Kakashi watched as his student Sasuke stood facing Gaara. Training Sasuke one-on-one for a month had been rather trying to his patience, especially since he had wanted to do other things at the time, namely train Naruto. The attitude problem alone had been enough to get on his nerves and make him want to strangle the Uchiha boy and bury him in a shallow unmarked grave. That boy never appreciated what was given to him. Probably because just about anything and everything was given to him if he indicated that he wanted it by people who either pitied him for being left alone in the world, or sought a small amount of the power he would hold in the future. When something wasn't handed to him when he wanted it, Sasuke became upset, and exceedingly jealous of anyone who had what he wanted. This character flaw hadn't entirely been because of the massacre though, as Sasuke had been the beloved younger son of the head of the Uchiha clan, and as a result had been spoiled practically from infancy by his clan, especially his older brother. Despite his misgivings, he himself had given Sasuke something most precious, and he was almost certain he would regret it in the future since he already was starting to, because the boy hadn't appreciated it or the other training he had given him.

Part of the responsibilities of being a teacher is passing things down to the next generation. He wanted to pass everything he knew down to Naruto, but there was one thing he knew that he unfortunately could not pass down to his sensei's son. In fact, Sasuke was the only member of the next generation that it could be passed down to considering the requirements. There was a good chance that Sasuke would not be his student or his concern for much longer, considering some of the better offers he had gotten for the boy from Jounin who were looking for an apprentice but, as Sasuke's teacher - for however long that he would be - there was one thing he could teach the boy, and that was the Chidori, which he had..

He'd had reservations about teaching the boy the technique, considering the anger problem the child had, and his tendency for overkill, but the technique was too valuable to die with him the way the Hiraishin had died with Minato-sensei. Had there been more Uchiha however, he would have held out until he had found one who was worthy of learning his signature technique, one who had been more like Obito, one who would have truly appreciated what he'd been given, and the hard work and sacrifice it had represented. That couldn't be though, because all that was left of that clan was a boy who had not appreciated what had been given to him, a boy who was like he had once been in many ways, but far more arrogant than he had ever been. At the very least, he'd had respect for his sensei since day one. Sasuke lacked even that.

Hopefully, he wouldn't be seeing the Chidori during this battle since he and Sasuke had gone over several methods the boy could use to get past the Gaara boy's defenses, methods that had included a couple of lesser and less Chakra intensive Lightning Jutsu, but considering Sasuke's character, he knew that the boy would be trying it at least once, and would possibly lose the match because of the extensive amount of prep time it took.

The match started with Sasuke making a few jabs at the potential unknown that was Gaara of Suna. He had seen surveillance of Gaara in action, and knew that the sand moved on its own, crushing and tearing opponents, and forming a protective barrier around the Suna Genin. What else it could do was uncertain. Lightning however was strong against Earth type defenses, so this was a good match for Sasuke who was of that affinity as well as Fire. He felt Gai stiffen next to him when Sasuke really started to move rather than merely poking the boy's defenses to see what would happen, trying to get around the sand that surrounded his opponent with speed after a minor Lightning attack had failed. He knew exactly why. Gai had shown Lee's skills off to him at one point, hoping to impress him, and therefore had recognized Sasuke's new fighting style as a copy of what little of Lee's style he'd observed sped up to Lee's true speed rather than the weighted speed the boy had witnessed when Lee had almost handed him and later Chouji their asses.

He could tell that while Gai was impressed with Sasuke's skill, he wasn't happy. Gai had taught Lee his fighting style, because he had selected the boy as his apprentice. To see another using it so casually, especially someone who wasn't his student, someone who hadn't spent so much as an hour learning under him... The Sharingan and its copying ability had fostered resentment wherever the Uchiha and he himself went, so this was nothing new.


Elsewhere in the stands, TenTen found her fists clenching as she watched while Sasuke practically disappeared as he tried to get through the other boy's sand barrier. That little bastard had ripped off Lee's moves. Sure, there were differences here and there, but the main part of it was something Lee had worked hard for day in and day out for and invested thousands of hours into. Unlike Lee who'd repeatedly worked until he'd dropped and then worked some more to get where he was at,hat Uchiha had taken one look at Lee's fighting style, and the next thing anybody knew, he was copying Lee at top form.

There was a roar of approval from the crowd as Sasuke launched his opponent into the air, and kicked him before he landed. There was an even louder roar when Sasuke got within his opponent's sand defense and attacked with a weak Raiton: Jibashi. TenTen didn't join in. She now knew exactly why her father had called the Uchiha a thief without any sort of admiration when he did so. Stealing from the enemy was acceptable, even admirable in many cases. Stealing from your comrades the way Sasuke had stolen from Lee and Gai-sensei was not.


In the arena below, Gaara called his sand back around him. The Uchiha, had driven him back and back and back. He had known when he had run into the boy during a self guided tour of the village that he was someone who could validate his existence, and he'd been right. The Uchiha was strong, and crushing him would make this entire trip worthwhile. Mother would be tasting the boy's blood soon.

He knew that the others would be upset at him for jumping the gun slightly, but that was their problem. He had been prepping for this all day, and would be doing it anyway, so what did a few minutes here or there matter?

The Uchiha had been tricky, but as soon as he merged with Mother, the boy would be all out of tricks, and his insides would be outside for all the world to see before Mother gobbled them up, along with the rest of this village. Konoha would be Mother's playground, and its residents her sacrifices, except for the ramen stand owner Teuchi and his daughter, and maybe that blond boy Naruto.


In the Kage box, Orochimaru barely refrained from licking his lips as he watched the Uchiha boy fight. That act of "Cowardice" back in the forest had apparently been pragmatism, which was a useful trait to possess. Even without his seal giving the boy strength, he was strong. Sasuke was strong, and he was fast. He was what he wanted in a vessel, and during the confusion of the battle, Sasuke would be taken to become his. Had Sasuke not proven himself, he would have been taken to where he could be rather publicly and messily executed in order to lower morale amongst any survivors that might get ideas, as a weak Sharingan was worth less than no Sharingan and there might have been a reason Fugaku had been distant towards his younger son aside from the fact that he'd been unplanned. It wasn't like he couldn't get his hands on an unattached Sharingan and go through the Kakashi Method a few times, but he'd prefer to have one he could turn off and didn't have to cover due to vanity which was something of a failing of his that he'd yet to eliminate.

As he watched the action in the arena, he bit back a groan of annoyance when he saw that Gaara was starting to transform before the signal. The bloodthirsty brat was apparently far too eager for the battle to begin. Oh well, it wasn't as if it would ruin his plans or anything. Konoha was as good as destroyed, at the moment considering the fact that they were mostly unprepared for what was to come.

Knowing that what would be coming next would be interesting to say the least, he turned his attention back to the fight. As Gaara sat in his cocoon of sand, Sasuke made his way up the wall of the arena where he stood preparing something. This part of the fight was boring. He hated it when things weren't moving. As he was about to give the signal, if only to end the monotony since Gaara's transformation would take a while, he heard a familiar chirping noise.

Little Kakashi had taught him that jutsu? Well, it looked like things were going to get interesting. He would sit back and watch this.

As the sound of birds rose to a crescendo, the Uchiha boy raced down the wall towards the sand ball that contained the Ichibi's Jinchuriki, leaving a line of destruction behind him. Seeing as the Chidori could cut through steel, concrete and earth were nothing to it, and didn't slow it down one iota. Practically the instant the boy started down the wall, his arm was through Gaara's sphere of protection, and based on the sounds coming from inside, he had gotten something, but had failed to kill Gaara who tried to hold his arm in, possibly in order to rip it off. Sasuke managed to free his arm, and a monstrous spiked thing that could be a paw or a tail shot out of the hole that Sasuke had made in Gaara's protective sphere, and attacked the boy. Seeing the appendage, he waited for the rest of the transformation, but it didn't happen. The ball of sand disintegrated instead. It seemed that Sasuke had managed to tire Gaara out and get him to use the Chakra necessary for the transformation.

Oh well. He'd deal with Gaara later. Now, he'd be giving the signal.

Without warning, he raced to the railing and launched the smoke canister that would cover his kidnapping of his former sensei, as well as signal the start of the invasion. Everything was now in motion. That was good.

He hated it when things were still...


"...unexpected cloud of smoke in the Kage box...and...and...feathers?...Zzzzzzzz...Wake up stupid! Owww...Huh? What? There seems to be some sort of barrier on the roof above the Kage box, and the Hokage and the Kazekage are in the middle of it. Hokage-sama appears to be the Kazekage's captive. One of the ANBU has moved to assist and is now rolling down the roof in flames..."

Mizuko groaned and slammed his head into the bar. Why? Why? Why had the Kazekage decided to start a war now of all times? Thanks to his untimely assassination attempt, he was now out a hundred thousand Ryo, as the Third phase had apparently been stopped before the tournament could be completed, and Uzumaki Naruto had only won one match instead of all of them. Of all the times this could have happened...

"Bad luck man." One of the bar patrons said, a bar patron who was out some money as well, since the phase had "Ended in an invasion prior to the completion of the finals" which was a legitimate bet that someone who had bet that every Chunin Exam had finally made a killing off of.

Bad luck? Bad luck? That had been all his available money until his leg healed and he was able to take missions again in six weeks. Thanks to that stupid Kazekage, he was going to be forced to survive on field rations. Bad luck indeed.


"...has apparently gone after the Suna Genin who have taken the opportunity to make their escape...a small group of the other competitors, have gone out a hole in the wall created by Maito Gai, presumably to assist in dealing with the invasion we are now receiving reports of from the Eastern Wall..."

As he listened to the surprisingly calm report given by the radio announcer who had remained at his post chronicling events as they took place, Haku found himself biting his nails, which was a nervous habit he rarely indulged in. He was several days travel away from his friend's village, and there was nothing he could do to aid Naruto who had been responsible for his and Zabuza's new lease on life. Had Naruto not gotten the citizens of Wave, and later the Hokage himself to spare them, they would have been long dead before Mei-sama had become Mizukage. He had little doubt that Naruto was amongst the small group of Konoha shinobi who had gone out to help save their village, as he wasn't the sort of coward who would hang back when others were in danger, and he hoped that he would make it out of this battle alive.

"The Jinchuriki brat'll be fine." Zabuza-sama said, accurately guessing his fears as always, and trying to allay them even though he seemed slightly uncertain himself.

He smiled. He would trust in Zabuza-sama, and he would trust in Naruto. Naruto would make it through this, and knowing him, he would probably save the day while doing so.


"...apparently isn't the Kazekage, but rather the missing Nin Orochimaru, who is one of the legendary Sannin who had been the Hokage's students. Hokage-sama has engaged him in battle, starting off with a Tile Shuriken Jutsu..."

The cheering of the Suna and the Iwa nin who had stayed to listen to Sasuke's match had been silenced by a few well placed kunai moments earlier, much to the surprise of one Hoshigaki Kisame who had never seen Itachi kill anyone he didn't feel he had to. He had told Kisame that it had been because they had been giving him a headache, but he suspected that Kisame knew otherwise. Despite his exile, he was still loyal to Konoha, and his little brother. Both were in danger now, and there was nothing he could do about it but sit and listen as the battle which was a day's journey from here unfolded. He would be praying that both Sasuke and his village survived. If one or the other fell in this battle, there would be hell to pay.

He was usually a pacifist, but he had killed before, and would kill again if anything happened to Sasuke. If Sasuke died, the rivers would run red with the blood of every last ninja from Suna and the new village Oto, and Orochimaru would be staked out for the carrion crows to feast upon.

Edited 4/22/13.