The crowd was a buzz of excitement as Naruto took his sheathed sword back from his Muse, the Champion and Familiar joining the genin applicants in the waiting area as iryonin took Neji away. Kiba's nose twitched in irritation at the different scents clinging to Naruto, a mix of chemical and floral perfumes from what he could tell. Naruto himself could smell the scents far more clearly now, but found he enjoyed the overwhelming sensations.
The Kazekage chuckled, "The crowd is astir." he commented with amusement.
"Yes, it was a rousing battle." Hiruzen agreed, although Neji had droned on for a bit in the middle there.
"No," The Kazekage disagreed, surprising the Hokage, "I believe they are excited for the next match." he corrected, "For all the curious shinobigashira and daimyo, no other match is more highly anticipated!" he pointed out, "By the way, is he here yet?" he questioned.
Hiruzen frowned since Sasuke Uchiha had not yet shown up, one of his aides suggested that it would be best to announce the forfeit soon before the crowd became too rowdy. The Sandaime Hokage felt his age as he sighed, "There is no other choice, as the rules dictate we must disqualify Sasuke Uchiha!" he said simply.
"Hokage-dono," The Kazekage interrupted, "I ask that you stay the declaration of Sasuke Uchiha's forfeit for now." he requested to the surprise of Hiruzen.
"Forgive me," a scarred aide of the Hokage spoke up, "but no matter the level of brilliance, shinobi who lack punctuality are not competent to become chunin." he said plainly and Hiruzen briefly considered the amusing idea of demoting Kakashi back to genin, "Unless we provide a clear-cut explanation for the gathered dignitaries, I know no reason why we should wait for him."
The Kazekage seemed to consider that for a moment, "I see, but there is sufficient reason." he spoke calmly, "A number of the shinobigashira here, myself included, came here almost solely to observe that match." he pointed out, "The boy is the last of the Uchiha clan, and as Kazekage I beseech you, allow him to face Gaara."
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes slightly, measuring his body language to hide his suspicion since the Kazekage hadn't cared to wait for the leader of Kusagakure but did care to wait for Sasuke, "Very well," he decided after a moment of pause, "we will postpone the match to wait for Sasuke Uchiha."
"Hokage-sama, are you sure?" The scarred aide asked.
Hiruzen nodded, "Inform the proctor." he ordered.
"Yes sir." The aide obliged, leaving to carry out the command.
Hiruzen turned back to the Kazekage, "Well, you are rarely so insistent, Kazekage-dono." he said while masking his suspicion, "Why is that?" he questioned.
"If our aim is to show all these potential clients the quality of our village's shinobi, there can be no better opponent than Uchiha." The Kazekage answered simply, "How could I pass up such an opportunity?"
The crowd was getting rowdy already, a few loudly demanding the next fight start already. Naruto and Sakura wondered where their teammate was, Shino just assumed the Uchiha had done the wise thing by avoiding an opponent like Gaara. The other Suna shinobi were worried that Gaara had in fact gone and killed Sasuke outside of the matches without being caught somehow.
The new proctor with the senbon in his mouth was given the instructions and proceeded to carry them out, "Everyone! One of the contenders for the match has not arrived yet." he began and Naruto pouted, disappointed that he'd miss out on a chance to fight Sasuke, "So, this match will be postponed, and we will proceed with the next scheduled match!" he declared and the other contenders were all surprised by that, "Well then, the next pairing is Kankuro against Shino Aburame." the proctor continued, "Please come down!"
Kankuro frowned, to him the match was trivial and there were mechanisms inside Karasu he didn't want to reveal just yet. The puppeteer exchanged a glance with his blonde sister, "I withdraw!" he announced, startling the other contenders and arousing suspicion.
Temari unfurled her fan, "Okay!" she said, leaping down to glide on the winds with it.
"Well at least you seem willing to fight!" The proctor said, his tone mocking Kankuro, "Sakura Haruno, your opponent is ready!" he called out.
"Woah, that's graceful." Naruto commented, "Sakura-chan don't take her skull, I want to enshrine her!" he announced with a grin. Kiba wondered what the blonde was even talking about.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Sakura snapped as she leaped into the arena after her opponent and landing with a thud as she readied her new axe. The kunoichi gripped the haft of her weapon in both hands and glared at her opponent. She wondered if she should try stalling to give Sasuke more time to show up. Her verbal response just made Kiba concerned, cementing that team seven really were a bloodthirsty bunch.
"You've got quite the temper," Temari commented with a smirk, "reckless too. I hope you're not expecting the kind of cat fight you got in the preliminaries." she taunted, as far as she was concerned an angry opponent was a predictable opponent.
Sakura's eye twitched as she tried not to fly off the handle, the mark under her hitai-ate throbbed in objection to her self control. The pink haired kunoichi tried to formulate a plan, if she could dodge all the wind with only minimal effort then her opponent would eventually run out of chakra. It was a sound plan for victory and it would give her missing teammate more time to show up for his own match.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Temari taunted with a mocking smirk, able to tell from the eye twitch that she was getting to the other kunoichi, "Are you scared to be facing a real kunoichi this time? I'm surprised you got this far on luck alone, but luck runs out eventually." she continued to mock, "Or are you just trying to look cool in front of your blonde teammate?" she added in a more teasing tone.
To the surprise of Temari, the most light of the verbal jabs was the straw that broke Sakura's patience, "I am not trying to impress that blonde idiot you fucking bimbo!" the pink haired kunoichi screeched, her expression turning furious as her rage boiled over and she charged recklessly. Sakura's parents were surprised by her language, they'd known she was more snippy lately but they'd assumed it was nerves and stress as she hadn't confided about the Ikari no Kami to them.
Temari's surprised expression became a smirk of victory as she swung her fan, "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" she declared, releasing scything gusts of wind. Sakura attempted to dodge but was not fast enough to dodge all of the wind and one of the blades caught her midsection in mid-air, ripping her qipao and sending her tumbling back the way she came.
Sakura rolled to her feet and charged again, her mesh armor visible through the tear in her dress. Temari responded with another swing of her fan and the pink haired girl tried dodging again, avoiding some of the wind but still getting caught and knocked backwards. Some cuts appeared on Sakura's body from the invisible blades of wind, but again the girl rolled to her feet and charged again.
"Are you trying to withstand these blows until I run out of chakra?" Temari asked in surprise as she swung her fan yet again, "You may get lucky with that armor for some of these, but you aren't heavily armored enough for that and you can't dodge them all!" she exclaimed when the same result occurred for Sakura.
The kunoichi screamed wordlessly as she charged again, not displaying any of the traits necessary for a chunin in her match but doing a good job at freaking out the audience. Temari scowled and swung again, the same thing happened. Each time Sakura charged she was knocked back by wind, blood dripping from the small cuts. The Proctor considered calling the match, but they were superficial and surprisingly Sakura didn't seem to be losing steam.
"Are you stupid or just insane!?" Temari snapped, starting to lose her cool, the screams of fury coming from her opponent as she charged were bone chilling and blood curdling at this point. Combined with the killing intent coming from the younger kunoichi, the visceral screams implied a hatred that Temari didn't feel like she'd earned with her earlier taunting.
"I'll use your spinal column to floss your eyes out of their sockets!" Sakura screeched deliriously, not even sounding coherent of what she was saying.
"Wait what?" Temari asked with a startled expression, disturbed by the threat from the younger kunoichi. Sakura screamed incoherently in response, but the words 'skull' and 'fuck' were barely decipherable.
Temari did not want to give her opponent a chance to follow through with that and swung her fan again, but this time Sakura stuck to the ground with chakra and stomped through the wind. The Suna kunoichi's eyes widened as the Konoha kunoichi power walked towards her, heedless of the deeper cuts appearing on her body, "Oh shit!" Temari exclaimed, folding her fan back up to use the steel edges to block the wild axe swing of the younger kunoichi.
Then Sakura kept swinging, not even trying to get around the guard of her opponent as she chopped consistently into the large tessen. Temari was backing up as the other girl swung wildly, forced on the back foot by her opponents furious assault. Now the proctor wasn't sure what to think, but he could tell that with how fast Sakura was going even he'd be hard pressed to use a Kawarimi no Jutsu, especially with both hands busy holding up the fan.
Sakura's parents exchanged a worried glance, wondering what had gotten into their daughter. Ino felt sympathy for Temari, the pink haired kunoichi was truly scary when she snapped like this.
Kiba frowned, "I knew she had some temper problems, but damn, when did Sakura-chan become a badass?" he wondered, raising an eyebrow. Shino also raised an eyebrow, but mostly because Kiba had never used that honorific for the pink haired kunoichi before.
"I think it happened in the forest of death, I was sleeping at the time." Naruto answered with a shrug.
Temari realized she was swiftly backing up towards the arena wall and scowled, swallowing her pride, "I quit!" she announced, forced to block another two swings after that, "Get this bitch off me!" she added in a panic. The proctor got behind Sakura and grabbed both of her wrists, eyes widening at the strength behind the swings.
Sakura panted, finally slowly calming down, "Huh? Oh, I won." she said, blinking owlishly as a studded brass choker materialized around her neck clasped with the same mark on her forehead. She did not receive the same applause as Naruto. Hiruzen realized after that display that Aoki had not been bluffing about the titles of the Ryuketsu no Kami. Temari collasped against the back wall, sighing in relief.
It was odd to see the winner of the fight more bloodied than the loser, but after that display no one questioned it. Tenten had been surprised by Naruto's victory, but Sakura's floored her. The bun haired kunoichi felt no shame that Sakura had somehow won though, a younger genin beating an opponent that she couldn't would probably bother her normally, but Sakura was clearly not normal.
"Ah," Sakura seemed to realize something, "I meant to stall for Sasuke-kun longer." she said sadly as she slumped over. Her mind made some connections and realized that the fight could have gone on longer if her opponent hadn't chickened out, "This is your fault." she grumbled, glaring at Temari who simply flinched under the gaze.
The blonde Suna genin didn't argue, she just hadn't wanted to risk getting badly hurt before certain plans came to fruition.
Kiba was still frowning, "Is it weird that Sakura-chan is kind of hot when she's angry?" he whispered to the two other Konoha genin in the waiting area. Shino gave him a look that was hard to decipher, but Kiba could see the frown.
"Yeah that's pretty messed up." Naruto responded bluntly. Karin wondered what was wrong with Konoha.
Sakura was escorted away to have her cuts treated by iryonin as Kiba Inuzuka and Karin Uzumaki made their way down into the arena. The red haired kunoichi swallowed a lump in her throat, she wondered why everyone said Konoha shinobi were soft with what she'd witnessed lately.
Kiba set Akamaru down, "You sit this one out buddy," he said, "and, uh, probably the next fight too." he added with a nervous chuckle. Akamaru just barked in agreement and sat back to watch, not leaving the arena in case Kiba's opponent had a trick up her sleeve.
Karin took a deep breath, she really wanted to withdraw. She didn't want to make Kusagakure look bad, especially not with Zosui around, but she also really didn't want to die. The girl steeled her nerves and got ready to do her best, grateful her first opponent probably wouldn't kill her.
Kiba knew he had some tough acts to follow, he knew the crowd was probably going to be disappointed after the two monsters that were the genin of team seven but he didn't let it get to him. As soon as the proctor announced they could begin he activated his Shikyaku no Jutsu, dropping to all fours and charging his opponent.
Karin stepped back on her left foot, pulling a kunai from her jacket with her right hand and tossing down a smoke bomb with her left. Kiba smirked, "That smoke bomb can't hide you from me!" he exclaimed as he charged in. The Inuzuka avoided Karin's kunai swing and grabbed her wrists, he considered simply pinning the girl and making her submit but decided that probably wasn't going to look good.
Kiba decided instead to drive his right knee into her solar plexus and pulled back, dashing around behind his opponent on all fours while she was stunned before shoulder checking her in the back. Karin stumbled forward and only barely managed to stay on her feet, she twisted to face her opponent with a concerned frown.
The Uzumaki girl realized her opponent definitely could have killed her if he'd wanted to there, and the fact he didn't helped to calm her nerves a little. Karin was still terrified of what would happen if Zosui didn't approve of her showing, and the girl readied her kunai again. It was apparent already that the girl was outmatched, the proctor was even tempted to step in early but he could tell her life wasn't in danger yet.
Zosui scowled from where he sat in the audience, in his eyes Karin was definitely making Kusagakure look weak. He could tell the crowd was getting bored already, the Kusa jonin hoped he would not be blamed for the poor performance. The man wasn't sure whether he should be blaming Karin herself or the Nara boy who had let her win out of laziness, but the Nara clan genin was well outside of the reach of Kusagakure.
Kiba continued to dash around his opponent, displaying superior speed and taijutsu to his opponent by not getting a scratch from her kunai as he basically toyed with her. He saw her eyes water and felt guilty, "Hey," he said, standing up straight for a moment, "why are you even actually here?" he asked.
Karin was startled by the question, glancing fearfully at Zosui, "I'm here to try and become a chunin-" she began.
"I don't need a dojutsu to know you're lying," Kiba interrupted, "seriously. I fought hard to get here." he said with a frown, "I don't want to mess with you, I ain't that kinda jerk." he assured, remembering Neji's fight against Hinata, "It's just..." he considered how to put this, "Bah, I'm not good with this shit, but I can smell your fear." he explained, "You aren't scared of me though, so who?" he asked.
Karin shivered with her eyes wide in alarm, "N-no." she said, shaking her head. Kiba frowned, he wasn't completely oblivious, he could guess what was happening and cast a glance towards the Kusagakure jonin. The Inuzuka sighed, dropping back down into his bestial stance.
"Alright, I think I get it." Kiba said quietly before dashing around his opponent again, "I'll just say this though, that Naruto guy, the blondie with the horns, he wants to save you." he told his opponent as he moved around the startled girl, "I get he can be a weirdo, and he killed your teammate, but if anyone can protect you from that Zosui guy, it's him." he explained as he kept his voice down and swept her legs, grabbing her wrists to pin her beneath him, "Also, he actually is Uzumaki by blood, at least according to Hokage-sama." he added in a whisper.
"Kiba Inuzuka has pinned his opponent, he is the victor!" The proctor announced quickly, he didn't think Kiba would go for the kill but the fight was one sided enough already. Karin's eyes were wide as Kiba got up and deactivated his Shikyaku no Jutsu, returning to the waiting area with Akamaru.
The red eyed girl didn't need to look to know Zosui was glaring at her and considered her options. She'd lost so technically she could leave now, and she was likely expected to return to her jonin. Instead she quickly went to the waiting area, Kiba's words ringing in her ears.
Zosui frowned as Karin returned to the waiting area, not only had she lost but now she was hiding from him. He considered storming into the waiting area and retrieving her to leave now, but strangely enough the head of their village still hadn't shown up yet. The jonin decided to save some face by leaving her be for now, the leader of Kusagakure would likely want to know how the other fights went anyway.
The crowd had started murmuring again after the last match, wondering where Sasuke Uchiha was. Sakura had returned with some bandages on her arms and legs, and Lee had shown up late with a frown, upset that he'd missed the first few matches. Naruto wasn't really sure why Karin was standing so close to him, but it didn't bother him since he didn't detect any malicious intent from the girl.
"Hey we're out of time," Kankuro muttered to Temari, "is he seriously going to come?" he asked, his older sister frowning but not having an answer.
"He'll come, I'm sure of it." Gaara said, startling his siblings with his words, mostly because they implied the boy really hadn't actually killed the Uchiha.
Finally, right before the proctor was about to announce his forfeit, Sasuke arrived with Kakashi, "Ah, so sorry we're late." the jonin apologized. The young Uchiha now wore a black shirt of similar design to his usual high collared shirt, but the right sleeve went down to just past his wrist, his shorts replaced with black pants tucked into bandages around his lower legs, small leather belts wrapped around over the bandages, more bandages covering his left arm, with an elbow brace on his left elbow, and more small leather belts wrapped around that same left arm over the bandages.
"I'm never trusting you with a clock again." Sasuke said dryly, his hair apparently having grown slightly longer in the month of training, although not nearly as drastically as Naruto's had.
The proctor smirked, "Your name?" he asked, know exactly who it was but wanting the boy to confirm it for the eager crowd.
"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke answered, glancing at the crowd himself, he saw Naruto and Sakura were there, but Neji was gone and deduced that the blonde had won. All the other competitors were there though so he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"See, he came." Gaara said with barely contained lust for blood creeping into his voice. With those words the boy with the gourd on his back made his way down to the arena to face his opponent.
Kakashi used shunshin to get to the waiting area, "Yo." he greeted, surprised that he needed to catch a fist Sakura had aimed right at his crotch, "Ah, sorry I made you guys wait." he said with a nervous chuckle. Knowing the kunoichi's temper was affected by an actual deity kept him from being too upset with her immediate resort to violence.
Sasuke considered the best way to go about facing his opponent as Gaara stared him down, "Begin!" the proctor announced and the Uchiha leaped back to avoid a sudden wave of sand. He activated his Sharingan, his eyes turning red as two tomoe circled his pupils to give advanced visual acuity.
Sasuke pulled out a kunai and strapped a kibaku fuda to it before pricking his left thumb with it and then tossing the weapon, deciding to test how the sand held up to explosive firepower without expending too much chakra. Predictably, the sand caught the kunai and kept the blast away from Gaara. As he weaved hand signs Sasuke noticed that the sand had good shock absorbing capabilities, then he dragged his left thumb under his right sleeve in a movement that lifted the sleeve to show the scroll of runes he was wiping his blood across on his inner arm while slapping his right palm to the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Sasuke declared as a burst of chakra smoke emanated from where he touched the ground, the crowd watched curiously as they wondered what manner of creatures the young Uchiha had signed a contract with. What emerged from the smoke none in the audience could accurately describe, it was a whirling, shifting, mass of what seemed to be pink flesh, slightly bigger than an adult Akamichi but the flesh reshaped easily as gibbering mouths laughed and giggled. Multiple different colored eyes with various pupil designs shifted across the shifting form of the creature before most of them locked onto Gaara.
Aoki had informed Sasuke these manner of beings were called Horrors, a lesser form of Daemon. The Uchiha could have summoned more of them, but merely wanted the creature to probe at Gaara's so called ultimate defense. Hiruzen was startled by the appearance of the thing Sasuke had summoned, for it was nothing like the Daemons Naruto could summon.
Kakashi had seen one while training Sasuke, in his opinion the Uchiha may have pushed himself a bit harder than required but the Uchiha had insisted Aoki was keeping his use of the Juin within safe parameters. Sakura felt a visceral disgust for the creature she couldn't quite explain, it's many laughing mouths and shifting form offensive to her in ways she didn't fully understand and she realized it was probably the mark on her forehead.
The Horror unleashed a dull red bolt of flame from an arm that grew out of it's form, bones visibly stretching out the pink flesh to fit a clawed hand as it did so. The lack of visible musculature allowing such movements disturbed the shinobi in the audience who could tell there was something simply and purely wrong with the creature, but the small bolt of flame was ultimately nothing to the Suna no Tate.
Gaara's sand rushed forth to crush the creature and it lobbed another bolt of fire over the sand, but the red flame still managed nothing as the sand coiled around the creature and squeezed. Sasuke frowned, Aoki had told him that Horrors were more dangerous in groups, their flames and jutsu both becoming stronger the more of them congregated.
The pink mass of flesh suddenly opened into one wide mouth as it was squeezed and two smaller, blue versions of the same monstrosity emerged as the pink one disappeared in a puff of smoke. The two new Horrors seemed to be roughly the size of a young adult human, and instead of unleashing bolts of flame they lunged towards Gaara. The Suna genin was surprised but crushed them under a wave of his sand, frowning when instead of blood they burst into flames that seemed to laugh and pull mocking expressions as they died down.
Sasuke smirked since some of Gaara's sand had indeed been turned to glass by the flames at the end, but it turned into a frown as his Sharingan detected that the glass was swiftly and easily broken down into sand by the remaining sand and was coming for him now. The Uchiha sighed, but supposed he hadn't simply learned the one jutsu in the month of training.
In a sudden burst of speed that alarmed Gai and Lee, Sasuke got behind Gaara and drove the sole of his foot towards the boy. When his foot impacted with a wall of sand he released a burst of chakra to blast the sand away as he flipped back, weaving hand signs in mid hair and unleashing a Gokakyu no Jutsu as he landed. Under cover of the blast of fire he dashed around again as Gaara's sand moved to stop the fireball, then Sasuke delivered a left straight punch that launched Gaara towards his glassed sand.
The remaining sand protected Gaara from going into the standing shards of glass as the boy had flashbacks of his fight with Lee from the speed and taijutsu ability Sasuke had suddenly displayed, his Suna no Yoroi cracked where he had been struck on the face. Gai took Lee down to the contestants waiting area, he needed to confirm something with Kakashi.
Naruto pouted, "Aw man, Sasuke gained almost as much speed as I did." he grumbled, truthfully Sasuke was currently just a little bit faster than him but Sasuke had already been faster before the month of training so Naruto wasn't technically lying about having gained more speed in the month of training.
Sasuke continued to dash around Gaara, outpacing the sand and probing his opponents defenses with pure taijutsu for a moment. Lee wasn't sure what Sasuke was getting at, the Uchiha should know from Lee's own attempts that pure taijutsu wouldn't work. The crippled genin also knew that the mix of high speed movements and ninjutsu would be a drain on Sasuke's stamina, but Gaara was not the kind of opponent that could be beaten with minimal effort.
Lee also recognized that Sasuke was in fact using the same taijutsu style Lee had spent years practicing, he'd heard Naruto had developed a bastardized Juken to defeat Neji with as well. The fact that two younger genin had matched the taijutsu of genin who were practically masters of their chosen taijutsu styles was nothing short of amazing, Lee couldn't help but feel jealous of their ability to improve so rapidly. The crippled genin had trained years to develop his speed, but Naruto and Sasuke had caught up in a mere month.
"Kakashi," Gai greeted as he and his injured pupil entered the waiting area, "exactly what kind of training did you put him through to hone him to that level of speed in just one month!?" he asked incredulously.
"Sasuke-kun copied Lee's taijutsu with his Sharingan," Kakashi responded plainly, "so I just had him visualize Lee's movements during his taijutsu training." he answered, Lee was as impressed as he was startled by that information.
"What about Naruto?" Gai asked with a raised eyebrow, he hadn't seen it but he'd heard the blonde had displayed similar speed and even used a Juken strike to lay Neji low. He wondered if Kakashi was mocking him by having his students surpass the specialties of his own students in a mere month.
"Kakashi-sensei had nothing to do with my training!" Naruto answered with a proud grin, "I just bought my own training weights and wore them the whole month." he explained cheerfully. Gai stared at the blonde in shock, Kakashi raised an eyebrow since he hadn't expected the blonde to do something like that either.
"Naruto-sama has a high recovery rate and preternatural stamina," Maemi piped up, "so he can train much harder than anyone else without crippling himself." she explained. That explanation was less frustrating for Lee, but he still struggled with some jealousy over the natural abilities of the two younger genin.
"Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, congratulations on your victories." Lee said, swallowing his frustration to congratulate the two. Despite his jealousy he was happy for the younger genin, although Sakura's bandaged injuries concerned him. The crippled boy was most frustrated with Sasuke's growth as now the Uchiha not only had sheer speed, but eyes that could see attacks moving at that speed that allowed precision and could see through ninjutsu or genjutsu.
Down in the arena Gaara's sand started to coalesce around him into a large orb of sand, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and halted his attacks as he analyzed the sand. From his probing he'd learned it was alarmingly dense when gathered together, and due to the loose nature of sand it could absorb kinetic energy far better than if it was truly solid.
Shino frowned as he overheard the other two Suna genin talking about Gaara having lost it and how he wasn't sticking to some sort of plan. The Aburame found that suspicious and slowly inched closer to Kakashi in order to inform a jonin of what he overheard.
Sasuke wasn't overly concerned though, he unhooked one of the belts strapped to his left arm and simply leaped up to stick to the arena wall with chakra. The Uchiha ran through a quick set of hand signs and poured his chakra to his left hand, "D-don't tell me that's-" Gai began, startled by the familiar jutsu.
Kakashi just smiled under his mask, "One of the reasons I took Sasuke-kun under my wing this past month, is because he shares some similarities to me." he said as Sasuke's chakra pulsed with the sound of chirping birds as it took the form of white-blue electricity and damaged the wall near his left hand.
"I see," Gai said as Sasuke rushed down the arena wall at high speed, "so this is why you had him increase his speed so much, not purely for taijutsu but so he could use that jutsu." he realized.
"Yup!" Kakashi said simply and cheerfully, practically copying Naruto's usual carefree cheer.
Sakura stared at the jutsu with surprise, "His chakra is carving up that solid stone wall." she realized, amazed by the Uchiha.
"Cool!" Naruto praised with a grin, "His hand just needs to be near the wall and it rips up the solid concrete!" he pointed out, surprising the others with his visual acuity. Karin was just baffled by the power being displayed by Konoha's genin, she was pretty sure most Kusagakure chunin weren't actually at this level.
"What is that move?" Sakura asked, "And that noise?" she added with a slight frown, finding the chirping to be annoyingly aggravating.
"It's a hand chop," Gai began, "however it's an original ninjutsu crafted by Konoha's top jutsu master, Copy Ninja no Kakashi." he continued, talking up his rival a moment as a man was measured by who he measured himself against, "It's a jutsu reserved for assassination, the secret is in the speed of the thrust and the pulsing Raiton chakra that can carve through just about anything, the pulsing electricity produces the unique attack sound that resembles the crying of a thousand birds." he explained, "Accordingly, that move is called Chidori!" he finished as Sasuke plunged his arm through the orb of sand, weaving through retaliatory spikes of sand with the aid of his Sharingan to do so.
Hiruzen was surprised as well, he hadn't expected Kakashi to teach Sasuke his own original ninjutsu. Gaara's team and sensei were shocked that something had actually gotten through Gaara's sand so cleanly, something they'd believed impossible until that moment.
"Chidori," Gai mused, "also known as the Raikiri." he continued.
"Raikiri?" Sakura asked.
Gai glanced at Kakashi, "Raikiri is the nickname, not because it is made of Raiton chakra, but because Kakashi once used it to cut lightning." he explained to the surprise of the listeners, "The formal name is Chidori, and the secret of its power lies in the speed required to use it and the pulsing chakra that, combined with the speed, form a blade that can cut through anything." he explained.
"I want it!" Naruto declared excitedly, eager to learn the jutsu for himself. Kakashi sighed at that, not sure how to explain to the boy that the Sharingan was practically a requirement to make the Chidori safe to use.
Gai crossed his arms and shook his head, "I can't believe you'd teach him such a reckless move." he scolded.
"As if you have the right to criticize me there," Kakashi retorted, "right, Lee?" he asked, pointing out without saying it that Gai had taught a far more dangerous jutsu to his own pupil.
Sasuke heard Gaara muttering inside the orb of sand, "What is this warm moistness? Mother what happened?" the deranged boy said, the Uchiha could feel his hand had lodged in some kind of flesh and it seemed his opponent was only just registering he'd been struck, "Blood! I'm bleeding!" Gaara suddenly cried out as he screamed in pain.
Sasuke winced as he felt the sand tighten around his arm and pulled back, not planning on losing his arm just to deal a single wound to his opponent even if Gaara was screaming as if he was dying. The Uchiha liked his arms where they currently were and desperately tugged. Sasuke managed to wrench his arm free of the sand with a burst of chakra but something strange followed after him, an arm that seemed to be made of solid sand covered in strange black markings like veins gripped his left arm in a clawed grip and he barely pulled free with only a scratch.
"What is that!?" Gai exclaimed in alarm, Kakashi was startled by the sight of the arm as well. Maemi felt an intense and raw hatred coming from within the orb and was startled to realize whatever was within had the power to rival even a Greater Daemon, she wasn't sure if Naruto would be able to summon one yet and Sasuke definitely didn't have the chakra for a Daemon of that magnitude even if the boy hadn't spent a lot of it using Chidori.
The arm retreated into the sand and Sasuke looked into the hole with his Sharingan, feeling a shudder of fear at the strange golden eye that glared hatefully back with a four-pointed star for a pupil flanked by four black dots. The orb of sand collapsed to reveal a wounded Gaara, his teammates shocked to see he really was injured, Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he wondered about the eye he'd seen since Gaara's were still light green.
Aoki warned Sasuke mentally that whatever that was, it had power he couldn't match yet and that he should kill his opponent before the boy could fully awaken the monster. That the Fearling referred to whatever that had been as a monster was alarming to the young Uchiha, but before he could follow through with the suggestion a smoke bomb went off where the two Kage sat as the audience fell under a sleeping genjutsu.
Naruto blinked, "Why do I see feathers?" he wondered, feeling drowsy. Maemi quickly fluttered Naruto's chakra to break the genjutsu before he could fall asleep, and the Muse considered doing the same for Sakura but saw the girl was simply unaffected by the genjutsu. The Imp of Slaanesh realized that the choker must be a lesser form of the brass collar granted to champions of Khorne to protect against magic, she should have figured but hadn't been certain.
Gai and Kakashi were capable of breaking the genjutsu themselves, the two elite jonin realizing something had happened. They turned to see Anbu moving to intercept the attack on the Hokage as the Kazekage leaped to the roof of the building they'd been on holding the Sandaime at kunai point, his own pair of guards moving to intercept the Anbu in turn.
The Anbu cut down the pair of Sunanin, but a quartet of Otonin burst from the bodies, revealing their use of Konbi Henge as the stood at four corners of the roof and activated a large purple flaming box of a barrier. The Anbu were startled to find they couldn't break through, one of them bursting into flames on impact with the violet wall before he could stop himself.
"I never imagined Suna would truly betray Konoha." Hiruzen remarked coldly.
"Treaties are merely smokescreens to lull the other party into relaxing their guard." The Kazekage responded in an amused tone, "This pitiful pretend competition is over, from here history will be made!"
"Are you inciting war!?" Hiruzen asked, although it seemed a pointless question by that point.
"Indeed." The Kazekage answered, the Hokage could practically hear the smirk in his voice.
"Let us avoid violence, and instead reach a settlement through negotiation. There is still time for that, Kazekage-dono." Hiruzen attempted diplomatically, wanting to avoid as much death as possible after all the wars he'd lived through.
The 'Kazekage' chuckled, "Old age has made you feeble in mind more than in body, Sarutobi-sensei!" he mocked, and Hiruzen's eyes widened as he realized who was actually under the Kazekage robes.
Kankuro, Temari, and their jonin sensei, Baki, all leaped down to cover Gaara as the proctor moved in front of Sasuke, "Gaara, the plan!" the jonin of Sunagakure ordered swiftly, frowning as he noticed the young genin shivering and clutching his head in pain on his knees.
"He's having a reaction, he can't do the possession anymore!" Temari pointed out, concerned for her little brother despite his murderous ways and deranged mental state.
"What the hell do we do then!?" Kankuro asked, "Proceed without Gaara!?" he added, his tone making it sound like he was against that idea.
Baki scowled as he considered Gaara for a moment, "I'm calling it off!" he declared, "You two take Gaara and withdraw for now!" he ordered, turning to face the proctor.
"What about you, sensei!?" Temari asked, alarmed by the order given.
"I'm going to help fight," Baki responded, "now go!" he demanded sharply.
"Y-yes sir!" Temari agreed hesitantly before she and Kankuro grabbed their little brother and made to escape. Sasuke watched them go with a surprised expression, a lot was happening at once and even with Aoki's voice in his head he was having difficulty making sense of it.
The proctor with the senbon in his mouth stared down Baki, "Is the host of this little party Orochimaru?" he questioned.
"Who knows?" Baki asked rhetorically, hiding his discontent beneath a shaky smirk, "Let's just amp things up a bit, shall we?" he asked, ready to fight to protect his students if nothing else.
"Hey! What's going on!?" Sasuke demanded to know, frustrated his fight with Gaara had been interrupted since according to Aoki defeating powerful or dangerous opponents could grant him boons from Tzeentch.
The proctor frowned, "Sorry, but the chunin exams are over." he answered, "You go after Gaara and his team, right now!" he ordered, not sure entirely what was going on but to him the young Uchiha had proven capable of dealing with the deranged Sunanin. Sasuke frowned but performed another Kuchiyose no Jutsu using the blood from the cut on his left arm, this time when the smoke cleared he was kneeling on a strange metal disc with eyes that seemed a blend of flesh and steel with spiked protrusions all around the edges.
The disc suddenly flew up into the air and carried Sasuke over the wall, chasing after the Suna genin. Kakashi frowned as he noticed the boy giving chase, he knew Sasuke would only have one more Chidori in him without resorting to Juin and that his student would need back up, so he was glad his other two genin hadn't fallen under genjutsu.
"So Gaara wasn't of any use?" The false Kazekage mused before chuckling darkly.
Hiruzen scowled, "I see what's going on now." he said plainly.
"Your foolishness has stalled, perhaps even stagnated Konoha." The man impersonating the Kazekage scolded, "It's my victory!" he announced proudly.
Hiruzen harrumphed indignantly, "I thought I taught you not to count chickens before they hatch," he scolded in turn as the man holding him at kunai point tore off his fake face to reveal the pale skinned and golden eyed shinobi underneath, "Orochimaru." the Sandaime Hokage named his opponent with a glare, "I thought this day would eventually come," he mused, "however my head won't come off so easily!" he warned.
Orochimaru grinned, "I thought I warned you to hurry up and name the Godaime Hokage," he reiterated his words from earlier, "because the Sandaime dies today." he declared confidently as he licked the tip of his kunai.