Author's notes: okay, well a new chapter for all of you. hope you enjoy and REVIEW thanks. :)
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Sakura was out in the training grounds of Konoha as she had already tore apart the practice dummies. She stood as she held her hands together. She had began to practice her new found powers from the Haruno clan's secret scrolls. She was slowly mastering her powers.
Her elemental powers were different from that of the usual jutsu's people knew and masterd. Her chakra and eyes would change colour according to the element she was using. And she controlled the elements at will.
While she was mastering her new and old abilities so many things were running through her head. She was thinking about how she killed that defenseless ninja, and about how her friends were almost all killed, she thought about how Konoha would be under attack in less than twenty four hours, and most of all she was thinking about Sasuke.
She stopped as she turned her head and watched as the civilians were being evacuated from the city. The look of worry and fear was present on all their faces. Sakura sighed. The sound would be here before nightfall and some of Konoha's greatest shinobi were injured and unable to fight. She knew that Tsunade had called for the sand for their help, but since the last attack on them they were low in numbers as well, not to mention that they wouldn't arrive in time.
That's when she started thinking about Gaara, and how he died to save her. Her head hung lower as she stared down at the ground. Everyone was hurt because of her, they all sacrificed themselves to save and protect her, but why, what had she done to make sure that they keeped her alive. She was never of any use, she always got in the way for everything.
Sakura clutched her hand into a fist as she screamed and brought her fist down hard on the ground releasing her anger as a small crater was created. "Sakura." she heard her name as she looked up and saw a certain hyper-active ninja. Sakura slowly stood. "Naruto, what are you doing out of the hospital?" she said making her way to him.
"Tsunade gave us all some special liquid and our wounds healed instantly and we feel stronger than ever!" he said with a wide grin flexing his muscles on his arms. "Special liquid..Naruto, do you remember what it was like?" she asked her eyes filled with worry. "Yah, it hurt like hell." Naruto said rubbing his arm where the needle was injected. "Naruto!" Sakura said more seriously. "What did it look like?" "Uhh..it was a red colour, almost looked like blood." he said shrugging. Sakura's eyes widened and she ran off. "Sakura! Wait!" Naruto yelled after her as he ran to catch up.
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Neji sat in his room as he gatherd his equipment. He stopped as he spotted the katana leaning against the wall. He walked over to it as he picked it up, unsheathing it. He traced his fingers along the symbol that lay prominent on the blade. It was the symbol he had on his forehead since birth. That one symbol he saw as a curse his whole life, until recently when Naruto had inspired him and he saw it as an inner power. He clutched the hilt of the katana tightly. He wasn't used to using weapons in battle, he relied on his own abilities and use of chakra, this was something new for him.
He was interrupted by a knock on the door. He sheathed his katana as she walked over to it and slid it open. He was surprised to see a familiar brunette. "Tenten?" he said questionably as she smiled. "Hi Neji, I was just stopping by too give you a message...and see how you're doing." she said. "Oh," Neji said looking at her. "Well,what is it? What's the message he asked impatiently. "Oh um..Tsunade-sama said that she wants everyone to go to the centre of the village to get their orders." Neji nodded " Okay, thanks Tenten." he said turning to head back into his room.
Tenten stood there as she watched him walk away. "Umm, okay then.." she said as she looked at the ground and slowly turned to leave. "Tenten." she turned as she heard her name, "Yeah?" she said. "Would you mind waiting a few moments while I gather my things and then we could accompany each other to the meeting." he said in his serious tone. "Oh, sure Neji." Tenten said with a smile as she stood and waited politely.
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Hurried footsteps raced down the hallway as a pink haired kunoichi skidded around the corner. She burst into a certain blonde's office as she crouched over to catch her breath. The blonde woman looked up weakly from her chair as she saw Sakura standing in the doorway. "Sakura."
"Ts-tsunade-sama!" Sakura yelled as she stood up straight and looked at her sensai. Sakura saw how Tsuande was weak and short of breath. Sakura didn't say anything, her eyes said enough. "Sakura, I..I had to." Tsunade finally said breaking the silence. "What..what do you mean you had to! You didn't have to do anything !" Sakura said angrily as she held the doorknob harder until it finally crumbled in her hand.
"Sakura, if I didn't, the best ninja's of Konoha wouldn't be able to fight and protect their home. " Tsuande explained.
Naruto stopped just outside the office as he stayed out of sight and listened in. Jiraiya was outside the window, out of sight, listening in as well.
"But sensai, now..you'll..you'll.." "Die." Tsunade said finishing her apprentices sentence. Sakura looked at her sensai with sad eyes.
Naruto's eyes widened as he learned what was going to happen. Jiraiya's expression saddened.
"Sakura, I did it for Konoha, you have to understand that. If I didn't, we would've surely lost..and Orochimaru would've won..is that what you want?" Sakura didn't answer right away. "Of course not sensai, but..the way I see it, I lose both ways." she said holding back the tears. "Sakura, I need you to stay strong, you must in order to save the village. Now head to the center for the briefing." Tsunade ordered. "But-" "That's an order!" Tsunade said more sternly. "Hai sensai." Sakura said with a bow before exiting the office and walking right past Naruto.
Naruto chased after Sakura.
Tsunade sighed as she fought to stand up. She had both her hands on her desk with her head bowed lowly. "Do you think we can do this, do you think we can finally stop him?" she called out to seemingly no one when a figure appeared from the shadows. He walked up beside Tsunade. "I know we can. You've seen the spirit and power in our students, as well as the others." Tsunade looked up at certain long white haired ninja. A faint smile crossed her face with her eyes filled with hope. She stumbled weakly to the side as Jiraiya caught her. Her hands were on his chest as he had his arms wrapped around her. They looked at each other before Tsunade nestled her face into his chest and he held her close.
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Everyone was gathered at the center of the city. Sakura and Naruto arrived followed by Neji and Tenten. Sakura glanced around at the faces of her fellow shinobi. The only time all ninja were called together was at a funeral of a Hokage, never have they been called together under circumstances such as these.
A blonde woman stepped up onto the roof of a small building where she could be heard and seen by all. "I call you all here today under the the worst conditions. As most of you probably know, the sound are planning an attack on Konoha. They are on their way as we speak and shall arrive before nightfall. It is our duty as the shinobi of Konoha to protect our home. The numbers of Orochimaru's army are unknown to us at the moment, but I imagine we are greatly outnumberd. We have called for the sands help, unfortunatly they cannot arrive in time or with great numbers considering the recent loss of their great Kazekage, Sabuko no Gaara. Everyone needs to give it there all, show no mercy, kill them all ! " Tsunade yelled "I expect you all know that not all of us will survive, some of you if not all of you , will die. If you die, it will be of great honour to Konoha and you will be rememberd forever as the hero's of Konoha, if you survive or not through this battle. I have hope, hope that we will win this battle and defeat Orochimaru once and for all. You have all been previously assigned your posts and given your orders. This is our last time gathered together, I just want to say, it has been and honour and a privilage serving as your Hokage. I know you'll all do great and just remember I'll always be watching over you." Tsunade ended with a smile." she stepped off the roof as everyone exchanged confused looks except for Sakura and Naruto for they knew what she was referring to. It was hard for Sakura not to cry knowing that her sensai, her mother figure, would die and she would definatly be left with no one.
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"How many of them are there Karin?" Suigetsu asked leaning on his sword.
"In the thousands, it's hard to tell the exact number, there is a lot of chakra." she stated turning and crossing her arms. "But he's definatly there." she said.
"Well, what do we do now?" Suigetsu asked turning to Sasuke.
Sasuke didn't answer at first as he simply stared out at the mountains. "We're going to continue through past the mountains." he said as he began forward.
"You're not going back to help?" Jugo asked rather uninterested.
Sasuke stopped as he looked over his shoulder at the three behind him. "It's not my problem."
"What about the pink haired chick?" Suigetsu added with a smirk as Karin rolled her eyes.
Sasuke turned his head forward as he answered coldly. "Nither is she." he then started forward as Suigetsu shrugged and followed, Karin smirked as she followed and Jugo rolled his eyes falling in behind them all.
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"We're only minutes away from Konoha's front gates." Kabuto said standing in front of Orochimaru.
"Do they know of our visit?" Orochimaru said playing with a strand of his long black hair that was peaking out.
"Yes, my sources tell me they found out and are awaiting our arrival."
"And here I was thinking I would pay a surprise visit. Oh well, we'll have to make the best of it." he said with his wicked grin.
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Konoha was silent. No one spoke and nature seemed to have dissapeared. The village was empty except for the defending ninja. Each ninja at their posts awaiting the comming attack. The ANBU, all the jounin, chunnin and even some genin were there. All the genin except a few were assigned to watch over the villagers and make sure no harm came to thm and that they travelled as far from Konoha and the battle as possible.
Tsunade stood on the tallest building in the centre of Konoha. Jiraiya and Shizune on either side of her. She overlooked everyone and saw all the ninj'as standing waiting to defend their country. She knew they were all loyal ninja's, she didn't doubt it for a second, but she knew that most if not all, would be killed. She closed her eyes as she felt the wind upon her skin. She opened her eyes as she heard someone shout. "Ninja's spotted!!" one of the ninja's shouted that was standing guard. Tsunade let out a sigh as she watched the army approach over a hill. Suddenly, the air became foggy as it grew harder to see. "It has begun." she said softly.
Sakura stood waiting. The look of hate and determination in her eyes. Orochimaru had once taken the one person that meant everything to her and suceeded, he killed her parents and tried to kill the rest of her friends. She would make sure he would suffer like she did, or she would die trying.
Naruto stood anxious ready to fight. He was upset that it had to come down to this, the possible destruction of Konoha and it's people. He was worried about his comrades, especially Hinata and Sakura. He glanced over at Sakura as he saw the look of hatred and anger in her eyes. He didn't like that look and was worried she would end up hurting herself by doing something crazy.
Neji stood looking calm, although he was nervous and slightly scared. He wasn't scared of battle, he was scared for his friends. He couldn't stand seeing any of them getting hurt. He knew he had to give it his all and defend his country, but most importantly, the ones he held dear to him.
The army grew closer as the fog became heavy that it was almost impossible to see your hand in front of your face.
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Naruto looked around as he could barely see anything, he wanted to yell out the names of his comrades but instead kept quiet. He clutched his hand into a fist as he took a few steps forward. He stopped as he noticed soemthing on the ground in front of him. He took a few more steps as he almost slipped. Colour came into view as it was a puddle of red. Naruto's eyes widened as he took another step and there was a body of a konoha elite on the ground, dead. There was a kunai lodged into the ninja's throat as Naruto became more angry. He heard a noise as he turned around and saw a Sakura for a moment when she dissapeared into the fog and was chased by something. "Sakura!" he yelled as he ran to the place where he saw her. He stopped and looked around as his surroundings haven't changed. He growled as he continued to run where he saw Sakura heading.
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Sakura stood waiting anxiously. She had been stationary for quite some time now and it angered her even more that she couldn't see anything or anyone. She stopped as she heard someone yell her name, it sounded familiar. "Naruto?" she said as she looked around. Why would he be calling her name? Sakura loooked in the direction where she once saw Naruto standing before but due to the fog she saw nothing. She closed her eyes as she focused her chakra so that she could sense others nearby. She was always good at detecting people's chakra. She locked on to Naruto's chakra as she began running in that direction. She stopped when she reached a building. "Great." she said as the building stood in her way.
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Neji stood irritated. He put his hands together, "Byakugan!" he said as his activated his byakugan and veins protruded from around his eyes and his eyes changed. He could now see through the fog perfectly. He watched as sound nins snuck up on the konoha ninja's and killed them. He took out several kunai as he watched more sound nin sneak up on other konoha ninja in a 360 degree radius. He watched as they grew closer and then spread out the kunai in his hand and spun throwing each kunai precisely as they all hit their targets and the sound nin fell to the ground dead. He smirked as he saw them fall, he continued looking around for a familiar chakra circulatory system. He spotted one konoha ninja benig surrounded by a dozen sound nin, but the konoha ninja hadn't noticed yet. Neji recognized the chakra. "Tenten!" He said as he ran to help her.
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Kakashi stood relaxed and cautious. He had his mask pulled down to reveal his other eye but still concealed his mouth. His sharingan was visible as he scanned the area. He didn't sense or see anyone near him but he knew the other ninja's were in danger, in fact he knew some had already been killed.
Cowards.
Kakashi thought, but he knew that Orochimaru was like that and that he would do anything to win. Kakashi knew that this fog was being created by four ninja each surrounding the village at one spot. He knew he had to get to a higher point, above the fog, to spot them. He began walking along a path as a sign came into view. He stopped as he got closer, "Konoha Hospital." he said to himself as he walked towards the building. He saw an outline of soemone in front of him. He grabbed a kunai as he approached the person cautiously. He noticed the pink hair as he relaxed. "Sakura."
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Naruto continued running as he stopped. "Sakura!" he yelled as he looked around. "NARUTO HELP !" he heard someone yell and recognized the voice to be Sakura's. "Sakura! Where are you!" he yelled running towards the direction where the scream came from. "Hold on Sakura! I'm comming ! "
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Sakura ran her hands a long the brick wall as she was looking for a door to the building. She heard someone approach her as she grabbed a kunai and quickly turned around. She recognized the silver hair jounin. "Kakashi-sensai." she said as she lowered her weapon. "What are you doing Sakura?" Kakashi asked putting his kunai away. "I'm trying to get to a higher location so I can find Naruto." she said. "Hmm. I see. Well I too am trying to get to a higher location." "What for ?" Sakura asked curious. "Well, this mist is being created by four individuals, if we could take them out we could get rid of this mist." Kakashi explained. " Sakura, I'm going to need your help." "Hai sensai." Sakura said with a nod of her head. "Good, we're at the hospital right now. I need you to take me inside and bring me to the roof." Sakura nodded as she searched for the doors then ran inside, the silver haird jounin behind her.
They reached the roof as they looked around. "Not high enough, the mist is still heavy." Kakashi said as he turned to look at Sakura who was relativly close. "Sensai, I remember that Tsunade-sama is on the tallest building." Sakura said. "True, but she would've saw them by now and taken them out..we have to get higher then that.." Kakashi said thinking. "What about the Hokage heads? The top of that cliff.." Sakura suggested. Kakashi smirked beneathe his mask. "Good idea." he said as they began heading in the direction they believed the cliff was.
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Tenten stood waiting, she couldn't see anything and all was silent. She spotted a dark figure heading towards her as she couldn't quite make out who it was, then there were more dark figures. She took a step back as something stopped her. She turned and saw someone standing there holding a kunai up. She quickly rolled to the side dodging the attack as the other closed in on her. She couldn't use her technique because the mist was too thick. She grabbed a kunai as she began attacking taking out a few when from behind her, someone grabbed her and restrained her. "Let go of me!" she yelled as she struggled to break free. A man stepped in front of her as he smirked and held up a sword and brought it down quick. He suddenly stopped when he fell to the side. Tenten stared confused as she saw a familar face and a smile spread across hers.
Neji stood in a fighting position as the others turned their attention to him. The one still held Tenten as the rest attacked Neji. Neji smirked as they all attacked him with different weapons and fighting styles, however Neji saw through their fighting and began executing a number of different hits to vital points in their chakra system. Within a few minutes they all dropped around him. He then headed to Tenten and the person holding her. He glared at Neji as he threw Tenten to the side and took out his two swords. Neji moved his robe to the side as it revealed the hilt of his katana. He unsheathed it as the man charged at him. Neji held his sword tightly as he swiftly moved to the side and slashed the mans side. The man grabbed his side in pain as he turned to face Neji. Neji charged forward as he moved his arm twice to the naked eye, 350 times to that with the eyes of Byakugan. Neji stopped as the mans body fell tot he ground in pieces.
Neji turned and made his way over to Tenten as he outstretched his hand to help her up. She grabbed on as he pulled her to her feet. "Are you alright?" Neji asked. Tenten nodded as she smiled.
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"SAKURA! WHERE ARE YOU !" Naruto yelled stopping to catch his breath. He head a muffled scream as he ran forward. He didn't notice the brick walls on either side of him as he continued forward. "Sakura?" he said as he saw the figure of someone just ahead. He saw the pink hair and a pool of blood, his eyes widened as he drew closer.
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"Finally." Kakashi said as they reached the top of the cliff. Sakura stood beside him as she looked out over Konoha. There was a thick cloud of mist all through Konoha and it was impossible to see anything below. The mist was so thick she couldn't even make out the outlines of the tallest builings.
"There's one." Kakashi said crouching down. Sakura turned her head as she got low and spotted one of the mist nin's standing atop a tree with his arms outstretched. "There should be three more." Kakashi said, Sakura nodded as she took out a kunai. "What are you doing?" Kakashi said lowering her kunai. "I'm going to take him out..." Sakura said confused. "You can't yet, we have to take them all out at the same time, if we take them out one at a time they'll see us and come after us and then we'll have no chance to locate the others." Sakura nodded as she placed her kunai down.
"Look around, find the other three.." Kakashi said searching the area. "Kakashi sensai.." she said in a low whisper. "Look." she said motioning down over the side of the cliff. Kakashi looked down as there was one of the mist nin's on the head of one of the Hokages. "How did he not notice or hear us.." Sakura asked. "He's way to concentrated to notice anything else around him, he's shut out all his other senses to keep up this trap." Kakashi said "In other words, he can't see or hear us." "Not even sense us?" Sakura asked. "I guess not, or else he would've by now. It's a dangerous technique, much like Ino's. Powerful and very effective but puts a high risk on one's body. " Kakashi explained. "There's another." Sakura pointed out on the other side near Konoha gates. " Good work Sakura, we just need to find one more.." Kakashi said as he suddenly fell face first to the ground. Sakura's eyes widened as she rolled to the side out of extinct. She looked up as she saw a large person with a huge metal hammer in one hand. Her eyes widened as she jumped to her feet and dodged a swing. She spotted the mist insignia around his arm. "Looks like they didn't leave these guys unguarded.."Sakura said as she jumped again dodging a swing.
She saw that Kakashi was on concious.
Damn. I have to find that other one and then get Kaka-sensai and I outta here.
She thought to herself as she looked at the overly sized man chagre at her. She jumped up and leapt over his back and landed in a crouching position. She took out atwo kunai as she threw them in his direction, each with a piece of paper attatched to the end as it began burning up and then an explosion occurred. Sakura suddenly sensed other chakra systems.
Dammit! I've brought attention here!
She quickly searched the surroundings for the last mist nin. She spotted a faint outline of someone standing in the same position as the others, but she couldn't be sure that it was him. She then leapt to the side again as she looked up and saw three other overly sized men with large weapons. "Oh no." she said as they all charged at her. She wasn't sure if that one guy was him, but she had to take her chance or she'd be killed. She took out four kunai as she rand forward at full speed dodging the swings, she grabbed Kakashi as she leapt off the cliff. She held four kunai in one hand as she threw each of them a different way. They all pierced the four ninja controlling the mist in the neck as she held Kakashi. The top of a building came into view as she didn't have enough time to land properly. She built up chakra around their bodies as they crashed through the roof and continued crashing through the building until they came to a stop.
The impact caused Kakashi to wake up as he looked around and began coughing from all the dust. He spotted Sakura laying on the ground as he made his way over to her. "Sakura..Sakura are you okay?" he asked shaking her as she came to. She began coughing. "Did we do it?" she asked slowly getting up. Kakashi stood and opened a door as he looked outisde and the mist began clearing, he smiled underneathe his mask as he looked back at Sakura. "You did it." he said as she smiled and headed towards him. Her eyes widened "Naruto!" she said as she ran off.
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Tsunade stood atop the building as the fog cleared and she saw the dead bodies of the konoha shinobi on the ground below. She clutched her hand into a fist as she jumped off the building and landed with her fist in the ground as a crater was created. She rushed to the shinobi on the ground hoping she could help some of them,but she knew that they probably all delivered killing blows.
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Naruto inched closer as the mist cleared and he recognized the person as Sakura. He rushed by her side as he looked down at her with a pool of blood surrounding her. "Sakura..are you okay?" What he didn't know was several sound nin were closing in around him from the shadows.
"Naruto!" Someone yelled as Naruto turned and his eyes widened. "What the.." he said. "Naruto..are you okay?" the pink haired kunoichi asked as she spotted someone beside Naruto and the pool of blood. " Naruto..who is that? Are they okay?" she asked stepping closer. "It's..it's..you." Naruto said confused as he moved out of the way to reveal the injured "Sakura".
"Naruto.." the injured Sakura said weakly. "Help me.." she said as she looked up at him trembling. "Naruto!" the other Sakura yelled. "Don't be a fool, that's not the real me!" she said. "Naruto.." the bleeding one said spitting out blood. "Remember when Sasuke left, and I..I gave you that jade necklace..with the gold outline and..you promised to always protect me." she said weakly. The other Sakura's eyes widened.
How does she know about that.
She thought to herself. "Naruto, c'mon, I'm the real me. Can't you see this is all a trap?" she explained. "How do I know for sure, I mean..she knew about that..and only you and I knew." Naruto said looking down at the bleeding Sakura. "I don't know how she knows that..but I can assure that's not the real me..c'mon Naruto..look into my eyes..it's me..Sakura." she said as she looked at him.
Naruto examined Sakura's eyes, he then looked down at the bleeding Sakura's eyes as he slowly stood. "I'm sorry, but this is the real Sakura." he said pointing down to the innjured Sakura. The other Sakura's eyes widened as she clenched her hand into a fist. He neared her with a kunai pulled out.
The injured Sakura smirked at the real Sakura as she watched Naruto move into kill the actual Sakura.
Sakura took a step back, "Naruto wait, you're making a big mistake.." Sakura pleaded as she was backed up into a wall and Naruto was inches in front of her. "Give it up, it's over." Naruto said as he brought his hand up with the kunai that was in it. NAruto brought it forward as he suddenly stopped and fanned out the kunai in his hand revealing he was holding more then one. Sakura pushed off the wall as she pulled out a kunai and landed on the fake Sakura. Naruto threw the kunais as they each pierced one of the ninjas that were trying to sneak up on him and they all fell face first.
Sakura placed the kunai against the neck of the fake one. "Got ya." she said with a smirk as she slit the ninja's throat and she fell forward. The ninja's identity then revealed. It was a female ninja from the land of the mist.
Sakura stood as she smiled at Naruto. "C'mon, we have the rest of them to deal with." Naruto said as he sprinted off and Sakura followed.
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A long dark haired ninja walked up to a fallen mist nin with a kunai in his throat. He sighed as he turned to his blue-grey haired apprentice. " Who took out the barrier?" he asked calmly. The apprentice pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That pink haired kunoichi, Sakura Haruno." The long haired man licked his lips. "Excellent." he said with a smirk.
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Sakura and Naruto ran to the middle of Konoha where they met up with the rest of their friends. Naruto ran to Hinata's side as she smiled and he smiled back. Neji and Tenten were beside each other. Kiba stood with Akamaru ready by his side. Shino stood arms crossed with a cloud of bugs around him, Ino held a kunai tightly as she stood on the other side of Shino. Lee was practically ready to run into the army and fight he was so anxious. Choji was eating a bag of chips, it was his way of preparing. Shikamaru was for once not being lazy and slaking off, he was paying attention and anxious to fight, as were all her friends. Sai stood beside Sakura as no emotion crossed his face, he was willing to fight but didn't think about it much. He took out a scroll as he began drawing, he stood behind the others. Sakura walked forward and now stood in between Neji and Naruto as they could see fellow shinobi fighting in front of them. Sakura took a deep breath. "Here they come!" Hinata yelled as she pointed forward to the first wave of ninja that ran through the Konoha gates charging straight at them. "Everyone, it's truely an honour to fight by your sides, you all better make it out alive!" Naruto said with a playful grin on his face. Even in a time like this Naruto was still always upbeat and happy, Sakura admired this of him. Everyone looked at Naruto as they all returned a smile, even Neji.
The ninja were fast, and within mere seconds Konoha was full of them. With a final battle cry Naruto ran forward followed by the others as the wave of soun and mist nin clashed with them, and the war had begun.
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Author's
notes: WOOO. finally, sorry it took so long guys !! I was uber busy
with family comming over and me going places and its been hectic!
AHHH. SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DX . okay well REVIEWW
and ill get started onthe next one ASAP !