Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Chapter Title: The Storm
"An attack?" Asuma questioned such even as he moved to his feet, his Chakra blades drawn and delivering punishing Wind Chakra enhanced blows to the two Sunagakure Shinobi that tried to attack him. He saw ANBU begin to move from where they had hidden themselves amongst the crowd, clash with the attackers that had done the same. "What the hell's going on?"
He looked to Kurenai for answer, the Genjutsu expert already finding a target and trapping them in an illusion. By the screams that tore from their throat, it wasn't a very pleasant one. He ripped into the chest of one of the Sunagakure Shinobi that tried to attack her. A kunai she threw at blinding speed took out the second coming from her other side. Asuma flipped the trench knives in his hands, held them down at his side as the Chakra he ran down to them took shape.
"What did you find out?" Kunai were useless now. The first to try and clash with him learned such a lesson when he removed her head from her shoulders without being stopped. The second learned his Wind Nature wasn't strong enough to beat Asuma's own. Both were too young to understand how to come at a Jonin to kill. Asuma's mind did not dwell on them.
"Oto and Suna are behind this." Kurenai moved back, drew a pair of kunai to her hands. "Attack on the walls and that boy down there is the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi."
"You picked a good target." Kurenai smiled at him before the two Jonin threw themselves into action.
"Sakura!" Ino moved as fast as she could to the railing. She saw it covered with sand, a shape taking form and Naruto nowhere in sight. She saw the pink haired Genin trapped, sand crawling up her legs and trying to pull her under. "Sakura!"
"Ino?" Sakura's emerald eyes turned to the source of the shout. Panic crossed her face. "Stay back Ino! Don't come down here!"
"I know that idiot!" Shikamaru and Choji finally caught up with her. "We're going to get you out of there!" She turned to her two teammates and best friends. "What do you've got Shikamaru?"
"I'm on perimeter, Choji will grab her, and you make sure that thing doesn't get any ideas." Shikamaru fell into a crouch as his shadow encircled them. Choji moved to the railing and his fist grew to massive size before he threw it down. Shikamaru's shadow began to stretch out, connect to the countless shadows from the seats and the unconscious forms within them. Ino closed her eyes, put her sensory skills to use to search for any attacking Shinobi as she laid a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder.
Choji's hand reached Sakura and wrapped around the Genin. He pulled and she winced but the sand released her without much of a fight. It was withdrawing anyway, being drawn into the center where Gaara's form had disappeared beneath the sand. Her arm wrapped around the railing just as Shikamaru's shadow latched onto an attacking Sunagakure Shinobi. Choji released her and his massive fist sent the attacker into the air.
"All of you alright?" Asuma's voice came from above them as the bearded Jonin put his Taijutsu skills to brutal efficiency, his trench knives in their normal state with Chakra running across them.
"We're f-" A cutting gale of wind ripped towards them, launched by a trio of Sunagakure Shinobi who wielded massive metal fans like Temari had in the exams.
"Do not worry!" Lee kicked to counter the wind. The displaced air he sent forward tore apart the wind blades and cut in the attackers. He stood in front of them, dark eyes searching for another threat to find none. "I will protect my younger comrades."
"Should expect stuff like that from a kid like you." Asuma had enough time for a small grin to cross his face before he nodded. "Keep them all safe Lee."
"You have my word." Lee gave a resolute nod.
Asuma returned to the fight, a punch backed by his Chakra blade tearing through the Flak Jacket of another Sunagakure Shinobi trying to get the drop of him and put a hole in the stadium when the corpse hit the wall. He moved to it and observed the village from it.
'Damn.' Panic had taken hold of the streets. Suna and Konoha Shinobi were killing each other in the streets and civilians were fleeing in a panic to the shelter, protected by the Shinobi down there as best they could.
"The stadium isn't going to be safe for much longer." Kurenai joined him, her eyes looking to where the sand continued to form into a monster. "We need to get the people out of here."
"There's nothing we can do for this many people." Asuma rested his Chakra Blades at his side, his mind running a mile minute as he took in the scene below him. "Even if we could get them all up, we won't be able to get them far from the stadium in that anarchy."
"The ANBU are too busy keeping the attackers they can here." Kurenai looked around, spotted Anko as her snakes crushed the throats of a trio of Shinobi that tried to attack her from behind. She threw a kunai with accuracy befitting a Shinobi her rank and blood poured from the punctured neck of another attacker. Their comrade couldn't even scream at her in rage before Ibiki's dark form was there, snapping their neck with practiced ease before throwing the corpse away. "I would say let Anko take over here and the two of us take as many as we can in trips but…"
"We both know how that would end." Asuma desperately wished he could smoke but thought better of it. It would do no good to waste time with lighting a cigarette when he could be killing some of the attackers. "We need to think of something fast."
"I know." Kurenai looked around the two, Sunagakure Shinobi approaching the two Jonin in a pack.
"Let's deal with the brats first." Asuma rose his trench knives and darted forward. Kurenai had trapped several in a Genjutsu already and it showed when Asuma brought the blades across the necks of several without a reaction. They crumpled to the ground and he met their angered comrades with a number of ferocious blows.
One attempted to attack him with a Wind Jutsu only to find their hand severed before he put his bladed fist through their Flak Jacket and into their chest. Another attempted to attack him only to fall prey to another Genjutsu and Kurenai joined him with her kunai slitting their throat. Two more tried to attack her, hoping to avenge their comrade and use his death as a distraction, and she trapped one in a Genjutsu that made them pounce on their fellow Sungakure Shinobi. She let the maddened Shinobi confuse friend for foe twice more before killing her. By the time she killed her third Shinobi with her own hands, Asuma had finished off the last three.
"I wonder where Kakashi is." Asuma returned his focus to the battle not expecting an answer. There was a village to defend at the moment after all. He could find an answer to his question later once they all made it out of the attack alive.
"My Legate is at your feet Kakashi Hatake, why should I bother with aiding you or the village now?" Naruto crouched down next to the Legate of his Orange Legion, pressed a pair of fingers and felt a pulse. "What have you done to him?"
"I made a rash decision." Kakashi let his hand fall into his pockets. "He'll be fine soon."
"That is not the problem here and you know it." Naruto did not rise, his eyes remained focused on the form of his Legate. "I can forgive your actions against my Legate earlier, his conviction and loyalty to me was an admirable thing to be made aware of but I will not forgive this." He turned his Legate onto his back, black eyes couldn't focus on anything, they moved wildly in their sockets. "Your actions stirred something in him."
"What?" Kakashi crouched down across from him. "I released the Jutsu, I didn't do anything else to him."
"Your actions do not need explaining to me Hatake." Naruto looked down at his Legate, felt his pulse steadily increasing. His breathing was growing audible, growing in rate just like his heartbeat. "I came here to speak of what I promised I would before I fought the mad dog but I see how useless it was to make a man such as yourself wait for anything." He looked down to his Legate's waist and saw the absence of his blade. "I can hardly bother to be disappointed in his failure knowing he came against you. I'm beginning to think even that was part of whatever plan your mind conceived."
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Kakashi looked away from the Uchiha. He had already recognized the signs for what they were. He had done something, acted as a trigger to unlock trauma of some sort. He didn't want to look on and see the results.
"I do not care for what you wish for." Naruto looked up at Kakashi. "Leave my presence Kakashi Hatake."
"Naruto, I-"
"Leave before you lead others to ruin Hatake." Naruto wasn't looking at him with any humor, any taunts, there was nothing but rage in his eyes.
'I need to find Sakura.' He took off down the halls. He could save one of his students today if he moved fast enough.
He could hopefully stop more names being added to the Memorial Stone at the same time.
"I didn't expect something like this from you Rasa." Hiruzen was at ease despite the Gold Dust that encased him, the ANBU that had been restrained just as he was by the Kazekage's powerful ability. It consumed the box they had observed the Chunin Exams in and had burst through the walls to draw in the Daimyo, crushing their escort in the process. "I thought you knew better than to ally with Orochimaru."
"I plan to kill him after this is over with Sarutobi." The Kazekage looked to the barrier that had taken hold of the box, a cyclone made of razor sharp wind blades. "But before that, I intend for you to see the village you take so much pride in burn around you."
"This foolishness is fitting for a man much younger than you Rasa." Hiruzen looked at the Kazekage with almost pity. "Your son, the boy you turned into a weapon, will not destroy this village. The monsters Orochimaru unleashes will not destroy this village. Even if you burn every house to the ground, kill all you can find, you cannot destroy this village."
"You're speaking nonsense now old man." Rasa tightened the hold of his Gold Dust with a fist. "Maybe I should kill you now and save myself the trouble of listening to your mad ramblings."
"You simply prove my point Rasa." Hiruzen shook his head, the white cloth that draped from the rim of the Hokage hat moving with the movement. "You should never have committed yourself, your Shinobi, and the very future of your village with an attack on my home."
The hat fell onto the empty prison.
"What?" Rasa drew back, Gold Dust surrounded him, and his Shinobi began falling. He moved to attack, put a sphere of Gold Dust through the blur that moved through the room to no avail. He chose to kill the trapped ANBU instead, lifting a hand only to withdraw it just as quickly.
A kunai enshrouded with Chakra narrowly missed severing his outstretched hand. He received a light cut through his robes instead. Blood stained the white dark red around the frayed edges.
The ANBU escaped when his concentration lapsed, the dark rings around his eyes almost gone from view.
Gold Dust rose to his defense when a stream of fire shot towards him. It rose to his defense once more when a bullet of water exploded behind him, unleashing a wave of water forward. The ANBU began their attack, drawing their blades and lightning, fire, air, water, and earth began to fill the air and cover the ground as the Sunagakure Shinobi within the barrier were put on the defensive. Steel sang as the ANBU attacked, showed no mercy to the attackers.
None came close to him.
Gold Dust shot forward to spear through the head of one but a wall of stone erupted from the floor. Before Rasa could break through it, he was enshrouded in Gold Dust to prevent himself from being blown away by the sudden gale that was aimed solely at him. Deep gashes were carved into the sphere of Gold Dust, almost ripped through it if he didn't focus. Fires came from above, the heat great enough that he knew the Gold Dust was being fused above him.
Four jagged pillars of blue stone emerged around him then, lightning formed a fence between them and his Third Eye took shape near the barrier just as he was consumed in a structure not dissimilar to an oven. His Gold Dust, spread across the room, surged forward to break him free, but he felt more than saw the flames that ignited within.
'How is he doing all this?' His Gold Dust wrapped around the oven, crushed it and smothered the fires within. 'He's one old man but he's performing all th-'
"That was close." He narrowly dodged spears erupting from the earth, taking to the air on a platform of Gold Dust. He cast his one open dark ringed eye around the room but could not see his foe. "Where are you hiding Hiruzen?"
"I was underneath the platform." Hiruzen's sandal clad feet struck him in the stomach before the aged Hokage pushed himself off of him and flipped in the air, landing in a crouch on the ground. "You need to be more observant in battle Rasa."
The Kazekage couldn't answer as he was currently on the ground, rising up on his hands as he fought the urge to hold his stomach. His Gold Dust surged around him then, lifted him up on a pillar and a second Third Eye took shape behind Hiruzen as he was consumed in a sphere of Gold Dust.
'This isn't right. He wasn't supposed to get free from my trap but he did, how?' Rasa took in the entire battlefield with his two uses of the Third Eye technique. 'This is supposed to be Suna's day of triumph! The day I burn Konoha to the ground and show the entire world the power of Suna! This was supposed to be the day I show all those foolish Daimyo why my village is superior!'
Gold Dust took to the air, began to rain down on where Rasa could only guess the Hokage stood. He tore apart the ground below him, did his best to kill the old man who should be dead already.
'Why won't he die?'
"What are we supposed to do?" Sakura helped Ino with one of her arms over her shoulder move after her crutches had been lost and looking for them would be too risky. The five Genin had managed to reach the relative safety of the participant's box and took a moment to think inside.
"I will pursue Gaara when he awakens." Lee looked towards the sand that began to truly take shape, take a recognizable form, in the arena. "Our primary mission as Shinobi of Konoha before that is to escort all civilians from the battlefield and to shelters before staging our counterattack."
"Lee's right." Shikamaru's eyes traveled to the sleeping civilians outside. "We need to wake up as many as we can and move them out of harm's way. Once we do that, we can find one of our sensei and ask for any other orders."
"How are we going to move so many people?" Choji joined Shikamaru with looking out the window. "There's five of us and this place is packed."
"We will figure out a way." Lee refused to allow anything to stop him. "We are Shinobi of Konoha and it is our duty to overcome such obstacles."
"You should join your sensei and friends in the seats Ino. Stay close to them and don't wander." Sasuke looked at her with something approaching worry before it was gone. Something masked it, arrogance. "If you leave, you may miss my match."
"Don't get overconfident Sasuke-kun." Ino smirked at him. "If you're not careful, I'm sure she'll beat you and embarrass you in front of so many people."
"That's hardly likely Ino-chan." There was something in her name again. Worry really did take hold of his eyes as he looked to her. "Remember what I said."
"What if…what if we find Sasuke?" Ino focused on the floor as all eyes turned to her. "I know he's not the best but I've got a feeling he'll help us. He can summon Naruto's army to him at least and that deals with any number issues. If we can get him to summon them, we can get the people here to safety in the shelter."
"…That may work." Shikamaru looked to Sakura. "If we run into Naruto, can you get him to help us?"
"I-I'm not so sure he likes me much anymore." Sakura remembered the complete lack of hesitance that took hold of him when she had been dragged in front of him. He had only stopped his attack for as long as he did so that he could mock the traitorous ANBU that had been behind her. "He didn't try to talk to the ANBU that brought me down to him. He just attacked after laughing at him."
"Then Sasuke really is our best bet." Shikamaru brought his hand to his eyes. "This may be a problem." He turned to Ino. "Can you find him?"
"Give me a moment." Ino closed her eyes and Sakura took a lot more of her weight. Rock Lee took Ino's other shoulder and took some of the burden of Ino's weight off of her. The Yamanaka snapped her eyes open after a near minute had passed and didn't look happy. "I…I can't find him with all the different Chakra signatures around us. We need to get someplace else where I can pick it out."
"There's no place else to go with the village under attack." Shikamaru let out a sigh. "We need to come up with a new plan then."
"Plan? Children these days are always living in some fantasy world. You children aren't making it out of there alive." The participant's box was covered from all sides by a single figure. Chiyo the Elder. Ten of the most famous puppets in the world surrounded them and began their approach.
"Hold it granny!" Anko's voice was never so welcomed. A kunai was thrown with the normal deadly precision but was knocked out of the air before it could reach her. She didn't even bother to turn as a horned and lavender colored puppet charged Anko with large fists raised. The Tokubetsu Jonin didn't run, she threw an arm forward and snakes ripped through the air and filled it with hisses. They coiled around the puppet, wrapped around its limbs and their powerful bodies began to crack it.
"You kids get out of here." Anko didn't look to the Genin. "I'll keep this old lady busy until you're clear, got it?"
"But we can help." Shikamaru almost dropped into a crouch.
"I said leave!" Anko let her anger out, let her Killing Intent sweep across the area and actually stirred a few dozen civilians from their Genjutsu induced sleep. "Three of you are high priority targets for any invaders so get their hands on so get to safety now!" She urged her snake to tighten their grip, hear the cracks coming from the puppet. "I'll cover you."
A pink skinned puppet with red hair tied in a style like Tenten's cleaved them in half with one of two large broadswords it wielded. It charged Anko only for the proctor to draw the blade she had taken from Sasuke and counter one broadsword and used a kunai with Chakra running through it to stop the second. The large fist of the demon like puppet she had restrained briefly were sent towards her with terrifying speed. She ducked and slipped past the bun haired puppet's guard and ran Chakra through the blade.
A cable wrapped around her arm and she was pulled through the air, crashing into some of the unconscious civilians as she was thrown to the side. She recovered and jumped up to her feet in time to use the flat of the blade to stop the large fist sent to rip through her head of the demon like puppet.
"This sword's pretty durable." Anko strained to keep the puppet away from her with one hand, the other still wrapped in the cable. She tried to pull it free only to be pulled off balance and the fist passed her guard.
A hound of stone barreled into the puppet, threw it into the shifting sand of the arena. It growled, rocks leaping from its jaws as it barked, and remained in front of Anko. She looked relieved to see the stone dog and she grinned as she spun the sword in her hand and severed the cable wrapped around her arm.
"Let's see what you've got granny." Anko charged forward, the dog at her side.
"Kakashi-sensei created that dog." Sakura turned to the other side and found a dog of lightning fending off more Sunagakure Shinobi. "Kakashi-sensei is here!"
"Yo." Said Jonin appeared in front of the five Genin in a burst of smoke. "You five need to get out of here, I'll backup Anko."
"Ino, keep searching for Sasuke." Shikamaru looked to Lee but before he could speak, the green wearing Genin had placed Ino on his back. "Choji, cover the rear, I'll keep an eye on your flank with Sakura." The five Genin burst from the participant's box and the attempts of another puppet with large fists to stop them were met with a stream of fire from Kakashi. It was pulled out of the way with a twitch of Chiyo's fingers but Kakashi formed a cross shaped hand seal in front of his chest. A number of shadow clones appeared and began to attack the clones in addition to the real Kakashi of the Sharingan.
Suffice to say, Chiyo was too occupied to continue her attack.
"Find anything yet Ino?"
"She has discovered nothing." Shikamaru wasn't surprised when Lee answered for the Yamanaka. He had a feeling he would know of any development of their search long before Ino could come out of her trance and vocalize them to the rest.
"Alright, we'll move through the halls then." Shikamaru looked for a way to get there when he was forced to come to a stop, a number of Sunagakure Shinobi coming towards them. He fell into a crouch but didn't get a chance to use his Clan's infamous Jutsu.
A purple haired cat masked ANBU was suddenly in front of him, swinging with her sword and unleashing a blade of Chakra that made blade spill from one of the attacking woman's chest. The ANBU formed a shadow clone on either side of herself and all three attacked the six puppets sent at them by two users.
"Thanks for the save." Shikamaru leaped back to Lee's side as Sakura threw a number of shuriken and kunai forward, peppering the back of an unaware Suna Shinobi before he could react. He collapsed forward and she didn't flinch as she moved past.
'She must have taken her first life during the mission to Waves.' Shikamaru made a mental note of such a fact when she showed only steely resolve. 'This helps.'
"Choji, how you doing back there?" Shikamaru didn't turn to see his longtime friend. He focused on keeping Lee's path clear with Sakura. An explosive kunai put a hole in another Sunagakure Shinobi's chest and he fought down the urge to vomit at the sight.
He was a Shinobi defending his home, defending his family, defending his friends. He killed the people trying to destroy his home, kill his family, kill his friends.
"Fine." Choji was drawing back his partially enlarged fist from delivering a no doubt crippling blow to an attacker from Suna. "How close are we to getting out of this?"
"A few more seconds." Shikamaru was right.
The group entered the tunnels that ran around the stadium and Lee immediately took off. Shikamaru didn't say anything but follow his lead and Sakura and Choji followed him without a word. Shikamaru figured Ino figured out she didn't need to say much with someone like Lee. He was aware enough of every one of her movements when she was on his back she didn't need to bother with talking. It would actually just be a waste of time.
"I believe we are getting close." Lee picked up speed and Shikamaru pushed himself to keep up, Sakura matching his pace and Choji going slightly slower to stay in the back. His eyes were on a constant rotation as he moved with kunai in his hands.
"I hope so, this is exhausting." Shikamaru received a look from Sakura but didn't let it bother him. "I'm not cut out for running this fast."
He felt that if Ino wasn't as focused as she was, she would tell him to quit being lazy. He was lucky she was.
"Alright, that's it." Asuma let his trench knives fly from his hands and burned through the necessary hand signs for his technique. "Katon: Haisekisho!" A black cloud engulfed the Sunagakure invaders approaching him and he bit down on the flint in his mouth.
They were engulfed in a massive explosion.
"I thought they would expect that from you." Kurenai landed next to him, a number of Sunagakure Shinobi unconscious behind her. They would be earmarked for the Torture and Interrogation Force if she had time but she settled on throwing a hail of shuriken behind her to end them. "Ino used it in the first round after all."
"I wouldn't put people who invade a village like Konoha high on the intelligence scale." Asuma snatched his falling trench knives out of the air and looked to where Anko and Kakashi took on Chiyo the Elder. "Think we should go back them up?"
"They'll be fine." Kurenai leaped to the top of the stadium and Asuma joined her a moment later. "We need to support the rest of the village now."
"Damn…things look pretty bad." Asuma observed the burning buildings, the bodies he could already see strewn across the streets, and the battles that still raged below them. He cast his eyes back to the arena and saw the sand still shifting. "And that thing is still inside and no one knows when the Ichibi is going to go wild."
"I can't believe I'm saying this but leave it to the Uzumaki." Kurenai ignored the way Asuma looked at her. "He'll want to finish his fight at least." She leaped from the stadium. Asuma followed after her. He formed a number of hand signs in the middle of the air and took in a deep breath as Kurenai threw a number of shuriken.
"Futon: Shinkujin!" He breathed out bullets of greenish air on each of her projectiles that turned the shuriken into deadly fan blades.
"Katon: Endan!" Kurenai further complimented the technique with a barrage of small fire bullets.
The two had used the combination before and their Chakra was matched rather well for it. The already deadly wind shuriken were lit aflame and struck the Sunagakure Shinobi below them with lethal force thanks to the practiced accuracy of the two Jonin responsible for the attack.
"I almost thought you wouldn't manage to catch on Asuma." Kurenai landed first, two Sunagakure Shinobi were frozen like statues when she locked them into a Genjutsu.
"You thought I'll miss a set up that obvious?" Asuma chuckled as the two invaders fell with a quick slash of his Chakra laden trench knives to the throat of each. "I'm not blind."
The two Jonin began to assist the Shinobi on the streets with evacuating the civilians of Konohagakure, the focus of the invaders shifting from spreading chaos and destruction to defeating the two powerful Jonin that had joined the battle in the streets.
They were failing.
Kurenai trapped two in Genjutsu as they approached, Asuma cut down one and mortally wounded a second with his Flying Swallow, and Kurenai trapped three more with Genjutsu that turned them against their comrades in a maddened frenzy. Both formed a set of hand signs together and took deep breaths.
"Katon: Goen no Jutsu!" Both spewed out twin streams of fire that swept down two streets next to each other, widening to consume the entirety of the street as the two continued to breath out the flames. A pair of Sunagakure Shinobi tried to strike them from behind only to be nearly instantly taken down by the arriving Iruka Umino.
He continued on his way without stopping. He threw a handful of shuriken at another Sunagakure Shinobi and didn't watch their body fall from the rooftops to the ground. He had a goal in mind as he reached the stadium and began to race up it.
'Naruto.'
"This isn't good." Jiraiya observed the trio of large snakes that barreled towards him, the Shinobi that did their best to hold one of the gates of Konoha. He quickly formed a number of hand signs and blew out a stream of flames, torching the ground in front of the gates and dissuading the slithering snakes. They would figure out a way through the flames eventually, discover a way to put them out more likely, and the Toad Sage raced through another fair number of hand signs before he struck the wall.
His Chakra raced down the wall and a swamp formed, the fires burned themselves out on the patches of ground he left it before it was swallowed by the swamp. Jiraiya let air escape him with an almost sigh as he rose back to his full height and observed the trio of large snakes that had appeared suddenly in front of the gates.
'No doubt about it.' He took note of the mark each bore on the red scarf at the base of their heads. 'These guys are from the Ryuchi Cave.' Their possible summoner was a short list. Jiraiya had been all around the world and he didn't find many people with the Chakra needed to summon not only the three snakes in front of him but the three snakes he could imagine were located at the other gates to the village. 'Orochimaru.'
Jiraiya lifted both thumbs to his mouth.
"If he wants to play the summoning game, we'll play." Jiraiya moved through the necessary hand signs before he dropped from the wall and slammed a hand onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
He was engulfed in a massive cloud of smoke.
"He's had his fun and played his hand." Jiraiya's voice came from the smoke as three large forms were slowly becoming visible. "He's had his turn." Slowly the three massive forms were revealed.
The dual katana wielding toad known as Gamahiro was first, his massive blades drawn. A croak that shook the buildings came from the massive warrior.
The sasumata and shield wielding toad known as Gamaken was next. He rested his sasumata on his shoulders and readied himself for battle with his shield in hand.
Last was the Toad Boss himself in the fearsome warrior known as Gamabunta. His tanto was held in hand and he looked at the scene he had been summoned to with distaste.
"Oi, Jiraiya, what do you think you're doing summoning us three all together?" The Toad Boss turned his eyes upward, the white haired Toad Sage standing atop his head. "And what I tell you about standing on top of my head and doing your poses?"
"Konoha's being invaded. Orochimaru's involved and loaned his summons to the battle. Three of the giant snakes outside are located at each of the gates to the village. I figured you, Ken, and Hiro can take on one each and leave this one to me." Jiraiya leaped off of the Toad Boss and back to the wall. He turned to the three summons and looked each in the eye. "What do you say, up for a fight or have you all gotten soft since I last visited Mount Myoboku?"
"You better have something good when we're celebrating." Gamabunta drew his sheathed tanto up in both hands. He turned to his fellow summons. "Let's go."
He received twin nods before the trio of Toads leaped over the walls to Konoha with a single leap and split up in midair. They avoided the swamp Jiraiya had summoned and hopped to the other gates with speed surprising for creatures their size. Jiraiya watched them leave from his perch before his focus shifted to the forest, trees falling one after the other as the snakes he would be facing off against planned something. His swamp was a distraction to his real tactic, the summoning of such powerful reinforcements, and he canceled the technique. He dropped from the wall and stood before the gates, standing before the snakes that slithered out of the ruined forest.
"You three are really unlucky." Jiraiya rolled his shoulders before bringing his hands together in front of him. "You could have stood a chance against those Toads I summoned but it's just unfair that you three have to fight the legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya!"
A Rasengan took form in his hand as he vanished from the sight of the snakes and it grew to giant size. He appeared on the top of the head of the first snake and used his Chakra to keep himself in place as it immediately began to thrash in place. It would have rolled over to crush him if Jiraiya didn't have stone restraints take hold of the serpent before it could do so. He lifted his Giant Rasengan into the air, let it shine brightly above his head like a blue sun, before he brought it down.
"Giant Rasengan!" The snake hissed in pain as his Rasengan struck, powered it into the ground, and it vanished in a cloud of smoke back to the Ryuchi Cave. Jiraiya landed on the ground and slammed his palm that had not held the Rasengan into it.
Blue pillars of stone stopped another snake from moving, electricity caging it in place as Jiraiya threw himself out of the way of the crushing tail of the only active snake at the gate and formed the needed hand signs for his next attack. He breathed it and blew out a single massive bullet of air, half the size of the giant snake's head that was easily avoided. Jiraiya threw a pair of giant shuriken behind it and the snake hissed in pain as both struck it beneath its jaws. Jiraiya pulled himself up on the wire strings attached to them and swung himself over to the top of the snake's head.
"Twin Giant Rasengan!" He released the wire strings and threw his arms out to the side where the Rasengan whirred to life. He threw himself down and struck the snake with both devastating attacks on the top of its head and powered it into the ground.
He clapped his hands together while in the air and a dull blue oven consumed the snake trapped by the electricity. He found the small opening in comparison to the structure's sheer size and breathed out a stream of fire.
'It shed its skin.' He didn't smell burning snake. Jiraiya looked down to where he approached the ground and saw it begin to crack as the snake pushed its way out to attack him with its jaws wide to swallow him hole.
"Summoning Jutsu!" A small Toad looking similar to a gourd fell into its mouth but landed on one of the large fangs before powering itself away. It disappeared into the forest, its green coloring concealing it from the snake as it broke the rest of its body free and its tongue darted out. It was trying to find the Toad's scent but was failing.
"I need a plan." Jiraiya kept himself out of the acid within the Toad's stomach. He sat cross legged as the Toad came to a stop in a branch somewhere, fully muted its Chakra and hid its scent like he knew it would. "That one is wise to my little tactic but I shouldn't be surprised. It just saw its two brothers in arms go down from the same attack. One even tried to harden its head with Chakra and still failed to stop me." He looked around his current surroundings, hoping to find inspiration. "It's going to be tricky to take it down by hitting its soft spot."
Inspiration came. Jiraiya smiled as he brought his fist to his palm as he rose.
"I just won't hit it."
He leaped from the Toad's stomach and the cork it held in its mouth popped out as Jiraiya emerged and spewed out a considerable amount of mud, striking the forest ground as he landed on a tree branch. It the snake didn't already know he was free, the Chakra his attack unleashed had it gunning for him. Jiraiya wasn't concerned as he formed the needed hand signs and a copy of himself appeared on either side, one formed from the mud and another from his Chakra.
"Aren't we just some handsome devils?" The Jiraiya on the right couldn't help but turn to admire his two identical counterparts.
"That we are." The Jiraiya in the middle look to either side, brought a hand up to his chin. "Almost too handsome for the ladies to handle."
"And now's there's three of us?" The Jiraiya on the left chuckled. "Men across the world will be jealous, women across the world will swoon!"
The hissing of the snake made all three snap to focus. The snake ripped through the trees in its way with an angered hiss, Chakra leaking from its body and giving it durability stronger than steel. It was determined to destroy the human that had wounded two of its brothers and then destroy the village its master wanted to see destroyed.
"Let's go!" All three announced together as the one in the center took to the air, the one on his right charged forward, and the one on his left dropped to the muddy ground.
AN: The note arrives.
This will lack replies to reviews. I apologize for that but know I enjoyed reading each one. Even if some talked about dropping the story.
So the main point of this note is to say Orange Legion is now on a long hiatus. Real life cut in and I can't do a lot about it. I'm actually disappointed with the quality of the chapters I just posted overall, especially the last two, because I feel like this is all rushed. I wanted to get past the invasion before today, be able to leave this on hiatus at the end of an arc that let the story end (however long it would take to get back to it) but I barely reached it in time. I'm sorry for that. Deeply sorry but I can't do anything about it. But, if you do feel disappointed, if you do feel that this sucks, I encourage you to take up this idea as your own. That's what I want with all my stories, for people to take up the idea I have, the idea it gives them, and make them better, and make new stories. I won't be able to write but I can still, hopefully, check out my profile and see if you drop any PMs about taking up this story in my stead. I knew my time to write Orange Legion was limited but I honestly thought that I could reach the goal I set. I couldn't. I tried but I also couldn't forgive myself if I produced complete garbage. That's not fair to anyone who decided to give Orange Legion a chance, decided to keep reading, decided to follow this story, decided to favorite this story, and decided to leave a review. I could have rushed through everything but I didn't because I wouldn't be able to stand what I did later. This story will come back. It may take a long time but I won't give up on it. I've barely struck the surface of what I wanted to with Orange Legion. I have so much more I want to do and I will do it.
Until then.
Peace.