41
Even underneath the water Goku could feel the ground rumbling. His eyes were constantly averting between Hayate's dead body trapped in the vines and 19 beginning to be encased by the wood that was growing out of the ground. Even more trees suddenly sprouted out of the ground and shot Goku from out the water and into the air. Instead of free falling back toward the ground, he felt himself dangling over the arena battleground. He could see a mini forest growing within it, with a large tree in the center; holding 19's body with vines connecting to his stomach.
While he was still hanging above the arena, Goku asked himself, "Am I flying?" His body was lifted up higher and his head twisted back to see his sensei holding him by the collar of his shirt, "K!" He latched onto K's leg and started laughing, "Ha long time no see!" The last time he had any real time with his sensei was when he began his training for this portion of this exam.
K rolled his eyes and tried to refocus his brain on the task at hand. Not having to deal with Goku's antics for weeks, he got used to silence and an unusual lack of foolishness. He looked down on the constantly changing battle ground of the arena and then shifted his eyes toward opposite side of the village, "We need to leave." He alerted his student and was about to make his move, but when he shifted his body to take off flying using his wind manipulation a vine whipped through the air and wrapped around his ankle. Both Kumo shinobi were plummeting to the ground and Goku let go of K's leg and crashed through multiple branches.
He nearly went back under the water but Goku stuck to the base of the tree and quickly climbed back up to get a better aerial view. Before he was attacked again he scoped the field and saw the trees constantly mutating and growing, and the tree holding 19 getting gradually taller. He couldn't just leave like K wanted, as childish as it was to think; he wanted to see the extent of his new jutsu Minato created. When a branch came shooting at him trying to wrap around his body he shot to the side, using his fire Chakra to propel himself in the opposite direction. He picked up how to do it by simply observing K, and as soon he shot upward as the branches and vines honed in on him. They twisted around each other and turned into a deadly tendril, trying to stab Goku repeatedly.
Luckily K had escaped the bind he was in and assisted Goku with his wind chakra, shooting out sharp bullets of air with his mouth and slicing through the Mokuton created tendril. The man flew across the field, dodging all the weaponized vegetation shooting at him and grabbing Goku once again, "I said we're leaving." He looked over his shoulder and watched Konoha Jounin and Chunin jumping into the fray, some of them being killed instantly by the giant tree wrapping around their throats and holding them in the air. He furrowed his brow watching the life being sucked out of them when they came in contact with the wood release.
"The tree is absorbing their chakra," Goku informed K as he wrestled himself free from K's hold. "We have to stop it, because if it keeps growing it might catch somebody from Kumogakure while they're trying to escape. It might even reach Kumogakure if it keeps growing." Goku was floating next to K using his fire chakra to sustain himself.
"Don't be foolish," K didn't want to admit how impressed he was by Goku dissecting his flight technique so easily, and the semi-realistic point he was making. The tree definitely wouldn't grow all the way to Kumo but it would make escaping troublesome. It was capable of fighting off multiple enemies as shown, even as he planned a possible escape, giants hands made of wood shot out of the ground and tried to smash he and Goku between its palms. Using his wind chakra to keep the hands from coming together, and Goku propelling himself from between the hands toward the giant tree in the center.
He joined the Konoha ninja in flying through hand seals and taking a deep breath, followed by exhaling a giant ball of fire that were all focused on the main tree. Instead of it burning to a crisp like they all expected it absorbed their attacks and shot it right back at them, he flew out of the way and kept avoiding vines while doing so. More ninja were grabbed by the constantly whipping vines and drained of their chakra, the main tree growing even bigger. The saiyan maneuvered through it with ease and tried get closer to 19 but a giant fist made of wood shot out from the center tree and punched him into the stands.
He almost broke his back from the impact and the seats began to cave in on him. Lucky for him a Konoha ninja with gravity defying white hair held a slab of debris up from crushing the young saiyan, "Come on kid, even you need to evacuate. This is our problem now," Kakashi reached in and pulled Goku out of the newly created pit before turning his head to the two kids waiting for instruction from him. "Naruto, Sasuke, we need to find Jiraiya." Goku watched as the trio took off and left him where he sat. The brief moment of silence was cut short when even more bodies crash landed into the stadium stands, the others not as fortunate as Goku and being killed by the debris falling and crushing them.
The saiyan boy pushed himself to a stand suddenly when a large wood tendril tried to impale him, he rolled out of the way and watched as it dug into the arena and established a foothold. The Mokuton mutated wood started to branch out and grow into a tree in the middle of the stands, tearing through the ceiling and continuing to grow. Goku leapt back into the arena and took flight with his fire manipulation and maneuvered through more tendrils trying to attack him.
Konoha shinobi were yelling, "Ninjutsu won't work against it, we need to find another way!" Goku was constantly flying around the arena trying to avoid being stabbed through a vital spot or having his chakra drained, meeting up with K above all the mess. The man suddenly grabbed him around the neck and pulled him close.
As they were flying, Goku lifted his hand and noticed he had a green aura radiating off of him. He looked up at K and noticed the same radiating off of him, "I'm transferring my ki to you. Chakra doesn't work but natural energy does." When K stopped glowing and Goku was overflowing with natural energy, K suddenly let him drop to the ground toward the center tree. "Finish this, Goku."
XxX
With the entire village in disarray, the remainder of the military force was looking for guidance from their leader. After twenty straight minutes of sending troops in to combat the great tree and only getting dead soldiers in return, it was time to change the game plan. A majority of the higher level shinobi throughout the village were occupied with something unknown, and now a lone Konohamaru was left to search for his grandfather. He managed to slip away from the crowd, even the jounin that were currently evacuating the village.
The boy heard a lot of loud crashes from the other side of the stadium as he ran through the hallways. The academy student leapt over a sudden branch that shot through the wall of the arena and rooted itself into the ground. The rampaging mokuton technique was beginning to take over the whole arena, as he tried to keep ascending to the sky box where his grandfather was last seen.
He cut around the corner and ran up the flights of stairs as fast as his adrenaline fueled legs could take him. The higher levels were completely destroyed, full of wood that was all rooted into something he couldn't quite see. Even the ninja that didn't jump into the battle had branches wrapped around their throats with pale, dried to skin. The boy furrowed his brow, "they've been sucked dry?" He asked no one in particular, the sight of the next hall being full of dead bodies bringing him to a sudden standstill.
Konohamaru covered his mouth and stumbled backwards. So many ninja that he saw around the village had been killed already, and now the death toll had grown even higher, "What's going on?" He saw the match, when 19 suddenly freaked out, but how did it turn into all of this?
While he was distracted by the devastation, a branched managed to wrap around his ankle and quickly started dragging him down the hall. Since he was only an academy student he didn't have an actual weapon on him outside of school, and his sling shot couldn't do much for him in this situation. The boy tried to pry his ankle out, feeling thorns spike out of it and dig into his skin. He hissed in pain, thinking he was about to suffer the same fate as these other ninja, but he suddenly hit the ground with a thud.
He was disconnected from the branch, watching it slither back into the wall. Konohamaru closed his eyes and bit his lip, tearing up a bit as he pulled the thorned part of the branch out of his ankle. He was breathing hard once he realized how deep the wound was, starting to regret coming to look alone. When he opened his eyes he started to wonder just how he broke free, but when he looked to his side he saw a still buzzing chakra blade on the ground, and when he looked up to see Asuma with a frown on his face as he looked down on him.
"I had a bad feeling in my gut too, kid," He said as he took a drag of his cigarette, offering his hand to his nephew. Konohamaru accepted it and brought himself to a stand. "Something ain't right about all this."
Konohamaru frowned as he looked up at his uncle. They continued on in silence, the older man not even questioning his nephew why he wasn't evacuating since the situation was turning so dire. The entire chain of command was out of whack, no one had heard from the Hokage, Shimura Danzo, the rest of the council or any ANBU members. The last place the man was seen was in his sky booth at the arena, which the two Sarutobi's were currently approaching.
Asuma's knuckle blades immediately radiated with energy and elongated with a shroud of chakra. He motioned for Konohamaru to stay back as he pressed his back against the wall before he rolled into the room to do a quick sweep.
There were no enemies.
He stood frozen when his eyes lowered to the puddle of blood leaking from a body that was covered by a pile of debris. Asuma immediately rushed over and dug through to rubble so he could identify the body, his chest feeling heavy when he tugged on the blood stained white robes of the man he knew as his father. He tilted his head back and sat there in silence as he stared into the now
lifeless eyes of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Asuma grit his teeth and pulled his father out even further from the rubble. He examined his wounds and there were hardly any on his body that would kill him, his eyes being drawn to still fresh blood dripping from his forehead. There was a gaping hole right above his brow, and as he looked closer there seemed to be a piece of metal stuck in his father's head. He didn't have time to fully process it because he heard his nephew enter the room, and he now had to break the news, "Konohamaru…"
There were a few muffled sobs but Konohamaru puffed his chest out with a pained smile, "I-i know, but we got bigger things to worry about right now!" He said as he walked over and placed a hand on Asuma's shoulder. The older man nodded and stood up, holding the Hokage's body bridal style, "What do we do now?"
Before they could continue a loud crash sounded throughout the entire village followed by a still silence.
XxX
Mai had her back against the wall and a giant alien rifle pressed against her chest. She was sweating profusely, with a whole lot of adrenaline rushing through her body. Her part of the mission given to her by the Tsuchikage was complete, and that feeling of 'liberation' and 'pride' for her country wasn't flowing through her body like she thought it would be. Truthfully she felt guilty, killing the most powerful man in the elemental nations for a political game.
Now she was in a building surrounded by lurking Konoha shinobi who were wondering where the loud 'thunder clap' noise came from. When she heard rampant foot steps inching closer and closer to her location, she hoisted the giant rifle on her back and strapped it on, reaching to her waist to draw a pistol made completely from alien tech. She raised it and took a deep breath, before kicking the door down and charging into the hallway.
It was full of shinobi, but she wasted no time. Point, aim, shoot, and repeat. The little girl was an expert marksman, shooting between their eyes and rushing through the hall as they fell to the ground with a thud.
There was a kunai suddenly flying in her direction, the person aiming for between her eyes as well, but she was quicker to draw her weapon and fire off a round that changed the trajectory of the knife. It stabbed into the wall, and before she knew it there were four shuriken coming in her direction too, this time she simply used the weapon itself to deflect the throwing stars, and then roll out of the way of a flying kick as her assailant revealed himself.
Mai grit her teeth and backpedaled as the man tried to rush in and engage her in close range combat. That was a fight she would most definitely lose, parrying his strikes with her forearms as he tried to knock her pistol out of her hand. The girl maneuvered swiftly and placed the barrel of the gun right underneath his chin. She could see the sweat drip down the side of his face the moment she pressed her finger down on the trigger and blew his brains everywhere in the hallway.
She stumbled backwards and tried to wipe the blood off her face. Her main goal was to stay discreet until Raditz and Vegeta arrived to get her out of the building, but they were apparently running late. With all the noise her pistol was making she was sure there were more Konoha shinobi closing in on her location. The girl placed her hands around her temples and started to panic, "I'm going to die- no get it together," she let her hands fall to her side and tightened her grip on the pistol. "The Tsuchikage chose you for a reason," she said to herself and started running toward the staircase that brought her to the highest level of the building.
She took each step with caution, trying to make as little noise as possible. It was completely dead on the inside of the building since 19 lost control, villagers were evacuating and higher ranking shinobi were in the arena tending to the problem. Mai's main focus was making it out alive.
The girl had done away with the last of the shinobi trying to figure out where the shots came from. She was getting close to the ground level she came in on, pressing her back against the wall and scooting slowly toward the exit. With a gentle nudge from her hand she pushed the door open, and instead of daylight peeking through, it almost looked like a storm.
The street she was on was completely dead, quite literally. Nothing but fallen soldiers on each side slumped against the walls of buildings. The girl took a few cautious steps forward with her gun raised in front of her, just in case something or someone wanted to jump out and catch her with her guard down. The sounds of battle were off in the distance, closer to the gates, so she quietly pieced together how to move until she found a way to contact Vegeta and Raditz.
With no signs of life for at least a few miles, Mai decided to pick up the pace and ran down the street and turned the corner. She almost had a heart attack when she was swooped off of the ground and airborne in less than a second. It was exact person who she was looking for; Vegeta. Raditz was speedily following after them, and there was another speedy blur trailing both saiyans that she couldn't make out. Despite how fast things were moving, the saiyans seemed completely calm, "What is going on!?"
"Make yourself useful girl, shoot!" Vegeta barked right back at her.
The adrenaline rush from earlier quickly reactivated, her shaky hands getting steady and her aim was already set on the blur that was starting to become clear. It was a blue haired woman wearing a black and red cloak with wings protruding from her back chasing them through the skies of Konoha. Mai obviously didn't have time to ask questions, so she shut one of her eyes and pressed her finger down on the trigger.
In an instant Konan was dropping to the ground like there was a weight attached to her ankle. Mai was almost overcome with joy until she noticed that there was no blood, and the woman was breaking apart into hundreds of sheets of paper, "Please tell me she's supposed to do tha—"
In mere moments the trio of Iwa shinobi were surrounded by paper bombs, they all ticked down and exploded, knocking them around the sky, and eventually sending them all crashing down to the ground. Vegeta and Mai hit the ground with a thud and Raditz followed right after, all three of them bloodied from the combined impact of the explosions and hitting the pavement hard. Mai was breathing extremely hard and Vegeta violently threw her off of him as he pushed himself to a stand.
The bits of a paper started to reform and Konan reappeared in the middle of the street, "Don't make this harder than it has to be, child," She said to Vegeta as he prepared to continue fighting with the Akatsuki member. "You and I both know you do not belong on this planet, it is time for you to return home." Her brow furrowed when Vegeta smirked.
"There is no home for Saiyans anymore you ignorant earthling," Vegeta spat out, "This will be my planet soon."
Konan nodded, "Very well, you'll be the first Saiyan I arrest in this forthcoming purge of the aliens."
XxX
Jiraiya bounced from roof top to roof top with a furrowed brow. The grand entrance he planned to make in the Chunin Exams was ruined the moment he stepped foot in the village. He didn't even make it to the arena before 19 exploded and turned into a giant tree. The last he checked, his sensei was holding down that part of whatever surprise battle had been induced, while he sent a fleet of men to help evacuate and hold down the gate.
They were supposed to send some form of update, but he hadn't heard from them since this fiasco had started. As he was making his way toward the gates, he was nearly knocked off of his path by someone moving just as fast as him. He only caught a glimpse of said person, their face being covered by a shemagh, but he saw hints of green skin. The next moving figure passed by in a blur of black and red as well, making the man pause as he watched them disappear to the other side of the village in the blink of an eye, "What the hell is going on here?"
He took a moment to actually turn full circle, and Konoha was in worse condition than he originally thought. There were billows of smoke rising into the air, multiple explosions going off throughout the village, giant white birds flying through the sky, and of course an unnatural tree growing even bigger coming from the arena. His head swiveled back to the direction of the gates, which were now in sight, and he saw all of the shinobi he sent to guard the gates lying underneath said gates that had been toppled over.
Wondering what could have caused all of this; his answer was a few hundred feet away from the gate. Extremely large machines that looked built for none other than war and destruction were approaching. They were big and boxy, and on the front it was a giant cannon that was currently being configured to aim right at him. There were five more right behind it . He looked down at the ground and saw wide marks that could have only been caused by wheels attached to that same heavy machine. Jiraiya's eye widened when he realized the village was currently being invaded, which made him wonder how much of this situation was an accident, and how much was intended.
"I'd move if I were you, human," A voice bellowed through an intercom, speaking to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya smirked, "Human," He laughed to himself. "So I finally get to fight an alien?"
A panel on the roof of the war machine opened up and a smaller figure floated right out and landed on the path to the already destroyed gates. He was about the same size of Sasuke, wearing clothes more suited for a trip to the desert, and a shemagh to cover his face, "This is my village now, until my father can properly make his return to his throne." He slowly removed the shemagh and revealed his green skin and strong facial features, and what looked to be an almost permanent scowl plastered on his face. "This is your last chance to move out of my way."
"Why not run me over with one of your fancy rolling machines, gaki?" Jiraiya questioned.
"I know you're stronger than that," Junior said with something of a smirk.
Jiraiya nodded.
"Now, let's get started."
XxX
I'll pull it all together next chapter, which is coming out Monday. I promise.