-August 1st, 347 NE-
-Hokage's Office-
-9:00 PM-
Shikaku watched as Naruto sat down in a chair across from the Hokage. As the three of them waited for the ANBU to leave the room so they could activate the privacy seals and begin their discussion, he tried to find some sign he might have missed that would have tipped him off as to Naruto's true identity, some mannerism that wasn't quite human. He couldn't find one; all he saw was Naruto, the boy who could hold his own against his son in shogi, the boy Inoichi was so proud of, the boy who was known as Konoha's "little hero"... the boy who apparently never existed at all.
"This must be rather important if you are willing to break Chuunin Exam protocol just to meet with me," Naruto said.
The Hokage leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk and clasping his hands together in front of his mouth. Shikaku was sitting off to the side of the desk in another chair; he was currently leaning back lazily, but his gaze was sharp.
"I thought we all might benefit if we arranged a trial mission of sorts," Sarutobi said. "Something to get us used to the idea of working together with one another. Something to build trust, if you like."
Shikaku noted the change in the Hokage's tone. He had seen the two of them interact before they realized what Naruto really was, and this was markedly different. The Hokage's tone was colder, more guarded, and his posture was calculating.
"Given the timing, I assume this has something to do with tomorrow's battle?" Naruto asked drily.
"In a way. You were the one who informed us that Gaara was being targeted for assassination during the Chuunin Exams, but you may not be aware that we have uncovered several other plots all taking place within the same time frame."
Naruto raised one eyebrow, but didn't reply.
"One of those was a kidnapping plot, with yourself as the target."
Naruto chuckled lowly. "That would be... amusing."
Interesting. That response was far more dismissive than he would have expected of Naruto. It seemed the Bijuu was letting his true personality slip through a little bit more, or perhaps he didn't feel the need to maintain his act as thoroughly.
"I imagine from your perspective it would be," the Hokage admitted. "We received this information shortly after I uncovered your true identity. At the time we assigned a full ANBU squad to guard you for the duration of the exams as a precaution and to maintain your cover. However, we now have a pressing need for that squad elsewhere, and... well, I don't think you really need the protection, do you?"
Naruto grinned – a vicious, eager grin that seemed disturbingly suited to his face. It emphasized the marks on his cheeks and made his eyes seem even more animalistic. Shikaku had seen that expression on occasion, but it took on an entirely different connotation in this situation.
The grin faded as quickly as it came, leaving a bored expression in its wake. "If that was all, you wouldn't need to inform me personally – or at all, for that matter. So, what is this mission you have in mind?"
Shikaku decided to jump in at this point; he had a theory that he wanted to test and this was the perfect time.
"You were not the only target," he said lazily. "The plots seem to be focused on bloodlines, and we have several specific names...," he added. He studied Naruto's face intensely as he listed off the known targets.
"Sasuke Uchiha. Katsune Uchiha. Satomi Uchiha."
A hint of amusement.
"Hinata Hyuuga. Hanabi Hyuuga."
A tinge of annoyance.
"Ino Yamanaka."
Naruto's nostrils flared and his pupils dilated. His entire body stiffened subtly and his hands clenched slightly. The reaction was controlled swiftly as Naruto's entire body relaxed slightly before resuming its previous position a moment later – if he hadn't been watching for it he might have missed it entirely.
Well, there was some support for his theory, though it was hardly proof and raised more questions than it answered.
Shikaku noticed the Hokage's eyes darting towards his own, an obvious question in them. Shikaku shook his head slightly, telling the Hokage not to comment on the extra name in the list.
"With yourself included, they seem to be targeting every active genin with a bloodline that does not require an extensive support network to function properly. The Aburame, for instance, would be virtually impossible to recreate elsewhere. Other clans, such as the Kurama, are lower profile but are still considered at risk even though we don't have information suggesting they are being targeted specifically," Shikaku continued smoothly.
"And, with so many potential targets," the Hokage said, taking control of the explanation once more, "Konoha's available forces have been spread thin. You, on the other hand, have the power and skill to not only protect yourself but your teammates as well.
"Should the attempts actually happen, your mission is to escort your teammates, along with anyone else you come across that is at risk, to emergency shelter twelve located near the Shinobi District. Once you have done that, you are to patrol the surrounding area and dispatch any hostile elements you encounter. This mission will preempt any orders you may receive in the field unless they come from either myself or Shikaku."
Naruto cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. "This is not a mission you would normally assign to a genin, or even a chuunin," he said after a moment.
"It is not," the Hokage agreed, "but you are far from a normal genin."
"Very true," Naruto said, that vicious smile on his face again, "but that was not my point. You are asking far more of me than usual; why should I accept this mission?"
"Do you not wish to protect your... investment?" Shikaku asked idly, carefully observing Naruto's expression. "You have spent a great deal of time bringing them closer to your own level of skill and power, after all. I'm sure you wouldn't want all that time and effort to go to waste."
There was no overt reaction this time.
"And you would let them be carted off to some other village should I not take this mission?" Naruto asked, his voice mocking. "I think not. This isn't about their protection, but guarding other people or locations in the village. As primary targets, they will be secured regardless."
"What did you have in mind in the way of compensation, then?" the Hokage asked mildly.
"The answer to my question," Naruto said.
The Hokage frowned. "Which question was that?"
"How were the Summons able to tell you what they did?"
Interesting... very interesting. The Hokage had mentioned that the Bijuu had seemed rather curious about that point before, but to bring it up now, and as the price for his cooperation? There must be something important they were overlooking in that matter.
The Hokage leaned back in his chair, looking pensive. Shikaku himself didn't have a summoning contract, but he knew that the Hokage and Jiraiya-sama greatly valued their own relationships with the Summons; this couldn't be an easy decision for him to make.
"Only if you also reveal the information you have about this Akatsuki group that you claim first sealed your brethren," the Hokage countered after a minute of silent contemplation. "If they are once again active as you say, their goals would likely disrupt the balance in the Elemental Nations considerably."
"Very well," Naruto answered after a moment.
The Hokage sighed, rubbing his hand across his face. "The Toads informed Jiraiya of the existence of other realms when they made their offer to him to become a full member of the Toad tribe."
Naruto's brow furrowed. "A full... then that would mean...," he trailed off, then his face went completely blank. Shikaku startled slightly, recognizing an old mannerism of Naruto's that they had attributed to his imitation of ANBU ninja; it had gradually stopped happening after he was adopted into the Yamanaka household, something they had taken as a sign of progress. Seeing it now made him realize that the actual cause was entirely different than what they had thought.
His expression came back suddenly, morphing into a sadistic leer. Some small, irrational part of Shikaku had held out hope, if only for the sake of Inoichi and his family, that this entire situation was just a terrible misunderstanding, but seeing the malevolent contempt in the Bijuu's face shattered that hope to pieces – there was nothing left of Naruto in that expression.
"Oh, those clever little insects," the Bijuu said. "It seems we didn't give them enough credit," he chuckled darkly, but said nothing further.
Shikaku couldn't help but feel that the Hokage may have just made a mistake in revealing that information; that he had no idea what Kuushou had just figured out and the implications it may have worried him even further. The Hokage shared his misgivings, judging by the pained expression on his face. On the other hand, it was inevitable that Jiraiya-sama's situation would become known among the shinobi forces at some point and there was no way they could stop the Bijuu from learning of it then. The details of the situation would have come out regardless, so perhaps it was for the best that they got something useful out of Kuushou prior to that happened.
"And your information?"
"Akatsuki crafted the initial seals which held myself and my brethren, and began their attacks by targeting what they believed to be the weakest of us, the One Tail. They are either the source or perpetuated the idea that the Bijuu are ranked in power according to the number of tails, it seems. Their goal appears to have been to harness our power for themselves in an attempt to conquer the Elemental Nations.
"Their initial attempt sealed the One Tail into a ceremonial urn, apparently merely to get him out of the way while the dealt with the other Bijuu. The other Bijuu were sealed into people, first adults and later children. Judging by the information I have seen, they were refining their methods and experimenting with different approaches with each sealing.
"I am still unclear as to how Akatsuki did it, but they are also the source of the All Consuming Seal of the God of Death. Their former leader apparently went to great lengths in order to acquire that seal, but the details as to how are missing. Regardless, the information I have is incomplete and ends entirely a few days before they had planned to attack me. I think you know the rest of the story from there."
The Hokage nodded, his expression thoughtful. "Do you have information as to their current members or how they can be identified?"
"As for current members... no, but they do have a uniform of sorts: black cloaks with red clouds."
-August 2nd, 347 NE-
-Konoha Stadium-
-10:00 AM-
Orochimaru watched through Jirobo's eyes as the Konoha team prepared to fight the Suna team. Suna's jinchuuriki was facing off against the surprisingly powerful Yamanaka boy in the open field while the puppeteer faced the Hyuuga in the forest and the fan-user faced the Yamanaka girl in the open pit. The crowd, primed by yesterday's impressive match between the Konoha teams, were cheering more loudly than ever as the proctor announced the start of the match.
Orochimaru signaled to his subordinates and began slowly making his way out of the stadium. He noted that the team assigned to watch their movements was unusually attentive and began following their progress immediately, suspicious looks painted on their faces.
He also caught the second, much more skilled, team following at a more discreet distance. It seemed Konoha wasn't entirely complacent about the potential risk his team posed.
The Konoha ninja followed them all the way back to their assigned hotel, a mistake which sealed their fate. If they had confronted them near the stadium, perhaps his plan might have been delayed or inconvenienced, but the moment he entered his hotel room there was no chance of anyone stopping him.
The door closed behind them and the privacy seals flared to life. His subordinates pulled out three small metal rods from various packs; each rod was inscribed with an intricate series of designs and covered with several tags.
Orochimaru stepped into the middle of the room, pausing as he began seeking out the chakra battery teams scattered outside of Konoha. There were three total, one for each of the ninja he would be summoning. It took him nearly two minutes to locate them all and weave the chakra threads they were producing together with the thread already in place. Once he had though, he could feel the massive amounts of chakra pouring into Jirobo's body. The combined chakra of nearly a dozen ninja with solid A-rank reserves further boosted by chakra pills would normally be enough to last any ninja weeks with careful use – he expected to completely drain them within the hour.
He could have potentially brought more, but he didn't want to commit too many resources to the attack. Damaging Konoha, while tangentially beneficial to his goals, was not his true purpose. He needed to provide a distraction to allow his subordinates and the mercenaries the Eastern Dragon's had hired time to work, nothing more. He evaluated Kidomaru, Sakon, and Ukon's skill levels high enough that they should be able to accomplish their assigned tasks and leave Konoha in that time frame. The chakra teams should be at minimal risk, but even if they were lost it would not hinder him in any way; other than their reserves, they possessed no particular skills or knowledge worth keeping.
And, of course, there was absolutely no risk to himself at all.
Finally prepared, his hands blurred through a short string of handsigns and he intoned, "Summoning: Impure World Resurrection."
The bodies themselves had been prepared many weeks ago, and he had practiced controlling them numerous times in preparation for this day. Nonetheless, he had to perform the technique again each time he wanted to actually bring the bodies forth, and they constantly drained chakra until the technique was deactivated and the resurrected ninja dismissed. Maintaining Jirobo for so long had strained him, and that was without using any techniques at all. He had learned a great deal from the experience, however, and once he had time to review what he had learned he would likely be able to increase his efficiency with the Impure World Resurrection technique even further.
The tags began to lift off the ground as ashes formed out of thin air around them. The ash began to morph into bones, and then organs formed, followed by skin and then clothing. After a few seconds three more men stood in the room.
The first looked young, with long black hair hanging straight down his back and wearing red armor over black garb. The second wore blue armor in the same style as the first, with the addition of a fur collar and a face guard. His gray hair lent him an older appearance, though his face was every bit as young as that of the first man. The third man had spiky blond hair and wore a white cloak with stylized red flames along the bottom edge over a traditional Konoha jounin uniform.
"So that's him, huh," Kidomaru said, poking the blond man in the face. "He doesn't look like much, really."
The blond turned to face him. "Ah, to be so young and foolish," he said. "Enough talk. You know your jobs, get ready to do them."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
The blond turned suddenly, swinging his fist at the red-clad man. The blue-clad one intercepted his fist while the red-clad one attacked. The three men blurred into a quick exchange of blows, each seemingly attacking one of the others at random. After a few seconds each stopped and turned to face the outer wall of the hotel room.
"No problems," Jirobo said, still standing in the middle of the room. "And with that, we can begin."
The red-clad man raised his hands and flashed through a short string of handseals.
"Wood Release: Wild Growth!" he called out.
The wood that formed the walls began to twist and warp, rapidly expanding upwards and outwards. The surrounding walls shuddered and broke under the sudden strain, before they too began to grow. Under the cover of the sudden destruction, Kidomaru and Sakon slipped out to begin their own missions.
Jirobo dropped through the bottom of the floor, slipping underground without leaving a single sign of his passage. His body served as the anchor for the three resurrected men, and he would not be fighting directly for as long as Orochimaru could manage.
The blond man also disappeared, racing towards a certain neglected compound in the Shinobi Residential District. Unlike the other two, his most powerful technique required tools to work properly, tools which were not recreated along with his body. Orochimaru had also been unable to acquire working copies of his specially crafted kunai outside of Konoha, much to his dismay. He knew of several potential sources within Konoha however, and was prepared to check each and every one, starting with the man's former home.
The limits of the Impure World Resurrection technique also meant that he could not learn the secrets of the technique from the Fourth Hokage directly; the resurrected were pale shadows of themselves, more a collection of instincts and reflexes than actual copies of the deceased. They did not speak unless the summoner did so through them, nor could they communicate in any other fashion. Even ordering the Hokage to "prepare a Hiraishin kunai" produced nothing useful; the resurrected were meant for battle, nothing more.
Orochimaru knew that his plan was already guaranteed to damage Konoha greatly, but if he could reunite the Fourth Hokage with a working Hiraishin kunai...
-Konoha Stadium-
-10:15 AM-
The moment the Hokage felt the massive flare of chakra in the middle of Konoha, he signaled his ANBU and set his own response into motion. ANBU teams began escorting the Fire and Wind Lords to their assigned emergency shelters, while other ninja began securing the lesser nobles and wealthy patrons, leading them to other shelters.
The ninja scattered among the crowd moved rapidly to their assigned positions around the entrances and perimeter of the stadium, securing all the access points and making sure that no enemy ninja slipped into the stadium to attack the densely-packed civilians.
Other ninja moved to secure the potential targets of this attack. The Hokage and his advisers had decided early on that the targets would be kept together as much as possible. Hiashi Hyuuga had volunteered to be in charge of that group, as both of his daughters were among those at risk. Hanabi was already placed in emergency shelter twelve, accompanied by her mother and several Branch House ninja. Hiashi would be sweeping the stadium and village for any other potential targets and escorting them to emergency shelter twelve. The presence of the byakugan also meant that those within the shelter would have ample warning should enemy forces manage to locate them, which was why at least one Hyuuga was assigned to every emergency shelter in use.
Once all the high priority targets – other than those involved in the last round of the Chuunin Exams – were well on their way to their assigned shelters, Hayate appeared in the middle of the arena once again. The moment he did so, the screens flickered for a moment before displaying an odd array of mixed images and swirling colors. At the base of each screen stood a Kurama ninja, their brows laced in concentration as they focused on their assigned task.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he called out calmly, "please follow the Konoha ninja in your section calmly and quietly. They will escort you to where you need to go. Please follow their instructions as quickly and efficiently as possible. You will be safe with them. Please follow the Konoha ninja in your section calmly and quietly. They will..."
The crowd, easily snared by the genjutsu suggestions being fed into their minds, turned to the ninja closest to them, awaiting instructions. They would be escorted, one group at a time, out of the stadium and to their assigned shelters. The ninja escorting each group would make the call to determine whether the most direct route was safe enough to employ.
Most of Konoha had gathered to watch the final match of the Chuunin Exams, which meant that if the ninja successfully repelled any potential attacks on the stadium that most of Konoha would be protected. The stadium was a horrible defensive position, however, only made tenable by the sheer number of ninja protecting it; the likelihood of preventing all possible attacks was very low. The more of the crowd they could move to the shelters – which a handful of prepared ninja could hold for days if need be – the better off everyone would be. Every group that reached their assigned shelter also meant another group of ninja that could deal with the actual threat rather than protecting non-combatants.
"Most impressive, Hokage-dono," the Kazekage said as he watched the meticulously coordinated efforts of the Konoha forces. "It seems that you have everything well in hand. I will attend to the Wind Lord and leave you to deal with these upstarts."
"Of course, Kazekage-dono," the Hokage replied, watching his counterpart carefully. He only relaxed once the man had left the room and was well on his way to the proper shelter. He had almost expected to be attacked at any moment, but it seemed the Kazekage was playing a subtler game. Regardless, now that the Kazekage had removed himself from the field, he could focus his attention on other matters.
He moved quickly to the top of the stadium, staring out over Konoha as he tried to identify the source of the attack. It didn't take him long at all, as a massive forest had sprung up in the middle of the commercial district. He only knew of two men who could possibly do that, and one of them was currently standing on top of the stadium nearby.
The other was dead.
"That's impossible...," he muttered to himself. Then his face darkened as he recalled a forbidden jutsu that made such a thing not only possible, but likely. If that were the case, however, this situation could be far worse than they had anticipated.
"Dragon!" the Hokage snapped, turning to the ANBU Commander who stood nearby. "Alert all of our forces that the enemy is using the Impure World Resurrection technique. They have summoned a crude imitation of the Shodaime, and will be able to use any techniques he used in life.
"There are two ways to counter the technique. The first – and likely easier given who was summoned – is to kill the summoner. The summoner should be within a few hundred feet of the Shodaime's imitation, so have all available Hyuuga scan for him carefully.
"The other option is to disable the imitation directly. Somewhere within his body will be an anchoring tag; if the tag is destroyed the jutsu will end. Have the Akimichi and Inuzuka focus on engaging the Shodaime directly if possible; their techniques should damage the body enough to expose or even break the tag.
"Also, have any available Aburame saturate the area with their kikaichuu. The imitation has to be supplied with chakra from an external source, so they may be able to locate the summoner that way."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Dragon said quickly.
"Have all forces coordinate with Shikaku from this point on – he will be located near the Hokage Tower."
"Yes, Hokage-sama... if I may ask, where will you be?"
"Who better to counter a Hokage than another Hokage?"
-Outside the Stadium-
-10:20 AM-
It was rather fortunate that the method he was using to enter Konoha undetected suppressed all chakra in his body or he may have gotten caught in the genjutsu used to keep the crowd under control, Itachi mused. He patiently followed along with the crowd being escorted by Konoha ninja, waiting for an opportunity to slip away unnoticed. He found it a minute later as the crowd passed by a dark alley. The ninja escorting them were more concerned with external threats than making sure that the enthralled civilians didn't separate from the group so it was a very simple task.
Now that he was able to move about the village, he carefully avoided both the ever-expanding battle in the center of the village and the ninja leaping overhead. A few minutes later he reached his destination: the Konoha Records Department. A quick glance inside confirmed his suspicions, as he noted the shattered, blood-covered walls and the bodies of the ninja assigned to guard the Records Department.
He had suspected from the moment he heard of the impending attack that someone would go after Konoha's most sensitive documents; the knowledge contained within, in terms of both ninja techniques and more mundane information, was bound to interest a great many people. Once again, his instincts had not failed him.
Whoever had planned this assault had predicted Konoha's reaction well; the Hokage had left everything but the outer walls and the stadium manned by a skeleton crew. With so many potential targets, especially in terms of foreign dignitaries and nobles, Konoha simply did not have enough ninja on hand to cover everything. The Hokage had prioritized what they felt were the most likely or risky targets and trusted to their static defenses to stop or at least delay other avenues of attack; fortunately for Itachi, the static defenses were not sufficient in this case.
He settled into a convenient shadow, expertly concealing his presence, and slipped the bracelet off of his wrist. He may have declined the job to assassinate Gaara, but that didn't mean he was going to let this opportunity go to waste.
A few minutes later his patience was rewarded as two ninja – one wearing a Konoha headband and the other wearing an Oto headband – quickly exited the building and began moving rapidly towards Konoha's walls. He recognized the black-haired Oto-nin as the one who had battled Temari in the first bout yesterday - Kidomaru, he believed his name was. The Konoha-nin had gray hair yet looked to be in his mid-twenties, Itachi couldn't recall ever encountering the ninja before, and he did not have any distinctive markings or physical traits that would identify as belonging to one of Konoha's clans.
Itachi followed behind the fleeing ninja, biding his time until they were outside the walls of Konoha and his chakra had recovered sufficiently to engage in a battle against the two of them.
-Arena-
-10:20 AM-
"And that would be our signal," Kuushou said.
Gaara lowered his hands, allowing his clones to collapse. "Very well."
The barriers dividing the arena a moment later lowered, and their teammates entered the open field a moment later.
"This entire exam has been annoying," Kankuro said. "First the Oto team doesn't take it seriously, then we have to fake the fight for this round. Can't believe I had to wait three years for this."
"Complain later," Temari growled. "We've got bigger things to worry about."
Kuushou nodded. "We are supposed to head towards emergency shelter twelve, so let's get moving," he said, sounding impatient.
The others nodded silently, and followed him as he navigated through the bowels of the arena towards one of the exits. This specific exit was guarded by an ANBU who knew of the Hokage's assignment, and so merely confirmed that no hostile forces were present and waved them through quickly.
Emergency shelter twelve was located near the Shinobi District and was thus nearly a mile away from their current location. Their path did not come close to the heart of the battle, however. The two teams made their way quickly and silently across the village, noting the deserted streets and sounds of distant battle.
The sheer amount of chakra they could sense being thrown about was astonishing, as it was far more than most of them had ever felt before. The glimpses they could detect of the giant forest that had apparently sprung up in the middle of Konoha also served to confuse and astound them.
Kuushou felt a chakra signature moving closer, but paid it little mind at first. It wasn't until it stopped on a nearby rooftop and began gathering chakra for a technique that he actively paid attention to it.
His head turned to note the disguised figure currently flashing through handseals. The figure was garbed entirely in black, every inch of the ninja's body covered except for the eyes. The figure appeared male, although it was difficult to say for sure.
"Lightning Release: Lance of Heaven!" the figure declared in a muffled voice a moment later, thrusting their hands forward.
Kuushou could feel the chakra gathering at a rapid pace, all of it aimed at himself and his teammates, and reacted swiftly. A strong Wind Style: Burst threw his teammates and the Suna team away from the center of the blast while simultaneously dampening the effect of the lightning jutsu.
Then the world turned white.
That was far and away the most damage his body had ever taken, he noted idly. His eyes were blinded and the skin over half of his body was charred and blackened. He also couldn't hear anything at all through the body, as his eardrums had burst. The worst damage was internal, however, as the nerves throughout most of his body were completely fried.
His own senses still worked fine, however, and he could feel the other genin reacting swiftly to the attack as they covered each other while not allowing the attacker time to get off another jutsu of that caliber.
He focused on healing his sight and hearing first, as well as mending the damage to the nerves. Soon he could make out Ino's furious shouting as she threatened all manner of bodily harm to their assailant. She paused in her verbal assault, however, as the assailant spoke.
"I only want the red-head," the muffled voice said, "so unless you want to end up like that blonde over there, I'd suggest you leave now." There was a bit of tension in the voice, however, and Kuushou could feel Temari's chakra in particular flaring wildly as she hurled a series of strong wind jutsu at their attacker.
It would appear that the would-be assassin had expected to do a lot more damage with that initial attack and wasn't quite prepared to deal with so many enemies at once. Gaara's sand was also moving quickly, constantly threatening the disguised ninja and forcing them to dodge repeatedly.
Judging by their words, the attacker had dismissed him as a threat. Grinning to himself, he made a bunshin in his place, making sure it reflected the level of damage he had initially taken, and slipped underground. He continued to heal the damage he had taken while he observed the battle taking place overhead, maneuvering into position. He had to let the bunshin dissolve as he moved too far away to maintain it, but by that point he was well-hidden.
A series of sand spikes from Gaara had the attacker leaping into the air, at which point Temari's Wind Blades slammed into him. The attacker appeared to have some sort of defensive technique as the jutsu did not slice him apart, but he was still hurled backwards to slam into a nearby building. Kankuro's puppet was the hardest to track for Kuushou as there was very little chakra in it, but judging by the way the enemy rapidly rolled away he had likely launched some sort of attack of his own.
Ino, meanwhile, was putting her training with Kakashi to good use, swiftly countering any of the quick but weak techniques the enemy managed to get off. Small lances of lightning-natured chakra – far slower and weaker than actual lightning – were diverted by grounded arcs of electricity, and waves of sparking motes of light were pulled together and extinguished by charged kunai. Hinata, who didn't dare close to melee range with all the jutsu flying about and didn't have any water at hand to use her own jutsu, was standing back from the battle and presumably watching for any other attackers.
Then the assailant dodged close enough to his current position and Kuushou was in motion.
He popped out of the ground a short distance behind the disguised ninja, blended chakra already forming a swirling sphere in his hand. The ninja reacted swiftly and well, diving to the side rather than turning to face his attacker, but not swiftly enough. The rasengan slammed into the side of the ninja's chest and shredded through flesh and bone with ease.
Arcs of blood through the air as the ninja let out a choked scream before landing on the ground a short distance away. Blood continued to pour out of the ninja, but Kuushou could tell that they had already died – their body just didn't know it yet.
"Holy shit," Temari breathed. "What the hell was that?"
Kuushou grinned, turning to face the genin and ignoring the copious amounts of blood splattered on his form.
"That," he said, "is how you make sure an enemy stays down for good."
A/N:
I actually had some more ideas for how they could change around the arena for the second day, and also change the selection rules to screw with the teams, but then I realized that the battle itself was completely irrelevant to the plot... alas.
I shall include them here for posterity. The open field would be filled with various debilitating traps, the forest filled with animals from the Forest of Death, and the pit... would be filled with water. The selection criteria would also be changed, such that when the teams pick where to fight and who to fight... they get placed in another section or against a different opponent.
After the first two rounds where the selection process was real and straightforward, the teams wouldn't see it coming. Sadly, all of that doesn't have a place in this story.
There's a lot going on after Orochimaru begins his attack, all of it squeezed together in the space of an hour. I'm still trying to decide the best way to present what happens. Right now, as I did above, I'll shift viewpoints in a roughly (very roughly) chronological fashion and use what one group sees to establish what other groups are doing. For instance, I only show what Mizuki and Kidomaru are up to via Itachi, and leave exactly what they did inside the Records Department and how up to implication.
If that doesn't work, let me know now. I don't intend to present the whole thing like that, but the less pivotal aspects (Anko and her team dealing with Eastern Dragons mercs, for example) won't be getting much direct screen time as it stands.
Revised: 01/22/2012 - added a bit more detail to the Itachi scene