"Blah": Talking
'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura
'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts
'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto
Alright! It's been about a week! Let's get started! This is the chapter where Sasuke returns, a staple of the original series, but also one of the moments in the original series that really rubs me the wrong way. This part is one of Kakashi's worst teacher moments and worst character moments when he rudely disregards Naruto's concern for his teammate, not even questioning why Naruto suddenly tells him to stop the match when [five minutes earlier] he told Sasuke not to lose and couldn't wait to fight him. It also really makes me really angry at Sasuke. He really didn't deserve all of the special treatment he got and really should have faced the consequences for his tardiness or at least been more humble about it to allow us to forgive him. Especially if he knew how much of an impact he had on the central events at the time. But he continues to act like an arrogant little douche from Game of Thrones.
But like I said before, this is the chapter where Sasuke and Kakashi get a little wakeup call from their extreme tardiness followed by the unnecessary entrance they made.
Azeroth44: But before we start, I feel we should look back and remember all the original craziness these introductions had in the original version of this story. I mean, we sure had some seriously insane moments here. OH! Remember after Sasuke killed me, and I returned as a ghost?! I totally tea-bagged you, dude!
Kvsyaoran: (glares at Azeroth44) Thanks for reminding me, Azeroth44...
AZ44: You're welcome!
Naruto: That's messed up.
K: After that I think we tried to find your Horcrux and do the Resurrection Ritual that Lord Voldemort performed in Goblet of Fire...
A44: Bone of the father, flesh of the servant, and blood of the enemy... Whose blood did we take?
Everyone: Sasuke's!
AZ44: Where's Godric Gryffindor's sword?! Let's do it again!
K: But you're not even... Well, fine. But only because we get to torture Sasuke! GET OVER HERE, YOU INDECISIVE, TWO-FACED, DOUCHEBAG TRAITOR! THIS IS WHAT I THINK ABOUT YOUR REDEMPTION SCENE, YOU MASSIVE, ARM-CHOMPING PRICK!
Sasuke: AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
K: Anyways, folks out there, please enjoy this new chapter and relish in what Genma has to say to Sasuke! :D
Reviews are welcome and wanted!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto,
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling and Warner Brothers
Chapter 22: The Invasion Begins
The stadium fell silent and still once again, as it did at the end of Naruto and Shikamaru's matches. But this time, the audience stared as the whirlwind of leafs settled down and revealed Kakashi and Sasuke, back-to-back with their heads tilted down and seemed cool and relaxed at their sudden arrival. In the eastern box, Ino was tantalized with a wave of cool as she leaned forward and felt her face blush.
She murmured, "Isn't… Isn't that-"
"SASUKE-KUN!" the fellow kunoichi screamed with delight and made several other attendees around her cover their ears at the sound and volume of her voice.
But soon, the screams of Sakura were overwhelmed with the roars of countless individuals, civilians and shinobi alike that wanted to watch Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha clan. But mixed with the crowds of almost mindless citizens, there were still a lot of shinobi that were livid at the arrival. A lot of shinobi and kunoichi were furious at how late Kakashi and Sasuke arrived and in the manner the two of them chose to do it.
'Well that was a dramatic entrance… Made us wait around like he was ruler of the universe…' Shikamaru thought with a mild distaste for the Uchiha.
In the Kage's box, Sarutobi seemed relieved that Sasuke and Kakashi arrived but also somewhat unnerved as he looked back at the Kazekage. The ruler of Suna looked excited or even aroused when the Uchiha arrived at the center of the arena.
"Sorry we're late, everyone," said Kakashi in a cool, relaxed voice, "You wouldn't believe the traffic!"
Genma stared at the teacher and his student and hid his contempt for them well under a slight smirk, he looked to the rookie and could wait to hear him apologize for his extreme tardiness.
"May I ask for your name, kid?" he asked.
Sasuke turned his head in a slow, dramatic fashion and answered in a cool, low voice, "I am… Sasuke Uchiha."
Genma waited for the kid to apologize for his late arrival but it never came and the rookie stared at him to make the next move. After that, Genma would have loved to hit the Uchiha across the face or shoot his senbon in his neck. But he was content to stick with the Sandaime's message.
"Well, Sasuke Uchiha," he said with that same fake smirk, "I should really disqualify you for arriving so late."
Sasuke blinked and looked insulted as the older shinobi looked down at him. Kakashi scratched the back of his head and seemed to smile under his masked in a fit of nervousness and embarrassment.
"Well, dramatic entrances not withstanding, don't tell me… he's disqualified, then?" he asked, awkward and nervous as he felt.
Genma stared at Kakashi and wanted to tell him off for his bad habits and his student's complete lack of an apology. But after he tortured them enough with the anticipation, he decided to relent and continued to smirk.
"You should be on your knees, kissing the Sandaime's feet after this," he said, "Your match deadline was extended. You are allowed to continue on with the match."
Kakashi smiled but continued to rub the back of his head while he chuckled, "Oh! What a relief! Hahaha!"
"However," the older shinobi's smirk faded at once and he stared down at the Uchiha, "Because of the late arrival and the inappropriate entrance back there; Sasuke Uchiha will not be allowed to become a chunin this year. Furthermore, he will be forbidden to enter any future Chunin Exams from this moment forth. Not even a solid recommendation from a jounin instructor will permit him to compete in any and all future tournaments and competitions. That is the will of the Sandaime."
Kakashi looked shocked while Sasuke seemed subtly horrified, but then he became more outraged and demanded an explanation.
"What?! But that's not fair! How come?!" he demanded.
Genma stared down at the Uchiha and frowned at him with bitterness and subtle hatred, "Because I said so, you spoiled, ungrateful little brat. You made Konoha look bad in front of the leaders and shinobi that traveled hundreds of miles to come here and see the finest rookies represent their respected villages. You were made aware of how important this event was before the preliminaries even started. Weren't you paying attention? You insulted the guests with the extensive tardiness, made them wait for over an hour, and ruined the established schedule we worked on for months. Not to mention that over-the-top entrance back there didn't make us look much better either, or the idiots that were stupid enough to cheer it on. You're supposed to be a shinobi. Your actions have consequences, kid. You should have been here on time, like all the other competitors. You should feel honored that we didn't decide to take that headband of yours away once this is all over... yet. But believe me, you should be worried about your future. Because you're going to be a genin for a very, very long time."
Naruto stared at Genma, shocked at the news of Sasuke's permanent rank, but didn't feel like he didn't deserve it. Others in the audience could hear Genma over the more obnoxious audience members. Many of them who supported Sasuke felt outraged for him, but remained tightlipped until the tournament was over. Others in the audience that could hear Genma as well, smiled or smirked with satisfaction at seeing Sasuke shivering with fury. Kakashi was surprised to say the least. The punishment seemed way too harsh, humiliating, but after he heard all of those reasons Genma listed and was reminded about how important the tournament was. He couldn't help but agree with them a little bit.
"Well…" the masked shinobi admitted to Genma, "I did tell him the entrance was kind of a bad idea, but he insisted on it."
Genma stared at Kakashi, unable to hide his resentment of him at how he didn't seem to notice or care about how serious the situation was, "Do I look like I care? Go take a seat in the boxes and shut up."
"It still seems a little bit harsh a punishment, Genma," he tried to persuade the proctor to change his mind about Sasuke's permanent rank, "Please, reconsider. Besides, we had to review our training exercises before we returned home to the village."
Genma looked at Kakashi and said, "Then you should have reviewed them earlier."
Kakashi soon relented and felt a little bit defeated, but showed signs that he was mad when Genma threw his plea back in his face and told him to shut up. And Sasuke looked like he wanted to lash out at the proctor, as his eyes barely contained his palpable contempt. Meanwhile, Naruto and Shikamaru were somewhat surprised but also slightly amused to see Sasuke receive some well-earned punishment for once. The blonde-haired wizard, as bad as he felt for Sasuke's denial into the future Chunin Exams, he was somewhat contented to see Sasuke be punished after a lifetime of arrogance and special treatment.
'At least the universe has started to make sense. Sasuke's actions have consequences now.'
"Wow…" said a somewhat awkward Naruto, "that was… intense."
Sasuke blinked and then he and Kakashi noticed Naruto was there with them. Neither of them even realized he stood so close and the Uchiha's anger seemed to subside. The dark-haired rookie smirked as he went ahead to recover from the blow to his ego blow by ripping on his teammate.
The Uchiha heir showed off his new look after he criticized his teammate's clothes, "Well, hello there, dobe. Still wearing the same lame survival outfit I see? At least one of us decided to wear more practical shinobi attire."
Naruto looked over Sasuke and only now noticed his new outfit. Sasuke wore a black one-piece version of his old outfit, similar to the outfits that Gai and Lee wore, but didn't reveal as much. Naruto noticed the Uchiha clan symbol on the back of his outfit like all the other clothes Sasuke wore; it seemed to be an outfit that chunin from the Uchiha clan wore, which was quite presumptuous of him to wear and now entirely pointless. But Naruto also noticed Sasuke's hair had grown longer since last month. He also wore white bandages over his legs to his knees. Sasuke also wore arm-belts and similar bands on his legs. The blonde-haired wizard wanted to laugh at his teammate but knew better than look bad in front of the audience. So he ripped on Sasuke with a smart choice of words.
"Wow," he said with a smile and a snide tone in his voice when he replied, "I mean, it's not everyday you get to dress up in Gai-sensei's hand-me-downs, but they look nice on you though!"
Sasuke's smirk vanished almost at once while Shikamaru tried and failed to hold back a snort. Few others in the stands heard Naruto's comment, but those who did couldn't hold back their laughter. The Uchiha shook it off fast and couldn't help but think his blonde-haired teammate's confidence was linked to the tournament somehow.
"With that kind of talk, I can be safe to assume you won the match against Neji Hyuga?" asked Sasuke.
Naruto smiled with confidence, "Of course I did!"
"Great work, Naruto," said Kakashi as the asked man smiled under his mask.
But the blonde-haired rookie never acknowledged his teacher's kind comment, or even looked at him. Naruto pretended his teacher didn't even exist and made it clear he was furious with him with his silence. Kakashi's smile must have faded under his mask as the teacher seemed somewhat upset at his student's coldness.
But the blonde rookie earned his rival's attention, "A word of advice, Sasuke..."
The dark-haired rookie watched his teammate look back at Gaara in the contestants' box and Kakashi followed suit. All three of them noticed Gaara stare at Sasuke; he had an intense, deranged smile on his face as he shivered while his brother and sister maintained their distance. Naruto felt he had to warn Sasuke about the jinchuuriki, but was certain their silver-haired teacher had informed him of the match between Gaara and Rock Lee. Even so, the blonde rookie still felt the obligation to warm him.
"Don't underestimate Gaara's abilities. You didn't see what he did to Lee. He's merciless. Don't get too close to his sand and don't let that sand take hold of you for one second. You got that?" he advised.
Sasuke nodded and appreciated his teammate's concern but he still seemed calm and confident. Naruto then stared back at Sasuke and remembered what he said before the preliminaries started. For a moment, his concerns about Orochimaru, Oto, Suna, Gaara, and the invasion faded to the back of his mind as Naruto looked forward for a chance to beat Sasuke for once, in an actual match.
"Sasuke," he called out to him and said in a calm voice, "Don't lose. Remember, I want to fight you, too…"
The Uchiha didn't even seem that intimidated or as intense as he sounded in the old arena, like he had no doubt in his mind, "Got it…"
Naruto smiled; unaware of the secrets Sasuke had learned for the final matches.
Kakashi cracked another smile under his mask as he said, "Point taken, Naruto. Thanks for the advice."
But, like the first time, Naruto shut out his teacher as if a brick wall stood between them. Kakashi looked somewhat defeated and deflated as he slipped his hands into his pockets and frowned.
'Well… it looks like Naruto's mad at me now…'
In the audience boxes, amidst the loud buzz and cheers from the civilians and rambunctious shinobi, Ino and Sakura both cheered Sasuke on and celebrated his arrival like cheerleaders.
Ino screamed as she blushed and shook her fists, "Sasuke-kun! SASUKE-KUN! Show that red-headed freak how it's done!"
"WHEEEEEEE! SASUKE-KUN IS HERE!" shrieked Sakura as she too blushed and shook her fists.
But after a few minutes, Ino settled down in her seat and looked to her former best friend, "Sakura, what's it like to be on such an amazing team? Your team is kinda awesome! A real all-star team!"
"Huh?" he seemed confused, "What do you mean?"
Ino clenched her fist in the air and said, "I mean, I never believed in a million years that Naruto could ever beat someone as talented as Neji Hyuga!"
Lee flinched at Ino's words and looked at her when she reminded him of his failure to advance to the finals.
"And Sasuke-kun is an Uchiha elite," added Sakura, "With everyone itching to watch his match! You're right, Ino! We are a dream team!"
Lee started to feel sick as he lowered his head to hide his eyes with his black bowl cut. The older rookie didn't want to show how upset he was.
'Sasuke Uchiha is about to fight Gaara, whom I was powerless against… and my new friend, Naruto-kun, won against Neji… someone I wanted to defeat for ages…'
Lee imagined Sasuke; dressed in the new Uchiha outfit he wore now with Naruto at his side. The rookie imagined Sasuke scoff at the older rookie while Naruto looked back at him; he smiled and waved, before he walked off with Sasuke and left Lee behind with prison bars between him and the other victors. Naruto beckoned to Lee once or twice, but the older rookie was stuck, unable to escape as his legs failed him and fell to his knees. He tried to reach out to them, but Naruto and Sasuke were too far to even hear him. Back in the real world, Lee clenched the handle of his crutches so tight it caused his knuckles to ooze blood.
'Why?' he cried in his mind, 'Why am I so jealous?'
Rock Lee's lips quivered as his eyes shined with tears, about to run down his face. His arms shook and Gai noticed his student's shoulders tremble as he tried to hold back his sobs. Lee tried his best not to burst into tears and all Gai could do was feel bad for his student as he could hear his muffled sobs.
"Lee…" he sighed and grieved along with his student.
Naruto soon turned back towards the contestants' box entrance and beckoned Shikamaru to walk with him.
"We better return to the boxes, Shika," he said.
The other rookie frowned at his friend, but followed, "Don't call me Shika! We've been over this!"
Naruto and Shikamaru both walked towards the stairs and talked for a while. Shikamaru was curious how Naruto started to behave a lot more like their former Academy instructor. The blonde rookie decided to reveal that Iruka had taken him in after graduation and caused Shikamaru to scream when he found out. Naruto snorted at his reaction and assured him how normal and fun their former teacher was outside the classroom. Shikamaru never once believed him as the two of them climbed the stairs.
Shikamaru shivered, "I don't like to see teachers outside of school. It's like watching a dog walk on its hind legs."
"What? You mean like Kiba?" asked Naruto.
The other rookie snorted and cursed his blonde-haired friend for his fast, comedic remarks.
{{Voldemort by Alexandre Desplat}}
"Trust me, mate. It's the solemn truth," the blonde rookie insisted, while he shook he head.
Shikamaru soon stopped dead in his tracks and peeked over to the corridor to their box. Shikamaru heard voices and listened in as Naruto noticed too and remained silent. The two rookies heard two unknown voices. The two rookies saw two shinobi from Kusagakure no Sato and before them stood Gaara. Naruto's scar burned and didn't even breathe as he stood still with his comrade. It looked like the two older shinobi down the corridor were under orders to threaten Gaara to take a dive for one of the dignified leaders to win a bet. But Gaara wasn't intimidated but the older shinobi mistook his silence and drew out their kunai to harm or even kill him. But as soon as their knives were drawn, sand shot out and the lights were blasted out.
The corridor was shrouded in darkness and the halls echoed with the sounds of horrified screams and the constant flow of sand. One of the two voices shrieked louder and louder and was soon silenced with the sound of broken bones and splattered blood. The two rookies heard the other Kusa shinobi make a run for it. Naruto and Shikamaru saw him come out of the darkness and screamed. The man was covered in his comrade's blood and his clothes were torn from a missed attack. He tripped and tried to crawl to the stairs and cried for Naruto and Shikamaru to help him. But as soon as he reached out, a tentacle of sand shot out from the darkness and swathed around his ankle. Shikamaru and Naruto were forced to watch as the man was dragged back into the dark and scratched the concrete floor in a desperate, fruitless effort to escape. The man from Kusa screamed, shrieked, and begged for his life before he disappeared. The man's screams became hysterical but were soon silence with an inhuman roar and the sounds of crushed bones and flesh ripped apart.
A few moments later, the two rookies heard the sickening squish of feet stepping across a puddle of blood. The footsteps grew louder and Gaara's frame emerged from the darkness as he walked in a calm, slow manner. His face was blank as he walked around the rail of the stairs and cleaned the blood from his feet with each step and walked down the stairs. Naruto and Shikamaru were paralyze; neither of them had the will to move, too terrified to hide, run, or even breathe. Neither rookie had ever known such fear as the red-haired kid approached them. Even Naruto had trouble ignoring the massive amount of killer-intent he sensed from the jinchuuriki. Even with his mental shields, Naruto felt suffocated as Gaara stopped between the two rookies. Shikamaru fared out a lot worse as his trousers felt a little bit wet in the front.
Gaara did not make a sound for several moments, as he waited for the two them to move or so much as make a noise that sounded like an attack. But his sand never reacted and the rookie became bored. Before it looked like he was about to leave for his match, the red-haired rookie focused on Naruto and stared at him. Naruto couldn't turn his head to look at the fellow jinchuuriki but could sense the rookie crack a twisted smile when he heard his voice.
"You'll have to wait a little bit later for me, Uzumaki," he said, "For now, the Uchiha is mine…"
Gaara soon left and the corridors echoed with the sound of dripping blood, as Naruto and Shikamaru remained frozen in the stairwell for several minutes. It wasn't until Gaara's killer-intent vanished, did the two rookies collapse on the stairs and Shikamaru noticed his little accident. He moaned as Naruto tried to catch his breath. The two rookies didn't say anything to each other for at least ten minutes, even after the match outside started.
After Shikamaru dried his trousers, he broken the silence, "We should be dead… For whatever reason, he didn't finish us off… when he said he would back at the hospital… that freak could have finished us off… Why didn't he do it?"
Naruto looked down at his feet and answered, "It's obvious he has someone else in mind… And unlike those two from Kusa, we didn't threaten him as much or stand in the way of who he really wanted to kill… He's probably going to finish us off later for getting in the way of him and Lee..."
Shikamaru then said, "But Sasuke Uchiha is next on his list… that bastard's done for…"
"Let's go, Shikamaru," said Naruto as he forced himself to stand up and seemed determined and energized.
The lazier rookie tried to stand on his own, but stumbled and followed his comrade as he marched up the stairs, "What are you going to do?"
"We have to find Kakashi-sensei," he said as he tried to run and forced Shikamaru to follow his lead, "We have to tell him what we know! Once he finds out what Gaara is, he'll have no choice but to withdraw him from the match! It's not too late!"
Shikamaru questioned him with irritation in his voice, "Well, what is it that he doesn't know that we do, Naruto?!"
"Gaara is a jinchuuriki, Shikamaru!" the blonde-haired shinobi admitted.
The slothful rookie stopped and grabbed hold of Naruto's arm as he stammered with shock and disbelief, "G-Gaara has a demon sealed inside of him?! A real demon monster?! How do you even know that?!"
"When we were in the hospital, Gaara told us that he contained the remains of someone named Shukaku," he answered him and continued to march down the corridors, Shikamaru followed but had to concrete on not falling over as he did so, "I asked the Sandaime who Shukaku was and he told me it wasn't the name of a man; it was the name of the One-Tailed Tanuki! I didn't want to believe it! But it's makes sense, doesn't it?! The look in his eyes and the power to control the sand with his mind!"
Shikamaru nodded, and started to follow closer to his friend as he commented, "I guess he wasn't using the term 'born a monster' as a metaphor then…"
"C'mon," said Naruto in a brave, determined, but desperate tone, "We have to find Kakashi-sensei and fast!"
Despite his blatant fear of Gaara and the fact that his survival instincts screamed for him to hide and stay safe, Naruto pressed onward. He led Shikamaru and the two rookies ran as fast as possible to find the closest entrance into the boxes, before it was too late to save Sasuke from Gaara's mad wrath.
A few moments before the match even started, Kakashi approached Gai and Lee in a calm, casual manner as he walked down the stairs on the box. The masked shinobi seemed relieved but also a little bored to see his exact opposite with his crippled star student.
"Hello, Gai," he greeted in a pleasant tone, "How are we these days, Lee? Feeling any better from the preliminaries?"
Gai was somewhat surprised to see his rival, upset at his absence and tardiness but still smiled as he approached him and his prized student, "Kakashi! You're here!"
Sakura perked her ears and turned her head in a swift motion when she heard the familiar voice of her teacher, "Kakashi-sensei!"
She stared him down with a disappointed look and then looked furious with him. Sakura was upset that he had left her out and didn't talk to her once about what was going on in regards to Sasuke and the incident with Orochimaru.
Kakashi noticed his kunoichi student and laughed as he apologized, "Oh, right! Heh! Gomenasai! You must have been worried. Sorry for not keeping in touch."
Sakura relaxed for a few brief moments before she continued to scowl at her teacher. Ino looked at Sakura at unease and assumed her friend was about to explode in anger. But to her amazement, Sakura suppressed her wrath and set aside her resentment to look back down at her beloved Uchiha.
"I don't mind…" she said, "It's ok…"
Ino was surprised and somewhat disappointed, 'What is wrong with her?! Why isn't Sakura screaming her head off at her teacher right now? I would be if I were her!'
Sakura looked down and focused on Sasuke, trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of the curse mark. But the collar of Sasuke's new outfit blocked it from view and she was too far from him to see. She was worried it was still there on his neck and decided to ask her sensei about it.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.
The masked shinobi looked at her and awaited the dreaded question he knew she would ask him.
"That mark on Sasuke-kun's neck… Is it still-" she started.
Kakashi interrupted her before she had the chance to finish and assured his student, "It's nothing to worry about…"
Sakura looked at him and held her breath. Ino looked between her former best friend and her teacher, confused at their conversation and wondered what Sakura had meant about the mark. Kakashi looked at Sakura and made the smile hidden under his mask obvious. Sakura's expression softened as her collected stress vanished in an instant.
She was able to sit back and Kakashi reassured her with a confident voice, "So that's that…"
Sakura smiled as all her doubts faded, unaware that Kakashi had lied to her.
With one of his students taken care of, Kakashi looked around the stadium and noticed several of the attendants were still as statues. That's when he noticed those individuals wore animal masks and several of them wore either black or white cloaks that concealed their identities well. Kakashi recognized them as the ANBU and counted at total of at least nineteen ANBU in the stadium.
Kakashi turned to Gai and said, "The Sandaime sure must be confident if he stationed but a few ANBU teams in a stadium this size…"
"He increased it after the incident last week. You weren't here when it happened, but Hayate Gekko was killed," he answered back in a serious tone.
The silver-haired man was surprised, "The proctor is dead?"
"Yes…" said the muscular jounin, "Hokage-sama stationed the available ANBU in and around certain areas of Konoha, if our old friend decides to make his move and attack. We have a few extra ANBU units stationed around the arena. But for now, at least, we have to watch this match… We have no idea what Orochimaru has in store, but if he wants to attack the village the best time for him to do it would be now."
The masked shinobi and his rival listened as the crowds buzzed and couldn't contain their excitement.
"Kakashi… I'll have to be careful and watch your student down there, to see if what you taught him was any good… After all, we are still rivals!"
Gai looked back at Kakashi and cracked a wide smile that made his teeth shine, but the masked man looked at his rival and asked, "Did you say something?"
Gai felt as if he were hit in the head with a frying pan as his blood boiled and steam seemed to billow out from his ears and nostrils.
He then roared in passionate frustration, "RAAAAAAHHHHHH! YOU MAKE ME SO MAD, KAKASHI! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GET TO ACT SO COOL?!"
Down below, Genma raised his hand and thrust it down before fled the area and shouted, "Begin!"
Soon after, the audience was silent as Gaara and Sasuke went into battle. Sasuke started the match when he threw a small barrage of shuriken. But the rookie from Suna controlled a large amount of sand that shifted into a clone. The sand clone caught the shuriken with its mutated hand and protected the real Gaara. The clone then released a bullet of sand from its chest to attack Sasuke, but Sasuke dodged the attacks and ran straight after Gaara, head-on. He tossed another handful of shuriken but then leapt above the red-haired rookie before the clone could even shoot at him. The Uchiha then tossed another wave of shuriken to distract the clone, landed on the ground, and kicked the clone into grains, the sheer force of his kick making the clone's arms explode.
Sasuke didn't relent and launched himself at Gaara, about to punch him. But then Sasuke vanished out of thin air and reappeared behind the real Gaara, within his shield barrier. The Uchiha attacked Gaara with a haymaker to his cheek and cracked the sand shield on his face.
In the boxes, Lee stared down at the Uchiha and furrowed his thick eyebrows in anger, 'He copied my taijutsu stance! He used his Sharingan to increase his speed to the same level as me!'
Sakura squealed in delight at seeing Sasuke make his move on Gaara. Kakashi smirked as he stood back and watched his student, satisfied at his first successful blow. But Gai looked surprised and a little displeased when he realized Sasuke's movements were identical to his own and Lee's. He then looked more unsettled when Kakashi told them that he had Sasuke remember his first brief fight with Lee at the Ninja Academy, before the First Exam. He then had Sasuke use his Sharingan to reflect Lee's moves while the two of them work on taijutsu training over the last month.
The results of his training showed, as Sasuke continued to vanish and reappear to move around Gaara's defense and attacked him with every kick and punch. Sasuke was merciless as he used aggressive, violent means to grab Gaara and strike him. He kicked Gaara in the stomach and chest several times and made several chunks of his sand crumble off his skin and clothes.
After Sasuke beat Gaara around for several minutes, Gaara had had enough and rebelled. He quickly ran through a number of handsigns and caused his sand to start encasing his body into a sphere of sand. Sasuke raced after Gaara with a frontal assault, he reeled back and threw a punch but stopped when a series of solid spikes shot out and almost skewered the Uchiha. Sasuke breathed a few calming breaths as he remained still and felt blood run down his cheek and down his torso. He backed off at once and observed the sphere from a distance, careful to plan his next move.
Naruto and Shikamaru raced down countless corridors and searched the three main boxes in search for Kakashi. The blonde-haired wizard was careful not to call out for his sensei to get his attention, well aware the attendees would shout at him if he did. Shikamaru followed him and used his much better vision to locate Kakashi with him. The two of them missed most of Sasuke's match and it wasn't until the sand clone was destroyed did Shikamaru see Kakashi at the opposite box and alerted his friend.
Naruto and his slothful comrade reached Kakashi and the others, after Sasuke was almost skewered. Exhausted, Naruto leaned on the rail, a few rows behind his teacher and friends, and called out to his teacher.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
The masked shinobi turned around at the mention of his name while Sakura, Ino, Choji, Gai, and Lee turned around as well. Naruto's old classmates smiled at his, as did Lee, surprised to see him and curious to see him look so exhausted and bloodless with Shikamaru at his side. The lazier rookie was out of breath and looked like he was about to kill over at any minute.
"Yo," the silver-haired teacher greeted in a friendly manner and thought, 'It's about time Naruto's decided to come around…'
But Naruto shouted, "Kakashi-sensei! You have to stop this match right now!"
Kakashi, Gai, and the others were shocked to hear this. None of them knew what reason Naruto would have to say something like that. None of them suspected he wanted Sasuke to forfeit the tournament to have less competition; he made it clear he wanted him to win and fight him too. But with that said, it made it all the more perplexing why Naruto would insist on such a request.
"It's Gaara! He's a…" the blonde wizard hesitated for a second, reluctant to reveal Gaara's true nature as he didn't want to cause an uncontrollable panic if other people listened in on him, so he tried to beat around the bush, but make it clear how dangerous the rookie was, "He's not like the other rookies! Gaara will not relent from this fight until Sasuke is dead!"
Ino looked confused, "What on earth are you talking about, Naruto?"
"Gaara is relentless," he said as he felt his scar burn, more intense than ever before, "Far more relentless than what we saw him do to Lee!"
"It's true, sir," said Shikamaru, "Gaara killed two shinobi from Kusagakure before he entered the arena, two shinobi that wanted to stop the match before it started! We saw it happen! He tore them to shreds with his sand! That nutcase is not gonna stop until Uchiha is a pile of hamburger meat!"
"Sensei, please! You have to withdraw Sasuke from the match before it's too late! You have to believe me!" his student cried out.
Kakashi looked slightly surprised and seemed to listen to his student. But then he looked back at the match, unbothered from Naruto's warning as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"Relax… There's no need to panic," he insisted in a calm, relaxed voice, and then he said, "You know, Sasuke and I didn't just sit back and relax this whole month… there's a reason we were so late getting here."
Naruto was surprised Kakashi disregarded him like he did. It was like he didn't even care.
'You have to tell him the truth about Gaara, while he's stuck in that sphere. He can't see outside that sand. There's still time to save Sasuke.'
The blonde-haired wizard shook his head and carried out his brother's will as he chewed out his sensei, like Iruka would, "Don't be so overconfident, Kakashi-sensei! You don't understand! Gaara is a jin-"
"Kakashi-sensei," before he had the time to drop the bomb, Sakura interrupted him, curious to what her sensei meant from what he said earlier, "You said there was a good reason you two were so late. What were you doing out there?"
Kakashi became tired of all the interruptions, irritated, in fact, but he still sounded cool when he answered his kunoichi student withholding spoilers, "Well, it's kind of a long story-"
"KAKASHI-SENSEI," shouted Naruto, as he let his magic slip out as the lights above his head and around the box started to flicker, "You have to listen to me! THIS IS NO TIME TO SIT AROUND AND TALK!"
Kakashi didn't even look at Naruto after he was interrupted, but his voice was cold and couldn't conceal how frustrated he was at his blonde-haired student when he said, "You're right. So shut up and watch, Naruto."
Both wizards were taken aback at Kakashi's harsh tone. Naruto had never heard his sensei speak to him in such a voice. Not even Iruka ever used such a voice whenever he misbehaved. It caused him to freeze and feel like he had been thrown into a frozen lake. Blood rushed into Naruto's face and he felt weak, like he couldn't even talk back to his teacher. It felt like Kakashi had sucked out his courage and he succumb to his teacher's will. His invisible older brother stared down at the jounin and wished he could be there to smack the masked shinobi and force him to listen.
'That son of a bitch…' he chewed between his teeth, 'What's the matter with him?!'
Kakashi's tone switched to a calmer, relaxed, and cool voice as he said to his students and the others around him, "Just keep your eye on Sasuke… You're about to be amazed…"
{{Harry Sees Dragons by Patrick Doyle}}
Gai stared at Kakashi, astounded at how harsh his rival hissed at his own student. Even though it was unwise to withdraw Sasuke from the match with Orochimaru on the loose and an invasion imminent, he could have at listened to what Naruto wanted to warn him about and didn't have to dismiss him in such a harsh fashion. It wasn't like Kakashi to be so cold, not ever since he was a kid before he received his Sharingan eye. It was so out-of-character for him. But even so, the jounin still turned his attention back to the match and watched as Sasuke attacked the sphere to test it. Once he was certain, the Uchiha removed the bands on his left arm and retreated against the wall behind him. Sasuke used his chakra to scale the wall in a backwards stride until he had attained the distance he needed. After that, he started to weave handsigns and Gai recognized the pattern immediately: monkey, dragon, rat, bird, ox, snake, dog, tiger, ox, rabbit, and monkey.
"That can't be…" said a somewhat terrified Gai.
Kakashi then spoke with a low voice and a tone that was difficult to determine what he meant with his choice of words, "You understand now… One of the reasons I took Sasuke on as a student… is because he's like me."
In an instant, the entire stadium saw a burst of lightning form in the palm of Sasuke's left hand. The Uchiha literally grasped the energy and channeled it into his hand, using his right hand to hold it still. The audience gasped in unison as the attendants heard the sound of a thousand birds chirping in the air. The sound came from the energies collected in Sasuke's hand as it shot out little bolts. Naruto and Harry could both feel the intense amount of focused chakra Sasuke had utilized and Naruto felt his insides churn and leaned back. The intense fluctuation of elemental chakra reminded him of the Avada Kedavra and made him feel uncomfortable.
The next second, Sasuke smirked like a madman and took the lightning in his hand and dashed after Gaara with incredible speed. Gaara remained patient and seemed to form some sort of eyeball outside his sphere, made out of sand, to see what his opponent was up to. He watched as Sasuke ran down the wall he climbed and dashed after him with a trail of dirt, dust, rock, and concrete in his wake. The chirping lightning in his palm created a line of destruction with him as the concrete wall of the arena was damaged with a line of destroyed concrete.
Sakura gasped as she asked, "What is that technique?! And what's that sound?!"
Gai answered for her, while Kakashi watched his dark-haired student, "That technique is an original technique that Kakashi developed. In fact, it's the one original move he's ever invented. It's only possible for someone to use it if they develop a great amount of speed. It also requires the user to have an elemental affinity to lightning and for them to focus the lightning chakra within them and form it into the palm of their hand. Once the technique is complete, the user thrusts the energy into their target. This concentration of power and speed causes a chirping sound, which is what you are hearing now."
The chirping of the lightning overwhelmed the sensitive ears of the audience to almost unbearable levels and increased more and more as Sasuke approached Gaara in a flash. He ducked, dove, and evaded all of Gaara's defensive sand attacks, seconds from the sphere.
Gai ended his little lecture with, "Which is how Kakashi here crafted its name…"
Sasuke drove his lightning-engulfed hand straight into the solid dome of sand and roared, "CHIDORI!"
The Uchiha's fist dove into the sand and released a loud, thunderous boom. He slowly opened his eyes, and revealed his activated Sharingan.
"Gotcha, freak…" he muttered.
{{The Tale of the Three Brothers by Alexandre Desplat}}
Meanwhile, up in the stands, the audience was enthralled and speechless at what they witnessed. Others, however, looked on at the Uchiha with a slight sense of fear. Gai was among these people but didn't seem to approve of Sasuke's usage of that particular technique.
He frowned with his student and said, "I cannot believe you would teach that student of yours such a reckless move, Kakashi. You know that he's a little bit unbalanced. Giving him a technique like that is completely reckless."
"You're a fine one to talk," retorted Kakashi, and then he crouched down to Lee's level and asked, "Right, Lee?"
Gai crossed his arms and sulked as he refused to look at his rival. He still felt horrible about his own recklessness with his own student, and looked down at his feet in shame. But Sakura failed to notice as she stared at her crush in absolute amazement; she had never seen Sasuke look so cool before in her life.
She cried out with stars in her eyes, "Set all frightening theatrics aside, that was an amazing move! Sasuke-kun is so incredible!"
Ino and Choji, looked a bit more intimidated than their pink-haired comrade. Sasuke looked a lot scarier to them when he used the Chidori, as impressive as it was.
Back in the Kage's box, Sarutobi was shocked to speechlessness at what Sasuke had learned.
'Kakashi leaves without a word, abandons his other students and teaches Sasuke a move like that?' he thought.
Sarutobi made a mental note to reprimand Kakashi for his reckless decisions, while his masked companion, the Kazekage, showed nothing else in his eyes other than amazement: Pure, unadulterated amazement. The Kazekage stared at Sasuke and showed no concern for his son at all. He focused on Sasuke with a sickening thirst in his eyes. It almost looked like he wanted Sasuke; desired him for whatever intension he had in mind.
Naruto stared down at his rival in disbelief. For a short moment, the blonde-haired wizard felt an undeniable swell of jealousy. He had worked harder than he'd ever had to in the last month and all of that hard work didn't seem to amount to Sasuke's Chidori. He also noticed Sasuke was faster and he was able to beat Gaara faster than Lee could. And then it occurred to him, if Orochimaru wasn't a serious threat and if an invasion of the village weren't imminent, Sasuke would have beaten him in a heartbeat. The Uchiha would have humiliated him, tossed him around the arena and could have scared him stiff if he dared use the Chidori. But when he thought about it more, Naruto had no idea how much damage the Chidori caused if Sasuke used it on him. For all he knew, Sasuke could kill someone with a technique like that.
It didn't matter if the tournament would continue or the invasion cancelled it, Kakashi screwed Naruto over and gave Sasuke an advantage over him, with no fair advice on how to counter it or give Naruto a fair chance to stand on the same level as his rival. And it didn't help him feel better when Naruto remembered he had convinced Jiraiya to train them both in collaboration with Kakashi, while his sensei and teammate ditch him without a word.
Naruto stared down at the back of Kakashi's silver-haired head. And for the first time ever, he hated his sensei; he wanted to reach out and punch him while his back was turned. At first he was angry, disappointed, embarrassed, and hurt, but now he felt nothing but contempt for the man he trusted and relied on. The same man that taught him about the importance of camaraderie. His hatred intensified when he heard Sakura praise Sasuke and felt even worse when he remembered Kakashi trained Sasuke because the two of them were so alike. At that moment and for the duration of the last month, it felt like he wasn't even part of the team. Not even after all the hard work and teamwork he showed but was never returned or even acknowledged.
The blonde-haired rookie sulked in silence, still shaken from the use of the Chidori. He breathed through his nose but then caught a terrible, awful, familiar stench. Naruto covered his nose and felt a sudden chill down his spine: the same smell he traced from Kabuto and the Otogakure rookies. He sniffed the air, as awful as it was, and followed the scent. Naruto tried to be discrete as he trailed the smell, which led him to the Kage's box. Naruto squinted to focus his vision and centered on the Kazekage. And the moment he fixated on the Kazekage, he felt his scar burn as bad as it did when he faced off with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death.
Naruto felt as if his blood drained down to his feet as his flesh crawled on his bones and he realized who was hidden behind the Kazekage's white veil.
'IT'S OROCHIMARU!'
The Snake Sannin was back, disguised as the Kazekage, and seated beside Hiruzen Sarutobi.
'I see him, Naruto. But don't let anyone else see you notice him. He could have people hiding anywhere and you don't want to cause a panic.'
'I have to warn Grandpa!'
'NO! Don't, Naruto! There's nothing you can do. You will never be able to get close enough to warn him. Not to mention, no one will believe that your sense of smell with the snakes is that acute!'
'I could Apparate there and tell him right now.'
'And end up full of metal?! Don't even think about it! Sarutobi isn't dumb, Naruto. I know it's hard, but we can't intervene this time. You'll have to trust him on this. For all we know, he probably already knows he's there.'
Naruto tried to be calm and not let it show that he knew about Orochimaru's whereabouts. But then out of nowhere, he heard a loud, disturbing scream echo across the stadium. At the same time, Naruto felt his scar burn again and he looked back down at the arena. Sasuke tried to break free from the sand sphere with all his might but took what appeared to be a massive, mutilated, mutated arm, decorated with veins and purple claws. Naruto shivered at the sight of the arm, while others, like Kakashi and Gai flinched and stammered at the monstrous arm while Sasuke broke free. The arm lashed out, twisted around, and then slithered back into the hole in the sand. The audience was disturbed and felt a sudden sense of unnatural dread sweep over them. Kakashi and the others heard strange sounds come out from the hole in the sphere; it almost sounded like a monster as it devoured raw flesh and brittle bone. No one knew how to explain such a noise while others in the stands shivered and couldn't move out of an unexplained fear.
Naruto was the first to speak as he said to his silver-haired sensei, "That's what I tried to warn you about, sensei…"
Kakashi turned around to look at Naruto, but the rookie didn't look back at him as he stared at Gaara's sphere, with a look of horror on his face.
"Gaara is the jinchuuriki of the One-Tailed Tanuki…" the blonde shinobi finished.
'Kakashi Hatake, ladies and gentlemen…'
Sasuke tended to his arm when he looked into the hole in the sand when he heard his opponent start to growl in the darkness. Sasuke froze still, too afraid to move as he noticed something in the dark stare back at him. He shivered and refused to move as he stared out and almost failed to notice when the sand around Gaara cracked and collapsed into normal sand. When most of it fell, a wounded Gaara was revealed. The red-haired rookie seemed normal, but he clenched his shoulder, where Sasuke hit him with the Chidori, covered in his own blood. Gaara looked up and stared at Sasuke with nothing short of blind hatred. Gaara let out a constant series of loud, feral, exhausted breaths and continued to bleed from his shoulder. Back in the contestants' box, Kankuro and Temari were horrified but Kankuro was reduced to tears as he shivered.
At that moment, a lone ANBU in the middle box weaved a series of handsigns and used a massive genjutsu. It released what appeared to be millions of small, snow-white feathers in the air. As the feathers floated down onto the audience, the attendees became dazed, tired, and soon fell fast asleep. Most of the chunin and jounin in the boxes noticed the genjutsu at once and reversed it before it took hold of them.
Naruto watched as feathers fell around him like snowflakes and became overwhelmed with exhaustion. He heard someone hum to him, the beautiful voice of a woman as his vision clouded and he collapsed onto his knees. The blonde wizard soon thought about his mother and imagined her with him, wrapped in her refined red hair like a blanket as she embraced him. The concrete was soon as soft as a mattress and almost started to dream, when he heard another voice call out to him.
'Naruto! Naruto! Wake up! It's a genjutsu! It isn't real! You have to reverse it now! You'll be killed! WAKE UP!'
The blonde-haired shinobi flinched when he heard his brother's voice. He tried to weave a handsign, but he had become lethargic and weak. Naruto still tried his best and formed his hands to reverse the genjutsu as best he could before he lost consciousness. He then felt as if Harry slapped him across the face and the blonde wizard woke with a start. Naruto was exhausted and tried to catch his breath. He soon clambered onto his hands and knees as he blinked and focused his vision as best he could.
{{The Dark Mark by Patrick Doyle/Battlefield by Alexandre Desplat}}
He then looked around at the chaos and destruction that ensued around him: the walls of the stadium box were lined with cracks and there were holes in the concrete, like bombs had blown out whole chunks of the stands. There was smoke all around him and slaughtered bodies of soldiers dressed in Konoha uniforms and the uniforms of the warriors from Suna. Rubble was scattered about and the steel rails were bent out and ruined. The arena was filled with soldiers from three separate armies and fought to the death. The civilians and leaders in the audience were either unconscious or dead as explosions blasted out at random and shinobi whizzed across the boxes at incredible speeds followed with the distinct sounds of clashing metal or skewered flesh.
Naruto could see blurs of brown and tan-colored Suna shinobi attack familiar Konoha soldiers. He saw several chunin from Konoha battle the aggressive warriors from Suna, but were slaughtered from behind by Otogakure shinobi, dressed in gray and purple uniforms. Naruto turned from the slaughter and retreated behind the back row of seats. He looked over one of the seats and gasped in horror when he saw a chunin from Konoha sliced into ribbons and the man's blood spewed across Naruto's terrified face. The blonde rookie felt the warm blood of one of his comrades run down his face and he let out a weak, terrified moan as he collapsed. Naruto cleaned the blood off his face in a desperate manner with his coat and almost sobbed in terror while he did so.
The wizard rolled onto his back and saw the shinobi from three separate villages attack each other in midair. Kunai clashed and sparks flew as two shinobi tried to kill each other. Others used taijutsu and kicked their opponents into the walls or into the seats with the unconscious attendees.
Naruto tried to catch his breath and remain calm. The invasion had started and he needed to find his friends. He had to find Sakura and Sasuke, and then hide somewhere safe, like he planned. But in order to do that, he had to gather his courage and fight.
'This is a battlefield now, Naruto! Move low and find somewhere to hide! I'll keep an eye out for you!'
He forced himself to stand once a pair of shinobi were distracted and looked down the rows of seats for his friends. Naruto looked down at the arena in search for Gaara and Sasuke. But the two of them had disappeared. Naruto looked around for Sakura, and saw her in her seat with Ino and Choji unconscious. He heard her scream as she threw her arms over her head. Naruto dashed to her rescue and withdrew his wand.
'Don't hold back this time, Naruto!'
The blonde-haired wizard saw an Oto shinobi notice him and moved in to kill him, but Naruto aimed his wand and cried out, "Stupefy!"
A blast of red light burst out of his wand like a bullet and hit an Oto-nin in the face. The vicious shinobi didn't know what hit him as the force of the spell blew him off his feet and back into the arena, where he broke his neck whilst still unconscious.
Naruto ran back towards the stairs to his teammate's row. He withdrew a kunai from his sleeve and threw it at another Oto-nin in the area near Sakura. The wizard then ducked behind the seats when a barrage of shuriken was thrown at him. He drew out his wand once more, waited for someone to come around, looked over his seats and aimed at a female soldier from Suna who was about to stab one of his comrades from Konoha.
Naruto aimed his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
The kunai was thrashed out of her hand and the Konoha chunin tackled the kunoichi down to the floor. Naruto ducked back down and saw another furious shinobi from Suna close in on him. In a red flash, he stunned him and stood from behind the seats. He felt his scar burn for less than a second and he looked around for the danger approaching. With all the other shinobi and his sensei distracted or nowhere to be seen, Naruto turned around. The wizard faced one of the few windows in the area that led outside to the forests. In the window, he saw an Oto-nin soldier about to burst in and attack him.
"I always wanted a chance to use this…" said Naruto.
At the moment the masked man broke through the window, the blonde-haired wizard cast a special spell that shot out and released a bluish-white pulse. The man and the shattered glass froze in midair as if Naruto stopped time. Naruto stared at the awe-stricken shinobi and waved his wand in a tight, circular motion with his wrist. The man and the broken shards of glass were then violently thrown back out in an uncontrollable hurtle with the same momentum he used to break in. Naruto heard the man's scream fade with distance and he moved on.
Naruto ran down the stairs towards Sakura and stunned another shinobi from Suna, blasting them off their feet and into the arena. He used a Shield charm to block an attack from kunai and shuriken before used a nonverbal spell to conjure chains and bound the Suna jounin that attacked him before he had a chance to counter. But then Naruto soon tripped over one of the unconscious civilians collapsed on the stairs and tumbled down close to where he saw Sakura. He took a moment to catch his breath and recover. He brushed his blonde hair out of his face to shout down to Sakura a few rows from where he stood.
"Sakura-chan! Move!"
The kunoichi heard her teammate's voice and crawled out from in between the unconscious Ino and Choji. Sakura left them behind and crouched down low as she approached her blonde-haired teammate. Naruto hid his wand in his sleeve and drew out a few kunai and shuriken. Once she reached him, she looked around and couldn't find Sasuke.
"Naruto," she cried, "Where's Sasuke-kun?!"
The blonde shinobi threw several kunai at the back of one of the Suna warriors when he was about to attack a defenseless chunin from Konoha and ducked back down behind the seats.
"That idiot can take care of himself," he tried to reassure his teammate, while he too was somewhat worried where Sasuke had vanished to, "But we'll find him sooner or later!"
Sakura nodded, but then she turned to her teammate and asked, "What do we do now?"
"ARE YOU A KUNOICHI OR NOT?! FIGHT!" her teammate cried as he tossed a shuriken in the direction of another kunoichi from Suna.
Sakura reached for her weapons pouch, but then realized she left it at home to collect dust, "I-I don't have weapons!"
Naruto withdrew six kunai and handed them over to her, "Take these and stick close to me! I'll protect you!"
For the next several minutes, Naruto and Sakura crawled the stairs and worked together as teammates for the first time. The two of them battled the shinobi and kunoichi that attacked them and made it back behind the last row of seats. Naruto would grab his teammate and pull her back if one of their enemies was about to attack her and she didn't notice. Whatever shinobi the two didn't see coming one of their comrades from Konoha finished them off. Naruto did whatever he could to defend his teammate and never once missed as his determination to survive allowed him to focus better than he would have if he were safe and practiced. Several times, Sakura would shout out "Nice one, Naruto!" if she saw him take down one of the shinobi from Suna but the blonde shinobi didn't have time to blush at her admiration.
When the two of them were about to reach the stone corridors and hide downstairs, Kakashi appeared and stood in front of Naruto and Sakura, covered in blood.
"Naruto! Sakura," he called to his students while he remained determined to defend them from the invasion forces, "I am giving you both an A-Ranked mission."
The blonde-haired rookie blinked at the mention of a mission, but then scowled at his teacher when he told them what their mission was about:
"I want you two to wake Shikamaru and retrieve Sasuke. I saw him run after Gaara and the other two Suna Siblings. I have a hunch he went after them to finish his fight. Get him to stop and come back to the village by any means necessary. After that, hide somewhere safe and wait it out. I will come and find you… Sakura, are you still familiar with the emergency drills they used to give you back in the Ninja Academy?" asked Kakashi.
Sakura nodded and said, "But during those drills, we were informed of always having a fourth member on a team to lead us. We're short one member."
In one fast motion of slick movements, Kakashi cut his thumb with a kunai and weaved several handsigns. He slammed his hand down on the back of an unconscious civilian and a burst of white smoke revealed the most adorable pug dog, dressed in suitable shinobi attire and headband.
Kakashi instructed them, "Pakkun will be the fourth member. Now release the genjutsu from Shikamaru and find Sasuke! Just as soon as Gai punches that Otogakure shinobi through the wall behind Naruto."
"What?" blinked the blonde-haired wizard.
At that moment, Naruto heard Sakura scream for him to look out, but then he felt a sudden rush of air breeze behind him, followed with a loud thud that sounded like a truck hit the wall behind him. He turned his head slowly and saw Gai had thrust an Oto-nin into the wall behind him. The masked soldier came behind him and could have killed him in a heartbeat had it not been for Gai's unbelievable speed and strength. Gai continue to thrust forward and created a massive hole in the wall as the Oto-nin fell, buried under the rubble and concrete.
"YOSH! There we have it!" announced a boastful Gai.
Naruto sweat out a storm and seemed to have lost a lot of blood to his head when he realized Gai's sheer strength and wheezed in a comical fashion, "Y-You know, I'm so thankful we're on the same side, Gai-sensei…"
Gai smiled at Naruto and showed off his teeth, much like what how he did with Kakashi earlier.
Sakura and Naruto then crawled over to Shikamaru who was still unconscious. Sakura knelt down beside him and worked fast to release him from the illusion. But then she noticed he didn't move, she looked him over and then she noticed his face twitch. Sakura looked cross with the slothful rookie and clenched her fist with frustration and irritation.
"Shikamaru… You were awake this entire time?" she chewed out.
The small pug named Pakkun walked over to Shikamaru and then he chomped down on his leg. Almost at once, Shikamaru screamed and tried to shake the adorable little animal off of him: "YOWWWWWW!"
"YOU LAZY IDIOT! YOU WERE ABLE TO REVERSE THE GENJUTSU!" screamed Sakura, "You tried to sleep out the invasion like some kind of a coward?!"
Naruto shook his head and said, "Poor Shikamaru. First Ino strikes him and now it's a little puppy."
The small dog walked over to Naruto and stared at him with an usual expression. Naruto stared back at the little animal and couldn't help but think it looked a lot more expressive than most animals, almost like the toads he summoned.
"I'm not a puppy," barked the small animal, "I'm a certified ninken! Is the headband not evident enough, kid?"
Naruto almost screamed, but he wanted to make sure he didn't hallucinate and asked, "Did the mutt just talk?"
Shikamaru collected the small animal and stretched out its elastic, fur-coated skin to make sure it was a real canine, "It looks like it… But I don't want to get involved with this whole thing; it's all too troublesome. And I don't care about Sasuke. You two can count me out…"
It was clear Pakkun was irritated as Shikamaru continued to abuse him and stretch out his skin, so he bit down on Shikamaru's hand when it was close to his mouth.
"OUCH!" screamed Shikamaru.
Pakkun relented and walked over to Kakashi to know what he had to do. Naruto stared at the little canine, freaked out for the second time to see animals talk. He held his head to make sure his head didn't explode while Sakura sulked at Shikamaru's decision and refused to aid them.
Shikamaru insisted, "I'm still not going."
Sakura was about to deck Shikamaru and scream at him. But Naruto stopped her and crawled in front of him once he had a clear mind.
The blonde wizard offered, "I will give you a free coupon to Mattress World if you come with us to locate and rescue Sasuke-teme."
Shikamaru stared at his friend and seemed interested when he imagined how much sleep he could get if he had a new free mattress. Naruto did have a coupon he cut out from a magazine but it was at his house and he wanted to save it for his new bedroom at Iruka's house. But if it would convince Shikamaru to come with them, it was worth it. And it seemed to work as Shikamaru caved in.
Shikamaru moaned and said, "You better deliver on that as soon as this is over, Naruto. You hear me?!"
Pakkun then barked after Kakashi briefed him on the situation, "Let's move!"
{{The Black Lake by Patrick Doyle}}
Sakura was the first one out of the hole as she clenched Shikamaru's shirt and forced him to follow. Pakkun went in after, but Naruto hesitated when he noticed the Kage's box. The area was covered with some purple, box-like barrier. There were several ANBU stationed outside the box that blocked them out and trapped whoever was inside in. Naruto could make out the forms of four individuals at the corners of the barrier within. All of them were teenagers, but one of them had two heads, the other was fat and had a mohawk, one of them looked a lot like Shikamaru but had six arms, and the fourth of them was a kunoichi with red hair. Naruto couldn't see the Sandaime or Orochimaru within the barrier but he knew both of them were inside, trapped and forced to fight each other until one of them was dead, he assumed. Naruto stared at the barrier with determination as he heard the sounds of fighting inside even at the immense distance.
The blonde-haired wizard wanted to help the Sandaime and save him from Orochimaru and asked, 'Nii-san… You think I can Apparate inside of that barrier?'
'Yes, it's possible. But you have no idea what you'll reappear in front of. You might appear in front of a powerful jutsu. It's far too risky, Naruto. You wouldn't stand a chance against a Sannin like Orochimaru. At least not twice in a lifetime at your current level…'
Kakashi noticed Naruto didn't leave and ordered him to leave, but his voice sounded like a distant echo as the wizard contemplated his decision, "Naruto! GO! Get out of here now! Follow Pakkun and Sakura!"
Kakashi saw Naruto remain where he stood, frozen and shut him out like he didn't even exist. He assumed Naruto wanted to be bitter towards him after the attitude he showed him. He would have chewed him out for his immature behavior, but then he remembered he tried to warn him about what Gaara was, and felt his behavior was somewhat justified in this situation. So he tried to handle it better than he would have if he had shouted at his student until he scared him off.
"Naruto," he called out, "I'm sorry about what I said earlier! But you have to move now! Your teammates need you!"
The blonde-haired wizard didn't care if the odds were against him. He wanted to save the old man from harm after all the kindness he showed him throughout his entire childhood.
'I have to help him, Harry! He raised me after mum died! I can't just abandon him!'
'Naruto… Do what Kakashi says. Your friends need you now.'
The blonde wizard didn't want to abandon his grandfather but soon forced himself to leave and followed his friends and Pakkun. As the blonde shinobi soared from tree to tree, he looked back at the stadium and watched it shrink, smaller and smaller and saw the dark barrier that contained the old man and his snake-like nemesis. He stared at it until the trees of the forest obscured it from sight and felt his heartache all the while as one tear flowed down his face.
"Good luck, old man… Please, don't die…"
Kakashi watched as his students vanished into the trees. He had second thoughts if he should have sent his students out there at all, but he couldn't abandon Sasuke. When he thought about it some more, he convinced himself it was for the best and that the kids would be fine. But his eternal rival didn't feel as confident about it.
He asked Kakashi after he beat down another Oto-nin, "You think those kids will be ok, Kakashi?"
"Pakkun will look after them," the masked shinobi threw a dozen kunai at several targets at once and took them all down with little to no effort, "Those three will be fine."
Gai grasped the neck of another one of their violent enemies while Kakashi heard a crack and Gai said, "You didn't have to tell Naruto off like that earlier, rival! We should have listened to him! Naruto tried to warn us about Gaara! None of us would have guessed that kid from Suna was a jinchuuriki! You could have taken Sasuke out of the tournament before he decided to run off like he did! I mean, if Orochimaru planned to start the invasion in the middle of the match to begin with it doesn't look like it would have mattered if he showed up at all!"
Kakashi ducked under a few Oto-nin with the use of some advanced, circular taijutsu and forced them to attack and run into each other, and knocked them out. Gai then tossed them down the hole in the wall and heard them moan.
"Well, its too late now," said Kakashi, "What's done is done. But if it helps, I did apologize to him. Are you satisfied now?"
The bowl cut shinobi warrior said to his friend, "You shouldn't be so concerned about me, rival."
"GAI, LOOK OUT!" shouted Kakashi when an Oto-nin came out of nowhere.
Gai didn't even turn around, but slammed his fist into the shinobi's with one cool move and smirked, "You see what I mean?"
"That still only counts as one…" said an embittered Kakashi when he noticed the Oto-nin collided into several other enemies and accumulated over a dozen defeats in one move.
The other jounin smirked as he boasted out loud, "Who's counting, rival?!"
At the same time this was happening, several ANBU were made their rounds around Konoha. One or two of them stopped to check something over their shoulder, but disregarded it and continued to finish their patrols. If the team checked around the area some more, the ANBU would have been aware of the massive armies stationed outside the walls around Konoha, mixed with countless soldiers from Otogakure no Sato. Some of them formed various circles and focused their shared chakra. When the invasion started, the circles released a massive amount of white smoke and revealed several massive serpents. The snakes were far larger than any of the creatures Orochimaru summoned in the Forest of Death. The beasts slithered through the forests and crashed into the walls of Konoha, killing dozens of oblivious shinobi in an instant.
And with the destruction of the wall, countless shinobi and kunoichi from Otogakure no Sato and Suna poured into the village and attacked every man and woman dressed in a uniform as the serpents destroyed buildings and caused massive explosions and fires.
The invasion of Konoha had begun.
To Be Continued…
There we have it! Not much is different this time around from the old chapter, other than the fact that it's written better. But in the original version, Sasuke didn't receive any punishment and I stuck it close to what happened in canon. But in the original scene with Naruto warning Kakashi about Gaara: Sakura continued to interrupt Naruto and he tried to get Kakashi to listen to him, beating around the bush more than necessary, testing Kakashi's patience. It eventually forced Kakashi into so much irritation that he almost shouted at Naruto to shut up. I always hated that scene in the manga and in the anime, which is why I decided to write Chunin Exams first and rushed the creation of each chapter back in 2009-2010. Back then I wanted to get what I believed to be Kakashi's worst moments out of the way quickly, because I really like Kakashi and I wanted to get his worst moments done and over with and move on. But that was a bad move, looking back on it. That's when I had to start all over with Book 1 and now we're back here :P
I also added a scene where Naruto uses Kingsley Shacklebolt's Momentum Reversal from Deathly Hallows Part 2, so I hope you guys out there liked it :D But other than that, I added a moment where Kakashi apologizes for telling Naruto to shut up when he was trying to warn him about Gaara, though it was kinda rushed and glossed over from Naruto's point of view. But other than that, I think that's it :D
Azeroth44: Well, that's fine and dandy and all, but back to how I picked up the bone of the father and flesh of the servant back in the originally chapter.
Kvsyaoran: WILL YOU STOP GOING ON ABOUT THAT?!
AZ44: NEVAH!
Naruto: I vote for us to end the chapter and work on the next couple of chapters!
AZ44: But didn't Leaf Ranger get a brief cameo in the previous version? I distinctly remember he gave me a vial of Sasuke's blood to fuel the resurrection ritual.
Leaf Ranger: That happened? O_O It must have been a while then...
K: Kinda like that?
AZ44: Exactly like that! Wait... WHAT?!
LR: Yup! See ya!
K: See ya! So anyway, you guys want to wrap this up now? Because I got over 100 pages of Invasion of Konoha Arc chapters that need edited.
AZ44: But you forgot to mention the first appearance of Deathwing from World of Warcraft!
K: GO TO THE CORNER!
And with that said, tune in next week for the next chapter! I look forward to reading your opinions on this chapter until then! Stay awesome, guys!