Chapter 13: Extinguished

"Climbing trees without using your hands," said Kakashi. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto stared at him blankly. With an aggrieved sigh, the wounded shinobi ascended a nearby tree as though gravity had suddenly changed directions.

"How do you do that?" the genin chorused, watching attentively as their sensei came to a stop above their heads.

"Channeling chakra through the soles of your feet," Kakashi told them. "Use the right amount, and your feet will synchronize with your sandals, which will in turn stick to the trunk. The difficulty is finding the right amount. Oh, and make sure you stop the chakra flow before trying to take a step. You could hurt yourselves."

Naturally, Sakura made it up the tree first. She playfully stuck her tongue out at her teammates, both of whom were having problems. Naruto didn't put nearly enough of his chakra into the task, while Sasuke put just a tad too much. The Uchiha was flung bodily from the tree, his sandals cracking and the bark rupturing.

"See, there's your problem," said Kakashi. "Too much chakra pushed into an inanimate object will destabilize and destroy it."

Naruto stared, Kakashi's words pounding in his head.

Too much chakra...

.:.

As soon as the match began, Kabuto activated the Nehan Shōja technique, enscorcelling most of the audience into a deep sleep. Chiyo covertly pulled on the chakra strings leading to the centre of the arena, and a mechanical behemoth rose up. Like a surfacing whale, the metal plates of Suna's largest puppet emerged from the wreckage of the arena. It looked vaguely like a human, if a human had eight arms and two heads. In the light of day, it looked like a bijū from the depths of a puppeteer's hell.

In the next instant, the first phase of the invasion fell apart as Sakura, who had resisted the Temple of Nirvana genjutsu, turned to her left and slapped Jiraiya awake. Jiraiya, who was always affable about being slapped awake by women, looked up at the massive humanoid hovering over the arena and came to the only logical conclusion.

"Son of a bitch."

Across the arena, roughly a third of the stationed ANBU removed their masks and waded into the seats, beginning to jab all of the unconscious ninja with weapons Jiraiya could only assume were poisoned.

'Where the hell did that come from?' he wondered, gazing up at the gargantuan iron puppet.

"Get down there and make sure your teammates are alright, kid," he ordered gruffly, shooting glances across the arena. He needed to find and kill the puppeteer.

"Sure, Jiraiya-sensei," Sakura replied, jumping from the first row into the pit and racing off down an exit tunnel.

Jiraiya looked up at the Kage box. There wasn't any fighting from up there, but neither were there chakra signatures. Whatever was going on, Sarutobi had decided to relocate. Jiraiya desperately wanted to organize the remaining ninja and fight, but the puppet was leaving the arena. It had no legs, as it floated like a regular puppet. The waist was instead connected to a massive metal skirt, which in turn probably held enough automated weapons to make it a weapon of destruction on par with the Nine-Tails.

Only one thing for it. Jiraiya rattled off a few mud clones to take out the impostors in ANBU, then summoned Gamabunta behind the puppet. For once, the great toad didn't argue with his summoner before bowling into the puppet, taking it out from behind.

.:.

Sarutobi and the rest of the judges only caught a glimpse of the puppet's heads before a rush of colour crashed over their vision. When it cleared, the six of them stood on a rooftop across Konoha, translucent purple walls tapering to a peak imprisoning them there. Orochimaru stood at the far end, next to a man who looked like a statue of a shinobi rather than an actual ninja. Sarutobi recognized him instantly as Hashirama Senju.

"Ryūzetsu, Shibuki, I must apologize," whispered the snake sannin. "You seem to have become collateral damage. If you stand aside in this fight, you may leave unharmed."

"Th-that's rather g-generous of you," Shibuki stuttered. "I– uh– I'll be going now." He walked towards the far end of the barrier, followed quickly by Ryūzetsu.

"What is this, Orochimaru?" Sarutobi demanded. "You don't have the skill to fight me!"

"He does," Orochimaru said innocently. Sarutobi dodged the gust of wind from the Kazekage's outstretched hand, twisting with enhanced agility as the other Kage attempted to snag him with an offhand blast.

Orochimaru approached Sarutobi pleasantly, allowing his sword to dangle loosely at his side. The Hokage was showing real fear now, as Kimimaro broke away from Sasame and used his Dance of the Camellia. The Professor blocked the first few strikes with his bare hands, but Kimimaro was too powerful to be denied.

Hashirama darted towards Konan, who didn't appear to be fazed by death staring her in the face. Just before he reached her, a puff of steam washed off of her robes and she was gone. The First Hokage changed directives and moved to keep Ryūzetsu and Shibuki out of the fight. Sarutobi sent up a quick prayer of thanks that Orochimaru wasn't fielding his most powerful piece.

Faced with three opponents, Hiruzen wondered if the walls Orochimaru had erected were penetrable, but a cursory examination showed him it wasn't the case. Four ninja, each wearing the Hidden Sound regalia, were stationed at each corner, encasing both themselves and the battlefield with purple flame. Another inspection revealed that they extended under the roof as well.

The Kazekage brushed his blue kimono off, revealing an armour covered in archaic symbols and stitched leather. Around his feet, the earth began to stain yellow as his gold dust seeped out. Dark rings appeared around his eyes, and the gold dust rose from the ground.

"This is the end, Sarutobi," he murmured. "I am sorry, but your village is of less value to me than my own."

Kimimaro was still pressing the Hokage backwards, and now Orochimari joined in. He raised both hands, pointing them at his erstwhile sensei. "Sen'eijashu!" he cried, and a dozen snakes emerged from both of the sannin's sleeves. As they neared the Hokage, their mouths simultaneously opened to reveal copies of the Kusanagi longsword.

Hiruzen quickly fired a river of mud from the ground at his feet, knocking Orochimaru back and sending the snakes' aims off. All of them hit the ground, their payload uselessly divulged into the dirt. He frowned; Orochimaru was too good to be hit by such a simple earth manipulation. Was he not taking this seriously?

His musings were violently interrupted by Kimimaro, who casually pulled his spine out and whipped it at the Third. The sight was so bizarre that he almost didn't dodge, and when he did the Kazekage was able to hem him in with gold dust.

"I remember you," Sarutobi said, with a calm he didn't feel. "Kimimaro Kaguya, the last survivor of the Kiri massacre."

"That is me," Kimimaro agreed, slashing at Sarutobi with the bone-whip. The ill shinobi stood tall against the Hokage, looking as proud as he had ever in his life. "In the name of Orochimaru, I face my greatest challenge yet: a Kage. Prepare for your last fight, Hiruzen Sarutobi."

As much as he was a pragmatist, Sarutobi was tempted to see if he could fight all of his opponents one-on-three. However, Konoha no doubt needed his help, and so he would call in his reinforcements.

Enma, the Boss Summon of the monkeys, took one look at the situation (Orochimaru, the Kazekage, a reincarnated Hashirama and an unknown ninja, two cowering youngsters in the corner, an impenetrable wall and the village embroiled in conflict) and came to the only logical conclusion.

"Son of a bitch, Hiruzen."

"I need my staff, Enma," Sarutobi muttered. "This is far too dangerous."

Enma made a noise of supreme annoyance. "Just remember, even I can be cut by the Kusanagi," he reminded the Hokage.

The Kazekage looked put-upon, despite ostensibly being in a fight for his life. "You're cheating, Saru! Don't you remember, it's supposed to be one shinobi's bloodline against another's!"

Despite the astounding hypocrisy of that statement, Sarutobi didn't reply with words. Instead, he sent a dragon made of mud from the river at his feet towards the Kazekage, who caught the entire construct with a net of gold dust. At the same time, Sarutobi blocked Kimimaro's spine with Enma and slammed the butt end into his chest. Kimimaro didn't even move back, though a small smile appeared on his face.

Orochimaru came from behind, Kusanagi longsword swinging with abandon. Sarutobi began to block him with Enma, but parried instead to avoid scratching his summon. Kimimaro took advantage of the opening, as did the Kazekage, and for the first time Hiruzen wondered what would become of him.

.:.

Having your will robbed from you was a strange feeling, but being aware of it was even stranger. Minato was sure that Hashirama and Tobirama were both catatonic, neither aware of what the traitor had done to them. He knew, but for the life of him he couldn't disobey. He finished planting the last sai-spiked kunai as Chiyo's latest creation burst from the arena in the distance, and with a burst of chakra he was at the Hokage tower.

His orders were simple: incapacitate all Konoha ninja, brand them with the Hiraishin seal, and apply some of the poison his blades were now covered in. Avoid dying too many times. Minato fought tooth and nail against the compulsion to march up to Kotetsu Hagane and give him a light slash across his neck, but it happened anyways. Seconds later, Izumo Kamizuki was laid out too.

Faster and faster, the Hiraishin carrying him from place to place, Minato dropped hundreds of people in the first ten minutes, and not all of them ninja either. Pretty soon, cries of "The Yellow Flash has returned!'" were mixed with "Run for your lives!", and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. At times, he saw the Second Hokage in his peripheral vision, subduing the more powerful shinobi with his undying fortitude. He himself was forced to stop at least once to take out one or two ANBU, but the majority fell like cattle.

He wished he could stop, wished he could help Jiraiya in his fight with that thing or his son with whatever peril he faced, but soon there was nothing to do anymore. All but a handful of Konoha's ninja were unconscious, and most of the remainder were harmless genin.

Minato strode though a prominent boulevard, ignoring the screams of terror from fleeing civilians. He had one last order to carry out.

When Kakashi Hatake attacked, it was with none of the nervousness he had expected. All of the emotion in his mismatched eyes had been killed, replaced with a true shinobi's dedication to duty and unnatural calm.

Minato didn't even feel pain as the Chidori plunged through his chest, pushing his unbeating heart out the back of his ribcage. It was a testament to Kakashi's power that it even hit at all. But soon Kakashi was flat on his back, like the rest of the city-state he'd sworn to defend to his last breath.

His last breath had come and gone, and he protected Konoha even then. It seemed oaths didn't extend to the afterlife.

.:.

Naruto felt lost. The Hokage was stuck within some kind of impenetrable barrier behind him, Konoha was literally screaming in terror in front of him, and his teammates were nowhere to be found. Even Kakashi was gone, though Naruto suspected he was fighting one of the giant snakes out there in the forests. If even one of them got to Konoha, there could be too many casualties to count. He turned to Kabuto, who had lead him there.

"What's with that giant person?" he asked, jerking a thumb at Chiyo's puppet. The second head opened its mouth and launched a sparkling purple mist at Jiraiya and Gamabunta, which it then set on fire. The resulting flare looked like a second sun, and the heat was just as intense, even from the roof they were on.

"Elder Chiyo of Suna is one of the most powerful ninja in history, and certainly the most accomplished puppeteer. Even Monzaemon Chikamatsu, the creator of the art, couldn't match her at her peak." Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "In the Second Ninja World War, she and the Puppeteer Brigade of Hidden Sand were the elite fighting forces of Suna, much like Sakumo Hatake and his Delta Squad were for Konoha. At every turn, Chiyo's deadly poisons were matched by Lady Tsunade's antibiotics and cures. In the end, Suna lost the war, but she is by far one of the most powerful people alive."

"Wow," Naruto said. "Why is she here?"

"It looks like Suna is invading Konoha as Oto's ally," Kabuto said flatly. "You may have noticed that the Hokage is fighting the Kazekage over there."

Sure enough, Sarutobi was busy warding off a golem composed of gold. Everywhere Enma hit, the dust would part and try to pull him from Hiruzen's hand, but the Professor was doing alright. At the same time, a creepily bored looking guy was evading Sarutobi's Flame Dragon, and Orochimaru was lazily talking with a kunoichi in a green bandana in the corner. It did not look good for the God of Shinobi.

"Hey, that's the sensei for those Oto guys!" Naruto cried, pointing accusingly at Kidōmaru. The kneeling spider-man stopped concentrating long enough to wink charmingly before reasserting his control over the violet flames.

"Does that surprise you?" Kabuto asked drolly. "Now, we need a plan. The Hokage is isolated from the village, Jiraiya and Gamabunta are occupied, and most of the chūnin and jōnin are out of the action. Your thoughts?"

Naruto racked his brains. He had two assets: Kabuto, and the genin fighting the snake summons. "Maybe if I summoned the rest of the toads to take care of the snakes?" he suggested tentatively. "Then, we'd have the rest of the genin to fight off whoever that really fast guy is."

"Not a bad strategy," said Kabuto. "Your main problem, obviously, is 'that really fast guy' is using the Flying Thunder God technique. Oh, and he's immortal. I think Kakashi managed to rip his heart out a few minutes ago. Your other problem is that a few hundred genin, probably between D and B-rank, have no way of fighting off an invasion force of A to S-rank ninja. I applaud your thinking, but it won't be done."

"Yeah? You got a better plan, bastard?" Naruto demanded. His understanding of the Hiraishin was as the technique that let the Fourth Hokage beat an entire brigade of Iwa ninja before he was elected as the Old Man's successor. The thought of such a weapon turning on its creators was scary, in a far-off sort of way.

"Why, now that you mention it, I do!" Kabuto said cheerfully. "I'm going to sever some of the cervical nerves in your spinal column while you aren't paying attention. Then, I'll use your limp body to attract Lord Hokage's attention, following which Temari will bring me Asuma's head. The Hokage, distracted, will then die. It's a pretty good plan, don't you think?"

Naruto wasn't sure what he thought, because at that moment, thinking was difficult. So was breathing. He was just going to take a little nap and think about Kabuto's plan, that's all...

.:.

Within about ten minutes, Sarutobi was completely overwhelmed. He used an all-purpose Doton blasting technique to push the gold dust away, but Kimimaro was unstoppable. His bloodline limit aside, the man was probably Kakashi's equal in taijutsu. Sarutobi mentally gave himself ten minutes to kill him and the Kazekage so he could focus on Orochimaru.

The Shiki Fūjin refused to work. Earlier, he had conjured enough shadow clones to ensnare all three of them with the shinigami's chains, but the reaper hadn't heeded his call. Hiruzen wondered how Orochimaru had warded off the god of death, before Kimimaro drove a bone spike into his nearest shadow clone.

His wayward student had little to no interest in the fight. He was emphatically discussing kinjutsu with the ambassadors of Taki and Kusa. Ryūzetsu was firmly against their use, Shibuki figured that they could be put to positive use on occasion, and Orochimaru was of the opinion that 'forbidden' was a label for things that scared people. They were all correct, but Sarutobi was more interested in why he thought the sick man and the Kazekage would be enough to kill him.

Then, Temari appeared outside the barrier with Asuma Sarutobi's head mounted on a pike. His eyes were wide and unseeing, a dribble of blood running from his mouth to join the stream dripping from his neck. Sarutobi hesitated at the sight, just in time for the Kusanagi to lop his entire right arm off.

He sank to his knees, Enma rolling out of his right hand and into a sea of gold dust. The screaming pain in his shoulder was quickly replaced with horror as a parade of Oto ninja began to drag corpses up to the rooftop. Chōza, Inoichi and Shikaku were first, followed swiftly by a parade of bodies. At the far right, he realized, Kabuto Yakushi was holding Naruto's limp body by the scruff of the neck.

"You were strong to the end, sensei," Orochimaru said. "Whatever philosophy gives a man power, can also give him weakness. Look at Asuma... or what's left of him. A man wandering through life, who wanders into death. The invaluable Ino-Shika-Chō assault team was formidable, yet their might couldn't stand against Tobirama Senju, brought back by his own invaluable Edo Tensei. ANBU? COMPLACENT! THEY WERE SUBVERTED IN MERE WEEKS!"

Orochimaru's voice dropped from a roar to a whisper. "And Naruto, your precious embodiment of the Will of Fire? Stupid and weak! At every turn, Konoha is inferior to me and my philosophy. Why else would all of your students abandon you? Jinchūriki against jinchūriki, could you truly argue that Gaara would lose?"

"You're mad..." Hiruzen whispered. "Hashirama-sensei—"

"No, I'm nothing but sane," Orochimaru replied. "And with the Hidden Leaf under my command, the world will see my vision as the dawn of a new age."

He stood up, striding behind the catatonic Hokage and preparing the Kusanagi for one last strike. Its keen edge hummed as it sliced the air, aimed for Sarutobi's skull.

That was how Hiruzen Sarutobi died: broken and defeated.

And Orochimaru laughed.

Eh, I kinda enjoyed that fight scene. If it were just Sarutobi versus Kimimaro and the Kazekage, maybe he would stand a chance, but with Orochimaru providing support it was over from the beginning. Hashirama was sort of an honour guard, because throwing him in too would be too much.