Author's notes: Chapter two. So I'm afraid the story's still a little chaotic but the massive fight is almost over so hopefully I'll be able to make things more clear as the dust settles. I hope you enjoy this and would love to hear any feedback positive or negative.
Disclaimer. I don't own the characters or world. Someone else does. I'm just writing this as a parody for fun and practice. I'm not making any money and I hope it's enjoyed.
Chapter 2
Anaba was becoming disturbed. He had remained back to defend the painted ones during the ritual calling. With the Caller present it was a necessity. Despite the out of the way placement, Anaba could not risk leaving the Caller poorly defended. At the same time the plan only allowed for a few defenders per squad of painted. So Anaba and his personal squad had remained behind. So far the extra precaution had been, not a waste, but had not been used.
At first he hadn't been too worried. Nukpana was a vicious bloodthirsty bastard, and he was also a raider, the elite among the scouts. It was true that Nukpana's Bloody Rebels were in the kindest sense eccentric when it came to completing their missions. The last time he'd sent the group to a heavily guarded castle to steal a vital piece of intelligence, Nukpana had left the entirety of the actual infiltration and theft to Rozene, and had taken Bizdil and Heskovizenako for a direct assault on the main gates of the keep. Apparently the enemy had assumed that the main purpose of the mission was to thin their numbers, rather than that being a side effect of Nukpana having a good time. They'd not even checked for missing Intel.
For a straightforward mission like this one, Nukpana was perfect. The only worry about Nukpana's performance on the mission was that he'd get carried away and butcher the entire school. So Anaba had waited patiently, taking into account the amount of time it would take to crush an entire school house filled with sub-par ninjas. For specialists like the Bloody rebels the class of genins should have been no problem. Even if Nukpana had taken his time and slaughtered everyone else in the class room, or even the school, Rozene should have finished off the boy already. Which meant the Kyubbi should be free.
The cycle would be normalized, and with any luck the blasphemous arrogant shinobi of the leaf would be eradicated as was only right. Binding one of the incarnations of the elemental forces of creation. And worse yet their arrogance set the way for others. But there was another squad on the way to the village hidden in the sand to rectify the situation there. Anaba was confident that the other team would easily accomplish their mission. The Tanki was only a minor elemental, a spirit unrelated to the grand balance. They should have no problem slaying the host.
But there had been no explosion, no emergence of the avatar. Nothing at all. There had not even been the signal he'd instructed Rozene to give once the mission was accomplished.
His patience was wearing thin. A heavy sheen of sweat had begun to form on the younger painted. The strain of maintaining the spirit clones was obviously taking its toll. It wouldn't be too long before the younger painted failed and their clones dissipated. That would seriously diminish their forces. Which would mean that the older painted would need to use more chakra to keep the enemy distracted. Which would tire them out faster. The whole mission could become compromised.
Shikamaru had been partially right, the open air had partially changed the battle. While a few of his classmates had proved themselves cowards and fled, most of them had proven themselves true ninja of the leaf and, under his orders, had focused on aiding the chunin instructors in collecting the younger students and escorting them to the panic rooms hidden throughout the city in case of exactly the circumstances they found themselves currently in. The genin's intervention allowed the Chunin instructors to move the students with greater speed and safety. It also allowed a few instructors to intervene in the battle, stopping several of the spirit clones from killing more academy students.
Meanwhile back in the classroom a pitched battle was still underway. Kiba had been taken out of the equation. The wound Mizuki had inflicted on his leg was bleeding profusely. He gritted his teeth, as Sakura put as much pressure on the strips of cloth she'd torn lose from her clothes. The makeshift bandages were doing a fair amount to steam the bleeding, but she knew even with the first aid she'd provided Kiba would bleed out soon without real medical attention. Which wouldn't be an issue if they both got killed before then.
They were currently immensely vulnerable. They were stuck in the middle isle where the stairs were, with only Ino and Akimaru for protection. Every time the two girls had tried to move Kiba an attack prevented them from doing so. Their assailants seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure in forcing them to remain exposed and helpless while Kiba's life bled away.
Worse yet it didn't seem that help would be coming soon enough. Shino and Hinata had their hands busy with the gigantic ninja who seemed to feel no pain. Naruto and his clones were barely keeping Mizuki back, and Sakura suspected the chunin was playing with Naruto, allowing the boy think he had a chance. Sasuke was still fighting the same ninja, and was making no more progress than before. Shikamaru was outside, directing Naruto's other clones and the other students in clearing out the school and keeping their path of retreat open. And Choji was still out cold.
Above them Hinata was having trouble. Her opponent, a huge man wielding a spear with a sharp blade on each end, seemed to barely notice each essence fueled strike she landed. Nor did he seem to be tiring. He struck out at her again and again, with the same speed and strength fueling each blow. Ever since she'd struck him, he'd become obsessed with her, targeting her to the exclusion of all else. The never ending assault was beginning to take its toll on her.
While he seemed more than capable of keeping up the assault forever, Hinata found her strength was failing. At first she'd had no trouble avoiding the powerful strikes of her opponent. The long weapon had strength behind it and greater reach than her hands, but the strikes where still slow for the rapid paced combat of the ninja. Thanks to the hours she had spent training with her family she was used to much more rapid strikes.
However her stamina was only human, and her opponent's was something else. A layer of sweat clogged her skin and soaked into her clothes. Her dodges were slowing and twice the massive spear had cut into the cloth of her clothing. Long narrow scratches bled where the spear had torn her skin.
Her own counterattacks were becoming sloppier. Twice she had missed his heart, and struck various parts of his chest instead. She was all too aware that soon she would be too slow and her worthless life would end. She chided herself for her weakness. She was Hyuga, one of the elite clans of the village. At least this way her sister would never be forced to join the branch family.
Behind his raised collar Shino smirked as Hinata avoided yet another tremendous blow. It was possible that his reaction was premature. His father would be disappointed to learn of this premature reaction. After all a fight between shinobi was not resolved until one of the combatants was dead.
Still Shino was pleased with himself. He had remained on the outskirts of the fight, under the notice of the enemy ninja. He'd allowed his classmates to act as diversions, drawing the attention of the enemy, interjecting himself into the fray only when necessary to give his classmates a second of respite. He'd used Kunai to slow and alter a few attacks, but had managed to appear mostly useless.
It seemed that the enemy had forgotten the number one rule of the shinobi: the unseen is the most deadly. Shino remained back not out of a sense of cowardice, but to observe his opponents and derive a strategy for how to defeat them.
Unlike Shikamaru, Shino had not analyzed the entirety of the situation at hand. Instead the bug user's focus was solely on the enemy force present and their combat capabilities. Hinata's foe worried him the most. The giant seemed to be using chakra to strengthen his body, rendering him immune to most attacks. Kunai and shuriken had so far proven useless. Worse the giant seemed not to tire. And even the dreaded Hyuga gentle fist style barely provoked any reaction. Normally he might write that up to a failing on Hinata's part, she was a young genin after all, but his kiaki bugs reported that every strike she launched was powered by enough chakra to completely shred whatever organ it hit. He suspected that it was only that power that allowed the blows to even phase the enemy.
The enemy's reaction to the attack had been even more surprising. The giant had become fixated on Hinata, ignoring everything else in an effort to crush her. Her strikes were probably the first that had harmed the giant in a long while.
Shino had used the giant's preoccupation and Hinata's obvious abilities, to his advantage. All the while watching for signs that the girl was in trouble, Shino had commanded his bugs to attach to the mountain of a man. As Shino had predicted the mountain of the hadn't noticed the small bugs weight on his chakra enhanced skin. Since attaching his allies had been steadily sucking the chakra of the man.
Shino's connection to his allies allowed him to sense both their satiation and the remaining chakra levels of their pray. He'd had to replace the force attacking the giant three times, but finally the giant's chakra was almost depleted. Not that the giant had slowed any.
Unfortunately Hinata had. Her exhaustion had caught up with her and she'd slipped. The giant was bringing his spear down, ready to drive the point through the crown of her skull. There was nothing to it, Shino would have to intervene.
"With a burst of speed that would have surprised many of those who knew the sedentary ninja, he leaped in front of Hinata, kunai in hand. He quickly calculated the angle and descent and brought his twin blades up to intercept the shaft, absorbing the downward momentum.
His muscles screamed and his teeth ground together under the strain of holding back the tremendous pressure the giant was exerting. Sweat gathered on his brow and his muscles burned. The point drifted inexorably downward as the giant smirked. And then, when it seemed Shino and Hinata would share the fate of far too many of their classmates, Shino's bugs came swarming back to him their mission a success. The giant faltered, stumbling back, his chakra drained.
"Hinata, the heart," where the only words Shino managed to push past his grinding teeth.
He needn't have bothered. The girl had already risen from her prone position and despite the exhaustion plaguing her had summoned her remaining chakra into her palms for one final strike. Her hands pushed against the man's chest, the chakra in them burrowing deep under the skin. It crashed and tore at the fibers of his heart shredding against it. Without the protective shield of chakra the giant had previously been maintaining around himself, there was no resistance, no defense. Her chakra ripped and tore until the heart was little more than shreds.
Suddenly the pressure against Shino's weapons disappeared as the giant's muscles ceased to push and he began to fall. Snatching the exhausted girl Shino leaped from the path of the falling body and sprinted his way towards one of the shattered windows. Hinata had obviously spent most of her chakra reserves and his kiaki bugs at gorged himself to the point of uselessness. They would only be a burden on their classmates at the moment, weaknesses for the enemy to exploit.
Once he had gotten Hinata somewhere safe, he would return and help Ino and Sakura move Kiba. He only hoped that the others could hold out until then.
Sasuke was becoming increasingly frustrated. This wasn't happening! He was the last remaining Uchica, the sworn avenger of the entire clan. He had dedicated his entire life to that goal, spending his time studying the techniques of his clan. He had already master the phoenix fire jutsu, one considered to be far too advanced for a mere genin. His accuracy with the technique was unrivaled. The notes he'd found detailing his brother's capabilities at his age indicated that not even that legendary monster had managed to be quite so precise as his younger brother, nor have the stamina that Sasuke had developed at this age.
So why couldn't he hit the Nukpana? The enemy ninja had taken great glee informing Sasuke just who would be killing him. His ire over the arrogance of the declaration, had caused Sasuke to freeze up, almost allowing one of Nukpana's spinning axes to bisect him. He'd managed to jump aside at the last second. The weakling behind him hadn't been so lucky.
The unfortunate fate of that student had prompted Nukpana to begin another series of verbal assaults against Sasuke. This time the enemy hurled questions about how cruel Sasuke must be to allow his fellow students to die, just to save his own skin. The thought once again frustrated Sasuke. The life of a ninja was no place for a weakling. If they could not survive on their own they had no right to be here.
Sasuke's ire had grown with each taunt. As had his focus. He wasn't going to fail. He was the strongest genin! He knew the strongest techniques. He wouldn't lose!.
His internal rant had been stopped and his delusions shattered by an event even his hyper focus could not prevent him from noticing. Suddenly, where there had been the noises of battle, there was only silence. A silence filled by a roar that made him clutch his ears. As hundreds of Naruto's roared into existence. The previous sound was then blotted out by hundred's of Naruto's crying out in unison.
Then all hell broke loose as the Naruto's attacked.
To his shame the idiot's clones managed to do more to his opponent in a few seconds than he'd managed to do the entire battle. He'd never thought it possible for Naruto to perform such a strong technique let alone control it. The weakling was making a mockery of him! For the first time since the ambush had begun, Nukpana had been struck. It hadn't been by Sasuke's hand. Despite all the hours the boy had spent training he hadn't been able to land a single strike with fist, jutsu or weapon. And the dead last of the class had mastered a technique Sasuke had never heard of before, and managed to use it to successfully strike a blow where he couldn't.
The clones hadn't been able to do much more than that though. Nukpana had continued ducking, weaving and attacking despite their numbers. Only now the enemy was forced to change his attention from taunting Sasuke to destroying the clones. The enemy moved in a ballet of furious motion, far faster than before. Every movement was perfectly planned. Each gesture, motion, and movement was an attack or dodge. Soon all of the clones assaulting Nukpana were dispersed into a mist of smoke. For the first time all day Nukpana was forced to be serious. Meanwhile the attacks that Sasuke launched were heartily ignored.
The change in the enemy's attitude did not go unnoticed by Sasuke. His fingernails dug deep into his palms as his anger grew. How could this be! The dead last fool was the one that forced Nukpana to become serious. And he, the last member of the greatest clan in the village was ignored! No! Sasuke new this had to be a mistake.
He was strong. The strongest in his class. He would be the strongest one of all, "the avenger of the Uchica!" The words had left his throat as a scream before he'd realized he vocalized them.
A smirk had appeared upon Nukpana's face, as the twin axes he wielded slapped back into his palms, returning after slaying another two clones.
"Avenger huh? Well you're certainly not cut out to be a defender. Do you know how many times you've fled me axes, to leave one of your friends to pay the price? I do. I'll admit it was a brilliant piece of strategy. Their flesh and bones slowed my babies' return just enough to allow you to flee and sneak in a strike. If you were stronger it might have even worked. But you're weak. Too weak to avenge anyone. I'm afraid I'll have to leave your cooling corpse behind."
Across the room the real Naruto Uzumaki was having problems of his own. With Kiba injured he was once again on his own against Mizuki. Granted there had been a lot of him at the time that Kiba had become injured.
At least forty clones had been attempting to beat Mizuki into a pulp just like the first time they'd fought. This time however the technique hadn't worked that well. In truth Naruto was receiving an impromptu lesson in tactics. Mizuki had not been appointed a teacher because he lacked skills. Rather, his knowledge of the application of ninja techniques was incredibly thorough.
During his rather lengthy time in the Academy Naruto had often wondered why they had needed to learn such basic and seemingly useless moves. While he'd stared off into space, he'd often wondered what was so great about being able to move three inches to the side, or why he'd ever need to be able use chakra to move a log without ever touching it.
The third time one of his clones had driven a Kunai into Mizuki's chest only to have a burst of smoke reveal the knife buried to the hilt in a log or book, Naruto was ready to admit maybe Iruka-sensei had been right in insisting he pay attention.
The fight only got worse when Mizuki had run out of logs stored wherever the instructors got them from. Then the traitor had started using the clones instead. With each narrow escape Mizuki eliminated one of Naruto's clones, and flooded Naruto's mind with the clone's memories. The distractions were short, but with the sheer rate of destruction of his clones, both the ones in the classroom and the ones fighting outside, Naruto found himself paralyzed by a flood of memories he'd never had.
Hundreds of different deaths became a part of his experience. In only a handful of seconds he'd experienced over fifty different mortal blows. Each was slightly different and each inscribed in his memory with a needle of fire. He could feel axes chopping through his neck, knives cutting through his groin. The jarring impact of hard punches and kicks rounded out the concerto of pain.
And those were surprisingly not the most distracting memories. He'd lived with pain all his life. The pain of abandonment, of a never-ending aching loneliness, had been his for his entire life. The pain of icy stares and dismissal had been a constant for as long as he could remember. He'd been struck before and he'd hit trees until his knuckles bled. It was true that what his clones were going through were new experiences, but Naruto found that pain was pain. He'd learned to focus past that.
No the torrent of experiences and knowledge the clones had gathered was what really shocked him. In the span of seconds: he'd pinned someone while they were killed, he'd failed to protect yet another student; he'd saved four more students; he'd failed to block an axe; he'd blocked the axe but forgot to watch for a knife; he'd blocked the axe, but the weight of the opponent hand pressed the weapon down until it had cut into the clone and dispersed it.
In the span of seconds he was receiving months worth of real battle experience. Despite the massive input of data he found himself remembering and logging each clones experiences. Unfortunately he wasn't able to focus on anything else. He remained still amongst the rapidly moving clones.
Mizuki did not miss Naruto's dilemma. An icy smirk formed upon the traitor's face. So the dreaded Kage Bushin did have a weakness.
He'd heard of the invincible techniques of the Hokages, the ability to create an unlimited supply of soldiers. He'd assumed some of it was just exaggeration, after all the technique as only known by a select few and they used it so rarely it was only natural for a mythos to surround it. Still he'd wanted the power it, and the other Jutsus in the forbidden scroll, promised.
When the failure, Uzumaki used the technique to overwhelm him Mizuki knew that he'd been right to seek the power of the scroll. He knew the deals he'd made would be worth it. And now all that was left was to kill the brat and then his new allies would deliver him the scroll, and asylum from the weak fools of the leaf.
Although he'd been surprised by the tenacity and abilities of his students in the end they were still just children. One by one they had collapsed due to fatigue and wounds. Of those that were left only two were still in the fight.
One of those was Uzumaki. The brat was putting up a fight, but Mizuki was ready for the brat's only technique this time. The last time they'd fought he'd been surprised by the sheer power of the technique. Now however that he'd seen it he was ready. The boy certainly had the ability to reinforce himself, but numbers weren't everything.
Not when with a minimal use of chakra you could vanish before a blow landed. Not when you could switch your position with another clone. It was true that the substitution jutsu couldn't be used to replace oneself with another living being, but the shadow clones weren't living. They were an imitation of life, true, but that's all they were.
Further the clones were sloppy and it only took a single solid hit to dispel them. That was probably just the boy though. Mizuki doubted the brat had the power to master the full power of the technique. That was why the clones were sloppy and easily destroyed.
In the end the boy was simply a novice with a access to a strong technique. It was wasted on him. He couldn't access its full power, and the small uses he could make were more flash than substance. It wouldn't be long before Mizuki was able to destroy the last of the clones. The boy would be next.
And now that he'd found such a significant weakness he didn't need to wait until the last clone vanished in a puff of smoke. All he had to do was focus his attacks on the single still Naruto.
A new memory filled Naruto's mind. A clone shoving another clone aside, out of the path of a shuriken. A dull ache in his actual arm forced him to reevaluate the memory. The clone had shoved his real body aside! Another two clones, 'died' preventing more shurkien from ending his life. Mizuki was targeting him! But how did the bastard… a sudden realization hit Naruto. He was standing still. The influx of memories had distracted him, not only making him an easy target but also alerting Mizuki to which Naruto was real!
That wasn't good. What was worse was that the memories of the bushin Mizuki had already destroyed had alerted Naruto to the fact that the boy couldn't win this fight. Not if things continued as they were. It had taken Naruto too long to figure out exactly what was difference, but among the pieces of memory the clones had imparted to him he'd found his answer.
The last time he'd fought Mizuki must have been the first time the traitor had seen the technique. He'd had no defense for it. But now the bastard had had time to prepare, to plan. The classroom was a brilliant place to attack, if Naruto had to be honest about it. In the confined space his Kage bushin were worse than useless. All Mizuki had to do was step on a desk, or off one, and his bushin would be getting in each other's way to reach him. Further the uneven terrain and narrow spaces the valleys between the desks and chairs limited the amount of clones that could attack Mizuki at any one time to a number the bastard could manage.
Well Naruto wasn't going to let that stop him! He was the ultimate prankster. He was the one person who'd not only managed to deface the Hokage's monument but had avoided the city's entire jonin and anbu population for over thirty minutes before Iruka sensei had caught him. That had to be a record! And he'd be damned if some traitor managed to out think him. But he had to come up with some amazing trick, something to stop the Chunin cold.
He just had to treat this like any other prank. His clone defenders would buy him a little time as he thought. He just had to focus past the memories of those that were being destroyed.
So the first step of pranking was have an objective. He needed to take out Mizuki. To do that he had to do what? He had to get close. It couldn't just be a bushin. Mizuki was too fast, the traitor would definitely be able to land a punch and dispel a clone. But if the bastard figured out it was the real one, he'd use a kunai instead of a punch.
So he'd have to get close and make Mizuki think he was just another clone. And Mizuki thought he'd figured out a way to track the real him. But Naruto had figured out the trick, so that meant he could use that too. So he needed to address the substitution jutsu Mizuki seemed to using. It seemed to move Mizuki out of the way, and leave something behind in his place. But it still needed hand seals, and would it even work if the person was unable to move? There was only one way to find out.
He'd just have to risk the crazy plan that had popped into his head.
Kiba was worried. His leg hurt and he was starting to get woozy. Kneeling above him Sakura was doing everything she could to stop him from bleeding out. It wasn't going to be enough. Even Akimaru could tell. The small dog was whining pitiably by his side now. Ino was now their only defense.
It was insane. The two girls weren't going to be enough to stop anything that broke through the line. All bluster aside none of them would. The few they'd taken out had been luck and superior numbers. Probably a little overconfidence on the side of the enemy forces too. That was gone now. The two left were deadly serious and most of the students had fled or were out of the equation.
He didn't want to die. But he was going to. The only question at this point was how. The enemy wasn't just going to let Sakura and Ino drag him out. Both of them had made that clear, attacking only when they moved. It would take both girls to drag him out, which left no one to defend them. But if both girls made a run for it they could defend each other and maybe make it out. Without Sakura he'd bleed to death faster, but it only meant he wouldn't be around to watch Mizuki kill Naruto, Sakura and Ino.
No There was no sense in all three dying. If the girls ran maybe they could get far enough away. Some chance was better than none.
"Get out of here," the pain and lightheadedness combined to make his voice quiet. He tried to push Sakura away to make sure she got the message.
"We're not leaving you to die idiot!" the pink haired girl screamed at him, in response to his troubles.
"Dead anyway. No sense in you dying too."
"Stop being a drama king," the blonde sneered at him, as she deflected one of Mizuki's shurkien that had missed one of Naruto's clones.
"Please just take Akimaru and run."
This time the dog made its objections known. It ceased its whining and lightly bit him to make it clear it was going nowhere. Despite the chaos around him Sakura was forced to laugh at the little dog's antics.
"Stop talking idiot. We're not going anywhere."
Kiba just shook his head and resigned himself to watching the battles around him. At least that idiot Naruto was doing better than Kiba'd expected. Maybe there was some hope.
For her part Ino didn't even have Kiba's cautious enthusiasm. Unlike the boy she had never been a part of Naruto's gang when they were younger. She'd never been allowed to join in on the pranks, because Shikamaru was sure she had cooties. Which was fine with her, back then she'd rather spend her time with her quiet pink haired friend. The same one who years later had declared.. no it wasn't time to think about that.
But she'd never seen the pranks Naruto had helped come up with and implement. She'd never seen the bouts of unfocused brilliance the boy was capable of. She'd only known him from her time in his class at the academy. Where the other boys had eventually grown up and focused on becoming true ninja, Naruto never had.
His antics time and again would result in punishments for the rest of them. She hadn't been too thrilled about that. Worse it was painfully obvious that the reason he screwed around was because he didn't have the ability to actually do the work. She wasn't even sure how he'd come to be here today. Not that it wasn't a good thing he was. She wasn't blind or stupid. It was pretty obvious that the whole reason they were still alive was that Naruto was in the classroom. She didn't know how he was doing it but he'd created solid clones to fight for him. She didn't even know that was possible! But in the end she wasn't sure that would matter.
Sure he apparently had mastered some very powerful Jutsu, but he was still just a new genin! Her father never talked much about his work as a Jonin ninja, but she'd been able to see him train a few times. He's even taken her to see some friends of his have a friendly spar. She was no expert but she could do a fair job of identifying what rank a ninja would be based on their movements. Mizuki was a high level chunin, but the others had moved with a surety and grace that she'd seen her father and his friends use. Ino had no illusions about why the battle had resulted in three enemy deaths. The fools had been cocky, had assumed because they were stronger victory was assured. The one Choji killed had ignored him until it was too late to avoid the meatball tank. The one Shikamaru had defeated had been playing with him and her, drawing out the pleasure of their impending deaths. The man had waited too long and Naruto's clones had surprised him. The large one Hinata had fought had put too much faith into his invulnerability.
But despite those mistakes they had taken a large toll on the Genins. A large part of the class was dead or dying, though Shikamaru had managed to evacuate most of the wounded. Hinata had used up all of her Chakra, and it seemed Shino had too. Kiba was bleeding to death on the floor below them. Sakura was tied up trying to keep the boy alive. For her part Ino knew she and Shikamaru were covered in dozens of scratches from where their opponent had nicked their skin. Worse, her muscles were beginning to ache up.
As for Naruto, their only hope against Mizuki. Well he had put up a good fight, but it was obvious his strength must be failing. He'd made more clones than she could count, but he hadn't used a single jutsu since the last batch. Which meant he must be out of chakra. And the clones were being destroyed at an accelerated rate. Further Mizuki had figured out a weakness. It seemed the clones were linked to Naruto. The boy was prostrate on the ground, clutching his head. So far some of the clones had taken position around their master to protect him, but Mizuki was making there way through them.
There were only four clones left fighting Mizuki. A quick side kick dispatched the first one. The other three tried to counter attack, but Mizuki jumped back avoiding the three blows. From his position of safety he threw two kunai each one heading towards a clone and then launched himself towards the third. The clones had nowhere to move. If they dodged the blades would hit the prostrate Naruto. Cursing to herself Ino watched Mizuki destroy the last three.
The traitor stalked to Naruto. There was nothing to it. Ino couldn't leave the boy to die. She tried to rush forward, to come to his aid, but a weak hand around her ankle stopped her.
"He's got a plan" Kiba whispered out before his hand fell limp to the ground. "He always has a plan."
The boy wasn't making sense and Ino wasn't just going to let Mizuki kill someone. She threw out a kunai to try and buy sometime. Hopefully she could distract Mizuki enough to make it to him before he could kill Naruto.
Unfortunately the older ninja had been ready for interference and knocked the weapon out of the way. Cursing Ino scooped up a kunai resting on the ground in front of her and hurled it with all her might. The dagger almost made it to Mizuki before it exploded with a pop.
Ino froze in her steps unable to believe what she was seeing. Where there had been a kunai flying towards Mizuki now there was a Naruto screaming at the top of his lungs. What on earth had just happened?
The clone smirked as Mizuki's blade tore through its throat. It erupted into a cloud of smoke and the single had been given. Suddenly several of the corpses around Mizuki's feet moved. The first two grabbed his legs, a third leaped onto his back.
Swearing as loudly as he could he shook his body flinging himself to try and shake off the brats. Suddenly the genjutsus gave way what he thought were corpses of students were shadow clones. Cursing to himself he went to make the seals for a Justus to free himself when the prostrate Naruto leapt up slamming a kunai into his left hand. Screaming Mizuki struck with his good hand, dispelling the clone. With a muttered curse he moved his legs to the side, dispelling the clones holding them with an impact against the sides of the desk and seats respectively. With one last snarl Mizuki ripped the clone from his back and threw it to the ground under him, not waiting for it to explode. He was already looking for the real brat, where could he have—
Mizuki never managed to finish the thought. The clone he'd thrown down hadn't exploded. Instead it had regained its feet and leapt up, palming a kunai as it did. It had shoved the sharp piece of metal straight up into the Chunin's jaw and through his brain. Sighing Naruto let go of the knife and the corpse fell.
He'd done it! He wasn't sure if he should be excited or disgusted. He wasn't positive he'd be able to do it, to combine Kage Bushin with the transformations he used to pull off the Sexy no jutsu. He really hadn't been sure he could even use the technique to turn a clone into a kunai. But it had work. Amidst the confusion of dispelling clones Naruto had managed to summon a few more, transform them and himself and lay a trap. And it had worked.
His joy was short lived however. Across the room there was trouble.
Sasuke's fight was not going well. After giving his declaration a second ago, Nukpana struck. He threw both axes almost too fast to see. Sasuke leapt but one of the axes curved after him. The boy leapt as soon as he landed, and was rewarded with only a small gash instead of a fatal wound. The strike left his jump off balance and he landed in the middle isle, out in the open. Behind him he could here the sounds of breathing.
Other students. Crap. In front of him Nukpana had stepped forward, to the end of the stairs. The sadistic bastard just smirked.
"Well Sasuke-kun, it looks like you have a choice. Behind you is an injured classmate and several of your admirers. If you dodge I assure you my axes will kill them. So the choice is yours, your life or theirs."
As Nukpana fingered his axes and gloated Sasuke scowled. There wasn't enough time! He couldn't just leave them, but… But they were weak. Too weak. And he couldn't die here. No he had to avenge his family! He couldn't die here!
Snarling Sasuke leapt forward over the path of the axes, screaming he shoved one of his kunai straight towards Nukpana's chest. The blade sunk into the warrior's chest, right next to where the shoulder started. The sadist leaned forward and chuckled into the boy's ear.
"There you go. True strength isn't compassion."
With that the enemy fell to the ground. And brought his foot up into Sasuke's groin.
"It's viciousness. Nice try kid. But you've got some potential. If you were my student, I'm sure you'd one day be quite the avenger indeed. With a final laugh Nukpana stood, seemingly oblivious and ran from the classroom.
"It looks like my jobs done," he shouted as he passed the threshold. His axes remained where they were imbedded.
Seconds ago, when Nukpana had forced Sasuke to choose Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. Her hero, her love, had left her to die. Sasuke-kun had leapt hi, leaving her and Kiba to be killed by axes. Suddenly a force from the side bowled her over.
There was some weight on her and a solid thunk. She thought she'd seen a flash of orange. One of Naurto's clones! It had intercepted the attack. When the puff of smoke she expected never came, and the weight remained a sickening feeling formed in her gut. Her elation faded. A warm, wet, iron liquid dripped into her mouth. Blood.
It hadn't been a clone. It was the real Naruto!