Chapter 8

Hunter looked at the two sand siblings. While they weren't particularly powerful they were still dangerous and highly skilled. Temari was armed with the giant fan, which was currently strapped to her back, and Kankurō had that creepy looking puppet cocooned in bandages next to him.

"Now, I don't mean to be rude...Ah who am I kidding. I do mean to be rude. Why are you here and what do you want!?"

"Well, hello to you to Hunter." said Kankurō. "You've caused quite the stir around here. All we ever seem to here is 'Hunter' this and 'Hunter' that."

"And what we've heard is interesting." said Temari "If even half of it is true." she put a particular emphasis on the 'if' part.

Hunter looked offended "You doubt the power of the Great Gazzo!?"

The sand siblings both sweat-dropped.

"We're here to extend an offer from the Kazekage." Temari continued "Someone with your...talents would be very much appreciated in the Hidden Sand Village. Your time stop jutsu in particular is invaluable. Who knows. I might just take you up on that dinner offer."

"I take it this is an offer I can't refuse. Right?"

"Pretty much." answered Kankurō "Any more questions?"

"Just one. Where's the other guy? You know, porcelain like skin, red hair, heavy use of masquera?"

That wiped the smiles off the sand sibling's faces. "That's not your concern." said Temari.

"You don't know where he is, do you?" now they both looked somewhere between nervous and angry. "Unbelievable. A murderous psychopath with a monster inside and you two nimrods let him out of your sight!?"

That stunned the pair of them. "You know about the..." Kankurō stopped himself before he could finish.

A smug smile spread across Hunter's face "Yes. I know about Gaara's very nasty plus one. But back to your very generous offer, answer's no. And if you're wondering why, it's because of her." He pointed at Temari.

"Me?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that your brother is a total jerk too. In fact I can tell he is. But you, you I really don't like."

Temari had gotten over her surprise and now seemed amused "And why would that be?"

"Remember Tenten, the girl you nearly killed in the preliminaries. First time I met her she tried to beat the crap out of me for a scroll I didn't have. Yet for some reason I like her. And what you did to her. That really makes me angry."

Temari gave a short chuckle. "Oh well. We can still learn your jutsu's secrets from your body."

The bandages on Kakuro's puppet fell away as he sent it to attack. Hunter jumped over the chattering wooden monstrosity and dived at the puppeteer but before he could reach him Temari opened up her fan so it showed one moon and yelled "Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

Hunter was blown back by the air attack and landed near the edge of the roof. Hunter sensed the puppet was right behind him. There was a slight 'shhhick' sound as four retractable blades came out of each of its arms. 'This is gunna hurt'

The puppet's blades all struck simultaneously, one where his heart should have been, one in his left shoulder and two in his lower back. Funnily enough it didn't hurt in the slightest. Suddenly Hunter got an idea. He went limp and pretended to be dead, falling backwards as the puppet pulled it's blades out.

"Well that was disappointing." said Kankurō as he pulled the puppet back to him and started walking over to where Hunter lay.

Temari stayed where she was. She was a good deal smarter than her brother and she thought that Hunter had gone down a little too easily. 'I'm being paranoid' she thought to herself. 'He couldn't have survived an attack like...wait.' then she noticed something amiss. 'No blood!'

"Kankurō get back! He's not dead yet!"

Hunter sprang back to life, his chains materialising mid swing. Kankurō barely had time to dodge and only just avoided one of the large hooks that sailed past his face.

"Dam it girl, you spoiled my surprise!" yelled Hunter.

Not wanting to give them a reprieve Hunter jumped into the air and threw his chains at Temari. She opened up her fan so all three moons were showing and sent a powerful gust of wind to intercept them. It didn't work. She had just enough time to jump out of the way before the hooks smashed into the roof where she'd just been. Hunter landed back on the roof and went straight for Temari. She folded up her fan and used it to block a leaping kick. Hunter pushed off from the fan and brought his chains round again but Temari managed to deflect them both.

'Nimble little minx' thought Hunter. 'I may have to turn this up a notch'

Sensing danger Hunter swung his chains round to block several kunai and senbon needles that had been fired from Kankurō's puppet, which was rapidly closing in on him. Several scythe blades emerged from the puppet's torso. Acting purely on instinct Hunter twisted his body round.

There was a loud crash accompanied by the sound of splintering wood as something crushed Kankurō's puppet like a bug.

"My Crow!" yelled the puppeteer

"Kankurō." he looked over at his sister. She looked terrified. Following her gaze Kankurō soon found out why.

The thing that had crushed the Crow was dark purple in colour with four spikes, two on either side, about a foot away from the tip. Further away from the tip it got darker and darker until the colour changed to inky black. The appendage was connected to the small of Hunter's back.

"A...tail!" Kankurō could hardly believe it.

Hunter moved his tail and held it up to his face. "That's interesting." He turned to face the sand siblings. Their eyes widened when they saw Hunter's mouth had changed so it now looked like a jagged black line that stretched almost from ear to ear. The fact that he was also staring at them both like they were giant hams wasn't helping either.

"That's veeeeerrrry interesting indeed."

Kankurō glanced at his puppets remains. It's main body had been destroyed but is head and remaining limbs were still functional. He pulled on his chakra strings, separating the puppets head, arms and legs from its now useless body and sent them to attack Hunter from various different angles.

"Reflect!"

The various limbs all struck a dome of translucent hexagons that appeared around Hunter. Then the shield exploded, obscuring Hunter in dust and smoke.

"Someone will have heard that." said Temari "Let's go!"

The two sand siblings turned and ran for it, jumping from roof top to roof top, heading towards the villages outer wall.

Hunter suddenly appeared on the roof in front of them, forcing them to stop.

"Going somewhere?" he asked menacingly.

Temari grabbed hold of her fan again just as Hunter started running towards them on all fours.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

The fan created a powerful blast of air that flew in Hunter's direction but just before it hit him he created a black portal and disappeared into it. The exit portal appeared right in front of the sand siblings. Hunter dashed out and grabbed Kankurō by his shirt, lifting him off his feet. He also swung his tail at Temari, who had to use her fan to stop the spikes from impaling her.

"What's the matter?" asked Hunter "Cat got your..." he stopped mid sentence and closed his eyes for a moment "Terrible Darkness."

Hunter turned round, Kankurō and Temari following his gaze. Standing close by, arms folded and scowling, was the final sand sibling.

"Gaara." Hunter let go of Kankruō and moved his tail away from Temari. They both jumped over to stand by their brother.

"Well this is turning into a full on night, isn't it." said Hunter

Gaara looked at Hunter's tail. "So, there's something inside you to."

"Oh, you have nooooo idea." said Hunter.

"Gaara. The Kazekage ordered us to either capture or kill Hunter." said Kankurō. "And I'd say capturing him is out of the question now."

"Our father gave you two that order. Not me." sand started to seep out of the gourd on Gaara's back. "Still...why pass up the chance to kill someone."

The sand swept across the roof to where Hunter stood and began to encase him. He looked down at the sand that was rapidly covering him. "Oh snap." In moments he was encased in a thick layer of sand. Gaara raised his hand and enacted the final part of his jutsu "Sand Burial!"

The sand imploded.

"Well thanks a lot Gaara."

The three sand ninja all turned round and were shocked to find Hunter right behind them, using his finger to work sand out of his ear.

"I've got sand in places I didn't even know I had."

"How did you survive that!?" demanded Temari.

"Did you three all miss the fact that I can teleport!" Hunter looked past the trio and saw leaf ninja off in the distance. "You three come after me again and the gloves are off, got that? Oh and Kankurō. Sorry about your doll." With that he turned away and jumped off the roof.

"Well that was a colossal disaster." said Temari. "Not only is Hunter still alive but you lost your Crow!"

Kankurō rolled his eyes "Relax. I brought plenty of spare parts with me. If I work through the night I can get it fixed by morning. I just need to go back and pick up the peices."

Gaara stared after Hunter for a few moment's then he turned and left without a word.

"Do you think he'll be a problem tomorrow?" asked Kankurō.

Temari shrugged "I doubt it. When the invasion starts he'll probably just make a run for it. Hunter's a wanted criminal here, he's got no reason to stay."

"I wasn't talking about Hunter."

Temari thought for a moment. "Gaara will do his part. We just have to worry about doing ours."

A short distance away

Hunter darted through the deserted village streets, leaping off walls, jumping over small buildings. He felt like he'd been struck by a bolt of lightning. He finally skidded to a halt when he was sure he was far enough away from all the ninjas.

"Wow. That was totally wicked. Oh, there are times I...I...oh no." Hunter caught sight of his own reflection in a shop front window. He hadn't had a good view of his partial transformation before but now he could see the whole thing, the long spiked tail, the glowing yellow eyes, the broken, jagged mouth. He walked up to the window and stared intently at his own reflection. He reached up and touched his mouth.

'Even if I do find my home, can I go back like this?'

Hunter's tail retracted and his mouth returned to normal. He now looked perfectly human again, but that didn't make him feel any better.

Hunter jumped up onto the shop's roof where he laid down and went back to staring up at the stars and counting sheep.

At the same time. In the Hokage's office.

Hunter wasn't the only one who was finding sleep elusive. For the Third Hokage the problems were just never ending, Orochimaru's return, Hunter's constant interference, the attack on the Hūyga clan and now there had been a break out from the Strict Correctional facility. The odd thing was only one prisoner was missing, Mizuki and from the looks of it someone had broken in specifically to find him. Considering how many dangerous criminals were housed in the facility why would anyone go after Mizuki? He wasn't a powerful ninja by any means, nor did he know anything truly important.

Still, for whatever reason someone powerful had risked entering a secure facility and killed a man all to get to the disgraced chunin.

The Hokage reclined in his chair and took a long puff from is pipe as he ran through his list of suspects. Orochimaru didn't care about his subordinates and wouldn't have bothered with a rescue, so it wasn't him. He couldn't completely rule out the other Hidden Villages but he'd been told by the investigators that no jutsu had been used, which made their involvement unlikely. Then there was Hunter. He had the power to do it, no question, but murder wasn't his style. Even then Hunter had no motive, as far as he knew, to go after Mizuki.

Sarutobi thought back to what Hiashi had told him. The Hūyga clan head had described him as cold, ruthless and said that he had called himself 'Thorn', yet when Sarutobi had met Hunter later that same day he'd seemed like his normal self. Either Hunter had developed a split personality disorder or Hunter and Thorn were separate entities. In either case Thorn seemed to have a great deal of power, yet unlike Hunter he was willing to cause serious harm.

Sarutobi let out a long sigh and grudgingly got back to his mountain of paperwork.

Konoha Archive Library, ninja records section.

"No...No...No...Yes."

After an extensive search of Konoha's ninja records Thorn had finally found what he was looking for. He was in no danger of being discovered. While the records library did have various security in the form of seals and guards, it was nowhere near as protected as the clan libraries. Confidant that he would not be disturbed Thorn settled down and began reading the records of Kushina Uzumaki. He'd barely started when a Samurai Nobody appeared behind him. It bowed its head slightly and passed on its message.

Thorn practically jumped to his feet.

"What!? Why wasn't I told of this sooner I-"

A black portal appeared and a figure wearing a black cloak stepped out.

"Hey, Twilight."

Thorn bowed a little "My Lord."

The figure rubbed the back of its head "Right. You're not gunna stop calling me that are you?"

"I can used different titles if 'Lord' displeases you my Liege."

"Never mind. Erm, the other want a status report from you so...how's everything going?"

"Very well my Liege." he lifted the scroll he'd been reading. "I have the last piece of information I require. I will acquire my target soon."

"Right, good. Just...go easy on Naruto, ok Thorn. He seems like a nice kid."

"As you wish my Lord."

The figure nodded and disappeared into a black portal.

The Samurai leaned in close to Thorn's ear.

"Yes I agree. Lord Roxas is far too nice for his own good."

Early next morning.

"Five hundred thousand six hundred seventy one sheep. Five hundred thousand six hundred seventy two sheep..."

After hours upon hours of counting sheep Hunter was going stir crazy. If something didn't happen soon he felt like he would explode. Sighing he sat up and looked around. The sun had just risen above the horizon and a few people were about on the street below, opening up their shops and putting up large banners advertising the chunin exam finals. A small bird fluttered over and landed on Hunter's nose. He slowly raised his arm and flicked it. The bird shot away with a short screech, leaving only a few feathers hovering in its place.

Remembering that he still had Kakashi's Icha Icah Paradise Hunter sat up and retrieved the book from its hiding place. He'd torn out the first few pages to taunt Kakashi but hopefully the plot wouldn't be too hard to pick up.

"Ok. He leaned in close and placed a delicate kiss on her lips... Pretty tame so far."

He turned over to the next page. His eyes bulged as he continued reading and his skin became visibly paler until finally he slammed the book shut.

"Never again...never...again."

Hunter let his gaze wander and found himself drawn to the Hokage Monument that overlooked the village. He recognised the third face from the left as Sarutobi.

'So, the other two must be the previous Hokage's' Hunter looked at the fourth and final face 'Well then who is that guy? If he's the fourth Hokage then where is he? Extended vacation!? Hmm...' Something about that man's face looked familiar.

"Wait. He looks just like-"

"Hunter!"

He jumped to his feet and turned round in surprise.

On the rooftops behind him were several masked ANBU ninja. The one who'd called his name was a woman named Yūgao Uzuki. She had long purple hair and wore a cat mask with three red marks, one on the forehead and two on each porcelain cheek. The entire ANBU squad leapt down to surround Hunter, drawing their swords and taking up defensive stances.

"Hunter, by order of the Third Hokage, you are under-"

Before she could finish Hunter shot forwards and wrapped his arms round her and lifted her off the ground.

"Oh thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" he yelled, ecstatically. "You have no idea how GLAD I am to see you all!" the he kissed her on the head three times.

ANBU ninja are trained to deal with life or death situations. Often the enemies they face are super powered psychopaths who enjoy killing, maiming and other horrible things.

Hugs and kisses were not something any of them were trained to deal with.

Hunter eventually put her down and took a few steps back. "Sorry, awkward. Hehe...So can you all please form a neat orderly queue so I can-"

Hunter ducked to avoid a sword strike that narrowly missed his head. The ANBU squad ran in all at once, planning to overwhelm him.

"Aerora!" Everyone was blown back by a powerful gust of wind. Most of the squad landed on their feet a short distance away from Hunter.

"Stand Clear!" ordered Yūgao. She pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag and threw it at Hunter. The ANBU team's overall plan was to use weak explosives to force Hunter into a trap outside the village. The whole thing had been planned out in great detail including the route they would take and where the backup teams were. She wasn't surprised when Hunter caught the explosive kunai, what was surprising was when he didn't throw it away and instead held it up to his face.

The explosion was quite small but at that close range it could still be fatal. When the tiny cloud of dust cleared however, Hunter had no visible injuries.

"Is that all you got?" he asked, mockingly.

Under her mask Yūgao gritted her teeth. 'How are we supposed to get him to go where we want when he can just shrug off our attacks?'

Hunter sidestepped one of the ANBU then cast a Blizzard spell on the floor, turning it to ice. The sudden change caused two other ANBU that had been charging at Hunter to slip and fall over, much to Hunter's amusement.

'He's actually enjoying himself!' Yūgao thought 'Hmm. He's enjoying himself'.

"Everyone, fall back!" she ordered.

The squad obeyed and followed their leader in leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

Yūgao looked over her shoulder and sure enough Hunter was following close behind them.

"Get back here you chickens!"

'Just as I thought. We don't need to force him away, we just have to lead him.'

Hunter continued to follow the ANBU squad as they lead him across the village, over the outer wall and into the woods beyond. They hadn't gone far when they reached a large clearing. Once they were halfway in the ANBU team halted.

"NOW!" yelled Yūgao.

Four new ninjas leapt out of the bushes and surrounded Hunter. Each of them was carrying a massive scroll, which they all placed on the ground and opened up. Then they started making hand signs. Three rings of glowing golden symbols appeared on the ground around Hunter, then a barrier made of light shot up around him.

"The seal is in place!" yelled one of the ninjas.

Hunter tapped on the shield a few times. Upon discovering that it was quite solid he looked at Yūgao "Clever girl."

"There's no way out Hunter." she said matter of factly.

"Yeah, we'll see about that!"

Yūgao smirked under her mask "Boar!" An ANBU wearing a boar mask nodded and body flickered away.

After about thirty seconds of waiting Hunter got bored and started examining his nails. 'Still better than the rooftop' he thought to himself.

About a minute later the Boar returned, along with two other ninja. The first was Anko, the other was an older man. He had a large, imposing figure, two diagonal scars on his face, one small one just below his right eye and one long one that stretched from above his left eye down almost to his chin.

"Well this was worth waking up for" said Anko "finally you're going to get what's coming to you."

Hunter did his best to look nonchalant "Um-hm. So who's your date." he asked, looking at the man.

"Ibiki Morino." answered the man. "I'm here to ask you a few simple questions."

"Questions, questions it's always questions with you guys. Alright. Fire away."

Ibiki smiled menacingly "Since your attack on the Hyūga clan you've searched through just about every clan library. We know it was you, you left the scrolls lying on the floor. Are you just gathering information on Konoha's clans or are you after something in particular?"

Hunter stared at him like he'd grown a extra head "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh drop the act Hunter!" yelled Anko. "You broke into the Hyūga clan library yesterday. You put three men in the Hospital!"

'They're talking about Thorn' Hunter realised 'So he's been raiding libraries. Why? Is he starting a book collection?'

"Hellllo...Hunter!?" Anko's voice snapped him out of his musing "Sorry, are we boring you?" she asked, sarcastically.

"Yes actually. Anyone want to play a game of chess?" He looked over at Yūgao "Maybe a game of twister?"

'This kid doesn't feel threatened in the slightest' thought Ibiki. 'I'll have to wear down his confidence before he'll reveal anything'

"You get quite a thrill from keeping your secrets from us." stated the interrogator. "But your mission in the Leaf is obvious."

Hunter leaned back against the barrier. This should be good.

"You're here on an information gathering mission. You don't belong to any particular village so you've been hired as a mercenary by another village who wants' deniability. Though I don't understand why anyone would send someone like you on such a delicate mission"

"I don't expect you to understand, Mr Bond I expect you to..." Hunter's super hearing picked up the sound of a pencil scratching against paper. Looking to his right he saw a brown haired ninja scribbling something down on a notepad. The man looked up when he realised Hunter had stopped talking "And what are you doing?"

"I'm just here to record Ibiki's interrogation. My job is to take down anything you say."

"Trousers."

The man started to write that down, then he realised Hunter's meaning and crossed it out.

Hunter looked back at Ibiki "You were saying."

"Well, you're dedicated, I'll give you that." admitted Ibiki "You've taken a lot of risks in your mission, attacking powerful ninjas, even the Hokage. Your employer must be paying you a lot."

Hunter shrugged "You could say that. 'Employer' is pushing it a little though."

Ibiki seemed to ignore him, inwardly however he took note of how there seemed to be no love lost between Hunter and whoever hired him. "I wonder just how dedicated to your mission you are? Enough to die perhaps? Enough to kill?"

That made Hunter pay attention.

Ibiki smiled "Ah, so now you're taking this seriously. Now that I have your attention, are you responsible the break out at the Strict Correctional Facility?"

Hunter was scratched his head. "Nnnope. Wait...no, no. Definitely no".

"Really?" continued Ibiki "Because we have a missing prisoner, a dead guard and no justsu was sued. Care to explain that?"

Hunter's smile disappeared. He'd know that his nobody was evil but hearing that it had killed someone...That thing had been part of him once.

"Oh no." he muttered under his breath.

Ibiki recognised the look on his face. It was the 'what am I even doing anymore?' look he'd seen on hundreds of shinobi. 'Maybe he didn't break Mizuki out, but he knows more than he's letting on.'

Hunter looked up at Ibiki and Anko "Q 'n' A's over."

WHAM!

Hunter slammed his palms into the barrier, dug his nails in and started to glow with a black aura. The golden symbols on the ground began to fluctuate and the chakra barrier started to flicker.

"The seal is destabilising!" announced one of the sealing team "He's breaking through!"

The ANBU team readied their weapons. That was when the seal finally failed and the barrier dropped.

Anko saw something moving behind Hunter "What the!?...A tail!"

Hunter looked over his shoulder and saw that he'd developed a tail again. "D'oh!" it quickly retracted back into his lower back. 'I'm gunna have to keep an eye on that thing.'

'This explains everything' thought Anko, panicking slightly 'The jutsu, the eyes. Hunter is a Jinchūriki!'

"Adios amigos!" Hunter started to create a black portal.

"No you don't!" Ibiki threw three explosive tagged kunai at the ground around Hunter. The explosion was large enough to through Hunter back, and stop the portal from fully opening.

Ibiki, Anko and the ANBU ninja stood their ground, waiting for the inevitable counter attack.

One of Hunter's hooks shot out of the smoke, flying past Ibiki and narrowly avoiding Anko, it slammed into the ground a few feet behind them. Hunter was right behind it, leaping out of the fading dust cloud, aiming a punch at Anko that she managed to dodge at the last moment.

"Aerora!" Hunter's air spell forced the closest ninjas back, while others had to shied their faces giving him enough time to create a new black portal. This time he wasn't interrupted.

"Damn it." muttered Ibiki as the portal disappeared. "Oh well. I knew the seal wouldn't hold him forever but I didn't expect him to escape so soon." Ibiki looked over at Anko. "I take it you saw the tail to?"

"No I missed the giant black spiky tail waving around behind him." she replied sarcastically. "We should have guessed he was a Jinchūriki. It's the only way he could have all that power."

"ANBU! Return to the village and search for any sign of Hunter, but do not engage. I want to know what he's up to." the ANBU ninjas body flickered away. With their job done the sealing team left to.

"Anko. You and I need to report our findings to the Hokage. The next time Hunter makes an appearance we will be ready for him."

Anko nodded in agreement. She was about to leave when she heard a rustling sound in the bushes behind her. She spun round on the sport and threw a kunai into the shrubbery. There was a dull thud as it passed through the bush and hit the tree behind. She watched the bush for any sign of movement but there was nothing.

"Problem?" asked Ibiki.

"I thought I heard something." said Anko. "Probably just the wind."

The two ninjas left the clearing.

As soon as it was sure they were gone a small Creeper Nobody crawled out of the bushes. It turned its head and looked back at Anko's kunai, which had passed right through its body. Then it teleported away, eager to inform Twilight Thorn of this event.

Back in the village

As soon as Hunter had returned he'd changed his shape into his female form and was now walking in the direction of the battle arena, where the chunin exam finals would take place. All the while all he could think about was what Ibiki had told him. Thorn was a killer. He and his nobody were basically the same person, so how had they become so different? And if Thorn had that kind of evil in him, did he have it too?

Hunter was just about to walk out of a side street onto a larger main road until he saw Naruto run by. He briefly wondered why he was in such a hurry. He got his answer when a herd of rather angry looking bulls ran past after the blond ninja.

Hunter shook her head "This world get's weirder every day." She followed Naruto's trail right up to the arena, although instead of going in the front door she opted for a different way in. Hunter simply walked right up to the buildings wall and started walking up the vertical stone surface.

She was about half way up when she began muttering "Don't look down, don't look down...Crap. I looked." Soon she reached the top of the arena. Definitely the best seat in the house. The stadium was a large circular structure made out of solid concrete, like a roman coliseum without all the arches. There were three stands located just beyond the stadium's perimeter, and they were already full of people that had come to watch the matches. On the middle had a second level to it. Unlike the level below it had only two chairs, one of which was occupied by the Hokage. There was also a rectangular hole in the wall where the competitors waited.

Hunter could see everything from her position. Including someone familiar. Once again his face had changed but the heart was still the same.

Orochimaru was sitting next to the Hokage. He was wearing what looked like a blue version of the Hokage's robes and was flanked by four guards, all of whom had dark hearts.

'What is he up to?' wondered Hunter as he changed back to his male form.

Someone way down below yelled out "Let the Chunin exam finals begin!"

The crowd cheered.

Hunter sat down and let his legs dangle over the edge.

"I should have brought some popcorn."

The first match was between Naruto and Neji. Needless to say Hunter was rooting for Naruto and although it was touch and go for a while, when the blond actually managed to beat Neji he was overjoyed.

"WAHOO! GO GO NARUTO!" Hunter yelled.

The second match was supposed to be Sasuke against Gaara but Sasuke hadn't shown up yet so the match was postponed. Instead the second match was to be Kankurō vs Shino but Kankurō surprisingly withdrew, much to the crowds frustration.

The second match was instead Shikamaru vs Temari. Hunter thought that Temari would win easily but he was surprised when late in the match Shikamaru managed to catch her in his shadow possession jutsu. Apparently he'd been planning five steps ahead the whole time and his every action had all been aimed at manipulating Temari. But just before Shikamaru could finish Temari off he suddenly up and forfeited.

"WHAT!" yelled Hunter in surprise. "You're just going to let that sand witch walk away, just like that!...Owwwww!"

The second (technically third) match was now over and Sasuke still hadn't shown up yet. The crowd, Hunter included were starting to get impatient.

That was when Sasuke and Kakashi finally showed up, in suitably flashy style. Kakashi went to the stadium while Sasuke went to the arena to fight Gaara.

Sasuke hadn't been fooling around for the past month. His speed had increased drastically, he was almost as fast as Rock Lee, and just like Lee Sasuke could outrun Gaara's sand shield. After getting his ass kicked all over the arena Gaara went into a protective ball of sand. Hunter was a good distance away, and that sand was an excellent sound barrier but his super hearing could still make out something coming from inside.

'Is he...chanting?'

His supernatural hearing also picked up part of a conversation between Temari and Kankurō.

"...I don't know but he's not following the plan. He's no good to us like that."

'Plan huh. Just what's going on around here?'

Sasuke tried to break through but he nearly got impaled by spikes of sand that shot out from the ball. The genin pulled back, way back, all the way up the arena wall. Hunter focused on Sasuke. As he watched Sasuke created what looked like a ball of lightning in his left hand, then he ran down the wall, hit the ground and charged at Gaara's sand ball. This time he broke through.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then Gaara screamed "AAARRRRGGGHHHH... Blood! ITS MY BLOOD!"

"Cripes, that kid can shriek." said Hunter.

Sasuke eventually managed to pull his arm free from the sand ball. A monstrous arm made of sand followed him out and nearly crushed him, then it retreated back into the ball. All Hunter could see inside was a mass of shifting sand, accompanied by the sound of beastlike growling.

This carried on for several seconds, then the sand ball disintegrated, revealing Gaara, who was clutching a small wound in his left shoulder.

"That was just plain weird. Huh...what's happening now?!" Down in the stands below people were starting to fall asleep en mass. Then there was a loud bang from where the Hokage and Orochimaru had been sitting. Looking up he saw a large plume of grey smoke.

Hunter's hearing picked up strange noises in the distance. Looking back at the village he could see people, ninjas, fighting in the streets and just beyond the village were three Kaiju size snakes that were about to come crashing through the walls.

"That smoke was a starting pistol. Orchimaru's launching an invasion...and those sand gits are all in on it!"

Hunter looked back down at the stadium. There was fighting down there now too, amongst the unconscious crowd.

He broke into a smile as his chains materialised by his side.

"Well what am I standing around for!"

He jumped off the edge and dived towards the battle.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!