Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Chapter title: The Turning Tide!
"What?" Naruto was the first to notice the sudden surge of Chakra that came from beneath their feet, the suddenly appearing and vexing Chakra that released itself as a violent violet volley of vicious winds. "Where is this power coming from?"
Shikaku turned inwards towards the stadium, his eyes going wide as he saw what was happening.
Time. Time almost seemed to slow for the Nara. He could almost feel as everything simply came together. He could think so clearly as he saw the power surge, the seal that had laid hidden burn brighter and brighter. He could see it all so clearly but he could do nothing.
'This. This is an unmitigated disaster.'
'Konohagakure's standing doctrine is to focus all efforts towards evacuation of civilians from danger areas into shelters. If civilians are being transported by a prior allocated force all available Shinobi will prioritize defeating any invading threat. The four primary gates of the village will be reinforced with all available manpower.'
'Orochimaru knows that. We haven't updated a standing doctrine for invasion in decades. Not even edits. He knows exactly how we fight and I've ignored that. We all ignored it. He knew where the village's strongest fighters would be if we thought there was going to be an invasion. We'll prioritize outlying defenses. We'll prioritize patrols for detecting. We'll prioritize the walls. We would meet any force head on.'
'And all of our strongest would be completely away from the center of the village.'
The surge of Chakra below them, within the center of the stadium, violently discharged.
The stadium was blown to bits.
"What the hell?" Sasuke turned around when the world flashed to purple ever so briefly. He had originally discarded such a great buildup of Chakra. The Legate had figured Caesar had reined in the unruly beast that had so cowardly fled from him and it was attempting to escape once again. It seemed he was wrong. Very, very wrong.
He shielded his eyes from the light as the stadium was destroyed in a violent blast. He had scarcely blinked before he saw the oncoming cloud of dust coming towards him, sweeping over the village after part of it had just been annihilated.
"Shields!" He barked out the order as he lifted his own with one arm and braced said the arm with his other. The Legionnaires followed his instruction without question, rose up their shields and braced themselves behind them.
The dust swept over them just as the Legate closed his eyes, turned his face away from it.
He stopped breathing for a moment, let it sweep over him, to try and rip him off his feet as he anchored himself to the ground with Chakra. He dug his shield into the ground, used it as both a barrier and another anchor to stay on his feet.
It worked marvelously well.
The Praetorians with him followed his example.
"Dammit!" Naruto recovered quickly once he hit the ground. His armor may have absorbed the vicious impact that left a crater or he was simply too enraged to care for his no doubt numerous injuries. It could even be a mixture of the two. "You resort to cowardly tricks now!"
His fist struck the ground and it ruptured beneath it. His mind was no longer clear, he felt nothing but rage at the deceit that had laid in the ruins of the stadium. He saw it as nothing but an insult, nothing but a clear attempt at humiliation to what had been his long awaited moment of triumph. Whoever was responsible for this would pay. Oh yes, whoever was behind such an attempt to end him in such a cowardly manner would pay dearly for the sin of trying to ruin the moment he had long awaited for. He would dismember them, he would slice flesh from a body writhing in place piece by piece, and he would make the suffering they would go through absolutely legendary.
He would not grant it the sweet release of death until they had paid a hefty debt to a Caesar. They had ruined his grand stage, ruined the final triumph of his Legion over all fools who would deign to call themselves his foes. They had ruined the moment he had long planned for, the grand reveal of his strength to all who had once doubted him.
It should have been his crowning triumph.
It had been.
And now it wasn't.
He drew his blade from his side and his red eyes burned with hate, burned with his wrath, and burned with power.
He was just about to launch himself forward, throw himself into the slaughter the battle would be, when a hand settled upon his shoulder.
"Calm down Naruto." Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was suddenly a thing he had never heard. It was not a gentle word, it was not an offer. It was law. It was a word spoken with absolute authority.
A Caesar found himself frozen.
His rage abated.
The crimson cloak that had bubbled up from his skin was gone. The power that had rendered the sight of him akin to a feral beast was gone far quicker than it had emerged.
"For now." He regained himself quickly. He did not release his hold on his sword even as the rest of the Shinobi that had stood with them on the top of the stadium were freed from the iron cages that had surrounded them, kept them from any harm beyond the shock of a sudden impact.
"What was that?" Yugao secured one of the Kazekage's children under each arm. On either side of her, a pair of ANBU Black Ops stood with their weapons drawn. She would carry the hostages while they would ensure she reached whatever destination was decided on.
"It was no doubt Orochimaru's contribution to this attack." Hiruzen let the staff that had so suddenly appeared in his hand rest on the ground. "It was an explosive seal of his own making."
'It is exactly as I feared. Otogakure is another of his tools for his experiments, another place to commit his horrors.' Hiruzen's grip on his staff tightened. He felt his rage at his foolish student grow before he took in a deep breath.
Anger would only cloud his mind.
"The Kazekage is still above us." He turned his eyes towards the skies. High above them the Kazekage was revealed as his sphere of Gold Dust broke apart. The platform was swiftly lowering. "It is time to end this foolishness before more lives our lost."
"He's going to attack." Shikaku stepped back as his shadow shaped into a ring at his feet. He didn't drop into a crouch but he brought his hands up into the classic seal of the Nara Clan Hiden technique. Dark threads spread to the shadows around him, spread his range as much as he was able to at the moment.
The attack being launched at noon had limited him but now a haze hung in the air. The dust from the exploding stadium only helped him now.
He could work within the shadows now.
"Lord Hokage!" Gai landed as a green blur, his red skin denoting his use of the Gate of Life.
"Gai, it is good to see you alive and well. Especially at a time like this." Hiruzen didn't take his eyes off of the platform of sand. Claws were beginning to branch out now, spread throughout the space between the two groups. The Kazekage's eyes were burning with wrath, with absolute fury.
He seemed to have no intentions to surrender.
"My opponents could not stop me." Gai's eyes were swiftly focused on the powerful Fourth Kazekage after a glance to his fellow Shinobi even as the Gold Dust before them began to grow, the strands became thicker and thicker the more time passed. It was almost as if blood was surging into a limb and filling it with greater and greater strength. "He will not stop the invasion."
"It seems that way." Hiruzen drew up his staff. He moved it behind him as he allowed himself a brief moment to center himself for battle once again. He was ready in the blink of an eye. "Gai, you and I will remain here and engage the Fourth Kazekage. Yugao, take the hostages to a holding area. Shikaku, continue planning with the rest of the clan heads and continue to provide direction to our field commanders. The rest of you know your positions. This explosion was a diversion to draw our forces away from the gates. Keep them there and secure the village's outer perimeter."
"Yes Lord Hokage." The Shinobi all answered as one before they vanished from sight.
Gold Dust lanced out to capture them in a crushing vice.
They were swiftly redirected to stop Hiruzen's sudden blitz towards the Kazekage. Gai followed after him, vanishing from sight and appearing before the Kazekage before he could react after the Hokage's sudden surge of Killing Intent. It had wonderfully cloaked Gai's movement and his speed had only helped.
Naruto remained where he was.
He went so far as to return his blade to his side as red eyes narrowed at the sight of the Hokage and one of his elite Jonin work so seamlessly together.
Gold Dust formed a solid wall in the blink of an eye but its, subjectively, hasty construction cost it durability. Gai's kick shattered it into blocks that tumbled to the ground but it was enough for the Kazekage to drop from his island. Hiruzen was waiting for him below. He threw his staff forward, aimed for it to lance through the body of his fellow Kage with the sheer ferocity he threw it out. The dark ringed eyes of the Fourth Kazekage didn't waste time with the object. He swung his sleeve covered arms out at blinding speeds and released a number of hidden shuriken and kunai. They intercepted the staff and the explosions from several formed a smoke cloud and sent it off course. For the moment it was hidden away, sent spiraling into the air by the explosive tags, the Kazekage formed the needed hand signs for his next attack.
Gai was before him in that same moment and the Gold Dust he wore as armor lanced forward from his arms. Gai saw the attack coming, saw the subtle twitch of the Fourth Kazekage's finger, and didn't attempt an attack.
He shot past the Kazekage and landed behind him.
Pillars of Gold Dust erupted from the ground the moment he did so, spikes surged forward to skewer him from all sides as the pillars expanded to from a circular wall to provide no escape from any side. Gai landed on the first spike aimed for his leg before powering himself out through the rapidly closing hole. He was airborne for only a moment and the Kazekage could not capitalize on his position.
A stream of razor sharp water erupted from the mouth of the Third Hokage. His Gold Dust surged up from beneath the ground and formed into a larger stream to not only block it but to continue to surge forward, rip open the street as it aimed to crush him as it turned into a wave. The Third Hokage almost snorted at the attempt before he moved to the single hand sign he needed.
He breathed out a trio of fireballs, two shot straight forward while another arced over the wave and aimed to incinerate the Kazekage. He was ready for it as he shot up at an angle on another island of Gold Dust as even more erupted from where he once stood, acted almost as a geyser that unleashed bullets of Gold Dust that rained down from above on his foes.
Gai landed on a nearby rooftop in that same moment and it was almost too simple for him to weave between the chaotic rain of projectiles. Not a single one managed to strike him.
The Kazekage shifted to the side to avoid the kunai thrown at his head. The Hokage leaped into the air while he did so and caught hold of his falling staff.
The dark ringed eyes of the Kazekage narrowed as he let himself fall back to the street once more. The only change was that it was made entirely of Gold Dust now.
The two experienced Shinobi had seen it coming.
Naruto remained where he stood.
"Hokage-jiji, I will pursue the beast that fled from me." Naruto turned away from the battle. It was not interesting to him to see the power of another. He saw no reason to interfere and so there was no reason to remain near the destroyed stadium. "I am sure you will know when the dog feels his master's hand once again."
"The boy is impressive Sarutobi." The Kazekage turned his eyes to Naruto. The Caesar didn't leave. He rose a blonde eyebrow at the words of the leader of Sunagakure. "Far more impressive than a fearful village like your own deserves."
"It is fear to want peace above war?" Sarutobi once again saw the folly of youth. Strong in body but inexperienced in mind. He found he could not pity the Kazekage for what he had done from such a lack of thought, of knowledge of true consequences.
He was too young to understand much of anything it seemed.
"It is pathetic to pursue peace in this world." Rasa's hands balled into fists and his face became marred with anger at the very thought of such a thing. "War is inevitable in the world of the Shinobi. All that matters is that the strong strikes first, that the strong crushes all others before they can have the same done to them!"
"And at what point does the strong become too weak to continue fighting?" Hiruzen's staff went spiraling into the air as he readied a pair of shuriken in each hand. "At what point does it become pointless to fight battle after battle, to lose life after life? Even if peace is not long lasting, it is better to at least try for it before another generation is brought into war! What good is this cycle of endless bloodshed?"
He threw his weapons forward.
Four swiftly became a hundred.
Naruto's red eyes took in the feat as a moving wall of deadly black steel moved to shred the Kazekage. The shuriken failed to do so when a forest of thin spikes of Gold Dust erupted from below, easily captured them on the tip. A forest of steel and Gold Dust existed for just a moment before Rasa covered the shuriken and crushed them to nothing. Gai remained where he stood as Hiruzen caught his falling staff.
"You continue to fail to understand anything." Rasa let the spikes drop back into the veritable sea of Gold Dust he stood on.
"And you do the same." Hiruzen shook his head in almost pity. "It seems our differences are irreconcilable."
"Indeed." Rasa nodded to the elder's words.
His dark ringed eyes turned away from the Hokage. They drifted to Naruto.
A Caesar merely looked at him.
"Your beast is lacking Kazekage." Naruto spoke after a moment of silence had passed. There was no sneer on his face, no glimmer of mocking light in his eyes, as he spoke what was simply a fact. "Before this day is over, I will teach it not to run away again."
"That thing has always been a failure when it mattered most." Rasa spoke with disgust of the Ichibi's Jinchuriki. "Do whatever you want with it. I may even spare your life by the end of this if you kill it."
"Spare my life?" Naruto spoke with humor, chuckled even at the outlandish idea. "Are you forgetting who I am Kazekage?"
"A child in far over his head in a situation that he does not understand." Rasa turned his eyes back to the Hokage.
He dismissed Naruto.
It was a mistake to ignore a Caesar.
He stepped forward.
Gold Dust shot up from the ground as a wall.
"Pursue the Ichibi's Jinchuriki Naruto." Hiruzen was in front of him faster than the wall could form. He fused it into an immobile mass of melted gold with a bullet of intense flames that he had spit from his mouth. Gai attacked at that moment, the Kazekage raising a sea of Gold Dust to stop him. It was only a diversionary attack at heart and the two swiftly disengaged.
None of the three could see the absolute fury that filled the eyes of Naruto Uzumaki in that moment.
He, a Caesar, was being disregarded.
He, a Caesar, was being ignored.
He, a Caesar, was being ordered.
Death. Death was the only option for all three before him. All three would die. All three would beg for mercy, beg to feel the cold steel of his blade as it plunged through their heart at last. Death, an agonizing death, should be their only sentence.
His red eyes turned once again to blue in the blink of an eye.
He smiled even if none could see.
"Of course Hokage-jiji!" He chuckled as he turned away from the fight. His orange cape concealed the tremors of rage that rocked his body.
It was not yet time.
The world would learn of his place above all but now was not the time.
The seal he wore burned with Chakra.
He vanished in the middle of his step.
Naruto Uzumaki didn't stop his step. He swiftly turned it into a leap and bounded over rooftops with his Legate and a small group of Legionnaires at his side.
"Caesar." Sasuke immediately rose his fist to his armored heart and the rest of the Legionnaires bowed their heads when they offered the same.
"Legate, Legionnaires." Naruto returned the salute of his Legion as his red eyes searched the village for his fleeing foe. "Where are the Kazekage's children?"
"I have no idea." Sasuke didn't turn to face him as the two continue to jump from rooftop to rooftop. "I was pursuing Rock Lee until the explosion at the stadium."
"Yes, the coward behind that attack will pay. I will make sure they die screaming for such a thing." Naruto's eyes continued to search for any sign of the Ichibi and found none. "Why do you pursue Rock Lee? Are you attempting to deal with possible competition to your position?"
He was joking but it could just as easily be made a statement.
The Uchiha chuckled. He chose to take it as a joke.
"I do not fear Rock Lee Caesar." Sasuke paused at last and he pointed down to the ground, to a patch of sand far below them. "He is pursuing the Ichibi using that Chakra rich sand. I am pursuing both."
"Really?" Naruto stopped with him and the Legionnaires, ten, paused behind them. "How are you so sure he pursued my opponent?"
"He has been driven by revenge for what the beast did to Tenten during the end of the Second Stage. The Praetorians assigned to guard her room reported on his appearance in her room at least once a day this past month. For the rest of his time, he spent training himself to battle the container." Sasuke's Sharingan swept over the Chakra rich sand below them. "He seemed to have figured out that the beast has relinquished control back to Gaara."
"The dog is that afraid?" Naruto did not speak as he spat out the words with disgust, a growl coming from his throat even at the very idea of such cowardice. The creature he had been so anxious to do battle with seemed more and more like a waste. "This creature knows no end to such cowardly tactics."
"Indeed Caesar." Sasuke looked out across the village once more. He turned to his Caesar and red eyes met red. "Is such a cowardly beast even worth your time anymore Caesar?"
"I will not allow its cowardice to deny me what is rightfully mine to take Legate." Naruto grinned and his fangs were bared. His red eyes gained a type of harshness to them, of raw drive to finish what he had started. "I will drag the Ichibi forth from Gaara and I will have the battle I have been denied for so long, I will have my victory, and I will have my glory. It will not be able to refuse me such a thing when I slay the container, force the beast to come forth when I do so."
"The beast stands no chance against your strength Caesar." Sasuke grinned as he began leaping again.
"Of course it does not. None can stand against me." Naruto easily kept up with him. He did not pass him because the Uchiha was currently his guide to the match he had long been waiting for.
Away from the Caesar of the Uzumaki Empire and the Legate of his Orange Legion, Ibiki stepped out of where he had handed Kakashi off to the Medical-nin. The sight of the infamous Shinobi so thoroughly beaten was enough to nearly discourage the force defending the hospital.
Nearly.
The clones of Naruto Uzumaki that formed a majority of the defense merely chuckled.
He could recognize the Centurion as he stepped up to him.
"You have done a good thing today Morino." The Centurion stared at him with red eyes before he chuckled once more. "Caesar will be more than amused with the state of Silver Fang after this."
"Don't count on it lasting long, he's always been a fast healer." Ibiki didn't break eye contact. The Centurion's goal with talking to him was unknown but his game was familiar. He thought the Killing Intent he released, the power of the Kyubi he flaunted like it was his own, was enough to intimidate the Jonin.
It wasn't.
He had felt the real thing after all. He had been brought close to death before. He had once even considered begging for death to escape days of agony. A clone of a Genin trying to intimidate him was laughable.
"It does not need to." The Centurion stepped closer.
His eyes lost the humor to them.
"What happened to Mitarashi?" The question wasn't a surprise.
'So we were being followed. Looks like under watch at minimum.' Ibiki glanced to where Anko waited with his trenchcoat on, a borrowed ANBU mask further concealing her appearance. Her hands were kept in her pockets to prevent them from being seen. Her changed hair, blue instead of brown, further prevented her from being recognized.
"It's nothing to be worried about." Ibiki walked away from the clone.
"Tell her to come before Caesar when the battle is won." The Centurion returned to his duty.
Two other Centurions merely rose an eyebrow when he returned to stand with them and he chuckled. He already seemed to know their silent question of him, of his actions, of his offer.
"Trust me brothers. Caesar will be interested in Mitarashi." He did not speak anymore on the subject despite how the two continued to silently question him with red eyes just like his own.
"It will be your head if you're wrong." One of his fellow Centurions spoke at last and the three chuckled before they returned to their duty. Their Legionnaires were growing more than a bit bored now. Some would need to be sent out to quench their thirst for blood and others would need to take up new positions. Even if the task was boring, the three Centurions would make sure that the hospital remained secured.
It would be a dishonor to Caesar if they did not take their duty seriously.
It would be a defeat if they allowed the intruders to strike here.
They could not allow such a thing.
They would not allow such a thing.
AN: And the stadium exploded. Like him or not, Orochimaru makes a good bomb it seems. Also Kakashi is officially at the hospital. And he's still in no condition to fight. Like at all.