…Known Safe House, Otogakure Spy Ring HQ, Konohagakure

Yakushi Kabuto was in a panic. The plan was still on track and all signs pointed to it going off without a problem except he had spent the last month failing at every task that had been assigned to him. It was not arrogance that caused him to believe that something was terribly wrong, even though that was what Orochimaru accused him of when he brought it to the Snake Sannin's attention.

In his years as a spy for Orochimaru he had never failed so consistently at his tasks and that was no accident. He was meticulous and careful and very skilled as a Shinobi. But in the last month, he had not been able to complete any of the tasks assigned to him. It started with an inability to find the bodies of the sound nin that had been killed by Sasuke in the Forrest of death. The report about him killing them was practically general knowledge but he found no evidence the bodies had been destroyed and no evidence of what happened to them.

Orochimaru had need those bodies and so was very displeased with him when he reported his failure to find them. Worse still was his next failure, an inability to gain access to Uchiha Sasuke. It had taken him two weeks to find the boy and no matter his explanations, again Orochimaru only laughed at him when it was discovered he was in the Uchiha compound, just not in the main house.

His master did not know yet of his latest failure. He could not get to the boy. The loss of the entire clan in one night had apparently not been ignored and clan compound security had been changed. Kabuto did not understand how he had not been aware of that but it wasn't until he sent a few of his people to retrieve the boy and they were incinerated by some type of fūinjutsu seal that he realized that he had a problem.

Worried that their plot had been discovered he sacrificed a few more of his men trying to infiltrate the other clan compounds. He was gratified, a little, to see that the security measure was at most of the clan homes. He decided that it had been implemented but only activated due to the visitors in the village. After all, unchecked visitors had led to the Hyuga incident. He did make note to terminate the cell that was responsible for, and had failed, finding this information out.

The reason did not matter. What mattered was that not only was Sasuke unattainable but the planned attack on the village was at risk if the clan compounds could not be breached. Fortunately, most of the shinobi forces would be patrolling the village and not safe within their clan walls. He only hoped he could entice the boy to leave the protection once the attack started. He was unaware that Sasuke was as incapable of leaving the Uchiha district as he was at entering it.

He received a report that Orochimaru had arrived in his guise as the Kazekage and smiled to himself. He was angry at his own failures but remained anxious to see the shock and surprise on the faces of the Konoha shinobi and civilians as their world fell around them. He would never have that opportunity, as the poison that had been on the report stole his consciousness from him. '

In the end he would not be aware as his own plans and contingencies collapsed around him with the entrance of unusually powerful ANBU who took down his safe house and killed half the force present there. Nor would he ever be aware that every safe house he had in the village had suffered similar fates. The first strike of the invasion of Konoha had occurred and it was preemptive.

…Hokage Box, Chunin Exam Finals Arena, Konohagakure

The "Kazekage" and his guards were the last to arrive in the Hokage's box. He smiled internally to see that the only other kage to make the trip was the Tsuchikage, who he was sure would aid him in his plan to destroy the leaf village. The minor villages had powerful leaders but they were all in a separate box and would not be able to aid Hiruzen once his plan was executed. The snake wearing the skin of a village leader smiled during the formal greetings before taking his seat.

The Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen had not been sure he would be able to keep himself from attacking his wayward student. But then his newest love, a probable future wife, Yuyu, had brought him a gift to calm his nerves before it was time to leave for the arena.

The gift was her sister, Ami, and her niece, Kao. Ami was a widow whose civilian shinobi husband had died on a mission and Kao was her daughter who was in her final year at the shinobi academy. Both had become members of Jiraiya's Hentaishindo religion and had appealed to their family member for a chance to "recruit" the Hokage.

After three hours of claiming both a pair of sisters and a mother, daughter pair in a giant foursome that concluded by claiming the anal virginity of the youngest family member, Hiruzen had decided to join this new religion and was calm enough to face his former student for, hopefully, the final time.

In one of the viewing boxes, Temari was scared. The last month had not been pleasant for her. Her brother had not made good on his threat to kill her for losing but that did not mean that she was not beaten brutally for her failure. The beating did not bother her as much as the fact that the small influence she had over her brother had completely disappeared and it had happened at the worst possible time.

The blonde kunoichi was by far the smartest of her siblings and in the month she had been in the village, she had become convinced that at least part of the reports they had received about Konoha, was not true. Reports could be faked but her own eyes would not lie to her. She had watched the ANBU patrols and payed attention to the rank and file shinobi. She had even kept her ear to ground in the civilian areas. What she discovered was that the Konohagakure no Sato was not the complacent unprepared village they had been told existed.

And to her, if that vital detail was incorrect, she no longer trusted any of the rest of the reports. She had told their Jōnin sensei her discovery and even though he was a bit condescending in his dealing with her, he finally went out to check on her suspicion the previous night. He had not returned and her instincts told her he was captured, dead or worse. The whole way to the arena hosting the Chunin finals, her eyes constantly roamed for evidence that their duplicity had been found out.

She had desperately wanted to gather her brothers and leave the village that morning but received a slap to the face for her trouble. Her brother was at the edge of madness and wanted the "blood of the Uzumaki" to "prove his existence". She knew that the day was a failure but would not abandon her brothers. She wondered if this was the day she had always expected where she would sacrifice her life in one final attempt to protect them.

Her eyes drifted to the competitor's box where her two brothers sat. She was ready. At any cost to her, they would make it back to Suna. She had already failed them both so much. She prepared herself to do what had to be done.

…Arena Floor, Chunin Exam Finals Arena, Konohagakure

Gekkō Hayate stepped to the center of the floor and looked at the gathered crowd. It was the largest Chunin finals crowd in recent memory and he knew that was due to how many extraordinary things were happening at the same time. A Namikaze heir had been revealed, as had an Uzumaki one. They were the same boy and he had been showing himself to be powerful, both as a shinobi and a politician. Already the Uzukaatsu, who were also thought lost, had shown up. In addition, the Kitsune Clan had been found and allowed him to sign their contract.

Most of the drama revolved around Naruto but the crowd also represented an attempt to invade Konoha and Hayate was proud to say that he had personally drawn the first blood the night before when he killed Baki, the Jōnin sensei for the Suna team of the Kazekage's children. The man had been under surveillance and it was obvious when he had realized that Konoha was much better protected than it should have been.

The battle had been difficult and if Hayate had still been weakened by the poison that caused his cough, he might have lost. Even the increase to his chakra capacity had not purged the poison. Instead it had been joining the Hentaishindo and making love to Yūgao while surrounded by the senjutsu power of Jiraiya that had finally freed him of his disability. They had been one of six couples to fuck while Jiraiya stayed motionless and plugged into Tomi.

They had not done it to seek a cure for him but instead just wanted to see if they could feel some of the euphoria Tomi and others had reported. They had and he and his girlfriend had both experienced the most powerful orgasm of their lives. It was only later that he discovered his cough and the associated aches, pains and weaknesses were gone.

His defeat of Baki had been covered up and while they were sure, some concern about the missing shinobi was growing, it was clear it was too late to stop the planned attack. With the "Kazekage" in the village, Hayate was positive that he had done the right thing. He calmed himself from the eager excitement about the coming "war".

He took a breath and called the final matches of the Chunin exams to begin. The start was long winded and boring. Introductions were given to the Daimyo's present or their representatives, then the Kazekage and the Hokage, as well as to all the minor villages' leaders. Dignitaries came next and lastly each of the competitors. A history lesson about the purpose of the Chunin exams and finally it was time for the first match.

"Hyuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino, come forward." He announced.

The two young women stepped forward. Everyone present knew what Ino had done to Sasuke and many of the Hyuga elders leaned forward, wanting to see something similar happen to the girl they still had no power over. In the month since she had protected her sister from the cage bird seal and giving the same protection to Neji after removing his, the Hyugas had been engaged in a silent war.

Assassinations had happened and the entire family was barely keeping a lid on the turmoil occurring within the walls of their compound. The only thing preventing all out conflict was that Hinata had not removed the cage bird seal from the rest of the family. Their simmering fear would turn to all out terror if they knew she was only waiting for the "invasion" to be over before doing exactly that.

Yamanaka Ino had spent the month in intensive training. Her entire family had participated in her training. And while mind skill was the Yamanaka kekkei genkai, that was not what they spent their time on. Instead she, in many ways, completed her transition into a cat. She increased her dexterity and flexibility to the point where she could actually lick her own center, a trick she was eager to show off after the conclusion of the exams.

She had similar increases in her skill and ability at gymnastics, balance and speed. She was also able to learn a taijutsu style that complemented her cat theme and finally, Ino had become a master of the whip and along with her now precision chakra control, her chakra metal tail was a precision fighting instrument. She stood across from Hinata with her metal tail switching back and forth and matching metal claws on her fingers and the toes of her boots.

"hajime" Hayate said before leaping out of the way.

Hyuga Hinata vs Yamanka Ino

Neither girls had any intention to truly hurt each other but they both wanted to prove themselves and earn their promotion to Chunin.

Ino struck first, leaping at Hinata and surprising the crowd. Attacking a Hyuga with close up taijutsu was not considered smart. Attacking the Hyuga who had shown herself to be the most adept at the gentle fist style that she had invented a kick based variation that was even more deadly, seemed even more foolish.

Except that Ino was holding her own. Her speed and flexibility along with the fact that Hinata was using high Chunin level speed and power, purposely handicapping herself, made for an impressive display for the crowd. Hinata had more offensive attack options than Ino, but the girl's obscene flexibility and speed was allowing her to dodge Hinata's gentle fist strikes.

Also, operating with less options was not the same as having no options and the blonde girl's chakra controlled mental tail whip was also forcing Hinata into a few defensive stances as well. Ino's tail was like a fifth appendage for the Yamanka and the fact that both it and her claws glowed blue with chakra was a definite indication that one did not want to be hit by it.

Hinata's equally impressive dexterity and flexibility made the two women look as if they were in a deadly dance. A very sexy deadly dance as the two women contorted their bodies in almost erotic ways to avoid each other's strikes. Those with the skill to be able to track the speed that the two women were moving were not all together sure that they were not watching an erotic mating dance as on more than one occasion, deflected strikes would be so close as to cause forearms or calves to run along the breasts and crotches of the opponent.

Hinata's strategy was to try and land a strike against one of Ino' tenketsu points but Ino avoided every strike. At first, the arrogant Hyuga family members in the audience thought that Hinata was showing herself to be a poor practitioner but even their arrogance could not make them believe that. Instead they became fearful that the young Yamanaka had developed a fighting style that was affective against the gentle fist style, one that was giving Hinata trouble and so would be more than effective against the rest of the clan.

On the other side of the fight, almost all of Ino' efforts were toward avoiding the strikes. Despite how impressed the spectators were, she knew she could not keep up her pace for much longer. An up close battle with a Hyuga, especially one of Hinata's caliber, would always end in failure. Ino's gambit was so that she could get her tail wrapped around the other girl. Unfortunately, trying to catch Hinata in a hold was like trying to grasp the wind.

The display of skill was very impressive but in truth many of the spectators were simply turned on by the many splits and bends the two women did as they fought each other. Eventually the two split apart. Ino using a high back flip that she landed in a crouch meant to mimic a cat. For her part Hinata spun away ending with her leg up and arms spread (wushu crane stance).

Before Hinata had finished settling into her stance, Ino charged her again. Ino knew that, unlike the rest of the Hyuga clan, Hinata was equally skilled in ninjutsu as she was in taijutsu and Ino believed that keeping Hinata in a purely taijutsu battle was much better for her than if Hinata used a mixed style. Attacking up close was playing to Hinata's strength but also, hopefully, discouraging her from using ninjutusu. Whereas she was using both taijutsu and bukijutsu. It was a small "possible" advantage but was worth the risk to Ino.

Ino strategy was working. The intensive taijutsu attack style she used was causing Hinata to forgo her use of ninjutsu and stick to her preferred fighting style. Hinata was enjoying herself immensely. Unfortunately for Ino, she overlooked one factor. It was true that Hinata preferred her taijutsu and it was true that the blonde would not have wanted to face a Hinata using both taijutsu and ninjutsu in a mixed style. What she overlooked was that Hinata was like no Hyuga anyone had ever had to deal with.

The gentle fist and its variations was not the only taijutsu style Hinata had mastered.

Ino charged with her tail lashing out hoping to catch her friend off guard, but instead Hinata's body contorted and danced through the whip and Ino's raking claws, before sliding in a full split through Ino's legs before spinning up and grabbing Ino's shoulders from behind and hip tossing her toward one of the Arena walls.

Ino found herself upside down and moving at great speed toward a painful collision. She was able to keep her head and stick out her clawed hands to dig into the ground and arrest her momentum. She landed once again in a catlike crouch with her clawed fingers in the ground at the end of 10, five foot long gauges in the ground.

Her immersive training regime had started to have her manifest more and more cat-like behaviors and that was evident when she hissed at Hinata. The purple-eyed girl just smiled back at her. Ino attacked again and Hinata met her with a grappling taijutsu style that reminded the spectators a little of the Akimichi and Uchiha styles with the use of power moves and throws.

Ino's flexibility held for another minute as she slipped out of Hinata's grasps until final Hinata caught her and was able to trap her in a submission hold and tap a tenketsu point that caused the tail to fall to the ground. Another pressure point and Ino was unconscious.

…Hyuga Hinata Wins

The crowd went wild and the Hyuga elders and main branch members looked at each other. It seemed that all they did lately was look at each other in trepidation.

…Competitor's box, Chunin Exam Finals Arena, Konohagakure

Toward the back of the competitor's box, the Jōnin sensei of the remaining competitors all stood together. Standing with a face that would be favorably compared to a stone mask, Kurenai made no move as the other Jōnin instructors complimented her on the skill of her "best" student. Asuma's students had shown a level of skill and power that reflected the fact that they graduated at the top of their Academy class, but it was Ino that was the star of the Chunin exams.

Over the last two rounds her fights had been the most interesting and had given a very positive insight to the type of kunoichi the blonde was and could be. At the end of the preliminaries, most people thought it guaranteed that she would be recruited into the T&I department with her brutal psychological take down of Uchiha Sasuke, who still had not been seen since. But she had surprised again and, despite losing her match, had shown extraordinary martial skill. She had taken on a Hyuga prodigy in the gentle fist and had "forced" her opponent to switch styles to defeat her.

Kurenai was livid on the inside. She had no love for either of the young women fighting and had expected that the match between the two would turn into some sort of "sexy" mud wrestling. She was fully prepared for the two "whores" to end the match in their underwear, at least, if not fully naked. A large part of her desired that outcome so she could justify her disgust at what the two had become.

Similarly, it was beyond obvious, with the skills they had shown, that no one could "force" them to do something they did not want to do and it galled her that it might be true that Hinata might actually want to be a "slave" to the Uzumaki-Namikaze. She shivered in disgust remembering the feel of Jiraiya inside of her. She had subconsciously used a genjutsu on herself to change the feelings of pleasure she had experience to feelings of revulsion.

She desperately needed her team to make Chunin. Achieving that rank would not relinquish her of responsibility for them as that was something she would have until they all made Jōnin, but as Chunin, her role would be as a training advisor, instead of team leader and she longed to be able to lessen her interaction with her team, especially Ino.

Her rape had actually brought her a great deal a clarity. She had been spending all her time an energy angry at the depravity that was unfolding around her. That and feeling hurt and betrayed as the women she had called friends and whom she though understood the responsibilities of being kunoichis had allowed themselves to be degraded. What she should have been doing is planning how to save them all from the evil of the men around them and the traitors (Anko!) within their ranks.

She had met with Koharu, the only ally she had left, and the older woman had agreed with Kurenai that they had spent too much time being shocked and appalled. They shared their perspectives on the previous year and both had realized that more had happened than they were aware. But they were committed to saving the world, so it was not time to be overwhelmed.

It was Koharu who suggested that Kuranei already had an opportunity to infiltrate and destroy one of the primary problems. Kurenai had already slept with Jiraiya and the man and his church was a major enemy to their cause. Neither woman doubted that the "pathetic whoremonger" would gladly accept Kurenai into his "harem". The question was whether she was willing to do what was necessary.

For Kurenai, she wished that Hinata and Ino had ended their match naked and engaged in some type of deplorable behavior because that would have made her decision to sacrifice her body to her rapist, that much easier. A sacrifice to save the future. But with the skill shown by the kunoichi and the praiseful words of the men around her it was hard for to justify submitting herself to the torture of "that man's" hands when all around her Kunoichi were earning a respect they had never had before.

…Arena Floor, Chunin Exam Finals Arena, Konohagakure

Gekkō Hayate stepped forward to call Sabaku no Gaara and Haruna Sakura forward. "This is it" he thought. They had done nothing to influence the selections but he was privately happy this match was so early in the finals. He was anxious for the whole affair to be over. He watched as the future Namikaze wife and the container of the one-tail arrived to the floor.

Obviously, Sakura had been briefed on what was happening as she was literally on the frontline of the attack. He had been assured that she could handle her duty and he was pleased that it would be a civilian born shinobi, like himself, that would be so instrumental in the coming fight. The "re-ignition" of the Sandaime's "will of fire" had done a lot to tamper the building animosity between the civilian shinobi and the clan shinobi and Sakura becoming a hero of this engagement would only further that.

"Hajime"

…Hokage Box, Chunin Exam Finals Arena, Konohagakure

Orochimaru, hidden within the body of the Kazekage, forced himself to remain calm. All was ready. Kabuto's failures had not impeded his plans too much, but that was why he was who he was and so feared. He had contingencies for his contingencies and despite the impeccable record of success of his primary operative, he was always ready for when the man began to lose his touch. He would find out if the failures were due to arrogance or bad planning on the part of the man after this victory.

He saw his man in the stands that would cast the genjutsu as well as his second man that was helping to mask the power of the first. He had found a missing nin that was as skilled in the art as Kurenai and the man had quickly accepted the increase in power that would be granted by his cursed seal. Power alone was enough to convince the man. If not for his desire to gain the Uchiha dojutsu, he might have claimed that man's body. Instead he would be dead by the following morning.

The modification to Gaara's seal had already been made and at his signal, Shukaku would be free. He thought about just releasing the beast now but he was always happy to see the young sand shinobi's brutality. His jealousy over the son of his nemesis throwing off the shackles and growing in power also wanted him to see the boys reported lover get crushed.

…Arena Floor, Chunin Exam Finals Arena, Konohagakure

Suna no Gaara vs Haruna Sakura

"Mother wants your blood" Gaara said in a voice that was creepy to most of the spectators, but sounded weak and whiny to the ears of the masochist. Instead of responding she flicked her hand and her kanabō appeared at her side and she leaned against it confidently. Gaara did not notice, it was Uzumaki Naruto that he wanted to fight. Wasting no time, Gaara made his hand seals and said "Sabaku Kyū" (Sand Coffin). Sand rose up around Sakura until she was buried to her neck. Gaara's smile turned wicked as he shifted into a second set of hand seals. The Hokage, Orochimaru, Hinata and Naruto all had matching smiles though all for different reasons.

"Sabaku Sōsō" (Sand Burial)

At the very edge of madness, Gaara's intent was to destroy Sakura's body completely. He imagined that when his sand dispersed, all that would left Is the girls head. He had done that before and always found it satisfying. His first indication that something was not exactly right was that the sand around his opponent turned to rock.

Despite the pressure of the implosion, usually his technique left the sand in granular form. He also noticed that the pink haired girl's eyes had not lost any clarity. And for the first time Gaara was on the receiving end of one of his creepy smiles. He didn't like it.

Before he could fully process what was happening, the compressed sand exploded away from Sakura's body as chunks of rock. Gaara had time to hear the shocked gasps at the explosion but both he and the crowd were stunned that the explosion was only the first half of Sakura's movement. He was the first to recognize the second half as it was his face that her fist connected with.

Normally, being punched in the face would mean nothing to Gaara as he was constantly surrounded but a protective sand armor capable of absorbing the force of attacks against him. What he had never faced was what happens when the force of the attack is greater than the sands ability to absorb or as was the current case, when the force of the attack is far greater than the ability of the sand to absorb.

The real Gaara flew out of the back of a sand construct that looked like him and hit the wall of the Arena with enough force to create spider web cracks in the wall. Sakura did not used her full power as she did not want to kill Shukaku's container unless they were sure about what would happen to the demon and was prepared for it.

She stepped around the life like sand version of Gaara and started stalking toward the half-conscious sand shinobi. Her killing intent brought him back to his senses only for him to have a mental breakdown at the sight of his own blood. That was when the feathers started to fall from the ceiling.