Han and Itachi: Tactics
Han disliked human beings on principle and felt he was fully justified in doing so. His uncle had started it all off by ordering that the Gobi no Irukaume be sealed within him when he was still a child and ever since then he had been isolated, shunned and abandoned. He had never had a choice in the matter of combat training: he was a jinchuuriki so he had to use the bijuu's power for the benefit of the village, never mind that the village had never shown him one ounce of gratitude for his sacrifice. Han had hated it; he loathed fighting, loathed ninja and utterly detested being lonely. His bijuu hated it even more: the Gobi was a naturally social creature and the isolation its jinchuuriki was afflicted with did nothing for its already precarious sanity.
Meeting the five-year-old Yogensha had, looking back on it, saved his sanity and quite possibly his life as well, though he had certainly not appreciated it at the time. Through her he had met the Tatsuteiou brothers and numerous others over the years, none of whom cared in the slightest that Han was a jinchuuriki. Not that their friendliness had in any way improved Han's tolerance for either ninja or humanity in general: those who associated with him were to a man far less human than they appeared, their chakra resonating with a diluted echo of the Gobi's youki. They were only partly human and their awareness and acceptance of that inhumanity was what he liked about them. The ignorant or ordinary humans who had no idea of what it meant to be even slightly other shunned those whose differences were apparent.
Ame-yogensha-chan was less human than most, which was why Han had expressed no objections to acting as her foster father's representative to Hatake Kakashi; the documentation and opportunity to escape Tsuchi no Kuni without being declared a nukenin was just a bonus. Konohagakure had not done anything to dissuade him that ninja and humanity in general were beneath contempt, but he had been forced to concede that rare individuals were capable of rising above the self-serving greed, mindless fear and cloying ignorance of their peers.
Han had no intention of remaining within the village of Konoha for very much longer: Yogensha-chan may have been his favourite person but the Gobi wanted to get as far from Iwa as possible, which meant travelling to Sea Country at the very least. His tenant's talent for steam- and mist-based techniques meant he would be better able to hide in coastal areas despite having never so much as seen a body of water larger than a lake before.
That however would have to wait, as it seemed that once again the gigantic jinchuuriki found himself caught up in somebody else's problem. Han dispelled the genjutsu with a brief youki spike and slipped out of his seat to blend into the shadows as the Kages' box exploded. ANBU instantly converged on the explosion as the ninja in the audience rose and looked around for the enemy, who immediately made themselves known.
"Orders?" inquired a Yuurei, leaning over the edge of the roof to meet Itachi's eye.
The elder Uchiha had been watching the final exam from next to Han, face hidden behind a mask with Yogensha-chan's mark on the forehead and a scythe-shaped silhouette in red across the lower half of the face.
"Those in the arena are to kill any non-Konoha ninja attacking civilians," Itachi said as on the roof above the Kages' box a purple seal formation came into being. "Everyone else is to kill the invaders within the village boundaries."
"I am going to take a closer look at that seal formation," Han rumbled. He may have made a habit of treating most of humanity with the disdain it deserved but he had a grudging respect for the Shinobi no Kami. Partly because Oonoki had loathed Sarutobi Hiruzen with a hatred borne of fear, but mostly mostly because the Sandaime Hokage was letting Han stay in Konoha without either insinuating that he wanted the jinchuuriki of the Gobi to join his forces nor indicating he wanted the immense shinobi to leave as soon as possible.
Han landed lightly on the tiles behind the white-cloaked ANBU captain just as the body of the unfortunate nin who had collided with the barrier finished burning to ash. He wasn't too worried about being recognised by the majority; while he was –In Yogensha-chan's words– ridiculously tall, he was not wearing his distinctive armour but a grey cloak over white kimono and hakama with matching gloves, facemask and hood.
The jinchuuriki of the Gobi watched silently as the man in the kazekage's robes revealed himself to be Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin and fights broke out in the stands beneath them.
"So the barrier can only be broken from the inside?" one of the nearby ANBU asked the captain.
"If hokage-sama would just take out one of the four nin holding the corners we could join in," the captain confirmed.
The four Oto ninja holding the corners of the Shishienjin looked rather inhuman, well two of them did anyway: one had two heads and another two more pairs of arms than was generally the case.
"Damn," the captain said quietly as the four corner-holders set up a secondary barrier between themselves and the two combatants.
"I might be able to break in," Han rumbled as the hokage and Orochimaru charged each-other, hands flipping through handseals too quickly to follow.
The ANBU captain turned to look at him, not bothering to ask how he intended to achieve such a feat. Instead the masked ninja asked, "Might?"
Han shrugged. "I have never tried before," he said flatly, "and am interested in finding out what happens when I try."
The ANBU captain glanced back into the purple barrier, where the snake Sannin had just summoned two ninja out of coffins, then back at Han: "Fair enough. We'll give you space to work." He signalled the other ANBU then walked away from where Han was standing and settled himself at slightly over the standard distance for a Konoha-issue exploding tag. Han frowned, but let his irritation pass. He thinks I might blow something up; he clearly has never seen a jinchuuriki in full control of their abilities at work. Han walked along the barrier until he was facing the Oto ninja with two heads and mentally poked his tenant. He knew he could break through the barrier before him, but what he really wanted to know was a little different: exactly how much of a beating the barrier could take for one, and for another how much force was needed to penetrate it. Inquiring minds want to know.
As the ANBU near him started squarking about how Orochimaru had somehow summoned from the grave Konoha's former Shodaime and Nidaime Han calmly called up enough youki to form the Gobi's first tail and swatted the barrier with it. The purple wall held, but the ninja holding it up broke out in a sweat and suddenly seemed very, very nervous. Han smirked behind his collar and face mask. Good.
Itachi left the arena and headed swiftly towards the dust-cloud rising next to where the east gate should have been. Yogensha-sempai's words from earlier that morning now made perfect sense: this must be part of Orochimaru's plans. Hurrying over the rooftops with Sharingan spinning, the former nukenin prepared to defend his village.
The Suna ninja were not expacting to encounter a former ANBU captain as the leapt from rooftop to rooftop and five died before the invaders even realised they were under attack. Not that knowing did them much good; they were chunnin and no match for a shinobi who had spent the last three years working alongside the most powerful and dangerous nukenin the Elemental Nations could offer.
Itachi skirted a building and leapt over a small tower as a massive toad materialised in midair and crushed one of the snakes that had broken down the wall near the East Gate. Toads meant Jiraya, which could be both good and bad. Good since the loyal sannin was an accomplished and experienced ninja; bad because the toad sage was not the sort to be subtle when engage in a pitched battle, tending to leave the landscape greatly changed wherever he had fought. While overawing and demoralising the enemy was a valid tactic, it was not something that would be good for the village's infrastructure.
Han made it up to three tails by the time Ame-chan materialised next to the Sandaime, at which point he decided it was time to stop testing the barrier's integrity. His abrupt change in tactics caught the two-headed ninja supporting the corner entirely by surprise: one moment the grey-haired shinobi was safe in his corner, the next he had a ten-inch hole burnt right through his chest. The barrier instantly flickered and partially collapsed, the two sides nearest Han's target dissolving into nothingness. The ANBU nearest him instantly charged in to assist their kage, but the Gobi jinchuuriki was startled to see the ninja he'd just killed split into two identical shinobi, one of which had a deep wound in his right shoulder rather than through his chest. As the Shishienjin collapsed completely the wounded double fled with his fellow barrier-makers carrying Orochimaru away. Han was about to give chase when Yogensha-chan abruptly appeared in front of him with that slightly queasy look she got when her power ran away with her.
The Gobi instantly withdrew its youki, allowing the colossal former Iwa-nin to catch the seer as she swayed forward. "Yogensha-chan?" he murmured. The starry-eyed young woman blinked blearily up at him.
"Han? I… think I need to…" her eyelids drooped and she went limp in his arms. Cradling her bridle-style, Han shot off towards the Hatake estate. The estate will be secure; Yogensha-chan is always over-effective in defending her chosen home.
Thankfully –after the initial charge– Konoha's ninja managed to repel the invasion. Itachi dodged around Akiminchi Chouza, three stories tall and swatting enemies like flies, and Nara Shikaku, who had caught four Suna-nin and was strangling all of them at once, knocking out someone trying to get away. Hyuuga Hiashi also made a good showing, blasting a knot of over a dozen ninja with a Kaiten at least ten feet across then wading in to mop up those still conscious.
The seal-bound Uchiha flitted between fight, striking down stragglers and snaring in genjutsu those attempting to flee the village. Itachi was well aware that, despite Sarutobi's recent announcement regarding what had really happened the night of the Uchiha massacre, he had not yet regained the trust of his village's ninja. Acquiring a few new subjects for the T&I Department could only help his rather tenuous position.
However as he was sweeping the eastern edge of the village he encountered Team Seven escorting the kazekage's children. Naruto had clearly worn himself out and was leaning heavily on Sakura; it was however evident that the Konoha shinobi were in control of the situation, as both the older Suna genin had Seishi seals on their foreheads, indicating their chakra had been temporarily bound.
"Onii-san," Sasuke said as Itachi dropped gracefully to ground level, "these three have surrendered to us on the understanding that their sensei Baki will be unsealed and released to return to Suna, so as to communicate what has occurred here." The younger Uchiha paused. "Sabaku no Gaara is not sealed, but was defeated in battle by Uzumaki Naruto and is therefore coming quietly."
Itachi nodded gravely, recognising the formality of the moment. My otouto's first experience of battle and his team has emerged victorious. "I will accompany you to the cellblock so that the agreed exchange can be ratified and witnessed."
Notes
Shishienjin = Four Violet Flames Battle Encampment; collaboration technique that creates a very strong barrier around the four people holding it. B-rank
Kaiten = technically Hakkeshou Kaiten, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven; defensive short-range technique (supposedly) unique to those of the Hyuuga main house.
AN: It's been a while but I haven't given up! This winds up the Chunnin exam battle, so the next few chapters will cover the aftermath and the lead-up to the 'Search for Tsunade' arc, which will probably be very AU indeed considering how I've set things up. Enjoy!