As the white feathers fell from the sky, the civilians in the stands slowly began to fall asleep until they were all out. Those who were shinobi that were able to dispel genjutsu did so, then quickly woke up those next to them. The next moment all hell broke loose as Suna-nin and Oto-nin began leaping into the arena, their weapons drawn in an attempt to kill off the Konoha-nin while they were caught off guard.
Up in the kage booth, Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage dragged Sarutobi to the roof of the building, his two guards being cut in half by Konoha's ANBU, only to be revealed as four oto-nin under a combined henge. Moments later they erected a large purple-colored cube-shaped barrier over themselves, sealing Sarutobi in.
At the same time in the forests to the east, a massive brown-scaled three-headed serpent with tomoe across its body wearing black scarves at the base of its head was suddenly summoned. It then tore through the east wall, letting even more ninja pour in as the massive snake began to flatten the village.
As fights began breaking out across Konoha, jutsu being thrown and bodies dropping to the ground, only one thing was certain in it all.
The attack on Konoha had begun.
As the feathers began descending to the crowd, Washi, Naruto, and Konayuki gradually began falling asleep.
"Kai!" Konayuki quickly intoned as she dispelled the technique, just as Usagi had taught her to. Naruto and Washi on the other hand had no idea how to dispel genjutsu, and were down within seconds, despite the effort they put to stay awake. "Don't worry you two. Backup's on the way," she said placing her hands on both their backs. "Kai!" she intoned as she sent a pulse of chakra through their systems, disrupting the genjutsu and waking the mup.
"Damn, should've learned to dispel genjutsu last month," Naruto grunted.
"Same here, but there's always NEXT time!" Washi said throwing a kunai into an oto-nin's eye as he came up from behind them, then kicked him into the wall driving it all the way through his head and unintentionally pinning the now-dead man to the wall. "I'm guessing this is why Anko-sensei couldn't train us last month."
"I knew something was up, but now it all makes sense," Naruto said as he walked over to Shikamaru, who he found was only sleeping. "WAKE UP LAZY BONES!" he said as he pulled out a storage scroll and unsealed a bucket filled with steaming hot spring water, dumping it on the Nara heir and causing him to jump to his feet.
"YOW! What was that for?" Shikamaru cried as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and the steaming hot water from his clothes.
"We're in the middle of being invaded and you've found the time to nap!" Naruto cried. "I'd think taking a nap would be the least of your concerns, even for you!"
"Maaaaan. All of this is such a hassle," Shikamaru groaned as he wrapped an exploding note around a kunai before chucking it into the chest of an Oto-nin heading for them. The next moment the note blew up, taking him and another oto-nin with him.
"You can nap later! Right now we need to get out of here and to a more defensible position, otherwise we'll be surrounded," Washi said as he adjusted his hat on his head. As his eyes landed on the downed Gaara in the arena, Temari and who appeared to be their sensei grouped around Gaara as Genma stood over Sasuke.
After words were exchanged between them, most of them heated and in relation to Gaara's present condition, the fan-user quickly threw Gaara's arm over her shoulder, taking him out of the arena and to the west forests.
I knew something was up, Washi told himself as he led the others down the hallway and into the stands. I just hope Hagetaka and Dachou are doing their jobs, he said as he looked to the booth that Togame and Shichika were in.
"Father, is this an invasion?" Hanabi asked nervously as fighting broke out all around them. Due to her rigorous training, she had learned to dispel genjutsu without the aid of her Byakugan from an early age, the other clan members dispelling it on their own.
"I am afraid it is," the Hyuuga matriarch sighed, sending an oto-nin flying with a juken strike. "Hanabi look out!" Hiashi called out as a kumo-nin was about to grab her from behind.
"Shukuken!" Hinata cried out as she shunshined between her sister and the would-be kidnapper, slamming the heel of her palm into his chest and dropping him where he stood. "Hanabi-chan, are you alright?"
"H-Hai," Hanabi responded, surprised that Hinata had come to save her.
"That's good to hear," Hinata said with a smile. "Father. Let me escort Hanabi to the shelters. Konoha needs you here more."
" . . . " Hinata… You have changed greatly... Hiashi mused to himself. Before him wasn't the same weak Hinata that had been rejected by the clan before, but a more confident iteration of herself. Has Naruto really changed her that much? he asked himself. If someone like him can have faith in Hinata, then so should I. "Just promise me you'll be careful," he instructed.
"I will," Hinata said with a nod, tying her hitae-ate around her forehead before snapping her eyes open, Byakugan now activated. "Come on Hanabi-chan, let's go," she said grabbing her sister's wrist and leading her to the bunkers that she had learned about in school.
"H-Hai!" Hanabi said, soon falling into step behind her sister.
Hinata… You're so much like your mother, Hiashi thought, shaking his head of those memories before leaping at a group of suna-nin that were running at him.
At the same time in the council member's spectator box, three suna-nin rushed at the white-haired strategian, who shrieked in terror before the dark-haired kyotouryuu patriarch appeared before her.
"Shichika Hachiretsu... Revamp..." he intoned as his opponents approached. Moments later, the three encroaching ninja were knocked backwards, dead before they even hit the ground, doing so with loud crunching noise just barely heard over the battles raging across the arena.
"Shichika! What's going on?" Togame asked as she looked up from behind the seat she was hiding behind.
"I was briefed on this earlier this month," Shichika said as his eyes darted around the arena, senses fanned out for any threats. "It appears as though Konoha is being invaded."
"Then what do we do?" she asked.
"Dachou, Hagetaka," Shichika stated getting the two brunette's attention, who he'd asked to be Togame's escort earlier that day should something like that happen. "You two escort Togame to the shelters. I'll created a distraction in the arena to give you a little more leeway. Togame, keep your head low, and your mouth shut. I don't want you getting hurt out there, okay?"
Togame nodded curtly. "Just promise me you won't get hurt out there, alright?"
"I won't. You don't have to worry about me," Shichika said as he tightened his headband and got ready to jump into the fray. "You have your instructions. We'll meet back up at the house once this is all over."
With their instructions given and a "Hai" in response, the two brunettes nodded in response as they headed off as Shichika leapt into the arena, sneaking a blue-colored pill into their mouthes as they guided the strategian out of the arena, using as much cover and as many dark corners as they could afford.
When Naruto, Konayuki, Washi, and Shikamaru got back up to the stands, they were greeted surprisingly enough, by Sakura Haruno.
"Naruto, I know we haven't been on the best of terms in the past, and that I might've been a bitch to you for no reason, but I really need your help!" she pleaded as she grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Hold on! What is it that you need?" the blond asked back as he grabbed her shoulders, so taken aback by the girl's change in attitude that he forgot about the approaching danger..
"Naruto! Ground!" Washi ordered leaving no room for arguments, Naruto taking Sakura in his arms and going to the ground a moment later. When they were down, Washi caught an oncoming kunai with his own, then threw both at an oncoming oto-nin. "Hurry up and tell us what you need! We don't have the liberty of standing around and shooting the breeze all day! There's a war going on!"
"Ah, right," Sakura said as Naruto helped her up. "Listen, Sasuke ran off after Gaara and Temari. We need to chase after him, join up with him, and get him to a safe location."
"Why? What happened?" Naruto asked.
"I'll explain as we go, okay?" Sakura asked. "Sai's who-knows-where, and Kakashi said you'd be able to help. Please, I'm desperate," she pleaded. It seemed that the past month along with the Chunin Exams had tightened her shot group a bit.
"Hmmmm… Shikamaru, come with me," Naruto instructed. "Konayuki, make us a door. Washi, despite how morbid this sounds, I need you to kill as many of these guys off as you can," he said handing out the orders. "Sakura, how are we going to find him?"
His response was the pinkette pointing to a dark brown pug wearing a hitae-ate on the top of his head along with a little vest.
"Kakashi-sensei summoned one of his ninken, Pakkun," Sakura answered. "I saw where they went out, but we need to hurry."
"Well, seeing as how there isn't a door…" Konayuki said as another oto-nin ran at her. "We'll make our OWN!" she shouted as she parried his attack and let out a devastatingly-strong punch, sending him into the wall and leaving spider web cracks, then finishing up her swing and sending her opponent, and the wall, outwards. "Get going. Washi-kun and I will handle things here."
"Washi! Make sure Konayuki stays alive! That takes priority above all else!" Naruto ordered as he was about to leap out of the hole.
"Hey," Washi said as an oto-nin came at him with a kunai drawn, only to be parried and receive a kunai to the back of the skull in return. "I'd do that even if you didn't tell me to."
As the blond and pinkette left, the lazy genius could only grumble a, "Why me?" before leaping out of the hole.
Naruto could only nod in return before heading out the hole. Whether he liked it or not, he figured that if he rescued Sasuke and prevented him from getting killed, or at least completely maimed, that he'd earn some points with the Civilian Council later on.
At the same time on the east side of the village, a massive three-headed serpent was slowly tearing through Konoha, leveling everything in its path despite everyone's best efforts to stop it.
"Damn, this thing just won't quit," Ibiki cursed as the snake killed another two jounin. "Pull back and regroup!" he shouted into his comm.
"Sir! We have a situation!" a voice said over the comm.
"What is it now?" Ibiki barked.
"We've got two figures heading towards the snake despite the order to retreat. The two have been identified as Tokubetsu Jounin, Shichika Yasuri, and civilian, Nanami Yasuri."
"What? Get them out of there!" Ibiki shouted back into the comm. "There's no way the two of them can fight that thing without backup."
"Too late! The hydra is already right on top of them!"
"Shit!" Ibiki cursed as the two ran towards the massive summon, Shichika using an exploding kunai to draw its attention to himself. Even with over a dozen Katon jutsu and two dozen exploding kunai, nothing even made a scratch on that thing, and I have a feeling that things are going to continue getting worse from here.
To be continued…
Translations:
Shukuken = Palm Heel Strike
