is he here?' Orochimaru wondered.
Unbeknownst to him the Sandiame was also wondering why Naruto was interfering now.
"Why are you here Naruto-kun? And why are you getting in my way?" Orochimaru asked.
"I would like to know that as well" Sarutobi butted in.
"That is a good question Orochimaru. I warned you in the forest to leave the old man alone. I told you how much I wanted to see his face and rub it in as I walked through those gates for the last time. Yet obviously you didn't listen and treated my threat as inconsequential. You underestimated me snake and it's going to cost you your life" Naruto informed him.
This bit of news shocked the Sandiame to the core.
'Naruto met Orochimaru before? When? Why didn't he tell me? What's going on?' thought the Sandiame.
"Yet you sat by and watched us until now Naruto-kun. I know you've been watching us for a while. I didn't attack you because I didn't believe you to be a threat. So why didn't you help the old fool before now?" Orochimaru questioned.
Sarutobi stood silently as he struggled to keep the technique he was using active.
"I was going to a few times when I thought the old man was done for, but something held me back. Call it intuition or a feeling if you will, but something told me to wait. And then I saw those hand seals the old man was doing. You were arrogant enough to let him pull it off just on the off chance you might learn a powerful new technique. When I saw that … I knew I made the right decision" Naruto tells them.
But there was still something gnawing at the Sandiame that he wanted answered.
"B-but y-you said you wanted me alive?" The Sandiame questioned.
Naruto smiled as he couldn't help but laugh a little at the question.
"I did, didn't I. The answer is simple Hokage-san. You are annoying" Naruto stated simply.
"Annoying?" Sarutobi questioned.
"Annoying" Naruto repeated.
"What the fuck does me being annoying have to do with you keeping me alive or not!" The Sandiame shouted.
"You seriously didn't think I wouldn't notice all your little attempts to control me did you?" Naruto questioned.
The look Sarutobi gave him told him all he needed to know.
"HAHAHA … you really didn't. Oh Kami you have got to be the biggest idiot ever and to think they call you the Proffessor and Kami no Shinobi. I saw right though all your pathetic attempts. Ever since my 7th birthday I haven't believed a word you have said to me.
You are so pathetic. You were a great man once, but since the Kyūbi attack you have been a mere shell of the man you once were. In your many attempts to seek peace since you've grown soft in your old age, you have allowed more atrocities to happen to the village under your second watch then what has happened in all 3 Shinobi World Wars combined.
You never should have been given the hat again. Still powerful or not you do not have the right mind set or temparment for the job any longer. As evil as that man was, Danzō would have done a better job than you have. I may have turned into a drone, but he would have made sure I was trained and prevented Konoha from losing a major clan and nearly a second. He would have made sure I was both strong and well cared for" Naruto says.
"But I had only your best interests in heart. I tried to make it so you had a happy childhood" The Sandiame argued.
"Happy? Well how did that work out for you Hokage-san?" Naruto questioned.
"I'd take being a cold emotionless drone that was well cared for, respected, and strong over a beaten, scared, idiotic loser that probably wouldn't have even been able do the bare minimum to pass that crappy academy test had it not been for that stupid whore Anko!" Naruto shouts angrily at the end.
"Since then I have seen through everything. How you have kept close watch over me yet done nothing to help me when I needed you to. How you kept important information from me vital to my life and growth as a person and shinobi. How you tried to make me into some loyal obiedient little lap dog that would hang on your every world and believe all your lies even lay down it's life for you and this rotten village.
You weren't even decent enough to make sure I had proper training so I could survive life as a ninja without being extremely lucky or just so bad I accidently survive numerous brushes with death using my fathers last and only gift to me. And if that wasn't enough I know you are pushing those two sluts on me and are behind the council trying to pawn their daughters off on me to keep me loyal to you and the village. Or how you sent that fool Jiraiya after me.
And I know you had more planned for after this mess with Orochimaru was finished. I know you were planning to go back on our deal and try to force me and those close to me into submission. I know it was only a matter of time before you came after me and the people I care about.
So when I saw you about to take yourself and Orochimaru out at the same time, well … I had a little parade in my head. And the Kyūbi was the guest of honor" Naruto said with a big smile.
"What does the Kyūbi have to do with this?" Sarutobi asked.
"How did you think I got so strong or gained all these abilities I suddenly have. You know only my mother has a kekkai genkai and until she trained me there was no way I could unlock that particular bloodline. Yet I have not one, not two, not three, but at least five different bloodlines.
And there is so much more. He not only gifted me with abilities he also trained me. Didn't you ever wonder why you couldn't find me at times even with your precious crystal ball? Or when you did why such a normally hyperactive kid wasn't acting all hopped up on sugar drenched with syrup?
That was all thanks to the Kyūbi. We reached an accord the night you caught me near the Forest of Death as a 7 year old. He got something and in return he changed my life in a way I couldn't even imagine back then.
Now I think we've talked enough. I can see your running low on chakra so I'm going to help you finish this" Naruto says.
"Curse you boy! I won't allow you to do this! I won't die this way! I won't die! I'll live forever! I'm a god! A god!" Orochimaru screamed.
Naruto notices he is still holding the Kusanagi as Orochimaru struggles to yank it out of his grasp. He pulls out a scroll and seals it away thinking of keeping it for himself. Finished with that he walks up to the Sandiame to help him finish the jutsu. The stupid monkey Enma tries to stop him, but a swift kick stops that and forces the monkey summon to dispel. Placing his hand on the old man's shoulder Naruto channels his chakra through the Sandiame.
As he did the Sandiame took this one last opportunity to influence Naruto.
"Naruto, I know I have done many wrongs by you and I have no right to ask anything of you. But the village ... it needs you, it needs a hero. I've tried to make my students into the person the village needs, but none of them have proven capable.
Only your father proved to the hero the village needs to help it survive. There are so many things in our world Naruto. Dark, evil, monstrous things and people that would destroy Konoha without someone like me, your father, or you Naruto to keep it going, to keep the village moving forward, to shepherd it's people towards a brighter tomorrow.
I've done many terrible things Naruto. I've allowed many terrible things to happen. But I did it all for the village Naruto-kun. This was something your father understood more than anyone else. That's why he used you and scarificed himself to seal the Kyūbi away. You can't let all of his sacrafice, everything he did in his remarkable life to be for nothing.
Whatever the Kyūbi has told you it's wrong. Your a hero Naruto, a hero. Be a hero for the village, the village your father loved and sacrificed everything for.
What happened to you ... it wasn't their fault. They didn't know any better. I've tried to teach you to be a good person Naruto. To look past what they've done in the past. The people love you now Naruto, they love you. Be there for them, be their hero, be their champion. It's your destiny, please Naruto listen to your heart. You know what I'm saying is the truth" the Sandiame finishes.
Naruto looks at the old man as both ignored Orochimaru's increasingly incoherent threats, taunts, and jibberish. This was the end he knew it, they knew it there was nothing left to be said. He couldn't even move a finger any more to signal for help. When Naruto answered Sarutobi it was with a whisper as he increased his flow of chakra.
"There is only one truth in this world old man and your about to embrace it. Die knowing that everything you have done, everything you have said meant nothing to me. I will be free and your precious village ... I could care less what happens to it or them"
From there it maybe took five seconds before Orochimaru's soul was sucked completely out of the body he was inhabiting and into Sarutobi. What was surprising to the Sandiame was when hundreds of small black orbs rushed to the join the soul inside of him from all over the village and beyond. This took an additional two minutes even draining Naruto a bit as he continued to fuel the old man's jutsu.
What the Sandiame couldn't see, but Naruto did was the four Oto-nin operating the barrier suddenly start to shake and scream before the black balls shot from seals on their necks. They collapsed bringing down the barrier and allowing the ANBU to move to help the Sandiame.
It was too late though as the Sandiame finished the jutsu and both his and Orochimaru's body fell to the ground. As soon as they arrived the ANBU questioned Naruto.
"What happened here Uzumaki? What were you doing? How did you get past the barrier?" They asked.
"The Sandiame sealed away Orochimaru using a forbidden jutsu. I merely helped him sustain the jutsu at the end. As for how I get in … you don't need to know that. Besides I think you have bigger worries right now" Naruto says calmly.
"This isn't over Uzumaki-san. The council will expect a full report of your actions soon so be ready to be called on" The apparent commander informs him.
"Whatever, if that's all I think I'll leave now" Naruto says.
He doesn't wait for an answer as he leaves sunshining towards where he sees him mother and the girls.
Arena Stands
"Sochi, where have you been?" "Are you okay?" "What happened?" were a few of the questions thrown at him.
"Kaa-san, Mi-chan, Akari-chan, Yūgao-sensei calm down I'm fine. Nothing happened that I couldn't handle" Naruto tells them.
That statement and the fact they couldn't see anything wrong with him made the calm down.
"Yūgao-sensei, I know how much you cared for the Sandiame. I'm sorry to tell you, but he died fighting Orochimaru" Naruto informs everyone.
"What? How?" she questioned in disbelief.
"He used a forbidden jutsu, the 'Shiki Fūjin - Dead Demon Consuming Seal'. He called on the Death God to seal away Orochimaru's soul" Naruto tells them.
"How do you know that Naruto-kun?" Asked Kushina.
"I was there. I got thru the barrier using a jutsu I have developed and caught the end of the battle. The Sandiame was running low on chakra as he was struggling to finish so I helped him sustain the jutsu and if anyone is more familiar with that jutsu then I am, I am not aware of them" Naruto says plainly.
Kushina nodded as everyone listening took in the fact the old man Hokage was really gone. Everyone took a few moments silence for the fallen warrior. Like him or hate him the old man had made his mark on the world and for that he was to be respected.
After that was over Kushina decided to take charge.
"The Invasion is over, Sarutobi has fallen, but the village is still here. We should head back to the Daimyō and let him know what's happened. I'm sure the council will be convened soon to sort everything out and make nominations for a new leader. Until then we should go home and rest up" Kushina says.
Everyone nods agreeing with her. The remaining group of clan matriarchs also decide it's time to head home. They would talk more with Kushina and Naruto soon they were sure.
Yūgao and Hayate decided to stay in the arena. She may not have agreed with his policies reguarding Naruto, but to Yūgao the Sandiame had her undying loyalty and respect no matter what he did.
With that said the group went their separate ways each dealing with the loss in a different way. After talking with the Daimyō all of Team 11 and their families went to the hotel and found it had survived the Invasion unscathed. Unfortunately due to some people not being so lucky the hotel was putting them up and needed the families to room together so more people could get a room.
It wasn't that bad though as they managed to keep four of the ten rooms they were previously occupying and they were fairly large suites so no one felt too put out.
As day turned to night and everyone settled in, no one slept better than Naruto that night. It didn't hurt that he was once again sharing his bed.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票