Chapter Twenty Eight: Flip the Coin
"What are you saying, Shika?" Naruto scrunched his eyebrows together as they, along with Sasuke and Ino, met up about five minutes before the Third Exam reconvened. Shikamaru wanted to briefly go over something, but he wouldn't elaborate until they were alone and sure no one was eavesdropping.
He wasn't making any sense now, though.
"Ugh. Naruto, there are six of us left still in this thing, and I'm saying that it might be best if some of us dropped out to conserve our strength." Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. "Something's not right about all this. Your match, Sasuke's match, and even that Suigetsu kid's match seemed natural enough. But Ino and me? I get the sense something is about to go down, and it would be very bad if all of us were too drained to do anything. That's why I'm dropping out. You don't have to, Naruto; it'd probably be better if you didn't, anyway. Same goes for Sasuke. The crowd liked both of your matches. Mine was decidedly less crowd-pleasing. I won't be missed."
"Are you kidding me?!" Naruto howled in frustration. He got this far, and Shikamaru was just going to forfeit. Just like that.
"So that's it, then?" Sasuke snorted derisively. "You're going to throw away your chance at becoming Chunin on a hunch."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"Unlike you, Sasuke, I'm not obsessed with getting a promotion. We graduated from the Academy only a few months ago; if that makes me 'unmotivated' or whatever, then fine. If I'm wrong, then I have half a year to try again for promotion. If I'm right, I'll be glad I forewent another match. I'm not juggernauts like you two; I'm gonna need every ounce of energy I can get if the worst happens."
It went without saying that part of Shikamaru's reasoning had to do with the C-Rank Team Seven went on. That mission was an eye-opening experience with the message that things could go very wrong at a moment's notice. Even if that mission was rigged from the start, it still served as a testament to that notion. Because honestly, who could've expected their Jinchuriki meeting one of the Hidden Cloud's? The chances for that had to have been slim, and it had still happened.
Shikamaru swore that he would not become deadweight again if he could help it. And now might just be such a time to put that oath to the test.
"Shika brings up a few good points," Ino mused, placing an index finger on her cheek. "Ajisai seemed way too calm about losing our match. I'm probably going to bow out too."
Sasuke stared at his teammate incredulously.
"Seriously?" He huffed exasperatedly. It wasn't as if Shikamaru's claims were without merit; he wasn't so 'obsessed' that he closed his mind to any suspicious signs. His own family had been tense as of late, and nobody would really explain why. It's just… why couldn't they take a risk and continue the tournament? They'd gotten this far, they could at least try to go out swinging.
Still, this was their decision. Sasuke had to respect that, no matter how much it frustrated him. If they were right and something did occur… Well. Sasuke could only hope that the Leaf Village would persevere, as it always did.
Beside Sasuke, Naruto was thinking along similar lines…
"Is Temari okay?" Gaara approached Rin after a medic-nin briefly reported to her. She looked down at the young Jinchuriki with a small smile.
"Her injuries were minor, so I wasn't needed personally. She'll be back on her feet in no time." Her smile became a touch sad as she observed the redhead more keenly. Gaara seemed… uneasy. "But you already knew that, right? This is about Temari's opponent. Suigetsu."
Gaara blinked slowly as he contemplated Rin's question. She was right, of course; he wanted to keep his thoughts away from the white-headed boy, and so had come to check up on Temari. Gaara wasn't particularly… happy with the Hidden Mist Genin right now. He was aware of the risks that came with these Exams, but that boy could have killed his sister if he'd kept his Jutsu up for a little bit longer.
Gaara had seen this type of person before, having been forced to endure the superstitions and assaults of some of the villagers, but… something set Suigetsu apart from even those 'normal' bloodthirsty types. A sort of nonchalance, like Suigetsu didn't care if he killed somebody, as long as the battle was 'fun'. As long as they went all-out. Gaara couldn't order his sister to throw the match; that would have been an insult to her abilities. But that didn't mean he had to like Temari going up against someone of Suigetsu's ilk. He just felt so… powerless.
But that wasn't what was really eating away at him, though. Somewhere deep down, he wanted revenge; a tiny part of him even wanted to see the boy dead for threatening his sister's life.
"Gaara, listen to me." Rin placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him square in the eye. "I can't tell you what to do, or how to think and feel… But I can tell you from experience that Suigetsu isn't one-of-a-kind. You could kill him now and get revenge for nearly killing your sister, but it won't solve anything. Days, weeks, months from now you'll run into another person like Suigetsu, someone who threatens the lives of your family. Maybe you'll kill that person, too, and start down a road of violence and rage. Maybe you could kill everyone who threatens your family, but in the end, all you'll do is make your own family wary of you. What if you turned on them next? That's what they'll eventually think."
Gaara went quiet at Rin's words. What she said made sense, but… it didn't erase his bitter and resentful feelings of the boy from the Hidden Mist.
"What do I do…?" Gaara rasped, clearly at a loss.
"We Jinchuriki are cursed and blessed with attachments," Rin made a motion with her free hand. "Cursed, because we have so few; not everyone is so accepting of Jinchuriki, and those who are… only a few among them are 'accepting' for the right reasons. That is, they view us as people and not as weapons – even if that is technically what we are. Moreover, if something happens to those few precious people that we have, we tend to lose ourselves in rage, hatred, and sorrow. We're blessed because, well… Our precious people help us retain our humanity. They pull us back from the overwhelming abyss of 'duty' that the village forces on us.
"I guess… If you want advice, I'd say cherish your precious people while you still can. You never know when they could be taken from you." Rin concluded her little 'inspirational' speech with a wry smile. "I've lost friends over the years. I lost my Sensei when I was just a few years older than you are now. If you want a role model, just look at Naruto. Not only does he have friends and family that he treasures, but he has this sort of... gift. Given the time and right circumstances, he could probably befriend anyone; he's really good at changing people on a fundamental level. And he has yet to ever give up on anyone or anything."
With that, Rin bid the redhead farewell and went off to check on the other Genin that were receiving care. She left Gaara with a lot to think about, though, and he had about ten more minutes to dwell on it before the Exam resumed.
Up in the Kage Box, only Nagato and A remained inside. Both Rasa and Yagura had gone off to talk to people of their respective villages, leaving the Hokage and Raikage to have a brief discussion on a certain topic.
"Do you still have Yugito?" The Raikage asked with hands clasped behind his back, overlooking the arena. Nagato shared the view.
"Of course. I told you I would keep her safe," Nagato replied, a single ringed eye glancing over at the Raikage. "I would wager no one is eager to enter another War so soon after the last one."
A remained quiet at that. He proceeded with another line of questioning.
"What are your terms for her release?" He asked with a frown.
Nagato closed his eyes and released a small sigh.
"I truly think this would be better saved for after the Exams… but if you really want to know…" Nagato trailed off meaningfully and reopened his eyes after a brief pause. "I would like an alliance between our villages. To solidify the alliance, I would also like any advice your two Jinchuriki could give Naruto on mastering the Nine-Tails' Chakra. I haven't seen anyone quite like your brother – and Yugito seems to have taken after him quite well."
Nagato was lying a little with that last comment. Rin and the Three-Tails made quite a team; they just didn't have as much Chakra as, say, Killer Bee… Nevertheless, A didn't call him out on it, despite knowing very well the Hidden Leaf had two Jinchuriki.
"… Our Jinchuriki do have a secret method for training in Tailed Beast Chakra…" A allowed slowly. "If you want an alliance, however, you will need to bring more to the table. Consider it from my perspective, Hokage. You will be giving me my weapon back, but we in turn will be giving you the secret to training your Jinchuriki, present and future. On top of an alliance, that is an agreement heavily in your favor. What if you turned on us?"
To his credit, Nagato did not bristle at the jab. It was true that trust should be earned and not freely given, but…
"I could say the same of you. You are making movements outside your borders that could be construed as preparations for war, Raikage. Not only did your shinobi kill some of my Genin Squads, but your Jinchuriki attempted to capture mine. And this speaks nothing of past transgressions." Nagato knew he was laying it on thick, and making the Hidden Leaf out to be completely innocent… But in fairness, it was the Hidden Cloud that instigated incidents, past and present. They tried to kidnap Kushina. They tried to kidnap Hinata. They purposely killed Genin Squads, and tried to kidnap Naruto. These were just a few examples, but very personal ones for Nagato. "Nevertheless, I am aware that we have perhaps insulted your nation just as much in the past. Which is why I want to extend an olive branch before events escalate. There does not have to be war."
For several moments, the Raikage and Hokage stood there, appraising one another. The Raikage had nothing else to say to that. Nagato could not decipher A's carefully schooled features. The burly man could be considering his words, or he could be writing them off as 'idealistic garbage'. Nagato vaguely knew the man's personality, and so knew full well the latter was very possible. But at the same time, A wasn't completely without scruples. He was capable of change.
The question became if Nagato had been earnest and sincere enough to spark such a change within A.
"I still think Naruto has Sasuke's number."
"And I keep telling you, I can see why you'd think that way, but it's a lot more even than you think." Asuma sighed exasperatedly. Ever since he made that comment about the matches boiling down to Naruto VS Sasuke, Obito had been egging him on… And it was annoying. "Look at it this way: Naruto and Sasuke, while they have very different styles, are about even when it comes to Taijutsu. Naruto sucks at Genjutsu, while that's a key part of Sasuke's repertoire. Naruto, on the other hand, is somewhat more proficient in Ninjutsu, whereas Sasuke has a handful of Fire Ninjutsu. How does that translate to Naruto being better than Sasuke?"
Obito grinned at his bearded friend.
"You're forgetting about the stamina factor. Naruto hated what I put him through, but because of that hell, he's one tenacious sonuvabitch now. … Well, moreso than he was before."
"And there's the issue of control to balance that out." Asuma deadpanned. "Restraint. Making sure you conserve your strength for later matches. Naruto doesn't have to 'worry' about that because he's got so much stamina; and so he makes wasted movements. Expends more energy than he has to. That might just come back to bite him, y'know."
Obito waved him off petulantly, and Kakashi chose that moment to speak up.
"You know, all of this is pointless if those two face each other in the semifinal round. Just a ryo for thought."
Asuma raised an eyebrow at the remark.
"Are you forgetting that Sasuke has technically won most of their matches before? Naruto doesn't even have the benefit of a trapped field."
"And you think Obito didn't have the foresight to prepare him for this? He drilled insightfulness into the kid." Kakashi dryly shot back, and Obito grinned at the support. He gestured at the field that was still riddled with holes and little craters. "I think he's pretty good at improvisation."
"And you think Sasuke's progress has been at a standstill?" Asuma snorted. "Mikoto did the individual training with him, y'know."
"Alright, alright, enough with the pissing contest, boys," Anko deadpanned. Then like flipping a switch, she gave a million-watt grin. "Besides, there's still the chance they'll run afoul of my prodigy!"
Kabuto walked up to the group with a benign smile. Though there was a tinge of pity there, too.
"Actually, from what I just overheard, both Ino and Shikamaru will be dropping out. Seems like your protégé is a little too sharp, Kakashi."
The silver-haired Jonin stared half-liddedly at the medic-nin; Anko was not so restrained.
"WHAT?!"
Kabuto offered a closed-eyes smile and held up his hands peacefully.
"Now, now, Anko… Perhaps it's for the best that some of these Genin are on hand. They're going to be targets after running the gauntlet like this, and as much as I hate to say it, we can't be omnipresent. We can defend them, but what about other targets? What are the goals of this Invasion to begin with? Even if we had that knowledge, I think it's for the best that we have some extra hands."
There was a beat of silence as everyone took Kabuto's words in. Asuma was the one to speak up first.
"You know, a side benefit of this Exam was for the Genin to be kept out of this mess… They shouldn't have to worry about…"
"Even if we keep them out of this conflict, there's always the chance that this will snowball into something greater." Kakashi sighed tiredly. "We were even younger when the last War broke out, Asuma. I don't like this anymore than you do, but Kabuto does have a point."
"It's gonna be time for a new generation to step up," Obito quietly agreed. He lightly glared at the floor. "This sucks…"
No one had a reply to that. These were greenhorns here – their greenhorns. Of course no one wanted them to grow up so soon; it was simply an inevitability at this point. Deep down, all of them were hoping that through some miracle that the Invasion would be called off… Life is simply unfair, but this was just ridiculous…
"Alright, since there are four of you left, I'll need you to come and pick a ball out of the box here." Yamato held it up for the remaining Genin to see. He'd just announced that Shikamaru and Ino had dropped out, so now there was a maximum of three matches left.
Suigetsu was the first Genin, and he plucked out the ball with a '2' on it. Sasuke was next, his ball had '3' on it; Naruto picked out the '4' ball; and Gaara was left with the '1' ball. Yamato narrowed his eyes at the matchups, but he lacked concrete proof that the matches were rigged in any way. Suigetsu was certainly suspicious, as he'd been the first one to step forward, but it took him all of three seconds to pluck out a ball.
… Which was probably more than long enough for someone of the Hozuki Clan to pull something, but there was still nothing remotely concrete for Yamato to act on these suspicions. So they would forge on.
"Naruto and Sasuke, you're dismissed. Suigetsu and Gaara, your match will begin now. Take your positions." Yamato stated calmly and raised his arm in the air. When Naruto and Sasuke were back up in the Genin Box, Yamato brought his arm down and got out of the arena himself.
"So, uh… We gonna do this, or what?" Suigetsu grinned toothily at his opponent, who stood across from him with his arms crossed. Suigetsu himself was ready to unsheathe his blade, but the cork on Gaara's gourd popped off, and a wave of sand surged toward the young Hozuki.
The grin on Suigetsu's face did not falter, and he took the wave of sand head-on. Sand swirled around his stringy body, and Suigetsu soon found himself wrapped up nicely in a cocoon that was levitating off of the ground, his head the only body part not submerged in sand. Gaara had one hand extended forward, ready to clench into a fist at a moment's notice.
"I can crush you like a grape at a moment's notice…" Gaara intoned flatly. "Why don't you just give up?"
"What, just when the party's getting started?" Suigetsu shook his head from side to side. "You poor deluded fool."
Gaara narrowed his eyes and tightened the sand's grip on Suigetsu ever so slightly, enough to show he wasn't fooling around. Of course, Suigetsu made a laughable spectacle out of it, screaming as he was being squeezed and then promptly laughing his ass off. And then Gaara did it.
"Sand Burial!" The redhead called out, and then the sand imploded on itself, Gaara rarely if ever had to use this attack; but that didn't mean he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was a shinobi, so he would kill when necessary.
Using this move on another Genin might be questionable, but this was no ordinary Genin. Gaara had seen what the white-haired teenager was capable of. He was not disappointed when there was no fountain of blood gushing outward from the implosion. But water was spraying everywhere, and the sand that made up the Sand Coffin was completely soaked. A few moments later, water was struggling to get out of the pile of damp sand. Suigetsu's head was the first thing to materialize.
"Y'know, this is really grody. Like, I'm fine with soaking your precious mobile cat litter, but it's not so great pulling myself out of this crap. I feel disgusting." Suigetsu stuck out his tongue disdainfully and succeeded in materializing his upper body and arms. That was when another wave of sand came rushing at him. The young Hozuki rolled his eyes and groaned in annoyance. "Here we go again…"
Gaara frowned as he contemplated how to go about this. In theory, he should be able to keep Suigetsu pinned with his sand if he kept this up… But he would be wasting his Jutsu. He could tell that wet sand was nigh well impossible to use; he knew that's what the Hozuki boy was counting on. The question became would Suigetsu be able to live if he were submerged in his gourd's worth of sand. From what his father told him and his siblings, the Hozuki reverted to blobs of water when they were exhausted. That's what Gaara was trying to do, not kill him… though that thought had crossed his mind.
And then the dynamic of the battle began to shift. Gaara had forgotten about the bits of water that sprayed from his Sand Burial earlier, but he didn't think Suigetsu could control it if he was busy being smothered in sand. Gaara was dead wrong in this case. Suigetsu didn't even have to multitask; the upper portion of his body did nothing but get absorbed by the sand, while the lower half transformed into water bullets that flew straight at Gaara. The stream of sand ceased smothering Suigetsu as it moved to protect Gaara from the surprise attack, and it succeeded. The water bullets smashed into the sudden wall of sand, kicking up particles of sand as they made impacts, but now that sand was mushy and unusable.
Gaara knew he was running out of sand in his gourd. At most, there was half of it left, and that was being optimistic. If he didn't find a way to end this quickly, he wouldn't have enough to aid in the Invasion. Worst case scenario, he'd have to call upon Shukaku's power. On the other hand, simply surrendering at this juncture was inadvisable. This boy was a teenager, a Genin, but he could end up causing the Leaf several casualties if he was allowed to carry on. Gaara was fine with drawing on the One-Tail's Chakra if it came down to it, but that just demonstrated Suigetsu's prowess all the more if it came down to it.
There wasn't many Genin that could say they could take on a Jinchuriki, after all. Well. Genin who weren't Jinchuriki, that is.
"Man, you must be getting pretty desperate," Suigetsu taunted with a grin as his head oozed out of the big pile of mushy sand. Internally, Suigetsu was slightly less calm. 'I'm about at my limit… Smart to send in a Water Clone with about half of my Chakra Reserves, but it can't put up nearly as much of a fight as my original body. Even if I am remotely controlling the Water Clone like a puppetmaster…'
Gaara sent in one last wave of sand to smother Suigetsu. It was the last from his gourd, and he was prepared to use his Sand Armor if it meant knocking Suigetsu out. But he needn't have worried; Suigetsu didn't completely soak through this last attack, and there was no other indication that he was trying to find an alternative exit from the pile. Yamato waited a minute before leaping back down into the arena and declaring Gaara the winner.
The Proctor frowned and his brow furrowed when Suigetsu wasn't found amidst the pile of mushy sand. There should have been something, but all that was left was water. Nothing resembling a conscious, living thing. That immediately set up red flags in Yamato's mind, so he signaled for Genma and a number of other Jonin and Anbu to keep an eye out for the real Suigetsu.
Things were probably going to get worse before they got better.
"Ready for a real match, Naruto?" Sasuke stood across from the blond and smirked.
Naruto returned the action with a smirk of his own.
"Oh, every other match to this point didn't count?"
"As if you'd get off that easy." Sasuke snorted. "Those matches may have been spars, but they still counted. I'm just saying that this isn't a spar, and that I will accept nothing less than your absolute best. This is for the additional benefit of promotion, so if you don't make the cut… You have no one to blame but yourself."
Naruto rolled his eyes at his rival's theatrics. Of course he knew all of this. He'd worked his ass off to get to this point. If Sasuke wanted a show, Naruto would give him one. He'd pay the bastard back for each and every defeat. He was Naruto Uzumaki, and he never went back on his word!
"Second Semifinal Match! Naruto Uzumaki VS Sasuke Uchiha, begin!" Yamato cleared the arena again, and the two rivals went straight to business.
Naruto generated twenty Shadow Clones that formed a semicircle line around Sasuke, and Sasuke started off with his Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. While the original Naruto was busy getting the hell out of dodge, his Clones rushed Sasuke, who made short work of them. Well. The first four or five, really. As expected from the blond knucklehead, Naruto's Shadow Clones learned to better coordinate their attacks than to straight up rush the raven-haired boy. About three of them formed a 'pole' of sorts and catapulted the top Clone toward Sasuke.
Fortunately, Sasuke had the foresight to activate his Sharingan. That was the only thing that saved him in the end, as the catapulted Clone detonated nearly point-blank. A last-second Substitution saved Sasuke from brutal injury. But there was little time to breathe for Sasuke, for even as he reappeared a few feet away, four Shadow Clones were bearing down on him. Instead of wasting a Jutsu on them, he locked eyes with two of them and prompted them to attack the unaffected pair.
'Ten left by original count… I need to finish these off fast and get back to the real Naruto.' Sasuke thought determinedly to himself while looking out across the battlefield. The Sharingan helped him determine where the original Naruto was, but that didn't exactly instill him with confidence. The blond was over by the trees cooking something up, and he'd created at least six more Clones – two of which were under 'clever' Transformations in the form of a log and a big rock.
Sasuke didn't get to dwell on that for long, however. The remaining ten Shadow Clones from before were on the move, rushing toward him in some bizarre formation. Two ran all the way up to him to engage him in Taijutsu, but a quick kick to one Clone's side and a punch to the head of the other, and they were dispelled. In that short span of time, the other eight Clones had formed a circle around him and were grinning maniacally. Knowing there was nothing for it but to perform a Substitution, Sasuke barely cleared the blast of what was eight Shadow Clones performing the Great Shadow Clone Explosion all at once.
"Damn Obito for enabling that… that… demolitionist in the making." Sasuke muttered with a twitchy brow as he skidded to a halt a few yards away from the trees that Naruto was camped out in. He was done playing defense; Sasuke Uchiha was not the defensive type. Playing defense risked him being blown to smithereens. Playing defense gave Naruto ample time to overcome his Genjutsu deficiency.
Sasuke needed that idiot out in the open where he could see him. Preferably with those damn Shadow Clones. With that in mind, Sasuke launched a volley of kunai with wires attached to them at the original Naruto, who was conveniently susceptible enough to become tangled in the wires as they wove around him and bound him to a tree. A Shadow Clone attempted to sever the wires, but one of the thrown kunai had an explosive note attached, which had a remote detonation that Sasuke used to distract Naruto and his Clones long enough for him to coordinate his next attack.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!" Sasuke had one end of the 'mess' of wires stuck between his teeth, and when he used the Jutsu, a flame in the shape of a dragon head travelled along the length of the wire, growing bigger and more imposing the more it travelled. Until eventually, it slammed into the small grove of trees, violently dispelling the Shadow Clones and eliciting a howl of agony from Naruto.
After a few moments of tense silence, Sasuke released the length of wire from his mouth and panted tiredly. A smirk made its way to his lips when enough of the smoke cleared, and Naruto was revealed to be slumped against a tree, his body drenched and sooty as a result of his Shadow Clones making a last ditch effort of dowsing him with water bottles that they'd stored away for just this occasion. They ended up dispelling anyway, and Naruto was still obviously injured, but there could have been severe burns in addition to the bruises he'd received. As it was, he was only 'mildly' burned compared to some of their spars in the past.
But before Sasuke could follow up with anything else – because really, he would be sorely disappointed if this was all it took to bring Naruto down – there was an explosion directly beneath him that propelled him several yards back. Upon recovering enough and noting the haggard-yet-triumphant look on Naruto's face as he struggled to get back up, Sasuke realized that he'd been a bit too late in getting Naruto out of those trees. The Sharingan was great for detecting sources of Chakra, even if they're underground, but if one of Naruto's Clones was navigating the tunnels while he was dealing with those Shadow Clones earlier, then it could move to some blind spot and dig until it was directly beneath him.
All while his attention was focused on what Naruto was doing in the small grove of trees. A cheap diversionary tactic, but an effective one. As powerful as the Sharingan was, it didn't have three hundred sixty degree vision like the Byakugan. Sasuke snapped out of his ruminations when he noticed Naruto getting ready to form more Shadow Clones. He hastened in his struggle to get up on his feet again, but noticed with a grimace that his left leg had suffered a fair amount of damage from that surprise Shadow Clone Explosion. Oh, it was still functioning, but it was wobbly. He knew Naruto would exploit that weakness; but he didn't have the time to dwell on that. If he couldn't get up close to Naruto in time, then he would have to resort to long-range attacks for the time being.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!" Sasuke called out one of his newer attacks that he picked up from his mother. This Jutsu didn't rely on a length of wire like the original version, but damn if it wasn't taxing on his reserves. A fireball that grew greatly in size and formed the visage of a dragon head launched toward the blond Uzumaki at a high velocity, followed up by a second one for good measure. The eight Shadow Clones Naruto generated in front of him didn't stand a chance, and the blond was forced to dodge to the right and watch helpless as the small grove of trees was burned down by the two giant stylized fireballs.
Similar to how his rival was feeling earlier, Naruto didn't have much breathing room, as Sasuke followed up with a rapid succession of less taxing Fireball Jutsu that kept him on the move. Eventually, there was too many to dodge, and one hit Naruto dead-on, without any Shadow Clones or water to help lessen the damage. Sasuke winced as he felt that he was nearing his limit for long-ranged Jutsu; his reserves were still not all that great, even with his mother helping him expand them. Expanding one's Chakra reservoirs took time, and Sasuke did all he could in three months' time.
So it was time to get back up close again, damn the wobbly leg he was sporting. Whereas Sasuke only had his reserves to rely on, Naruto had access to another source, namely the Nine-Tails'. And Naruto determined it was about time to tap into that power, because he was burnt all over. Per their agreement, Naruto could go up to three Tails without the Nine-Tails actively trying to affect his mind; as Naruto found out in training with that Chakra, the more he used, the more that Chakra affected him, so it was really best to experiment with one Tail's worth of power at most for now.
The blond smirked when his rival paled at the sight of a red, liquid-like cloak enveloping him, his facial features slightly turning foxlike. He didn't go up to one Tail's worth just yet; merely adopted the 'initial' form, as the Nine-Tails called it. Naruto found this form the easiest to control, and damn if it didn't come with some cool benefits for him – faster healing, faster, stronger movements, he could generate shockwaves from punches or even roars… Yeah. This would be good enough for now, as he could already feel some of his injuries healing.
Careful to avoid direct eye contact, Naruto engaged his rival in Taijutsu as the raven-haired boy wished. There was a flurry of punches and kicks between them; Naruto found he could keep up with his rival's Taijutsu while in this state, albeit it did come with the cost of him becoming more susceptible to Genjutsu of the Sharingan variety. Sasuke spun on his good heel, delivering a roundabout kick to Naruto's face, but Naruto returned the favor with a swift uppercut to the raven-haired boy's chin, making him skid back a few feet. Naruto lunged forward to tackle Sasuke, but the young Uchiha gracefully fell backward and used both of his feet to propel Naruto directly over him smoothly.
Naruto dug into the ground with his claw-like hands to stop his momentum, and while he was trying to turn around, Sasuke performed a handstand and used his free hand to throw a kunai with a wire that wrapped around Naruto's wrists, temporarily binding his movements. But before Sasuke could attempt another Dragon Fire Jutsu, Naruto snapped the wire with great effort and lunged toward Sasuke again. With the Uchiha caught off-guard with Naruto's brute strength, he was tackled to the ground and kicked in the face twice before Sasuke forced Naruto off of him with great difficulty.
There was a brief lull in the battle as both competitors tried to collect themselves and plan their next attacks. Sasuke was frustrated that hitting the idiot with a Sharingan Genjutsu was so difficult here; Obito had done a fine job of showing the blond ways of fighting without direct eye contact. Naruto was equally frustrated that Sasuke was handling his Tailed Beast Chakra-enhanced reflexes so well; but then, with three Jinchuriki in these Exams, is it any wonder that Sasuke's mother prepared him sufficiently for that?
Both boys got up once more for yet another Taijutsu skirmish – or at least, Naruto did. Sasuke, on the other hand, brought out a Fuma shuriken and threw it just as Naruto was a few feet away. The huge weapon stopped Naruto's momentum and made him skid backwards as the shuriken dug into him sharply, but that isn't what had the blond worried. He'd taken his eyes completely off Sasuke in favor of the giant weapon now impaling him, and now the young Uchiha was high in the air and coming down with a punch. Naruto was knocked down to the ground, and he forced his eyes shut so dust wouldn't get in his eye.
When he reopened them, it was over. Sasuke was up close with a Sharingan-enhanced glare, and there was no way to avoid direct eye contact. Within moments, Naruto was out like a light, and Sasuke was panting for breath once again. The young Uchiha collapsed to his hands and knees, and he looked up to the Proctor to call it, since his opponent was unconscious. Unfortunately, it looked as if he wouldn't be going on to face Gaara…
"Lightning Style: Black Panther!" Darui called out the name of his signature attack, and aimed it for the middle of a crowd of Leaf shinobi. The attack came so suddenly, and it didn't stop there. Other Hidden Cloud shinobi, amongst shinobi from the Hidden Sound, revealed themselves in the crowd and began to launch Jutsu left and right.
Within moments, there was complete and utter pandemonium in the stadium.
In the medical bay, the atmosphere was slightly calmer, but that had more to do with the fact that most of the medic-nin staff was lying dead on the floor. A redhead in a nondescript black cloak was standing over a mint-haired Jinchuriki with a Snake Summon by his side. The apparently young man had an air of clinical calm about him as he gestured for the Snake Summon to open its maw wide.
"To think that this was the 'next generation' of medic-nin… Is it a wonder that my Grandmother and Tsunade Senju left their villages…?" Sasori flatly intoned. Even if they weren't recognized as Missing-Nin, at the very least they stopped providing their services to their villages.
It was child's play to infiltrate the medical bay; the only person he had to be wary of was Rin Nohara, the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki, and she had gone back outside to view the remainder of the matches. Sasori mused on the chaos that must be transpiring out there; he was rather disappointed that security in the medical bay was so lax. Most of the medics didn't even put up much of a fight. It just proved that Tsunade Senju's proposal for combat medics had fallen flat ages ago.
Utterly worthless apes.
But just as Sasori was about to move Seven-Tails' Jinchuriki into the Snake Summon, four levitating fireballs surrounded him in a neat square. The redhead kept his calm, cold demeanor despite the circumstances he was now in.
"I had a feeling you might show up, Pakura… You were never very subtle."
The Sand kunoichi snorted at her former ally's putdown. Her skills were never meant to be 'subtle'; either she was sent in to kill, or she was sent in to interrogate. Her Scorch Style was perfectly suited for both.
"What do you think you're doing, Sasori? I know you never had much reason to show loyalty to the village in the first place, with your personality and background, but throwing your lot in with a bunch of Jinchuriki Hunters? How will this possibly help your ambitions?"
The room went quiet as that question was posed. Sasori remained unimpressed, and he kept perfectly still with his back to the Sand kunoichi. Any sudden moves would prompt Pakura to attack, and he needed her to think he was in the palm of her hand.
"When have I ever had to explain my motives to the likes of you…?" Sasori shot back derisively. In the next moment he seemed more solemn. "Although… If you really want to know… I suppose you could say that I grew weary of this pathetic existence we have been forced to live in. A long talk with a certain individual convinced me of this."
Pakura furrowed her brows in confusion as she registered his words.
"Do you mean… Orochimaru…?"
Sasori snorted at the very suggestion.
"Orochimaru can indeed wax poetic; the Hidden Sound Village exists largely because of the time and effort he put into it. But no. He is not who I was referring to." The puppetmaster answered in a somewhat patronizing tone.
Pakura scowled at how difficult Sasori was being. Clearly this meant he was not as trapped as she first thought he was. This was proven a moment later, when there was a sudden movement in the corner of her eye. When she panned her eyes over, she witnessed one of the fallen medics getting back up. But just as Pakura moved to mummify Sasori, the redhead ducked and rolled out from under her Jutsu and forced the corpse to attack his former teammate.
'Desecrating the dead for your own twisted ends… You've really changed, Sasori. And I thought your heartlessness was bad before.' Pakura inwardly mused before engaging the puppetmaster. With any luck, Yahiko would be there to back her up soon enough.
In another area of the village, outside the T&I building to be precise, a single bubble was making its descent. Sitting within the bubble was a brunet in a light blue kimono; the young man seemed to have a bored look on his face as a number of Chunin came out to discover his purpose. His purpose was simple, truly – to set a certain captive free, as it were.
Once the bubble touched down and the brunet was standing up, his Bubble-Utilizing Pipe in hand, he regarded the assembled Chunin coldly.
"Such a cordial reception. Allow me to return the favor." With a flourish of his arm, Utakata blew into his Pipe, generating a flurry of bubbles that the Chunin were unable to dodge on account that there was so many. Subsequently, the flurry of bubbles came together and encased the group of shinobi into one giant bubble; it then produced some sort of ink within the bubble, filling up the bubble all the way until it burst. There wasn't a trace of the group of poor Hidden Leaf Chunin left. All that remained was a pile of black ink.
Without batting an eye, Utakata strode towards the T&I building, but before he could make his way inside, the front exploded outward with ominous blue flames, forcing the Jinchuriki of the Six-Tails to throw up one arm to shield his face.
"Hmph… I guess I wasn't needed after all. Oh well."
Out of the blue flames stepped Yugito Nii, who scowled at Utakata's presence.
"What are you doing here? I thought those weird-ass plant men were the cavalry from the Hidden Mist."
Utakata quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh, really? Zetsu must be all over the place then. Because he's supposed to have other mission parameters…" The brunet made a wide shrugging gesture and smirked at the blonde Jinchuriki. "Ah well. Who can really tell with Zetsu? I take it you appropriately rewarded your warden for the accommodations."
Yugito rolled her eyes and snorted derisively.
"Keep talking, you uncouth sea slug… You're going to be very, very sorry when I get done with you." She snarled. "For your information, I had to gut fucking Ibiki Morino himself… Not my idea of a fun time, especially since I'm still getting back to full strength after having those damn Seals removed. I could have used your help in there, bastard."
Utakata shrugged again in a nonchalant gesture.
"What can I say? I was surveying the area. Can't be too careful in a village of Dojutsu users. Besides, you had it under control. Now all we're waiting on is…"
"Damn you have a running mouth. I know you're powerful, but that's still no excuse to get cocky." Yugito snapped with a heated glare. "How in the world did you miss the bitch with angel wings?!"
Utakata turned to the side briefly and coolly noted that, indeed, there was a bluenette hovering there with some kind of angel wings sprouting out of her back. He smirked as he pieced together who she was; it wasn't that hard.
"If what you say is true, and you have indeed killed Ibiki… You shall soon come to regret it." Konan threatened the two Jinchuriki with a steely gaze. "I am Konan Uzumaki, and I shall be your opponent."
Utakata fully turned to face the Hokage's wife and grinned with anticipation. Yugito's countenance was a bit more subdued, but she too got ready for battle as she lengthened her nails to the point that they were claws. Even though they were Jinchuriki, they could not afford to take this opponent lightly; she wasn't a Jonin and one of the Hokage's strategic advisors for nothing. And who knew who else might crawl out of the woodwork?
At this point, there was only one certainty. The coin of fate was flipped, and now in motion. The Invasion had begun. How it would pan out, who would win, that all had yet to be decided…
Author's Note: Uggghhh… The first half was not fun to write. To top it off, this chapter is slightly shorter than normal. But really, I didn't want to get into it too much; you guys deserved some Invasion action, and I got into a couple bits that I'm personally interested in. … Though in fairness, there are still a few battles I wanna get to that I haven't even hinted at yet. There's going to be a looot of characters to focus in on… I'm getting tired just thinking about all of it. ^^;
As you can tell, I made a last-minute change to have Shika and Ino drop out. I wanted them to have at least one more chance each to strut their stuff, but when it comes down to it, the Exams might not factor into promotions much… Real life situations like an Invasion should be more showing of who's deserving of promotion. That's my philosophy. :P
At least I'm relatively satisfied with the Naruto VS Sasuke fight. Maybe I could've ended it better, but I did my best otherwise to show that it wasn't clear-cut. It was balanced… Even if Naruto did have the Nine-Tails' Chakra while Sasuke lacked the Curse Mark, I still think Naruto's additional 'strength' makes him more susceptible to Sharingan Genjutsu – I've seen other writers tap into that to a certain extent, and it intrigues me. But now they're both tuckered out (or unconscious, in Naruto's case…), tough luck, ne?
Aw well. There's plenty of others to pick up their slack. ^^ Hope you enjoyed this a little; like I said, it didn't come out easy. Grr. Thanks for the Reviews, Favs, and Alerts!
Review Replies:
Black' Victor Cachat: I've seen Raikage in all types of attitude. He's definitely arrogant, favoring power over practically anything else (bar his brother, of course), but I can also see him giving out respect to those that earn it. … On the downside, it makes him susceptible to paranoia/suspicion/concern, like you pointed out. The Rinnegan isn't something to be trifled with, and A knows that. Still makes him malleable and easy to manipulate; particularly if certain parties, ah, have knowledge of the Rinnegan and its abilities…
Riku Uzumaki: Yup! We'll hafta see if his shrewdness pays off.
LilyVampire: Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for Reviewing!
