A stadium for sports competitions had been built in the center of the Leaf Village for civilians to enjoy, but it was most well-known for every time the Hokage rented it out (which he insisted on) for the Chunin Exams. It was large and held more than enough room for the entire populations of the two largest ninja villages, Leaf and Cloud. At this place, cheers could be heard from even the city gates as everyone got ready for the final part of the Third Test. People from both ninja villages and strictly civilian towns had come in to watch, since it was easily the largest event on the continent. It was also the most looked-forward to event in any nation because it brought in the most overall revenue from a single event for civilian businesses (even S-ranked missions would pale in comparison to the net profit statements issued by all the businesses).

In the largest VIP box, the Hokage sat with two other village leaders and their guards as they waited for the emcee to announce the beginning of the event. He turned to the leader of the Sand Village and said, "I'm glad you could make it, friend, though I wish you would've replied to my overtures to discuss the Daimyo's actions and how we can fix them so Sand will be more prosperous."

"All in due time, my friend," the Sand leader replied, though the Hokage noted something odd about his voice. "First we shall get the Exam out of the way, and then we can begin our... discussions, since I am in the area and all."

"Agreed," the Hokage replied as he turned to the field where a Leaf jonin had taken the field.

…

Meanwhile, Naruto, Sasuke, Chouji, and Shikamaru sat in one of the locker rooms. Neji, Gaara, and 'Dosu' had gone onto the field already to await the beginning of the exam. Shikamaru looked grim as he stared at each one in turn. "We've got a long day ahead of us, and I need the three of you to stay sharp, alright?"

"What's going on, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked. "Is this about the invasion?"

Shikamaru nodded and said, "Yeah. I've been trying to gather and connect various fragments together to figure out what the Hokage and Master Jiraiya believe is going to happen, and I've come up with a reasonable guess. The invasion is, in fact, going forward today. Orochimaru himself is going to show up, disguised like when we encountered him in the Forest, but much higher up so he can be close to the Hokage. Master Jiraiya has a sort of... pardon me, Shino... a 'flytrap' to isolate Orochimaru and any guards that he might have, so we don't have to worry too much about that. The problem is the trigger for the invasion. Shino has told me of a term I've never heard of before, at least, being used to refer to a human. 'Jinchuuriki', they called it. If my hunch is correct, then Gaara contains some powerful secret, one that would rock the ninja world if it leaked out, and it makes sense given his reflexive control of sand. What it is, I'm not sure, but I think it might be best if we let Gaara win the tournament. Tenten will probably forfeit if she has to fight Gaara, since it's proven that weapons are no match for his sand. However, if Ino ends up going against Gaara, things could get ugly. I've seen that guy's eyes, and I'm guessing that his mind is not the most stable; if Ino jumps in there, things could REALLY get out of hand, and perhaps that is what Orochimaru is waiting for."

"Don't forget Neji," Sasuke noted. "We don't know who is going to fight who. I think that if Neji fights him there could be trouble... he's fast like Lee, so he might be able to get close enough to Gaara to take him on hand-to-hand, and we don't know if Gaara can even fight at that range. If he can't, then Neji can probably eliminate him as a competitor, but if he can, then Neji might just trigger whatever the signal is." He scowled and crossed his arms, adding "If only we knew just what the signal was, we'd know better how to move on!"

"In either case," Shikamaru said, "whenever the trigger is released, do everything you can to draw Gaara away from the village, and we'll back you up. I'll grab the rest of the Rookie Nine and follow; I am not going to fight him at all, since he can still use his sand even if I control his bodily movements."

"This assumes a lot, Shikamaru," Chouji said as he tore into a bag of chips. "What if Dosu fights Gaara and triggers it? Dosu's part of the Sound crew, so he'll do whatever he can to keep Gaara IN the village, to cause as much chaos as possible."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Shikamaru responded. "Not everything can be accounted for, but if Dosu does become the catalyst, then one of us can distract him while the rest of us draw Gaara out of the village. Also, Shino told me about his deal with that girl from the Sound Squad, Tsuchi Kin. Apparently we need also to find a Sound ninja and detain her, if possible. She has a powerful summoning jutsu, but she is reliant on her weapon, a flute, to activate it, so if we can disarm her of it, we may be able to stop her. However, she also has what Kin called a 'demon mode' in which she transforms into a demonic being and her power spikes tremendously, so we need to figure out how to trap her, since she'll likely show up somewhere during the exam."

"That's a lot of uncertainty, especially from you," Naruto said. "What if we can't stop her, especially if we're trying to contain Gaara?"

"Then we'll have to rely on Kin to come out of hiding and convince the target to give up." The announcement for them to appear on the field sounded out, and they all stood up. "It looks like we're out of time. Good hunting, everyone, and stay alive."

On the field, the nine contestants stood an arm's length from each other as the emcee began speaking. "Welcome, citizens of the Elemental Nations, to the semi-annual Chunin Exam!" Applause erupted from every corner of the stadium, and he waited for a moment before continuing, saying "We have nine contestants today, all ready and raring to go, itching to prove their skills in combat. Of course, the final determination rests with the committee; the winner of the tournament could possibly not qualify, while someone who got knocked out in the first round could be promoted instead, but I'll tell you what, winning the tournament is always a big plus!" Turning to face the genin, he said, "Will the following genin please step forward: Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuuga Neji!"

Cheers and catcalls intermingled with each other as the two opponents stepped forward and stood at opposite ends of the stadium. Naruto had early on learned to block out such things, focusing solely on Neji, who stood cross-armed and as arrogantly as he'd ever seen the older boy. "You're going down today, Neji! You'll pay for what you did to Hinata!"

"Fate has dictated that you should be my first victim; not only that, but you are a sign that I shall, in fact, win this tournament!" Neji announced, his look not changing as he slipped into his stance.

"Are you two ready to begin?" the emcee asked. Getting a nod from the both of them, he stepped back and declared "Let the tournament begin! Naruto vs. Neji: Fight!"

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto said as a crowd of copies appeared and rushed at Neji, who ducked and weaved among the clones and dispersed them with well-placed strikes. Reaching the back of the pack, he went straight for the heart, but that one disappeared as well, and it was thanks only to the Byakugan that he was able to avoid the combo from behind as more clones appeared.

"Clever, Naruto... you must have learned that the Byakugan cannot tell the difference between a Shadow Clone and the real deal," Neji muttered as he began to disperse each clone that came at him. "You also realized that I would naturally assume that you'd use the Shadow Clone in the normal way, and so you hid yourself among your Shadow Clones. It won't work for long, though!"

"That's what you think!" shouted one of the Naruto clones as it threw a huuma shuriken at Neji, who ducked it but found himself surprised when the shuriken transformed back into Naruto, who then launched a volley of kunai at him. Neji used the Replacement jutsu with one of the clones and continued his assault.

"Nice try, but I think you need to learn a lesson on fighting the Hyuuga!" Neji shouted as chakra began to pour out of his body. As the clones converged on him, Neji began to spin and a sphere of chakra expanded out from him. Every clone that hit the wall of chakra was dispersed, but Naruto had seen it coming and stayed away from it "Eight Trigrams: Rotation. The secret art of the Gentle Fist style, and one closely guarded by the main branch... until today!"

…

"Father, how did he figure out how to use the Rotation?" Hanabi asked. The Hyuuga family, sans Hinata, had gathered at one part of the stadium and sat together; Hinata had sat in one of the special boxes for teammates.

"To put it simply, Hanabi, your cousin is truly a genius, and if I can't use this situation to somehow convince the elders to abolish the Caged Bird seal, then we may very well be in trouble, not to mention the trouble the branch family will be in," Hiashi replied. "I'm glad I thought ahead of him, though, and taught Naruto how to counter the Rotation. It'll come down to chakra reserves, and Naruto far outclasses Neji there."

"Wait, how can Rotation be countered?" Hanabi inquired, confusion evident in her young face. "I thought you said it could not be countered."

"The elders think it so, but I know better. There is no jutsu that is unstoppable, and you would do well to remember that, should you still want to pursue the life of a ninja," Hiashi said. "Heh, but if I know my little firecracker as well as I hope, you'll want to improve on it, right?"

"Yup! The Rotation should be foolproof, and I'll find a way!" Hanabi declared. She flinched and smiled as Hiashi played with her hair a bit. "C'mon, Dad, stop that! Hehe~"

"I will. Besides, it looks like our friend Naruto needs our cheers," Hiashi said and shouted "Come on, Naruto!" In his mind, he contemplated how he'd changed over the months. 'I would never have done that, but now I'm glad I can, thanks to my daughters and Naruto... I hope he can break through the shell Neji built up around himself. He needs to know the truth...'

…

Meanwhile, Naruto had found himself being backed up into the proverbial corner. Neji had repeatedly used Rotation to weed out the clones, but he himself was nowhere near where he needed to be in terms of gaining the upper hand. He didn't dare use any of his elemental jutsu since those would simply waste his chakra reserves. "Neji, tell me something! Why do you hate Hinata so much? What would a gentle soul like hers do to cause you so much pain?!"

"It's not about Hinata! It's about what she as the heiress represents!" Neji spat as he continued to fight Naruto's clones. "It's about the injustice and repression I and my family have endured for so long, not like you'd know anything about that. Being an orphan must be nice, not having anyone to tell you that you can't do this or that, always having the shadow of death lingering over you!" He ripped off his headband and showed Naruto the Caged Bird seal, his eyes filled with pain and rage. "The main family says it's to keep our eyes from enemies, but it's just a pair of handcuffs and a kunai to the back of our head at the same time, to keep us in servitude from birth to death! It's our fate- but not anymore!" His hands glowing, Neji began assaulting Naruto. "One palm, two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms, sixty-four palms!" As Naruto fell backward, Neji muttered "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms. Accept your fate."

"If fate is so strong, why do you fight against it?" Naruto wheezed as he tried to sit up, all the while trying to force chakra through his closed coils.

"Because just as fate decided to put me in the branch family, it also gave me the skills and the genius to break out and choose my own path," Neji replied. "Do you want to know how fate did that? I'll tell you... Hiashi had a brother, my father. They weren't just brothers, either, but twin brothers. Born at the same time, or so people would have you think. In this instance, one minute made all the difference in the world. One minute. Do you think that was fair, to decide someone's place in the span of a minute, especially when they have no control or say in it? My father didn't mind it much, but when he was sealed, he began to grow distant and cold to all of us. Why do I blame Hinata specifically? It's because she was so weak that she was kidnapped. A ninja from Cloud kidnapped her, but Hiashi killed him. When Cloud demanded Hiashi's body as recompense, they sent my father instead, hoping that the fact that they were twins wouldn't be discovered. He was killed, his eyes burnt out by the Caged Bird seal, and his body is now in some unmarked grave in Cloud! All because his twin brother was too selfish to give up Hinata or die himself!" His fist glowed as he began to launch it at Naruto's chest. "You were fated to die here once you aligned yourself with the main branch, so die!"

…

"Wow, talk about a whiny brat," the Fox muttered to himself. "Naruto, use my chakra; there's no way I'm letting some Harry Hard-Walk destroy me!"

…

Neji stopped, shocked as he saw red chakra begin to circulate through Naruto's body, opening up every pathway he'd blocked. Naruto's hand reached up, grabbed Neji's fist, and squeezed so tightly that the joints began to snap apart. Neji stifled an agonized scream as he ripped his hand from Naruto's grasp, which hung limply as Naruto began to stand up. "You're right, Neji; I don't know your pain. I can't even imagine the pain you must feel every day for all these years, without your father there to protect you or guide you. How dare you, though, assume that I do not have to face pain every day. Having Saito-sensei and Yuugao-sensei has awakened my eyes to see what I've been missing out on since birth. Being born with something you cannot control, though... I know that pain all too well."

"Wh-wh-what are you-" Neji began, truly feeling fear for perhaps the first time in his life as the malevolent force from the red chakra exuded from Naruto's body.

"Being forced to steal scraps of food, never having warm clothing during the winter or a roof over my head that wasn't looking like it was going to collapse on me... always living in fear that some villager would appear and kill me in their drunken stupor... DON'T YOU DARE ASSUME THAT I DON'T KNOW PAIN!" Naruto shouted as he made four more Shadow Clones. As they began to chant "Uzumaki Naruto Combo!", one punched Neji and sent him flying back into two others that kicked him into the air. The fourth bicycle-kicked Neji further into the air, then then real Naruto planted a heel drop on Neji's head, sending him into the ground. As the boy tried to pick himself up, Naruto landed and punched Neji clean in the face, sending the kid sprawling to the ground again. "I would kill you, but that would make Hinata sad, and you need to learn the truth of what happened that day; from what I know of Lord Hiashi, he wouldn't have sent his brother to his own demise." Neji was out cold, though, and Naruto knew he could not be heard, so the red chakra began to subside as his system purified it into normal chakra.

The emcee ran up and checked Neji, then stood up and announced, "The winner of this round is Uzumaki Naruto!" Cheers began to erupt from all around the stadium, this time far exceeding the boos and offensive language coming from his detractors.

Naruto managed to drag his tired self to where his teammates and his friend were waiting for him. Hinata rushed up to him and hugged him tightly. "Are you alright, Naruto? You fought so well, but I was afraid that once Neji sealed your coils you were done for!"

"I simply had to pull out my ace-in-the-hole, as Pervy-Sage calls it," Naruto replied. "I'd suggest that you go see Neji, but I think your father is going to want some alone time with him." They both looked up and saw Hiashi's seat empty, but what surprised them even more was Hanabi. She was staring at Naruto with amazement and wonder.

"I think you have a new number-one fan," Hinata commented, chuckling lightly.

"Oh man... I have my hands full with just Konohamaru and his gang," Naruto replied, dreading having another kid trailing after him all the time. At the same time, though, it filled him with pride that younger people were looking up to him.

Sakura, who was with them, leaned over and whispered to Hinata, saying "You'd better stake your claim now, or else you'll have to compete with Hanabi too." This made Hinata blush bright-red, to Naruto's confusion.

After Neji had been cleared off of the field, the emcee began speaking. "I'll tell you what, if that's the kind of battle we're to expect today from all of our competitors, then we're definitely in for a treat! Nara Shikamaru vs. Akimichi Chouji, please step forward!"

"Aw, man!" Chouji complained. "Why couldn't they just send Gaara out to fight someone else and have this whole thing begin already?"

"Patience, Chouji," Shikamaru muttered. "Do you want to move on? I don't plan on exerting myself until the invasion begins."

"Sounds good to me," Chouji replied. "Can your shadow hold me while I'm in my Human Boulder state?"

"Probably, but I can always make it look like it didn't," Shikamaru said. "I'd ask you to be gentle, but then I don't expect getting hit with a giant rock-like object to simply bounce off of me."

The two took up their positions and stared at each other, waiting for the emcee to call the match. He looked at the both of them, then called out "Chouji vs. Shikamaru! Begin!"

"Human Boulder!" Chouji announced as he expanded dramatically, turning into a giant ball that began to quicikly roll at Shikamaru, who'd been caught by surprise and barely dodged the attack.

"Okay, didn't expect that... all that training really did pay off, after all," Shikamaru said as he drew his sword. He slashed at Chouji, but the blade simply bounced off and Shikamaru got knocked aside as Chouji turned away. "Sword isn't working... in this state, even if I did catch him in my shadow, there's nothing I could do to make him fall. It looks like I may end up having to forfeit after all... okay, how do I do this and make it look good?" He muttered under his breath as he continued to dodge the rolling tank, trying to find a safe place to plan, but he knew he wasn't going to get it because he knew how long Chouji could keep up his jutsu up. Running along the wall of the stadium, he barely managed to keep ahead of the portly ninja and began planting explosive tags along the wall itself. They weren't lethal, but would be convincing enough to showcase both his planning and Chouji's resiliency. After planting all of them along the wall, he launched himself off and ran to the opposite side of the arena. He then ran up the wall and launched himself over Chouji, detonating the first tag as Chouji ran into it. The explosion sent Chouji flying into another tag, which turned him into a human pinball as he bounced from one tag to another. The people against the wall had all moved back to not be caught in the explosions, and it was clear that after the exam the walls would have to be fixed. The stadium was filled with smoke as the explosions stopped, and no one could see the arena, so all waited with bated breath to see if that had been enough to stop the juggernaut. As it cleared, though, they saw a body fly through the air and fall back to the ground. In the middle of the ring stood Chouji, while Shikamaru laid on the ground, seeming to be unconscious.

"The winner is Akimichi Chouji!" the emcee announced. "Can you believe it!? Not even a minefield could stop this guy! That's the power of the Akimichi family for you!" The cheers from the crowd affirmed their agreement.

"I guess I owe you, Shikamaru..." Chouji said as he picked his friend up and carried him back to the teammate box. "I'll get you a bag of chips or something when you wake up."

…

"Impressive!" the Sand leader exclaimed. "The pineapple-head is very clever, but the fat one is very strong. I wonder how he would do against Gaara."

"We might see soon enough, once the rest of the individuals have a turn," the Hokage replied. "I must admit, I've been rather surprised by all of the results thus far. Not only did one Sound member make it to the finals, but also only your youngest son."

"Yes, Gaara is very strong..." the Sand leader declared proudly. "In fact, I'm banking on him making it all the way to the final round, and winning that as well."

"But I'm sure it won't get that far before you spring your trap. Isn't that right, my old apprentice?" the Hokage retorted, whispering into the man's ear.

"Kukuku... I knew I could never pull the wool over your eyes for long. It's surprising, given that reason, that you have never been able to catch me until now," Orochimaru responded. "However, we must be civil about these things. Look, would we not want to see which of our students is promoted- oh wait, I forgot, you don't have any students. I guarantee that none of them will beat mine, let alone Gaara. Kukuku... she is definitely the strongest, for sure, but I'd love to see Sasuke take her on, see how far along the boy is in his training."

'Not if I have anything to do about it.' "I agree. Let's see how the battles turn out," the Hokage said as the emcee began speaking.

…

As Ino heard "Dosu of Sound vs. Yamanaka Ino! Fight!", she found herself on the defensive as Dosu quickly launched an assault. "Okay, what to do..." she muttered to herself while evading the Sound ninja's attacks. 'Dosu seems to be different than he was a month ago; not only is he stronger and faster, he even looks and moves different. Before, he was stiff and militaristic, but now he's fluid and flexible. Time to do some investigative work.' Ino wasn't sure if she could pull the jutsu off, but she'd seen her father do it to many clients over the years, so she had a fairly good idea how to do it, but getting Dosu to hold still would prove challenging. 'Hmm, how about some psychological warfare? Anko-sensei is always using it on me...' Ino smirked as she changed her stance, having decided on her plan of action.

'Dosu', or rather Tayuya, frowned as her opponent, who seemed to be on the run the whole time, had now turned around and was standing differently. 'What is this girl up to?' Tayuya wondered as she fingered her flute, resisting the urge to pull it out and quickly win the match. 'Stupid Dosu... he never did have any skill. How he managed to get this far, I'll never know...' Her thoughts, however, did a complete one-eighty as Ino began her counterattack.

"So, big boy, you like blondes?" Ino taunted as Dosu tried to punch her. She quickly dodged and groped Dosu's butt, stepping back to enjoy her opponent losing balance. "Ooh, such a firm butt. I bet you're all muscles underneath those heavy clothes." As Dosu turned around, Ino made a seal and said, "Memory Viewing jutsu!"

"What is this?" Ino asked herself as she looked at the memory. She saw a red-haired girl standing over a pile of clothes, which she began to mix-and-match and put on. She couldn't hear what the girl was thinking, but it was clear that the redhead was dressing up like Dosu.

"Hey, Tayuya! Ready to go?" a voice came from behind Ino.

Before Ino could comment, though, she heard a different voice. "Hey! Who said you could look at my thoughts!?" the voice screamed, and Ino quickly found herself canceling the jutsu.

Back on the field, Ino saw that 'Dosu' was fighting more fiercely than ever. "Whoa!" Ino muttered as she quickly backpedaled, staying out of the cross-dresser's range. "Hey, is your name Tayuya?"

"Yes, you freaky lesbian, now hold still while I kill you! It's gonna take me months to wipe that memory, thank you very much," Tayuya said forcefully.

"I'm not a lesbian- wait, hold on!" Ino pleaded, finding herself tiring out. "Are you Kin's sister, then?"

"How do you know Kin? Did you kill her?!" Tayuya shouted, seeming to move faster each minute.

"Kin's alive! No one even injured her, let alone killed her!" Ino replied, now using a kunai to ward off Tayuya. "She's with Witness Protection, and one of the conditions she mentioned was to rescue you!"

"That doesn't matter, even if I believed you! He knows where I am at all times, thanks to the Curse Seal!" Tayuya retorted. "I don't like any of this one bit, but I am his pawn and that is my destiny!"

"Master Jiraiya is here, though! He can destroy the Curse Seal! You know what? I'm going to forfeit and get him for you! I'll even get Kin so you can see I'm telling the truth, and if I'm not, you have permission to kill me!" Ino was now getting desperate, and they both knew it, but Ino hoped that Tayuya knew that all people tell the truth when facing death.

Tayuya paused and thought it over. 'Okay, she may be crazy, but if she's telling the truth... and why not? Orochimaru never tells the truth unless it suits him. It's clear that Kin was nothing more than a pawn, either, and she was going to die during the Exam like Zaku and Dosu in order to bring about his evil scheme.' "Fine, but he'll get suspicious if I don't beat you myself."

"Understood," Ino replied as she ran up to Tayuya and slashed at her with the kunai. Tayuya, in turn, sidestepped the attack and kicked her in the stomach. Ino fell to the ground and pretended to be unconscious, though the pain from that kick was enough to make her dizzy for several moments.

"Winner: Dosu!" the emcee announced. 'Dosu' said nothing and stepped into the building as the crowd applauded.

A few seconds later, Ino pulled herself up as if shaking off her unconsciousness and limped back to the competitor's box. As she sat down, she whispered into Naruto's ear, saying "Found her... get Master Jiraiya and tell him to get Kin and take her to Tayuya, who is waiting inside the stadium. Hurry... I think that things are about to get heated up here."

Naruto nodded and made a Shadow Clone and transformed it into a dog, which leaped off in search for the old man. He quickly found him in the shadows of one of the arena's towers. "Hey, Pervy-Sage..." he whispered.

"Only one person ever calls me that..." Jiraiya said as he looked down. "What is it, Naruto?"

"We found her. She's disguised as Dosu. Ino told me to tell you to get Kin and bring her here to meet with Tayuya," Naruto said, still whispering.

"Thank you, Naruto. Dispel yourself; it looks like Sasuke is up now," Jiraiya muttered, then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Sasuke stood opposite Gaara. "May the best ninja win," Sasuke said as he offered his hand.

"..." Gaara stared at Sasuke's hand curiously. "What is this gesture for?"

"Sportsmanship," Sasuke replied, though he had to remind himself that Gaara had no such concept. "It means that win or lose, everything's good between us."

"Nothing is good even now; Mother wants your blood, and it's all I can do to hold her back until the match starts," Gaara replied as he stepped back to take his position.

'There has to be something we can do to save him,' Sasuke thought as he took his own position. 'I just hope everyone's ready... Chidori will probably hurt him, and I for one don't want to be around when that happens.' Tightening his headband around his head, his eyes blazed red as the Sharingan activated and he took his stance.

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Gaara of the Sand! Begin!" the proctor announced.

…

"Kin!" Tayuya shouted from glee as she opened the door and saw her little sister. The two of them embraced warmly as Tayuya began to cry. "Orochimaru told me you'd died! I should have known better than to believe him!"

"It's alright, nee-san!" Kin replied happily, also crying tears of joy. "These people have treated me so nicely, but it always reminded me of you. I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Family reunions are always the best, but we're working against the clock, right?" Jiraiya interjected. "Tayuya, please show me your seal and explain what Orochimaru is planning?"

Tayuya took the wrappings off of her neck and began to talk as Jiraiya examined the seal. "I know he plans on unleashing his snake summon on the village once Gaara transforms. He also planned on using me and my three companions to trap your leader in an unbreakable box so he could have a one-on-one with him. With me down here, he must be planning on generating it with the power of their Curse Seals, since we don't have enough chakra to do it with just three of us, on our own. I don't know why he wanted me down here, but it's clear he at least needed to keep up appearances; if 'Dosu' could be made a chunin then the Sound village would have better standing."

"Okay, well, then your people are the one in trouble, if that's it," Jiraiya muttered as he pulled out a piece of scrap paper and began scribbling notes. "The Hokage is safe, and until I get this off of you that's all I'm willing to chance saying. Like Anko's, he added some of his own chakra to it. Thankfully with this I can figure out a way to reverse-engineer it..." He pulled out a brush and ink, then began to carefully write on top of her seal. "This will block the effects for the most part, though when Orochimaru dies you might feel some pain as his chakra dissipates. After that, I'll be able to take it off completely."

"It doesn't matter how much pain there is, long as I'm free from his clutches," Tayuya replied.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of this," Jiraiya said. "If I had killed him when I had the chance, several years ago, none of this would've happened."

"He's a very slippery guy," Kin commented. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out how many times he's cheated death, to be honest."

At that moment the stadium began to rumble. "Oh no... it's begun!" Tayuya exclaimed.

"Let's go," Jiraiya ordered, and the three of them stepped out into the hallway, hoping to make it back onto the field before the building came down on them.

…

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Gaara shouted as blood poured profusely from his shoulder. Not more than ten seconds ago, Sasuke had managed to land a hit with his Chidori, though he did it only to try and take the boy down rather than kill him. This, he noted, was a horrible mistake as Gaara's sand encapsulated the boy, and his hand along with it. By channeling lightning chakra, Sasuke was able to pull it out before it got crushed, but before he could do much else an explosion from another area caught his attention. He now noticed two things: a giant snake was loose in the village, and the Kage Box was sealed off from the outside by a purple barrier. "There's the signal!" he shouted to the others as he leaped into action.