AN: This chapter is the climax of the Chuunin Exam arc. I hope it meets readers' expectations.
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Chapter 14: The Hammer Falls
Contrary to Naruto's fears, Yuugao did not send her teammate to the hospital the morning after her drunken slumber. Fortunately, the twenty-something female ANBU was not prone to bouts of violence at the merest hint of perversion. Unfortunately for the blond, he learned that she happened to be something of a pervert herself.
Apparently, Yuugao had been truthful about all the things she and Hayate had done over the course of their relationship. Naruto was deeply traumatized by his sensei's onslaught of Jiraiya-esque innuendo after she recovered from her hangover. The fact that she recalled a particular morning condition pressing into her abdomen didn't help matters any.
The masked ANBU winced at the memory. While he was perfectly capable of dishing out damage with his transformation technique, the experience taught him that he was less apt at taking it. The memory made him blush whenever he thought about it.
Despite all that, Naruto was sorely tempted to ask Yuugao if he could sleep beside her again. The experience had been wonderful and he had never felt so invigorated in the morning. He would willingly suffer the incessant teasing if he could wake to the comforting presence of a warm female body next to him. However, the youngster knew better than to give voice to his thoughts. In spite of his youth, he knew the basic conventions of social propriety. Unless it was their profession, a guy just didn't go up to a girl and ask if he could sleep with her.
Naruto forcibly cleared away all wandering thoughts. From behind Genji's mask, he surveyed the exam arena. It was the final day of the Chuunin Exam and the day of the invasion. The stands were packed with cheering spectators, who mostly ignored the black clad ANBU amongst them. Everything was set for the grand finale.
'Jiraiya must have begun his attack by now,' Genji thought as he discretely checked the time.
Since Konoha knew both the approximate time and location of the attack, they could proactively deal with it. With the Hokage's blessing, several strike groups were formed for the purpose of preemptively striking the enemy as they were about to launch their own attack. The goal was for these ninja to harass and hamper the enemy's main advance, buying time for Konoha to finish mobilizing its reserves. Jiraiya liked the idea so much that he volunteered to personally lead one of the strike groups.
Whatever one thought of his hobbies, the Toad Hermit remained a formidable shinobi and capable of facing entire shinobi divisions by himself. With him at the head, Genji felt much better about the strike groups' prospects. On the other hand, Jiraiya's insistence on greater allocation of manpower effectively left the village with no preplanned reserve units. If the strike groups were bypassed or routed, Konohagakure was screwed. When Genji brought up the issue, the Toad Sannin shrugged and smugly told him, "You're the genius. You figure something out."
That was probably the spymaster's way of expressing confidence and support… or so the young shinobi hoped.
'Damn pervert better not fail,' Genji thought fiercely. The young strategist had solved the problem posed by the reserves in a manner of speaking. There was little he could do to replace the ninja Jiraiya had appropriated. Too many people were already involved with the operation for him to risk bringing in others. But as long as the great Jiraiya and his people did their job, Genji was confident that sufficiently strong reserve forces could be mobilized and deployed from within Konoha before they were overrun.
"Will the next two contestants, Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara, please come down?" the exam proctor thundered.
Genji watched as the redhead descended onto the field, trailing behind an angry sandstorm. Everyone in the arena could feel the genin's simmering rage. Certain of Konoha's culpability in his brother's death but unable to act lest he reveal his village's treacherous plot, Gaara looked ready to unleash an unholy bloodbath in the arena.
The tactical coup that Jiraiya and the Hokage engineered probably didn't help. Because the body of the Suna prince and his puppets were discovered in a restricted area, the Kazekage ended up facing some very uncomfortable questions, questions that he could not answer. What was more, Konoha used the incident as justification to sharply restrict the mobility of foreign nin, ostensibly for security reasons. Obviously, this made it much harder for their enemies to spy on Konoha while making it much easier for the defenders to move their people into position.
"Last call for Uchiha Sasuke. Is Uchiha Sasuke present?"
Disquieted murmurs broke out when Sasuke did not present himself. The mutterings reached a crescendo and the proctor moved to disqualify the Uchiha. Then, there was a flash of light that blinded the proctor and audience. When it faded, it revealed the missing Konoha genin.
"I'm here," Sasuke stated in his normal emotionless tone. The so-called Uchiha prodigy leveled a cold glare at his opponent, who gladly returned the favor. Strictly speaking, watching the two stoic genin face-off against each other was probably as exciting as watching a snail race, but the audience didn't mind and seemed content to provide all the adrenaline.
'Showoff,' Genji mused. Though not an unforgivable evil – the young prodigy could hardly claim to be completely modest himself – it was hard to imagine Sasuke's behavior as anything but foolish and arrogant when he brazenly Shunshin'd onto the field. Standing across from him, Gaara was able to carefully and safely assess his opponent's performance. Sasuke might as well have just told the redhead his technique's weaknesses. Admittedly, it could have been a clever ruse to lure his Suna opponent into a false sense of security, but Genji seriously doubted that the Uchiha heir was capable of such deception and foresight. One look at his sensei's less than cheerful face told him all he needed to know.
Kakashi definitely deserved credit for teaching his student the basic but extremely useful D-rank technique as opposed to some heavy hitting B-rank or A-rank technique, which might not even work against the freaky Suna nin. But the famed ninja failed in the critical matter of instructing his student on how best to utilize his abilities. Genji could not help but wonder if this was part of a broader trend, one in which better ninja made for less effective teachers.
"Begin!" the proctor announced.
Predictably, Sasuke immediately charged his opponent, launching a series of rapid attacks. For a while, it looked as if he was slowly driving Gaara into a corner. At one critical point, he Shunshin'd around the redhead's flank to launch a devastating blow, which his opponent barely blocked with his sand… or so it seemed. In reality, the Suna genin was never in any real danger. The Uchiha neophyte dispersed so much chakra that his opponent knew exactly where and when he was going to reappear. So while he was fast, no one would ever confuse him for Shunshin no Shisui.
Genji was therefore not the least surprised when the tables rapidly turned and Gaara made Sasuke eat his first mouthful of dirt less than a minute later.
"Genji," the Hokage called out. Alas, his amusement was superseded by the needs of his leader.
"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Genji shifted to look at the Sandaime.
"The Kazekage informs me that his son holds a vendetta against Konoha due to recent unpleasantness. I want you to go down to the balcony to make sure nothing untoward happens."
Genji narrowed his eyes from behind his mask. This was such an obvious ploy by the Kazekage to isolate the Hokage. No way was he leaving his leader unprotected with one of the enemy chieftains. The ANBU moved to protest but was pre-empted by his supreme commander.
"That was not a suggestion, Genji." The Hokage's statement shocked and confused his subordinate. Genji had enough misgivings to consider disobeying the direct order but the old man's serene smile alleviated his fears. Surely, the Sandaime knew what he was doing.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Genji acknowledged with a respectful bow and left the skybox for the balcony below. The young shinobi would have little time to ponder about his leader's curious order. As soon as he reached the balcony, he detected the telltale signs of an area of effect illusion taking hold.
The enemy's preliminary genjutsu was Genji's signal to act. As the resident genjutsu expert, he immediately overlaid a series of genjutsu over the one already cast. Without destroying the original illusion, which would have alerted the enemy, he negated its effects and replaced it with new illusions that targeted only the foreign ninja. The beauty of the pattern lay in the fact that when the would-be attackers detected his illusions, they readily dismissed them as the work of their allies. In essence, the enemy was not only blind and deaf, but was also doing nothing to correct their vulnerability even when they knew about it.
Tilting his head towards his radio microphone, Genji gave the coded input, indicating the completion of his task. Once done, he surveyed the battle raging below him. It would seem that Uchiha Sasuke was Lady Luck's bitch this time. Before he was completely overrun by his clearly superior opponent, Captain Tenzou of ANBU gave the signal to attack.
Under the cover of his genjutsu, Genji Shunshin'd five meters to the left and plunged a kunai through the heart of an unsuspecting jounin sensei. His neighbors remained none the wiser even when the victim's lifeless body hit the ground. All over the battle arena, elite members of ANBU Team Alpha moved to neutralize foreign ninja believed to be in league with the enemy.
Unfortunately, as with most battles, the original battle plan derailed fast. In their haste to eliminate as many enemy targets as quickly as possible, one ANBU left his target dying but not dead. Before the man expired, he disrupted the carefully laid lattice of illusions. Seconds later, Genji's beautiful mirage crashed, exposing the horrific massacre of Suna, Iwa and Sound nin.
It was instant pandemonium.
Shrieking spectators ran madly for the exits while ninja from both sides engaged one another. Konoha, however, retained the tactical advantage. While the enemy was composed of disparate ninja from various national denominations who had never worked together, ANBU Team Alpha was composed of Konoha's elite and had been a team for a long time. It took mere seconds for Tenzou to switch tactics. Instead of individual assassinations, Team Alpha began to overwhelm individual enemy ninja in groups of twos or threes. The enemy, however, had no intention of accepting defeat gracefully and fought back tooth and nail.
In one such instance, a high-powered but misaimed elemental technique smashed into the base of the balcony that housed the Konoha contingent. The balcony collapsed, spilling several surprised and confused genin onto the dangerously exposed battlefield below. As a group of foreign, presumably hostile nin charged from the other end, the twelve-year-old ANBU leapt into action.
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Yamanaka Ino instinctively scrunched up her body into a ball as the cold, hard ground rushed up to meet her. She hit the ground and rolled forward, allowing the force of impact to disperse across her body. Her instinct served her well, allowing her to walk away with only minor scratches as opposed to broken bones. However, the event left her dazed, rendering her unable to meet the incoming threat.
"Ino, get down!" the speaker screamed, tackling the stupefied blonde to the ground as a hail of kunai flew over them.
"Sakura?" Ino gasped as the pink-haired girl glared at her with inflamed eyes. The bleeding wounds on her forehead and arm showed that Sakura had been less fortunate when the balcony collapsed.
"Stop standing there like a log, piggy! Do you want to die?" the pink-haired girl howled. On the other hand, Sakura seemed to be suffering none of the shock of being suddenly thrown into battle, which was strange. Her friend was usually the more reserved and less adventurous of the two. It was as if an emboldened doppelganger of Haruno Sakura stood in her place.
"Right, sorry, Sakura," Ino muttered, feeling foolish for spacing out in the middle of a battle. The two kunoichi of Team 7 had little time to socialize, however, as Sound genin suddenly appeared.
The resulting battle was short and appropriately summarized by a single word.
"Pathetic," Zaku crowed mockingly. The arrogant genin roughly nudged the defeated blonde lying at his feet. Despite a valiant stand, the Konoha girls were soundly trounced by their opponents. If anything, this defeat was even more shameful and humiliating than the ones they suffered before.
"You guys go on ahead. I'll take care of these two and catch up," offered the only kunoichi on the team. The two boys nodded in agreement.
As her teammates left, Kin turned to her victims and couldn't help but feel a small pang of regret. They reminded her of herself before she was discovered and transformed by Tayuya. It was almost a shame that they would never receive the same opportunity to shine.
"Sorry, but you girls had no business getting yourselves involved in ninja affairs." Ignoring the wretched cries of the blonde kunoichi, Kin slashed out with her kunai at Sakura, who was closer.
The weapon never completed its arc. A storm of shuriken forced the Sound genin to jump clear and abandon her target.
An irritated Kin wanted to yell at the fool that stole her kill and almost impaled her as well when she noticed something strange. While there had been dozens of shuriken in the air, only one remained on the ground. Months of training and living with Tayuya had impressed upon her the obvious signs of a setup. That developed instinct saved her from being cleaved in two by the Konoha ANBU that suddenly appeared behind her.
Initially, the newcomer's appearance didn't worry Kin too much. She was as prepared to fight against ANBU as any genin could be, courtesy of Tayuya's tutelage once more. So instead of being steamrolled, the Sound kunoichi actually went toe-to-toe against the special ops ninja. Briefly, she even entertained thoughts of triumphing over the elite Konoha ANBU. Such a feat would have greatly enhanced her standing, and might even have impressed the ever pessimistic and scathing Tayuya. But her hope was quickly dashed when she tried to go on the offensive.
It should be noted that Tsuchi Kin was neither a particularly brilliant nor an inherently strong ninja. She also did not possess any bloodline limit or any gift for the elements. In Tayuya's words, what she did have was, 'an affinity for the best all-purpose trump card any ninja could have.' Simply put, she was very good with illusions and had the ability to turn the tide of battle with them. But that could only happen when her techniques weren't being preemptively blocked. To her growing amazement and horror, she found herself unable to even setup the simplest illusion. When her prized bells, her final trump card, were slashed into pieces less than two seconds after being deployed, Kin realized she was in way over her head.
Since the Konoha ANBU was most likely not charitable enough to allow her to escape unhindered, Kin needed an exit plan. Seeing the two Konoha kunoichi struggle to free themselves from their bindings gave her an idea. The Sound genin feigned a retreat and as her opponent moved to cut her off, she doubled over and shot straight for the two girls.
There were just three things that Kin didn't count on. First, her opponent had noticed her lingering gaze on the two genin and guessed her plan. Second, he happened to be very, very good with the Shunshin no Jutsu. And third, even though he was unwilling to admit it, the Konoha ANBU had a vested interest in the two kunoichi Kin wanted to take hostage.
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Kin never made it to Ino and Sakura. She was mere inches away when the Konoha ANBU popped up behind her and rammed his ninjaken through her back between her left shoulder blade and spinal chord. Kin twisted and screamed in pain as she slid off the blade and fell on the frightened Team 7 kunoichi.
Pushing the Sound kunoichi's body off, the ANBU turned to his fellow nin. His blade flashed twice and severed the bindings.
"You two okay?" the ANBU asked. The two girls nodded numbly.
Satisfied with his work, the ANBU turned to leave. But Ino was unwilling to let him go before expressing her gratitude. "Thank you for saving us, eh, Genji-san."
Genji nodded solemnly. "You two need to stay clear of the battle. Let the professionals handle this one." And just like that, he was gone, leaving the two genin and their fallen attacker.
Sakura and Ino, however, weren't left alone for long. Not long after the ANBU had left, another Konoha nin arrived on scene.
"You two all right?" The newcomer, a medic-nin by the look of things, didn't wait for an answer before performing a series of diagnostic techniques. She sighed with relief when she realized neither was seriously hurt. The blood on the two girls made them look worse off than they were. Ino and Sakura watched with silent interest as the medic-nin quickly and efficiently healed their wounds, wrapping them in bandages to prevent infection.
"What about her?" Sakura asked, motioning at the twitching and moaning Sound girl. The Konoha medic dutifully gave the raven-haired girl a cursory diagnostic. The results caused her to shake her head.
"You didn't do this, did you?" the medic asked with noticeable disbelief.
"No, an ANBU did, to save us," Ino explained quickly, not knowing whether to feel insulted or not.
"Figures. I gave her some painkillers but you might want to finish her off." Horrified, the girls of Team 7 wanted to protest, but the medic-nin went on talking before they could. "If you don't, she's going to suffer a very slow and painful death. She has a punctured lung. Your savior must have been one vengeful protector." Having done what she could, the kunoichi disappeared much like Genji did, leaving behind two rather distressed young girls.
"Let's go, Ino," a queasy Sakura suggested. She was eager to leave the area as quickly as possible.
"Wait! We can't just leave her," Ino called out, nodding at the dying Sound nin, who took to calling out to someone named "Tayuya" in her delusional state.
"It's not like we can help her," the pink-haired girl pointed out despondently. Ino, however, found it hard to just turn around and walk away. She realized just how perilously close she and her friend had come to dying. Had Genji not appeared when he did, their situations might have been reversed.
With an evidently shocked Sakura watching from the sideline, Ino drew forth her kunai and performed the admirable task of ameliorating her enemy's pain. Iruka was far from being the poster boy of Konoha ninja, but he instructed his students well. The blonde kunoichi definitely wouldn't have wanted to fumble her mercy kill.
"It's what Haku would have done," the blonde muttered softly as she pocketed her weapon.
Sakura was at a loss for words. Aside from her teammate's extraordinary act, the name of their late friend and enemy struck a chord in the pink-haired girl. She suddenly felt ashamed of her earlier eagerness to flee and leave behind a dying girl. "Ino…"
The blonde turned to her friend with a small, wry smile. "Let's find the others, Sakura," she suggested.
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The kunoichi of Team 7 eventually found several of their fellow Konoha genin holed up behind some blown up concrete pillars.
"Ino, Sakura, I'm glad you're alright. You girls are so troublesome."
"Hey, Shika. Good to see you too," Ino responded, letting her friend's comment slide for once. After recent events, her childhood companion's predictable comment was sort of comforting. Besides, the young blonde knew the Nara boy was sincerely grateful for their safe arrival.
"Are the others here?" Sakura asked. Shikamaru gave her and his longtime friend an appraising look, undoubtedly taking note of the fact that neither girl has asked about Sasuke.
"Some of them," Shikamaru answered. "Gai's team came in before you guys. Some ANBU took away Team 8, but we're missing two people."
"Sasuke and Naruto," Sakura guessed. Like that was really unexpected. Trust those two to be in the thick of things during a fight. An awkward silence descended upon the genin until Ino noticed something.
"Shikamaru! You're bleeding!" she cried. And he wasn't the only one. Eager to make up for their less than stellar combat performance and to distract themselves, Ino and Sakura wasted no time in tending to the injuries of their comrades.
Other ninja gradually drifted into the area. Soon, the area had become an ad hoc rallying point and medical center. The kunoichi from earlier was also there and had quickly drafted the two rookies as her assistants.
"So you took my suggestion and did the deed," the medic-nin said towards Ino.
"What?" The comment took Ino by surprise. "How did you know?"
"Your face told me," the medic-nin answered with a small smile, which waned when she saw the younger girl frown. "Listen to me. You did a good thing and the right thing. You kept that girl from further suffering even though you didn't have to."
The medic's reassurance lifted Ino's spirit, though it probably didn't erase all of the latter's reservations.
"You two are doing great. In fact, have you considered joining the medical corps part-time or even full-time? We could always use more recruits," the medic suggested after completing a messy, but relatively simple operation. She sensed talent in the two twelve-year-olds and was very impressed by their professionalism and depth of technical knowledge. "I'm willing to write recommendations to my boss on your behalf."
The explicit offer stunned Sakura and Ino. This was exactly the sort of break they had been hoping to catch. Predictably, once their brains caught up to the words, they quickly forgot their momentary troubles and ecstatically thanked their nominator. However, the jovial moment didn't last long. The entire arena shook with the force of a megaton explosion as wind blades traveling at hurricane speeds slammed into everything. Fortunately for many Konoha ninja, walls of orange popped up just in time to shield those caught in the open.
Ino swore she saw flashes of yellow hair encased in a sea of orange, which meant only one thing in her mind. "Was that Naruto? And what the hell were those things?"
"Those were his shadow clones," Shikamaru explained. Before he had a chance to elaborate further, the imposing figure of an ANBU suddenly Shunshin'd into the area with a body tucked under his arms.
"Sasuke!" Sakura and Ino both cried out.
"He's fine," the man declared. Indeed, the Uchiha prodigy was all reared up to charge back into battle and seemed to take offense at being kept from the fight. His enthusiasm was commendable considering the thrashing he took from the Suna genin earlier.
"My name is Yamato. I'm an ANBU captain and the senior shinobi on scene." The ANBU commander appraised the genin ranked before him, noting with care how they interacted with one another. "A few minutes ago, several priority targets fled the arena. I'm requisitioning a few ninja to assist me in pursuing them. Where is Nara Shikamaru?"
Knowing that this couldn't end well for him, Shikamaru stepped forward with great reservation. "I'm here, sir."
"Several sources have indicated to me that you're something of a tactical genius. Under my authority, I'm giving you a temporary field promotion to chuunin. For the duration of this operation, you'll assume all the privileges and responsibilities of your new rank. I want you to gather up those genin that you feel are ready and prepare them for deployment in five minutes. I'll brief you on the specifics later. Now move!" Having barked out his orders, the ANBU captain disappeared to take care of other matters.
"So what are your orders, Shikamaru?" Ino asked, half with sarcasm and half with awe. Her lazy, supposedly good-for-nothing friend just received a promotion from an ANBU captain. Sure, it was a temporary commission, but making it permanent was a relatively simple matter… right? All he had to do was to perform admirably and keep himself and his team alive.
Shikamaru restrained his desire to smack his forehead. He really, really wished he hadn't woken up today. Given Naruto's conspicuous absence, he knew the blond was probably to blame. It couldn't have been a coincidence that his friend worked for an ANBU agent while he just happened to be singled out for a battlefield promotion.
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Naruto, or rather Genji, did play a role in his teammate's predicament. It certainly wasn't out of line to drop the names of a few of his peers to his ANBU captain from time to time. Shikamaru's name just happened to top that short list. At the moment, however, the young ANBU had more pressing matters to worry about.
Before retreating from the field of battle, the Suna siblings and their sensei chose to pepper the entire arena with area effect attacks. Genji was compelled to utilize his special Naruto clone to defend his more vulnerable allies. While no Konoha lives were lost thanks to his shadow clone walls, his doppelganger didn't survive the assault intact and had to be quietly removed. "Uzumaki Naruto" was just going to have to sit this battle out.
"Genji, there you are!"
Genji turned to the half-panting and bloodied ANBU vice captain. "Sempai! I can't locate either the captain or the Hokage."
"I know," Yuugao uttered quickly. "The Suna team fled in the heat of battle. The captain drafted several genin teams to give pursuit. As for the Hokage, look above."
As the young ANBU looked in the direction the vice captain was pointing, his felt his heart sink into the dark pit of despair. Above the battle arena, Sarutobi was locked in mortal combat with Orochimaru, who had apparently disguised himself as the leader of Sunagakure.
"Don't go! You won't be able to do anything. The shield surrounding them is too strong to be broken," Yuugao cried out. When her words had no effect in arresting the young ANBU's movement, she pulled rank. "I'll make it an order if I have to, Genji!"
That did the trick. Genji stopped in his tracks and turned to face his sensei. "I'm sorry. I just lost it for a minute."
"I know. Trust me, I know. But the Hokage is doing his job, so let's do ours," Yuugao explained. It was clear from her tone that her lover's death still weighed heavily on her.
"Yes, ma'am," Genji acknowledged, forcing himself to focus on the matter at hand. There was a battle that needed to be fought and won. "What do we need to do?"
"We have taken the surface of the arena, but some of the survivors are holding out in the subterranean sections under the stands. They have blocked most of the exits," Yuugao elaborated.
The two ranking jounin watched as several explosions and clouds of debris signaled the withdrawal of an ANBU assault unit from one of the remaining openings. It looked like the enemy wasn't going to be dislodged so easily. Under other circumstances, a perimeter blockade would have been a possible solution, but Konoha ninja were desperately needed elsewhere. The remaining enemy personnel in the arena had to be neutralized fast.
"Got any ideas? I know you have been working on some plans with the captain and the Hokage," Yuugao asked, hoping for an alternative to a prolonged and costly all out assault.
"I might." Genji signaled a chuunin to retrieve a special container, which the shinobi did in record time. Too bad Yuugao's cat mask kept him from observing his teacher's facial expression when he opened the container. "It's a detonator, so I suggest you pull everybody back."
Yuugao gaped at her student for only a moment before ordering her people to back off. Once every Konoha shinobi was out of the potential blast radius, she gave Genji the nod and he pushed down the lever. The defenders watched in astonishment as a string of primary and secondary explosions sent thousands of tons of reinforced concrete crashing down on the hapless foreign shinobi seeking shelter beneath. When the dust cleared, half the arena lay in ruins and not a single enemy combatant remained standing.
Yuugao looked at Naruto.
"You knew all along. You knew the enemy would seek shelter down there and you planted explosives," she muttered with not a small touch of awe.
"Of course," Genji responded with a dash of cockiness. Too bad he had little time to savor his victory.
"Excuse me, but Hiashi-sama requests your presence."
Genji turned to see a stoic, pale-eyed Hyuuga standing at attention. Behind him were several non-ANBU chuunin and jounin who had linked up with him. The only genin present were the members of Team 8, who looked healthy if somewhat the worse for wear. The young ANBU was just glad that they were alive and hoped that the others were equally fortunate.
"Well, I guess I'd better go. Good luck and stay alive, vice captain," Genji bid Yuugao farewell and followed the Hyuuga away. The other shinobi gave him curious glances as he passed them, but quickly diverted their attention to Yuugao as she briefed them on the situation and their new assignments.
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"Hiashi-sama. It's good to see you again. What's our status?"
The Hyuuga clan head offered Genji only a tiny nod of recognition before he gave a formal report of the situation. "We're tracking enemy movements and the radio jammers are active. With me are the senior officers of the first wave of reserve units."
Genji looked at the various ninja, which included several high profile clan heads. "Good. My name is Genji and I'm the Hokage's Special Representative. As both Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama are currently indisposed, I'll be working with Hiashi-sama to coordinate the efforts. I would appreciate your cooperation." It was not a request and his forceful words caused a few people unfamiliar with his reputation to raise their eyebrows.
Strictly speaking, the concept of training and utilizing "child soldiers" was neither foreign nor indigestible for a society like Konoha, although the term had acquired certain negative connotations ever since Itachi's betrayal. However, there were fundamental differences between a "child soldier" and a "child leader."
Fortunately, Genji came prepared. When he produced the Shodai's necklace, even the stoic Hyuuga leader failed to completely mask his expression of surprise. After all, the necklace was both a precious family heirloom and a symbol of the Hokage's office. Having it in his possession meant that the young ANBU had the complete confidence of the leader of Konoha. Hereafter, no one dared to question his authority.
Satisfied, Genji returned to the matter at hand. "Okay, so the battlefield is divided into grid-like squares. Each square represents a zone of operation and is the responsibility of an independent task group. Your objective is to disrupt and hinder the enemy advances coming from the north and northwest." Here, he drew everyone's attention to the gigantic map laid out before them. "We have intelligence that about three-quarters of the invasion force hail from Suna and Iwa, which are barren and featureless territories. The densely forested Area 44 is unfavorable terrain for these ninja. We laid the bulk of our mines, barriers and anti-personnel traps at ground level to funnel the enemy into ambush sites so consult your maps for more information."
"Harassment tactics, huh?" one jounin asked, in a seemingly laid-back manner. No one, however, mistook the man to be a two-bit shinobi, for he was Shikaku, the renowned strategist of the Nara clan.
"That's the basic idea," Genji answered with a hidden grin. "Once they have exhausted themselves and we have amassed enough reserve units, we'll roll over them, but until then, it's important to keep them pinned inside the Forest of Death. Radio jammers have been set up to ensure a communications blackout."
"Won't that affect our radio signals as well?" asked Tsume, who also happened to be present.
"Yes, but you've been given a list of times when the communications blackout will be lifted to allow you to contact command to give and receive updates. If it's an emergency, use runners," Genji explained without going into specifics. The issue of communications had involved long and tedious hours of deliberations between him, the Hokage and later Jiraiya. Naruto and the Hokage had been concerned about leaving the Konoha task groups cut off from each other and command for extended periods, but the strength of Jiraiya's intelligence reports won out in the end. The spymaster's reports strongly suggested that the invasion consisted of an ad hoc multinational force that had little if any joint training and lacked a unified command structure. Thus, the invaders were extremely susceptible to communications disruptions. It was an irresistible vulnerability that Genji was determined to exploit.
To compensate for the loss of communications, command was devolved to the task group leaders. Emphasis was placed on unit level cohesion, initiative and self-sufficiency. Consisting of at least a Hyuuga for their all-around vision, a secondary tracker, several ninjutsu specialists with different elemental affinities, and at least three melee heavyweights, the task groups were more diversified and multi-faceted than any contemporary platoon-sized unit. Their members were well armed and supplied with multiple emergency first aid kits and a ration of soldier pills.
"Keep your unit together and try not to wander too far from your operational zone. Fratricide is the last thing we need. Any questions?"
There were none.
"No? Then go and deploy your units. May the Will of Fire bring you swift victory over the enemy!" Genji exclaimed passionately. Following a thunderous acknowledgment, the task group leaders quickly departed.
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"May the Will of Fire bring you swift victory over the enemy," Genji exclaimed for the umpteenth time to another group of Konoha nin. It was almost laughable how his motivational speeches were turning into his most visible contributions in the battle. It was most definitely not his idea of fighting a war. The young ANBU would have liked nothing better than to be in the thick of battle. Alas, the Hokage had other plans. Deemed too valuable an asset, he was basically stuck in the command post.
'Valuable my ass,' Genji thought as he sulked. He was reduced to being an over-glorified cheerleader for other ninja. That, however, probably had more to do with the competence of Hiashi and his staff. The Hyuuga leader had turned out to be an extremely capable staff officer and executed the details of the grand strategy with such wisdom and foresight that he left the young ANBU with little to do.
Still, Genji couldn't deny the merit of the Hokage's order. Konoha's defensive stratagem called for the use of relatively small but nimble task groups to whittle down the strength, morale and cohesion of the invaders. That meant fighting dozens if not hundreds of small skirmishes over many square miles of rough, booby-trapped, jungle terrain. It also meant a slow and tedious affair where an individual's accomplishments were easily eclipsed by the performance of the collective. Sarutobi keenly understood that in this particular battle, Genji was far more important providing overall direction at the command post than as a frontline soldier. And indeed, it didn't take long for Sandaime's caution and wisdom to bear fruit.
"Come again? I didn't catch that the first time," Hiashi commanded imperiously. The subsequent series of rapid and heated exchanges piqued Genji's interest.
"We have a problem," the Hyuuga admitted. "Yokoshima's task group lost a tactical map during a skirmish and has been unable to recover it. It might or might not be in enemy hands. The task group tried to shadow the enemy, but… it lost track of them."
Genji quickly assumed control of the matter. "Have the unit return to its post. The task group is covering a vital sector in the center. Without it, a hundred enemy ninja could sneak behind our lines without our knowledge."
Hiashi immediately had the order passed down the line without offering resistance. Whatever anyone said about his attitude, the aristocratic clansman understood the details and intricacies of command. His immediate and unquestioning compliance was a profound statement about the confidence he had in the Hokage's appointee. The gesture was not missed by Genji, who smiled from behind his mask.
"I want the real time location and the plotted movements of Task Group Yokoshima. And can someone bring a copy of the map they lost?" the young ANBU asked.
"Go ahead and bring Map NW-3," Hiashi elaborated to an assistant after consulting some documents. The Hyuuga turned to the ANBU with a piercing gaze. "You think the map's in enemy hands?"
"Yes, I do," Genji answered grimly. The tactical maps given to the mobile task groups contained the major features for a given region including the locations of traps, mines, defensive works and even suitable ambush sites. The enemy could conceivably slide around the stationary traps if they had a copy of the map. But this wasn't what happened. As time went on, reports from friendly units downstream of Yokoshima's group suggested that the enemy traveled southeast via the trap-infested trails instead of circling southwest around them.
"They're not trying to outflank our traps. They're going right through them," Hiashi stated neutrally, but it was obvious that he was stumped. The enemy formation was, for some reason, taking the path of most resistance.
"Maybe they don't have the map?" a staffer offered hopefully.
Hiashi was quick to counter that suggestion. "Then how are they avoiding every single one of our ambush sites? No, they definitely have it."
"Maybe they are confused about the symbols," Genji offered half-jokingly, "Either that or they are trying to meet up with…" Suddenly, he shut up as if struck by some realization. Others watched with bewilderment as the excited young nin then went about doing something.
"Ok, got it," Genji cried triumphantly at last, producing a large map. "The large X marks the location of original enemy contact with Yokoshima's task group. The dots mark additional contacts with, we believe, the same enemy. The circles mark possible alternatives the enemy could have taken based on information from the NW-3 map. The slashed circles mark possible NW-3 alternatives that we know the enemy didn't take." The ANBU then used a marker to connect the large X to every marked dot or circle on the map. He crossed out those lines that crossed or nearly crossed a slashed dot and extended the rest until they hit the border of Konoha's wall.
Excited whispers erupted from several observers, but Hiashi quickly silenced them with a cold look.
"There's more," the ANBU added. "I'm going to use a different marker to note the locations my captain gave while pursuing the Suna ninja who fled the arena." The new line he drew extended from the combat arena and perfectly crossed one of the original lines a short distance from Konoha proper.
"In the last half an hour, has Captain Yamato checked in?" Hiashi asked a subordinate.
"No, sir."
At that moment, one could almost taste the tension in the room. Hiashi had been briefed on the possibility of an enemy jinchuuriki prior to battle and presumably he had informed his staff. Everyone knew the implications of a tailed beast raging through Konoha proper. The imagery sent shivers down the spines of those who had lived through the Kyuubi incident.
Genji only managed a sigh. He had the greatest faith in his teacher and captain, but this was too important a matter to leave to chance. "Contact the vice captain of ANBU Team Alpha and have her move her unit there."
Hiashi was quick to shake his head. "They're currently engaged on the far side of the battlefield." Genji blinked, wondering how the older man could have known that off the top of his head. Then he recalled seeing Team 8 with Yuugao.
'Who knew Hyuuga Hiashi had a heart.' Even in the midst of an operation, Genji couldn't help but grin slightly at the thought.
"What about the other ANBU units?" Oblivious to the dissection of his psyche, Hiashi posed an alternate suggestion.
"All are committed, sir. As are all first line units and the reserves mobilized so far. Additional units are forming inside Konoha, but it'll be at least thirty minutes before they can be deployed," a staffer answered. The response made Genji's heart sink. This was exactly the scenario he had been worried about, caught off guard at a time when he didn't have the necessary reserves.
"I'll go," he offered suddenly after looking at the map again. "The enemy formation is still some distance from the rendezvous. I can intercept the Suna jinchuuriki before they meet."
'I just hope the captain and the others are all right,' thought the ANBU. Realizing that his fellow genin stood no chance against the larger enemy group, Genji was determined to do something about it.
"You're going alone?" blurted some shocked staffer. Even Hiashi looked at him with an expression that seemed to question his sanity and for good reason. After all, not even the mighty Yondaime had survived his encounter with the last demon that attacked Konoha. As far as everyone was concerned, Genji was offering to commit suicide.
"If you're wrong about the timing, you could end up being outnumbered fifty to one. At least take some of the guards with you," Hiashi suggested.
Genji vigorously opposed the idea. "No. I'll move faster alone. Besides, I've survived odds worse than this." The young ANBU's offhand comment surprised some in the room, but definitely not Hiashi, who bestowed him a measured look.
"Very well. I'll send Alpha Team to assist you as soon as possible. Good luck, Genji-san," the Hyuuga leader stated.
"Thank you," Genji acknowledged cheerfully. "By the way, some of the jounin sensei are probably with Alpha Team, so tell them that Yamato has their students with him. That should motivate them to move a bit quicker." The youngster didn't even wait for a response before disappearing into thin air. He had a deadline to keep.
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Genji's intuitive concern for his captain and his genin friends proved well founded. Tenzou's pursuit team was drawn into engagements against unexpected hostiles. His personal combat skills, great as they were, weren't enough to offset his subordinates' inexperience. After one particularly chaotic encounter, Ino and Sakura found themselves separated from their friends and classmates. Fortunately for the duo, they weren't alone.
"How's the wrist now, Sakura-chan?" the third girl asked cheerfully as she finished wrapping her patient's limb.
"It feels much better. Thanks, Saku-san," the pink-haired girl answered with a weak smile. It turned out that the medic-nin from earlier was named Sakura as well. What were the chances of that?
It is said that battlefield conditions forged intimate bonds between soldiers. Certainly, this was the case with Saku and the kunoichi of Team 7, despite the short time they had known each other. Their similar interests and shared goals – being capable medics much like Tsunade or Rin – and at least for Sakura, their common name, also helped them connect.
"Let's get moving then. Based on the signs of battle in this area, I think we're on the right track. Be sure to keep an eye on hostiles," Saku advised. Sakura and Ino nodded seriously at the words of caution, but it mattered little in the final reckoning. The three of them were genin-ranked kunoichi with no particular talent for tracking and detection. Regardless of what they did, a moderately competent enemy jounin or chuunin could easily slip under their guard.
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Sometime later, the above scenario occurred while Saku was scouting ahead and more seriously, the enemy proved to be more than just moderately competent.
"That was really pathetic," the redheaded foreigner crowed as she towered over her defeated opponent. Even though she was years older than her adversary, the Konoha kunoichi was horribly outclassed and easily subdued. But she refused to stay down and tried to use her trump card, a special Konoha medical technique perfected by Tsunade. Her enemy, however, was simply too well trained and easily parried the strike.
"Chakra scalpels?" the red-haired enemy asked, seemingly unconcerned that her opponent just narrowly missed puncturing a couple of her vital organs. "Why the fuck is a Konoha medic running around alone out here?" It was more of a rhetorical question than an actual one and the foreign kunoichi had a few good guesses.
"Get away from her!" One moment the blonde girl was charging at the redhead, the next, she was flying back in the other direction courtesy of a crushing roundhouse kick.
"I didn't know Konoha was so desperate as to send little girls," the Iwa nin taunted. She ducked under and around the strikes of yet another Konoha youth, this time a pink-haired tomboy. The redhead aimed for her bandaged wrist and neatly shattered the poor girl's radius and ulna. As the Konoha kunoichi howled in pain and stumbled stupidly like a drunk, the Iwa nin collected power and momentum into a punch that broke several ribs and sent her flying away to join her friend.
"Stop it! Leave them alone!"
The foreign kunoichi openly sneered at the medic-nin's feeble attempts to injure her. Saku's attacks were pathetic, but she could hardly be blamed for trying. She must have seen the symbol of Konoha's bitterest foe, Iwa, engraved on the other ninja's forehead protector. Her desperate struggle was born out of knowledge of what fate awaited her and her friends. But ultimately, her superior enemy beat her. And with blondie and pinky watching helplessly from afar, the Iwa nin coldly and fatally stabbed her in the neck.
"Tayuya-sama!" a voice suddenly called out.
Tayuya turned to face the newcomer, pointedly ignoring the weak killing intents directed at her back. It was a profound statement of how unimportant and unthreatening she found the two Konoha kunoichi. But at the same time, it was indicative of her susceptibility to the deadly sin of pride.
"Where the fuck is the rest of the unit? What happened to squads three and four?" Tayuya vented at the newly arrived shinobi. Upon noticing her companion's distraction, she decided to deal with the cause.
"Doton: Yomi Numa!"
The Iwa nin watched, Tayuya with cool indifference and her ally with mild awe, as a swamp appeared underneath the Konoha girls and pulled their screaming forms into the dark abyss.
Tayuya turned to her subordinate and calmly commanded, "Tell the others to pick up the pace! We're behind schedule as is!" The other Iwa shinobi snapped off a quick salute and beat a hasty retreat.
The Iwa jounin looked at the swamp and shook her head. "Fuck, you girls had no business getting yourselves involved in ninja affairs," she offered as epitaph for her latest victims, unaware that her deceased lover had made the same exact assessment earlier. Then, she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Minutes later, a battered blonde figure crawled into the open. The sight of Saku's prone, dead body filled her with an aching sorrow that was far more powerful than the physical pain she felt. The medic-nin had saved their life by distracting the enemy kunoichi while Ino performed a replacement technique.
"Sakura…" Gritting her teeth and steeling her resolve, Ino crawled to where her unconscious friend lay hidden. In spite of the terrible pain, the blonde was relieved when she felt her friend's pulse under her pale hand. At least Saku's death had not been in vain. With a wry smile, she collapsed on top of Sakura in dead exhaustion.
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As Genji had hoped, the blanket communications blackout made coordination and operations extraordinarily difficult for the invaders. The expected enemy infiltration force was nowhere in sight when the young ANBU stumbled across the clearing where his captain and the Suna ninja were fighting. But the battle was going poorly for Tenzou, who was single-handedly facing three very capable shinobi. Gaara and Temari were clearly a step up from their late brother, who had been no slouch himself.
Genji was about to assist his beleaguered mentor in taking down the two Suna royalties when the enemy jounin sensei interceded.
"Your battle's with me, newcomer."
Not even bothering with pleasantries, the young Konoha ANBU immediately targeted the man, whom he recognized as Baki from the reports.
"Mikazuki no Mai!"
Genji unleashed his other sensei's prided A-rank technique, feeling rather confident of victory. The technique was, in essence, a clever combination of the Bunshin and Shunshin techniques adapted for use with the sword. As an attack that emphasized surprise and speed, it was deadly against those caught unprepared and far more cost effective than the standard power and force moves. Unfortunately for him, Baki was prepared. The Suna jounin absorbed the blow with his flak jacket with such practiced ease that it looked as if he understood the mechanics of the attack. But surely, that was impossible as only three people in Konoha could even perform it!
'Unless… no way!' The thought hit Genji like a sledgehammer.
"I see that someone even younger has mastered this technique. Konoha truly has some impressive ninja," the oblivious Baki noted.
The wind elemental mark on Hayate's body, the Suna jounin's familiarity with an obscure Konoha kenjutsu technique, and finally his careless statement all clicked together, confirming Genji's suspicions.
"It was you!" While he really could have cared less about Hayate, this man had hurt Yuugao-sensei and that was just unacceptable.
Baki had a split second to realize his mistake before the Konoha ANBU crashed into him in an angry maelstrom of slashes and kicks. To be sure, Genji was far too well trained to allow his emotions to compromise his combat prowess, but he drew additional strength from his rage, an act that left his enemy momentarily dazed and on the defensive. But Genji's anger ultimately affected his ability to control the overall battle. As he aggressively pushed Baki further away, he became more and more separated from Tenzou and the Suna siblings. This made it difficult if not impossible for him to intercede on his captain's behalf in the event of an emergency.
The "emergency" happened in the blink of an eye. By all rights, it shouldn't even have happened since the Konoha ANBU had all but won the fight. Genji had struck a critical blow that left Baki lying on the ground while Tenzou had successfully separated the two Suna siblings and applied the tailed beast suppressor on Gaara.
It should have ended then and there, but it didn't because of one mistaken assumption. For all of Jiraiya's vaunted spy reports, Genji's tactical brilliance and the Sandaime's wisdom, Tenzou was ordered to target the wrong genin. Whether it was testament to the efficacy of Suna's counterintelligence or the incompetence of Jiraiya's spy network, it ended up costing them dearly.
Tenzou and Genji realized too late that Temari had been the Suna jinchuuriki all along. They could only watch in disbelief as the one-tailed Shukaku took form. The ANBU captain attempted to engage the real demon container, but found himself frozen in place. Gaara, who was entirely unaffected by the anti-demon measures, had secretly snuck his sand to seize Tenzou's feet while he was distracted. This normally wouldn't have been a problem as the experienced jounin could have easily dislodged the restraints in seconds. In this case, however, those were seconds he didn't have.
Dark sickles of pure wind chakra, which circled around the unveiled tailed beast like swarms of locusts, suddenly shot toward the defenseless Konoha nin.
Standing too far away to be of any help, Genji could only watch with helpless horror as his mentor, confidant and one of his very few friends, disappeared under a hail of razor sharp wind blades.
"NO!" Not caring if his anguished, animalistic cry was heard for miles, the twelve-year-old allowed his rage to possess him. A sinister red glow covered his body as the Kyuubi's intoxicating chakra pulsed through him.
Baki rose, surprised but seemingly undaunted by his transformed enemy. Hoping to wrestle victory from the jaws of defeat, he charged up his chakra blade with the wind element. Genji swung his weapon, which, as expected, was smashed into pieces by the Suna jounin's chakra blade. Rather than falling back, however, the ANBU genius continued the angular rotation of his body and brought his chakra-covered arm into play.
Baki had a fraction of a second to register his surprise before he had an arm stuck through his chest. The mentally devolving Genji crudely tore his arm free, ignoring the bloody and gory mess he made of the deceased Suna nin.
'That's for Yuugao! The siblings are next!'
Without dallying, Genji lashed out with a series of S-rank firebombs. Gaara barely had enough time to create a sand barrier against the onslaught. Unlike normal fire attacks, the flames were modified to burn continuously, keeping the Suna boy pinned inside. And while the inferno failed to penetrate the barrier, it did a wonderful job of eating up all the oxygen in the air. The Konoha ninja watched with satisfaction as oxygen deprivation ultimately forced his enemy to drop his shield and confront the raging fire. The end result was a smoking Suna genin covered in soot.
'Absolute defense, my ass!' Genji thought contemptuously. The guy should have known that nothing was ever absolute in war.
And then there were just two.
Mano-a-mano. Jinchuuriki vs. jinchuuriki.
Genji licked his bloodied lip in lustful anticipation. But before he could surrender his remaining humanity to the beast within, a rasping voice and a trembling hand reached out to him.
"No… don't."
The young soldier stopped dead in his tracks.
"Sensei!" Genji immediately dispatched a group of clones to occupy the Shukaku while he dropped to his knees before Tenzou. The youth struggled to hold himself together as he beheld his mentor's savaged body. "I'll slaughter them all!" he declared.
"No! This… not you. Control it… not let… it control you. This… my last… order… to you." Tenzou's words were not what Naruto expected, but they had the desired effect. The captain made a good point but it wasn't only the potential loss of control that was dangerous. Up to now, Genji had drawn only a small portion of the Kyuubi's chakra. Given the massive tailed beast nearby, it was unlikely that anyone had noticed it. But if he allowed the beast's chakra to completely possess him, then the whole village would learn of his dark secret. In the end, wisdom prevailed and the young boy's passions receded, as did the Kyuubi's chakra. The dying ANBU captain nodded in appreciation.
"My sword… take it. Naruto… you'll go… far. Take care of… Hokage." With that, Tenzou succumbed to his wounds.
In times to come, Naruto would bitterly lament how he didn't properly say goodbye to the man who had influenced him during his formative years. But maybe the proper goodbye wasn't really necessary.
'You bastard,' Genji thought hatefully as he looked at the towering beast before him. Truly, the tailed beasts were horrifying creatures to behold. But were people like him, the jinchuuriki, any better? As painful and depressing as it was, maybe all those people who despised him and called him demon were onto something…
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
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'I'm losing this fight.' The grim realization made Genji most unhappy. In spite of his captain's courageous rhetoric, the released tailed beast was simply too strong to be taken down by conventional shinobi tactics. It looked as if fire was going to be needed to fight fire.
Worse yet, Genji noticed movement on the horizon. It looked as if the enemy reinforcements were finally on the scene. While he knew he had a good chance of beating the Shukaku if he went all out with the Kyuubi's chakra, he was less certain about his chances against the approaching enemy force. There was no telling what could happen if he really lost control.
The child warrior paused for an infinitesimal second to look back at his village and home. No, he would rely on another asset, something that had yet to fail him. He would defeat the enemy with his ingenuity.
'Never thought I would use this,' Genji mused. The technique had been a joke, a product of sleepless nights combined with his energetic persona. Always eager to turn weakness into strength, he had decided to channel his Kyuubi related nightmares into an illusion of sorts. In essence, it resembled Orochimaru's death viewing illusion, which he had read about, but with two key differences. Instead of showing the victim's gruesome death, Genji's technique filled their mind with haunting images of the strongest of the tailed beasts. And instead of being applicable at all times, Genji's technique targeted the REM sleep phase of victims, making it only useful on the sleeping or unconscious. But as luck would have it, his target was, in effect, sleepwalking since she wasn't in conscious control of the one-tailed demon.
"Magen: Maboroshi Kitsune no Jutsu!"
Genji could only imagine how it must have looked to the few defenders manning Konoha's walls. One moment, the seemingly unstoppable, gigantic sandy terror was bearing down on the village, and the next, it skidded to an abrupt halt before a midget of a boy and howled into the air as if grievously stricken by some invisible foe.
He grinned like a maniac. His hunch had been right. The Kyuubi was apparently as terrifying to the other tailed beasts as it was to humans. Allies and foes alike watched stupefied as the Shukaku literally went insane, sending waves of coiled blasts of wind flying everywhere. Konoha and its defenders were, thankfully, distant enough to avoid great damage. Genji had to literally Shunshin like the wind to avoid being sliced into pieces. The invaders' reinforcements, however, were completely and utterly decimated.
Destroyed by their weapon. The irony was oh-so-delicious.
The Shukaku all but exhausted its chakra in its assault on the phantom Kyuubi. Genji had only to deliver a ceremonial gesture to bring about its collapse. But what a magnificent gesture it was. The young ANBU swore he heard cheering as the demon's physical form disintegrated.
The David and Goliath comparison could not have been stronger in the eyes of those who witnessed Shukaku's defeat. It must have immediately evoked memories of the Yondaime's heroic battle and sacrifice against the Kyuubi. Except this time, the hero had no assistance from giant summoned beasts or cohorts of fellow Konoha ninja. This time, one lone figure had stood against another mighty tailed beast and prevailed.
In that glorious moment, Genji's name was forever enshrined in Konoha's collective memory. But by that same token, Naruto's own hopes were irrevocably shattered.
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"Fucker! You dumb fucker!" The dirtied, bloodied and infuriated Tayuya marched over to the body of the unconscious blonde, the person responsible for the annihilation of her entire strike force. The idiotic Suna princess had destroyed their best chance at victory. But she, the so-called genius of Iwa, should have realized the mistake of relying on an untested jinchuuriki in the first place. It was her fault for not dealing with the issue earlier.
"You damn worthless trash! Die!" Tayuya cried, fully intending to correct her mistake. But a barrier of sand stopped her from carrying through.
"I'll not allow you to harm my sister," Gaara managed to get out. His clothes were blackened and his body and face were covered with third-degree burns. The Iwa nin was impressed with the Suna nin's resilience, but not enough to be swayed from butchering his sibling.
"Get the fuck away from your fool of a sister! I swear I'll gut you alive if you don't. I wanted to request someone else for the job!" Tayuya spat. Yugito definitely wouldn't have screwed up like the worthless Suna kunoichi. "But that snake prick said that your Kazekage was adamant about using you guys!"
Gaara narrowed his eyes. "That is most curious. Orochimaru-sama said the same about you."
Tayuya blinked, pausing briefly to allow her anger to subside. This gave her rational mind the time to dissect the information. "And what else did snake face say?"
Minutes later, it became abundantly clear that the sly leader of Hidden Sound had not been upfront about a great number of things. To Tayuya, all the previous little details, the signs of neglect and the symptoms of operational imprudence added up to one logical conclusion.
"He never intended for this operation to succeed," the redhead whispered, feeling her blood boil with rage. The concept was so ludicrous, so insane that she had not even considered it as a possibility. But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Sure, the snake ninja had an axe to grind with his former home, but that didn't make him Iwa and Suna's greatest friend. Everyone knew the alliance was temporary, so why shouldn't he have betrayed them first? "He fucked with us!" Tayuya concluded.
"That is entirely possible. If so, we must escape and contact our leaders," Gaara suggested while gazing at his sister's body.
Tayuya clenched her teeth. Fleeing from battle went against everything she believed in, but she recognized its necessity even if it meant almost certain death for her. Iwagakure appreciated neither cowardice nor failure, and she was rightfully guilty of both. The Iwa kunoichi, however, dismissed the fatalistic thought. Her personal fate was secondary to the information that Orochimaru had played his allies for fools. She didn't know what he was planning, but she knew it couldn't be good for her village or her leader.
A small group of figures suddenly appeared on the horizon. They were Konoha nin and they were approaching rapidly.
Tayuya looked at the two Suna siblings. She really should kill them both. Iwa and Suna were historic enemies, so it wasn't to the former's advantage to have the latter possess the same intelligence. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Gaara eyeing the corpse of his sensei. She didn't need to read minds to know how the other shinobi felt. Ultimately, for reasons that escaped her, the Iwa redhead stayed her hand. Ostensibly, she gave herself the excuse of running out of time.
"Take your sister and go. We'll split up to throw off our pursuers," Tayuya suggested, wiping her bloodied face. It was a good thing that she was a natural redhead; otherwise, her hair would be a mess. The Iwa kunoichi scoffed at the semi-grateful look the Suna nin shot her. "Just keep moving and stop for nothing."
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The backlash of the Shukaku's defeat ended up being greater than Genji had expected. By the time he came out of his daze, the surviving enemy nin had already fled. Unwilling to wait for additional reinforcements, the vengeful ANBU charged after the enemy with just a few Konoha nin for support. He sent the others after the Suna nin, while he and Kakashi chased after the redhead wearing an Iwa forehead proctor.
Seeing his companion's condition, Kakashi couldn't help but ask the question, "Genji, you all right?"
"Thanks, Kakashi-san, but I'm fine," the young ANBU replied bluntly. The one-eyed Sharingan user carelessly shrugged off the comment. "You know what to do?" the young child queried. The deep, emotionless tone sent shivers down the former ANBU captain's spin.
"Yes," Kakashi acknowledged, secretly glad that the boy was on their side. He gave the response just as an explosion engulfed Genji.
The jounin sensei of Team 7 didn't even blink at the apparent demise of his comrade, preferring to focus his attention on the strange, demonic-looking character before him. "Cursed seal," he muttered. Of course, the enemy carried the same vibe as Sasuke, and there was no mistaking the girl's artificially dark skin and the horns protruding from her head.
The demoness grinned with malice. "So you fucking know! Big whoop-de-do. You shouldn't have followed me. Now, you're doomed as well."
To the enemy kunoichi's consternation, the Konoha nin actually grinned at her. His one good eye turned upwards to indicate his amusement. "I've dealt with your kind before. So I don't think so. Besides, my companion single-handedly brought down a tailed beast. I don't think you'll be much of a problem."
The Iwa jounin realized her mistake too late. She was already sailing through the air courtesy of Genji express.
"Ugh, you fucker," the foreigner grunted, spitting a wad of blood at the Konoha nin in defiance. A lesser shinobi would have been knocked out for the count, but this was a jounin with an active cursed seal. The Konoha fighters were going to have to work for this one. When the Iwa kunoichi's counterattack came, Kakashi was ready with his secret weapon.
"Raikiri!"
Hands pulsing with power and chakra, Kakashi cut through the lightning and earth techniques sent his way as well as the enemy's defensive earthworks.
"That move actually cut through my lightning attacks? What the fuck!" The redhead was suitably dismayed at the ease with which her attacks were thwarted. But shocked as she was, she wasn't distracted enough to allow her second foe to sneak up on her. The Iwa nin leapt away a split second before Genji descended on her position.
"You lose, Iwa kunoichi. You have no hope of escape or rescue. You're tiring faster than us and we have elemental type-to-type advantage. Surrender now and Konoha may show you the mercy that your own village will not," Genji enunciated clearly.
"You trash know nothing about me!" the redhead sneered, but her false bravado fooled no one.
"Don't I?" Genji reached into his ANBU garb and produced a flute. "I believe this is yours."
"Yes, it is," the Iwa nin responded, her skin having turned impossibly pale. "And I want it back. Die, you fucker!" she screamed, activating the traps.
Kakashi cried out a belated warning as a fiery inferno engulfed his ally. It had been a trap all along. The Iwa nin had predicted her attack's possible failure and had her former location booby-trapped as a precaution. When Genji attacked her position, he walked right into it.
"Who's the loser now, huh?" the Iwa kunoichi crowed as she retrieved her prized flute. But the response she received was not the one she expected.
From his place on the ground, the wounded young ANBU grinned at her. "Still you."
The Konoha nin covered their eyes as the explosive note hidden inside the flute detonated inches from the Iwa kunoichi's face. Howling in shock and pain, the redhead crumpled to the ground. Kakashi pounced immediately after and subdued her in seconds.
"How is she?" Genji asked as he picked himself up.
"Alive, for now. She'll need a medic though if we want to keep her that way," Kakashi assessed. "That was an awfully risky move. Why didn't you let a clone take the blow?"
"She might have noticed that it wasn't real. I needed her to think that she had won before I could get her to take the bait. Besides, she screwed up her traps by burying them too deep in the soil so I knew they wouldn't have hurt me too much," Genji answered casually.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Kakashi threw the body of the Iwa kunoichi over his back. "One last question. How did you know that your trick was going to work?"
"I had a hunch," Genji answered mysteriously. He certainly wasn't going to explain that he had met the same enemy nin while on a joint mission with Team 8… not yet at least, not before his identity was cleared up.
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When Genji and Kakashi, along with their unconscious prisoner, returned to the site where the former had fought the tailed beast, Alpha Team and various miscellaneous personnel were there to greet them with cheers and applause. Obviously, they had either heard or seen parts of the battle between Konoha's newest hero and Shukaku.
"Genji, you're alright," the vice captain observed with a dry voice. It was obvious that Yuugao wanted to say more but didn't under the circumstances.
"I am," Genji answered reassuringly. The acting ANBU captain nodded with satisfaction before turning to Kakashi and his cargo.
"Who's this?"
"An Iwa nin we caught fleeing the scene. She fought at jounin level, so we better keep her sedated and under observation," Kakashi suggested.
"I have a feeling she might be a key player in the enemy's camp. Have a medic treat her in isolation and hand her over to the interrogation unit as soon as she's stabilized. She's a genjutsu expert so make sure that she's guarded by at least one illusion specialist at all times," Genji added. Yuugao nodded and immediately began barking orders to carry out the young genius's suggestions.
"Thank you, Kakashi-san," Yuugao stated. "You'll be happy to know that we found your students. They're badly hurt, but alive and not in critical condition. You can check up on them at the field medic's tent."
The Sharingan nin sighed with relief, though he wasn't the only one. Genji was also happy about the news. While he couldn't care less about the Uchiha, he was definitely glad that the two girls made it out all right.
"Thank you. It was a pleasure working with you, Genji. See you around, Yuugao." The man cheerfully gave a two finger salute before disappearing.
As other Konoha ninja and support personnel hurried about, the young ANBU slowly walked to the corpse of his captain and gingerly picked up his bloodied weapon.
"I'm sorry."
Genji looked at her. "Why are you sorry? I'm the one who failed to save him."
Yuugao didn't respond, recognizing the futility of arguing with her student at this point. But when he offered her the weapon, she shook her head. "He would have wanted you to have the Yamato."
Tenzou's codename was an eponym of his sword's name. According to samurai scholars, the samurai does not choose the blade; rather, the blade chooses the samurai. Tenzou was a ninja, not a samurai, but that didn't matter. In Genji's estimation, his teacher and mentor was as noble and virtuous as any follower of the Code of Bushido.
"I cannot accept this honor."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in this," Yuugao shot back. Genji swore she was sniggering back at him. To the acting ANBU captain's surprise, the twelve-year-old maturely accepted the gift without further complaint.
"So what happened to the two Suna genin?" Genji questioned with an audible edge in his voice.
"I'm sorry. They got away."
"Me too." Genji gritted his teeth. He would have liked nothing better than to chase after them, but that would've been excessively rash, even for him. And it wouldn't do for him to mope around like a lost puppy. "What's done is done!" as his sensei was fond of saying.
Now, the focus was on the broader battle. With the enemy jinchuuriki threat neutralized, Genji realized he should probably return to the command post. The young ANBU was about to bid Yuugao goodbye when her radio crackled to life.
"Yes, Hiashi-sama, he's here," the ANBU commander said in an emotionless voice. "I'll tell him."
"Tell me what?" Genji asked, looking at Yuugao with concern.
The kunoichi briefly paused to collect her thoughts before responding, "Hiashi-sama asked you to return to the arena as soon as possible."
"I was just going to do that. Is that all?" The younger ANBU didn't need to see his sensei's face to know that she had something else on her mind. "Just tell me. It can't be that bad," he cajoled. He had seen Captain Tenzou die with his own eyes! How could it possibly get any worse?
"I'm afraid it is, Genji." In spite of her best efforts, Yuugao failed to keep the profound sense of loss and sadness out of her voice.
Indeed, her next four words forever shattered Genji's world.
"The Hokage is dead."
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Technique List:
Mikazuki no Mai – Dance of the Crescent Moon
Magen: Maboroshi Kitsune no Jutsu – Demonic Illusion: Phantom Kitsune Technique
AN: A few technical points. For practical reasons, I modified the Shodai's special anti-tailed beast technique so that the necklace wasn't required. Temari being the jinchuuriki most likely came as a surprise, but I have prospective plans for that. The change accounts for the Shukaku's ability to create wind storms. Think of them as bigger versions of what Temari did to Tayuya in canon.
This chapter was pretty brutal. Not only did I kill off a record number of canon characters, I made their killers be canon characters as well. That was the point. I wanted Naruto to deal Kin a fatal blow while having Ino deliver the coup de grace. I also wanted him to physically see Temari kill his teacher. The dark implications of this chapter were necessary. I mean, you didn't expect a cop-out from me, did you?
Speaking of implications, I want to say that I did feel bad for killing off Kin like that. I considered sparing her, but realized it wouldn't have worked. Sorry people. Harsh and cold as this sounds, Tayuya is probably a much more interesting character now that Kin's dead. Just think of all the possibilities for Naruto-Tayuya interactions.
I also developed Sakura and Ino more in this chapter. Ino's role in killing Kin has obvious implications for the future. Likewise, their medic friend's death at Tayuya's hands will probably have some influence on the girls, especially Sakura. Think of it as a coming of age experience for the girls, like the canon one involving Naruto and Haku.
That's about it. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Take comfort in the fact that the next couple of chapters will not be nearly as harsh. I'll be focusing more on character developments and maybe even romances. Naruto will also have time to heal before the next round of incoming.
As always, please take a moment to review. Thank you.