A/N: So I guess this is where I give warnings before the chapter right? Character death occurs in this chapter so steel yourself. Or not, I'm an author not the police.

Chapter 26

Sakura was trying her best to ignore Naruto's inquiring gaze as Shikamaru returned to the contestant's waiting area. She knew both boys wanted to question her about her training and she had elected to wait until Shikamaru had finished his fight so that she didn't have to repeat herself. Once Shikamaru had retaken his seat she smirked as both of them looked at her expectedly.

"Maybe we should wait for Sasuke? He's going to want to know to," Sakura said airily.

Shikamaru frowned. "He will but he wasn't here for your fight. I believe it will be better for Sasuke to wait until he has seen the new and improved you."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah Shikamaru's right. Sasuke won't have any idea what you're talking about. Plus you did say you would talk after Shikamaru's fight."

Sakura grinned. She had them both in the palm of her hand. In the arena, Hayate announced that Sasuke only had a few minutes to get to the arena for his match otherwise he would lose by forfeit.

Deciding that she had teased them enough she began. "It's simple really. I had Guy sensei push me harder than he has ever pushed a student before. I knew that I had to make the month count so I used as much time training possible.

"You know how muscles get stronger right? The fibres get damaged with training and when the fibres heal, the muscle gets stronger. I used the medical knowledge and training that Kabuto gave me to accelerate the healing process so that I was continually improving my muscle's strength.

"I manually used my chakra to reconnect the fibres at the same time that I was training. It was really hard at the start but I got used to it. So basically, after I completed a set of, let's say push-ups, I healed my biceps so that they were back to full health and started more push-ups. I increased my strength at a rate that Guy had never seen before. Eventually I got good enough to continually heal the damage as I trained so that I constantly increased my strength.

"Sure it was tougher than any training that Kakashi sensei has put us through but it was worth it. In one month I am confident that I can win this whole tournament."

Sakura didn't mention the sheer pain that she had felt everyday of her training. How hard it had been to wake up at five AM everyday after exhausting herself with physical exertion as she forced her body to move with the ridiculous amount of weight that Lee used. She didn't want pity or empty words just recognition of her progress.

Naruto was rubbing his chin in thought. "That's pretty crazy Sakura. I'm looking forward to our fight. I'm guessing that you haven't covered everything that Guy taught you but that's fine." Naruto lowered his hand and grinned. "I've got ace's hidden up my sleeve as well."

Sakura smirked. "That's good. You're gonna need them."

Shikamaru spoke up. "That's all well and good guys but you might wanna pay attention. Sasuke and Kakashi sensei are back."

Sakura returned her gaze to the arena. Sure enough, her sensei and teammate were standing there with the tell tale wisps of smoke indicating a recent Body Flicker. She heard Kakashi's voice.

"Yo. Sorry we're late but training went a little over. But everything's fine since we are her-"

Hayate cut Kakashi off in an annoyed voice. "Get out of the arena Kakashi. Sasuke was supposed to be here earlier and now you're holding everything up."

Kakashi had the grace to look embarrassed before Flickering away to stand next to Guy. Hayate continued. "Now that both contestants are here, the next fight begins now!"

xXx

Sasuke smirked as he saw Gaara's surprised face when he displayed his new speed. He had worked hard with Kakashi to improve his physical abilities and it clearly paid off. The sand just couldn't keep up with Sasuke but he knew that taijutsu wouldn't be enough.

Drawing his sword, Sasuke channelled some Lightning through the blade. Kakashi had polished his elemental control until Sasuke was just as comfortable with Lightning as he was with Fire. Sasuke knew that he had to abuse the sand's weakness to Lightning to actually damage the deranged boy.

Seeing his elemental weakness, Gaara changed tactics. Drawing his sand back he formed three thin layers of swirling sand that stood at head height. Gaara had realised that he needed to cover every angle and couldn't rely on his Sand Armor.

Sasuke leapt forward and attacked the outermost wall of sand. Though he managed to slice through it easily, the gap closed off before he could cut through the next layer. Sasuke could've pressed forward but he realised that he would be surrounded by sand, his death following swiftly after.

Jumping back to gain some distance, Sasuke began thinking through his options. 'I need to cut through his defence with an attack that is either large enough to wipe out all of his walls or fast enough to get through all three walls before he can react.

'Chidori would be fast enough and could cut through easily. I'll have to make sure that I get out quickly so that I'm not grabbed.'

Flickering onto the stadium's wall to give Sasuke enough room to build enough running speed and breathing room as he charged his attack. Above Gaara, an eyeball made of sand had formed and was keeping an eye Sasuke.

As Sasuke began his headlong dash, Gaara switched things up. His outermost layer of sand was sent outwards in attack. Hidden behind the wall of sand, Gaara than formed his second layer of sand into caltrops sharpened with his chakra as a deterrent.

Not seeing what was behind the first layer of sand, Sasuke sliced through before feeling intense pain in his feet. He immediately used a Flicker to get back to the wall instead of ruining his feet in an attack that may or may not have won the fight.

'Okay I didn't see that coming. If he keeps those on the ground I won't be able to use Chidori on him. They also prevent me, from approaching with a Flicker since I don't teleport just move really fast.

'I'll have to attack from a distance but he'll be able to dodge any Lightning kunai that I throw at him. How do I attack him with Lightning without him be able to avoid it? Oh that might work.'

Trying to block out the itch that demanded more Amp, Sasuke reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a smaller version of his Shadow Windmill shuriken. He attached some wire to it so that he could change its trajectory. Than he charged it with Lightning and threw it down and to his right. When it reached the right angle, Sasuke pulled on the wire causing the shuriken to arc and head towards Gaara.

With Gaara's attention now on the shuriken, Sasuke threw several kunai with paper bombs in a line that led from Gaara to the outside of his defences. Making sure that he had timed it right, Sasuke gathered chakra in his legs and jumped. He sailed through the air until he was above Gaara.

As Sasuke jumped, Gaara caught the Shadow Windmill shuriken with his hand and used it to slice through the shuriken's shadow clone. Tossing away the original, Gaara turned back to look at the wall where he had last seen Sasuke. Alarm flashed across his face when he couldn't see his opponent.

Sasuke fell on top of Gaara as he stabbed down with his Lightning infused sword. He wasn't moving as fast as he could have and the sand had managed to divert Sasuke's attack from Gaara's spine to his right shoulder. Both boys fell in a heap but Sasuke wasted no time. He used a Flicker to retreat away from the sand on the ground that he had just cleared of caltrops with his paper bombs.

Sasuke saw Gaara push himself to his knees with his left arm. A frenzied voice cut throughout the arena. "What is this strange feeling? What's this on my arm? Uh, blood? It's.. my blood!?"

Gaara's left hand flew to his face and he seemed to be trying to stop himself from losing control. Crazed eyes raised to meet Sasuke's. "Sasuke Uchiha, you managed to hurt me. You threaten my existence so now I must destroy you!"

Gaara's injured right arm became covered in sand, stemming the blood flow. Gaara began a slow, crazed walk towards Sasuke but stopped as a massive smoke bomb erupted from the Hokage viewing balcony.

Shocked, Sasuke turned to look up to try and see what was happening but stopped when he saw a genjutsu descend on the spectators; they all fell asleep and ninja who weren't wearing a Leaf headband all appeared.

'What is happening?' Sasuke thought.

Sasuke turned back to ask the proctor in time to see Gaara and his siblings Flicker away. Hayate was glaring at the jonin sensei for the Sand team, Baki. Not taking his eyes off the threat Hayate said. "Sasuke the Exam's are over. Three villages have banded together to attack our home. If what I heard just than is correct than Gaara has an important role to play. You have to chase them and stop Gaara by any means necessary. Understood?"

"I just have to do what I was going to do from the start then. I'll be right back." Sasuke Flickered away in the same direction that Gaara had gone.

The tension between Baki and Hayate intensified as they became the only people in the arena. With a small nod, Baki said, "You are no doubt highly trained. Your entry in the Bingo book states that you are adept at swordsmanship but blades of wind cannot be stopped like steel."

Hayate's face gave nothing away as he said, "That may be true but we have known about this little alliance for a while now and prepared accordingly."

As he finished, two Leaf ANBU appeared behind Baki. "Three against one? Where is that famed Konoha honour?"

Hayate drew his sword. "You are attacking our home. Threatening our families. Honour is the last thing we would give you."

xXx

The instant Orochimaru gave the signal several things happened throughout Konoha. Danzo gave the order for ROOT to carry out his orders. The people who had entered the village who may have posed a threat were neutralized as quickly as possible. Some of the people ROOT had shadowed were innocent but there was no time to nit-pick.

ANBU all over the village began the civilian evacuation to the designated area behind the Hokage Rock. Time was of the essence since it was obvious that the bulk of the enemies weren't in the village and needed to wait for reinforcement.

In the forest outside of Konoha, several teams used scrolls prepared by Orochimaru to summon large snakes. In total, eight massive snakes were summoned and attack Konoha's outer wall at various points. This meant that even forewarned, the defenders were going to be spread too thin.

Orochimaru had managed to trap the Third Hokage in a Four Violent Flames Formation jutsu. The ANBU assigned to watch the Hokage were left on the outside hopeless as they could only watch their beloved leader combat the resurrected forms of the First and Second Hokage.

In response to the snakes, Jiraiya summoned Gamahiro, Gamaken and Gamaton to deal with their most hated enemy. He was tempted to summon Gamabunta but that could potentially exasperate their dangerous situation. He instructed the toads to try and limit damage to the village but that the protection of the people was more important than the buildings.

Sakura and Shikamaru had managed to resist the genjutsu and made their way to their senseis side. After they had, they had woken the other genin before Kakashi had given them the mission to bring Sasuke back to the village. Shino couldn't be found and Kiba had vanished towards his house but Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji obeyed orders. Hinata didn't have the self confidence needed so she stayed behind where it was relatively safe.

Naruto wanted to help but his top priority became looking for his family and Karin. He had Flickered away to check the apartment building where he stayed. Normally, Mikoto, Eri and Karin would be at the arena supporting Naruto but in the last few days, Eri had developed a fever and was bedridden.

Fights broke out everywhere but the attackers were taken by surprise. They had assumed that they would have the advantage of surprise but Konoha had prepared itself and the attackers had a real fight on their hands.

On top of a tall tree, Akari saw the Leaf village come under attack and smiled. Kabuto had come through for them after all. 'It's time to break Uzumaki before delivering him.'

xXx

Kiba cursed. He wanted to find his family to make sure that they were safe but he was only now realising that leaving the arena were all the sensei's were probably wasn't the smartest idea he'd ever had.

Kiba knew that he was no much for the enemy ninja who were attacking. That was why he dashed from cover to cover hiding as best he could while making his way to the Inuzuka compound.

"What's this? Some kid playing at ninja? I guess I can spare a minute to put him down."

The strange voice caused Kiba to whirl around. He saw a man with a Sound headband and covered face. Someone who had come to his village to kill his family and friends. Anger bubbled within him, how dare this man think that he could get away with this?

"Back off. I know I'm young but I hit harder than any kid you've ever seen."

The man just laughed before he blurred out of vision. Kiba felt a kick impact his stomach and he was blasted into a nearby building. The stone cracked with the impact and all the air in Kiba's lungs left him. As he fell to his knees, Kiba gasped for breath.

Finally regaining breath Kiba fed Akamaru a soldier pill. "Let's do this Akamaru. Time to show him our power!"

Akamaru barked with determination, jumping from Kiba's head to the ground. "Fang over Fang!"

Kiba and Akamaru twisted in the air forming twin masses of swirling destruction. The man they were trying to hit dodged out of the way easily and avoided the follow up attack with the same amount of ease.

As Kiba's momentum faded he whipped around as he heard Akamaru whimper in pain. The man had managed to seize Akamaru by the scruff of his neck. "Time to grow up kid."

The man brought his spare hand up and grabbed Akamaru's lower back. He twisted Akamaru in a way that he was never meant to. Akamaru cried in agony before a horrifying crack reached Kiba's ears. Akamaru's neck had been snapped.

"Akamaru!"

Kiba's cry was filled with anguish. Blind rage filled Kiba and he charged at the man but he was forced to stop as Akamaru's corpse was thrown at him. Catching his best friend with as much care as he could muster, Kiba never saw the man's follow up attack.

'How did this happen? This wasn't how things were supposed to go. We were supposed to get stronger than Naruto together!'

The sound of impact from behind him forced Kiba to look up from Akamaru's lifeless eyes. His mother had just punched the man in the face and sent him flying away down the street.

"M-Mum! Akamaru is d-dead. I was too weak and now he's dead!"

Tears formed in Kiba's eyes but Tsume never took her eyes off the enemy in front of her. "Dry your eye's Kiba. Akamaru may be gone but you have to make his sacrifice mean something. You are an Inuzuka and we protect our pack!"

The man Tsume had punched got back to his feet. "Oh look. The brats mother had to come save him. Too bad she couldn't save the mongrel." He cracked his knuckles and grinned, "It's too bad that it won't be enough."

Two more Sound ninja appeared next to the first one. "You're an Inuzuka? Well where's your dog then women? I thought you all crossed that line with your pets and never went anywhere without them?"

Tsume grit her teeth. "If you think I need help to crush you than you are sorely mistaken. You tried to kill my boy and now I will you shall pay!

"Inuzuka Forbidden Art: Primal State!"

Kiba gasped. That was one of his clan's trump cards but one that was never used. It turned a user into a berserker who couldn't die until they ran out of chakra but it blocked out all sense of pain. The price for power was a user focusing only on attack and simply letting attacks hit them. The only sure fire way to kill someone in the middle of Primal State was either decapitation or if you managed to stall long enough for blood loss to be fatal.

His tears blurred his vision and Kiba missed details of the fight but he caught enough to see that his mother was winning. She had the strength to win but was rapidly gaining numerous wounds. She would bleed out in a matter of minutes.

Suddenly a ninja from Grass appeared above Tsume and hit her with a powerful Fire jutsu. This attack managed to slow Tsume down enough for the last Sound ninja to stab her in the heart with a kunai.

Against all odds, Tsume managed to power on and snap the neck of the Sound ninja who had so unwisely stepped into her grasp. Not wasting anytime, Tsume launched into a Fang Rotating Fang and smashed the Grass ninja at a speed that he was unable to dodge.

With all enemies down, Tsume's will to fight faded and she fell on her back.

"MUM!"

Kiba was by her side in a flash. He gripped her hand with all his strength.

"Kiba," Tsume's voice was soft and filled with pain. "Look after your sister. I love you…"

Kiba's scream of pain echoed throughout the street. How much more could he lose today? His precious partner Akamaru and now his mum were dead.

The sound of paws could be heard. Looking around, Kiba saw his mum's ninja dog, Kuromaru. "No Tsume!"

Kuromaru crawled on his belly until his nose pressed against his fallen companion. A keening could be heard as he grieved her passing. A few seconds passed before Kuromaru shook himself and turned to Kiba.

"You can tell me what happened later. We need to go help Hana now before she gets overwhelmed! C'mon, get up Kiba. The safety of the pack comes before everything else."

New light came to Kiba's eyes. 'I will not lose my sister today! Sorry mum, I'll be right back.'

Kiba forced himself to bury all his pain until after all his enemies had fallen. Kiba got to his feet. "Let's go help Hana."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: Phew, that chapter was hard to write. I know to some those deaths may appear out of left field but it was mainly to show that this is war and that anyone can die at anytime. This also gives me a chance to dive into how Kiba's character will develop now that he has suffered major loss. I think it will be an interesting experience.

What did you guys think? I'm guessing I'm going to cope a lot of flack for killing Akamaru and Tsume but I needed to show both readers and characters in the story that being a ninja is really dangerous.

Please review.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.