The Best Laid Plans
Arun
Chapter 11: Fight! Grilled Snake, Terrible Taste
Disclaimer: Say it isn't so!
The caravan halted two miles from Forest 2177. As the 'crew' rushed about the task of securing the mules, setting up camp, getting the camp fire started and the numerous other things that needed to be done, the ostensible civilian leader of the expedition looked towards the woods on the right. The dark, thick forest looked quite forbidding in the evening twilight.
"We move at one tomorrow morning and hit the bastards at four-thirty. Make sure the men are wearing armor under their clothes tonight," Shark, the leader said, staring at the terrain for tomorrow's battle long and hard. The edge of the woodland was about an hour away for a unit marching in the dark, but it'd take another two hours moving silently to reach the enemy camp.
"Full load, Commander?" the XO asked.
The leader shook his head.
"Full load of shuriken and other expendables, Squirrel. Leave everything else behind except armor, weapons, water and a high energy ration pack per man. We'll breakfast on the march. We'll also take a single team of medics with us into the forest. The men will piggyback the heavy equipment on a rotating basis. The rest of the medics will set up here. Detail squads 3 and 4 to their security."
Squirrel nodded thoughtfully.
"Who should take point?"
"The Hunter-nin. They're more experienced at this kind of quiet work in the dark than the rest of the force."
"Order of battle as per plan?"
"Yes. Let's not make too many changes on the eve of the battle. Have the team leaders spread around and talk to the men. Give them motivational speeches and whatnot."
"You aren't going to, Sir?"
"Oh, we are, Squirrel," Shark corrected, "we are."
xxxxx
At around twelve that very night, Kabuto stared at the report before him in the security of his room. It did not make sense. It was less than two days to the finals and Konoha was frenzied with activity, as expected. However, the eve of the exams was no time to move medical inventory caches when foreign shinobi were around to observe and report back on their locations to their village. It made even less sense to move them to the vicinity of the ruins of the Uchiha clan. But that was exactly what was being done by the Medic Corps.
Furthermore, Kabuto thought, the Office of Hokage hadn't reacted at all to quell those pernicious rumors that started about a week back about Orochimaru-sama making another appearance during the finals. Kabuto's former classmates had drawn his attention to it twice so far.
None of the facts available on hand made sense. The subtle positioning of highly reliable, battle hardened and decorated ANBU squadrons on the walls, the movement of caches, the Hokage's verifiable apathy…
Something didn't smell right and if Kabuto didn't know about the ANBU detachments dispatched to cater to the whims of the Daimyo – the traitorous genin made a mental note to have his mentor thank the foolish ruler for weakening Konoha so after they burned the village to the ground – he would have thought that the Leaf was preparing for a battle within the city.
Or maybe, realization dawned on the treasonous medic nin as he probed the problem further, they were. The idea was far-fetched and neither Kabuto nor Orochimaru had ever given it any serious thought, but what if Konoha was aware of the Oto-Suna conspiracy from the very beginning? And what if the Daimyo was in the know and made the request for ANBU so that Leaf could mobilize its reserves without raising suspicion, thus freeing up the active ANBU units for what they did best? Attack the enemy as only the best shock troops in the whole world can.
Kabuto stood up. He was not shaken, but he was less sure of his mentor's grandiose plans than he had been only a few minutes earlier. He would discuss this with Orochimaru-sama, but only after sending couriers to the individual camps to ascertain the status on the ground. For if he was right, they had precious little time in their hands before the shit well and truly hit the fan.
xxxxx
The march had taken place in relative quiet – asking for complete silence from four companies of armed men in the dark was the height of stupidity. Finally, when the Konoha assault force was less than three hundred meters from the enemy camp, Shark ordered a brief halt for a final breather and to give his lieutenants time to organize their troops. The assault, when it came, would be all the more effective for the organization.
Normally, the veteran commander wouldn't have dared act in such a manner during any operation – much less one so critical to Konoha's safety as the current one – where achieving complete tactical surprise was so critical to success, but he'd received word from the vanguard earlier that gave him the confidence. The hunter-nin had successfully entrapped the enemy sentries – both the ones holding static posts and on patrol - on the camp perimeter in genjutsus and thus, neutralized the enemy perimeter. Total surprise was Konoha's and damned the Leaf Ninja Corps would be if Shark and his men did not use it to full effect.
The hunter-nin took out the innermost ring of sentries in the camp first. Their victims were garroted and knifed, pin cushioned with senbon, or had their spines half-severed by the throwing axes that some of the ANBU and their hunter-nin brethren preferred. One after other, the guards fell with nary a sound.
But one thing that could always be trusted to happen on the field was for something to go wrong. Fortunately, the genjutsus had been so skillfully applied that the sentries were really lost to the world.
So, even the lone hunter-nin who missed his quarry completely because the man turned away at the last instant got a second chance to take out his target. No one who witnessed the botched kill had any doubt that the hunter-nin would be the butt of jokes from his cellmates for months to come. Still, they were all silently glad for small mercies. It would have made for a very bloody and terrifying battle in the dark if someone had raised the alarm, after all.
xxxxx
Once the hunter-nin signaled the successful elimination of the last of the perimeter guards, the companies stealthily moved into assault positions under the guidance of their commanders. Hidden by the shadows cast by healthy branches that provided the overhead cover under the starlit sky, they waited silently as seconds ticked by and the minute hand swung ever closer to the agreed upon time for the attack.
At T-minus fifteen seconds, the company commanders swung their arms down as one and every third man stepped out of the tree line. They clutched in their hands little spheres. These weapons were Konoha's latest innovation in the battlefield. They'd been developed only months earlier by an ANBU recovering at the hospital after a mission gone south, which was one reason why there weren't that many of the devices to go around.
At T-minus ten, the exposed men formed seals with their free hands and activated the exploding seals within the spheres.
At T-minus five, they ran three paces and lobbed the bombs as they'd been trained at the sleeping forms of the enemy.
Well, all but one did. The lone exception caught his foot on an exposed root and fell down. As a result, when all the volunteers hit the ground – just to be on the safe side – so did everyone within many meters of the slipee.
This action took three seconds.
Simultaneously, as the spheres reached the apex of their brief flight, the remaining hidden Konoha shinobi slid into ready to sprint positions to charge the enemy – the bodies and the doubtless naked weapons on the ground between them and the enemy be damned. Archers – those ninja specially designated for the purpose – shot flare arrows set on delay seals high into the sky. Those would hang in the air for several minutes and provide the minimum necessary illumination for the attack.
The spherical grenades – little more than tightly bound masses of wire wrapped around a core of four special explosive seals padded by cotton – exploded.
Some burst in the air and some on the ground. A few even bounced off the bodies of slumbering enemies before exploding. One unwary shinobi was hit on his crotch and another on his head. In both cases, the unfortunate victims died. The former because the bomb exploded as it bounced off the newly neutered man's crotch, and the latter because the hit crushed its victim's skull even before it exploded.
xxxxx
The wannabe invaders inside the camp proper numbered more than three hundred.
With one exception – and that too an officer who was writing up a report in his tent – they were all asleep when the bombs went off. But three hundred men need a lot of space to sleep, even lying side by side, which the enemy was not.
They were spread out in squads over a large area.
However, each of the grenades had a kill radius of ten meters. And there were a lot of grenades.
Not enough to saturate the whole clearing, of course, but even if there were, no one could lob them that far anyways. But there was more than enough to decimate the ranks of shinobi closest to the tree line.
Supersonic fragments of red-hot wire from the explosions mowed down whole squads, slicing through armor as if it were tissue paper and drilling deep into the flesh underneath. Men who'd been asleep only moments before woke screaming as the pain of torn bodies and lost appendages registered through the fog of sleep.
The tents farthest from the Konoha troops – the ones untouched by the rain of explosions – burst open even as the clap of the last explosion resonated through the clearing. The troops inside those tents may have been caught by surprise, but they reacted as only experienced, well-drilled soldiers can and dozens upon dozens of half-dressed men spewed out into the cold early morning air. Unfortunately for them, their emergence from the tents coincided with the ignition of the flares, which went off with bright flashes in the sky.
For one regrettable instant, the men's subconscious rode roughshod over their training and their eyes were drawn to the bright lights against their will.
As mistakes happen, it was a fairly minor one. It was a testament to the enemy's training that their conscious minds almost resisted the urgings of their subconscious. However, that one mistake, be it so small, was a deadly one when compounded by their otherwise almost perfect reaction in this context. After all, more battles are won or lost by things that almost went one way but did not.
xxxxx
Earlier, on the Konoha side, after quietly breaching the camp perimeter, Shark had ordered the commander of the hunter-nin vanguard to the enemy's rear as a blocking force. Now, however, seeing the chaos in the enemy ranks, the hunter-nin commander sensed a great opportunity. The wannabe invaders were disoriented and an attack from the rear would throw them into further disarray. If she and her men could hold the enemy's attention a few seconds before the main body of the Konoha force fell on them, the effects would be devastating, both in terms of casualties and its impact on the enemy's morale.
Why, if the coming blow was powerful enough – and with Shark wielding the hammer, she had no reason to doubt it wouldn't be – it could quite possibly destroy the enemy's confidence and shatter them, turning the battle into a rout!
"Hunter-nin rule!" she screamed the hunter-nin motto at her men as a impromptu war cry – while it pricked her sense of professionalism to shout what was in effect a warning to the enemy, she could not risk any hesitation or delay from her men in following her lead or her plan was shot – unleashing a powerful karyu endan at the center of the enemy mass. She chose the fire dragon technique for though it wasn't quite as effective as those new-fangled infernal grenades, fire is unparalleled as a psychological weapon.
As men scattered, their eyes drawn to their comrades who were even now burning to death, the other hunter-nin shot their own flame attacks and rushed the invaders, charging against better than fifteen to one odds. Not all of the enemy were immobilized by the human torches, however and the ones that weren't retaliated with powerful elemental attacks. Lightning streaked, flames flared and water shot through the air and five of the hunter-nin went down before the survivors of the charge smashed into the ranks of the enemy.
Two more died within the next half a dozen seconds, struck down by multiple blows from various opponents. The last few bleeding survivors clumped together to guard each other's backs, but as the enemy made to close in and kill them, Shark's force fell on the foreign nin from their other rear.
xxxxx
Konoha's charge did not go completely unnoticed, but archers on the flanks seized the opportunity and shot many of the enemy who reacted to the latest and greatest threat.
A trained shinobi bereft of a sword or a staff could usually block half a dozen arrows under perfect conditions. With a staff, they could even erect an impenetrable barrier. But a battlefield at night echoing with the screams of the wounded and the dying, the cries of despair from the losers, and the wordless exhortations of victors is hardly optimal terrain.
It took an exceptional ninja to stop even a single arrow in the midst of such chaos – a fact that the archers capitalized on – but as it happened, there were two among those that responded to Konoha's charge. Both fell before they could warn their comrades, suffering bad cases of instant death from ninjato through their heart, however. They were the victims of Konoha ANBU who'd braved the hail of arrows and risked their lives to buy their comrades a few more precious seconds. One of the ANBU assailants was hit in the shoulder by an arrow meant for his victim and went down with his prey in a bad fall that literally tore his shoulder apart and bled him out within minutes.
Still, the brave actions of those two ANBU and the hunter-nin charge bought Shark and his men the time they needed to close ranks with the enemy. Shark himself led from the front, stabbing three who had their backs turned to him before he lost his sword lodged into the third one's spine. He made no attempt to rescue the blade, however, grabbing hold of one of his kunai and stabbing a fourth one, who had somehow reacted in time to block against another ANBU's sword strike, in the neck. The unknown ninja fell down gurgling.
His immediate area clear, Shark took a moment to look around. Everywhere within eyesight, dozens fell as ANBU made mincemeat of opponents who had their backs turned to them. The pace of battle was too fast and the enemy too close for any of the enemy officers to establish order – especially since anyone who tried to rally the surviving invaders was singled out for elimination – or the men to resist effectively.
Within a minute, the survivors lost whatever fight they had. Many put up their hands in surrender, but a few tried to escape or were too blinded by panic to think straight and tried to flee in a rout. All the runners were shot down by arrows or hunted down by the ANBU stationed on the flanks before they got far.
And just like that, it was over. The battle had lasted less than fifteen minutes, if one counted the elimination of the sentries, less than two of which involved fighting and the rest movement. For most of the men under Shark's command, it was more akin to a pigeon shoot than anything else, a fact that the grizzled veterans in the units were forever thankful for.
Shark allowed himself a smile savoring the win as he wiped his kunai and retrieved his sword. It was as good a victory as he'd ever dreamed. Better even, as he'd only lost a few men dead or wounded in the melee.
When Shark finally looked around after cleaning and sheathing his sword, he saw that his lieutenants were already setting up perimeter security, organizing hunting parties to bring down the few strays that'd escaped and litters for the wounded, and securing the POWs. Making his way around, he wondered how the battle would have turned out without a competent command or without such brave shinobi to fight under him. Badly, he was sure.
"It was a sweet battle, Sir!" one of the ANBU in Shark's path said.
Shark nodded. It was indeed, as battles where you got to kick the shit out of the other guy often were.
"With brave men like you," he said in a loud voice full of braggadocio for the benefit of all ANBU within hearing range, waving generally at the clearing, "it'd take better men than weak pussies from Suna and Oto to give us a good fight."
The men cheered.
Shark smiled and waved gallantly at them.
"We routed them, Boys. The best that two villages had to offer and we whupped them good. But our job isn't done yet. Secure the prisoners and attend to the wounded. Don't slack off on security now that we've crossed the biggest hurdle. We'll have plenty of time for booze and pussy when we get home. All of you will get your combat bonus and a pat on the back for a job well done. Till then, stand firm and do your duty. Dismissed."
There was a bigger cheer this time – because of the bonus and the prospect of getting laid – and not merely from the clump of men nearest to the ANBU commander. Shark nodded at them and at Squirrel, who'd made his approach in the middle of the speech. The men drifted back to their work.
"Everything's in hand, Sir," Squirrel reported, "Or will be pretty soon. The last of the POWs will be trussed up in a wee while."
"Perimeter security?"
"We're working on it. Queer is working on the patrol roster even as we speak to better use the manpower we have."
"Who was the hardest hit?"
"The hunter-nin blocking force. Practically none from the main force except for a few walking wounded here and there, and those were mostly blue on blue. Once we were at their neck, they couldn't use any of the heavy ninjutsu and there were very few casualties in the main attack."
"Our intelligence indicated the invaders would mostly be made of shinobi from the regular forces. They aren't accustomed to the shock tactics we favor."
"We got off lightly even still. Thank God we got the goddamned Suna shinobi contingent with the grenades. The ones at the far end were the Oto fuckers."
"Yes, we did," Shark acknowledged. He was glad they'd caught the Suna ninja with their pants down. He'd fought them once in a pitched battle during the Yondaime's time and had the scars to remember. The Hidden Sand bastards were tough comers. "We'd better get to work. Do I dare spare the time to meet the wounded now?"
"You can, Sir."
Still, Shark hesitated. It felt wrong to not be out there, issuing commands to bring order to the post-battle confusion. But that's what happens when you have competent subordinates who knew their job. Ultimately, he decided he would stay out and not muddle things. There wasn't anything he could spot that needed his attention anyways. And even if there was, he'd learnt in the months he'd worked with his command team that they were confident enough to ask for help without hesitation when they needed it.
xxxxx
Flanked by Squirrel sometime later, Shark faced the survivors of the hunter-nin whose bravery and sacrifice had saved so many lives. Three lived of the original twelve.
"Whose idea was it?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Our CO," one of the survivors said shifting in his seat, wincing at the pain the slight movement brought him.
Another pointed at a badly mutilated body of their dead leader laid out horizontally on the ground nearby. There were four great wounds on her body, any of which would have been fatal without immediate medical attention, of which there was none.
"She was brave. You saved a lot of lives today," Shark said.
The hunter-nin shrugged.
"I don't think it makes a difference to her. She's dead as dead can be," he sighed regretfully at the loss. The woman had been a good leader and a fine hunter-nin. Then, straightening, "Thank you, Sir! We were only doing our duty."
Shark nodded.
"I'm putting all your names for commendation. The names of your dead go on the memorial stone.
"Bear the discomfort for a little while longer, Boys. The litter bearers should be back from their runs any minute now."
"We can fight, Sir!" one of the hunter-nin objected.
"I have no doubt," Shark agreed with the man, "but I have no lack of bodies today. Certainly more than enough to complete the other aspects of the mission. Be at ease that no one would question your bravery or your comrades. Not after today, anyhow."
The hunter-nin nodded and leaned back against the trunk he'd been using as a prop to remain seated. For all his bravado, he man had a stab wound in his leg and the bandage on his head was soaked with blood.
Shark met his gaze for a second more and with a profound nod of respect turned away to the other task that needed doing. Squirrel dutifully followed his commander to the POWs.
xxxxx
Kabuto sent four couriers on his fact-finding mission. One for each of the troop staging areas.
Of the four, only the courier headed for the staging area on the left flank made it to his objective. The other three did not. Two never saw another sunrise again.
The courier for Forest 2177 ran as fast as his experienced legs could take him through the dark. He took insane risks in the discharge of his duty and having taken but two breaks in the course of the long run, was at the end of his reserves by the time he neared his destination. He knew he'd need at least an hour to recoup his reserves for the run back once he made contact with the main body of the Oto-Suna combined force.
The courier spotted the Konoha ANBU before the other spotted him. There were three ANBU and they were trotting, bearing a litter for one of their wounded comrades.
The sight of the Konoha nin brought the courier to a grinding halt. He didn't panic exactly, but he made a stupid decision. Instead of continuing on under his present heading for a little while and then circling around, he instantly tried to turn and run back the way he'd come.
Not five steps on, the courier's foot found a depression and he crashed noisily on the nearby brush. Most unfortunately for him, the ANBU heard his fall.
The courier was as good as dead from that point. Not only was his pursuer a Hyuuga whose eyes worked equally well night or day, he was also mostly fresh. The courier had neither night vision nor the stamina to run for long, being as he was, mostly exhausted.
Less than a minute into the chase, the courier was hit by three shuriken meant to cripple him and fell down. The ANBU fully intended to interrogate the man and find out all he knew. Luckily for the courier – for it'd have been torture and lots of it if he'd been caught alive – he broke his skull against a half-buried rock in the nasty fall. He never regained consciousness and slipped into a final coma minutes later.
The other unlucky courier did not fall prey to ANBU. His fate was far more mundane. Straying off the beaten path, he stepped over a log and got bitten by a viper less than an hour from Konoha. In the dark, he mistook the bite for a scratch. By the time he realized something was wrong, he was too far from civilization. He tried to make for the merchant trail, but failed. His body was not found until after the exams.
The last courier was detained by a suspicious chuunin manning the East Gate on the wall. They put him in a cell right enough, but because it was such a busy time for the whole village, police HQ decreed that they could not be bothered and pointed their fingers at ANBU Torture and Interrogation, who pointed right back at the cops.
In the end, after a set to with ANBU Torture and Interrogation, an irritated HQ sent a single detective to question the suspect. The detective was irked himself, having been called away from a fine lunch. He was in an even bigger hurry to get back and so, around three in the afternoon, the courier found himself out on the streets. A whole night and half a day spent fretting about all the horrible torture that the ANBU would no doubt inflict on his person was wasted.
Still, as afraid as the courier was of Konoha ANBU, Kabuto, the sadist, frightened him a whole lot more. Fearing for his life for failing his assigned duty, he made his way to Orochimaru's gentle seeming right hand as soon as he was released.
xxxxx
The dead were sealed for transport and ANBU had borne some of the wounded enemy nin for 'treatment.'
Shark looked at the POWs squatting glumly before him in a rough circle under the watchful eyes of his ANBU. He supposed he should feel sorry for these men who'd been led astray by their commanders, but they were invaders in his country. He had to judge them by the 'right' perspective as one whose land would have been invaded and family endangered.
Like all his comrades, Shark knew that if Konoha hadn't wised up to Orochimaru's plans, chances were these defeated, forlorn looking men and women would have run amok within the walls of the village, indulging in wanton murder, pillage, rape and arson. In that case, he shuddered to think of the Leaf's plight if her forces hadn't been enough to send the enemy packing.
So, Shark would do unto them as they would have done unto him and his.
"It's been a dry year, Folks," he addressed the crowd, staring one of the few Oto nin who still had fight in them in his eyes, "but this is the Land of Fire. And as its citizens, you should know that we respect the rule of land and expect our people to be law abiding."
Blank looks all around from Oto nin who'd taken their eyes off the ground.
"I know the life of a farmer is hard," Shark continued, "but that's not an excuse."
More blank looks. Shark could read the thoughts running through their minds. What was the madman raving about?
"You're all guilty of banding together and preying on the weak and the innocent, knowing Fire does not condone banditry. Thus, it falls upon me to enforce the law as the most senior of the lawfully appointed representatives of the Daimyo present."
Blank looks still, though the gleam of realization and the certainty of their fates dawned on a few Oto nin as did a low moan of despair. Their manacles blocked access to chakra and without it, restrained as they were, there was nothing the surrendered shinobi could do to escape. The POW holding eye contact with Shark was one of them. The Konoha commander did not flinch at the hatred in his eyes. He kept the eye contact even as he uttered the next few words.
"Execute them, Boys!"
Immediately, the ANBU commander designated for the task slammed his hand against the ground and performed a yomi numa on the POWs. As the last of the prisoners, wounded and otherwise, disappeared, he made the necessary seals and closed the impromptu mass grave.
xxxxx
"Kabuto, you worry too much," Orochimaru spoke dismissively upon hearing the latter's misgivings for the second time in less than a day.
Kabuto knew that when Orochimaru made up his mind about something, he rarely changed it. It was one of the quirks of the man. So brilliant in most things and yet, so set in his ways and unwilling to consider he could be wrong. Ever. Normally, Kabuto would give up and let Orochimaru commit his folly before intervening, but this was the Hidden Leaf, the strongest shinobi village in the land. In all probability, they wouldn't make it if the cat was out of the bag and the shit hit the fan.
"Orochimaru-sama, please. Only one of the three runners who made it outside the walls has returned. I fear for operational security."
"You forget your place, aide," Orochimaru replied, his smile morphing into a scowl and reminding his subordinate of his position. Then, with a leer, "If you're right, none of the runners would have been detained. The very fact that one of them was detained – and need I remind you the man was let out of jail after only cursory questioning – tells me your theory is just that. A theory, but with no founding on reality."
Kabuto did not reply.
Seeing his right hand's pout – it wasn't literally a pout but Orochimaru recognized the signs from long association – the sannin decided to climb a few steps notches to mollify Kabuto and win him over.
"Konoha does not know," he said in a reconciliatory voice. "Konoha could not know. I have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep my plans secret, as have you.
"I'm sure that Sarutobi-sensei suspects, but his village is gearing for war against Tea. Do not confuse preparation for that campaign with preparations for us."
Kabuto had his doubts, but he nodded. He didn't think he was mistaken, but it was also true that intelligence networks in neither Suna nor Oto had reported oddities that could support his claims in the months before. For that matter, aside from that rumor making the round neither had he, a 'loyal' genin, but that wasn't incontrovertible evidence either. The crucial information was way over his pay grade, after all. He supposed it was possible that both networks were hopelessly compromised and he'd been played for a fool – the evidence on the ground suggested that was the case – but it could very well be the other way around and he was making a mountain out of a molehill.
But whatever be the case, Kabuto thought with an eerie smile, the die was cast. He knew the risks of the game when he threw his lot with the sannin. Whatever happened, he would see his task through the end.
xxxxx
"Jiraiya," Koharu said neutrally, pointing the sannin to a chair.
Jiraiya made a nod of acknowledgement and claimed his seat. He'd been smuggled into the village with great care in a cart full of rice bushels meant for the finals.
"Sarutobi couldn't meet you. He's busy entertaining the visiting nobles. The fallout from day after tomorrow from their camp is going to be bad," the old advisor elaborated.
"Understandable. I was told that I'd be briefed today."
"And so you shall. We suspect Orochimaru and/or the Kazekage will try to assassinate Sarutobi during the finals. The boy hates his teacher. We've planned accordingly. We believe we're on top of the situation and our contingency plans are sound."
"Heh. So long as we get the rat bastard."
Koharu nodded.
"We think we'll have both Orochimaru and the Kazekage contained," she continued, "but we're concerned about the latter's jinchuuriki son. If the boy were to unleash his demon within the walls of the village…"
"I'll handle him."
"Konoha can handle a jinchuuriki," Koharu replied snidely, "we have the most powerful one of them, after all. And there's also Orochimaru's experiment and the Shodai's legacy. We think he is just as effective as the First against demons. But that's beside the point. We cannot have one of the tailed beasts running amok within the village, Jiraiya."
The toad sannin nodded.
"Even more importantly, it's no longer in Konoha's interests to have the One Tail in Suna's hands. Two weeks from now, the whole world is going to learn of Hidden Sand's greatly weakened state and everyone's going to want a piece of the pie. Before that, we want to secure the biggest slice for ourselves. This is the Hokage's will."
"As the Hokage commands," Jiraiya replied, formulaically. Then, in a less serious voice, "I'll see if I can seal the boy before he channels the beast. If he does, I may have to resort to extreme measures within the stadium."
Koharu did not hesitate at all.
"Of course. We don't care how it's done so long as the jinchuuriki and the demon are neutralized with minimal fuss."
"To tell you the truth, I think the Shodai's legacy is better suited for this duty myself," Jiraiya added, probing for any hint as to what machinations drove the decision to foist the beast on his shoulders.
"So he is, but we want you to do it."
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed slightly. It was clear that Sarutobi and his inner council wanted him to look good before the village. That did not bode good tidings for his favorite pastime and his writing career. If he knew the old coots – and he knew all four pretty well – they were sure to have sent the Shodai's legacy away on some mission or the other so that he could not refuse his out of hand. Sneaky, underhanded, manipulative old geezers!
"I suppose the man's out of town," he asked, just to be sure.
Koharu shot him a smile, but given her age, it came out as something truly horrible. It was all the more frightening because it was meant to be a cherubic, "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" smile.
"Indeed, he is. How did you guess?" she lied through her teeth. The Shodai's legacy was hidden away inside the village near the stadium in case the sannin refused.
Jiraiya groaned inwardly. Yep, the old farts had it in for him.
xxxxx
Fifteen hours to finals…
Tora, the commander of the Oto-Suna force frowned at the dark horizon. There was no sign of the other units that were supposed to rendezvous with his. Still, he wasn't too much worried. He knew the trouble his fellow commanders faced, coordinating between Oto and Suna shinobi. He knew, also, the difficulties in secretly moving such a large troop of men so close to a shinobi village. Even tree-hugger paradise Konoha.
It wouldn't surprise him at all if some of the others didn't make it in time for the assault, busy as the roads to Konoha were so close to the exams. Certainly, there were bound to be Leaf ninja disguised as civilians among the wayfarers. If the Oto-Suna force used the main roads, even split into small groups, the tree-hugger spies would note the disappearance of large numbers of visitors so close to the gates and raise the alarm. That would not do at all.
"There's still a whole night ahead of us. If the others don't show up, I'll just have to scale back the scope of my mission. And write a scathing report to Orochimaru-sama on the issue of punctuality in military operations," he muttered aloud, a wry smile on his face. Of the other three commanders, two were Suna shinobi and one was Tora's foremost political adversary within Oto. He would love to be done with that bastard forever.
xxxxx
When the quality inspector asked to examine the cisterns that fed the stadium, the manager saw no reason to object. There had been constant inspections on everything by the Hokage's special appointees stretching back for more than a month. Nor did he find it strange that the oldster asked for a ladder to check the quality of the water.
After that, it was simply a matter of a skillfully applied genjutsu and the inspector, an ex-ANBU commander, gently retrieved the packages from the seal and with a minor application of ninjutsu, dissolved them in the water, one to a tank.
xxxxx
"Kakashi-san," the ANBU greeted the bleary looking jounin.
Kakashi glared. It was three in the morning and he needed his bloody sleep.
"It'd better be important," he growled.
The ANBU handed a sealed parchment and disappeared. Kakashi closed the door, switched on the light, read the communiqué and like any veteran, promptly went back to sleep. There was still time to get things done and he needed all the sleep he could get for the day ahead.
xxxxx
It was seven in the morning and Team 7 were assembled at their training ground for some last minute instruction from Kakashi. The latter, for the first time in the team's long association with the jounin, was on time. Sakura kept looking up to see if the sky was falling down. Naturally, her teammates found it very funny, though their teacher did not.
"You have two hours before the finals," he told them in a solemn voice. "The three of you have come far in the last month, but there is still a long way to go."
Team 7 glanced at each other and nodded.
"Be on the lookout for trouble," the jounin continued, "I'm concerned about Orochimaru. I'm sure you've heard the rumors making the rounds about him and the finals."
"We've know, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied, "and we thank you for your concern."
"But is there any basis to your concerns?" Sasuke asked.
Kakashi did not hesitate for even a fraction of a second. His mind was already made up and it was too late in the game to be much worried about operational security. All pieces were certainly on the board by now and there was little time for Orochimaru and his friends to react.
"Yes, there is. Suna and Oto plan to attack us during the exams," he said, holding up an arm to stall any questions, "We've known this for a while and we've been preparing in secret. You should not repeat this to your friends. I wouldn't tell you, except for the fact that operational prudence requires it."
Naruto noted the reactions of his teammates out of the corner of his eyes. Apparently, they felt the same way he did.
"What are your orders, sensei?" he asked in a flat voice. Attack his home and family, would the foreign bastards? He would see about that.
"Eliminate the enemy finalists. Spare your Konoha brethren if possible.
"My orders to you are as follows: Eliminate the Kazekage's youngest son with prejudice. I don't care if he ends up dead or alive so long as he ceases to be a factor during the attack."
Naruto nodded thoughtfully as he pondered the problem. Then, his face lit up as an idea from one of the innumerable scrolls Kakashi forced him to read hit him.
"Will do, Sensei," he replied, "and I know just the thing to crush the bastard, too."
The jounin nodded.
"One last piece of advice. I most probably won't be there to watch over you. So, remember to stick together and watch each other's backs."
Team 7 smiled collectively. They were family and they would live or die together as one.
"Now, let's to breakfast. I'm famished," Kakashi said.
xxxxx
It looked to be a hot day and most spectators had arrived early to secure the best seats for the day's spectacle. Combined with the raucous celebration and the salty snacks sold by hawkers at a cheap price – the last subsidized heavily by the village for some reason – pretty much everyone who hadn't packed bottles of water before setting out from home had been to the public fountains at least once for a drink or two.
At precisely 9 AM, Jounin Genma, the official referee signaled the doorman to push the massive wooden door open and walked out into the daylight. A hush fell upon the crowd as Genma made his way to the middle of the field with cold, measured, unhurried steps. Once at the center, he threw up his arms and walked a tight circle, his face turned towards the crowd.
"Exalted and Honored Daimyo of Fire Country," he announced, modulating his voice to carry across the stadium, "Kage of Leaf and Kage of Wind, noble guests, fellow citizens and all those who've come from near and far to watch the spectacle of your lifetime, I present you the finals of the Chuunin Exams. I'm Jounin Genma, your host and referee for the next hours as young shinobi from across the nations fight for honor, glory and promotion to Chuunin."
The crowd burst into applause with cheers, whistles and what not. Genma waited for it to die down.
"The first match of the day. Naruto of the Leaf vs. Gaara of the Sand."
xxxxx
The two combatants made their way to the center of the field and faced off against each other.
Gaara glared hatred at the boy before him. Mother whispered in his head about how yearned for this Naruto's blood, and how she couldn't wait to embrace him and deliver his bloody pulp into death's loving hands.
Silence descended upon the ground as Genma intentionally delayed announcing the start of the match to build anticipation among the spectators. In the meanwhile, the two jinchuuriki stared each other in the eye. Gaara's promised death and Naruto's held nothing.
Genma announced the start of the match with a piercing cry.
Naruto moved.
Gaara stood passively, his sand swirling madness around him as Naruto the fool charged him headfirst at a jog. Mother would grab the blonde bag of flesh and blood and crush him like a puny insect. She would paint the ground crimson.
As if sensing Mother's mood and her terrible purpose, a flight of birds screeched to the right, raising an unholy racket.
Gaara turned towards the birds. He wanted to see them. He knew for certain that mother would handle the blonde all on her own. He needn't bother paying any attention to his opponent.
Naruto took that moment to shift into high gear.
Gaara caught a bright flash of bright light and crackling arcs of actinic streaking towards him at blinding speed. The world went mad.
xxxxx
Baki watched the whole event unfold before his eyes with morbid interest.
One second, Gaara's opponent was charging headfirst into certain death. The very next, there was another copy of him straddling the enclosure with summoned lightning in his hands.
Kakashi's infamous raikiri, the lightning cutter.
But the raikiri is an imperfect tool if you wanted to surprise someone. For one thing, it was unbelievably loud. For another, it had an enormous appetite for chakra and could eat through the largest reserves with terrifying ease. Finally, the user had to be superfast to use it effectively or its standoff distance became very limited.
Baki hoped for just a moment that the Konoha genin had made a mistake. True, Gaara and his sand had a weakness against lightning based attacks, but his involuntary defense mechanism's reaction speed was inhumanly fast as many a wannabe assassin sent by the Kazekage had discovered before.
Only, Kakashi's student did not give Gaara time to even register his presence before he attacked. Gaara's sand did react, but then, as Baki and everyone else in the stadium discovered, the Kazekage's son had never been the boy's target.
The real target wasn't even the disintegrating propane tank, which surprise! yet another Naruto swapped with the first one inside the stadium, who'd incidentally closed the distance with Gaara.
xxxxx
The cylinder had fourteen kilograms of liquid propane. Naruto had applied a fast acting seal once favored by ANBU for making entries during missions. The seal worked by weakening the molecular bonds of crystals, making designated points vulnerable to forced entry. It was mostly useless in the modern world, however, and fallen into disuse since it was easily shielded against with cheap counter seals.
The cylinder under question did not have the counters. A fraction of a second after the kawarimi and about a second after Naruto activated it, the cylinder blew apart, unable to contain the propane under high pressure any longer as its structural integrity went the way of the Dodo.
Instantly, the area near Gaara was saturated with high inflammable propane. The scene was set for a fuel-air explosion and Naruto supplied the final ingredient with his raikiri.
The resultant explosion was a piece of hell on earth. Naruto's clone was carbonized instantly. Gaara's sand, which had protected him from other explosions set off by his father's assassins before, failed miserably against the longer duration overpressure and heat impulse. The Kazekage's son was thrown violently through the air. He pin wheeled against the ground multiple times without the benefit of the protection offered by his sand shroud and slammed hard against the hard granite wall of the enclosure. He fell, coughing blood and bleeding from his ears, and did not get on his feet for many seconds. Even when he did, he staggered as if he were punch-drunk from a concussion and promptly vomited his breakfast.
xxxxx
Jounin Genma, who'd been spared having his innards liquefied only because yet another of Naruto's clones switched places with a kawarimi, jumped back into the arena as soon as the rain of debris from the explosion stopped. The crowd watched him expectantly from the edge of their seats. Absolute silence reigned.
Genma looked at Gaara, whose sand whipped hither and thither like a drunk. The boy was clearly unable to continue the fight. He then turned to the Uzumaki, who'd also joined the referee on the field. The best thing, as far as the jounin was concerned, was that Naruto looked ready to finish what he'd started – though he was clearly surprised that his opponent survived that holocaust – and was holding back only out of respect for the referee.
Genma shook his head, a wry smile etched on his face and shot a look of profound respect towards the Leaf genin. The ruthlessness, foresight and pre-meditation in that cold-blooded assassination attempt – his actions could be classified as nothing else – was worthy of an experienced ANBU and exemplified the best traditions of the group. The boy was a credit to his mentor, ex-ANBU Commander Hatake Kakashi and to the village, and the jounin had no doubt he would go far as a shinobi.
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"
And the crowd burst into applause.
xxxxx
"A startling upset, Kazekage-sama," Sarutobi said with a shake of his head.
Orochimaru, masquerading as the Kazekage, blinked. He'd thought the boy was coldblooded in the forest, but that little demonstration just now was something else. The sannin could only hope that the boy rubbed off some of his magic on his teammates before they came looking for him. Why, with shinobi like that, he'd brush aside the Akatsuki like the irritating insects they are!
"Yes, very," he answered absentmindedly.
Sarutobi smiled wryly.
"Naruto-kun is one of our most promising up and coming shinobi," he explained, reaching over for the clay jug and pouring out a glass of refreshingly cold water. He took a sip and sighed. Yep, clay jugs make for the best water!
Orochimaru, who'd been waiting all day for the Hokage to take the first sip, helped himself to a glass as well. It fit the late Kazekage's reputation for paranoia to have his host drink first and 'verify' the water was untainted.
xxxxx
Kabuto, hidden under the robes of a very unfortunate ANBU, shook his head softly. No one – not even him – had expected the Suna jinchuuriki to be taken out so easily. In less than a minute, Uzumaki Naruto, the self-proclaimed number one prankster and most unpredictable ninja in Konoha, had taken out Orochimaru-sama's trump card for the coming battle within the village walls and thrown the biggest monkey wrench ever into the invasion plans.
Today's going to be a very interesting day. And that's if everything goes according to plan.
Kabuto did not even wonder about what'd happen if something else went south with the mission. The consequences did not bear thinking.
xxxxx
Naruto walked into the balcony with a huge smile on his face. He promptly high-fived Sasuke and Sakura. His teammates were just as exultant as he was at his victory. The Suna siblings stared at Team 7 and especially Naruto with no little amount of fear in their eyes. Because he was feeling especially playful, the Uzumaki pointed at the Kazekage's next son, pantomimed a slit throat and mouthed "you're next." He was rewarded with the funniest look ever for his efforts.
"Oh, that's fucking priceless," he guffawed, pointing rudely at the puppeteer again while his teammates and Temari watched clueless. They'd missed Naruto's original threat and Kankuro's deer-caught-in-headlights reaction, and did not get the joke.
Baki entered then. He was followed by two medics and stretcher-bearers carrying a badly hurt Gaara.
"What's going on?" he barked at his students.
He threw a distasteful glance at the genin who may have succeeded where so many others in Suna had failed for good measure. To hear the medics say it, his youngest charge needed medical attention fast or he was going to die. Baki hated to lose the jinchuuriki, who was such a promising weapon, but the needs of war and village must. Gaara was critical to disrupt the defense, cause enormous property damage, rack up civilian kills and sow chaos from behind enemy lines, and if he died in the pursuit of his duty, so be it. There would be another to take his place once Suna's future was secured, which it would be once Konoha was humiliated and brought to its knees today.
Naruto snorted at the look the jounin shot him and turned back to his teammates and the other gathered Konoha finalists in a calculated insult.
Baki bristled at the Uzumaki's gumption. How dare a mere genin turn his back on him as if he, a jounin, posed no threat to the twerp at all?!
xxxxx
Compared to the first match, the second one was rather conventional and uninteresting. Not that the crowd didn't devour it like crazy maniacs.
Shino fought the only Kusa nin to make it to the finals. The latter was a poison specialist. Shino retreated to the trees on one corner of the arena as soon as the fight was announced. He lost some bugs in the swarming feints he made, but while the Kusa nin was focused on evading and countering the bugs, the Team 8 member replaced himself with his bug bunshin. Then he circled around his opponent and took him from the rear, knocking him out before his opponent realized what had happened.
Enthusiasts among the spectators were delirious now. The first match had been an exhibition of ruthless execution, high-powered ninjutsu and out of the box thinking. None doubted that they'd seen the birth of a new legend in the shinobi community. The second match served as a textbook example on the use of terrain and superior tactics to bring down a deadly opponent. God knew what the third exam would bring.
As it happened, the third exam brought a lot of excitement. And not just the good kind.
xxxxx
It was clear now that the other three groups weren't going to make it for the assault. The fact worried him some, but Tora did not think the enemy knew Orochimaru-sama and Kazekage's intentions. If Konoha did, he had seen no sign of it; nor had he received any warning from his master. Security, in fact, looked pretty relaxed when he wandered into town early in the morning to scout his zone of responsibility.
The Oto commander looked at his wristwatch and then at the spotter. It wasn't time yet for the assault and the watcher shook his head. No flare so far from within the village signaling early commencement of hostilities. So, everything was going according to plan.
Well everything except for the three missing units. The thought brought an anticipatory smile on Tora's face. He would cherish his enemy's plight a few days henceforth forever.
xxxxx
It was close to 10 AM and Hyuuga Neji, genius to all, insufferable prick to many an acquaintance, and self-proclaimed victim of the monstrous injustices of fate, faced off against Uchiha Sasuke.
"Fate has ordained…" Neji began, sizing his opponent up.
The referee hadn't yet signaled the start of the match. And Neji apparently felt the need to inform his opponent of the pointlessness of struggling against fate. Sasuke wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
"Blah blah!" he interrupted in his most insufferable voice, "Is that all you know? Fate this. Fate that. Fuck off, you dumb prick. I'd already heard your speech during the prelims and have no intention of suffering in silence while you stand there going yackety-yak."
Neji glared at the insult. A few in the audience laughed and a great many sported smirks. The acoustics of the stadium had carried the Hyuuga's put down clear and loud.
Off to the side, Genma faked a cough and used that as an excuse to hide a smirk of his own. Kakashi had seriously outdone himself with his team. The jounin recovered from his 'coughing fit' and gave the signal to fight.
Sasuke's sharingan spun a web of lies in his opponent's mind that Neji's byakugan pierced with ease. However, Sasuke had never meant the genjutsu to win the fight. It was meant as a distraction and distract Neji, it did. But not enough of one that the braided genin didn't see the trio of shuriken and dodge it in time.
Sasuke nodded to himself and circled his opponent at a jog. Holding his center, Neji dutifully followed him with his body. Naruto's speed in that one-sided battle earlier was all the warning he needed to not underestimate his raven-haired teammate's. It was hard to believe and Neji had no idea how he'd done it, but he thought that the blonde might actually be faster than Lee. And neither Naruto nor Sasuke had Lee's disability with chakra. Neji had done his homework and knew that the two boys liked to throw ninjutsu around like crazy.
There was a slight shift in Sasuke's bearing as his shoulder muscles flexed and his hip pivoted between steps. His chakra pathways brightened as if getting ready for a push.
Neji jumped back. And just in the nick of time, too, as the ground he'd been standing on literally exploded. Sasuke looked Neji in his eyes and smiled cheekily from the bottom of the crater.
I was right, Neji thought. Sasuke was as fast as Naruto, though he burned far less chakra for the same speed. But while the raven-haired genin had huge reserves, he was no chakra demon like his teammate. He could not go on expending chakra so extravagantly for long. Not if he wanted to win the fight, which meant Neji had a chance at winning this match.
Neji smiled.
xxxxx
Orochimaru looked at the hour and sighed. The Sasuke-Neji fight was just getting interesting and he had yet to see Sakura fight. But little things like the destruction of Konoha came first.
Oh well…
xxxxx
Kabuto flashed through the necessary seals under his ANBU robe as soon as it struck 10 AM. The powerful genjutsu sent almost everyone in the stadium to sleep.
xxxxx
Once Kabuto made his play, before anyone realized what was happening, Orochimaru's Sound Four, who'd smuggled themselves into the stadium, scaled the Grand Hokage balcony where Sarutobi was seated. Through sheer brute force, they literally pushed the Hokage's ANBU back. Their charge gave the sannin the time he needed to take his teacher hostage and retreat to the top of the building. The Sound Four followed their master. They established themselves in each of the four corners and created a barrier so that the Orochimaru could deal with the Third undisturbed.
This took five seconds.
xxxxx
Like many ANBU closest to the Grand Hokage balcony, Kabuto made as if he was charging the Oto nin assaulting it. When one ignorant ANBU closed with him, he calmly casually reached over with his kunai and between steps, slit the man's throat. The ANBU crashed in a tangle of limbs and a spray of blood.
Kabuto jumped back to put some distance between himself and the remaining ANBU. He threw his robe away and shot them a beatific smile. The barrier was up and they could not interfere with Orochimaru-sama's hour of reckoning with his master and betrayer.
Mission accomplished.
xxxxx
"Aren't you happy to see me, Sarutobi-sensei?" Orochimaru whispered gaily into the Hokage's ears. "I've come to reduce this pathetic village to dust and settle a few scores. I think I'll start with slitting your throat."
"I'm happy, indeed, my stupid, errant apprentice. For today, you die," Sarutobi replied, twisting out of Orochimaru's grasp and landing a few yards away.
Orochimaru sneered at his teacher's words and formed the seals to send him into death's cold embrace.
xxxxx
Baki looked at sleeping masses and frowned. There were a few Oto/Suna shinobi here and there, but not nearly as many as there should have been. He had barely a moment to realize something had gone terribly wrong when he was forced to dodge to the side as Naruto unleashed a suiryuudan inside the balcony.
Flipping out of the confined space, he held onto the vertical face of the wall with his chakra to escape the blonde's high-powered jutsu. Then he sped through the seals for the daitoppa and unleashed it in the general direction of the Konoha genin within the balcony, with no regard for the Kazekage's children trapped inside. The immediate priority was to deal with the enemy first. He would worry about the collaterals later. The resultant blowout threw most of the Konoha genin, the two members of Team 7 included out into the arena.
Baki hoisted himself back into the ruined balcony and noted that one of Kankuro's puppets was severely damaged. It was obvious to him that Konoha knew about the Kazekage's plans all along – why else would Kakashi's genin attack the Sand jounin and his team? It was equally obvious that Lead had prepared a trap into which that never sufficiently damned prig and egomaniac Orochimaru had led everyone. If Gaara wasn't out for the count for this battle, Suna could have gained some measure of satisfaction from both Konoha and Orochimaru. But the boy wasn't and Baki had had no doubt the battle was lost already.
The only thing, then, was to mount a rearguard action and hope the siblings would be able to make a successful run for it with Suna's jinchuuriki. The One Tail, above all, could not be allowed to fall into Konoha's hands or Suna's fate was writ with this disaster.
"Take Gaara and go. I'll delay them," he ordered Temari and Kankuro.
The Sand siblings, the two that were coherent, nodded. Kankuro piggybacked Gaara and Baki ran through the seals for a karyu endan and jumped out the balcony for his meeting with fate.
xxxxx
One of Jiraiya's battle toads casually blocked the screaming Oto nin's ninjato and the other disemboweled the man with ease. The attacker collapsed like a sack of shit, his mouth open in a rictus of agony.
The sannin cursed Orochimaru aloud as he stepped over his would be assailant and gained open air. You could always depend on the traitorous bastard to time things in such a way that it ruined everyone else's day. This time, he'd started his attack right in the middle of the Toad Sannin's two-minute break to attend the call of nature. It was very fortunate that Jiraiya's godson had punted the little freak to the edge of death's door. Gallant Jiraiya's reputation wouldn't have survived the day if he'd wet his pants in the course of subduing a tailed beast. No one would have accepted the real truth that it was only a case of a bladder filled to bursting and not incontinence brought on by terror.
Now, where's that jinchuuriki so that I can deal with him and seal the beast?
"Hey, kid," Jiraiya asked Naruto, who was standing away from the fight with a Sand jounin, forming clones as needed and sending them charging in to join the melee.
"I'm busy, old man," Naruto replied. He recognized Jiraiya of the Sannin from Kakashi's reading materials, but that didn't mean he had to respect the old fart. Not when the man was intent on chatter in the middle of a battle.
"I can see that and I won't hold you for long. Where did the Kazekage's children go?"
"Them wimps?" the Uzumaki spat in disgust. "They ran out the stadium that way. Cowards."
Jiraiya departed without another word. He liked the brat, but now, it was time to fry another one or three.
xxxxx
The three gigantic summoned snakes led the charge to the village wall, guided by the men riding them. Behind, Tora and the rest of his men followed them at a brisk pace. It wouldn't do to breach the enemy's walls, after all, only to be killed because you were too out of breath.
The first hint of the plan gone terribly wrong came in the form of a large numbers of Konoha shinobi assembled atop the wall. From there, things went rapidly downhill.
xxxxx
Sarutobi smiled at the look on Orochimaru's face as the latter's 'massive' karyu endan sputtered out in a poof three feet from its creator.
"Surprise, my idiotic apprentice," the Third said jovially. He was really enjoying himself. It had been so long since he'd fought someone that he'd forgotten how good it felt. "The water you drank was tainted with one of Tsunade's special cocktails. Unless you have had the antidote, which I have, you won't be able to access or control chakra well."
Orochimaru stared incomprehension.
Sarutobi spat.
"You thought I didn't know about your alliance with Suna? I knew all along. You didn't trap me, ignorant little snake. I trapped you."
Orochimaru glared daggers. Could it be that the old retard was telling the truth? If so, then had Kabuto's fears been justified? He cursed himself for not listening to his right hand man earlier.
"So you think, Sensei," he leered, sounding less confident than he had but a minute before. He regurgitated his kusanagi and brought it to guard position. "But reality is you're trapped inside this barrier with me. Your ANBU will never be able to break it in a million years. In the meanwhile, I should think myself capable of killing one crusty old fart even with a handicap."
Sarutobi's smile was positively glowing.
"But can you deal with three dozen ANBU in your condition?" he asked, zipping to the closest of the Sound Four. Disregarding the danger of the inner barrier, he gathered a large amount of chakra in his left hand to overpower the shield and punched through it, driving a kunai into the back of the kunoichi's head with sufficient force to lodge the whole length of the blade inside her skull. Both barriers collapsed even as the Third's arm blackened to a crisp.
Orochimaru reached the Hokage then with a deft thrust at his teacher's kidney. Sarutobi jumped out of the way and assumed a stance even as his hand smoked and burned. The only sign that the flames hurt him was a slight grimace.
xxxxx
Kabuto saw the barrier collapse and knew it was time to vamoose. It was this last disaster in a day full of disasters that convinced him of the futility of the whole enterprise.
So, he feinted a charge at the two ANBU squared off against him and jetted out of the stadium like a rat fleeing a sinking ship. As he ran, his mind drifted back to the barrier and what it entailed for his mentor. He was sure that Orochimaru-sama would survive this fiasco and shake off his pursuers – his master was one of the legendary sannin, after all – but the Third Hokage would survive. Kabuto's own chances were just as good if he survived past the walls.
xxxxx
Baki knew he wasn't going to see another sunset. He was as elite jounin, but two ANBU, the jounin referee, the young Uchiha, his pink-haired teammate and of course, a never ending supply of their blonde teammate making suicide runs and delivering high powered ninjutsu at close ranges was beyond his ability by several miles and a few hundred yards. Still, he had nothing to lose and fought without care for personal welfare. For a few precious minutes, he was even able to hold his aggressors at bay.
The end, when it came, was sudden. Throughout the course of the fight, Baki skillfully had avoided looking Sasuke directly in his eyes. One of Naruto's clones made yet another high-speed suicide aiming to run through his bleeding opponent with a ninjato appropriated from somewhere.
It was as clumsy a sword attack as there ever was – Naruto never having trained with a blade – but the intent was clear and a sword wielded by an amateur hurts and kills just as well as one borne by a professional. Baki had every intention of making his enemies pay dearly and death by shadow clone was not how he planned to go. He used his superior experience and skill with the blade to impale the clone with a blade of wind that was so much sharper than any sword ever made.
Naruto disintegrated in a close of smoke, unmasking Sasuke who was making an attack run of his own in the blonde's wake. For one brief moment, Baki's eyes met Sasuke's as the boy veered off to avoid a collision with an ANBU attacking the Suna jounin from the side. As Neji had before, the jounin found himself instantly ensnared in a genjutsu. Only whereas the Konoha genin had his byakugan to counter the sharingan's lies with truth, the Suna jounin had none.
Caught in a web of nightmares, Baki staggered unexpectedly and what should have been a decapitating stroke missed by a mile and a half as the ANBU blade bit into his shoulders. The pain brought the jounin crashing out of the world of make believe only to have Sakura deliver a chakra coated palm strike to his heart that dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
He did not get up.
xxxxx
The Root operator examined his target as would a sculptor, virgin rock.
It was not Konoha's fault that the enemy had chosen to attack the section of the wall farthest from the Uchiha grounds. But a lot depended on the compound burning down in a fiery holocaust. Konoha had made big plans on that assumption and those plans could not be stymied simply because the enemy refused to cooperate.
One burnt to a crisp Uchiha compound coming up!
xxxxx
Orochimaru sensed the ANBU wave before he saw them. He darted to the side even as his three surviving guards – they did not know it, but they were now the unofficial sacrificial rearguard – moved to engage his pursuers. Hopefully, his three protégés would delay the Leaf ANBU long enough and buy him the time he needed to make his escape.
Sadly, it was not to be.
Sarutobi somehow summoned Enma with his blistered arms and the big monkey body tackled Jirobou. As monkey king and strongman went down in a tumble, it created a big hole on the line for Orochimaru's pursuers to exploit. ANBU poured forth and the sannin was forced to dodge to the side as one took a pot shot with a karyu endan.
The sannin saw Kidomaru fall next, overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and the wave of ANBU became a tide. Sakon and Ukon were washed away seconds later under that same charge, and Jirobou suffered from a terminal case of slit throat as a passing ANBU took a moment to finish him as he lay broken on the roof. Orochimaru knew that the situation was as bad as any he'd ever faced, but surrender was not an option. Not within Konoha's walls. He stabbed his first assailant in the abdomen and cut off the offending arm of the next ANBU that got too close to him. Then he screamed aloud as Sarutobi, who'd also joined the fight came in low from the side and swung the Enma-staff, shattering his ex-student's knee.
Orochimaru fell on his broken and bent knee, which made him scream even louder. An ANBU took the opportunity to severe the muscles on his right shoulder, removing the sannin's ability to use his arm.
On his knees, deprived of the ability to use a weapon and unable to flee, there was no escape for even a sannin after that.
xxxxx
Temari and Kankuro fled as fast as their legs could carry them. They did not know it, but with Jiraiya on their tail, their cause was a lost one. To their credit, they managed to reach the forest before he intercepted their little group.
"So here we are," Jiraiya said, blocking the path, "two genin against a sannin. Think you can escape?"
Temari gripped her fan tighter. With her younger brother wounded so badly, their tactical situation was impossible and could have only one outcome. They were so dead. Semi-conscious, Gaara groaned at that moment and vomited blood on Kankuro's shoulder.
"Your brother is severely wounded. Surrender and I'll ensure Konoha does everything we can to save him. You two will be treated well."
Temari looked undecided. She cast a sideways glance to her sociopath younger brother, who despite having threatened to kill her so many times was still kin. Gaara's life was hanging by a thread.
Jiraiya moved, sensing indecision. His fist appeared as if by magic in Temari's stomach. As she folded over, a simple kick to Kankuro's leg broke his knee and destroyed his mobility. Kankuro shouted and started to fall, but the sannin was there. Holding the puppeteer's arms hostage, Jiraiya lowered both the boy and his precious cargo to the ground. In his condition, the Kazekage's youngest might die if he hit the dirt hard and the Third's student had no intention of fighting a tailed beast if it could be avoided.
The sannin knocked out the jinchuuriki's siblings and went to work. He opened the seal scroll he'd prepared after the meeting with Koharu and spread it on the ground. He gingerly lifted the jinchuuriki and placed him on the array spread. Then, he gathered chakra in his right hand, and running through the invoking seals, slammed it on the boy's chest.
Gaara screamed and after a second, fell unconscious from the blow and the technique, but by that time the seal had activated. Jiraiya watched the unconscious jinchuuriki closely for a couple of seconds and nodded. The boy might die even now, but if that happened, the one tail would only exchange one prison for another.
Then, with the tailed beast secured for the nonce and the jinchuuriki's siblings knocked out for the count, he summoned two battle toads and sent them to Konoha for reinforcements and medics. He looked at the sky and thought, it is a fine day.
xxxxx
Author's notes:
And that's the end of Chuunin Exams! Please leave reviews.
Finally, Naruto has learnt kage bunshin. Team 7 trained extensively with it in the month before the finals and are on a much higher plateau in terms of skill and in Sakura's case, power than they were before.
Also as I'd stated in the last chapter, I've reintroduced Team 7 in this one. LOL They play a small, but important role in the battle. Naruto had his fight and so did Sasuke, but Sakura got very little. That couldn't be helped. I had plans for a Team 7-Gaara battle finale, but this approach is much more sensible and logical (I also did not want uber-Team 7 for now.) Jiraiya wouldn't waste time restraining Gaara once he got his hands on him and with Team 7 delayed by Baki's rearguard action, Jiraiya was always bound to reach him first.
Also, now, you know what Tsunade's concoction was. As for Orochimaru, without access to chakra, I don't think he'd be able to summon snakes or use any of the ninjutsu or genjutsu techniques we've seen him use. Still, he'd be more than enough to handle a lone ANBU or even a couple, which is why they dog pile him. Quality may be better than quantity, but quantity always has a quality of its own. Also, fair is for idiots. Call me to a fist fight and I'll always bring a bat. LOL
Much thanks to RakeeshJ4 and Nugar. The former was the first to point out the big logical gap in the chapter before last and both of them helped as idea sounding boards.