Chapter 10: A Sound Defeat

Duck. Sidestep. Lunge. Stab. Parry. Slice. Jump. Duck. Parry. Parry. Sidestep. Slice. Stab.

Hanabi's movements were like water; they were calm, precise, and nonstop. She flowed from one move to another, showing skills way beyond that of a normal genin. She was good with the rapier, but she wasn't a master.

"Ooh, a little girl thinks she can keep up with the big kids?" a taunting voice shouted out.

Hanabi spun to face the owner of the voice. An older woman in her mid-twenties stood across from Hanabi. Everything about her was plain and unassuming except for the two giant bracers she wore on her forearms.

Without a warning, the older woman slammed her fist into the ground, causing a shockwave that threw the earth up into the air.

Hanabi slipped her rapier under her armpit, seeing as she had no time to seal it away, and struck the center of the shockwave with a Jyuuken strike, making the upturned earth fall harmlessly to the ground.

In a moment of poor judgment, Hanabi turned her Byakugan off, as she didn't want to have the doujutsu suck away all of her chakra. This was unfortunate, because otherwise, she would have seen the fist coming at her from her right.

A kunai thrown at the Iwa jounin caused her to veer away, luckily saving Hanabi from a painful encounter with a powerful fist. Two Konoha chuunin appeared.

One glanced at Hanabi and muttered, "Go help the Academy teachers evacuate the citizens and children."

Her eyes flickered towards the speaking chuunin for a moment, before she nodded and leapt away.

Dashing through the rooftops, she could see countless minor skirmishes taking place around her, as well as several groups of shinobi attacking the summoned snakes that were wreaking havoc in the distance.

Making her way to the Academy, she could see the chuunin there engaging several enemy shinobi. Although it was a cruel thing to do, targeting your enemy's children was a smart thing to do, as they would be the next generation of fighters otherwise. Their deaths could greatly cripple a shinobi nation's power.

She grabbed a handful of shuriken and kunai and threw them at the enemies. None of them struck, as the shinobi down there deflected or avoided them quite easily. They did, however, suffer from injuries that the Konoha chuunin then caused, as the flying projectiles distracted the enemies' attention for a brief moment. Three of the enemy group were struck down.

Her hands formed a cross-shaped seal, and she muttered, "Kage Bunshin!"

Two clones appeared by her side. Jumping down, the trio of girls joined the Academy teachers in fighting back the wave of enemy shinobi.

-

"Yeah? And what do you have that I don't?"

"This."

Naruto forced his hands to form the hand seals for a move that he had learned from Kagutsuchi. The jutsu was a technique that was restricted to gods, but Kagetsuchi had broken the rule to teach him this. Seeing as how it was a divine jutsu, the strain from having a mortal use it would be enormous. He probably wouldn't be able to fight anymore after this, but that was ok anyway. He had to meet up with Madoka, after all. As long as the jutsu still left him enough energy to run, he would be fine. A few soldier pills wouldn't hurt, either.

"DoKaton: Ame no Infernal (Earth and Fire Release: Infernal's Rain)!"

His hands glowed a dark greenish color. He threw his hands up into the air, and suddenly, the sky darkened. A black hole, the likes of which had never before been seen, seemed to form above them all.

The people fighting below the black hole all stopped. Even those who were fighting inside Konoha had stopped what they were doing. Citizens stopped their fleeing to watch this spectacle.

Lightning sounded. Evil intent seemed to pour from the hole, making many start to shiver.

Then, giant, flaming rocks fell to the ground, creating rumbles as they hit. The rocks stood up, encased in a hellish green fire, forming three such monstrosities. They stood side-by-side, towering over the people below with a height of fifteen feet.

"ROARRRRR!"

All three Infernals roared loudly, shaking the earth with their voices and causing some people to go temporarily deaf.

They stomped the ground, and the earth shook even more. Cracks started to form beneath them, and more shinobi who were caught unaware fell into the gaping abyss that the monsters created.

Their screams shook the rest of the shinobi out of their shock-induced stupor.

Gaara, shocked mindless, stumbled back. "S-so powerful! Im-impossible!"

Naruto, extremely tired due to the exertion of using this insanely strong jutsu, collapsed to his knees.

In a moment of suicidal rage, Gaara flung his hands at the closest Infernal, and his sand rushed to envelop the monster. The sand didn't even get within ten feet of the Infernal before it turned into glass.

The container of Ichibi fell to the ground in disbelief. The display of power was too much...

"Your power...I want it..."

"And all I ask of you is that you join me in my quest," Naruto replied tiredly.

Gaara nodded mutely. "Very well..."

"Good," Naruto responded, before he reached into his pouch and pulled out a handful of soldier pills. Swallowing them all in one swoop, he managed to regain about forty percent of the chakra he used. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to keep him running. It was a good thing that he had the Kyuubi, or else he would've died right then and there, as taking even two soldier pills at once was enough to kill a normal person. "Go back to Suna for me. In a few years, I will call for you. Until then, make no mention of me nor your change in alliances."

Gaara nodded.

-

"W-what is that monstrosity?" Orochimaru asked, as he stared at the giant flaming monsters from atop the roof that he and Sarutobi had been fighting on moments before they felt the rumble.

"You mean it's not yours?!" the Sandaime asked, shocked, as his eyes darted towards his ex-apprentice.

The pale man shook his head. If it had been his, he could've conquered all of the shinobi nations by now...

"Then whose is it?" Sarutobi mused.

The monsters roared again, and beat their chests with their huge, rocky fists.

"No matter, I will find whoever summoned those things...as soon as you are dead!" And Orochimaru sprung back into battle with his old sensei.

-

"A code red has been called," Hanabi announced as she swept into the classroom.

"..."

The rest of the class stared at the short girl who had just randomly burst into their room.

"What for?" one curious boy with a scarf tied around his neck asked.

"Do you not hear the sounds of fighting outside?" Hanabi retorted.

As one, two dozen heads turned to look outside.

At that moment, two chuunin entered the room.

"Code red, children! Evacuate immediately!" one informed the class. "Quickly!" he shouted, panting.

The class quickly got up and followed Hanabi and the two chuunin into a secret trapdoor located in a storage room under several boxes. The tunnel that they entered led them all the way under the Hokage monument, where they met up with several dozen civilians who had not attended the chuunin exam.

As they walked, the boy with the scarf, Konohamaru, started a conversation with the girl who had entered the room before. "Who are you? And how do you have a hitae-ate when you look like you're our age?"

She didn't even spare a glance towards the boy, instead choosing to continue walking with the civilians to the safe spot.

"Hey!" Konohamaru cried. "Stop ignoring me!"

Several of his classmates looked towards the commotion before turning their attention back to following the two chuunin at the front, with Hanabi playing guard near the back.

He reached towards her shoulder with a hand, but it was grabbed in her small, icy hands and twisted, nearly breaking his arm.

"Owwww!" he yelled frantically.

"Don't touch me," she said to him coldly, letting his hand go.

Konohamaru retracted his hand and rubbed his arm, looking at her warily. "Sheesh..."

-

Her nervousness was reaching all new heights. She could hear explosions off in the distance, and occasionally, blotches of red, orange, and strangely, green could be seen through the dense woodland area that she was in.

'Where is he?'

Madoka was waiting for Naruto, so that he could bring her to a temporary hideout that he had prepared. Namely, this old stadium. He had told her that the place was already outfitted with furniture and some basic living supplies. It was an ideal hideout because not only was it rarely going to be used, but the area around her was too difficult to bother traversing for Konoha shinobi, and it provided a good source of food and water when her supplies ran out. Add to that, she could train all she wanted, and no one would bother her, and it made one excellent hiding place.

A pair of feet landed a little distance away from her.

"Come."

Madoka followed the blond into the living area, which contained a little dust, since it hadn't been used in a few weeks.

"You'll be staying here for the next few years. I'll come visit every two or so days, so if you need anything, just ask me then. Let no one know of your presence here."

"Hai, Naruto-sama."

"Good. Any questions?"

"I...want to spend my spare time training...Do you think you can get me some jutsu scrolls?" she asked curiously.

Thinking about it, Naruto had to ponder the thought of giving her his two advanced Fuuton and Katon scrolls. They were technically his, but they were given to him by the great Kyuubi...

Don't even think about it.

'...Would you allow me to give her the scrolls, Kyuubi-sama?'

I said no.

'Then what if I copied the jutsus onto a different scroll?'

...Fine. But do not give her any of the S-ranked techniques. They are too dangerous for a genin of her capability.

'Hai.'

Making a Kage Bunshin, Naruto then instructed it to copy all of the techniques that were ranked A or lower.

"I have three scrolls for you. A Katon scroll, a Fuuton scroll, and a genjutsu scroll. Each one is very detailed and contain many techniques. You can start training yourself now, or not. Whatever you want," Naruto told her.

She nodded, and sat down to wait while the Kage Bunshin scribbled everything down.

"Disperse when you are done," Naruto commanded the clone, who responded with a slight nod. "Now to go supervise my Infernals..." he muttered.

-

Naruto raced back to the new stadium, albeit slightly slower, due to the vast amount of chakra he had expended with his Infernal jutsu. He had only been there for a few minutes before he spotted Yuki and her jounin instructor, fighting Konoha shinobi outside the walls of the stadium.

Seeing as how he still had to apply the seal on her, he chose to engage her in a mock fight.

He hit the ground with a roll, and jumped up and slammed a foot into Yuki, sending her flying away from her sensei. The sensei, luckily, was too busy defending himself to bother taking care of his student, so Naruto followed Yuki to the wall she hit. Getting up with a groan, she stood up and prepared to fight her attacker, when she noticed it was the one she swore loyalty to.

"I need to apply a seal on you. It'll erase all memories you have of me. Once I unlock it, your memories will be back. I need to apply it so that you won't accidentally give me away," he explained quickly, spotting the quizzical expression on her face. "We need to be a little farther away from the fighting so that I can apply it, so play along," he told her.

He ran to her and punched her. Yuki didn't block, so she flew back. Luckily, Naruto didn't hit hard, so it was a light fall. A few more times, and they were far enough to escape being detected. With a kunai, he pricked his finger and her finger and pooled the blood together. Dipping his bloodied finger into the mixed blood, he then drew a complex seal onto the back of her neck. When his finger finished tracing the last line, he sent a burst of chakra through his finger and into the seal, which melted away to show nothing remaining.

Naruto stepped to Yuki's front and grabbed her by the shoulders. Looking into her eyes, he whispered, "Your memories are suppressed. Go back to your sensei, and act normally. Do not get yourself killed."

And with that, Naruto disappeared, returning back to his Infernals.

A few seconds later, Yuki shook her head and looked around. She was lying against a slab of rock that was once a wall. Rising to her feet, she then returned back towards her sensei, who she hoped had not been killed while she was gone.

-

The three Infernals were attacked by various shinobi. However, nothing that they did affected the flaming behemoths.

One Infernal smashed its fist into the ground, trying to crush several of the pesky people surrounding its feet, but they all dispersed. The fist instead caused the earth to shake, offsetting the balance of many shinobi.

Another Infernal punched the barrier surrounding the Hokage and Orochimaru, causing the barrier to flicker briefly.

"Shit!" one of the four Oto ninja that held up the barrier muttered. The monster's single attack was enough to do great damage to the barrier, when three ANBU members could do nothing against it.

One of the Oto shinobi made a series of hand seals before spewing out a torrent of water. Two of his comrades joined him. All three directed their water spouts and the flaming Infernals, hoping to put out the fire.

Unluckily for them, the water evaporated upon contact, creating vast amounts of steam.

With a roar, the Infernal stomped on the three, killing them immediately.

Seeing how futile it was to fight these things, the shinobi in the area tried to escape, fear clutching at their hearts.

It was at this moment that Naruto came back, watching how the people were scared senseless.

'Test run, success,' he told himself. With a mental command, the three Infernals stopped their rampage and broke apart into pieces, showering the earth below with thousands of chunks of rocks. The rocks hit the ground, and disappeared, leaving no signs of what was once a flaming rock creature.

Cries of shock arose from the scattered shinobi populace, wondering what had caused those things to disappear like that.

"...Those monsters are gone! Return to your battles!" one of the Oto leaders shouted.

The astonished shinobi regained their sense of selves and began to renew the attacks.

-

Seeing the battle renew itself, Naruto jumped down into the middle of things. With a flick of his wrist, he sent two kunai flying at an Iwa shinobi, who ducked under it. Rushing towards the blond genin, the enemy shinobi punched the ground, causing spikes to appear under Naruto. With nary a glance, he jumped over them and spinkicked the man in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards.

Naruto lunged forwards, trying to continue his onslaught, but a blast of air forced him to jump back. This gave the stumbling Iwa shinobi a chance to regain his bearings and counter with two more spikes of rock.

Unsealing his sword, Naruto swung it at the rising spikes, and chopped them in half. He then threw a single shuriken at the older man, but it was blocked by the man's arm. The chuunin, ignoring the pain in his arm, made a single seal before slamming his palm into the ground, causing chunks of earth to rise up into the air and shoot at Naruto.

With a sealless Kawarimi, Naruto switched places with one of the chunks of earth closest to the man, causing the man to shout out in surprise. Unfortunately for him, his cry was silenced by a punch to the throat, followed by a slash of a kunai, ensuring that he remained silent forever.

Looking up, Naruto spotted one of the masked Konoha ANBU fighting off three jounin. Knowing that however good the ANBU could have been, fighting three jounin at a time would only result in his death.

So, Naruto jumped into the battle, catching one of the jounin off guard with a punch to the stomach, followed by an uppercut to the chin, sending the jounin flying. Naruto didn't even have a moment to celebrate his success before he had to duck, avoiding the roundhouse kick from the second jounin. His hands shot up, grabbing the outstretched leg, and he snapped his elbow down on it, breaking the man's leg and making it bend the opposite way. The man's screams were cut off when Naruto grabbed him and used him as a shield against the axe that the third man had.

Dropping the body and leaping back at the same time, Naruto watched as the ANBU silently Shunshined behind the third shinobi and slit his throat with a kunai.

"Thanks kid," the man muttered before jumping off to engage several more enemies.

-

So many! Yuki glanced around cautiously, observing the number of Konoha shinobi that surrounded her and her sensei. With so many of her fellow Iwa shinobi dead, she knew that the time to retreat had come. However, she could not retreat until it was officially sounded, or else she'd be branded a coward and traitor to Iwa the moment she returned.

Therefore, all she could do until the call to retreat was to stay alive.

Grabbing a stray kunai out of the air, she used that to deflect three shuriken thrown at her.

Fatigue was getting to her, and she knew she wouldn't survive for much longer.

She heard a shout, and then felt a roar of flames, rushing to meet her. Forcing as much chakra as she could into her legs, she then leapt, clearing the heat by several yards at least. Jumping into the air left her wide open for other attacks though. Two more blasts of fire were shot at her, but she utilized a quick Kawarimi to switch places with a flying kunai a bit away.

Luckily, it was at that moment that the call to retreat was sounded.

"Sensei! It's time to retreat!" she called, spinning to find her sensei, only to find him pierced by a sword from a Konoha jounin. "Damn!" she cursed, fleeing by herself.

Turning her head back, she was relieved to find that none of the Konoha shinobi were chasing her.

Giving a silent prayer, she then urged her legs to keep running.

-

Hanabi was stuck under the Hokage monument with several chuunin and a bunch of civilians and academy students, none of which was doing her mood any good. The constant fearful bickering was seriously starting to get to her, and it was only moments before she would explode.

"Hey you."

"What?!" she snapped.

"You still haven't answered my questions!" the boy shouted petulantly.

"If you touch me again, I will snap your wrist!" she replied.

"No you won't, because I'm the Hokage's grandson! And hurting me would get you in BIG trouble. So ha!"

Hanabi stared at him for a moment, before delivering a sharp jab to the boy's ribs.

Konohamaru yelled in pain, immediately clutching at his side. "I'm telling on you!" he cried loudly.

More heads turned towards them, and Hanabi acted as if nothing was wrong. Quickly leaving his side, she went up to one of the chuunin. "I'm going back out. They need all of the manpower possible," she informed the young man.

Nodding, he pointed at a giant section of wall off to the side. "Go through there. It's a genjutsu that's making sure the civilians don't flee in panic, and it'll take you straight to the top of the monument.

Without a backwards glance, she slipped through the genjutsu. Climbing up the stone staircase, she quickly pushed her way past the moss-covered wooden board that covered the exit. As she passed through, she could detect the faint signs of a genjutsu, telling her that the flimsy board was not all that protected the exit.

She scrambled up to the very tip of the Hokage monument, above the Yondaime's head. From there, she could see tons of battles taking place, and from the looks of it, there were more dead Oto shinobi than Iwa or Konoha shinobi.

Not even a minute later, she could see the enemy shinobi retreating, fleeing the damaged but still great village of Konoha.

-

Sarutobi crouched down, panting heavily as he watched his old student do the same.

"You've lost this one, Orochimaru-kun."

"Never!" the pale man hissed back, clutching the remains of his left arm. A moment of overconfidence had cost him his arm, and he knew that he had to retreat and recuperate, even though he didn't want to admit it.

With an angry cry of retreat, the purple barrier surrounding him and the Sandaime collapsed, and the four Oto shinobi immediately rushed to the snake's side, protecting him.

"Let's go!" he hissed to them, and the five of them disappeared.

Three ANBU appeared next to the Sandaime, worry evident in their voices.

"Get a medic!" the lead ANBU shouted at his subordinate.

With a nod, one of the lesser two shinobi disappeared.

"Hokage-sama! Are you okay?" the ANBU captain asked.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Do you want us to pursue the retreating Oto shinobi?"

"No, let them run. We've had enough fighting for today..." the old man managed to say before collapsing.

At that moment, the ANBU who had left appeared, a medic at his side. The medic immediately rushed towards the Sandaine, hands glowing green.

"Sandaime-sama is fine. He's just unconscious from all of the energy he used to fight," the medic reported.

The ANBU captain nodded and commanded, "You two! Bring him somewhere safe!"

The two ANBU members nodded and left with the Sandaime in tow.

"What a day..." the captain sighed.

-

A/N: The Infernal jutsu, in case you didn't realize came from...yes! Warcraft! Those things kick ass! Thanks to Xynth for the idea and the help!