Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto
Author's notes: Many events in this chapter happen nearly simultaneously, meaning a point of view change might be a jump back in time.
Chapter 33: Invasion
The entire stadium shook and panic gripped Naruto for a split second before he forced it down. Judging from how the Ichibi's chakra felt this was a temporary, controlled release. It was still bound to the seal, meaning they had still a chance. Gaara would need some more time to release it fully and even then it would still be limited by the seal. Suddenly something white entered Naruto's field of view from above.
'Where are these feathers coming from?' he wondered. Then he felt the influence on his chakra. 'Crap, genjutsu.'
"Watch out! Someone is trying to ensnare us in an illusion." he shouted before he disrupted the technique's hold on him. It dispelled surprisingly easy.
Looking around, Naruto saw that all his friends had successfully resisted the technique. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the vast majority of the stadium's other occupants. Even some shinobi seemed to be affected. Naruto felt like cursing. With all the civilians and visitors asleep they couldn't properly evacuate the stadium; the very stadium that looked to become the Ichibi's first target and was now attacked by additional hidden forces from Sound by the looks of it. All the jonin were already engaged in battle. Temari and Kankuro along with their jonin-sensei were fighting the referee and prevented other people from getting to Gaara's location. The Kage box was engulfed in smoke. Judging from the sound of explosions from outside the invasion had begun, but there was no trace of an aerial attack by Sky.
'Damn, I'm one of the few who can fight against the demon, but I can't begin summoning the swallows at the same time.' Naruto thought a moment before coming to a decision. 'Apparently we still have time before Sky gets here. First we have to somehow take Gaara out to gain time. If the Ichibi manifests here there won't be a village left no matter what else happens.'
All these thoughts and observations had taken Naruto not even two seconds. "Okay, this is bad, but we prepared for this. Ino, get Sasuke out of the arena and see if you can patch him up. Kiba, Shino, accompany her. Go to the infirmary and collect Tenten. She should be battle-ready by now. After that you're on your own. Choji, you and I will engage the Ichibi. Yakumo, keep any enemies away from us."
All his friends nodded in acknowledgement and jumped down into the arena. A protective genjutsu cast by Yakumo enveloped them while the group kept a respectable distance to the bulging earth marking Gaara's location and the fighting shinobi. Naruto spared Sasuke a glance when the group split. The last Uchiha had slipped down to the ground and seemed to be conscious despite his injuries. From the looks of it he wasn't fatally wounded. Naruto was glad about that; he didn't like the boy, but he was a fellow Konoha shinobi. Of course, it would have been better had he been able to fight. Sasuke was a competent genin and they could have used all the help they could get.
A roar drew his attention back to the center of the arena. An enormous, monstrous head made from sand covered in blue and black markings had broken through the ground. The creature wasn't so much digging itself out but growing from the ground as its mass increased more and more. To Naruto's surprise the strangely shaped yellow-black eyes of the tailed beast seemed somewhat dull aside from a general impression of madness; there was no true trace of the Ichibi's inhuman intellect.
'That's not good. If it isn't paying attention to the impending slaughter it must be close to freeing itself.'
Suddenly Naruto felt heavy as if an entire mountain was on top of him. It was trying to stop his every movement. Fortunately he had expected that thanks to Anko-sensei's briefing about the contingency plans. When he shut down his connection to his mother's chakra as far as he was able he completely regained his mobility. Gaara seemed to have more problems as streams of sand came loose from the Ichibi's monstrous form and its movement grew sluggish. It seemed as if the anti-jinchuuriki measures Anko-sensei had told them about were in effect, but it didn't look like they would be enough. A few moments later the Ichibi formed completely, even if sand was constantly streaming from its body.
"Okay, it's our turn. Do it, Choji!"
Choji nodded grimly before popping a green pill into his mouth. "Super-Multi Size Technique!"
His friend immediately began growing to colossal size and moved to attack the tailed beast. Naruto meanwhile bit his thumb and rushed through the hand seals of the summoning technique. With a puff of smoke a larger-than-human swallow appeared. It cringed when it spotted the Ichibi, but after a moment it settled down.
"It see your fears were justified, Naruto-sama. I await your commands."
"Your task is to carry me and Yakumo. We will harass the Ichibi for now." Naruto commanded before he mounted the large bird, Yakumo behind him. A moment later they were air-born. It was a shame he couldn't use one of the more dangerous swallows against Gaara, but the battlefield was too cramped. Everything was still inside one of the scenarios their jonin-sensei had gone through with them… at least for now.
Sasuke was in pain. His arm felt as if it was on fire and the rest of his body wasn't much better off. The entire fight had gone wrong and he didn't understand why. Kakashi had told him to watch for clones and he had done just that. There had been no indication the Gaara he had attacked wasn't the original or that he had used a kawarimi after the fight started.
He felt something soothing entering his body and the pain lessened. When his vision cleared he saw Ino bent over him, her hands surrounded by the glow of medical chakra. During the first years of the academy she had been one of those annoying girls that followed him everywhere, but later on she seemed to have lost interest and left him in peace. Behind her he saw Kiba and Shino standing guard. Surrounding them was some strange glowing, complicated structure. Even further away sickly yellow chakra emerged from the shaking and bulging ground. Sasuke blinked. Apparently he still had his sharingan active and could see chakra. His mind wasn't working all too well at the moment.
"…stabilized…need some supplies… have to get him away from here." he heard Ino addressing the others.
A moment later Kiba hoisted him up and slung him over his shoulder. Then the group turned to leave the arena at a fast pace. From his position Sasuke could see Naruto, Choji and Yakumo covered in a second strangely glowing structure. Then the blond boy somehow summoned a large bird and the two took to the air while Choji grew to colossal size. The last thing Sasuke saw before he lost consciousness was Choji tackling the giant monster that had appeared in the center of the arena.
'Why do they have so much power? I need more power if I ever want to beat that man.'
Homura easily sidestepped the Sound shinobi attacking him, cutting their throats in the process. It was becoming annoying; they kept him from doing more about the emerging Ichibi aside from activating the big seal array under the arena. Until now none of the attackers had posed a real danger to him. A simple seal-less genjutsu to disorient them was all it took to give him all the openings he needed. It seemed Orochimaru was throwing only rabble against them to distract them for a time.
'Well, they don't need to do more. If Gaara uses the power of the Ichibi he can kill us all. I suppose I shouldn't complain. It isn't like I could really fight serious opponents for any length of time. I'm just too old.'
He had always been the physically weakest of his original team and old age had hit him the hardest in that department. His specialty had always been the sealing arts and other supporting skills. Koharu had been their poisoned hidden blade; a stealth and assassination specialist who had few equals while Hiruzen had been their primary fighter with his mastery of nin- and taijutsu. Of course, they all had picked up countless additional skills in all fields of shinobi knowledge over their long lives even if Hiruzen had outstripped them all in raw combat strength.
'Illusion: Unseen Strangler'
Another Sound kunoichi who had been about to strike at some of the sleeping visitors froze when Homura's genjutsu took effect. The woman immediately began to claw at her own throat, not that it would help her in any way. A well-aimed kunai ended her futile struggle to draw breath. Quickly looking around, it seemed to Homaru that their section of the stands was secure at the moment. Koharu was already engaging the last two enemies and didn't look like she needed help. The other Konoha shinobi further away were still engaged in violent battle, though. He couldn't see the Kage box from his position, but even though the Ichibi's overwhelming presence concealed most other chakra sources he could sense another Kage-level chakra signature there along with several other, weaker ones.
'Hiruzen will have to deal with that on his own.'
His worst fears had come to pass. Sand and Sound were attacking together, capitalizing on the fact that they already had Suna's jinchuuriki inside their village. It seemed most of the ANBU he had seen in the stadium had actually been enemy agents. The mass genjutsu they had used to put most of the spectators to sleep made them catastrophically vulnerable. Homura saw no way to quickly neutralize it; it had to be either undone on an individual basis or run its course.
'On further thought, Orochimaru might have done us a favor here. A panic would cause far more trouble. I doubt the crowd would have stayed calm in face of the unleashed Ichibi.'
Speaking of the Ichibi; the demon had now fully formed and turned sluggishly in his general direction, opening its mouth. It seemed his seal was less effective than anticipated; Homura had hoped it would be enough to completely immobilize the jinchuuriki while draining away the tailed beast's power until Gaara could no longer maintain the demon's form. Alas, it seemed his seal wasn't strong enough. Air was noisily sucked into the beast's gaping maw, clearly in preparation for some attack. Considering the size and power of the beast its effects would in all likelihood be devastating. There were probably only seconds left until this entire section of the stadium would be obliterated.
Homura frantically went through a long string of hand seals. If he was lucky he would get off a fire jutsu of sufficient strength to neutralize the obviously wind-based attack. A split second later the Ichibi stopped inhaling and the old shinobi realized he wouldn't make it in time.
In the next moment the colossal-sized young Choji Akimichi appeared from thin air and tackled the Ichibi. The monster stumbled back, releasing the attack in the process. A giant ball of air emerged from its maw, but luckily it went wide, only clipping one of the stadium walls and continuing harmlessly into the distance.
'He must have been hidden by a genjutsu. I didn't notice it; whoever cast the thing is very talented.' Homura absentmindedly thought while finishing his hand seals. There was no sense in wasting the chakra he had already invested in the technique.
'Fire Release: Soaring Crane'
Exhaling, Homura created a bird made from white-hot, swirling flames and directed it towards the Ichibi. Choji was wrestling with it, but it was relatively easy to steer it to a part of the Ichibi safely away from the young shinobi. The beast was still considerably larger than the Akimichi, after all. For a few seconds the Ichibi's backside was wreathed in fire, not that the demon showed any reaction. Large amounts of sand were turned into half-liquid glass and sloughed off, shattering on the ground. Considering the Ichibi's mass it made hardly a difference.
Choji continued wrestling with the monster, but his opponent was giving him a hard time. At least the big seal apparently prevented the monster from using his fine-control over sand to simply kill Choji. More than one time Homura saw spikes or similar things forming on the Ichibi's body only to collapse into cascades of loose sand. Of course, the maw and the clawed hands were dangerous enough. Choji still managed to trap the beast in a headlock after a few seconds. Unfortunately, the monster's head simply crumbled into loose sand. Choji stumbled due to the sudden lack of resistance. The Ichibi capitalized on the opening. The entire stadium shook dangerously when the Ichibi brought its tail around, catapulting Choji into the wall away from the stands. It crumbled immediately under the colossal Akimichi, engulfing him in a cloud of dust.
Once again the Ichibi inhaled, probably intending to finish the brave boy off for good. Homura quickly calculated his chances of intercepting the attack. It wouldn't work. The angle made it impossible. Just when the Ichibi was about to release its new air bullet a bright disc of lightning hit it directly in the eye. This time it screeched in pain. Once again the attack was released prematurely, but this time it fully hit a section of the arena wall to the side of Choji. For a moment the wall looked as if it would hold, but then it disintegrated. The air bullet continued its way through the village. Thankfully it was still too high to dig a trench in the ground, but the higher buildings in the way simply ceased to exist. Even the lower ones suffered heavy damage from the hurricane force winds in the wake of the air bullet. Homura could clearly see humans thrown around like dolls before dust covered the view. It made his chest heavy and his heart ache. There would be many more deaths today.
Turning back to the fight, Homura tried to spot the origin of the lightning attack. He had seen this jutsu used by Naruto earlier in the day, but where was the boy? The arena floor that wasn't occupied by the Ichibi's giant form was almost empty; at first glance only the jonin and two genin from Sand were fighting there. When he concentrated he could see some of the rookie genin carrying the injured Sasuke away, but Naruto wasn't among them.
Then another lightning attack followed by a fireball hit the Ichibi in the face, causing it to screech in anger and striking at empty air. When a third lightning disc was launched he finally spotted the origin: A large bird of some sort concealed by a genjutsu was carrying Naruto and the Kurama girl and circling around the Ichibi's head at high speed, keeping a precarious distance but evading all the blows.
'So that is the mysterious summon the boy acquired on his last mission, a flight-capable one no less. He really must have a demon's luck. Anko did say he would be able to call in allies.'
It didn't look like the jutsu the two young genin launched were doing any real damage, but they certainly served to distract the Ichibi (or perhaps Gaara; it was always difficult to tell who was in control when a jinchuuriki used his beast's full form). Homura used the time to retrieve a certain paper seal from his robes. It was connected to the big seal under the arena, giving him information about its status.
"How does it look? Is your idea working?" a worried Koharu asked from his side. Despite slaughtering at least six enemies her robes were still pristine.
"Not as well as I hoped, but we still have a chance. In a minute the seal will have absorbed enough of the demon's chakra for me to activate one of the secondary functions; two minutes would be better."
Fighting a jinchuuriki using the full form of his demon was very difficult; it was preferable to take the jinchuuriki out before he unleashed his beast. You could hit the demon with enough high-powered attacks until you wore it down and the host collapsed from exhaustion; as long as a tailed beast was still sealed inside a person even their full form was considerably weaker than if it had been free. In a similar vein you could wait until the jinchuuriki's body gave out from the stress of channeling such high amounts of the demon's chakra. Kumo had successfully employed such tactics when several of the Hachibi's old hosts were taken over by the demon. Other villages had done the same during the wars or when a demon host lost control. Unfortunately their current situation didn't allow that; their location would allow the Ichibi to do an enormous amount of damage and the attacks of Suna and Oto shinobi prevented them from massing enough skilled shinobi. Of course, he had come up with another idea.
'Just a little more time until my little surprise is ready. I just I hope it will work.'
In that moment Choji emerged from the dust cloud and punched the Ichibi in the face. The beast staggered back, its tail collapsing another section of the stadium. Choji followed up with a flurry of blows that sent sand spraying in all directions. The enemy jinchuuriki somewhere inside that mass of sand and demonic chakra probably received a good shaking.
Then the Ichibi counterattacked. Choji managed to block the strike, but the force of the blow was so strong that he was driven back, his feet digging trenches in the ground. When his back collided with the arena wall directly below the stands the entire stadium shook and for a moment Homura feared it would collapse. Pieces of debris rained from the roof and a large gap opened between his feet, but the building held… for now.
The monster jumped forward with its maw opened wide, obviously trying to bite off Choji's head. Once again fire and lightning from Yakumo and Naruto hit it in the face, blinding it and causing it to stumble slightly. Choji obviously saw the opportunity and braced himself against the wall. When the Ichibi got close enough he put both of his feet against its stomach and pushed. The stadium groaned dangerously and even more cracks spread through the stone and concrete while the Ichibi was thrown back, its massive body completely obliterating the opposite wall. Aside from the section with the stands there wasn't much left of the stadium.
'I'm really, really glad I didn't use the walls for my seal. I need just a little more time.'
Still, there was enough demonic chakra in the seal for him to begin. Homura began to slowly and carefully form hand seals to open the connection with his seal. Any mistake on his part would probably blow up this entire section of Konoha. All too soon the Ichibi stood back up and threw itself against Choji. The boy continued to fight admirably, stalling the monster for time. Homura found himself admiring the young Akimichi. Going hand-to-hand with a tailed beast took balls made of steel. The two flying genin supported him by tactically harassing the Ichibi, preventing it from going through with devastating attacks and giving Choji openings.
It seemed an eternity until Homura finally felt the seal reaching the necessary threshold. He immediately began with another long string of hand seals. It wasn't a moment too soon; the Ichibi had just managed to trap Choji with its arms. The boy responded by head butting the tailed beast. Unfortunately it didn't help in any way besides making the monster screech. In the next second Choji was launched out of the arena by a massive fist that had emerged out of the Ichibi's stomach. Homura could see Choji losing his footing and rolling through the park outside that side of the stadium. He was shrinking rapidly and probably out of the fight for now.
The Ichibi turned its head skywards, opened its maw and inhaled deeply. Homura expected another air attack, but this time the Ichibi launched it after barely half the time, obviously surprising the two genin in the air. It wasn't a completely formed air bullet, more a chaotic collection of hurricane-strength air currents. That was probably the only reason the two genin didn't end up as a grisly rain of blood and body parts. The bird carrying them almost managed to evade the attack completely, but a glancing hit was still a hit. It was far too small to withstand the storm and was simply blown away, tumbling over and over. Homura could see the two genin holding on for dear life until they disappeared from his field of vision.
'I hope they survive, but at least they gave me enough time. Sealing technique: Inverse Flow Cascade'
For a moment nothing seemed to happen and Homura feared he had made some mistake. Then the Ichibi screamed in pain louder than ever before, its sandy body deforming chaotically. Fountains of sand erupted from its surface and it was collapsing into itself. All the demonic chakra the seal had absorbed over the duration of the fight was now forced back violently. It wouldn't have worked against a free demon, but in its current state all the beast's chakra had to be channeled through Gaara's seal and body… both of which had only a limited capacity and were now overloaded due to the chaotic flow. In not even five seconds the form of the Ichibi disappeared, leaving only a mass of sand and a trashing, screaming red-headed boy behind.
'Damn, I hoped the feedback overload would be enough to kill the jinchuuriki, but apparently there wasn't enough chakra in the seal yet.'
"KILL THE BOY! DON'T ALLOW HIM TO ESCAPE!" Homura shouted. He was about to jump into the arena himself when the strain from the sealing technique hit him and he fell to his knees. While the seal worked by turning the Ichibi's power against itself he had to use a large amount of his own chakra as a lever. He hadn't exerted himself so strongly in years. Some minute traces of the Ichibi's chakra hit him as backlash, worsening his condition. His heart hammered in his chest as if it wanted to escape his body. Other muscles began to spasm and his breathing became irregular as a vise seemed to tighten around his chest. With dimming vision he saw the three Sand shinobi disengage from their fights and run to Gaara before a short-lived sandstorm covered their location. When it cleared the four shinobi from Sand were gone.
"Old fool, you just had to overexert yourself. We aren't spring chicken anymore." Koharu's gruff voice entered his mind. Immediately thereafter he felt medical chakra enter his body, relieving the pain in his chest.
Homura chortled amusedly as soon as his lungs got enough air again. "It worked; that is all that counts. My life for Konoha's survival; what more could I have asked?"
Koharu completed her technique and helped him into one of the seats. "As if I would allow you to simply die and leave me alone to clean up this mess. Now stay still until your heart slows down enough. The fighting here is almost over, but from the sounds of it the entire village is under attack. Some of the jonin and other shinobi have already left and I will do the same. I'll leave you enough forces to guard the visitors. Hiruzen is trapped inside a barrier fighting who knows who."
The old man nodded weakly in acknowledgement. A second later Koharu was gone.
Tenten ducked under a table to evade another of those strangely organic looking darts. She had seen it hit one of the medics now lying dead on the floor and the result wasn't pretty. The deformed Oto shinobi who had launched it laughed crazily before he sprayed the room with another barrage. His bulging, discolored, pulsating arm seemed to produce an endless supply.
Once again Tenten cursed the fact that the medics had taken her weapons away when they brought her into the infirmary. She hadn't yet completely regained her mobility, but at least the effects of Shino's attack were fading quickly.
Spotting a scalpel on a nearby table Tenten waited for a lull in the relentless barrage. It came sooner than expected. She immediately kicked the upturned table at the enemy, distracting him for a moment. Then she jumped over the table with the scalpel, grabbed it and threw it at the hostile shinobi in one fluid motion.
"AAHH! MY EYE!" the man screamed. It seemed her aim had been spot on.
Sprinting to his position, Tenten performed a jump kick, crushing the man's throat. Then she used a metal tray to sever it further until the man stopped moving. There was no sense in taking chances.
Breathing heavily, Tenten stood up and looked around. The corpse of the medic nin who had treated her earlier was lying on the floor half-dissolved from the acid-filled darts. She didn't have the slightest idea what was happening. An oppressive-feeling chakra had settled over the area and the walls shook, then that screaming madman had come through the door and started shooting his projectiles. Tenten had only survived by diving behind the examination table. She was pretty sure there had been an explosion in the neighboring room, not to mention the screams. The Sound headband of the dead man who looked to have escaped from some crazy scientist's laboratory seemed to indicate that they were under attack by Otogakure, but that didn't make any sense. Why would they attack Konoha? Would someone even dare?
After arming herself Tenten left the room just as the walls shook again. The rest of the infirmary was a place of horror. Dead bodies were lying around everywhere. Some wore Sound headbands, but all the medics she could see had been killed. The walls were literally painted in blood and gore. Tenten felt herself beginning to shake. She had killed during her year as genin several times, but it had never looked this… messy.
"Well, well, what do we have here? You must have killed that idiot Akira."
Whirling around, Tenten came face-to-face with a horribly scarred Sound kunoichi. Half of her visible face only consisted of scars and the right eye… Tenten simply couldn't look away. It seemed to be a whirlpool of black and purple. She could feel herself falling into it, not able to move a muscle. The kunai she had appropriated earlier fell out of her suddenly limp hand.
"Heh, too easy. Orochimaru-sama's gift is irresistible." The woman stepped closer, her hand caressing Tenten's face. "You have a good body. I will take my time with you. My mission is fulfilled for the time being. I will peel your skin layer after layer. You will not be able to move a muscle, I fear, but I can assure you will stay awake throughout the entire procedure. Maybe I will kill you if you ask me nicely." She tilted her head and her lips formed a disturbing smile. "Or perhaps not."
Panic threatened to overwhelm Tenten, but she fought it down. With an effort of will she flared her chakra as strongly as she was able and strained her muscles. At first she couldn't move, but suddenly the resistance crumbled. The Sound kunoichi's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then Tenten rammed her knee into the woman's underbelly. When she doubled over Tenten grabbed her head and wrenched with all her strength. A sickening crunch later the woman flopped bonelessly to the floor.
'This really isn't my day.'
Tenten banished these thoughts and continued to search the room, this time keeping an eye open for potential hostiles. Finally she found her own weapons and remaining scrolls. She was about to leave the room when a familiar voice startled her.
"Tenten-san, please keep your calm. My friends and I are about to enter the infirmary."
The young kunoich blinked. How did Shino know she was here?
'Of course, he sent some of his kikaichu to look around.'
"Okay, but don't make any sudden movements." Tenten yelled back.
A moment later Shino entered the main room of the infirmary with brandished swords. She relaxed immediately when she recognized the weapons and sank down to a relatively blood-free chair. It might be possible for an enemy to imitate Shino, but very few people would be able to replicate his swords to this degree.
The young Aburame looked around before he whistled. Immediately thereafter Kiba entered the room with an unconscious Sasuke slung over his shoulder. Ino and Kiba's dog brought up the rear. Tenten didn't know them well, but she had talked with them a bit in the aftermath of the preliminaries and before the finals started.
"They targeted the medics from the beginning. Logical, medics are hard to replace and it will cause us more losses overall." Shino remarked towards his friends after he looked around. "Ino, please examine Tenten. Kiba, put Sasuke down somewhere and search for the supplies we need. I will stand guard."
Ino immediately headed towards her while the visibly disturbed Kiba put Sasuke down on a bed that wasn't too blood-soaked and Shino took position near the exit. "Hey, are you okay? What happened here?"
Tenten shook her head. "I don't know and I'm not feeling well. One of the medics was treating me when a Sound shinobi entered the room and killed him. By the time I killed him in turn and came here everyone else was already dead." Her eyes returned to the body of the Sound kunoichi. "Apart from her. She used some strange eye power on me, but I managed to kill her. Can you tell me what is happening outside?"
"Suna has broken the alliance and is attacking Konoha together with Oto. We think it's a full-scale attack. They put everyone in the stadium to sleep, but I don't think they had that many forces already inside. I guess their jinchuuriki was supposed to do most of the work; but the others are taking care of that. If worst comes to worst Naruto can probably overpower him, but I don't know how much of the village would be left afterwards." Ino explained while she ran some sort of diagnostic medical technique on her.
"What's a jinchuuriki?" Tenten asked curiously. She had never heard or read the term during her normal education, but there were some vague references in the sealing books she owned.
Ino stared at her for a moment before grimacing. "Right, the idiots thought it was better to keep that secret. A jinchuuriki is a demon container and exceedingly dangerous. All major villages have at least one. Gaara contains the Ichibi. Last we saw he had already unleashed it, but there are some countermeasures in place."
"But why would you expect Naruto to… Oh."
"Yeah, oh. Tailed beasts are very hard to kill and even that doesn't stick. It would have reappeared by now if the Yondaime hadn't sealed it. Just remember, it's a village secret." Ino replied while she finished the checkup. "You're physically fine. There are some remnants of the electric shock Shino gave you and some sort of genjutsu or nerve technique, but it's already fading. Do you think you can fight?"
Tenten nodded. The day was already getting to her with the invasion, the slaughtered medics, two close brushes with death and everything else. That the energetic blond boy contained the Kyuubi just added to the pile of things she would have to consider at some later point in time. Another quake shook the building. This time pieces of the ceiling came down and deep gaps opened in the ground.
Ino swore. "Crap, they're wrecking the entire stadium. We have to get out of here before everything comes down on our heads."
"I have everything you wanted." Kiba shouted, his arms full of medical supplies.
The blond girl approached him and sealed all supplies in a scroll. "Good, I'll unseal them later. I need someplace where I can patch up Sasuke properly."
"We will link up with the nearest Konoha forces. Staying in the vicinity of the stadium is too dangerous." Shino announced. "Tenten-san, are you accepting my command for now?"
Once again Tenten nodded. She wasn't about to start some squabble about who had the authority, even if she had one more year seniority. After what had just happened she didn't feel up to the task. A minute later they headed into the chaos in the streets.
Natsuhi fastened the bandage around the guard's arm before nodding in satisfaction. They had gotten off lightly with only a single relatively harmless injury. As soon as she had realized that the arena was under attack their group had grabbed the sleeping children, blasted a hole in the back wall of the stands and fled. She didn't know for sure what that powerful, malevolent chakra was, but she had a pretty good idea. It seemed Suna had decided to break the alliance with Konoha and strike with their jinchuuriki.
They had fled to one of the countless parks near the arena to take stock of the situation. Aside from the giant beast that had trashed the stadium they had seen several giant snakes followed by countless shinobi from Sound and Sand attacking the village. The fighting was still spreading and she didn't think they could escape on the ground.
"The entire village seems to be under attack." her husband Hotarubi remarked. "This looks like a full-scale assault. What do we do?"
"We flee."
"What?!" her son Sumaru blurted out. "Aren't we supposed to help Konoha?"
Natsuhi shook her head. "This isn't our fight. We don't have an alliance with Konoha, only a non-aggression treaty, and a loose one at that. I don't want us to be caught up in this." She gestured to the closest of the giant snakes visible from their position. It seemed to have taken a bite out of several inhabitants of Konoha judging from the blood and body parts falling from its maw, staining its bib red. Someone in the snake summon realm had a very sick sense of humor. "Your brothers and sisters can't fight and you are exhausted. We wouldn't make a difference anyway."
For it moment it looked like Sumaru wanted to object, but then he sighed and nodded. Natsuhi was glad he understood; she didn't want to order him against his will.
"Mommy, I'm scared." Her youngest son hugged her leg.
"Don't worry, Susumu. Your mother already has a plan." her husband said in a calm voice.
The Hoshikage nodded. "Indeed. Every adult ties one of the children to himself. Mizura, Hokuto, you take Sumaru. He doesn't have enough chakra left. Then we will join our power and I will get us out of here."
Two minutes later her order had been fulfilled. "Mysterious Peacock Method: Join"
The two jonin, two chunin and two genin of Hoshigakure combined their chakra, relinquishing control to Natsuhi. The woman immediately began forming the raw star chakra into the construct most suited to their purpose.
Natsuhi felt herself lifted from the ground as the construct took form. The same happened for the other shinobi actively participating, but the construct's grip on the children was decidedly more tenuous – which was why she was tied to her youngest son. Finally the construct was complete.
After a quick check the park fell away under them as the chakra construct in the form of an enormous dragonfly took to the air. Flying constructs were an entire new level of difficulty and she didn't think anyone present besides her husband could manage it. A fire missile almost hit them, but she managed to evade in time. There was no telling if it came from the attacking forces or if the defenders had mistaken her for an enemy.
With increasing height she finally saw the entire extent of the mess Konoha had found itself in. The village was burning in several places and jutsu fights were spreading all over the place. A swath of destruction ran from the stadium towards the Hokage mountain; the side of which had collapsed. The stadium itself was almost completely destroyed; only the section with the stands was still standing. A purple barrier was visibly on top of the Kage box. Chaos reigned in the streets. Two of the giant snakes were engaging a toad of similar size.
Natsuhi wasn't really familiar with engagements on this scale, but it seemed to her as if the invaders were losing momentum. The defenders were getting slowly organized and pushing the attacking forces back now that surprise of the first few minutes was lost. Despite all the damage the Leaf had a good chance to survive this day, but they would be weakened.
'Perhaps I can find a way for Hoshi to profit from this situation without making enemies.'
Shaking her head, Natsuhi concentrated on getting out of here. They had reached a height beyond what most jutsu could target, but there was no sense in hanging around.
"Natsuhi, do you see that about twenty degrees to the left?" Hotarubi suddenly asked.
Turning her head, Natsuhi saw a large number of dark objects before the western sky high in the air. She immediately steered the dragonfly further east to evade them. There were no villages known to her that specialized in aerial combat and she had no intention of going anywhere near them. A moment later they crossed the wall of Konoha. The woods were rustling and Natsuhi thought she spied the glint of metal several times through the canopy.
It seemed Konoha was in for further problems. The second wave of the invasion was underway.
Yakumo held on for dear life as the swallow tumbled through the air while trying to keep her breakfast inside of her. They spun so quickly she had no idea where was up and down.
"JUMP!" Naruto suddenly shouted.
Obeying without question, Yakumo abandoned her place on the swallow and pushed off. For a few moments she tumbled through empty space. A sudden, unexpected impact drove the air from her lungs and she found herself underwater. Frantically trying to get her bearings, she simply swam towards the light. A few moments later she broke the water's surface.
Inhaling deeply, she looked around. In the same moment Naruto broke the surface a few meters away. They had landed in one of Konoha's channels near the western gate if she wasn't mistaken. Shinobi and civilians were running around, but there didn't seem to be any fighting in their direct vicinity and no one paid them special attention. A fading cloud of smoke marked the place where the swallow had dispelled itself.
"Are you okay? I saw the water just in time." Naruto asked when he closed with her.
"I have been better." she answered. "It isn't everyday that you fight a jinchuuriki."
"Well, at least we get to live the tale. I think the big seal finally got Gaara." Naruto shook his head. "We should get out of here."
Yakumo had to agree. After swimming to the shore she wrung out the worst of the water from her clothes. Thankfully only the dark purple coat with the extra long sleeves was really soaked; her mesh shirt didn't really hold water and her pants were water-repellant.
"What do we do now?"
Naruto was about to answer when a strange light was reflected in his eyes and illuminated his face. His eyes widened and he tackled her, causing them both to fall back into the canal. She was about to swim back to the surface, but Naruto held her back and shook his head. In the next moment the light changed, taking on a red and yellow hue. The entire surface seemed to be aflame and she felt shockwaves from nearby explosions running through the water.
'What the heck is happening?'
Ibiki Morino smiled grimly when the last Sound shinobi collapsed with a kunai in his lung. The attacking forces were a bit less numerous than expected despite the support of Suna. It seemed either the information they had was inaccurate or that Orochimaru had committed a far smaller part of his forces than they had anticipated. The use of multiple large snake summons to breach the walls had been unexpected as had been the number of Sound shinobi already in the village, but the invasion was now slowly grinding to a halt. Resistance groups were organizing themselves around the prepared forces and pushing the invaders back.
'At least Jiraiya is in the village and dealing with the snakes. We would have far more problems otherwise.'
Not that they didn't sustain losses. By now the casualties were probably already in the hundreds. The Sound shinobi had started attacking everyone in sight when they discarded their disguises. Civilians stood no chance against even those sub-standard shinobi. Even more losses would be sustained until they threw the invaders out. Konoha would carry the day, but not without cost.
One of his subordinates approached him. "Ibiki-sama, we have secured this street and are ready to move-"
Suddenly the world went white.
An indeterminate amount of time later Ibiki dug himself out of a pile of rubble. Looking around he saw only corpses, a few wounded shinobi, flames and ruins. Apparently the explosion had thrown him into a house which had promptly collapsed on top of him, but it had shielded him from the subsequent explosion that had leveled the entire street.
"Whoever is still in fighting shape, gather at my location!" he shouted in his commanding voice. There didn't seem to be any enemies in the immediate vicinity, but they needed to get organized again as soon as possible.
Through a gap in the smoke he saw countless gliders of various sizes in the air, obviously attacking the village. The formation closest to them was performing a dive at some target he couldn't see. A moment later they pulled up again and a large explosion blossomed. That must have been how they had gotten his unit. Ibiki wondered to which village they belonged. He wasn't personally familiar with any village specializing in aerial combat, at least not outside of small, special units.
"Bugger me with a spear; it's the bastards from Sky." an old, grey-haired shinobi said and followed up with a string of quite colorful and inventive curses.
"You know them?"
The man spat on the ground. "Yes, Morino-sama. I would recognize those gliders anywhere, although I thought we got all those bastards last time we fought. They're from Soragakure; gave us no end of trouble in the second war until we destroyed their village. Looks like they came back for revenge."
The head of the Torture & Interrogation Department felt like cursing even more when the few surviving shinobi assembled. Only five out of his forty men were still in any condition to do battle, eight others were too heavily wounded. The rest was dead.
Suddenly a runner arrived from the direction of the wall. "Morino-sama, additional forces from Sand and Sound are entering the village through the gaps! We need reinforcements!"
'I knew things were going too smoothly.'
"Kaiten"
The bodies of a dozen Oto and Suna shinobi were brutally flung in all directions. Most were immediately rendered unconscious or dead, but a single Suna shinobi was still conscious despite multiple broken bones.
"Who… who are you?"
"I am Hiashi Hyuuga, head of Hyuuga clan. The Hyuuga are the strongest clan of Konoha. You would have done well to remember that before your ill-advised attack. Now die!"
A quick Juuken strike to the brain ended the Sand nin's life. Looking around, he saw no more enemy shinobi in his direct vicinity, but he scanned underground and the small back alleys just to make sure. Hiashi deactivated his byakugan and stopped a moment to catch his breath as well as give his eyes a moment of rest. He had sent most of the other Hyuuga present at the finals to a shelter while he and a few others took on the invaders in the village. Most were already too elderly to fight and he preferred to keep them out of the way, his daughter Hinata included. Hiashi had been separated from the rest of his companions earlier, but he wasn't worried. His enemies to date had been hardly worth the effort. Most of the Sound nin were rather lacking in skill while the Sand nin were typically more competent but present in much smaller numbers. The battle seemed well in hand in this sector of the village, the invading forces were slowly but surely being pushed back.
He was about to leave to another sector when a hit from behind and a sharp pain in his chest stopped him. Looking down, he saw the tip of a short throwing spear protruding from his chest. Some enemy had used his temporarily divided attention and deactivated Byakugan for an attack of opportunity.
THUNK
THUNK
Before he could react in any way, two kunai sprouted from his back. Others clattered uselessly on the street around him. Judging from the almost unbearable pain his lungs and heart had been hit. Hiashi tried to take a step, reactivate his Byakugan or do anything at all but found he couldn't. He fell to his knees coughing blood. His vision was dimming rapidly, but he still saw the gliders that had come from nowhere targeting the next group of Konoha shinobi.
'It seems I will be joining you shortly, my beloved wife. Hanabi, Hinata, Neji, I'm sorry. I wish I had... '
He never felt the explosion that ripped his body apart.
Kotetsu Hagane strained one last time before he fell back exhausted. He couldn't escape the rubble without help. From the feel of it both his legs were broken, not that he could see them with all the debris covering him. He could only move his head and his left hand; the rest of his body was completely immobilized. The small guard station at the side of the square behind Konoha's main western gate had been completely blown to smithereens with him inside. Before the explosion no fighting had reached his position, but that had obviously changed.
'I guess I should have seen that coming when Izumo was posted elsewhere for today. Something always goes wrong when we aren't together.'
From what he could see through gaps in the debris the rest of the guard detachment had fared far worse. The entire city block seemed to have been demolished and was on fire; none of the shinobi on the square had escaped uninjured. The top of the wall was an inferno; it didn't seem likely that anyone would have survived up there. A strange airship was moving farther into the village.
Kotetsu was about to shout for help when a loud booming sound made him pause. A moment later the sound repeated and the large gate shook. On the third blow it bulged inwards, the metal-plated wood beginning to splinter. When the fourth blow hit both wings of the gate were blown from their hinges and flew inwards. A large, heavily muscled man with long dark hair became visible, his arm still outstretched from a blow.
'Did he just destroy the reinforced gate with his bare hands?'
A moment later shinobi with a symbol Kotetsu didn't recognize streamed into the village and secured a perimeter. The few of his comrades who put up a resistance were cut down immediately. Kotetsu tried to be very, very still. In his condition he was dead meat should they notice him. The large man leisurely strolled through the gate, a girl of perhaps thirteen years at his side, her face completely expressionless. They stopped over the wounded body of the guard commander held down by two of the unknown shinobi.
"Who the hell are you?"
The man laughed darkly. "Such arrogance. Konoha is so very quick to forget those it has wronged. I am Shinno, the Sorakage, leader of the Village hidden in the Sky. Today will mark the end of your pathetic village. Of course, you won't be alive to see our triumph. You may dispose of him."
Kotetsu's eyes widened when shadows flickered around the lithe form of the girl. Something invisible hoisted the guard commander up. In the next moment his legs were bitten off by teeth he couldn't see. The man screamed in agony as he was devoured bit by bit. Kotetsu wanted to vomit, but he forced himself to stay still.
Shinno addressed the girl after the man was completely devoured. "Kill as many as you can of this Konoha scum. You have half an hour before the next phase of the plan."
The girl's frighteningly empty expression didn't change, but once again half-visible shadows danced around her form and she immediately headed into the village.
"Group one, loot and kill as much as you can. Group two, stay here and keep the gate open. Group three, you are with me. Let's see if there is anyone worth fighting in this cesspool before we wipe it from the face of the earth."
Kotetsu tried to keep his breathing under control when most of the invaders left. The pain was getting worse. There was nothing he could do in his state aside from hoping that Konoha would emerge victorious.
Naruto held on Yakumo until it looked like as if his girlfriend was running out of air. Only then did he allow them to leave the bottom of the channel. With two almost synchronous gasps they broke the surface. Burning debris was drifting on the water, but the shore was worse. Most of the buildings towards the gate had been destroyed or at least heavily damaged. Corpses where strewn across the street. He had seen the strange airship beginning its attack just in time. If they had stayed where they had been the shockwave would have hit them fully and judging from the state of the vegetation burned them to a crisp and peppered them with debris to boot.
Explosions sounded from all directions. It seemed Sky had closed to the village while they had been busy with Gaara and were attacking all over the place. He saw a fireball shoot down the big airship that had caused the big explosion, but there were flying enemies everywhere. Fortunately they seemed to ignore them for the moment.
'They probably approached at high altitude and dropped rapidly. Most people's attention would be on the ground anyway. I bet they're targeting the troop concentrations. Damn, I need time to summon enough swallows. We have to find a free area where I can work undisturbed.'
"I will never, ever doubt you again if you have a feeling something will get worse than everyone expects. Who are these guys?" Yakumo asked when they climbed on top of the water and headed to the side of the canal away from the gate.
"Well, the only enemy village with a huge aerial force that comes to mind is Sky, but I always thought they were destroyed in the Second Shinobi War. Iruka-sensei mentioned them briefly in history class." Naruto answered while he scanned their surroundings.
"Obviously he was mistaken."
Naruto had a very bad feeling. It was on the same level he perceived the Ichibi's magical drain or the divine presence of his parents and Jashin. He had felt the Ichibi's chakra collapse, meaning that it was contained for the time being. No, something different was near them, something dark and dangerous… and moving in their direction. They had to get away from here.
A squad of Konoha shinobi came from the inner village and stopped for a moment. "Are you injured?" one of them asked. When Naruto and Yakumo shook their heads they made to continue towards the gate. "Then find a group you can link up with and make yourself useful."
The group vanished around a corner. Naruto turned towards Yakumo. "I think there's a park nearby. I need to summon some reinforcements."
Yakumo nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a useful plan. Our sensei's scenarios have gone to hell anyway."
They had barely made some steps towards their destination when screams sounded from where the shinobi had headed. A moment later a burning house on the destroyed side of the canal was ripped apart.
Naruto gulped. The dangerous presence had almost reached them. Smoke was blown away, giving them a free view. A girl of about the same age as them with long, reddish-brown hair was standing amidst the burning debris seemingly without a care in the world. The completely empty expression, the glowing red eyes and especially the mutilated but still living body that was seemingly devoured by thin air made it clear that this wasn't a normal girl. Naruto really wished for more obstacles between them than a relatively narrow canal.
The girl's gaze went back and forth between Yakumo and Naruto until it settled on him. "You. It is you I feel."
"Who are you?" Yakumo shouted.
Shadows flickered around the girl, outlining a far larger form. "I am Reibi. When war fills the world and the hearts of the people are filled with darkness I shall rise again. I will be reborn after devouring the darkness in people's hearts and my growth shall know no bounds. Then I will rule the world. I want that hidden power that is inside of you!"
Darkness congealed around the girl, hiding her from view and forming an elongated, leech-like black body without any visible limbs. A white mask with red, feathery extensions was the only really defined feature. A moment later it shot towards them. Both genin jumped out of the way and tried to retreat when the leech crashed into the formerly intact house behind them.
"Yakumo, run!"
Naruto had no further time to spare his girlfriend a glance for dozens of tentacle-like arms were launched in his direction. The first few he managed to dodge completely, but there were just too many and he received some glancing hits. Each felt like a sledgehammer. Buildings were smashed to pieces around them as Naruto frantically tried to escape the unnaturally agile being. Apparently it could create an arbitrary number of limbs at will and wasn't really hindered by things like conservation of momentum, mass or gravity.
It seemed like an eternity, but finally one of the creature's fists hit him directly in the stomach, catapulting him into the air. Dozens of tentacles shot after him. Before he could act they had already wound around him. The feeling of the creature's substance was simply disgusting. He was pretty sure that wasn't a normal body. It brought Naruto directly to its face.
"You've got an interesting little pet inside of you. Why aren't you using its power?"
Naruto felt something trying to draw out his mother's chakra, but he clamped down on it hard. If that demon could feed on chakra using the Kyuubi's demonic power would be the worst thing he could do. His two-tailed form wouldn't be enough judging from the capabilities the self-styled Reibi had displayed so far. It seemed he had no choice but call on the divine power of his parents. Before he could reply fire washed over the demonic leech, but the demon didn't seem to feel any pain. A fist shot out of its side, squashing the shinobi who had performed the attack to a pulp. Looking around, Naruto saw more and more shinobi converging on their position while civilians tried to get away. Attacks of all elements hammered into the creature. Some ripped violet-glowing holes into the amorphous body, but they closed almost immediately.
In the blink of an eye something long and metallic sheared through the air in front of Naruto's face and he felt the Reibi's grip slacken. Catching his fall, he immediately tried to put some distance between himself and the demon. A hand grabbed his back and hurled him away. Naruto turned his head when he safely landed on the roof of a nearby house. Yakumo was nowhere to be seen. The swordsman who had freed him had already turned back towards the monster. Naruto knew the man; he was the one who had presided over the preliminaries.
"You better run, kid. I figure you should keep away from this thing if it wants to eat your prisoner." Hayate Gekko shouted before he jumped back into the fray.
The Reibi tried to break through and get at Naruto, but one of the other shinobi launched a massive water jutsu that drove the demon back. Naruto didn't delay any longer and ran. Many of the shinobi would probably die, but maybe they could win. Naruto had another task, not that anyone knew that. He just hoped Yakumo, Hinata and the others were okay.
It seemed the first wave of Sky's attack was over and he simply had to use the opportunity to summon the swallows. From what he could see the first attack had hit hard and broken the organized counter-offensive of the defenders. If Oto and Suna had held back forces for a second wave they could capitalize on the chaos. A second unopposed aerial attack would be catastrophic. Then there was Gaara and the Ichibi trying to free itself.
Evading several battles between the invaders and Konoha forces, Naruto finally arrived at an abandoned park that would give him enough room. Going through the necessary hand seals, biting his thumb and slapping his hand on the ground was a sequence he would become very familiar with in the next minutes.
'Summoning technique'
Yakumo carefully extracted herself from the market cart she had been thrown in by that… thing. Sticky juice and pieces of fruit covered her from head to toe. At least the watermelons had broken her fall. She really hoped Naruto had gotten away. All her genjutsu had been completely useless and ninjutsu hadn't worked much better.
'I have no idea where Naruto is now and there is no way I'll fight again against that thing if I don't have to.'
The question was what she could do now. Wandering alone through the invasion was a bad idea. Fighting enemies head-on wasn't really a good use of her abilities either. Nor was going against demonic abominations; she would be more effective against normal humans she could easily ensnare in a prepared area. Looking around, it seemed that this surprisingly intact market district was mostly abandoned. She tried to picture a map of Konoha in her head. Yes, it was mostly empty, but people would have to pass here to get farther into the village.
A gleeful glint entered her eyes as she examined her surroundings closely. The small alleys and market stands formed a veritable labyrinth. Add a few traps and genjutsu and it would become a deathtrap.
'This will become my personal cabinet of horrors.'
For a moment she rubbed her hands. Then she got to work.
Hinata ducked into a doorway until a group of Oto shinobi had passed by her, leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake. She couldn't risk the delay of dealing with them. The attack of Sky had given her the opportunity to ditch the other Hyuuga without arousing suspicion. Now she was in pursuit of Gaara's group. For now the jinchuuriki seemed incapacitated, but that wouldn't prevent the Ichibi from escaping. She had to be in vicinity to do something about that. It would have been better if Naruto had been at her side, but at least he could get around quickly with the help of his swallows.
Thanks to her byakugan she saw that Temari stayed behind to prevent a group of Konoha shinobi from catching them. It was difficult to observe the Suna shinobi and keep an eye on her surroundings at the same time. She could see every point in a large radius, but not at the same time. The chaos in the wake of the Sky attack made it very difficult to stay on top of things.
A young child's wailing caught her attention. The boy couldn't be more than five, but more than half of his body had been horrifically burned. It tore at Hinata's heart that she couldn't stop to help him or others like him. She simply didn't have the time. If the Ichibi got really free (not the lesser version Gaara had used) all of Konoha would die.
Temari breathed heavily as she ran through the streets. Fighting against that last group of Konoha shinobi had drained a large part of her remaining chakra. There was perhaps a fifth of her chakra left; relatively low reserves had always been the bane of her existence. It was the primary reason why she used her fans instead of utilizing wind jutsu directly. Her inability to make full use of the summon contract her mother had left her was another consequence. She might not have been able to defeat that last group if not for the Sky gliders that had killed them. At least both her brothers had gotten away. Seeing her youngest brother defeated had been chilling, but it wasn't completely unexpected. The Leaf had clearly gotten some inkling of what was going on and taken countermeasures.
'An alliance with Sky? What is father thinking? They probably hate us as much as Konoha. Well, it isn't as if the day can get much worse.'
Then she saw the one person she had hoped she wouldn't meet today,
Idate Morino slashed his fire whip across the enemy's body, cutting the woman in two. Then he realized he was the last one standing. The Sound shinobi had been eliminated, but his own rag-tag group had been decimated, too. Most of them had been long-time genin from different departments; their combat strength had been rather low.
'This is a nightmare.'
He had originally been assigned to one of the groups that should have served as the core of resistance against a possible attack, but this was so much worse. The higher-ups had entertained the possibility of an attack by Sound, but it seemed Sand and those flying guys had joined in. His original group had been destroyed and now even the ones he had picked up at random had all died. Furthermore, he was slowly getting low on chakra.
The day couldn't get much worse. Then he spotted Temari just across the street.
"Temari."
"Idate."
"So… Did you know? Was it all an act between us?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but now the question had been asked.
For a moment the hurt was visible in her eyes. "I learned of the invasion plans halfway through the interim month. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I truly love you, but my village holds my ultimate loyalty."
Somehow hearing that made Idate feel better. "I understand and don't hold it against you. I can't let you continue, though. Shall we finish this?"
Temari gripped her small fans more closely. "Yes, there's no other way."
They jumped in the same moment and clashed in the empty street. It was only when they disengaged that he realized he had pulled his blows. He just couldn't bring himself to hurt her. Apparently neither could she, judging from the fact that he wasn't injured. Unfortunately he couldn't let her go.
'Perhaps there is another way… yes, that could work… if I have more chakra left than Temari. I'm not much use against the invasion with my chakra this low and I don't think my body can endure another soldier pill.'
Idate kicked some dirt in the direction of Temari's face before rushing through several hand seals. 'Summoning technique: Shared Pain'
Temari tried to jump away, but it was already too late. The world disappeared in an undefined green-black glow and metal bars appeared from thin air, forming a cage around them. Chains wound around the young woman from Suna, lifting her into the air. After a few seconds the technique stabilized and Idate sank to the floor.
"What did you do?" Temari asked while she tested the chains. They didn't give in the slightest.
"It's a clan secret, a cross between a summoning and a space-time technique. While we're here the pain one of us feels is shared with the other. My big brother occasionally uses it for torturing people, but although I have a rather high pain tolerance I don't have the stomach for that sort of work. We will remain in our little world until our combined chakra runs out. Sorry about the inconvenient position, but I can't do anything about that."
Temari didn't need to know that there were some pretty serious flaws inherent in the technique.
"Why did you use it?"
Idate shrugged. "I couldn't bring myself to hurt you, but I couldn't let you go either. It takes us both out of the fight. In a few hours the invasion will be over one way or another. If Konoha wins I'll try my best that you're treated honorably."
A small smile appeared on Temari's face. "I see. I'll make sure to keep you as my personal pet should Suna win."
"Hey!"
Temari burst out laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Of course I'll help you in the same way."
Several minutes passed in silence.
"So, is there anything you want to talk about?"
"Ouch." Choji said. It seemed the right word for the occasion. Then he laughed. He had done it. He had fought Gaara while the boy used his demon's form and delayed him long enough. He had gone toe-to-toe with a tailed beast (albeit a weakened one) and only sustained some bruises.
The boy winced when he picked himself up. Okay, a lot of bruises. He had dug a pretty big swath of destruction through the park after that last attack. Gaara sure packed a punch.
He probably should find some other Konoha shinobi and find out what was happening after he blacked out.
'At least the danger from Gaara and the Ichibi should be pretty much over.'
Deep inside the seal imprisoning it an ancient demon stirred.
You freed what was sleeping in your quest for divinity and power... You enslaved what only bowed to the Creator… You sought to take a power for your own that was far beyond your limited existence… You shattered what was one… You sought to bind me with a name of your choosing… You sought to set limits for something you couldn't understand… Cursed Sage of Six Paths… I DENY YOU!
Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews.
The first part of the invasion is finally finished. It didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but I don't think rewriting it further will improve it. I'm still suffering from writer's block; the next chapter will probably take a while, but hopefully not as long as this one.
Narutopedia's filterable lists of characters and techniques have been broken for a while. It makes researching things really annoying.
On another note, with this chapter Destiny is a Hazy Thing now numbers more than 400k words. All my stories together have now passed half a million words. I started posting almost a year ago, so that's another anniversary. I want to thank all the people who showed an interest in my stories and hope you continue to enjoy them.
So long.