San'en

by MechenManachewagan

After the fall of the Kyuubi, Senju Tsunade takes up the mantle of Hokage. Nearly 10 years later the village is once being pulled into a war. A special team is being put together and trained by the enigmatic ANBU named Saru. AU, Epic Length

4. Chapter 4 The San'en's Last Stand

San'en Chapter 4

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The San'en's Last Stand

Naruto crouched next to a tree taking in several deep gasps of breath. Despite his best efforts the Suna army had been slowly gaining on him over the day. Pulling his canteen of water from his belt he took a deep draught and tossed the now empty container aside.

Not far behind him he could hear the first of the soldiers begin making their way through the labyrinth of flames and traps that he and his clones had set.

A large explosion shook the ground, as the nearest team set off a series of explosive notes, hopefully waylaying them long enough for him to pull ahead again. With a groan he pushed himself back into a standing position and began running towards Konoha.

"There he is!" Shouted some random ninja as Naruto darted around a tree. Naruto barely spared the man a glance as he threw a kunai at the man's chest. Not even waiting around to see if his knife hit its mark he continued on his way.

Behind him were miles of burning forests and decimated landscape. Wide spread jutsus and what had amounted to nearly a thousand clones had set up every trap he could conceive of. He new it was futile to try and stop the army completely. Even the Hokage would not be able to win in a standup fight against such outstanding odds.

The ninja he had thrown the kunai at earlier had caught up to him as Naruto was forced to dodge a blade of wind that decimated a tree to his side. Glancing over at the man who was now running along side of him, Naruto could make out the vest of a Suna jounin. Probably fairly green if he was still put into a platoon of chuunin, but a jounin none the less.

With one smooth movement Naruto jumped into the air and pulled his long nodachi out of its sheath and let loose a wide swipe at the man's already bleeding side. The man pulled out a single kunai to block the much larger blade. Using the kunai as a pivot point. Naruto spun around to the jounin's exposed back and hit him hard at the base of the skull. As he hit he could feel the sickening crunches and scrapes of crepitus as the back of the skull was reduced to a gravel like consistency.

Without sparing a glance to watch the man drop, Naruto made a small group of shadow clones and took off towards the ever-approaching gates of Konoha. As he leapt from the top of a large tree onto the far side of large river, Naruto could just make out the dark red sun as it broke its way through the black smoke.

The river marked he was only five miles away from the Village's wall.

--

(Several Hours Earlier)

Sakura and Sasuke ran through the last vestiges of the forest before finally coming to Konoha's great wall. They had run the entire night, only stopping for extremely brief respites, and only if they needed to replenish their water or take a soldier pill.

As they ran to the gates they heard an unnamed chuunin on the watchtower yell.

"Open the gates!"

The large wooden gates groaned loudly as they were slowly opened. Sasuke and Sakura tore through the opening as if the hounds of hell were biting at their heels. Without stopped Sasuke yelled out to the gate's guard.

"Close the gates and seal them!"

It was just nearing four in the morning when they were within sight of the Hokage's tower. Wordlessly the both simultaneously took to the roofs and jumped straight through the Hokage's closed window.

Tsunade jumped to her feet ready to fight as a four masked Anbu burst in through the door to see what the commotion was about. Tsunade looked to the floor to see both Sasuke and Sakura resting on their hands and knees gasping for air. The four Anbu jumped from the window to go check outside to make sure there was no one following the obviously distressed duo.

Tsunade looked back down at the pair of exhausted Anbu who were still lying on the floor of her office breathing heavily.

"Mizaru, Kikazaru. Where is your teammate? Where is Iwazaru?"

--

Elsewhere in Konoha a different group was going over contingency plans for the rapidly approaching invasion.

"Kabuto. What is the status of the Suna army? Have they finished preparing the summoning circle yet?"

The silver haired youth, Kabuto, was kneeling in front of his master.

"I'm sorry to say that they have not Orochimaru-sama. It appears that they have not yet arrived at the village walls."

If Orochimaru was surprised it didn't show on his face.

"Worthless idiots… Did they not depart from Suna in time?"

Kabuto shook his head,

"According to the message that I received from Baki a little while ago, the army ran into a team of three Anbu that had been sent to check on the team of chuunin that missed their rendezvous."

Orochimaru sneered,

"Did the fools not expect the Hokage to possibly check on a missing team?"

Kabuto again replied in the negative,

"Well apparently the Anbu was able to reverse the trap and killed the vast majority of he team that was present. By the time the army as a whole was deployed after them, the team had split up. Two went ahead into Konoha while the other stayed behind to slow down the army."

Orochimaru stood up and began making his way towards the door,

"So some random Anbu was able to fight them off long enough to slow them down before he went down in some self sacrificing blaze of glory. How Poetic." He Sneered.

Orochimaru was almost through the door when he heard Kabuto respond,

"Apparently the Anbu is still alive and still fighting."

Orochimaru stopped as Kabuto continued,

"Apparently the Suna army has taken to calling him the Mafuu (A storm sent by the devil) or just Ikkitousen (A lone rider with the strength to withstand a thousand). Apparently the single Anbu has harried the entire army since dusk yesterday."

Orochimaru stood in the door.

"What are the damages?"

Kabuto shrugged,

"We won't know for certain until they reach the wall and have time to count, but right now it appears almost ten percent of the army was either killed or is too injured to fight."

Orochimaru turned to face his insurgent,

"What do you know of this unidentified Anbu?"

Kabuto pulled out a copy of the drawing he had received from Baki.

"We know virtually nothing about him. Only a few of the ninja survived a direct encounter with him, but assuming the real Anbu looks the same as the shadow clones that he has been using to great effect, his mask looks like this and he has Iwazaru written on his cloak."

Orochimaru took the drawing that showed an almost comical monkey that was covering his mouth.

"Iwazaru…" He handed the note back to his subordinate, "Find out what you can about this Anbu. I want him captured, preferably alive, but dead is just as good."

With that Orochimaru walked out of the room and began down the hallway,

"And bring me Kimmimaro!"

--

Tsunade sat at her desk in front of the now standing Anbu.

"So there is an entire army of Suna shinobi that are currently coming straight towards Konoha?"

Sakura and Sasuke, who had long since shed their heavy cloaks and masks nodded in agreement.

We only saw the small team of ninja that were left to ambush whoever got sent to check on the border patrol, but there was definitely an entire army out there."

Tsunade rubbed her temples. They had set up what she believed to be a perfect defense to stop the invasion from the sound, but this changed the battle entirely.

"Do you have any idea on the number of shinobi that Suna is sending?"

Sakura slumped down in a chair.

"Naruto estimated around two full battalions, which would put their numbers somewhere around fifteen hundred to two thousand shinobi."

Tsunade swore rather loudly.

"That's well over two thirds of their entire ninja force. They almost emptied Suna for this battle."

Sasuke was the one to finally voice the concern that had been nagging Sakura for the past day.

"Hokage-sama… Can we win this war?"

Tsunade sighed,

"Luckily enough very few foreign ninja are actually within the village proper. All foreign teams are being housed outside of the city wall, so we can easily bar them from entering. But the ninja that are to compete in the exams will have to be allowed in. Hopefully Naruto has stalled them long enough that they won't have time to rest before they attack."

Tsunade walked over to the large broken window and peered out over the city. On the horizon she could see a thick haze where Naruto's fires had lit the forests ablaze.

"We can still win this, but the village wall cannot be breached."

She turned around to face the two Anbu.

"If we can keep them on the other side of the wall then we can keep them at bay. Anbu will be stationed along the wall along with the vast majority of the chuunin. Jounin will be charged primarily with clearing the village before proceeding to the gates. With any luck they will break on our walls like so many armies have before them."

Tsunade stood in front of the large map the covered a large portion of the wall, staring at the various markers that were scattered around fire country.

"I want the two of you to take up positions at the chuunin exams this afternoon. I have reason to expect that Subaka no Gaara was sent to wreak havoc at the beginning of the invasion."

Tsunade turned back towards the pair of Anbu,

"Gaara is believed to host the Ichibi no Shukaku. If Suna is truly on Sound's side, then Orochimaru won't hesitate to have him release his demon inside the city walls, which could be catastrophic. When the invasion starts, I want the two of you to engage him immediately and remove the threat."

Sakura nodded before looking back in the direction that she had come from.

"Will Naruto be joining us?"

Tsunade sat down behind her desk and sighed heavily.

"Right now assume he will be absent. If he makes it back, I will assign him to the team."

Surprisingly it was Sasuke who spoke,

"He'll be there. He promised Sakura that he would return that music box, and he never goes back on his word."

Sakura nodded in agreement. Tsunade smiled, despite everything that had happened, they still had absolute confidence in their teammate.

"Then go and rest. As soon as I hear from Naruto I will let you know."

The pair nodded and reapplied their heavy white cloaks and masks and made their way out of the room. Tsunade pressed a button on her desk and called to one of her secretaries.

"Call for Jiraiya and Sarutobi to come to my office."

--

Naruto was on his last leg. Despite being so close to the village's walls, the Suna-nins were still catching up. In fact they seemed more desperate to stop him than ever. Behind him he could sense at least three shinobi approaching rapidly. Without the energy or time necessary to form more kage bunshins (Shadow clones) he had been forced to fight many of them by himself. But now it was just a dead sprint to the finish. He knew the Suna ninja would not be willing to get within range of any of the archers or ballista located along the outer walls of the village.

With one final push he broke through the forest and came out on the long wide clearing that was made in front of the great wall. Applying his last vestiges of chakra to his legs he leapt high up over the wall. Not even bothering to try to catch himself he crashed to the ground on the other side of the wall. With great effort he pushed himself to his feet and began a slow arduous trudge towards the village proper, but once he reached a wooded enclosure that bordered a tall grassy expanse he saw the world fade into darkness, and the ground rushed up to embrace him.

After countless miles of screams, yells, and loud concussive explosions, the world turned quiet around the lone unconscious Anbu. His rest was well earned.

--

As Jiraiya and Sarutobi took over the arrangements for the cities defenses, Tsunade made her way to the large stadium that would house the chuunin exam finals. It was imperative that they continue on with the exams. No longer was it to necessarily fool the enemy, but more as a show of strength. It was as if she was saying, 'I know that you are hear, but you will not become a hindrance to my village'.

Hopefully she wasn't lying.

She made her way at a slow walking pace across the village. A team of Anbu watched over her carefully from the rooftops. Tradition dictated that inside the 'Kage's Box', at the final chuunin exams, that there were to be only one guard to act as a message runner. Of course any Kage had a multitude of shinobi waiting nearby in case something did happen.

The exams were scheduled to commence at exactly noon, but here in the large fair grounds that surrounded the large arena, the shows were already beginning. Hundreds if not thousands of civilians were excitedly hocking their wares and playing games. Children ran around laughing chasing one another to and fro.

It was strange to think that while they were celebrating, all the shinobi of Konoha were currently being mobilized to defend the city.

As she rounded the corner she found a pair of white clad Anbu standing there waiting.

"Hokage-sama" They said in perfect unison as they bowed.

Tsunade inclined her head slightly.

"I assume you're here to inquire about your teammate?"

Both Anbu nodded simultaneously.

"The status has not changed. Please go to your stations and follow your orders. If anything occurs I will send a messenger."

The two young Anbu nodded and disappeared in a small swirl of smoke and leaves.

'Naruto… Where the hell are you?'

Tsunade sighed deeply and placed a smile back on her face before going back to face more of the civilians.

--

Sasuke and Sakura were on the top most tiers of the large grand arena that was being used to hold that final portion of the chuunin exams. With just over an hour until the exams were set to kick off, large swarms of people were beginning to flock into the arena.

It was always kind of odd that civilians actually make up the majority of the people present at a ninja examination, but they seemed to enjoy it more than the ninja did.

"The civilians have no idea what they are actually seeing at these exams do they?"

Sasuke said quietly to his pink haired teammate.

"They come to watch a show, a spectacle of amusement, but the truth of the matter is that they are cheering for us to kill. Almost anywhere else, this would be considered barbaric, but somehow here it's acceptable."

Sakura shrugged,

"They've never actually seen a real fight. In all honesty probably none of the genin that are in the exam have ever truly had to fight for their lives. I suppose that's why they're all so desperate to prove themselves."

Time passed slowly for the two young teens. The stands had slowly filled to capacity and all the genin in the exams were all beginning to appear in their waiting box. On the far side of the arena they could see Tsunade making her way into the Kage's box and greet the Kazekage. Finally only a short time before the fights were scheduled to begin they finally saw their target appear.

The announcer was saying something about the exams, but it was difficult to make out over the tumultuous cheers of the crowd. After several moments they saw two names flash onto a large screen

'Nara Shikamaru vs. Subaka no Temari'

Sakura was actually fairly surprised,

"That lazy guy actually managed to make it all the way to the finals of the chuunin exams?"

Sasuke shrugged,

"He's smart, but don't get your hopes up for an interesting fight. He'll probably just run her through a ridiculous trap."

True to Sasuke's word, Shikamaru immediately began dodging the kunoichi's furious wind based attacks. He would occasionally send out his shadow in rather half-hearted attempts to capture her, but nothing ever came from his attempts.

The fight continued to go downhill for the shadow user for several more minutes. Shikamaru had been reduced to hiding in the small trees along one of the arena walls as Temari continued to reduced the trees to nothing but wood chips.

"He's drawing her out." Sasuke muttered, "He knows that as long as he remains in the open that she will maintain the upper hand. She acknowledges that if she gets too close to the shadows created by those trees that Shikamaru wouldn't hesitate to trap her. Which means that she is forced to try to lure him out, or force find another way to force Shikamaru's hand."

Finally after a couple of minutes of sending wave after wave of wind jutsus at the trees, Temari had to stop and rest. Just a second after she rested her fan on the ground Shikamaru leapt into action. Shikamaru leapt down from the branches that he had been hiding in and sent his shadow streaking towards Temari from her left side.

Temari immediately went to work evading the elongating shadow as she leapt to her right trying to put as much distance between her and the shadow as she could. As she jumped she flicked her large fan all the way open and yelled,

"Futon: Kamaitachi no jutsu"

Large blades of wind materialized out of nothingness and began their deadly assault on Shikamaru. Shikamaru quickly retracted his shadow, but didn't make any attempt to dodge the oncoming attack.

Temari smirked thinking that the lazy boy had finally just given up. Her smirk vanished though when her blades passed right through Shikamaru's incorporeal form and slice deep into the wall behind him.

A tell tale whistling in the wind brought Temari's attention to a series of shuriken and kunai that were flying towards her. Holding onto her fan tightly she rolled forward, letting the three shuriken and two kunai land in the ground behind her. As she looked back up she could see Shikamaru standing directly in front of her, only about thirty feet away.

"Checkmate…" muttered the lazy genin.

Temari just barely made out a slight sizzling noise behind her, one that normally signified the use of an explosive note. Before she could manage to jump away the sizzling stopped.

Temari cringed as she subconsciously braced for the explosion, which never came. Instead there was a blinding white light flashed behind her, blinding anyone who was watching the fight for a moment.

When the light cleared, Temari heard,

"Kagemane no jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)… Success"

With that Temari could feel the control of her body wrenched from her as was forced to walk towards the Konoha genin.

"You used a flash note to extend my shadow into your range…"

Shikamaru shrugged,

"I knew you wouldn't let my shadow get close to you, so the next best option is to bring your shadow close to mine."

Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the clouds that were lazily floating above his head,

"I'm at an impasse here Temari. You see if I beat you I will have to continue fighting. On the other hand, if I let you win, I will have to put up with an irate teammate for the next couple of weeks. On top of that, I can only sustain this technique for another minute at most, so I need to make my decision quickly, which is troublesome in and of itself…"

Temari couldn't believe what she was hearing. This genin had her completely at his mercy, and he was contemplating giving up. After a moment she saw Shikamaru begin walking towards her until they were less than a foot away. Leaning in slightly Shikamaru placed his forehead against Temari's and sighed.

"As troublesome as this may seem for both of us, it's the best option I can come up with…"

With that he leaned back as far as he could forcing Temari to bend backwards as well. When he reached his limit of flexibility he threw his body forwards with as much force as he could muster.

Sasuke's mouth fell open at the sight on the field far below him, as Shikamaru's and Temari's foreheads crashed hard against each other, sending both parties crashing to the ground in a heap.

Apparently the proctor was rather surprised as well, as it took him several seconds to make the announcement.

"Since neither contestant is capable of continuing, this match is a draw. Neither competitor will move onto the next round."

The crowd all seemed rather surprised at the outcome of the match. Somewhere in the crowd Ino looked over towards Chouji and muttered,

"Well at least that lazy bum didn't just forfeit or something…"

A pair of medics quickly made their way onto to the field, and after just a second of wafting smelling salts below the Suna-nins nose regained consciousness.

Sasuke and Sakura cringed. Temari woke and instantly began unleashing a very vocal dislike to how the fight had ended.

After the pair had vacated the field they saw a boy in a green jump suit and orange leg warmers rush towards the center of the field.

"That must be Rock Lee, Maito Gai's prized student."

Sakura looked down at the kid,

"He doesn't really look like anything that special if you ask me."

Sasuke shrugged,

"To be completely honest, he's probably one of the most talented taijutsu users in the village. Although as it stands he only really knows Goken (Iron Fist), but given a couple of years he will be an incredible fighter."

Sakura nodded in understanding as she continued to watch the scene down on the field. Only seconds after Lee entered the field, his opponent appeared in a swirl of sand.

"That's our target."

Sasuke nodded as he activated his mask to watch the pair closely.

"If intelligence is correct, they expect the attack to begin sometime during this match. The moment something starts, we will move in and take the objective."

--

Lee was standing straight backed, one arm tucked behind his back, the other extended out from his side, palm open and elbow slightly bent. It was a textbook perfect Goken (iron fist) stance. Directly across from him Gaara stared at him rather impassively as he mumbled something under his breath to himself.

"Gaara-san!" Lee called out to him from the other side of the arena. "I have heard that you are a great ninja. However, Gai-sensei has already given me full leave of all of my skill. I hope that we have a truly youthful fight!"

Lee quickly gave Gaara a thumbs up and flashed him a bright smile.

Up in above the stands Sakura turned towards her teammate.

"What does he mean by that? The given full leave?"

Sasuke responded without ever taking his keen eyes off the fight below.

"It means that he doesn't intend to lose this fight."

Sakura looked back down at the field far below them.

"Do you really thing Lee has a chance. I took a look at his file earlier today. To be honest it's nothing special. He has the lowest marks I've ever seen in ninjutsu or genjutsu, and his taijutsu skills were just barely above the academy standards."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know much about his academy scores. But I met Lee briefly while learning from Gai was teaching me, and I can honestly say that if any genin was capable of beating Gaara, it would be him and only him."

--

Elsewhere in the stands Tsunade was idly chatting with the Kazekage in the Kage's box. Behind her was a pair of the standard bodyguards. Tradition allowed for two bodyguards per kage.

"It's a shame that you are about to lose such a promising young genin Hokage-dono."

Commented the masked Kazekage, sitting only a few feet away in a rather ornate high backed chair.

Tsunade laughed,

"Kazekage, I feel that I must ask. Why do other nations always seem insistent that our shinobi are weak? I know that Gaara is flouted as never having lost a fight, but that does not make him invincible. I can guarantee that before this day is out, your son will of met his match."

The Kazekage sneered,

"No one has ever been able to get past Gaara's defenses and I highly doubt that the first to do so will be some no name genin."

Tsunade shrugged,

"What's in a name anyways? In the end all of us will be forgotten. No one is truly immortal."

The Kazekage seemed to bristle slightly at the comment but remained quiet.

"We shall see Hokage, but I would not bet that any one of your genin will be able to lay a finger on Gaara."

Tsunade nodded her head,

"Maybe…"

--

Down on the arena floor Genma signaled for the fight to begin. Gaara was the first to move, but he only moved so far as to cross his arms across his chest and wait for Lee to make the first move.

"YOSH!" Lee yelled with reckless enthusiasm. He rushed forward in a green blur yelled,

"Konoha Senpuu! (Leaf Whirlwind)"

In a quick blur of movement Lee had dropped into a low stance and made to kick Gaara's legs out from under him. Unfortunately the kick never connected as sand flew from Gaara's large gourd and blocked Lee's powerful kick. The sand continued forward to try and grasp the green genin, but Lee was already moving onto trying other various taijutsu techniques as he tried valiantly to pierce Gaara's sand.

Finally after several dozen failed attempts Lee leapt back as Gaara's sand made to pursue him until he was well on the other side of the arena. Finally the sand ended its relentless assault and slowly fell to the ground, making its way back into his large gourd.

"Is that all you can offer?" Gaara inquired quietly as he stared stoically at Lee.

"Your defense is truly the epitome of the springtime of youth. Now I can finally test my own flames of youth!"

Lee knelt down and lowered his bright orange leg warmers, revealing a pair of large leg weights that both had the words guts written on them.

Up above the stands Sakura looked over towards her teammate.

"He uses leg weights? Isn't that a little bit archaic?"

Sasuke shrugged,

"Since the advent of chakra, they have kind of fallen by the wayside. But among true taijutsu specialists they are still common. It allows us to conditions our muscles to be stronger and harder than usual. Gai and, by association, Lee however have taken weights to a whole new level."

Sakura looked confused,

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke actually chuckled a little,

"Trust me, just watch. After you see what Lee is capable of, your opinion of him may change."

Down in the arena however Gaara seemed just as nonplussed as Sakura and countless other. Lee however continued to calmly remove the straps from his weights. Once the last clasp was undone, he picked up both of them and held them out in front of him. With a quick flash of his bright white smile, the spun hard in a circle and threw both sets of weights towards Gaara.

Gaara frowned slightly at the obvious attack as his sand rose up to stop the weights. He was shocked when the weights passed through his initial defense, like an arrow through a sheet of paper, and continued rocketing straight towards him. As more sand continued to rise and block the path of the dense weights. As they continued careening towards him, Gaara was finally forced to jump out of the way as they sailed past him, piercing deep into the concrete walls at the base of the arena.

Gaara slowly turned back to glare at his opponent, just in time to see him vanish from his sight. Suddenly on his guard, Gaara pulled as much sand back to him as he could. Within seconds he heard a resounding impact as something smashed into the shielding sand with the impact of a cannon ball. Whirling around as quickly as his earth-laden body allowed for, he caught just a brief glimpse of green before it disappeared from his sight again.

Up in the stands, Sakura's mouth was opened wide behind her mask.

"He's moving as fast as you and Naruto…" she muttered in a shocked tone.

Sasuke chuckled, despite being ranked considerably higher than the green clad genin; it was true that his speed was on par with the speed that both he and Naruto were accustomed to using.

"Lee is unable to mold chakra outside of his body at all, and he cannot control the flow of chakra within his own body. So instead he focuses on mastering his taijutsu, his insane dedication to his art as made him an extremely effective ninja, despite using any of the normally flaunted ninjutsu techniques."

Sakura was puzzled as she watched Lee rocket around the arena floor. Her eyes were used to tracking her teammates movements, but she had always assumed they were the only young ninja capable of those speeds.

"He's still at an extreme disadvantage if he cannot mold his chakra though."

Sasuke shrugged,

"I had always assumed that as well, however that is not the case. In fact what most would consider a great weakness is probably his greatest strength. His body has a large quantity of chakra that it is constantly flowing through his bone, muscle, and nervous system inundating them chakra."

Sakura was surprised at that revelation.

"That kind of chakra flow would increase his stamina exponentially, not to mention making him extremely resistant to many chakra based techniques that would effect muscles or his nervous system."

Sasuke nodded, turning his attention back to the fight still raging below in the arena,

"Its true, Lee is as tough as nails. His condition is more close to a bloodline limit than it is a deficiency."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement at Sasuke's observation of Lee. Her attention snapped back to the arena when she saw Gaara begin his counter attack.

--

Outside the arena, groups of genin were being organized to begin sweeps of the areas inside the village's walls that had yet to be cleared of any civilians. The chuunins Iruka and Mizuki, they had a small group of around thirty of their prior students broken into teams to begin a systematic sweep of their assigned quadrants. Mizuki was handing out various maps and a special scroll to the various teams. Iruka was giving the briefing.

"As we've established, to maintain secrecy no civilians were made aware of the imminent invasion. Any civilians living in the residential areas have been evacuated, leaving only the forests, parks, and training fields. You will be put into teams of two to do sweeps of the marked areas"

He motioned towards the maps that Mizuki was currently distributing.

"There have not been any reported breeches in the cities defense so we don't expect any enemy ninja to be within the city walls, however as a precaution there are several jounin led chuunin teams on standby. If you come across any teams, throw down the red scroll and flee the scene, do not attempt to engage the enemy."

All the students were busy inspecting the small red scrolls that they had been handed. It was a rather unique beacon scroll that was developed by Jiraiya of the Sannin during the second shinobi war. A rather curious scroll, it served no purpose in the middle of a heated battle, but in reconnaissance or on sensitive missions it was highly useful. By activating the scroll, it would automatically make a dot appear on the master map, which corresponded with the location of the scroll. In this case, the master map was located with the jounin overseeing operations in this quadrant.

Once all the scrolls and maps were delivered, Iruka began calling off the various teams to the large group of genin. Amidst the sea of genin stood a rather tense girl with her hair up in a pair of buns.

Tenten grumbled under her breath as she searched the sea of genin for a familiar face since the rest of her team was currently participating in the chuunin exams. As she looked around, she recognized a blonde girl and rather chubby kid sitting together.

"You guys are part of the newest genin class right?"

The blonde haired girl looked in her direction as Tenten was making her way towards her and her teammate.

"Yeah, why?" Responded the longhaired girl with a confused look on her face.

Tenten smiled and extended a hand in greeting.

"My name is Tenten. I have a friend in your class who I was hoping to find here since I don't see anyone from my class."

The slightly younger girl shook her hand and smiled tentatively in return. The anxiety from the upcoming battle was grating on everyone's nerves to some degree.

"I'm Ino and this guy here is my teammate Chouji. Most of our graduating class is here besides Shikamaru and Shino, they both made it to the finals. Who exactly are you looking for?"

"His name is Naruto, about my height, blonde hair, blue eyes, carries a nodachi. Do you know him?"

Ino nodded her head.

"Yeah, but I haven't seem him or his teammates in quite a while. In fact nobody has. I stopped by his teammate's house the other day to talk, but her grandmother said she was out on a mission."

Tenten frowned,

"But I thought all the missions had been withdrawn due to the invasion?"

Chouji shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever it is now isn't the time to worry over it. Iruka-sensei is calling out the teams, so we need to listen."

Tenten wanted to find out more about her friend and sparring partner, but Chouji was right.

"Team eight will be made of Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji. You two will be sweeping sectors seven through nine."

Ino and Chouji said a quick goodbye before they joined the throngs of genin pairs making their way towards their designated areas.

"Team nine will be Minamoto Tenten and Ukiyo Fusei, you will have sectors ten through twelve. That's on the outer borders near the walls, so keep your eyes and ears open."

Tenten scanned the crowd and met the eyes of a teen that looked to be a year or two older than herself. The boy had a shorter; almost crew cut hair with a short ponytail in the back. Judging by his two small kodachi strapped to either side of his legs, he was a short-range fighter. Sending him the briefest of nods, the pair began running towards the outer edges of the village to begin their sweeps.

As they ran side by side down the road, Fusei began talking.

"Minamoto Tenten right?"

Tenten nodded her head as she leapt over a rock that jutted out from the side of the path.

"I'm Ukiyo Fusei. Just in case we run into any kind of trouble up ahead, what kind of techniques do you use?"

Tenten glanced at her interim teammate that was keeping pace along side of her.

"Primarily I'm a mid to long range weapons specialist, but I can hold my own up close with a katana if need be. I'm guessing you're primarily a up close and personal fighter."

Fusei nodded his head seriously.

"Yeah, I rely on speed to overcome my weapons lack of weight and reach. If we get into a tight spot, I'll engage the enemy, you support from a distance ok?"

Tenten frowned; it was common male chivalry or male chauvinism depending on your point of view. Normally she would argue a little that she could just as easily take point, but in this case it did make sense.

"Ok, but remember to drop your beacon scroll if anything occurs."

Fusei nodded and changed course when the path split, making his way to the outer corner of the tenth sector. All three of their sectors were running along the walls perimeter and were made of either open or wooded training sites for the numerous genin teams. It took several minutes of running to enter the first of the three sectors.

Upon reaching the starting point, Fusei stopped and motioned for Tenten.

"Ok, I'll take point, you stay concealed and follow behind to the best of your ability. That way if anything happens, you can cover me while I drop the scroll and high tail it out of there. No matter who shows up, stay hidden unless I give an all clear sign and call you down."

Tenten nodded and adjusted one of the scrolls on her belt.

"I can handle that just fine. I'm teamed with a Hyuuga and even he sometimes has a hard time locating me."

Fusei grinned and jumped up into the canopy, beginning a wide zigzagging pattern across the wooded landscape. Tenten waited for several seconds before jumping into a nearby tree and followed her teammate at a distance.

It was slow going, as each assigned sector was nearly two square miles that had to be cleared, but slowly they were making headway. They had found two younger couples out collecting wild flowers together, but besides that their sectors had been utterly devoid of any other people.

After around and hour of continuing their sweeps, they finally reached the twelfth sector. Tenten watched from a distance as Fusei dropped to the ground near a small clearing along the borders of the wall. Scanning the tall grasses closely for any threats he began making is way through the veritable labyrinth of grasses. Near the far side of the expanse something caught his attention as he pause and quickly drew his pair of kodachi. He was making way towards something just beyond the edge of the grasses.

Tenten swore under her breath at her teammate. The tall grass blocked her view of whatever her teammate was going towards, she would have to move positions to get a better view of where he was heading. Standing up slowly, she jumped onto another tree that bordered the grass-covered field. After a couple of moves, she could make out something on the ground, but was still a little too far away to really make out whatever it was. She contemplated moving forward, when she saw Fusei suddenly turn around and bring his kodachi into a readied position.

Tenten immediately drew three kunai in each hand and prepared to throw at whatever target presented itself. Her grip on the knives relaxed along with her teammates as they saw Mizuki walk out onto the field. From her position, she could just make out what her teammate was saying.

"What's that status on your sweeps Fusei?"

Fusei dropped out of his stance completely now, but still kept a close eye on Mizuki while he approached.

"This is the last sector, once cleared we were going to head back to the rendezvous point to receive further orders."

Mizuki nodded his head,

"Good, call Tenten out from wherever she's hiding. You two need to head there as soon as possible."

Fusei let a confused frown flash across his face before he answered.

"We haven't completed our sweeps yet sir. There could still be civilians in the area."

Mizuki waved the genins concerns off.

"Several of the teams have gone missing. We have reason believe that there is an insurgent taking them out since they've hit several within this quadrant."

Fusei stared closely at his sensei. Something seemed wrong with this situation. Even if what he was saying was true, something didn't make sense. If the insurgent wanted to cause problems, why take out genin that were searching for meandering civilians. He was about to comment when Mizuki started yelling at him.

"Look you moron! Call down your teammate from wherever she's hiding and get her down here."

Fusei stared at his past sensei as he slowly pulled his kodachi back into a well-practiced stance.

"No, calling down a support member in possible ambush situations doesn't make any sense, even if we are just making a tactical retreat."

Mizuki eyes narrowed for a brief second before he growled through clench teeth.

"Call. Her. Out."

Fusei looked closely at Mizuki's clothing.

"Sir, you have blood on your sleeves, are you injured?"

Didn't answer, he just slowly palmed one of kunai that he had within his leg holster. Fusei didn't miss a beat as he quickly jumped back and fumbled to open the small red scroll. Unfortunately Mizuki, being a chuunin, was ready for the attempt and managed to make him drop the scroll as he threw a brace of kunai towards Fusei.

Tenten swore and quickly withdrew her own scroll and activated it. If Mizuki was the insurgent that was attacking teams, there was no telling how many genin had simply listened to their past sensei and broken protocol. Judging by the blood on Mizuki's sleeves, he had killed at least one group already.

Once the scroll was activated, Tenten began peppering the field with rapid, highly accurate, weapons, attempting to throw their assailant off balance. Unfortunately it had only a small affect on Mizuki, who skillfully danced around the dangerous metal that rained down about him.

Mizuki and Fusei clashed several times on the field. It was clear that in hand to hand combat, Fusei had a little more skill, but Mizuki was far more experienced and was able to parry any attack that Fusei threw his way. Tenten, despite her best efforts, simple couldn't land any hit on him. At most she had nicked him a few times.

After receiving a shallow cut on his forearm from Fusei, Mizuki jumped back.

"You damn brats are causing me more problems. Why don't you just make this easy and die already…"

He jumped back once more as Fusei attempted to close the distance between them. As Fusei got close, he twirled tightly before lashing out, using the radial acceleration to add more force to his blows. The first sword bit deeply into on of Mizuki's kunai while the second blade darted around his defense and bit deep into his side.

Fusei let out a small whoop of joy as the hit landed. His joy quickly ended as Mizuki disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving only a piece of a log in his wake. Fusei tried to turn, but Mizuki was faster as his kunai plunged deep into Fusei's upper arm, cracking his humorous.

Fusei jumped back and he let out a small yell of pain. His arm was bleeding profusely and hanging relatively uselessly at his side.

Mizuki took the moment to take a large fuma shuriken off of his back and hurl it Fusei. Fusei managed to block the large shuriken, but the force of the impact against his sword knocked him off his feet, and the shuriken impacted heavily on his chest, leaving him spread prostrate on the grass.

Tenten knew that if she didn't act now, her teammate would die.

Tenten leapt to the ground only thirty feet from Fusei and Mizuki. In one fluid movement she drew two scrolls and spread a small drop of blood along the seals yelling

"Soshoryu no jutsu" (Twin Rising Dragons) A huge plume of smoke erupted, engulfing the vast portion of the field. Mizuki shielded his face from the dust, but recovered just in time to see two thin dragons of smoke take to the skies forming a double helix.

Tenten suddenly appeared in the middle of the double helix and began hurling nearly every weapon imaginable at Mizuki. Mizuki was force to dodge and parry, but evaded the large majority of the attack taking only a few minor hits in the process.

Once the onslaught was finished, Mizuki started running towards Tenten, intending to remove her from the fight as well. Tenten just grinned before yanking hard on invisible strings.

Mizuki's eyes widened in surprises as numerous weapons flew from their resting place, careening towards him like missiles. If not for a carefully timed replacement, he would have been impaled several dozen times.

Tenten grimaced, when for the second time in her life, her best attack was rendered useless. She slowly reached onto her back and drew her new katana, sending out a silent thank you to her father for making her take those lessons from Naruto.

Mizuki grinned like a madman and withdrew a sword of his own from a seal on his wrist.

"This sword was given to me by Orochimaru-sama himself. Do you honestly think that a lowly kunoichi like yourself stands any chance of defeating me?"

Tenten grimaced, as a determined looked settled on her face. She drew the blade to her side and bent her knees, distributing her weight evenly, assuming the stance that Naruto had slowly but surely beaten into her.

'If I can just make it a few more minutes, help will arrive and Fusei and I will make it out of here ok.'

--

Lee was starting to breath a little heavily as Gaara stood rock solid in the center of the great arena. Even without his monstrous weights on his legs he was unable to bypass the wall of sand. Gaara however appeared to enjoy the fight more the longer it continued. For a while he had been unable to predict where Lee was coming from, but his sand had adapted quickly and began sending up thicker shields and whip like tendrils to try and capture him.

"I never wanted to use this on you Gaara-san, but you have left me no other options."

Gone was the normally cheerful demeanor and bright smiles, they had been replaced by a serious contemplative face.

"I'm sorry Gai-sensei, but I must use it…"

He muttered to himself. As he stood up from his readied position.

"This is the only original technique that I possess Gaara, I had planned on using it on my rival, but you have left me no choice."

Gaara smiled wickedly as he drew all of his sand back towards him, creating a sphere of dense sand.

Lee slowed his breathing for a couple of seconds and centered himself before he formed a single ram seal in front of him.

"Kaimon… kai." (Gate of Opening release) Veins around his face bulged out as the blood flow throughout his body began to rage, saturating his muscles with oxygen.

"Kyumon… kai. Seimon… kai." (Gate of healing, gate of life) The ground beneath him began to tremble and the various small wounds that had littered his body began to steam as chakra filled them and accelerated the normal healing process. His face began to show signs of the strain, as muscles grew tense.

"Tomon… Kai!" (Gate of Limit) He yelled through his grit teeth. Chakra exploded from his body with a crushing concussion. Lee slowly pushed his body into the starting form of the Goken (Iron Fist). His skin had transformed to a deep red-brown as chakra made his skin leather hard. As he closed his fist tightly he yelled out.

"Keimon… KAI!" (Gate of View) Another concussion and a cracking noise washed over the crowd as the chakra being given off by Lee caused the air to expand rapidly, producing a sound similar to a thunderclap.

Gaara actually looked nervous as the green clad boy began to glow a greenish color as he chakra began to leak around him forming an iron strong barrier.

"This is it Gaara! Ninpo: Kyojin Chikara" (Ninja technique: Titan's Might)

In a blur of movement that even most of the Anbu and jounin had a difficult time tracking, Lee shot forward and collided directly into the shield of sand, blasting it all back leaving Gaara relatively defenseless.

Gaara was dumbfounded as he helplessly tried to call the rest of his sand back to him as quickly as possible, but unfortunately Lee was much faster. He rushed forward and swept Gaara's legs out from under him. The sound of a wet cracking echoed as his foot connected with Gaara's leg. Gaara was flipped onto his face, but before he could reach the ground he heard Lee say.

"From there you can get an excellent view of my foot."

Lee's foot crashed hard into Gaara's face, sending him soaring high into the air above the arena. With acrobatic grace, Lee took off into the air as well; Gaara's sand still trying hopelessly to catch up to its master. Lee apparently though had no intention of letting the sand reach him as he continually kicked Gaara around from one side of the arena to the other like some sort of bastardized ping pong game.

Up in the stands Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. The technique that Lee had just used gave him what appeared to be Tsunade-sama's ridiculous strength, with speed faster than even what she had ever seen Sasuke fight with.

"That technique is incredible. Every kick moves so fast that it sounds like thunder when it connects."

Sasuke nodded,

"Lee is the youngest shinobi in history to every create his own technique using the eight celestial gates. Most people them in two stages since using too many at the same time can cause irreparable damage to the muscular system."

Sakura appeared to have an epiphany as she looked back to her teammate.

"But because of how his body circulates his chakra, he can withstand much greater stresses."

Sasuke nodded,

"Exactly, Lee is the perfect person to use these techniques."

In the arena, Lee suddenly kicked Gaara high into the sky, well above the maximum height of the arena walls. Jumping up to meet him, he wrapped the bindings from his arms around Gaara's feet and neck and stood on his back, effectively pinning Gaara below him as he rocketed back towards the earth in what looked like a bolt of green lightning.

A loud explosion once again rocked the arena as Gaara impacted the hard arena floor. A huge dust cloud erupted from the impact as the entire audience waited on baited breath.

--

Up in the Kage's box, both Kages watched the ensuing battle with rapt attention as the two genin battled with all of their being.

"I seemed to have underestimated the abilities of that genin Tsunade. I never expected any genin to use such a devastating technique in this tournament. I owe you an apology it seems. I said that none of your shinobi would be capable of laying a finger on my son, but it appears as though I was wrong."

Tsunade shook her head.

"It was only a matter of time until your son met someone who could out maneuver his sand. I'm honestly surprised that it hasn't happened sooner."

The Kazekage nodded.

"You're right I suppose. His reliance on that shield of his has made him neglect any of his taijutsu training that he has had. Perhaps this will serve as a reminder to him."

Tsunade nodded her head, before turning her head back to the battle below. The dust was finally beginning to settle. From beside her, she heard the Kazekage call out to one of his bodyguards.

"Hakkotsu, go and check on my son. I fear that win or lose, he will require some attention."

The taller of the two shinobi dressed in the customary Suna Anbu uniform bowed deeply before he began the long trek down to lower levels of the arena.

--

Naruto groaned as something woke him out of his deep slumber. Still groggy after being unconscious for such a long period of time, it took him a minute to gather his thoughts. Sitting up slowly, he shook his head and started taking stock of his being.

'Well, the sun is just past its midpoint, so it must be around one or so. That gives means I was unconscious for the better part of six or seven hours. Which would explain why my chakra reserves are almost back to full. At least the stupid fur ball is worth having around for something.'

As he began trying to stand up, a thick plume of smoke suddenly enveloped the landscape around him. Quickly flipping to his feet, he drew his nodachi and got ready.

'Has the invasion started already?'

He thought, worried that he had woken up in the middle of the battle. After a second or two the smoke began to dissipate leaving only a lingering fog that clung to the foliage. Suddenly the sounds of weapons flying through the air started to fill the air as numerous blades whisked through the air.

On his guard, Naruto adjusted his mask and slowly edged his way towards the clearings edge. Numerous weapons littered the forest floor and two Konoha ninja's stood across from one another.

'Is that Tenten and Mizuki-sensei?'

He thought to himself as he slowly approached the pair of shinobi. Tenten was holding her katana in a picture perfect stance. Mizuki was acting rather cocky as he drew a strange looking short sword. The blade had a slight green tinge to it, but otherwise the blade was rather unremarkable.

'Probably a poisoned steel' Naruto thought 'that grass Nin that Sasuke killed had a similar blade.'

The ninja claimed it was made the same way as the legendary Kusanagi, but seeing as how it had been broken in two by Sasuke, it was an obvious exaggeration.

From the corner of his eye, he could make out someone lying in the grass, near where the two standing shinobi was facing off. It was hard to tell from here, but by the lack of movement he was either unconscious or dead.

He heard as Mizuki taunted the tense genin in front of him.

"This sword was given to me by Orochimaru-sama himself. Do you honestly think that a lowly kunoichi like yourself stands any chance of defeating me?"

Naruto scowled as a deep hatred grew inside of him.

He hated traitors.

Mizuki jumped forward in a rather obvious initial attack, hoping to overpower the significantly small girl. Expecting a rather easy victory, Mizuki had a slightly insane grin plastered on his face.

Just as his sword was about to make contact with Tenten's blade, something firm grabbed is wrist, grating the many bones together painfully.

"If you feel the genin is beneath your station, feel free to fight me instead." Naruto growled out through grit teeth. His mask was activated, along with his rather tattered cloak and long nodachi; he made for a rather intimidating creature.

Mizuki wore a shocked expression on his face as he attempted to jump back from the white clad Anbu. Receiving a shock when Naruto simply shifting his grip on the wrist and rotated his hand into a picture perfect outside wrist lock, forcing the traitorous shinobi to his knees.

"Why are you attacking this genin Mizuki?"

Mizuki spat at the feet of his captor.

"Soon Orochimaru-sama will of destroyed this worthless city, and I will be placed in charge here as a ruling jounin. All of you will be NOTHING."

Naruto twisted harder on the wrist and pushed Mizuki towards the ground.

"Normally I would take you into Ibiki, but to be honest I just don't have the time. I never did really like you all that much anyways. You are hereby sentenced to death."

Mizuki's eyes widened in horror as he felt something press against his neck. In a last ditch effort; he bit down on the pill hidden in his mouth. It was filled with a strange concoction that Orochimaru's servant had given him to use as a last resort. Power began to flood through his veins as his body began to forcibly open several of the celestial gates and rapidly convert his fat to chakra.

Naruto kicked him hard in the side of the knee as he leapt back. The knee bent in at awkward angle, obviously broken, but Mizuki seemed to not notice the injury.

"This POWER. It's amazing. I'll kill you all now."

Naruto shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. Use whatever technique you like. However, once I've said I'll kill you, your death is assured."

With that he pulled his nodachi into its readied position and stood facing the estranged chuunin who had mysteriously generated ridiculous quantities of chakra.

"Before I kill you Anbu, what is your name? I want to add it to my collection."

Mizuki removed his chuunin vest to reveal a rather strange sort of metal armor that seemed to be made completely out of old hitai-ate. There were various symbols on the different strips of metal, each with a name carved below the symbol. To Naruto's chagrin he could see several Konoha symbols amidst the collection.

"You won't be alive long enough to remember my name. But if you wish to curse me in hell will the others I've sent there, you may call me Iwazaru."

Tenten's eyes widened in disbelief, rumors had begun to spread throughout the ranks of the new Anbu unit that was rumored to have a flawless record. Given the description from her sister, she also suspected that this was the Anbu that had single handedly taken out the three chuunin and jounin that held her class captive.

Mizuki appeared to also recognize the name. Apparently in the midst of the talking he had failed to recognize the name the white cloak had embroidered into it. That or he was just a little dense.

"I've heard of you Iwazaru. The spies say that you single handedly delayed the troops coming to Konoha by a full day and killed hundreds with your ninjutsu. Orochimaru has a huge reward for your capture or death."

Naruto sneered.

"You treasonous bastard."

Mizuki shrugged his shoulders.

"Now, now, Iwazaru settle down. After all, treason is really only a matter of dates."

Mizuki suddenly rushed forward, intending to surprise his opponent with a quick attack and over power him before he could react. To his surprise, Iwazaru didn't even bring his sword up to block the green tinged sword as it bit deeply into his side. Mizuki grinned maliciously at his victory.

"Boom" muttered the injured Anbu.

A small explosion sent Mizuki rocketing backwards. Behind him, Naruto seemingly materialized out of thin air and cut him cleanly in two with his large sword. In one smooth movement he flicked the blood from his blade and deposited back into his sheath before he turned to face Tenten.

"Are you alright Tenten?"

Tenten, too shocked at what had happened only nodded her head. She had never met an Anbu in person before. Many people seemed wary of the masked ninja, and now she could see why. They were brutally efficient.

"You killed him?"

The Anbu nodded his head,

"Please don't think ill of me for killing him so coldly, but given the circumstances I had no choice."

Iwazaru bent down next to the other genin who was still lying in the grass nearby.

"I'm sorry, but it appears that your teammate has passed on."

Tears started to leak out of Tenten's eyes as she stared down at the broken body of Fusei.

"Did you know him well?"

Tenten shook her head,

"I only met him this morning. We were assigned to check this quadrant for any civilians that needed to be evacuated when Mizuki came in. I dropped one of the emergency scrolls, but they never responded… He as a good person though… He didn't deserve this…"

By this point the adrenalin had fled her system, leaving her feeling weak and scared. To her surprise the Anbu, who she now realized was barely any taller than herself, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how. But what we can decide is how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered. Never forget him or his sacrifice, to do so would dishonor him."

She stood there for several seconds before she knelt down and closed Fusei's eyes.

"How do you do it Iwazaru-san…"

Iwazaru sighed,

"One of the first things my Sensei ever taught me was that as shinobi we are, damned by the flesh, saved by the blood. At first I never understood what he meant, but I believe I am beginning to understand. I have killed… more people than I care to think about, but their deaths may have saved thousands of innocents. Someday, maybe you will understand, but for now, lead me to your rendezvous point. We need to find out what went wrong with your beacon scroll."

--

The dust in the arena took several minutes to clear completely. The loess that remained in the air made the entire arena look hazy as it deposited a fine layer of silt throughout the entirety of the arena. When all the dust settled, they could just make out several figures at the arena floor.

A huge crater, well over twenty feet in diameter sat in the dead center of the arena floor. Lee stood bent over; his hands placed firmly on his knees to help keep himself steady as the aftereffects of using the eight gates wracked his body with pain.

At the side of arena, the proctor watched the area closely, looking for any signs of movement as the dust settled. Several ninja in the stands appeared to be using subtle wind techniques to move the dust away faster. Once visibility was good enough, Genma began carefully approaching the craters edge.

At the bottom of the crater the mangled mess of Gaara could be seen lying on a bed of sand. Looking back at the edge of crated, Lee was still managing to stay standing, although just barely.

"Winner…" He stood up, and pointed towards Lee, but before he could finish his announcement, a spike of sand shot out of the crater's bottom, nearly taking off his head. A broken voice from the bottom of the crater called out to him.

"This fight isn't over yet proctor. Mother requires his blood!"

More sand began to pour into the cratered arena floor as Gaara's battered form slowly rose to the surface, his body braced in place by compressed sand.

Genma watched the procession with sick fascination as the clearly heavily wounded boy started to gather more and more chakra.

Just as Genma was about to declare the match a draw, so both of the genin could get much deserved medical care, he felt a genjutsu begin to fall over the entire arena. Glancing over towards the badly strained Lee, he yelled out.

"Find someplace safe Lee. The invasion is starting."

Genma wasted no time as he moved to attack Gaara, only to come face to face with two jounin.

One wore the standard Suna jounin's garb, although his head was covered with a white head covering, and a similar white cloth covered half of his face. Likely hiding scars from a battle long ago.

The other was a peculiarly white sound-nin with long white hair and two red dots above his brow. He wore a simple cream-colored shirt with a large rope bow holding it together. The Suna jounin made to stand directly in front of Genma while yelling to his ally behind him.

"Kimmimaro, take Gaara to the rendezvous. Shukaku should have him ready to fight again in a half hour at most."

Kimmimaro nodded his head and walked up to the still raving Gaara.

"Gaara-san, Orochimaru-sama has dictated that you are to come with me. I assure you where we are going, there will be plenty for you to slate your blood thirst with."

Gaara seemed to calm down slightly as Kimmimaro carefully picked him up and began running out of he arena, unaware of the two Anbu that were shadowing him as they left.

--

"So it has come to this Kazekage? Is life in the desert really so unbearable?" Asked Tsunade.

The moment the genjutsu begin to fall over the arena the last remaining Suna-nin, a jounin named Baki, tackled her two bodyguards sending all three crashing down into the stands below. She wasn't sure what became of her bodyguards, but she saw Baki move to intercept Genma, giving the one named Hakkotsutime to flee with the Kazekage's son.

"Kukuku… Foolish Tsunade-hime, I told that idiot sensei of ours that one day I would return to burn Konoha to the ground, and if I take the useless Sunagakure, all the better for me."

Tsunade sighed as she cast the stifling Hokage's robes to the side, watching her old teammate do the same. Around her, she could see several dead chuunin and four Oto-nin rapidly finishing a long series of hand seals.

"Ninpo: Shishienjin" (Four Violet Flames Battle Encampment) the four ninja yelled as one.

A massive series of purple flame like walls sprung to life, created a rectangular prison that surrounded the two Sannin. Tsunade glanced at the surrounding violet walls, idly throwing a single shuriken at the walls, only to see the metal burst into flames and melt away into nothingness.

"My, what an interesting technique you have here Orochimaru, did you make this yourself."

Orochimaru chuckled,

"Is this really the time for idle banter Tsunade-hime? We both know why I came here today."

Tsunade rolled her shoulders, loosening up the stiff muscles that had grown stiff sitting in the large rock hard chair.

"I suppose it was inevitable, you never did like people beating you at anything. I remember the one time that Jiraiya actually beat you in a spar; you poisoned his sake that night. Poor perverted idiot couldn't go more than five feet from a bathroom for a week."

Orochimaru chuckled at the memory.

"I'm sure you'll find that I am no longer busying myself with such useless endeavors such as that. No my revenge now is more permanent."

Orochimaru leapt back, placing a little more distance between him and the Hokage.

"Now then Tsunade-hime, I have arranged a little bit of a reunion for you and your family."

Orochimaru bit his finger and began making a short series of hand seals before slamming his hand to the ground.

"Kuyichose: Edo Tensei no jutsu!" (Summoning technique: Impure World Resurrection)

As Orochimaru continued to feed large quantities of chakra into the ground, a large array of seals appeared, forming what looked like two black circles. From the circles, two wooden coffins rose solemnly from the earth. As the caskets came to their full height, the lids began to slowly fall open. In front of the two caskets, Tsunade stared on in shock.

"Dan… Nawaki…"

--

Sasuke and Sakura were desperately trying to keep up with the sound jounin who was currently carrying Gaara, but countless enemy shinobi continued to block their path as they followed.

As Sasuke kicked a masked Oto-nin in the face crushed his cheekbone under his right eye. It wouldn't be fatal, but it would hurt like hell when he woke up.

"They're heading towards the western wall. Do you think they intend to meet up with the army from Suna?"

Sakura shouted over the sounds of the battle around them. Sasuke was about to answer, but it seemed as though every Suna and Oto shinobi in the entire village made a point to put themselves between them and their target.

Sakura ducked under Sasuke and landed a heavy punch on the chest of a Suna chuunin, effectively shattering several of his ribs and pushing the various shards into his lungs.

"Probably. That's the only reason to head in this direction. If I had to bet on it, I would say they probably need Gaara to take down the wall on that side. With Iwazaru slowing them down I doubt any of them had the time or chakra to summon anything large enough to destroy the wall."

On the eastern side of the city, a large three-headed snake had plowed through the wall, destroying countless homes and lives, but judging by the monstrous toad that had appeared shortly after, Jiraiya had the problem handled. The damage had still been done though, large numbers of Oto-nin poured through the wall before Konoha was able to get to the site.

Sakura and Sasuke finally got passed the last of the small team that had attempted to waylay them just to see the white jounin reach the forests edge.

"Damn!" Shouted Mizaru, losing his cool for a moment. "We need to stop them before they regroup, otherwise it's going to be really hard to get to them at all."

Without a second thought the pair ran at full speed through the forest attempting to make up for the lost ground between them. Sasuke made no attempt to wait for Sakura and began pulling ahead. In the forests the San'en were in their element. They had been raised in the ancient forests around Konoha and it was in here when they finally began to catch up to the Oto-nin. When they were less than a half mile away from the wall, they were within fifty feet of the jounin.

"Kikazaru do you think you can get him with a genjutsu?" Sasuke yelled back over his shoulder.

Sakura started forming the necessary seals to trap the jounin when something strange happened. The jounin's chakra levels suddenly dramatically increased. The power boost gave him a significant boost in speed that left the two San'en staring balefully at where the jounin had disappeared. Several seconds later they could see him leap over the great wall with a single go.

"Looks like the two of you could use a hand." Said a very familiar voice behind them.

Sasuke and Sakura spun around to find Naruto standing in the trees looking a little worse for wear, surrounded by around forty chuunin and genin.

"Iwazaru, if I wasn't so happy to see you, I'd kill you myself." Muttered Sakura.

Iwazaru leapt down from the surrounding trees and walked towards his teammates, the other ninja waiting patiently in the trees above.

"So what's going on here anyways? I made it back sometime shortly after dawn this morning, but passed out from chakra exhaustion before I could actually make it to the city. I wake up to find our sensei Mizuki about ready to kill a genin. By the time I take care of that whole ordeal there was some giant explosion at the arena and giant three headed snake tore through the eastern wall."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the bulk of it actually. Rock Lee opened up a can of whoop ass on Suna's jinchuuriki before Gaara had the chance to transform. Unfortunately immediately afterwards some pale sound jounin took him and fled the arena before we could stop them."

Naruto nodded,

"I saw them run by, but I wasn't able to stop them. I assume that he's trying to buy Gaara some time to heal so he can use his demon to break through the wall since I delayed them too long to get a summoning circle set up."

Sakura looked towards the wall.

"Where are all the guards who are supposed to be on the wall?"

Naruto frowned beneath his mask.

"It appears that Mizuki and at least one other traitor killed most of the chuunin that were on this wall. I managed to meet up with the jounin at the command station and they're trying to scrounge up some more help, but in the mean time we're to hold the wall."

Sasuke and Sakura glanced behind their teammates at the group of ninja standing behind them in the trees.

"Kami help us…"

They were about to leave when Naruto stopped them.

"Listen, if we get there and their jinchuuriki is already trying to transform then hold off on any attacks. I think I can stop the Shukaku, but I'm going to need you two to buy me some time and get the rest of them ready to fight. If we can pull this off, we can still win this battle before those bastards ever set foot inside of Konoha"

--

Tsunade stood staring at the faces of her dead brother and old lover. She stood there and stared for several moments as both of their ashy faces stared back with dull eyes.

"You're an abomination Orochimaru."

She grit out through clenched teeth. Orochimaru only responded with cackling glee.

"Why Tsunade-him, I thought you would revel in the chance to see your dear Dan and precious brother Nawaki. I thought you loved them so very much." He said with a sickening sneer.

Tsunade sighed and made a single hand seal before Orochimaru could react.

"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu" (Fire release: Dragon fire) A blazing hot fire raced towards the still immobile bodies before Orochimaru could react, rendering them to burning piles of ash.

"I was going to wait till your invasion failed first before I struck you down Orochimaru, but you pushed that too far. I could not allow Tsunade's loved ones to be used as some sick play toy. I regret the day I ever let you leave this village." Tsunade said in a very familiar voice.

Orochimaru looked past the smoldering ruins of what was supposed to be his secret weapon. Tsunade excelled in short ranged combat, which was exactly what would happen when both combatants are locked inside of a box. The corpses of her loved ones, raised to fight against her should of leveled the playing field.

"You never were able to see through my genjutsu very well Orochimaru."

Orochimaru growled.

"Sarutobi-sensei… Aren't you supposed to be convalescing in your old mountain cabin?"

A deeper rough voice laughed.

"Even you fell for that stupid lie? You are better at hiding than I thought Sarutobi."

The smoke finally died down from the smoldering bodies, giving Orochimaru a full view of the wizened old man standing across from him along with a large white haired gorilla.

"And you brought out Enma as well…" Looking at his old sensei he noticed a small white mask hanging from his belt with the likeness of a monkey on it.

"So you were the one that waylaid my armies from Suna so efficiently. I was wondering what new up and coming shinobi would be capable of the jutsus my captains have been whispering about. They said you are a demon, The Mafuu, an Ikkitousen, along with other more colorful names. He wore a white Anbu cloak and a mask with a monkey on it"

Sarutobi chuckled at the insinuation.

"I have heard similar rumors, however that man was not me, but Iwazaru. He is possibly the greatest ninjutsu specialist in this village at the moment. He, Kikazaru, and Mizaru are the greatest team I have ever taught."

Orochimaru bristled.

"Iwazaru, Mizaru, and Kikazaru, the San'en… How poetic."

Sarutobi continued smiling.

"Yes I thought so too."

Orochimaru sneered before he started gagging, pulling a long straight bladed sword from his throat. Sarutobi eyed the blade closely.

"Kusanagi…" He turned to he oldest and most faithful summons. "Enma, I will need for you to become diamond hard for me."

Enma erupted into a large puff of smoke, transforming into a large thick black Bo staff that Sarutobi picked up and twirled around expertly. Assuming a ready position he looked straight into Orochimaru's eyes.

"Well I doubt you came here just to reminisce with your old Sensei, so why don't we get started."

Orochimaru smiled wickedly,

"Of course Sarutobi-sensei."

The pair clashed together. The Anbu who were waiting outside of the violet walls weren't able to keep up with the pair of kage level shinobi as they clashed together. Orochimaru's sword flashed brightly and crashed against the diamond hard Bo staff. Jutsus would appear randomly, bursts of flames, walls of mud and water, all appearing so fast and seamlessly that there was never a pause in the battle.

Finally after several minutes of intense fighting the pair leapt back to study the other for a weakness.

Orochimaru smiled benignly at his old sensei,

"I am amazed that you have managed to keep your skills so sharp this late into your life Sarutobi-sensei."

Sarutobi smiled despite the situation at hand,

"Well, a man's body may grow old, but inside his spirit can still be as young and as restless as ever."

Orochimaru laughed loudly and reached up to his face.

"Ah, so naïve Sarutobi-sensei… Why settle for a young spirit while the body grows old… When you can have both?"

Orochimaru peeled back a layer of skin on his face, revealing an effeminate face below.

Sarutobi growled.

"I always had such high hopes for you Orochimaru… But you're no longer even human, now you're just an abomination… There was book written long ago, but I remember a few lines from it."

In the end, you are exactly--what you are.

Put on a wig with a million curls,

put the highest heeled boots on your feet,

yet you remain in the end just what you are.

"You will never live forever Orochimaru, even if I fail to kill you, my students will not…"

Orochimaru laughed as he charged his old sensei and started forming hand seals,

"Katon: Goryuka no jutsu!" (Great Dragon Fire) Shouted Orochimaru as he shot several large dragon shaped fireballs at his old sensei.

Sarutobi didn't miss a beat as he responded making several hand seals before he too yelled out a jutsu.

"Doton: Hugandi no Kabe!" (Wall of the Emperor) A massive wall of interlocking pillars of stone created a massive wall in front of him. The fiery dragons exploded against the hard rock causing a shockwave that could be felt throughout the entire arena. As the smoke and debris cleared, Orochimaru could make out his old Sensei standing at the top of the wall staring down at him. Suddenly a look of horror appeared on Sarutobi's face as he looked past his old student.

"What the hell is that?"

Orochimaru turned around and chuckled,

"Surely you didn't think I would come here without bringing the strongest weapon that Suna has ever controlled? Gaara can release the Shukaku at will…"

--

The three Anbu stood on the top of the largely abandoned wall overlooking the cities borders. Kimmimaro had managed to get Gaara to the far side of the wall and was waiting for Gaara to complete his transformation. Out of the forest below, hundreds of Suna and Oto ninja began to flood towards the wall, attempting to keep the Konoha ninja occupied until Gaara had amassed enough of his demon's chakra to break through the ancient walls.

Looking back at the small group, less than forty, ninja that stood behind him, he gave a small imperceptible nod towards Naruto and Sakura and turned to face the crowd.

Naruto flew through a rapid set of hand seals as the wave of enemies poured out of the forest towards the wall. As he finished the seals, he gripped his nodachi tightly. With a mighty heave he swung the long blade around in an arc as a horribly loud screeching noise ripped through the atmosphere.

"Futon: Kirikuzusu no jutsu! (Wind Release: Cutting through the Mountain)"

As the sword swept through the air, a massive blade of wind formed cleanly cutting through countless ninja and trees, leaving a deep wide gouge a hundred feet deep in the earth behind them.

The technique was ridiculously chakra laden, but it served its purpose and stopped the enemies' advances. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Sakura give him a signal that she too had completed her technique.

Turning back to the still scared group of mostly chuunin and a few genin standing behind him. Sasuke called out to them.

"My friends! It has fallen to us, to defend Konoha, and we have made our defenses as well as they can be made. Remember what we fight for, and what we stand to lose. If we lose." Sasuke points back towards the city not far behind the great wall. "They die…" Turning back to the army in front of them he yelled out. "This is where we hold them! This is where we fight! This is where they die!"

Quietly he looked back on his comrades one last time before uttering,

" Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time."

Behind him, the giant mass of sand was growing rapidly, already dwarfing the wall that they ninja stood upon. One of the genin called out to Sasuke.

"How do we fight against something like that though Mizaru?"

Sasuke laughed,

"There was once a demon known as Kyuubi. It too sought to destroy our precious village, but it only broke itself against our walls. The demon behind us is named Shukaku; it too makes to destroy everything it holds dear. But let us worry about Shukaku and their leader, we will meet them head on, all I ask is that you keep the rest of the off our backs."

The nervous genin nodded his head solemnly and pulled a well cared for kunai into his hand.

Sasuke turned around just in time to see Gaara finish his transformation. A several hundred foot tall tanuki stood staring down at the small wall in front of it. Gaara sat imbedded on the demon's head with a malicious grin plastered on his face.

"I'll kill you all!" He cackled gleefully as he began to make his way towards the wall, extending one of his large clawed hands back to break the wall.

Sasuke turned towards his teammates and yelled out to them.

"Now!"

Sakura nodded and jumped back from Naruto who appeared to be standing on the wall perfectly still. As she leapt towards Sasuke, the air around Naruto shimmered as a strongly woven genjutsu crashed. Torrents of chakra suddenly expanded outward, washing over everyone within several hundred yards of where Iwazaru was standing.

Naruto's hands were locked in front of his face, a massive ball of fire chakra swirled in front of him massive amounts of chakra spun around him, flinging debris into the air. The sphere of chakra was already well wider than any man was tall. There was suddenly something terrifying about him, a feeling of dangerousness that could hardly have been attributed to the blond at first glance. As if there were something that stood behind him, some door that had been opened to reveal an ancient malevolent rage, terrible and patient.

The chakra around him and the sphere of immolation in front of him continued to build rapidly as a harried command from Kimmimaro sprang through the air.

"Take him down! Don't let him finish that technique!"

Hundreds of enemy ninja's floundered as they attempted to throw whatever weapons they had available at the raging inferno of a ninja that stood atop the tallest peak of the wall. Most of the weapons never made it remotely close to where he stood, and the few that did had fallen apart due to the heat long before landing a blow.

Finally after several more seconds, even the sand encased giant recognized the threat of whatever jutsu Naruto was attempting to pull of and swung out to disembowel the flea sized Anbu.

When the claw was almost half way towards its mark, the air around Iwazaru suddenly stilled. The incredible ball of chakra sat, deceptively peaceful, floating in fronts of the Anbu. Suddenly chakra sprang to life once more, blowing the tattered and torn robes of the Anbu around him like wings on an angel of death. Across the field Naruto's voice thundered out.

"Katon: Goryuujin!" (Fire Release: Great Dragon God) The great mass of chakra in front of him was suddenly absorbed into the powerful wind currents that buffeted around Naruto. A large explosion suddenly erupted, the shockwave alone knocking many ninja to their knees.

Below, the enemy looked up in horror as a large snake like mass of fiery red chakra laced around the enraged Anbu, giving him an ethereal glow. Finally with a loud roaring noise the chakra flew out from him. From tip to tale, the fiery dragon was at least five hundred feet in length, and easily a hundred feet in diameter. As it flew, it continued to grow, pulling oxygen into itself from the atmosphere.

It tore into the sky, shining like a second sun as it rose high into the air. Later, it would be said that the entirety of the fire nation paused for a moments that day and looked towards the rising star. After several more tense seconds, the dragon paused and roared to life once more as it came crashing back to earth, larger and more terrible than ever.

As it approached and eerie silence pervaded the bloodied battlefields. Time slowed as the armies watched the massive beast crash down atop of Gaara's massive sand form. The dragon slammed into the top of the demons head with the force of a falling comet, pushing the mountain-sized demon to his knees.

Shukaku's unearthly wailing filled the air as torrents of fire wrapped around his being before reaching the ground below. Anyone within a hundred yards of the raging inferno combusted immediately, Kimmimaro had wrapped himself in a tight cocoon of pale bones, in an attempt to ward of the heat that radiated from the flailing and burning demon.

Through the flames, the ninja saw the great demon fall to its hands, in an attempt to brace itself against the heartless whore called gravity. After nearly a full minute the fires about the demon withered away, the ground and forest around it still alight with reckless abandon, the tall flames leaping from the ancient trees, licking at the demons body.

Where there had once stood a monster of sand now stood a glowing orange mass of molten hot glass. At the top, you could just make out a small dark sphere, wrapped securely in a chakra-laden shell. The mass slowly worked towards the surface and fell to the ground. Upon impact it shattered, revealing an exhausted and nearly unconscious Gaara.

Sasuke looked over towards his friend and teammate who was breathing heavily on the tower nearby. Despite the explosion that had occurred around him, he seemed unharmed. Although any jutsu that could single handedly exhaust his teammate was more than likely wreaking havoc on his chakra network.

Sasuke turned back towards the rest of the ninja guarding the walls and called out,

"And so another demon meets its downfall on the walls of Konoha. Iwazaru has made good my prediction, now it is up to us to stop the rest. Mizaru and I will take the Kaguya. Give them no quarter, for they will not give any to you."

The Konoha nin all cheered and leapt down the wall after the pair of ANBU, leaving a winded and exhausted Iwazaru leaning against a wall for support as a single bun haired genin walked towards him slowly.

--

Back in the arena, Orochimaru and the Sandaime had paused for a brief respite after hearing the deafening explosion at the cities wall. Both were beginning to show signs of exhaustion. Orochimaru had been hit several times and appeared to be favoring his right arm after a particularly brutal hit to his left arm. Sarutobi had thus far avoided any serious damage, but every knick or cut from Orochimaru's sword burned like fire as the poison swept through his system slowly killing his nerves.

"Your dying old man… Kusanagi's venom is lethal, even in such minute doses; even now you must feel as if your entire body is engulfed in flames. You and this damn village are failed to die."

Sarutobi grimaced as he stood up straight to face is fallen student.

"I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen, The Professor, The God of Shinobi, and the Sandaime Hokage. I've fought in THREE Great Ninja Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to ninjutsu and giant summons. I've seen the all the oceans, and tribes of natives no ninja had ever seen before. I've won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED THOUSANDS OF MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am. NOW, GO HOME, BOY!"

Sarutobi's chakra flared as he suddenly tore across the expanse between himself and Orochimaru, chakra surging with every step. When he was within twenty feet of Orochimaru he suddenly disappeared from view before a huge crashing blow landed and Orochimaru's already injured arm sending him careening through the enclosure. Orochimaru tried to right himself to land, but Sarutobi was already upon him. Enma crashed hard onto the Sannin's collarbone slamming him hard into the tiled roof. Enma suddenly grew in length as the long black staff crashed hard into Orochimaru's back as a sickening crack was heard from the small crater that had form.

Sarutobi landed on the ground in a crouch breathing deeply as he stared at the hole. Soon enough Orochimaru's arm appeared, dragging him out of the ground. One side of his chest appeared crushed and there was no movement from his lower extremities. His left arm hung limply, the humorous having been crushed completely.

Orochimaru had a look of absolute hate on his face as he stared at his old Sensei before his head crashed to the ground. Sarutobi stared at the body, not wanting to believe that he had actually managed to kill his student. As he slowly walked closer, he saw Orochimaru's right had twitch before a horrible pain erupted from his back.

Looking down, he saw Kusanagi's green tinged blade extruding from his chest.

"Kukuku… I win old man…" Chuckled Orochimaru as the purple fire broke and his men gathered him. One of the Oto-nin approached the aged Hokage and removed the sword, preparing to sever the old man's head when Orochimaru called out.

"Let him die slowly Kidomaru… Let him see his city burn."

The Oto-nin nodded and leapt below as several Konoha Anbu flooded into the battle area, but the four Oto-nin had already fled with a broken Orochimaru.

--

Kimmimaro immediately faced off with Sasuke and Sakura, effectively separating them from the rest of the Konoha-nin. He stood not far from the pair, his face settled into a blank mask as he began talking.

"Do you know why I came here to fight today Mizaru, Kikazaru?"

Both Anbu stared blankly at him through their masks, waiting for him to continue,

"For over a decade, I have followed Orochimaru, I have killed thousands for him and yet I now find that I am unable to continue in his service."

Kimmimaro removed the light coat that he was wearing, revealing his cursed seal to both of the Anbu,

"I was marked, and as long as he knows that I am alive, he will seek me relentlessly. So I came here today, in hopes that one of you will finally best me. No one other than Orochimaru has been able to best me in a fight."

Sasuke was surprisingly the one, who interjected,

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Kimmimaro began straightening his coat,

"I want nothing other than to disappear into history as Orochimaru's most dedicated servant. However, that cannot happen until I have truly been beaten."

Sakura tilted her head to side questioningly,

"So does that mean that you intend to lose?"

Kimmimaro's face darkened,

"No… I will battle you with the entirety of my heart, and you will probably loose. But maybe, you might challenge me. God needs the Devil Anbu-san"

Kimmimaro extruded a long white blade from his arm and pointed it at the pair of Anbu,

"Are you prepared to be tested?"

--

Tenten knelt next to the Anbu who was still breathing deeply after using such a gratuitous amount of chakra. For the first time since he had found her and Mizuki fighting, she took a good look at him. His cloak, while clean, was littered with small cuts and scrapes. Beneath the cloak she could see that his armor had been damaged in several places, one or two looked like kunai had actually pierced the skin as blood had left small dark red rings in the surrounding fabric. Reaching towards one of the larger wounds on his shoulder she said.

"You're hurt Iwazaru."

She made to pull out a small bandage to wrap the wound with then Iwazaru put a hand on her arm to stop her. She was amazed to see his mask change form as the monkey holding its mouth closed suddenly opened his mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth that sent a chill down her spine.

"Don't bother with me Tenten." He pulled back the shirt under his cloak revealing smooth skin around where the wound should have been. "I assure you, I am quite unharmed, but I am very tired."

Tenten nodded her head and put away the roll of bandages before offering the Anbu her canteen of water. Iwazaru accepted the water, turning around to hide his face from the girl; he lifted his mask slightly and took a deep drink. Tenten seemed slightly confused by the Anbu.

"Is it really such a sin for me to see your face?"

Iwazaru reaffixed his mask and returned the water.

"After the atrocities I've committed in the last day, it would be better if no one on the planet knew who me or the rest of my team."

Tenten nodded slowly, not really understanding what he meant by that. She extended a hand to him and helped lift him back to his feet. Below they could see the other two Anbu squaring off with the strange white haired Oto-nin that seemed to be leading the attack on the wall. Not far from the rest of the ninja, the molten glass slowly spread throughout the forest floor, coating everything around in thick sheets of opaque glass. It was near this that something caught Iwazaru's eye. Gaara was shakily getting back to his feet and trying to make his way towards the battle as the small amounts of remaining sand went to work grinding down rocks.

"That redhead is really starting to piss me off." Naruto grumbled. He looked over towards the girl standing near him.

"Tenten, word has it that you are an expert marksman with your weapons and that you never miss?"

Tenten blushed at being recognized by what was obviously a powerful ninja.

"I am good at throwing weapons, why?"

Iwazaru reached into his cloak and withdrew a fairly large green scroll, which he handed to the girl.

"I've used most of my throwing weapons that I have on hand, but there should be a large quantity stored inside that scroll. As it stands the enemy still outnumber us, and with both of my teammates engaged, we need every hand we can get. I want you to get to the best position that you can and whenever you can, bring the rain."

Tenten nodded.

"What are you going to do?"

Iwazaru reached into his pocket and withdrew a blue pill about the size of a marble.

"Naruto" Tsunade called out as the team was practicing various skills in the large underground training facilities.

Naruto looked over, seeing the Godaime standing in the doorway waiting for him. He dropped the weights back on the rack and quickly made his way over to her.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade gestured for him to follow her down the hall to a small meeting room and sat down in one of the chairs, gesturing for Naruto to do likewise.

"Sarutobi told me that you were having a problem with the soldier pills that the Anbu use and asked me to look into it."

Naruto scratched his head,

"Well, its not that they don't work, but they don't work well enough. They don't even come close to refilling a quarter of my chakra reserves."

Tsunade sighed,

"I had a feeling that you would experience that problem."

She reached inside of her coat, fishing around for something as she continued talking.

"My old teammate, Jiraiya had a similar problem when we were younger so I made him these special soldier pills. I warn you though, if you take one of these, they should completely recover your chakra, but if you take it on a empty stomach or when you're almost completely out of chakra, the after effects will probably render you unconscious for a couple of days, or in your case probably a few hours."

Naruto eyed the large blue pill she had produced carefully before accepting it.

Naruto stared at the blue pill. The Hokage had given it to him many months ago, but he had yet to ever take one. Jiraiya had commented during his training that they pills made for an excellent last ditch source of chakra, but that he should never take it unless necessary.

He looked back towards Tenten who was waiting patiently beside him.

"I'm going to go take care of the jinchuuriki and then I'll meet up with the rest of our ninja. Do me a favor though." He said as he slid the blue pill into his mouth. "When this is all over, I may need a hand getting somewhere to sleep for a bit."

Tenten nodded as she felt the Anbu's chakra begin to rapidly grow beyond what she had ever had thought possible. The Anbu nodded in her direction once before his mask slipped back to its inactive form and he leapt over the walls edge.

Tenten sighed and looked at the green scroll still in her hand. Biting her hand, she made a quick swipe across the seals as hundreds of kunai began to appear in front of her.

"Time to bring the rain…"

--

--Author's Notes

I thought it kind of funny that they guy that I killed off within minutes of introducing him is named Ukiyo Fusei, since both Ukiyo and Fusei translate to Fleeting Life.

Hakkotsu translates to White Bones, which I thought was a rather good codename for the last Kaguya.

Next chapter will include the fight between Sasuke, Sakura and Kimmimaro. I could of added it into this chapter, but I'm going to be gone for about a week and I wanted to get it out before I left, plus it would of added at least another 3000 words to the already 17000 word, 45 page chapter.

Goryuujin is a original technique. I found the term Ryuujin which means Dragon God or Dragon King in the translator that I use several months ago when I was bored and new I was going to use it in this story eventually.

Hope you liked it, please leave a review,

Mechen Manachewagan