Disclaimer: All this talk of Naruto is making me crave sushi… I don't own sushi or Naruto unfortunately, but that may change with the sushi part.
Hey everyone, wasn't sure when I was gonna get this out, but it basically typed itself. Broke 500 reviews last chapter, which is cool… you guys are great. Finding it hard to type up an author note, my brain keeps straying towards studying, so I'm gonna go do that now…
This chapter probably would have been out this morning, but I didn't finish editing it before I had to go to class, sorry :(.
101010
As we burn, pretending to fight it,
Everyone learns faster on fire,
Things took a turn, lost all desire.
You live and you burn.
You live and...
Like hell we are anxiously waiting.
Like hell burning silently strong.
Somehow we fell down by the wayside,
And somehow this hell is home,
Right now, this hell is my home.
Burn – Alkaline Trio
101010
Naruto didn't meet Sasuke or Gaara on the stairs while returning up from his fight with Lee; they were still in the contestant box. Naruto entered silently, there had been over a hundred genin in the beginning of the exams, ten of them in the start of the finals, and now there were only three others in this horrible test.
Aiko was staring at him, openly shocked, like she was seeing him for the first time.
Gaara had turned to stare almost hungrily at his face; Naruto ignored the fierce killing intent that joined that look.
Sasuke was… smiling. Naruto blinked, was he seeing things? No, Sasuke was definitely smiling.
"Your face might stick that way if you keep it up." Naruto joked weakly, his mouth twitching into its own smile.
"Heh." Sasuke's smile only widened, "Thanks Naruto, you've ensured that I'm going to win this."
"You think?" Naruto asked, interested.
"Yup. I couldn't beat Lee." Sasuke admitted, "But I can beat you. So I win."
"That easy huh?" Naruto grinned, feeling a little bit more like himself.
"Yes." Sasuke replied simply.
Gaara growled, drawing attention back to himself, the Team 7 genin shifted their attention to the unstable boy.
"Uchiha Sasuke… I will kill you." Gaara declared hoarsely, before disappearing in a swirl of sand, heading for the arena floor.
"Hn." Sasuke shrugged indifferently, before preparing to leap over the viewing ledge to meet Gaara.
Aiko grabbed his wrist, "Be careful, Sasuke." Her voice was serious, scared. She wasn't used to tossing killer intent off like Naruto, or even Sasuke.
Sasuke glanced at his sister's firm grip, he looked up at her, completely serious, "Aiko-neechan… you've forgotten something."
Aiko looked at him questioningly, while Naruto looked on curiously. Sasuke gently removed his sister's hand from his wrist… and smirked.
"I'm Sasuke."
With that parting reminder, Sasuke jumped out, running down the wall sticking with chakra. The whispering audience seemed to wake up, and they began to talk excitedly again as Sasuke appeared.
"Showoff." Naruto muttered, but he was grinning widely now, Sasuke could be funny if he wanted to.
"He better not die." Aiko shook her head, her shortened hair shifting too, but she was smiling as well.
Sasuke was now facing his opponent down on the field, the boy's face was passive, but Sasuke knew that just hid the killer underneath… Gaara was dangerous.
Genma glanced at both, still a bit shaken from watching the last fight, "Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara… begin!"
Neither moved, Sasuke felt like talking a bit first.
"So… it's going to be hard to top that last fight, huh?"
Gaara said nothing, Sasuke scowled, "You know, you're pretty weird."
If Sasuke hadn't heard the Sand ninja speak before, he would swear he was a mute.
"So, I've been debating if you're actually a hidden Jounin." Sasuke continued, "You know, to challenge me… because everyone else is pretty weak. Except maybe Naruto-baka."
There, a spark in his eye when Sasuke mentioned Naruto. Gaara was listening, it was a bit annoying that he didn't show anything until Sasuke mentioned his blond teammate, but then again Naruto had just beaten a shinobi that could only be described as godlike.
"I will end him." Gaara growled, "After I kill you. I will prove my existence..."
"You're confident." Sasuke's voice lost its hint of playfulness, his eyes turned red as he activated the Sharingan, "But you won't even get to see Naruto."
With that, Sasuke was done talking. He blurred and Gaara's eyes widened as he appeared behind the red haired ninja, sending a punch flying faster than the sand barrier could block. It connected heavily with Gaara's head, and he went flying forwards.
Sasuke pumped his legs again, following Gaara and attacking again with another punch. He wasn't as strong as Naruto or as fast as Lee, but he was no pushover and he could keep this speed and pace for awhile. Neji had worn him down a bit, but he could do this, he could win.
He would win, Gaara was going down. Then he would rest, come back, and beat Naruto.
"Hah!" Sasuke yelled, kicking Gaara straight up in the air, and the boy flew up in surprise. There was simply no resistance from the Sand-nin at all, he was too used to letting his sand do all of the work. Sasuke smirked; time to perform a move he'd been itching to use in public since fighting Lee.
Sakura gaped, "That move…"
Kakashi nodded, "It is very similar to Lee's Lotus attack."
Naruto grimaced at the phantom pain in his gut; he knew this move all too well… probably one of Sasuke's most damaging physical attacks. Not surprising since the boy admitted getting the meat of its concept from Lee.
Sasuke quickly got above the airborne Gaara, flipping around and building speed, delivering a devastating drop kick to Gaara's midsection. The red haired nin gasped in pain and surprise as he was sent straight back into the ground.
"Shishi Rendan!" Sasuke announced, landing next to his downed opponent, whose sand was weakly swirling around him, unable to catch up with Sasuke and protect its owner.
Sasuke smiled, hiding his slight fatigue, it wasn't easy to keep those speeds to get past Gaara's sand defense but he would be able to keep it up long enough to win.
"I'll…" Gaara growled, "I'll… KILL YOU!"
Gaara rose, and Sasuke scowled as he spotted the chipping sand armor, slowly reforming. He was really beginning to hate Gaara's sand defenses, they seemed impenetrable.
Gaara didn't give him any more time to think, the insane ninja sent waves of sand at him, trying to trap and kill him. But the sand was simply too slow, even Shikamaru had been able to outrun it for awhile, and Sasuke was even faster.
But Gaara didn't slow at all, and Sasuke realized he was really fighting someone who was could keep going for a long time. His Sharingan could estimate reserves, even though he couldn't see as well as someone with Byakugan. Gaara's reserves were large, much larger than any normal genin; the only person that Sasuke had ever seen with more was Naruto, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya. Even Kakashi's reserves weren't as large as Gaara's.
They weren't as large as Naruto's, but it was obvious that Gaara was built for stamina, wearing his opponents down while they burned through their reserves to just keep out of the way of his sand. Sasuke's biggest problem was that he knew what he had to do, but trapping Gaara was harder than it looked even though he remained basically completely still. Sasuke's plan needed utmost precision or it would fail.
He needed a distraction, and with a smirk, he knew how he could make one. Casually, he tossed an exploding tagged kunai at Gaara, but the other genin was ready for this move, Gaara quickly put up a sand barrier to block the incoming explosion. Completely shielded, Gaara weathered the explosion easily, moving his sand away unscathed to growl at Sasuke.
"Is this it?" Gaara asked, "Is this the extent of your power?"
"Come and find out." Sasuke replied.
Gaara sent his sand out again, cautiously keeping some near just in case, despite the bloodlust pounding in his head, demanding for the Uchiha's blood. Gaara was completely focused on trying to trap the other genin with his sand, and crush the life out of him.
Suddenly when his sand was as far away as Sasuke could possibly pull it, the Uchiha reversed directions and charged the Sand ninja. Gaara quickly formed a sand bunshin to meet the attack, and Sasuke was surprised for a moment, but he plowed straight through it, that wouldn't be enough to distract him. The Uchiha bodily slammed into Gaara, sending him flying and landing exactly where he wanted him to… perfect.
Aiko was good with wires, but Sasuke was the one who had taught her much of what she knew about using them. As Gaara began to rise, Sasuke tugged on the wires he had thrown out in that direction earlier during his distraction using the explosive tag. The wires responded readily to his chakra and wrapped around Gaara and pin him to the nearest tree. The surprised Sand ninja struggled, trying to pull out from the wires, his sand streaming around him helplessly.
"Give up?" Sasuke was still smirking at his trapped opponent, he was victorious, and he wouldn't even waste too much chakra to end this.
"This means nothing!" Gaara replied hotly, "My sand will still kill you!" To prove his point, sand started pouring around the wires that held him, moving towards the immobile Sasuke, who couldn't dodge and hold Gaara at the same time.
Sasuke didn't look worried however.
"Hn." The Uchiha formed quick seals, wire held in his teeth, he pulled out as much chakra as he could spare for the jutsu.
"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke breathed, releasing the huge stream of flame, running it through the wires at Gaara. The sand that the other ninja had sent instantly turned to glass under the intense heat as it ceased its movement to his opponent.
With wide eyes, Gaara watched as the burning inferno approached him, seeming to grow larger, he pulled whatever sand he had left around him in a desperate attempt to protect himself-
The attack hit, and Gaara screamed in pain, his sand may protect him against the flames, but the heat was killing him alone, he had never felt any sort of pain... it was unbearable.
Gaara literally shrieked, he had never felt pain in his life because of his sand armor and sand barrier; this was beyond any punch or kick he took during the fights, or even Shikamaru's explosive tag attack. It hurt so much; he just wanted it to end… the pain was so great it felt like his nerve endings were being set on fire, and it felt like his skin was melting off his body…
Finally, it did. Sasuke panted from the effort, his throat slightly scorched from the attack. The Leaf genin loosened his taunt grip on the wires, staring at the smoky area where Gaara had been trapped. As the smoke cleared, Sasuke got his first clear view of his opponent since he started the attack.
Glass, that was what he saw. Gaara's outer sand defense seemed to have turned completely into white hot glass, and the boy himself… Sasuke squinted, Gaara was immobile, and he was shining as well… as if covered by a layer of glass.
The sand armor, Sasuke realized, it had protected Gaara from getting burned, but it too had turned to glass under the intense flame. The heat alone had seemed to have defeated Gaara.
Then Gaara twitched.
Sasuke groaned, why couldn't he just stay down?
But Gaara didn't get up, instead his whispered, so quietly that Sasuke almost couldn't catch it, "This feeling… what is this feeling… it hurts… it hurts… IT HURTS!"
The glass began to break off as Gaara thrashed around wildly, and Sasuke watched in amazement as chakra began to pour off the other genin, and the glass was converted back to sand before his eyes.
"What the hell…?" Sasuke muttered in shock, glass couldn't simply turn back into sand… what was going on?
Suddenly Gaara stopped thrashing, Sasuke could see that he was blistered and red from the heat of his attack, and he seemed to collapse.
Before Sasuke could triumphantly ask Genma to call the match, an explosion rocked the stadium and he was jarred to his knees. Sasuke watched as Gaara's siblings came down and collected him, hopping through a hole in the arena wall and leaving without glancing back. Sasuke suddenly felt sleepy… but he recognized what was happening, as white feathers streamed down from nowhere.
"Kai." He said, easily dismissing the weak genjutsu, Genma also dismissed the technique, staring after Gaara.
"An attack..." Genma muttered grimly.
"What's going on?" Sasuke demanded, it wasn't just them, the whole stadium was being put to sleep by the genjutsu, and the explosion had been where the Hokage and Kazekage were sitting, Sasuke couldn't see through the smoke yet.
"We're being invaded." Genma replied, eyes scanning around as his voice took an angry note, losing all traces of idleness. The stadium was suddenly being overrun with Sound and Sand ninja, some appearing in the audience, where they had been in disguise.
"Invaded? What about the match?" Sasuke asked, a bit childishly, he was winning!
Genma glanced at him in disbelief, "The Exams are over now, go after Gaara. Catch him, kill him. Consider it your mission."
Sasuke opened his mouth, then closed it, he didn't argue. Instead he turned to leap after Gaara and his siblings. Before he could even jump, a huge Sand ninja, who Sasuke recognized as the Jounin instructor for the Sand team blocked his path. Then Genma was there, deflecting the man's attack.
"Go!" Genma ordered.
Sasuke listened and left, leaping up the stadium wall and following the Sand siblings out of the stadium.
Naruto had dismissed the genjutsu easily, and watched Sasuke leave, calmly assessing the situation, his mind furiously working at the possibilities of what was going on. The Sand and Sound were attacking; he realized angrily, his mind reflecting what that meant for him and his village. They had invited them in and now the bastards were invading. Naruto's fury built as he realized they had been betrayed by their allies.
His friends were here. Enemy ninja were swarming around the Leaf-nin attacking them in earnest. His friends were among this crowd, they could die. Naruto's hands tightened on the railing, he could not let that happen.
"Naruto!" Aiko shook his arm, "Listen, what's going-?"
"Quiet." Naruto ordered calmly, it was a command, but not an angry one. Still Aiko stepped back, surprised. Naruto's voice had… changed; it was completely removed from his normal cheerful tone. He sounded… serious.
Naruto turned to her, "We have to get to Kakashi-sensei and the others, we'll make sure they're okay."
"O-Okay." Aiko managed, Naruto's eyes… they were like shards of blue ice, calm yet determined.
Naruto grabbed his immobile teammate by the arm and firmly led her towards the door to the stairs, then up to the spectator's area and stands. Almost immediately they were met by enemy ninja, a mix of Sound and Sand.
"Two tired little Leaf genin." The closest, a female Sound-nin taunted, "This will be fun."
Naruto did something he had never done before; he didn't give them the chance to surrender.
"TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto thundered, and over five hundred clones overtook the stadium, all enraged and armed to the teeth with cloned weapons.
The Sound and Sand ninja gaped, but Naruto didn't stop. He held Aiko close to him and slashed his arm outwards, sending a single furious blade of wind into the nearby group of ninja, the attack ripped through the stands and tore through their frozen opponents, hacking off limbs and cutting straight through the torso of one surprised kunoichi.
Through the whirlwind of thoughts pumping through his mind, Naruto grimly realized that Sound ninja wasn't going to get up ever again. He had killed her.
"Naruto," Aiko whimpered, trying to detach from his painful grip on her arm, "You're hurting me, let go."
Naruto blinked, and slowly let go, "I'm sorry. But we have to get to sensei now."
"But Sasuke is-" Aiko started, Naruto cut her off.
"Sasuke can take care of himself for now, we have to get to sensei and see what he wants us to do."
Aiko nodded numbly, and followed Naruto who sprinted calmly through the chaos. The Sound and Sand-nin fought side by side against the determined Leaf ninja who were assisted by the hundreds of clones Naruto had made.
While it was true Kage Bunshin could only take a hit before being destroyed, Naruto's clones had unconsciously been trained by Naruto in fighting enemies en masse. They knew how to shift around, avoid each other, think up strategies on the fly, all while using Naruto's reserves sparingly, making good use of the cloned weapons and equipment that the technique also provided. It simply made them extremely dangerous, especially to distracted enemies who also had to deal with the other Leaf ninja.
Leaf Chuunin fought together in little knots, watching each other's backs and making sure to never leave a teammate unguarded. Leaf Jounin flanked their Chuunin comrades, shifting from group to group, launching powerful jutsu at their enemies. Naruto had even seen a few very powerful wind attacks getting tossed around, although the Sand ninja seemed a lot more adept at those than their Leaf opponents.
Leaf ANBU flashed in and out of hiding, solitary figures that appeared, killed silently, and then disappeared back into the shadows, slaughtering their opponents before they even knew they were in a fight.
Naruto pushed through it all, Aiko still shell shocked by his side. Naruto protected her as best as he could but was getting more annoyed by the second. This wasn't her first battle with enemy ninja; she should be fine by now, helping him, not hindering their progress.
"Get it together!" Naruto commanded and Aiko jumped at his voice for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"I mean it!" Naruto said, while flashing his kunai out and extending it with wind chakra to lengthen its reach, dispersing the low level wind technique that was sent at them and cutting down the offending Sand ninja, who went down with a pained gasp.
Aiko gathered herself shakily, and armed with her own kunai, began to help him defeat any oncoming ninja that Naruto and the clones he had with him faced. Soon they were able to pull away from the biggest battles, sticking to the outer walls and heading to where their teacher and friends had been sitting.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called, and the man turned after he almost lazily cut through a nearby Sound ninja.
"Naruto." Kakashi greeted, "You have blood in your hair."
"What do we do sensei?" Aiko asked frantically, "Sasuke went after Gaara and his siblings!"
Kakashi wasn't the only one fighting, Maito Gai had returned and was pounding the enemy ninja into the ground, there was an obvious reason why he could call himself an Elite Jounin and Kakashi's rival. The man was much like Lee, a force of nature who could speed around attacks like they weren't even there, fighting with only taijutsu.
Naruto realized he was moving at least as fast as Lee without his weights, but Gai's taijutsu was still perfect, flawless, something that Lee was not capable of at that speed.
"How are the injured genin, Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked, Gai gave him a pinging smile.
"They will be fine, Naruto! Hiashi-sama and the medics are protecting them!"
Naruto nodded, Kurenai and Asuma were fighting alongside their genin teams, and Team 10 was in form. Ino and Shikamaru caught their opponents in their clan techniques while Chouji and Asuma took them out.
Kurenai was slipping around her own opponents, protecting her team when necessary, trapping the Sound and Sand ninja in genjutsu and slitting their throats without a second thought. Hinata seemed to be struggling a bit, still weak from her battle with Lee, but Shino and Kiba doggedly protected her from any harm, Kiba was especially lethal with Akamaru at his side.
Tenten was the only one still there from Team Gai, her teammates in the infirmary, but that didn't stop her. She was fresh and still sharp even after a month's break. Naruto watched in awe as she twirled into the air and released hundreds of weapons at once, sending them straight into the enemy's main contingency, piercing the ninja that were hit with pinpoint accuracy.
Sakura was fighting alongside Team 10, and Naruto could see that her form was bloody, and most wasn't her own judging by the stained kunai in her hands along with her fierce speed. Sakura had killed today, and it saddened Naruto beyond belief. This was still the kind and sometimes annoying girl he had affectionately called friend for months now. Her innocence was gone, she would not die unstained like Haku had… no pure white snow would fall for her heart. It made Naruto furious, Sakura may not be physically hurt, but she had been damaged in a way that Naruto didn't even want to consider, it hadn't been a possibility in his mind, not for his friends.
Sakura had killed… she had become a true ninja.
Kakashi finished thinking, "Kurenai, Asuma, can I borrow a few of your genin?"
Asuma grinned, "As long as it's not for anything-" He lashed a chakra blade out, cutting a Sand-nin's head off before she could complete her jutsu, "Perverted!" The man finished, whirling off to the next one. Kurenai nodded her assent, wiping the blood away from her face with a quick swipe.
"Alright." Kakashi said, completely serious, "Listen up, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Aiko, Hinata, Shikamaru. Consider this an A-rank mission. You will follow Uchiha Sasuke and assist him in taking down the Sand team. Be aware that these genin are extremely dangerous. Kiba, can you track Sasuke between yourself and Akamaru?"
Kiba nodded.
"Sensei we can't-" Aiko started, and Kakashi suddenly looked at her in a way he never had before, he looked furious.
"Do not question my orders, Aiko! Do it, all of you, GO!"
Aiko gulped and moved away from her irate sensei, Naruto just nodded, mind perfectly steeled and ready.
"Let's go!" Naruto shouted, cutting the nearest wall of the arena with a wind attack, forming a jagged hole.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru grimaced, but broke away and followed, "Stay safe, Ino, Chouji."
"Got it!" Chouji saluted, preparing to plow through another trapped enemy, "Rollrollrollrollroll!"
Ino nodded as well, and glanced at Naruto who had that look in his eyes again, the one she had seen when he had spoken to Neji after he had hurt Sakura in the prelims. It was absolute resolve, calm, and no fear.
"Protect Hinata." Shino stated, glancing at Kiba as his bugs overtook two screaming Sound ninja.
Kiba nodded, his features set in furious stone, "I will. I promise."
"Go Kiba." Kurenai ordered, "You too, Hinata."
"Y-Yes." Hinata stuttered, but her face was determined as well.
"Team," Naruto said, and they all lined up, "Let's go help Sasuke!"
The six genin leapt through the hole and into the trees, speeding in the direction they knew their Uchiha friend was in, leaving their competent teams and teachers behind to deal with the arena.
Several ANBU worked furiously to break through the purple barrier that was separating the Hokage from them; the old man was trapped in pitched battle with Orochimaru, the rogue Sannin. The man had snuck in under the guise of the Kazekage, and attacked their beloved leader.
The old man however was holding his own for now, it seemed. It was truly a Kage level battle behind the barrier, as both used techniques easily A-ranked or higher to try and inflict the maximum damage to each other.
Outside the arena, fights were breaking out through the entire village as Sand and Sound ninja swarmed in from the outer walls, which were crushed and broken as huge three headed snakes crashed through, summons courtesy of Orochimaru, powered by his Sound ninja.
Two villages against one, it should have been a massacre. But the Leaf ninja were protecting their homes, they knew the streets better than their opponents, and used that to their advantage. The snakes would have overwhelmed them however, except they were met and flattened by a very annoyed Jiraiya and his toad summon.
"Jiraiya-sama!" Ibiki cried, relieved that he had not been killed by a huge summoned snake.
"Hmph." Jiraiya sighed, "I was doing some good research too."
Jiraiya actually had been off to see Naruto fight, but… well, the hot springs were just too tempting to resist. Unfortunately, when the village was attacked the snakes had destroyed the hot springs resort and spa.
It could not be forgiven. Jiraiya would kill them all for that.
Naruto's clones hadn't all remained in the stadium; almost half of them had spread out into the village, helping where they could. Smart as they were, they could do little against their enemies without such distracters as their Leaf comrades, but more than once groups of them had been able to catch their foes off balance and save multiple villagers or Leaf ninja from certain death. They knew villagers were supposed to head for Hokage mountain during an attack, so that was where they lead any of the ones they found, searching for Leaf ninja along the way to help them in the task. In between all of his clones, Naruto was able to lead scores of villagers and their families to the monument, or at least to another Leaf-nin who could.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Sasuke had slowly been gaining ground on his fleeing opponents, who seemed determined to get as far away from Konoha as possible. Sasuke would have caught up quicker, but he was pacing himself, the last thing he needed was to meet three relatively skilled ninja with no reserves left to fight them. The most annoying thing was the stupid little traps they tried to set up to catch him, as if that would work after constantly battling Naruto, the forest trap master.
It took awhile, but he caught them outside a little glade, four or five miles from the walls of Konoha.
"Hey." Sasuke commanded, leaping in front of their paths, "Stop running and surrender."
Kankuro glanced at the still unconscious Gaara, before saying, "Get out of the way, or we'll kill you!"
"Hn." Sasuke was unimpressed, "Are you trying to use killing intent? Pretty weak, no wonder you let your little brother do all the work… I've been ordered to kill him, get out of the way and I won't kill you as well."
"I don't think so-" Temari began, beginning to pull out her fan, but Kankuro stopped her.
"Kankuro!" Temari muttered furiously, as her brother held her wrist firmly, "What are you doing?"
"Temari." Kankuro's voice was completely serious, "Take Gaara and leave, I'll hold this guy off."
"But-!"
"No!" Kankuro shook his head furiously, "You're faster, get Gaara somewhere safe and let him recover so he can transform and carry out the plan!"
Sasuke listened to the argument with interest. Transform? Plan? There was more here than he understood at the moment. The Uchiha pulled out a kunai and the siblings tensed.
"Go!" Kankuro yelled, pulling his puppet Karasu off of his back. Temari didn't argue anymore, taking off with Gaara on her back.
Sasuke watched them go, disinterested, "Do you really think you can beat me? You couldn't even handle Kiba in the prelims… and I'm way stronger than him."
"We'll see about that." Kankuro retorted, releasing Karasu from his bindings fully to reveal the scarecrow puppet in all of its glory.
Sasuke was still unimpressed, "I guess I have to kill you too."
101010
Sasuke's comrades were quickly gaining on his location, but Kiba growled as his nose detected a new problem. The light breeze had the distinct tinge of blood, sweat, and metal in it.
"Hinata, check with your Byakugan, I think someone is following us… it might be a group."
Hinata did, and gasped, "Y-You're r-right… there a-are e-eight... no, n-nine…? O-one is f-following behind."
Shikamaru grimaced, "That's not good. Speed?"
"C-Chuunin." Hinata estimated, "B-But some may b-be higher."
"Chuunin and maybe Jounin." Naruto sighed, "I can set some traps and leave clones behind, but some will get through no matter what."
"Do it for now." Shikamaru nodded, "The less that catch up, the better."
Naruto nodded and created twenty clones and began to give orders, splitting them up to make multiple traps to catch their pursuers.
"What do we do when they catch up?" Aiko asked.
"Hinata will keep us up to date on how many there are." Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, "I hope you made sure those traps won't just catch them, Naruto."
Naruto didn't respond, but he had made sure.
The group continued on, Hinata kept her Byakugan active, despite the fact it was eating away at her reserves steadily, and gave them updates.
"F-Four down." Hinata whispered, "Th-The others are g-gaining. W-Wait, two m-more, N-Naruto-kun's clones assaulted t-them."
Naruto grimaced as his clones were destroyed and he got the memories, "Those traps were no joke, two that made it through are injured, two are pretty bad, the third seems alright… I think he was the backup."
"I'll stay behind and catch them." Shikamaru volunteered, "But I need help to do it, a distraction."
Hinata volunteered, but Kiba shot that down immediately.
"I told Shino I would protect you." Kiba insisted, "You're not staying behind."
"I'll stay." Aiko volunteered, if Kiba didn't want to leave Hinata it wouldn't leave much choices left, other than her or Sakura.
Shikamaru grimaced, "I'd rather not involve any girls…"
"Sexist." Sakura muttered, disgusted with Shikamaru, who just shrugged, he was what he was.
Kiba thought for a moment, "Then I'll stay behind, once we've killed them… we'll catch up."
Naruto pretended that his friend hadn't just callously said that and reluctantly nodded, "Alright, that sounds like the best idea. Hinata-chan, can you see Sasuke ahead?"
"Y-Yes, h-he is f-fighting someone."
"Then we should go save him before he hurts himself." Naruto suggested, nodding to Kiba and Shikamaru, "Good luck guys."
Naruto, Aiko, Sakura, and Hinata left the two other boys behind, heading in the direction that Hinata informed them that Sasuke was in.
Kiba stayed out in the open while Shikamaru stayed hidden. After about five minutes, the three ninja caught up, and they were pissed. They were injured as Naruto had said, bleeding badly, and all three were Sound ninja.
"You little shit." The lead ninja growled, "Where are your friends? We're going to fucking kill you all."
"You know," Kiba rolled his eyes, "We decimated your numbers pretty easily with traps, its pretty stupid that you still think its okay to just walk up to me when I'm just standing here."
The Sound nin tried to move again, but found that they couldn't.
"Really?" Shikamaru stepped out from the bushes, holding the seal for his Kagemane no Jutsu, "It's still amazing that this works. I thought only genin were stupid, apparently all ninja except me are idiots."
"Hey!" Kiba said, hurt.
Naturally the three Sound ninja were howling vicious obscenities at them, demanding to be let go… and of course they didn't.
"Okay Kiba." Shikamaru grimaced, "Kill them."
Kiba stared down at his kunai, which had drying blood all over it from previous engagements with enemy ninja in the stadium. It had been different, killing ninja then… he didn't think about it, they attacked and he killed them. Now… these three were at his mercy and he couldn't bring himself to just do it.
"Kiba." Shikamaru warned him after a few more seconds, "I can't hold three of them forever."
Akamaru barked questioning, and Kiba took a deep breath… then he knocked each of them out.
"I thought you said you would kill them." Shikamaru glanced at the immobile ninja, "They don't seem very dead."
"Shut up." Kiba muttered darkly, "I couldn't do it, okay?"
"Hmm." Shikamaru shrugged indifferently, "Whatever."
The other genin began to walk off, and Kiba blinked, "Wait!"
"Yeah?"
"Er… aren't you going to…?" Kiba gestured helplessly at the downed ninja.
"Kill them?" Shikamaru glanced at the enemies, "…Nah. It's too troublesome. Let's catch up with the others."
Shikamaru began to jump away, and Kiba followed wordlessly, troubled by how hard it had been to simply kill their opponents. Before they could get very far however, an uninjured Sound ninja flew out of nowhere and kicked a surprised Shikamaru, who crashed into a nearby tree.
Kiba stared in surprise, realizing with a groan that this was the real ninja that had been in reserve… he must have gotten out of the range of Hinata's Byakugan, or she miscounted on how many were really down.
Shikamaru grumbled, and rose, "So troublesome…"
"You damn brats," The Sound ninja glared at them, "You got lucky against my teammates, but let's see how you can handle a real fight with a ninja!"
Kiba tensed, and tossed Akamaru a soldier pill. A flare of chakra made him stiffen, but it wasn't coming from his opponent… Kiba shivered, whatever the other genin were facing was way worse than this guy.
"Let's handle this quickly." Shikamaru said, he had also felt the chakra, "Ready, Kiba?"
"Tsuuga!"
101010
Technique Translation List
Shishi Rendan: Lion Combo
Ryuuka no Jutsu: Dragon Fire Technique.
Naruto killed people this chapter. When the invasion began he had two choices, freeze up and do nothing leaving his friends to fend for themselves, or let go of his reservations about killing and do as much as he possibly could to ensure they all survived. Naruto obviously picked the second choice. I'm sure you all noticed that he was acting completely different than his normal happy self, he does so in the anime as well, but it doesn't mean he has a split personality or anything overly complicated like that. Whenever he's in a fight that means life or death… Naruto will get serious, especially when the things he cares about are on the line, end of story.
I think I've been insisting to the people who complained that Naruto wasn't serious enough that he could and would be serious when the situation called for it… well, here you go. Don't think that these kills meant nothing to Naruto, he's caught up in the heat of the moment worrying about his village and friends (not to mention feeling extremely angry that they were betrayed by their allies) so it hasn't caught up to him… make no mistake, it will.
Aiko kind of freaks out this chapter, but its more that she's shell shocked than anything else, its one of her problems, she's not very good at reacting to change… well, big changes that she's not prepared for, at least… can't really fault her for that, its not every day your village is invaded and your previous allies are out to kill you.
Until next time…