ATTENTION RETURNING READERS!

After much experimentation, I have updated the Prologue. I highly recommend you go back and read it!

Some of you may have read the first draft back when I first posted a link to it on my DeviantArt stash. This has been in the works since at LEAST Chapter 15, because the original version is just a bit... boring. However, despite how eye-catching I think the new one is, I've been wavering on whether it might be a bit too grand, not to mention I wasn't 100% sure how to tie it into canon. But recently I finally got a BRILLIANT idea, and it's given me the final push on figuring out how to incorporate it. So be sure to go back to read it if you haven't.

Anyways, with that said, please enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 33


"They say there's a calm before the storm. Sometimes, though, there is no calm. Just a bunch of howling winds building up to something worse."


I can't... I can't!

Hinata raced through the halls with pained gasps, her heart catching in her throat as her eyes burned with unshed tears. Bursting into an empty bathroom, she darted into a stall and slammed the door shut, hugging herself as she allowed a shaky sob to escape.

In the end, she couldn't do it. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't fight Naruto, she couldn't fight in front of all those people from all over the world, she couldn't do anything. Neji had been right, she still heard her opponent's scream, still felt sickened whenever she thought of that horrible, blood-chilling crack. Hinata had no place in the tournament, she didn't have the mental capacity to become a chuunin yet. She might never have the capacity for it.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

She buried her face into her arms as she began quietly apologizing under her breath, shrinking in shame even when all alone. Even now she could picture her father's disapproving glare when he learned she gave into nerves before the match, the clan's elders' stern voices echoing in her mind. The mere thought of their cold, disdainful gazes made her shudder, biting back a distressed whimper as she trembled violently.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Hinata squealed in surprise and jumped almost a foot in the air, spinning to stare at the stall door in shock. During her small breakdown she'd forgotten to actually lock it, and now a brown-haired girl peered through the open crack with a worried expression. "Sorry, but, I thought I heard crying and you look kinda upset?"

Too stunned to reply, Hinata stumbled back and folded her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. "I'm f-fine," she forced out, and a long moment of silence passed.

"You don't sound fine?" the other girl ventured with an uncertain frown, and Hinata winced before averting her gaze shamefully. Not only had she run away, but she'd lost her composure in front of a total stranger. Her family would be disgusted with her if they found out. Already she could hear the scolding lectures from the elders about how shinobi didn't cry, how noble ladies must always act proper and behaved in public—

"Onee-san?"

And then Hinata's entire world shattered, stepping back with a startled squeak as her younger sister suddenly peered through the crack. "H-Hanabi?" she stammered. "W-what—"

"I was going to the concession stand and saw you run in here. Why are you so upset?" Hinata couldn't respond, only able to stare at her sister in muted horror.

"Ah, I should, uh, probably go," the stranger murmured awkwardly, and quickly retreated from the scene. The sisters paid her no mind, Hinata too focused on Hanabi's presence.. Not only had she run away and lost her composure in front of a stranger, but now she'd shown weakness in front of her younger sister, too.

"I-I'm sorry," Hinata whispered, averting her gaze. Her younger sister regarded her with a worried frown, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Onee-san, why are you so upset? Did something happen?"

"I-I... Th-that is..." Hinata trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Wringing the hem of her sweatshirt, she let her gaze flicker to the braided bracelet peeking out from beneath her sleeve, seeking the comfort of the memories it brought—

Hinata froze, her head snapping up with wide eyes. Shoving the door open, she raced out of the bathroom past a confused Hanabi, her Byakugan activating as she ran down the halls.


A loud roar rose from the stands as the latest match ended. Kankurou had soundly defeated his opponent with his puppet, successfully maneuvering it capture her and hold a blade to her throat. Ultimately he forced her to forfeit lest she lose her head, and while Midori had been left conscious and largely intact, the Waterfall kunoichi did not accept defeat with grace.

"DAMMIT! I'M A GIANT FAILURE!"

The spectators watched with varying degrees of bemusement as Midori wailed in despair, her earlier childish confidence replaced with an even more childish temper tantrum. Her screech echoed clearly around the stadium and made many of the audience members wince, and with an extra loud sob she took off running to the exit. As she raced off the field the Kazekage clucked his tongue in disapproval.

"That is quite the immature display," he remarked. "It does not leave a very good impression."

"It's... not," Shibuki sighed, and rose from his seat. "I should go find her, Midori-chan likes to act tough but she's actually quite sensitive."

"Of course, we perfectly understand," Hiruzen replied. Personally he felt it quite commendable that Shibuki would be willing to seek out one of his genin to offer comfort, in fact he almost envied him for the ability to do so. Konoha had too many ninja for him to personally tend to all of them like Shibuki; that was one of the advantages a small village like Taki had over his. A small advantage, but one which should not be taken for granted.

"Good luck, Shibuki-san," Masuyo told him with a kind smile. "Please tell her she did perfectly fine."

"Ah, y-yes, I will," he stammered, his cheeks flushing a bit. Hiruzen chuckled slightly as the young village leader scurried off, his guard trailing behind him silently. Funnily enough, Aomine Shintoki seemed far more comfortable among foreign shinobi than his village's leader, but then, he had more experience. Shibuki was still young, and Hiruzen could see vast potential in the young man once he got over his nerves.

"Since your village is out of the running, will you leave too, Masuyo?" the Kazekage asked, drawing his attention back to the others still in the stand. The Ame representative shook her head slightly, her sapphire eyes flitting to the arena.

"I would prefer to stay and watch. I find these matches quite educational."

"Very well, then," the Kazekage murmured, turning his attention back to the arena. While Kankurou had departed to rejoin the other contenders Genma stood on the field alone, and about a minute passed before someone else descended onto the field. However, it wasn't the blinding speck of orange Hiruzen had expected.

"Isn't that the Aburame boy from the previous match?" Masuyo asked, squinting at the figure.

"It is," Hiruzen confirmed lowly, frowning as he watched Shino join Genma. Eyes narrowing, he raised a hand to signal one of his ANBU guards, silently communicating a series of commands. The masked man nodded and disappeared in a flicker of movement to join the two on the field, while the crowd began to buzz impatiently as they watched the trio speak. Soon enough the ANBU agent nodded and he flickered away, reappearing behind Hiruzen.

"Sir, it appears that Hyuuga Hinata left the finalists' stand during the previous match and has not returned," he reported. "Moreover, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke have also left to look for her, and are still gone." Hiruzen stilled at this information, his mouth forming a grim line. Given Hinata's timid personality he doubted she had left for something as simple as the bathroom; most likely Neji had said something that rattled her and she'd given into her nerves and fled.

"Tell Genma to move up the next match," he commanded, and the guard nodded before vanishing to relay his orders.

"You're not going to call a draw?" the Kazekage asked curiously.

"Normally I would, but there are certain... external factors at play," Hiruzen replied, choosing his words carefully. Specifically, the other contender for the match happened to be Naruto, and he didn't want to deprive the youth of an opportunity to properly display his abilities. Kami knows felt bad enough for the boy after the fiasco in the preliminaries, and Naruto had spent the past month training hard with Jiraiya just for the tournament.

Hiruzen could justify his decision to delay the match as more than just sentimentality for the boy. As the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, Naruto's development happened to be of critical interest to Konoha. Given his busy schedule, Hiruzen probably wouldn't get another chance to see the fruits of the boy's hard work for some time. Even the Council had expressed interest in seeing his progress during the finals. Not to mention, the crowd would only incite him to try even harder.

Letting Naruto lose this opportunity would be too wasteful for Konoha.


Elsewhere in the stadium, anyone (un?)fortunate enough to be in the halls were greeted by a strange sight.

Orange flooded the space as an army of Naruto clones scattered about, people jumping out of their path with startled cries. The long line in front of the concession stand broke apart to make way for the sudden surge of identical blonds to flood past, the customers grumbling in shock and annoyance.

"Hi Naruto," Chouji greeted one of the clones, standing next to the counter with a new bag of chips. The sight of an army of Narutos admittedly felt a bit unsettling, but he'd grown kind of used to the blond's antics. The clone skidded to a stop and turned to face him, its eyes wild and manic.

"Chouji, have you seen Hinata-chan?" he asked, and the Akimichi frowned and shook his head.

"Nope, sorry. What's going on?"

"I don't know! She just suddenly ran off! I think it had to do with that bastard Neji saying something to her during Shino's match. I don't know what it was because I was busy arguing with Sasuke-teme about who's better, but she ran off a little bit after the last match began and never came back! If I don't find her before this match ends, she'll have to forfeit!"

Chouji blinked as the ramble ended, taking a second to process the overflow of information. "Huh. Maybe that's why Kiba ran off."

"Kiba?" A trio of Naruto clones stopped as they overheard this latest bit, leaving four pairs of blue eyes studying Chouji intently.

"Yeah. He, me and Masaru all left to grab snacks about ten minutes ago, but Kiba said he had to check something out and headed the other way so Masaru followed him."

The Narutos all hummed in unison, their faces screwed in thought. Kiba had a nose like a dog, and he also had Akamaru—an actual dog. If anyone could find Hinata, it'd probably be them. The clones bobbed their heads almost in perfect unison, flashing Chouji a series of bright grins. "Right, got it! Thanks Chouji!"

One of them dispersed to transmit the information to the rest, and the army halted for half a second before resuming their search in a renewed frenzy, shouts for Kiba now mingling with the calls for Hinata.

"Come on, teme, we need to find Hinata-chan or Kiba!" the real Naruto declared hotly, dragging a rather annoyed-looking Sasuke behind him.

"When the hell did Kiba come into this?" he grumbled, trying to jerk his arm free from Naruto's grip. Upon realizing Hinata probably wouldn't return on her own, Naruto had dragged his teammate to help search for her, reasoning two pairs of eyes would be better than one. Granted, the clones kind of negated that, but still, it was the principle of the thing!

"Kiba has a good nose and also has Akamaru, and they both know Hinata-chan's scent so they could help us find her!" Sasuke growled in annoyance, clearly unhappy about it, but naturally Naruto ignored him. One of Naruto's clones slowed down to jog beside them, shooting Sasuke a sleazy-looking grin.

"Chouji said Masaru's with him," he told him coyly, knowing full well just how much Sasuke cared for his cousin. The Uchiha's face flickered with surprise before swiftly returning to his normal irritable scowl, scoffing loudly.

"Fine, we'll look for them," he muttered, and Naruto and his clone beamed and high-fived each other. Teamwork!

Elsewhere in the stadium, Kiba and Masaru abruptly stopped and turned to look over their shoulders as they heard a loud din of echoing voices steadily approaching them, their features scrunching in confusion. Akamaru whimpered slightly and moved closer to his partner, the hair on his back rising as he stared down the hall apprehensively.

"The hell?" Kiba muttered as the noise grew nearer, eyes scrunching in confusion. It sounded like a bunch of people talking at once, except everyone had the same voice...?

A flood of orange poured around the corner, several Narutos skidding into sight before zeroing in on the two genin. Their eyes all lit up with manic energy, everything about them screaming some sort of frantic urgency.

"KIBA!" they screamed in unison, the shrill chorus making the ever-sensitive Inuzuka wince. Akamaru yelped and barely had time to jump into Masaru's arms before the stampede of clones descended upon them, squishing the two boys against the wall. They began yelling and shouting at Kiba desperately, their voices overlapping and blending into a bizarre jumbled sentence. "KIBA HINATA'S MISSING AND THE MATCH IS SOON NEED HELP AND THAT BASTARD NEJI SAID FIND HER KIBA KIBA KIBA!"

Faced with a dozen Narutos screaming in his face, Kiba whimpered and slid to the floor, his hands flying to shield his ever-sensitive ears. "Dammit, shut up!" he snapped. "You're gonna make me go deaf Naruto!" He couldn't even hear himself over the noise, but apparently the clones did as they instantly fell silent. A series of pops filled the air as several of them dispersed, leaving only one who wisely made no move to talk.

As the smoke cleared the original Naruto burst through it, naturally with Sasuke in tow. "Guys, we need to find Hinata!" he yelled frantically, and Kiba had to resist the urge to scream.

"What's even going on anymore?" Masaru mumbled, still a bit dazed by the giant deluge of Naruto clones.

"Hinata ran off during the last match," Sasuke explained. "Naruto decided to look for her and dragged me along for some reason."

"Hey, teams stick together, right?" Naruto retorted, and ignored the cold glare Sasuke shot him. Shaking his head, Kiba got to his feet and sniffed the air before scowling.

"Dammit Naruto, get all of your dumb clones to go away! They're leaving a bunch of scent trails everywhere and it's making it harder to pick out Hinata!" Startled by the outburst, Naruto nodded and the last clone popped, spreading the message to the rest. Kiba just groaned quietly, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Damn. I had her scent but now it's all muddled. Akamaru, can you still smell it buddy?"

Akamaru jumped out of Masaru's arms and sniffed the ground eagerly, grunting in concentration before sharply raising his head to growl at something behind them. Surprised, the group of genin turned to find two cloaked ANBU agents. "What's all the commotion?" one asked, prompting Naruto to babble a rambled summary of the situation once more.

"Have you seen her?" he asked when he finished, finally taking a breath.

"No, we haven't," the other ANBU replied, shaking his head. "However, there are more pressing matters at hand. Uchiha-san, we need you—both of you—to come with us." The four boys instantly stiffened, Naruto and Kiba turning to look at the Uchiha cousins. Masaru seemed startled by the sudden order, but Sasuke merely narrowed his eyes at the ANBU.

"What for?" he asked warily.

"We cannot explain here, but the Hokage believes your safety is at risk. Please follow us and we'll explain." The two ANBU gestured for them to follow, and the cousins exchanged hesitant glances before slowly nodding. If the Hokage had ordered them to come, then there must be something happening, right?

"We'll see you guys later, I guess?" Masaru mumbled with an uncertain glance at the others.

"Just find Hinata already," Sasuke grunted as they started following the ANBU. "We'll catch up before my match."

"Yeah, I guess," Kiba muttered, and turned to look at Naruto. "Come on, if we hurry we might find her scent—" He stopped mid-sentence when Akamaru suddenly lunged at one of the ANBU with a furious howl, his jaws opening wide to reveal his teeth. The man glanced over his shoulder before jumping out of the way, narrowly avoiding the barreling ball of fluff.

Skidding along the floor, Akamaru spun around and began barking ferociously at the two ANBU, his teeth bared in a threatening snarl. The sudden hostility caught the genin off-guard, Sasuke and Masaru stopping and jumping back with startled looks. "What the hell?" Naruto stammered, staring at the dog in confusion. "Kiba, what's gotten into—" He stopped mid-sentence when he turned to the Inuzuka to find him staring at the ANBU with a sudden glare, his lips pulling back into a ferocious snarl.

"Sasuke! Masaru! Get away from them!" he yelled, and the Uchiha boys snapped shocked looks at him before quickly leaping backwards. However, they didn't move fast enough, as one of the ANBU surged forward and grabbed each one by the arm while they still hovered midair. They winced as his fingers tightened in a vice-like grip and with a harsh tug he flung them to the floor, the pair crashing with pained yells.

Even as he did that, the other one lurched around him to race towards Naruto and Kiba, sending kunai flying towards them. Instinct kicked in and the two boys rolled to the side to avoid the projectiles, but in a flash the man appeared behind Kiba and grabbed him by the throat. He harshly slammed the genin into the wall behind them face-first before releasing his grip, and the Inuzuka slid to his knees with a pained gasp, coughing clear fluid.

Akamaru shrieked with rage and flew at the man, his whole body radiating hatred and fury for hurting his partner, but the man spun around and thrust his palm into the ninken's chest, sending him flying back with a pained yelp. Immediately afterwards he spun around and hit Kiba in the back of the neck, sending the boy fluttering to the ground unconscious.

"And here we hoped to do this quietly," the fake ANBU grumbled, turning and lunging at Naruto. The blond yelped and ran away, quickly flying through the seals for the multi-shadow clone jutsu. While a horde of clones appeared to try to help defend him Sasuke and Masaru found themselves rolling away from a harsh kick from the other ANBU, leaping to their feet. Sasuke gritted his teeth as his hand hovered over his side, wincing in pain.

Shit, my ribs...! The force of the impact had been incredibly harsh, knocking the air out of him, and he knew his skin would undoubtedly be bruised. Next to him Masaru looked no better, grimacing as his weight shifted slightly to favor the left leg, as the right side of his hip had taken the brunt of the fall. However, even so he pulled a pair of thick black gloves from his pockets and swiftly tugged them on, his face filled with resolve.

The two exchanged looks and nodded, their eyes instantly swirling to red as they turned to face their opponent. The man launched towards them with a flurry of hand seals they didn't recognize, prompting them to quickly retreat. When the last sign finished he clapped his hands and a heavy shockwave resonated from them, knocking the boys off their feet. This time they could prepare themselves and rolled as they fell, each landing in a crouch and flinging a flurry of shuriken at the fake ANBU.

The second the shuriken left his hands Masaru sped through a series of hand seals and blew a small fireball just slightly larger than his fist, swiping his hands through it the second the last ember left his lips. The fireball split and clung to each hand to coat them in a small fiery inferno and he surged towards their opponent with a ferocious yell, the flames stretching along his fingers like claws. While he charged Sasuke swiftly threw more shuriken his way, limiting their opponent's options for avoiding Masaru.

However, the man pulled out a kunai almost too fast for even the Sharingan to follow and used it to expertly deflect a majority of the shuriken. He purposely allowed one to graze his side to give himself an opening to hurl his kunai directly at Masaru's head, forcing the boy to abort his attack to dodge. Even as he did so the man zoomed forward and swung his leg at Masaru's right hip, the impact making him shriek in pain.

"MASARU!" Naruto screamed, and half the clone horde whirled around with furious roars as they watched Masaru crash to the floor. His own opponent took advantage of his momentary distraction and swiftly cut through the clones with chakra-coated hands, each dispersing in a puff of smoke that quickly filled the hall. The real Naruto barely managed to avoid getting struck, wincing as he felt his last clone pop. Not good.

"Suiton: Water Bullet!" A large geyser of water suddenly burst through the smoke, blasting Naruto's opponent in the back and sending him hurtling towards the Uchiha boys. The man fighting them glanced his way and then dodged to the side, allowing his comrade to crash into the wall behind him and slump to the floor. The three conscious genin watched in mild shock before whipping around to look at the newest arrival, kunai already in their hands.

The smoke cleared enough to reveal a man with long brown hair and blue clothing running their way followed by another with tanned skin and dark hair, both wearing a hitai-ate bearing a stylized waterfall on it. Sasuke and Naruto tensed at their approach and raised his kunai in anticipation of an attack, but Masaru immediately brightened and sat up.

"Shibuki-san! Shintoki-san!" he called, relief evident in his voice even as he winced in pain. The tanned one—Shintoki—flew through a sequence of seals and spewed another blast of water at the men, blasting the one who'd slammed against the wall while the other dodged. Naruto took advantage of their distraction to quickly lunge across the hall to grab Kiba and rejoined the Uchiha boys just as Shibuki skidded to a halt.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked breathlessly.

"Who the hell are you!?" Naruto sputtered. "Who the hell are they!? What's going on!?"

"Ah, th-that's..." Shibuki trailed off, looking a bit uncertain. "Actually, I'm not really, uh, sure...?"

"Are you kidding!?" Naruto exploded, looking ready to scream in frustration. Before Shibuki could respond wooden spikes suddenly sprouted from the ceiling and floor behind them, impaling the two faux-ANBU. The three conscious genin jumped away with startled yells, instantly falling into defensive stances.

"Mokuton!" Masaru gasped, staring at the wooden constructs wide-eyed. Their former assailants moaned in pain as they struggled against the spikes, blood seeping down the natural grain pattern of the wood.

"Ah, yeah, mokuton," a new voice confirmed somewhat lamely, and they spun around yet again to see Gaku approaching from the opposite direction with a rather sheepish look. His face quickly grew more serious as he turned to the Waterfall ninja though, nodding at them. "Shibuki-san, Shintoki-san, thank you for your assistance."

"Ah, n-no problem, Tenzo-san," Shibuki told him with a nod, looking a bit relieved by his arrival.

"What the... Gaku!?" Sasuke sputtered, his eyes wide with disbelief as he recognized him. Next to him Masaru just looked totally lost, his brain ready to shut down from the overload of information.

"Tenzo?" he repeated weakly, and his teacher turned to glance at him with a sigh.

"I'll explain later. Right now though, we have more important things to worry about." Even as he spoke two ANBU appeared, swiftly approaching the imposters with ropes and shackles. Upon receiving a nod from them, Gaku—or, Tenzo? What?—flashed through a series of hand seals, and the wooden spikes retracted. The ensnared ninja never had a chance to hit the floor, the ANBU grabbing them as they fell and swiftly restraining their arms behind their backs.

While one of them started checking out the prisoners the other turned and strutted to the genin, gesturing towards Kiba. "Let me see him," she ordered. Naruto hesitated to let the unknown woman get close, and after a moment the ANBU huffed impatiently and gently pushed him aside so she could kneel next to the unconscious Inuzuka. Pressing her fingers against his neck, green chakra began to pulse around them and within seconds Kiba gave a soft moan, his eyelids fluttering open.

"Wuzzah... wha..." Akamaru yipped and bounded towards his partner, circling him to sniff him for blood while whining worriedly. Kiba paid him little mind, groaning as he sat up and rubbing the back of his neck with a mild grimace. "The hell...?"

"Okay, seriously, what the hell is even going on anymore!?" Naruto growled. "First two ANBU try to take Sasuke and Masaru, then they attack us, and now Waterfall guys show up out of no where and Gaku is apparently Tenzo or something and-and, just—what the hell!?" The sheer insanity of the past three minutes left him at a near loss for words, incapable of expressing just how confused he felt.

"Sensei...?" Masaru whispered, turning to look at the man who'd taught him the past five months. Gaku/Tenzo/who-the-hell sighed and scratched the back of his neck, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"I don't know all the details yet, but given the current circumstances I think it's safe to assume something is seriously wrong."

"That might be an understatement," a new voice interjected, and they turned again to see another familiar face approaching. This one made them all sag in relief, Sasuke and Naruto in particular relaxing.

"Kakashi," Sasuke sighed, and the silver-haired jounin nodded at him before turning back to Gaku.

"Tenzo," he started, basically confirming that to be his actual name, "I need you to guard all the genin. Something's about to go down."

"Understood," he replied with a nod.

"Is this related to the unconscious men in the closet down the hall?" Shintoki asked, prompting most of the genin leveled sharp, suspicious looks on him. Only Masaru remained calm, watching him with a more appraising gaze than his year mates. He had become loosely acquainted with the sensor during the trip back to Konoha with Shibuki, and knew first-hand his sensory abilities could easily detect a couple of unconscious people. Most likely that had been how he and Shibuki had known to come to their rescue.

Kakashi seemed to reach the same conclusion, because while his posture remained a bit stiff and on edge, he didn't radiate any hostile intent towards the Waterfall ninja. "In part, yes," he allowed with a nod. "If you knew about it earlier, we would have appreciated the warning though."

"Sorry, I noticed only when I did a sweep of the area after stumbling on this mess." He made a large sweeping motion towards the genin and faux ANBU. Kakashi eyed the scene and nodded briefly.

"Fair enough." As they spoke Masaru took an opportunity glance at his fellow genin and assess their states. Kiba still looked dazed and Naruto still looked understandably bewildered, while Sasuke just remained on edge, kunai in hand. Their eyes met and his cousin frowned, his eyebrows pinching together. A silent understanding passed between them and the two Uchiha slowly relaxed their stances and put away their kunai, only for Sasuke to wince and grab at his side.

The ANBU who'd tended to Kiba appeared next to him almost instantly, prying his hands away to place her own against it. Healing chakra swiftly flooded into his body, and the rigidness faded from Sasuke's shoulders as the ache faded away. "Your ribs weren't broken, but they were close," she told him as she lifted her hands. "You got lucky, kid. Anyone else need some help?"

The others instantly leveled a pointed look at Masaru, who wilted and looked a bit sheepish. "My... hip could use some help," he admitted, and the ANBU promptly went to work on it.

"Can you give us a summary of the situation?" Sasuke asked his teacher as she set to work, and Kakashi sighed.

"It's a bit complicated, but—"

Before he could finish a giant explosion rocked the stadium, the still-shaken genin nearly falling in the ensuing vibrations. Instantly their heads snapped to the wall separating them from the stands, their faces growing grim.

"What was that?" Naruto whispered, and Kiba growled, his nose twitching.

"I smell smoke... and blood. Lots of it." The other genin grimaced at the description, their stomach growing tighter with dread. Exchanging pointed looks, the small gathering reached a mutual decision and took off running for the nearest door, bursting into the arena.

Utter chaos greeted the small group when they entered the stands. Smoke rose from the center of the arena as three figures engaged in a deadly battle, while a majority of the audience slumped in their seats unconscious. Kunai and shuriken whizzed through the air as shinobi clashed, the familiar green of the jounin vests colliding with gray and tan blurs. With the Sharingan still active Sasuke and Masaru could see the enemy forces clear enough to recognize music notes and hourglasses on their hitai-ate, making their eyes widen in shock.

"They're from Suna and Oto," Sasuke reported grimly, and Kakashi growled, reaching into his pouch to retrieve a kunai.

"Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke! Naruto! Everyone!" The group turned to see a familiar blur of pink and red racing their way, weaving under an enemy shinobi's punch and delivering a harsh uppercut to his jaw before darting to them. Another ninja appeared behind her with a long combat knife raised above his head, but Naruto launched himself at the man with an angry roar, kicking him in the face.

While he flew down the steps Sasuke surged forward and threw kunai at him, successfully hitting him in the back. "Sakura, are you okay?" he asked, and their teammate nodded, panting heavily.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just..." She frowned, twisting her head to look at the arena with a frown.

"Sakura, report," Kakashi ordered, and she immediately stiffened before turning to face him once more, her face hardening.

"Approximately two minutes ago, white feathers began falling from the sky. I and Yamanaka Ino immediately detected it as a genjutsu and dispelled it, and fifteen seconds later enemy ninja launched an assault on the crowd. A bomb of some sort detonated in the arena ten seconds later, disrupting the fight. Ino and I rendezvoused with her father, Inoichi-san, and he sent me to find you while he took Ino to break shinobi out of the genjutsu in the audience."

Though she delivered the report in a calm tone, her viridian eyes gleamed with concern and fear, her throat bobbing as she swallowed dryly. "Something else happened," she added grimly, glancing at the Kage box, and the others immediately turned their heads to follow her gaze before stiffening in shock.

A purple barrier had formed atop the roof, the outlines of four figures visible inside the miasma-like material. While they couldn't make out any features through the haze, the battle in the Kage's box narrowed down the options considerably.

"Lord Hokage," Kakashi hissed, his eye narrowing as he peered at the barrier.

"Fuck!" Shintoki hissed behind them, snagging their attention. The group turned just in time to see a large arm made of sand grab the railing at the bottom of the stairs, a dark figure vaulting over the edge. Everyone instinctively stepped back as the newcomer leveled a cold gaze upon them, lips curling back into a sadistic smirk.

"Uchiha Sasuke, mother still wants your blood," Gaara declared almost gleefully, and then laughed as a tidal wave of sand surged towards them.