Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Chapter title: A Minor Confrontation
There was something in the air. It was something that seemed to naturally happen after such a close brush with death, with annihilation by a hostile force.
It started off slowly in truth but it spread so very quickly.
There was a joy to be alive, a joy to have seen another day.
Civilian and Shinobi alike could hold such joy.
The village still stood.
The Third Hokage had triumphed over the Kazekage, children were being regaled with grander and grander stories of how he had beaten the younger Shinobi, how the Green Beast had arrived with a fury and dealt blow after blow to the man thought unbeatable.
The Toad Sage was more than happy to share tales of his gallant battles, of his grand summons, and even delighted to show off one or two when cheered on enough.
The civilians who recognized the Shinobi that had saved their lives, that had saved their loves ones, their friends, called out to them.
The Shinobi seeing a familiar face, one they had not seen after the chaos began, were eager to talk, to drink, to embrace this rare joy.
Families were so happy to be together, to have escaped tragedy.
Friends met each other, could rely on the strength of the other.
Many would say they could feel the Will of Fire in the streets that night, could feel it in the air.
Perhaps they could or perhaps it was the copious amount of sake that began to flow through the streets, that began to flow down throats. Joy became something else, became motivation to enjoy life with a sudden understanding of mortality.
A mortality no one wanted to recognize for now.
So they celebrated instead, appreciated victory over their foes instead.
The monster was not mentioned.
It was not spoken of how the Ichibi had emerged from the boy in the stadium.
It was not spoken just how close all those inside, that had come for a show, had come to death.
Grief and sorrow had already been enough. They did not need the terror of knowing that such strength, such horrifying power, had been among them for so long, had waited for the chance to kill them all.
The calls for sake might have flowed stronger when thoughts veered to such a course to derail them.
With such things in mind, with such intoxicated bliss, none without the need needed to know that the source of such a power still remained in the village.
"Sarutobi has agreed that you are my prisoner but he remains the Hokage. He still reserves the right to pass whatever judgement he deems fit on all prisoners, especially the children of the Kazekage." Naruto stood before Gaara of the Sand Waterfall, the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi and a new interest of his. "The three of you, your siblings being the other two, will remain in the village. The Toad Sage has already seen to your seal, I have seen it as well. My talents are not great enough to uncover the intricacies of your seal but you may call it a gut feeling. I can recognize the quality and the strength of a seal with a thorough enough look."
He did not need to say what his gut feeling had told him.
"Your seal is weak, nearly disgustingly so."
He did so regardless.
"It is." Gaara did not deny. It was a thing he had known all his life with the whispers of the mad demon in his head, with his insomnia born from his inability to sleep and keep the beast under control. He understood how fragile it was because his sand had been drenched in blood long before he had known such a thing affirmed his existence.
"As your warden, I cannot allow such a liability to my control over you, allow such a gap in my custody over you." Naruto stared at the Jinchuriki that had once been mad.
That had changed.
His presence kept the Ichibi at bay. He knew as much from the sanity that the boy in front of him could grasp. He did not rant and rave about his existence as his siblings had told his Legate he once had done so often, he no longer pursued the pointless spilling of blood as proof of his worth, he did not spend all the hours of his days awake any longer.
The beast had been beaten. No, it was not given such a simple thing as pain. It had been giving something far greater in terror. Even now it remained in a state fitting of such a gift, terrified within the Jinchuriki.
It recognized the power of the Kyubi and understood it was before a master of such great and terrifying power.
It was good.
He had lost his interest in the mad beast and would not be humoring such a childish pursuit any longer. The boy was more interesting to him now, the changes he had seen take place had become a thing he was keen to observe as they continued to develop. The boy was smart enough to know when to fight, was sane enough to speak only when it was required, for he understood power and the difference between the two.
"My Legate, Sasuke Uchiha, possesses the esteemed Sharingan." Naruto did not need to mention much else. "If I am not available, you shall be at his side. If he is not available, you shall be at my side. If neither of us are available, I shall have a remedy to that problem soon enough. If not, Rock Lee will no doubt not object to an anonymous long-term mission."
"I understand." Gaara bowed his head. "I will not trouble you Caesar."
At the title, at the acknowledgement of his great power, Naruto could not hold back his grin, could not restrain his chuckle any longer. So he did not. His red eyes were ones filled with humor as he allowed his laughter to fill the room.
Away from Caesar and his prisoner, his Legate finally finished taking off his armor.
It was still colored black as night, covered in the ichor of the beasts that had finally fallen to the blades of Caesar's Orange Legion. He knew he would need to clean it before he could wear it again. He had already set to cleaning his blade before the blood could set any further.
He would need to get another set of armor ready for when Caesar called his meeting. The time was still unknown as the seal all of his Legion wore was still proving problematic, still refused to function as it once hand so effortlessly. The cause remained unknown but Caesar seemed content to wait, had ordered the rest of the First to cease their presence outside of the village and consolidate within the Uchiha District he had steadily transformed more and more at the moment of earliest convenience.
It was with almost melancholy that the thought came to his mind. With the rate of the changes, it would only be a matter of time until it was completely unrecognizable.
The Legate quickly squashed such thoughts and what they might bring.
He chose to sit down and draw his blade into his hand instead.
"This is going to take all night." He could not see himself in the blade. It was turned as dark as midnight by the blood that stained it, that clung like tar to what should be a gleaming surface. He turned it in his hands and the same proved true on both faces of the blade. The hilt itself had hardly been spared from its current tarnished state, only where his hand had covered the handle did it escape and even then it was not wholly. It still was marred by all that remained of the beasts that had besieged the Fifth.
He drove his tarnished blade into the table point first. He released a sigh as his hand came up to his hair. He immediately thought better of it when he remembered it was still stained black.
He instead let his head fall to the table and sighed once again.
He had work to do yet he wished it could be anything else.
For over a month he had managed the Legion spread across the Land of Fire, the Land of Waves, and the Land of Whirlpools. It had been exhausting.
For over a month he had obeyed Caesar's wishes and trained the Praetorians in simple techniques for the five basic Nature Transformations. It had been exhausting.
For his free time in the days leading up to the Chunin Exams he had planned with Caesar on how to combat the invaders from the Hidden Sound and the Hidden Sand.
He wished to do anything but clean his blade.
His paired shield was long gone as it had been ripped apart by a dozen or so blows by the mad creatures. He had used the last of it to pierce the neck of one before tossing it away and calling for a new one. He had already ordered the pair of Centurions from the Legion's First Cohort to find Tenten and speak to her on a new, more durable, design. He had also sent a number of messenger birds to the Land of Waves with orders to prepare the funds for much new materials to be purchased.
He had given the Centurions a list of topics to discuss with the weapon specialist in truth. The arms of the Legion could do with adjustments, with new additions, and he could think of no one better despite how much he wished there to be.
His opinion on the Kunoichi had not changed.
The opinion of the Legion on the Kunoichi had not changed.
Caesar had not spoken with her since his last visit and such opportunities would definitely be limited now. He had spared the boy who had injured her in the first place after all, had faced the fury of Rock Lee at taking Gaara prisoner and stood unfazed.
It was admirable for Rock Lee had unleashed the Fourth Gate in his rage, in his drive to kill the boy who had done nothing but hurt one of the people he had deemed most precious to him.
Caesar had unleashed something indescribable to cause the Genin to collapse, for the Gates to close as the will that unleashed them vanished.
It was similar to the wave of death that had flowed from Gaara at the Chunin Exams when boy and Naruto had spoken before the battle between the Jinchuriki and the Aburame, a time that seemed so long ago.
It had been a hundred times worse. It had been focused, driven only towards Lee as a crimson shroud consumed Naruto's form for a moment. It had driven Rock Lee, a Shinobi who learned to open four of the Eight Gates with sheer willpower, to the ground in one burst.
A second had knocked him out cold.
"Fifth Gate, Gat-"
Sasuke would never forget the simple fact that Lee was prepared to open the Fifth Gate before Caesar had knocked him unconscious.
That thought had not troubled him because too much had happened when he had seen it. He had learned of the Fifth's dire situation, the progress of the reinforcements to the main gates, and the state of the Sixth at the same time he had seen such a thing.
He had rushed off with the Praetorians to battle the monsters aiming to defeat the Fifth with savagery and so did not dwell on it.
He had taken command of the entirety of the Legion in the Land of Fire, three Cohorts no matter how diminished the Fifth was, and so did not dwell on it.
Now, in the quiet of his empty tent, he could dwell on such a thing.
He could feel the appropriate response with all other stimuli gone.
He forced his shaking hand down to the table, forced his other hand down on top of it.
His eyes stared at the blade driven into the table instead of anywhere else. The dark ichor did not reflect his eyes, did not show him what laid within. He did not need to know what laid inside them. He did not need to know more of his state than what he could already feel.
He forced down the panic that wanted to surge forth, that wanted to come forth and demand he give in.
He refused.
He, over everything else, knew one thing: Rock Lee would not have killed him. No matter what happened, no matter what it took, Rock Lee would have stopped just short of killing him. He would have made good on his promise of breaking every one of his limbs before he took his life.
He knew that for certain.
The decision to use the Eight Gates had been nothing short of agony for the Genin, had been something he had wished he didn't have to resort to against someone he saw as a comrade despite everything that had happened. He had been torn between his promise to Tenten and his vow as a Konoha Shinobi and had at last decided to uphold his word.
If such a simple choice had besieged him with such suffering, the act of truly having to kill him would have shattered him. He had seen a remorseless killer before, knew what it took to so casually take the life of a comrade and not feel a thing.
He had lived it over and over and over again after all.
The pain.
The hate.
The vow.
He had made a vow on that pain, on that hate, to avenge all the fallen from that night. He had sworn to not die until that man laid dead by his hands. The familiar stirrings of hatred, of rage, that came with such thoughts let him take control of himself again.
He could push it all away again.
He could think somewhat clearly again.
He could hear the commotion outside.
"Can't even get a night of peace." Sasuke picked himself up from his seat as he shook his head and headed over to the entrance to his tent. He had a feeling he knew what was happening outside.
It probably involved Yamanaka.
"Ino come on, let's get out of here." Shikamaru, despite how much he protested, stayed where he stood. Ino hadn't found a new crutch since the mess in the shelter and he had been delegated as such.
"No." Ino didn't turn her eyes away from the Praetorian in front of her. Little more than a handful of Naruto's clones stood in front of the tent she knew Sasuke had headed into.
She was nothing if not determined to see this through, whatever had rocked her in the shelter and made her grab the earpiece from a clone. She would get her answers before she left. So far the clones hadn't been able to stop her but there wasn't very many around the tent to begin with.
"Come on. Let's just be reasonable. You can talk to him tomorrow if you really want to." Shikamaru didn't like being anywhere near the Praetorians after the mess at the shelter, after that wave of malice that one of them had unleashed.
He really wished he could just go to sleep already. He wanted this day over with.
'But I can't leave Ino.' Even if the others stayed with her, even if she had Kiba, Shino, Choji, and Sakura with her, he didn't want to leave her.
The clones Naruto called his Praetorians were dangerous. Too dangerous for him to just leave and actually get to sleep.
It would be too troublesome to leave her now anyway.
Sasuke stepped outside.
Ino wasted no time.
"Did you know?" If she could, she would have stomped forward but that wasn't an option for her. Once her father saw her injury he would get her healed but until then she had to make do with glaring at the Uchiha.
"Know what Ino-chan?" Sasuke was taunting her, taunting them all really as he stepped fully out. With a look he dismissed the Praetorians, sent them wherever they wished to go. "You have to ask a better question than that if you want an answer."
"Don't play games with me!" Ino tried to lunge forward and Shikamaru nearly toppled over. Sasuke was content to let her fall before the Nara righted himself, Ino unsteady for only a moment longer before her glare returned.
"I don't know what you're talking about Ino-chan." Sasuke outright laughed now, did not bother with hiding whatever amusement he felt any longer. Shikamaru could hear Ino grind her teeth, could feel how her body become tenser and tenser.
She was doing an admirable job of holding back her temper. She knew they weren't in the best position right now, knew that Naruto's clones were likely still watching them even if they didn't see them. This was supposed to be an important camp for them so it made sense for them to be all over.
"Just tell her already Sasuke!" Sakura was the most on edge out of them all. She didn't like being around the clones on the best of days now, after finally getting away from them. She had been around them too much since Team 7 had passed.
"Tell her what?" Sasuke seemed content to play his game from the smile that spread across his face. It served as good distraction for his time, let him focus on things beyond the chore he had ahead of him tonight. His armor would take hours to clean no doubt, it was something he had accepted at this point.
"You know what I mean!" Ino pulled Shikamaru with her this time, the Nara doing his best to keep himself up while Ino pulled away. She stayed standing on one leg, ignoring the pain in her leg as she forced herself to move forward.
She managed a few one-legged hops before she ended up falling.
The Uchiha didn't let her hit the ground and caught her beneath her arms when she fell forward.
"Falling into my arms now Ino-chan? I thought you said you didn't like me anymore." Sasuke chuckled as he pulled Ino up, the Yamanaka glaring at him the moment his hands had touched her. She seemed to consider falling to the ground a better alternative than being held by the Uchiha.
'What a difference a month can make…' Neither knew their thoughts were aligned for that moment.
"Did you know about the attack?" She used the closed distance between them to ask as quietly as she could, her blue eyes staring into his coal black.
His smile changed. It became something more fitting on Naruto's face when he began to boast, when he began a speech on conquest and the like. It did not fit the Uchiha. The Uzumaki's particular madness was not his to show.
The Uchiha must have had their own.
He didn't say a thing for a moment. He just looked at her with the madness that didn't fit before it simply bled away, his face didn't show the barest hints of what had existed only a moment ago.
His smile was gone when he leaned his head down.
"Yes." His whisper was for her ears alone. None of the others with her could hear his answer, could even read his lips to try and guess what he had said. They couldn't even go off of Ino's body language for her mood with her back to them.
The others could simply wait and watch what happened, wait and see if they would need to act.
For a moment everything was silent. Since the single word had come to her ears, she felt as if the world had come to a stop, that time had ground to a sudden halt. She wasn't quite sure she was even breathing at the moment, if she could accomplish such a task.
He had answered her question after all.
So Ino merely stared at the Uchiha as his smile returned, as the madness it brought came back.
She had wanted to be wrong about all of this. It was something she could only realize in that moment. She had wanted to be wrong about Sasuke, she had wanted to be completely wrong. But she wasn't. She was right. She had put the pieces together right.
He had known and that meant Naruto had known. They had both known all about it. They had known the Chunin Exams were going to turn into a bloodbath, that the day was going to be a disaster. They had both known the exact time the invaders were going to strike.
And they had done nothing to stop it.
Naruto could have used his clones to stop them, to stop all of the death today, and he hadn't.
He had wanted the day to end like this. He had wanted all of this to happen from the very beginning.
He had just sat back and watched as people died around him, as the village was destroyed.
He had been happy when that monster had come out.
"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed at him, wanted to strangle him if her hands weren't stuck out of reach thanks to his hold on her. She still tried and the Uchiha only chuckled as he pulled away. She seemed willing to bite him with the use of her arms out of the question.
"You need to calm down." The only answer the Uchiha got was Ino doing her best to spit in his face, the Uchiha leaning back so she only succeeded in staining his shirt.
Whatever humor he found in the situation was gone just like that.
"You need to calm down." His Sharingan burned to life only a moment later and she stilled.
"INO!" Shikamaru was no longer content just to watch. He wanted to move and move fast, move faster than he had all day. Ino went limp in the Uchiha's arms and something unfamiliar burned to life in the normally lazy Nara.
Rage.
He felt rage at the Uchiha.
He felt rage at himself.
He wanted to do something. He wanted to break something. Preferably the neck of the Uchiha in front of him.
Sasuke turned his Sharingan to him next. The Nara dropped to the ground before he could take more than a step, before he could move to send his shadow shooting forward. It was almost painfully easy to send his eyes over to the Akimichi before he could throw a massive hand forward. It was easy for him to turn red and black eyes to Kiba and drop him to the ground, Akamaru whining when his owner's weight settled on top of him and kept him pinned to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, only two of the six that had come to him were left standing.
Sakura retreated to Shino's side just as the Aburame stepped ahead, unleashed a part of his swarm. The air was filled with buzzing that the Uchiha paid no mind to. He had not released the limp Ino from his arms yet, did not have any intentions of doing so it seemed.
Shino wouldn't commit a full attack with her in the way, would deny himself the swiftest way to defeat the Uchiha with his fellow Shinobi in the way.
He didn't let any of it show on his face.
"My Sharingan would be too much of a pain to use on you. Why? Because the Aburame Clan has the unique insects called the kikaichu hosted inside their bodies." The Uchiha was mocking the Aburame's peculiar method of speaking.
"Let her go." Shino hadn't moved his hands out from his pocket, his face still showed no outward sign of stress.
"No." Sasuke shifted his hold on the limp Ino, wrapped one arm around her to free one of his hands. "We both know what will happen if I do that." He lifted the finger of his now free hand to his ear. "The six of you will be escorted out my camp. You will not be allowed back in."
"No." Shino echoed Sasuke as his swarm spread around him, their buzzing grew louder and louder as Sakura's fists tightened at her side. The Uchiha merely looked at the Aburame after his single word. "You are going to let her go."
"It looks like we can't reach an agreement." Sasuke chuckled at the demand, whatever he found funny about the situation was back it seemed. His smile returned and his Sharingan burned red in his eyes. "We'll have to compromise it seems."
"No." Shino repeated himself as he took a step closer. "Let her go."
"No." Sasuke's grin grew into something else, went from that infuriating taunting smile to something more fitting for an Uchiha, for the clan renowned for their prowess on the battlefield, for the insanity that would drive one of their own to battle the legendary Hashirama Senju alone. "We both know what's going to happen if this continues Aburame."
"Your swarm is going to keep getting closer to me and you'll try to drain what's left of my Chakra with them when they get in range. I have no problem incinerating Yamanaka before that happens." As if to prove his point, he breathed out a minor flame, nothing but sparks really. "You'll no doubt use your swarm to kill me once I do that. You'll try and you'll fail. And, even if you accomplish the impossible and beat me, the Praetorians will still be here and they'll kill you."
"I've gotten stronger since the Academy." Shino took another step as his swarm continued to surround the group of Genin, a black cloud in the night. The Uchiha outright laughed then, threw his head back and laughed.
A hand balled into a fist. Just as quickly it released.
"No matter how much you've improved for these exams, no matter how much stronger your bugs have gotten, it all means nothing Aburame. Nothing changes the gap between my power and yours. At the end of the day I'm still stronger than you, I'm still faster than you, and that means I can kill you. None of you have ever stood a chance against me in the past and you don't stand a chance now." The Uchiha once again moved his free hand up to his ear. "This game ends now. I'll be considerate and let you wait for the Praetorians in my tent but this little show is over with."
"No." Shino took another step forward.
The Legate stared at the Genin before he wordlessly kicked out Ino's leg.
She screamed and Shikamaru and Choji were both up, both restraining themselves from lunging at the Uchiha with Ino still in his hold. Sasuke did not entertain their presumption of his ignorance any longer. He tightened his hold on Ino and drew a kunai into his hand, settled it at his side for now.
"My clan has fought the Aburame before. Your insects let you absorb and transfer Chakra. You broke my Genjutsu on all four of them while we spoke." Sasuke did not need an answer from Shino, his Sharingan drifted over the gathered Genin without care. "Did you really think I was stupid enough not to expect that?"
"No. I hoped you were too tired to think beyond the obvious." Shino seemed to remain unworried to anyone who didn't know him. To anyone who did, his voice betrayed the nerves he no doubt felt, the nerves he still tries his best to suppress so he could think clearly.
"I was not." Sasuke began to spin the kunai on his finger by the ring at the end. "But you're partially right, I am too tired to deal with you lot any longer. Tomorrow I may have my patience back but for tonight I have other things on my mind."
The Uchiha gave a familiar pointed look to Shikamaru. It was nearly identical to the one he had given at the stadium. The Nara stepped forward, the large Akimichi with him. The Uchiha ceased spinning the knife in his hand and instead took a solid hold of it.
"Don't test me any more than you already have." Sasuke stepped away from Ino and Shikamaru rushed forward to take his place, offering her his shoulder so she wouldn't fall. She still managed a glare at where Sasuke stood off to the side, the Uchiha going so far as to put away his sole weapon and raise his hands up. "I am very tired."
"I should kick your ass for this!" Ino still glared at him.
He laughed.
"You came to me demanding answers about things you can't possibly understand and then you decide to get mad at me? I never knew you to be so disappointing before Ino-chan." Sasuke let his arms fall to his side as he moved back to his tent. He didn't take his eyes off the Genin and they didn't let him leave their sight.
"What are you going on about now?" Shikamaru met the Uchiha's gaze with his own.
"If you haven't figured it out yet Nara, it's not your problem." Sasuke's head turned to Ino. "If you really want to know, ask her."
"Perhaps it would be best if we all go our separate ways for now." Shino spoke above the sudden buzzing of his insects. "We're all too stressed from the events of today and need some time to recuperate. If we continue this as we are now, we will likely do something we'll regret later."
Shino seemed to understand how the situation had turned out. While it was good that Sasuke no longer held one of their group under restraint it was also bad. He had been just as limited as Shino was for their brief standoff with Ino as a captive. They may have even had a greater advantage with Ino as a captive than if she wasn't. The Uchiha wasn't prepared for her until near the end. She could have even triumphed in a contest of physical strength between the two.
The Uchiha simply couldn't be at his normal strength after everything that happened.
Ino had fought once and lost in the end not because of Chakra exhaustion or lack of stamina but because she had been knocked out by her opponent, the Uchiha she would be up against. That had been near the beginning of the day. She hadn't needed to do much fighting after that, her time since then spent watching the Chunin Exams before she had moved to the shelter with the rest of the Genin.
Sasuke had fought substantially more than any of the Genin. Two prolonged fights in the Chunin Exams, he heard the Uchiha had battled the three Sound Genin that hadn't made it through the Second Round just outside the stadium, Shikamaru had told him he had fought the invaders at the shelter, rumors spoke that he had briefly clashed with Rock Lee, and finally he had faced whatever force had been sent against the village at the main gates.
He had to be tired while, when compared to his state, Ino was fresh. If he was to be taken by surprise by their group attack and she was being fueled by fury at whatever she had uncovered, there was a high likelihood that she could beat him.
But it was not guaranteed.
As swiftly as things could go in their favor thanks to the unexpected struggle, they could go in his.
The Uchiha had already shown the capability to incapacitate them all and the Aburame knew they would have mere seconds before the Uchiha could manage to do it again.
And he wouldn't fall for the same trick a second time. He wouldn't give them the chance to think, give Ino the chance to link their minds so they could strategize. He would just attack them this time.
He hadn't said a single lie when he talked about how their power compared to his no matter how much the Aburame wished he had been spreading false information. The Uchiha was stronger and faster than them, was likely smarter than more than half the group of Genin in front of him, and there wasn't a question of who would win in a fight between him and any of them.
It would be the Uchiha. In a one on one fight, the victor would be him 90% of the time.
In a one versus six fight, the victor would likely be split 50/50 or they could possibly be more in the Uchiha's favor. Beyond Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji the rest of the group hadn't worked heavily on team based tactics. At best, he and Kiba had a handful of combination tactics they could reliably pull off. Sakura would possibly mesh well with the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio but that would leave himself and Kiba as more obstacles to victory than anything.
They lacked the cohesion to counter the Uchiha's skill, to close the gap in strength with teamwork.
His Sharingan also added another factor that would likely further tip the scales in his favor.
"So you agree with me now Aburame?" Sasuke's Sharingan was gone in the blink of an eye. "That's good. I have other things to do tonight and you've interrupted me long enough."
Ino did not seem to want to leave from the glare, the rage that still burned in her eyes as she looked at the Uchiha. There was a burning hate there, something Shikamaru had never seen in her eyes before. He had seen determination, the drive to be better, but never a hate like he was seeing now.
It unnerved him.
"Ino?" He didn't get an answer.
Sakura stepped up to her.
"Let's just go Ino. Please."
It seemed the urging of the pink haired Genin could get her to take her eyes away from the Uchiha. She nodded and Shikamaru breathed out a sigh of relief. The group of Genin began to leave with that, a few passing glares sent his way, and the Legate stepped into his tent.
He did actually have work to do after all.
Cleaning his sword would be a chore to occupy his time as he did so.
AN: Well wasn't that exciting. Regardless, this starts the rest of the fallout from the failed attack on the village. Sasuke got his opinions made known and Ino is, maybe rightfully, annoyed that Naruto knew about the attack but didn't tell anyone else anything it seems. Gaara is also something of an interest to Naruto now since he's just a bit more sane now.
Also, Genjutsu is definitely becoming my "get out of writing a fight scene" free card when it comes to Sasuke. What fun. But, who would have won that fight? Sasuke or Team Ino-Shika-Cho-Shi-Ki-Sa?
And everyone else seems to just be happy to be not dead this chapter. Good on them for knowing when to celebrate.