Disclaimer
I, Syraxes, do not own the Naruto manga, Naruto anime, Naruto Shippuden anime, the Boruto manga or anime, video games or Naruto novels. They are property of Masashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot. I am a fan making this for the enjoyment of other fans. Please support the official release
Temari stood behind Yuri's chair, watching as the match ended. Gaara was the top Genin in the Sunagakure no Sato, there was no contesting that. The control he had over the Shukaku made him singularly deadly; the Genin here should be thankful he wasn't in a desert. His teammates were nothing to sneeze at either, both of them gifted geniuses in their respective fields. Shira was the only one that old hag would teach and Sumaru inherited his parents talents. If she remembered right, Sumaru's oldest sister might be recruited into Fuu's unit. Temari wondered if the girl would fit in; when Temari had joined, getting in was only the first step.
Her brother's team was probably the most talented team to come out of Suna since her father's team. Temari thought back to her own Genin team- her, Daimaru and Kankuro. They hadn't been anywhere near Gaara's team as it was now.
Temari's eyes flashed over to Natsuhi. Being here, this close to shinobi from the other villages really was bothering her. Not that Temari could judge; Natsuhi had fought in the last two wars, against each of the villages. She had lost comrades and friends to them.
"Oh?" Yuri leaned forwards in his seat. Temari returned her attention to the field; the next match was going to begin soon and the teams were taking their places. "That is Uchiha Sasuke, isn't it?"
While Yuri looked to the Hokage, Temari stared at the boy. She had heard the last of the Uchiha was going to be taking part in this exam. This was the match the crowd was waiting for, excited to see the Uchiha fight.
Temari knew Sasuke was one of the shinobi her brother was most interested in. Gaara wanted to test his metal against this boy. Temari knew the Uchiha had no chance against Gaara.
Temari took note of Yuri leaning back in his chair. If she wasn't a professional, if Fuu's name wasn't linked to her, Temari would have shot him an ugly look. Yuri was the youngest member on the Kazekage's inner council. He was a very effective shinobi and very skilled, she couldn't deny that. But he had led the campaign against Fuu and her brother, trying to get the Kazekage to restrict them. He had not only caused a scandal, making life harder for her youngest brother and her commander, both people Temari would give her life for, but he was also a prominent member of a group of old war hawks. Sunagakure would be better off without them. Additionally, having to protect and take orders from Yuri made her skin crawl.
The proctor called the match in order and her attention was drawn to the arena. Only for a moment though. The doors to the booth were thrown open with a thud, Temari's body tensed and a second later, she was in front of Yuri, her fan drawn. The killing intent was leaking out from the group. Another part of her, that most shinobi part, took notice that each of the guards were protecting their charges.
Konoha's Anbu melted out of the shadows and soon covered the room.
Temari looked past the Anbu, towards the door; five people were standing in the arch way. Four of them were the masks of Kiri's hunter nin. The figure in the middle was Kaguya Kimimaro.
Temari was almost caught off guard when Jiraiya the Toad Sage himself appeared, in the middle of Konoha's Anbu. "What's your business here?" Jiraiya's voice was hard. There was an edge to it.
Kimimaro stepped forward to meet him. Temari didn't take her eyes off him. "I've received word from Kirigakure no Sato. A message had come in from the Mizukage's office. Representative Keino Meigumei and her two guards' remains were found at the village port. Their bodies were hidden in a store house, their faces gone. According to the information, they've been dead since before the exam started."
Missing faces? Who would steal the faces of the dead? The Transformation Jutsu should have been enough to take anyone's place.
Anyone's place. It dawned on Temari then.
The Kiri representative, or the person who impersonated her, sighed. "Oh the webs we weave," she said. Temari caught sight of a smile, just before the room exploded.
Before Hiruzen could act, an explosion rocketed the room. It wasn't a normal explosion carried out by a bomb; Hiruzen could feel chakra expanding through the room. His Anbu, his two guards, Jiraiya, the other representatives were all thrown out of their positions, and out of the room.
Jiraiya was the quickest to recover and he was by Hiruzen's side in a second. Only a moment later, his beloved wife found her way to his side. A dark blue smoke filled the room, obscuring his view, but he could feel the chakra of others; only six people were now in this room. And to his surprise, shock and utter disbelief, he recognized all three of the other chakra signatures. Two of which he hadn't felt in twelve years. The last one belonged to his wayward student.
"Orochimaru, what have you done?"
Sasuke broke off from his attack, turning towards the sound of the explosion. Something was off and for a moment, Sasuke couldn't say what. Then it dawned on him- the crowd that had been cheering so loudly before was silent. No screams of terror at an attack that happened to be close to them. No mass panic. Just an eerie silence around the arena.
Then the sound of fighting broke out from the arenas; the scraping sound of metal against metal, jutsu being fired. It seemed a battle was happening in the arena.
A pillar of purple light shoot up from the area of the explosion. What is-
"Hey!" A voice shouted. Sasuke turned to look at the proctor. "Something has happened. If I had to guess, I'd say someone is making a play against the exams. You six and the rest of the Genin should get out of here. I'll escort you-"
The proctor froze; another shinobi had entered the arena. Sasuke examined his features; the whites of his eyes weren't visible, his body full of cracks. He wore a Konoha flak jacket and hitai-ate. He looked just like that Kiri girl from the outpost.
"Dad-?" The shinobi kicked the proctor and sent him flying. The shinobi gave them a once over, before sprinting off after his target.
"Sasuke!" Naruto and Sakura joined him at the top of the crystal. He looked at Sakura, studying her face. She seemed calm, despite the situation. Which was good, because Sasuke couldn't say he was. He knew what shinobi who looked like that man could do; they could keep attacking and attacking, taking any amount of damage and bouncing back. His nerves were shot. Sasuke felt like he was ready to attack anyone who came close who weren't his teammates.
So he turned to Naruto, his leader. Naruto wore a more calm, serene expression of leadership he developed during their time training for the exams.
"What do we do?" he asked, his focus completely on the blond.
Another voice answered before Naruto could, "Hey, Konoha."
Sasuke looked down; the Kumo team was standing in a loose semicircle. The girl he was fighting looked up at him and waved. "How about you come down here? We have a better chance of making it out of this mess if we work together, don't you think?"
Sasuke looked at Sakura, Naruto and waited. Naruto was looking down at them, his face considering. "Yeah, alright."
Sasuke followed Naruto down, landing a little ways behind him. The only boy on the team moved. "I'm Muku. This is Guren and Ryuzetsu." He offered his hand, which Naruto took.
"Naruto. My teammates, Sasuke and Sakura." Sasuke noticed Naruto released his hand quickly.
"So Naruto, I think we should stick together. While we're doing that, we should probably come up with a plan of action."
"I agree. I think we need to find a superior and see what evacuation plans we need to follow."
"I had the same thought. Our sensei said all the Jonin leading squads would be in one room, to watch the match. We could try and find them."
Naruto nodded. "If we find anyone else, we'll see about standing orders."
Naruto turned to the walls of the arena and sprinted towards them. He molded the chakra into his feet and he was soon running up the walls, his team and the Kumo team behind him. Naruto was the first one in the stadium, deflecting a kunai thrown at him. It was his bad luck to find himself surrounded by a group of shinobi, wearing the blank hitai-ate.
A wave of crystals shot up from the floor and impaled the group of shinobi to his right. Naruto quickly turned left, bringing up his kunai and slashing it through the throat of the nearest one to him. His hand was coated in warm blood. Naruto flipped up, kicking the dead man's friend when he came running at him. It was a bloodbath; Sasuke and Sakura joined him soon enough and by the time they were done, Naruto found himself splattered with blood.
"There's something strange. This is supposed to be the attack force?" It was the Kumo boy, Muku, that brought up what Naruto was thinking. These were supposed to be an attack force? He and his team made quick work of them; that wasn't to say they didn't have skills as shinobi, they did, but the people here couldn't have been more skilled than your run-of-the-mill career Chunin. There was no way this could be a successful attack force. This place was crawling with Anbu and other elite shinobi. What was sending out this fodder supposed to accomplish?
Naruto turned and looked around; the spectators were still in their seats. They appeared to be sleeping, probably falling prey to a mass Genjutsu. His immediate surroundings were littered with dead bodies and blood; Naruto couldn't say he liked the sight of blood on him anymore than he first had when he completed the final exam, but it didn't bother him as much anymore. He was used to it.
"I found more over here!" Naruto quickly turned towards the voice. More of the enemy came through the corridor.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," the crystal girl, Guren, said. Before he could move, two red orbs shot through the air, hitting the first two enemies. Naruto watched as they were turned into husks. The orbs shot out of the bodies and to the group behind them, that had begun to flee in panic.
"More Genin."
A woman was slowly walking up the steps towards them, whilst two of the same orbs floated around her. Her eyes were cold, the aura around her screamed she was dangerous and Naruto knew if she had wanted to, she could have killed them. Her hitai-ate had the symbol of Sunagakure. Coming up behind her, was a familiar face.
"Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked. He hadn't seen Mizuki since the day he graduated from the academy. Mizuki had looked so relieved at the prospect of Naruto failing to become a shinobi.
Mizuki turned and looked at him, a shocked expression flickered on his face for a moment, before a mask replaced it.
"Do you know these Genin, Mizuki-san?"
"Yes, Pakura-san. I taught one of them whilst he was at the academy," Mizuki answered politely to her.
"We should circle back and bring them to the safe room."
"What safe room?" Muku asked, his teammates flanking him.
The Suna woman, Pakura, regarded him. "We've set up a perimeter outside of the arena for you Genin. It's been decided that all the Genin will be brought to one location for your protection while the area is secured. If we see you, we're to escort you."
"Sorry, kids. It's been worked out by the Hokage and the representatives of the other villages," Mizuki explained. "If these are the caliber of our enemies, it won't take too long to clean the house. That said, Pakura, can you take them?"
Mizuki gestured to the Kumo team. Naruto didn't understand; hadn't Mizuki just explained they were to be taken to the safe area that had been set up? Pakura didn't seem to understand either.
"We're supposed to get all the Genin to the safe zone," she repeated. Mizuki gave her a smile.
"You're right. But we Konoha shinobi have special orders in concerns to Team Seven. You were briefed about the special orders, weren't you?"
Naruto had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was only one reason why special orders would apply to them and that was the Kyuubi. It always came down to the fox.
She looked toward them and then at Mizuki-sensei. "I was told there was a special order in effect concerning Team Seven, but we were attacked before I was able to hear anything beyond that."
"The group I was in wasn't. I'm to escort this team to the desired location, as soon as possible."
Pakura gave them one last look and nodded slowly. She turned to the Kumo Genin. "You three, follow me."
"Sasame!" Tayuya shouted. Her friend disengaged the enemy like lightning; Tayuya took advantage of her break, bringing her flute up to her lips and playing a note. The masked, camouflaged stopping in place. Her Genjutsu had already taken effect and trapped them.
"Tayuya. I'm glad to see you."
Tayuya lowered her flute, a grin spread over her face. "Same. Come on, I have to get you out of here."
Sasame looked at her, the relieved expression fading. "Get me out of here?"
"Yeah. We have specific orders to make sure you get out of here if anything hits the fan. Tsuchikage's direct orders. You know we can't leave you." The priority was to get Sasame out as quickly as possible; Iwagakure couldn't lose one of its Jinchuriki's.
"What about your team?"
"What about them?"
"Don't you want to find them? We're under attack; they could be in danger."
"Yes. Of course I want to find the little shit bags. If I'm not around to bail them out, they might get hurt. The brats can't do anything without me. But orders are orders. Sasame, if something happened to you, and the other villages were to find out, it could throw off the balance of power. Iwa with only one one Tailed-Beast is a lot more of a tempting target than with two. If Kumo was to get that information, it could spark a war, dumb ass. You need to get out of here Sasame. Once I hand you over to our Anbu, I'll head back and look for the fuck ups I call students."
Not that Tayuya would ever be caught dead saying it aloud, but Tayuya was worried. She was the only one allowed to make her brat's life miserable.
Sakura flanked Naruto on his left side, keeping just behind them. She couldn't get herself to like Mizuki. Maybe it was the way he treated them whenever they asked any questions; like he was the adult and they were stupid kids. Sakura knew it wasn't their place to ask, Mizuki was the commanding officer, and his orders had to be followed, but he didn't act like it. He wasn't a professional like Kakashi-sensei. He just told them to keep their months shut.
Or it might be the way Mizuki shot Naruto looks, as if he were looking at filth. His face was full of disgust whenever he looked at Sakura's leader.
Either way, she didn't care for him and as they moved further and further away from the arena, Sakura had a bad feeling that she couldn't shake.
The smoke was just starting to clear, but the unmissable laughter of his student rang out across the room. "Sarutobi-sensei. It's so good to hear your voice again. I've brought you a gift."
The blue smoke was finally dissipating, the representative of Kiri, Meigumei, staring back at him. Her face was cruel but that didn't fool Hiruzen; Orochimaru's snake-like eyes stared out at him.
What caught his attention, was the two people standing at either side of him. They were cloaked, but Hiruzen recognized their chakra. It can't be.
The figures dropped their hoods and Hiruzen's breath caught in his throat; Minato and Kushina Uzumaki were staring back at him.
Author's Note:
Daimaru is a character from the Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation arc. He's a filler character, brought back with the other second rate shinobi Kabuto accidentally brought back, why looking for more powerful shinobi. He grew up along side Temari and wasn't intimidated by being the daughter of the Kazekage or Gaara's sister. He's one of my favorite filler characters and I'm really happy to have him in my story. Even if he won't appear in this fic, look forward to seeing him in future stories in the Syraxes verse.
Keino Meigumei is an original character.
The masked camouflaged shinobi look like the shinobi from the Otogakure, during the Konoha Crush.
Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but this seemed like a pretty good place to end it. Minato and Kushina have been brought back, Orochimaru is plotting and Mizuki doesn't seem to be endearing himself to Team Seven
