Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
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Memories Of Others
Chapter 42
A Genin's Bravery
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"Your sand armor covers your skin, but every armor has a weak point." Shino stated calmly. "I wonder if your eyes are as vulnerable…"
"You'll never learn!" Gaara howled, the cork of the gourd he wore popping off as a torrent of sand flowed out, swatting away the bugs before rearing up and crashing down over Shino, reducing him to a sand-covered lump on the ground.
"You missed." Shino said as he stepped out from behind one of the tangles of branches near the edge of the arena and Gaara's sand retracted, revealing a crushed and splintered log where Shino had been standing. "I believe that it is now my turn."
A rumbling noise marked slabs of stone rising up to seal off all the doors at ground level, then a dozen scrolls unrolled downwards from where they had been concealed under the lip of the wall, showing large fuuinjutsu patterns that almost immediately revealed what their purpose was.
Each scroll almost vanished behind a wall of spray as a veritable waterfall poured out, covering the entire arena floor in under a minute and continuing to disgorge their loads. Shino stood calmly on a small coracle that he had unsealed, letting it bob on the choppy water as he watched Gaara.
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"But… but Aburame hate the water!" Kiba spluttered. "They have, like, super-drowning skills!"
"Obviously not." Tsume mused. "Interesting…"
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"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed. "I wonder when he and his clan set that up."
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Gaara took a jagged breath as another portion of his frantically-created sand pillar became waterlogged and peeled off, vanishing into the now-five-foot-deep lake that had once been a solid arena. His gourd cracked and shattered into sand as he fought to stabilize his precarious platform.
"Water washes away sand." Shino noted as the scrolls finally exhausted their stored water. "How long can you hold yourself out of the water, Gaara of the Desert? Can you hold yourself above the water?"
Gaara started looking around in panic as the sand pillar reduced in size once again, then he screamed as the pillar sheared under him, sending him toppling into the water. An instant later, he resurfaced, standing in the neck-deep water, his hair plastered against his skull and tiny driblets of mud falling off his skin.
"Your sand is gone." Shino stated. "My clan provided me with the report of a Konoha shinobi who managed to observe you on one of your missions, you rely totally on your sand for attack and defense. Without it… even a civilian would have no trouble defeating you."
"Nooooooo!" Gaara screamed and as if in response to his yell, white feathers began to fall from the sky.
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The first clue that Naruto had that things were going wrong were when he started to feel sleepy, only to be jolted awake by a chakra burst from Asuma.
"What the… what's going on?"
"Genjutsu, and a big one." Asuma growled as he pulled out his knives, fitting his fingers through the holes in the hilts with the ease of long practice. "The Kazekage and his guards grabbed pops, we need to move!"
Naruto leaped after Asuma, glancing round as he did so, then he found himself facing a huge, transparent purple barrier.
"Shit!" Asuma growled. "We can't get in and with the genjutsu across the village…"
"I got it." Naruto interrupted, gathering chakra like Kurenai had showed him months ago, months that seemed almost like years. As the multi-armed man in the corner of the barrier closest to them sneered, Naruto gathered as much chakra as he could hold, then he released it in a giant burst.
"Kai!"
The wave of chakra seemed almost solid as it raced across the stadium and out into Konoha proper, shocking everyone awake. For an instant, the purple chakra cube seemed to waver, then it re-solidified.
"That's Orochimaru in there." Came a voice and Naruto glanced sideways to see the white-coated ANBU Okami standing beside him.
Naruto turned to Asuma, only to find him gone and the sound of fighting increasing below. Movement inside the cube caught his eye and he watched as three coffins erupted out of the ground, only for one of them to slowly sink back down. The other two opened and Neko gasped.
"The Shodai and the Nidaime! Orochimaru's summoned them from the grave to fight for him!"
"Hell, no!" Naruto shouted and suddenly he was standing by Hiruzen's side.
"Naruto?" Hiruzen asked in surprise. "What are you doing… no. How did you get in here?"
"I snuck a tag into your hat a few weeks ago." Naruto shrugged. "So, you need reinforcements… op-force style?"
Orochimaru paused, his hands resting against the back of the resurrected Hokage's skulls. "What are you doing and how did you get in here? This technique even covers attacks from below…"
"Kaimon! Kyumon! Seimon!" Naruto shouted, chakra almost crackling around him as Hiruzen placed one hand on his shoulder, then rested his staff on Naruto's other shoulder. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Smoke engulfed the rooftop, before disappating to reveal a sight that had Orochimaru's stomach dropping. The intruding genin stood with Hiruzen behind him, flanked by almost twenty clones of his old Sensei, each holding a copy of the Diamond Staff.
"Oh. Crap." Orochimaru managed.
"Naruto, I need you out there, helping to defeat those attacking Konoha." One of the Hiruzens said and Naruto vanished in a golden flash. "Well, are you prepared to face your teachers, young snake?"
"Hashirama, Tobirama, attack!" Orochimaru shouted, panic evident in his voice and the horde of Hiruzens lunged forwards, swinging their summoned staffs.
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Naruto appeared on the roof of the Hokage tower and glanced round, checking to see where the greatest concentration of fighting was. Before he could act, his attention was arrested by a trio of summons in the surrounding forest. Naruto shunshined to the outer wall and his hands flashed through five seals as he channeled as much chakra as he could.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A massive cloud of smoke formed and resolved into three giant Toads who glanced round, spotting the summoned snakes approaching the walls of Konoha almost instantly.
"Well, well, well, looks like I'll get that snake-skin wallet after all." Gamabunta rumbled, one paw stroking the handle of the sword thrust through his belt.
"Yeah, but until I recover from using the Gates, I can't help by spamming my clones." Naruto complained. "Dammit! I hate not being able to do things."
"Gamahiro, take the snake on the left." Gamabunta ordered and the green Toad reached up to unsheathe the two Katanas on its back. "Gamaken, you have the one on the right. The three-headed one is mine."
"Understood, Gamabunta-dono." The sword-bearing toad responded.
"I'll do my best, but I am rather clumsy."
"Go!"
Naruto held on as tightly as he could as Gamabunta accelerated past the three-headed-snake, his blade almost hissing as it sliced off one of the snakes heads.
"It's coming after us!"
"Then that means it isn't smashing down the walls." Gamabunta countered as he spun with a lightness that belied his size. As he settled, the ground shook and Naruto glanced across to see Gamaken, moving with incredible grace, slamming his Sasumata down again, crushing the head of the snake he was fighting and causing it to dispel.
"Gamaken's finished his one off!"
"So has Gamahiro." Gamabunta smirked and the now-two-headed-snake paused, glancing at where its brethren had been and the two toads leaping towards its position, weapons glinting in the sunlight.
"Boys, help me pin this one down so that we can ask a few questions."
Naruto had never seen a snake swallow nervously before, but the one before him did so before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
"What just happened?"
"The coward dispelled itself." Gamabunta grumbled, using the flat of his blade to send a group of roof-hopping Oto shinobi screaming into the air. "Hmmm, looks like that girl over there could use some backup."
"What? Where? Hinata!?"
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Hinata stood in front of the entrance to the shelter where the Academy students had been escorted, three corpses that had been Oto Shinobi lying in front of her.
"It's only one girl!" An Oto Jonin shouted as he rallied his team and Hinata dropped into a modified Jyuuken stance.
"You shall not pass." She declared, trying not to let her fear slow her down.
"Yeah, You and what army?" The Jonin sneered just as a flash of light marked Naruto's appearance. Even as he appeared, he lunged forwards, the Rasengan forming in his hand and ploughing straight through the Jonin's chest.
"That," He panted, "Would be me."
The surviving half-dozen Oto shinobi exchanged glances, then vanished.
"Naruto, we need clones." Hinata commanded and Naruto winced.
"I'm still using the Gates, mine will dispel at once."
"But mine won't and we need more eyes." Hinata stated. Naruto nodded and pulled her into a hug.
"Taijuu Kage Bunshin!"
Two dozen new Hinatas appeared in a cloud of denser-than-normal chakra smoke and promptly took to the rooftops, their byakugans active as they sought out the enemy shinobi still fighting.
"What's happening on the roof over there?" Hinata asked, pointing to the distant purple cube. "My byakugan can't penetrate it."
"Jiji's laying the smack down on Orochimaru." Naruto grinned. "I used the Gates to give him almost a dozen clones to help him."
Hinata made several hand-signals and three of her clones dropped down around them, taking up guard positions.
"Shut those Gates and let me heal you so you can start making more clones." Hinata commanded.
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"How's that?" Hinata asked, removing her green-glowing hands from Naruto's torso. "You should be healed enough now."
Naruto closed his eyes in concentration and several dozen clones popped into existence around him before leaping off to join the Hinata-clones in harrying the retreating Oto shinobi.
"Thanks, Hime-sama." Naruto smiled. "It looks like things are calming down now. Thanks, Gamabunta-san, but I think it's almost over."
"It was a brief fight, but it wasn't a bad fight." Gamabunta smiled. "Call us again when you need us."
As he vanished, a white-haired figure landed beside him, a bloody kunai held in his hand.
"Nice one, Gaki." Jiraiya grinned. "Looks like things are almost done, Orochimaru lost. Hold this point until further notice."
"You got it, Pervy-Sage." Naruto grinned as Jiraiya took to the rooftops, searching for any enemy still trying to harm Konoha, then he grabbed at his head and staggered slightly.
"Whoah, that's a lot of new techniques..."
Hinata turned slightly as she focused on the rooftop where the chakra barrier had been.
"There's… seven Hokages! No, six… four… two… just one."
"Yeah, and I'm getting the headache to prove it." Naruto grumbled. "Some of those techniques he used, he didn't even pause to think about how to do them, he just did them as if they were as reflexive as… as catching a kunai."
"One of his nicknames is The Professor." Hinata shrugged. "He wouldn't have earned that title if he didn't know lots of ninjutsu."
"And how to use them." Naruto added. "You alright?"
Hinata nodded, then she flung herself into Naruto's arms, tears cascading down her cheeks.
"Hinata?"
"I… I killed them…" Hinata sobbed and Naruto looked at the trio of corpses, then concentrated on hugging Hinata.
"Hinata?" A voice called and Kurenai landed next to them, her eyes taking in the situation almost instantly. "Oh dear… first kill… I'd hoped to delay it until she was at least Chunin… I've got this."
Naruto let Hinata's Sensei enfold her in a reassuring hug as Hinata sobbed into her shoulder.
"Uzumaki-san?" A voice said and Naruto turned to see an ANBU standing nearby. "The Hokage wants to see you."
"Go." Kurenai said, looking up briefly from her crying student. "I'll help Hinata through this… it's something that all shinobi go through at some point… I still remember my first kill…"
Naruto looked at Kurenai for a long moment, then nodded and vanished in a flash of golden light. Karenai stared in shock at the place that he had been.
"He's learned the true Hiraishin? He's mastered his father's jutsu?"
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Author's Afternote – Yep, Naruto helped out, but he only saw a small portion of the battle.
The next chapter (Perspectives Of Battle) will be concurrent with the latter part of this one.