A/N: Hello, people... This one I actually had started even before Christmas break... Before my computer even when to maintenance actually in November... Anyways, I dug this out of naftaline and decided to write up so I can give something for you guys. Thank you for patience. I hope you like this even if this is a bit shorter than some other chapters I have.
If you want details about how the matches themselves went, please refer to chapters 32-34 of original DoS.
Chapter 11.
Kairi tied her hair on a high ponytail to mimic the style her father used. The sidelocks were hanging free once more. After sticking the hairsticks in place and tying her hitai-ate, she began checking her weapons. While she might've used them sparingly during the second phase and it was likely that Kankuro would forfeit his match if it came to it, the fact still remained that the invasion would be a full war in miniature scale and she would need everything she had on her.
Luckily, Natsuhiko-sensei had given her a package from her mother full of tiny kunai. They were shorter and narrower than standard ones and had grooves on the both sides of the blade to speed up bleeding even when the kunai was still stuck in the wound. They would definitely be handy. Especially when they were stored in a pair of seals that she attached inside her otherwise full weapon pouch.
Then there was a couple of color-coded explosives with triggers in a separate bag. Reika had stopped by in Suna and left them with Akane.
"Smoke bombs… Brimstone triggered firebombs… plain explosives…" They would become handy for distraction and sabotage. One of the many things she needed to do. Kairi took the last package of the delivery and opened it. Huffed an amused laugh.
"What is it?" Temari asked.
"Okaa-san sent me onigiri without seaweed… with gari-filling. My favourite." Considering that it was nearly impossible to get seaweed in the middle of desert, it wasn't that much of a surprise that any onirigi made would be without it.
"Gari? Pickled ginger?" The other blonde stared.
"Yep. I don't care for umeboshi and well… I've never seen tuna in Suna so… Not much choices left. And gari is so good." Kairi grinned and began eating the makeshift breakfast.
"Why am I even surprised…" Temari muttered, packing her things. Their belongings would be sent back to Suna before the finals even started in the case Konoha would have an opportunity to sneak about. Kairi thought it a wonderful idea. As she knew that the invasion would go to south, she totally agreed on getting her belongings out before it.
"Hey, Temari…
"Hm?"
"Good luck on the tournament."
"You too…"
Kairi stopped by the memorial stone and bowed to it.
"Please forgive me, Minato-jisan, Kushina-basan, for what I'm going to do for your village." She thought(prayed) and straightened up. She drew a deep breath before heading to the arena.
It was showtime.
They were standing down at the arena (with Sasuke missing), looking up at the audience and waiting for the Hokage to give his welcome speech to the nobles gathered. Kazekage and his two guards had already arrived to the Kage Box. Or rather, Orochimaru and his disguised Oto no Yun were up there. Kairi glanced to the side at Hayate who was the tournament proctor here too. Apparently, he'd healed quite well from their fight.
So had Kairi.
"Welcome all!" Hokage's voice boomed. "And our deepest thanks for coming here to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for our Chuunin Exams. We will now start the main tournament matches between the ten participants who made is through the preliminaries. Please stay and watch until the end!"
Hayate turned to address the chuunin-hopefuls. His gaze stopped on Kairi for a second but no one seemed to notice.
"Alright." The TokuJo coughed, his voice reaching the stands easily too. "The terrain is different but the rules are the same. Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga have the first match. Those two stay, and the rest of you can go to the waiting area."
The seven of them left, leaving the two competitors and the judge on the arena.
Kairi settled on leaning against the railing next to Kankuro and Temari. The match was going on below them. It was… different. Good but different. Kairi honestly wasn't surprised anymore at this point. Naruto was doing great.
"Nee, Kankuro…" She began.
"Huh? Yeah?" The boy looked up at her from the match.
"In the case that the rumors hold true and Uchiha Sasuke will arrive late… Will you give me a good showing of a fight?"
"But it wouldn't happen, right? With everything going to happen…" The face-paint boy spoke.
"Considering the political value of both the Last Uchiha and your little brother, it's more than likely that the match will be delayed rather than cancelled for the sake of the paying audience." Kairi explained. "Thus… If we are to have our match, I won't allow you to just quit. If we have to have an exhibition match without going all in, so be it. I can grant you a relatively quick knockdown in that case. But I want my match!" She glared.
"Hey, why would you? And what makes you think you can beat me anyways?" Kankuro glared straight back with Temari watching between them.
"Because you owe me, for the Forest of Death. Because this is the last time I'm sent to international chuunin exams. Because I graduated two years prior to you and thus have more experience. Because the Plan might become a huge clusterfuck in the end. Take your pick, but don't you dare forfeit!" Kairi hissed.
On the background people were cheering and clapping for Naruto's win. Kankuro remained silent for a moment. then he nodded.
"Fine, but if you get stung by my poisons, it's your own fault."
"No worries about that."
Down at the arena, someone was carrying a message to Hayate. Was that Raidou?
Temari scoffed at the situation but descended on the arena on her fan, accompanied by a blast of wind. She was quite cool.
"Match two: Ino Yamanaka versus Temari. Begin!"
This match would be interesting.
And it was. Ino used ninjawire and explosive tags. Even some poison. She forced Temari even use Kirikiri Mai! Kairi stared down at the arena. Konoha's rookies were scary. As Ino had gotten to the finals with a freebie, Kairi hadn't expected much, but the younger girl had definitely trained a lot and could give a good showing. Even when Temari was losing her temper with the evasion tactics used, Kairi could sense a pattern there.
And the plan could've worked. If the fan had been the only way to produce the wind techniques that was.
"Ino Yamanaka is unconscious and unable to continue." Hayate announced.
Kairi shuffled her cards. She hadn't even noticed that she'd packed them to her weapons' pouch. Oh well, they didn't take much space and could be used as projectiles in a pinch. Like Wing from HunterxHunter had used a normal sheet of paper when demonstrating the usage of Nen to strengthen normal object and cut a soda can in half with the paper. And she was a kunoichi. She could use anything she had as a weapon.
Down in the arena Shino and Shikamaru were fighting. It was interesting. Insects and shadows, water and usage of the conditions left by the previous competitors… Shikamaru was definitely using his sister's apparent sealing expertise to help himself. And utilizing Ino's ninjawires too. He won his match.
Naturally.
It was Kairi's turn now. She jumped over the railing and landed down after a somersault. Kankuro used the stairs. He wasn't forfeiting (yet). Good.
"Match four: Kankuro versus Kairi Fuukatsu. Begin!"
Kankuro unraveled Karasu. Kairi flipped open her fan. She ducked under the first assault of the puppet and blocked the second attempt with her fan. As long as she didn't force Kankuro to use more complicated maneuvers, it was all good. Of course, she couldn't let him win either. Getting poisoned was not fun and if she were detained to the infirmary, Konoha could easily arrest her there and prevent her from completing her mission.
"Kinkazekiri no jutsu!" Kairi intoned after gaining some distance. She let the technique go wide and have Kankuro some space to dodge the cutting blades she sent on.
Then she flicked her fan shut again and dashed forward when the boy was distracted. The folded-up version of Kogonhi slammed against Karasu's head, smacking it to the ground, thus jerking the chakra strings that Kankuro used and unbalancing the boy. Kanata-san was one of Kairi's acquaintances in Suna and from him she'd learnt about the weaknesses of the puppet corps and why certain shinobi were paired up with them.
So with Kankuro suitably distracted, Kairi used Soru (the straight-forward version) to get behind him and press a kunai against his jugular.
"Yield!"
"I… I yield." He didn't really have other chances. Even if he had Karasu back upright, he'd have to maneuver it behind her in order to attack and in that time she could easily kill him.
"Kankuro cannot continue, winner is Kairi Fuukatsu." Hayate announced. Kairi let go of her fellow Suna-nin. Her eye lingered briefly on the judge but she departed quickly for the stands then. Kankuro followed her once he had Karasu in the wrappings on his back.
On the stairs Kairi stopped for a moment but didn't turn around when addressing the boy.
"Kankuro-kun… Thanks."
There was no sign of Sasuke or Kakashi yet. Kairi frowned. It couldn't be because of her though. After all the fact she had her match with Kankuro (albeit short as it was) would've bought them more time. So where were those two then?
Down at the arena, Hayate coughed.
"The time limit has expired, so I'm officially calling this match-…"
And then there was the telltale hurricane of leaves that came with the more flamboyant version of shunshin.
"Sorry we're late. You wouldn't believe the traffic." One Hatake Kakashi smiled.
"Of course… what did I expect from him?" Kairi muttered dully and leant against the railing once more. She was studiously ignoring the feeling of bloodlust emanating from Gaara. Good thing Temari silenced Kankuro before he managed to inadvertently get killed simply for talking to the younger boy in that state.
Gaara made his way downstairs and to the arena while Hayate explained to rules to Sasuke. Kakashi had already left.
A moment passed and then all three remaining Suna-nin at the balcony flinched when the bloodlust sky-rocketed for a moment.
"What was that?" Temari gasped. "He isn't even at the arena yet."
"I don't know…" Kankuro muttered, sweating heavily.
Kairi in the other hand was flicking through her Archive with rapid speed and… oh. The two Kusa-nin that tried to persuade Gaara to purposefully lose his match against Sasuke because people were betting. How… wasteful.
It was yet another incident where Naruto had realized how dangerous Gaara was in canon. Here though, Shikamaru hadn't had a match against Temari and he hadn't forfeited his match. And Kankuro had battled against Kairi before Gaara's match. So Naruto hadn't jumped down onto the arena and scolded the Nara boy, thus not met Gaara in the stairway.
How interesting all these cause-effect relationships were… Kairi looked up at the audience and searched for the Konoha genins not participating the finals. She didn't manage to spot them before the match between Sasuke and Gaara begun.
The match was very much like in canon. The only big addition was yet another water scroll that Sasuke used.
"Huh? How did he get that? He's been with Kakashi the entire time, right?" Kairi blinked but snorted then. "Butterflies…"
When Gaara gathered his sand into a cocoon and formed a sandy eye on the wall of the arena, Kairi straightened up. She glanced at the two thirds of Sand siblings who had tensed too. Gaara was early from the plan.
Sasuke retreated to the wall and began going through hand signs. Chidori was being prepared. And with the speed he'd gained during the month of training, it would be interesting to see what it'd look like.
"Damn… Once he'd like this there's nothing that can be done." Kankuro muttered.
"Does Gaara want to mess up the plan?" Temari thought aloud.
"It's not about 'want'." Kairi said quietly.
"Huh?"
"Gaara doesn't care about the plan or the invasion. He just wants blood. When I went to look for him yesterday, he was at the hospital, about to kill his preliminary opponent and three other Konoha's genins. It was only the promise of blood today that eventually made him come to the strategy meeting." The green-eyed blonde ran a hand through her ponytail and sighed. "I think he has been going through a great mental and emotional conflict for a long time, if the way he looks at Gai-san and Lee-kun is any indication."
"What do you mean?" Temari asked slowly, like dreading the answer.
"Gaara is treated like a rabid dog at Suna. Whatever seal that was used on him and Shukaku, has messed him up and the number of assassins going after him aren't making the situation any better. He doesn't understand the concept of caring about someone other than himself and even then only to the point of survival. Gai-san saved Lee-kun's life and he interfered yesterday too. Everyone he meets have bonds with other people. Gaara has only Shukaku and that is not healthy, not with the way he calls it his mother…"
"Mother?" Kankuro asked him disgust. Did he not know? Right, he probably avoided talking with the boy whenever possible.
"The only way I've gotten Gaara to back off this far has been through logic. Emotion doesn't work because he has no one to care for." Kairi concluded just as Sasuke began running down the wall, lighting in his hand chirping like thousand birds.
Chi chi chi chi chi…
The technique had certainly earned its name. And it was very powerful technique. Concentrated lighting, packed into approximate size of a fist. The ultimate chakra conversion into Lighting Element. Kakashi was genius when he developed the technique around the time he became jonin at the age of thirteen and Sasuke was one too, learning the technique in a mere month around the same age.
Sasuke punched through the sand cocoon. There were spikes protruding from the sand formation but ultimately the Uchiha was relatively unharmed.
"No way! Gaara's absolute defense has been…"
"It can't be…"
"Hoo…"
The audience, especially of Suna variety were shocked. Kairi quirked a discreet smile and glanced around for the Konoha Anbu stationed in the audience. Things should start running soon.
"UWAAAAA! BLOOD… MY… MY BLOOD!" Gaara screamed.
It… was chilling. The boy had never been physically harmed due his automatic sand defense. Kairi wasn't sure what Rasa's gold sand did though so it was possible that Gaara might've been controlled through pain but mostly any abuse the boy had suffered, had been mental and emotional.
"It… It can't be…" Temari gasped.
Sasuke tore his arm out of the cocoon and dragged 'Shukaku's arm' with him outside.
"Did he transform into his 'complete' form?!" Kankuro panicked.
"I don't know! It looks like he's been wounded, this has never…" Temari replied.
The bloodlust and chakra pressure skyrocketed.
"Be prepared." Kairi swallowed. "We might start early."
The cocoon collapsed then, leaving wounded but fully human Gaara standing in the arena.
"I knew it, a wound! The cocoon was broken while he was still incomplete!"
Then the white feathers started falling. Smoke exploded in the Kagebox. The Operation Konoha Crush had begun.
The next sequence of events happened quickly. A plume of summoning was seen to rise somewhere outside Konoha's borders. Anbu were on the move, protecting high-ranked officials and cutting through Kazekage's bodyguards. Kazekage's form was seen to take Hokage as hostage and retreat to the roofs where a four-walled barrier rose.
Sound-nin were appearing from the woodwork. Suna forces were probably in the village already.
"Let's go." Kairi told the two with her and they jumped down to Gaara. Baki was down there too. And Hayato had stepped to guard Sasuke from the hostiles.
"Gaara, the plan…" Baki began but the jinchuuriki boy was curling into himself in pain.
"I knew it…" Temari said.
"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked.
"Fool! Trying to transform into your complete form before the signal!" The jonin with them berated to boy.
"He's experiencing the side-effects. It's impossible to proceed now."
"Then what are we supposed to do?! Do it without Gaara?!"
Baki weighted the decision but told the Sand siblings to retreat then.
"Fuukatsu, you have your orders." He added then, telling Kairi that she was expected to do her part even without the Shukaku distracting the majority of Konoha's forces.
"Understood."
The siblings left and Kairi Shunpo'd away, to the wall and towards the audience.
"Kairi!" Someone called. It was Kabuto. Kairi looked up to see black cloak of Anbu speeding towards her with a blur of green chasing after him. Gai.
One step to the right and they passed each other, the spy tossing something baton shaped to her. Another step to the right and Kairi was out of Gai's reach and she continued her run to the roofs of the dignitary boxes. She glanced at the object she had gotten from Kabuto. A sealing scroll.
"This will be a tough dance, mates." She muttered and flipped out of the way of some Konoha chuunin ducking it out with Oto-nin. "What a way to spend my birthday…"
A/N: And the invasion has started. Kairi got her match against Kankuro. It was quite good warm-up before the real fight begins even if I say so...
Oh, in the case people don't know, I've posted this fic to AO3 too. The name of the fic is the same there.
Replies to Reviews:
-gonewind321:
Your suggestions are excellent, I'll keep these in mind when it's time for me to write Kairi's time post-invasion.
Ah, I barely even remembered what yo'd written as suggestions in regards to this chapter but apparently I subconsciously went along with it. :D Not too much about battles, a smidge of Kabuto on the side but mostly other things. How is this possible? Is this an instance of 'great minds think alike'? So mysterious...
Yeah, Kairi has her jobs in Konoha so she'll stay away from the forest. While she is an SI-OC with passing fondness for canon characters, ultimately she is Suna-nin and more worried about people she has gotten to know during the years. Even if Naruto is her cousin, she knows next to nothing about him in reality and if he survived in canon, why not here too?
And... argh... are you seriously predicting all my plot points here?
-Axel Fones:
Thank you. I might do them more in the next few chapters. Not sure yet.
-DiamondKing12:
I'll try my best. Thank you very much. :)
-Evani:
Hayate is brilliant character. I probably would've spared him even without DoS saying he was alive.
-The Lazy Princess:
Thank you. Once the big Konoha arc is done, we get to explore Kairi's family more.
-The Real Chys Lattes:
I wonder... Shikako maybe since she is sort of hyper-aware of him because of Naruto and Sasuke. Gai probably too.
-Ender the multiverse Detective:
Thank you.
-Arenea Nara:
Sorry, I don't understand Spanish. But thank you for your review anyways.
-ramnrmeul: (chapter 1)
Yeah, Dei-kun is the same age than Kairi but few weeks older.
-Hey: (guest)
Thank you. :)