Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 18

Naruto, Sasuke: 12/13

Shisui: 21

Kakashi: 26

"So let me get this straight. Seal Masters don't have to obey Hidden Villages because it's like an entire other thing so the Hyuuga clan asked for your help and paid you, and now you're treating us to ramen after you baited on your cousin for his fight against the Hyuuga genius?" Dai summed up slowly. I nodded and swallowed a mouthful of noodles. I missed Ichiraku ramen. We didn't go last night because apparently briefing them outside of a secure zone was 'dangerous'. Needless to say our hotel room was crowded, between genin whose levels were above their ranks and anbu, including the Fourth Mizukage's apprentice and the one guy who mastered the seven Swords, it was better not to piss us off.

"So an Uzumaki reached the Third Exam and is fighting against a guy with a dōjutsu. It barely sounds familiar," Mangetsu told us and I noticed the Uchiha with us ducked lower toward his bowl. He wasn't talkative but I felt his eyes on me more than once. "Don't you think it's familiar Uchiha?" Said Uchiha nodded and Dai bent over the counter a little bit more.

"We agree on that, don't we Uchiha?"

"Why are you almost harassing the poor guy?" I asked my team and they both sighed at me. I blinked in confusion and glanced at the Uchiha, who was basically sulking and muttering things I couldn't hear.

"Nee-chan?" I heard a quiet voice behind me. I raised a brow and looked over my shoulder. The words 'Naruto' and 'quiet' usually didn't go together. Yet, here he was, a gloomy glint in his eyes.

"Ohhh, so that's him!" Dai said as he pushed me to look at Naruto. "Heh, I don't really see a resemblance, he doesn't even have red hair!"

"Dai-kun, isn't it?" Mom said as I noticed her next to Naruto. She looked at Mangetsu, who was quietly watching us. "And Mangetsu-kun."

"You must be Akiko-san." I turned my head to my swordsman friend with wide eyes. I pointed a shaking finger at him in accusation and he merely looked at me in wonder.

"You knew, didn't you? You knew me, Dai and you used to have play dates when we were in diapers!" I ignored the 'what' from the medic of the team and glared when Mangetsu nodded. Slowly, a smug smirk appeared on his lips, his sharp teeth visible.

"You never asked Uzu. None of you asked. It's not that surprising when you think about it." I pondered over it. Dad was powerful enough to be considered a candidate for the Mizukage's hat and Mangetsu was from the Hozūki clan, but Dai and sensei were from the lower class of Kiri. Although Dad made us leave Kiri and Mom was born in Uzushio so it wasn't surprising of them to hang out with Dai's parents.

"Anyway Naruto, if Akane managed to be a chuunin you will too," Mom said as she ran her hand in my cousin's hair. He frowned, deep in his thoughts and looked up to me. My cold eyes stopped anything from coming out of his mouth. I took money out of my pocket and left it next to my bowl, before leaving. The three others followed quickly.

"That was cold, even for you," Dai said casually, his hands in his pocket and Mangetsu sighed next to me and draped an arm over my shoulders.

"It's almost over," he whispered and I nodded absently. Yeah, it was. After the coup, I would be able to be normal with him again.

The next morning, I got up after a couple of hours of sleep. The six of us spent a long time preparing and I made contact seals for everyone so that we could send signals if we were in big troubles. Mangetsu gave his sword to Chōjūrō, saying he still had the other two with him. The tournament started at one in the afternoon, so I let my team wandering around and I went for a walk. I didn't really care about what or who was around me, until I heard a girl's voice calling my name. I turned around and quirked a brow at Temari's concerned face.

"Hey," I said softly and she averted her eyes to the ground. I didn't have my forehead protector on and with the number of foreigners in the streets, nobody was sparring us a look. Except Itachi, because I could feel his chakra a little bit clearer, as if to tell me he was still here and had to report anything suspect. He was almost begging me to stay away from Temari, but from the look in her dark green eyes, I knew I couldn't. She...this Temari didn't know me, but old Temari was my friend. A dear, close friend. "you're concerned about him?"

"Could you...follow me? For a walk?" Temari was a strong and proud kunoichi, but when it came to her brothers she was soft. Even if Gaara was still unstable, she loved him nonetheless. So I nodded and we ended in a back alley. I leaned on a wall as she stared at the crowd in the main street with guilt in her eyes.

"Temari...you are smart, aren't you?" I asked her slowly and she snapped her attention back at me. "You can make the difference between what's right or wrong, between a winning and losing situation, right?" She widened her eyes and clenched her fists in frustration. I shot a side glance a the people talking animatedly not far from us. "Your father asked me to restrain Shukaku's hold on Gaara's mind, yet I know it has been removed. He might be even more unstable than before if it was done clumsily, and Rasa knows perfectly well I should have been the one to remove it. Did he even try to contact me?" No response except for a dry chuckle.

"So you know, don't you Akane? How the Kazekage wants to use Gaara as a weapon?"

"It was not very complicated to guess when I didn't feel my seal. The real question is, do you treat your baby brother as a weapon Temari?" She bit her bottom lip to the point she drew blood. She wiped it away quickly and shot me one last look before leaving. Maybe...maybe I managed to reach her. Itachi swiftly jumped down next to me without a sound, his head toward where the blond left. He turned his head to me. "If you gave my message to the Hokage when we met her team before the Exams started, then he already knows."

"I see," he answered blandly.

"How did Sasuke's training go? Haku is very strong you know."

"I know, it's because of him Sasuke can use his sharingan whenever he wants to now," he told me in a low voice, "and I don't know, Kakashi-san took him away when he left the hospital after the preliminaries."

"It should be interesting then." I body flickered away.

When we entered the grandstands, they were already full. So with Dai and Mangetsu, plus our Uchiha escort, we went to the railing and leaned on it. There were already some contestants on the battle field, Haku and Chōjūrō included. However, Suigetsu wasn't there.

"For fuck's sake Mangetsu, I hope your brother didn't run into some troubles on the way," Dai sighed next to me. "The same goes for your cousin Uzu."

"They'll come," I muttered in sync with Mangetsu and we lowly high fived each other. Plus, Sasuke wasn't there yet either. And Genma was down there as the proctor, not Hayate. Why? Why the change? Did something happen I wasn't aware of?

I turned my head to the doors down there and widened my eyes when Naruto and Suigetsu came running for their lives out of them. They both fell down and Suigetsu started drinking as not a sound was made in the stadium.

Thus the tournament started, Naruto and Neji ending up being the last one on the field. It started with Neji having the upper hand, and Naruto not giving up, and mainly a lot of talking. I knew the Hyuuga clan started changing on the day old Naruto beat old Neji, and by working with the Hyuuga clan I knew a little bit about their recent History, so even if it was moving, I didn't care that much for what they were saying. Even if seeing Neji do the Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation was pretty impressive.

"Heh...Akane-sensei?" I averted my eyes from the fight to Kiba, in civilian clothes and with Akamaru on his head. He was clearly uncomfortable, especially with how Dai repeated the 'sensei' part. "Hinata..." I looked behind him to see a very pale Hinata using the railing to support herself. I gently pushed Kiba aside and helped Hinata by putting one of her arm on my shoulders.

"Kiba, show me the way to the infirmary." He nodded.

"Uzu..." Dai muttered in annoyance under his breath, emerald eyes telling me I was playing a dangerous game.

"Seal Masters and shinobi are two different things," I told him in a whisper and I followed Kiba.

On the way, Hinata coughed out blood and fainted. I almost ran to the infirmary and I placed her gently on a bed. I didn't even have to do anything to her seal that a green glow appeared. I smiled a little at that.

"She's fine, she will just sleep it off now," I assured Kiba as I took a cloth in the room. I damped it in water and wiped the blood from Hinata's chin. I checked for any rest of the seal and was glad when I found none.

"Thanks." I raised a brow at Kiba fidgeting on his feet. "Why did Hinata come to you?"

"Because her father asked me to help, she knew that so when she felt the seal about to release the healing jutsu, she probably thought it would be better if I was there," I answered blandly.

"But you're not a ninja from Konoha!"

"It...it's clan business Kiba." He seemed ready to bark back at me when the door opened and Neji was put near Hinata. He looked at us strangely and decided to ignore us. When Hiashi-san arrived too, it was my cue to leave. I bowed to Hiashi-san and dragged Kiba behind me. However, we were barely five meters away when Shisui came to us. Or more like 'Shisui'. "Uchiha-san?"

"Miss, I would advise you not to come down here without a Konoha shinobi with you." Yep, definitely not Shisui. Whoever it was who took Shisui's appearance because of his reputation and thought it would be enough to reach Hinata didn't know I personally knew Shisui. I put on my best fake smile.

"Sorry, I'll go back then." He nodded and as we passed next to each other, my hand went to grab his neck swiftly and I put my immobility seal on him. 'Shisui' widened his eyes and my hand slide to his torso, black fuin symbols slipping from my fingers. "Fuinjutsu: Canceling Jutsu Seal." 'Shisui' disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal a shinobi from Kumo, in shock, and I heard noises in the infirmary. Kiba ran back there and I let the shinobi drop on the floor. "Still onto the Byakugan?"

"You...you're..." he stuttered, recognition in his ugly eyes, "Frozen Shinigami." I rolled my eyes at the nickname. I was in all of the Bingo Books except Konoha, which was super hard to avoid by the way. But my first one was Kumo's after my Chuunin Exams, and that stupid nickname stuck. Even if now, 'Shinigami' was quite fitting.

"I'm as popular as ever." I grabbed the back of his flak jacket and dragged him in the infirmary. What was not my surprise to see Neji in front of Hinata, Byakugan activated, glaring down at an unconscious Kumo ninja. "So he has a friend too." I threw my victim next to his friend and nodded at Hiashi-san before really leaving this time. If Neji was here, I won my bet and Chōjūrō was currently fighting.

When I joined the guys, Chōjūrō was declared the winner, Hiramekarei in his hands. I smirked at the whispers in the audience and when Mangetsu glanced at me, I could see he was having his little fun too. I cast a glance at the contestants stand, where Suigetsu was snickering I think. Haku was talking to Naruto and I squinted to get a better look at their expressions. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen and people were starting to talk. God dammit Kakashi, don't give your tardiness to Sasuke!

"That's not like Sasuke-sama..." I heard the Uchiha mumble and my left eye twitched. Sasuke and Itachi were the sons of the head of the clan, it was normal for said clan to use '-sama' when they were referring to them. Still, it was so weird.

"Heh, shouldn't the Uchiha be disqualified?" Mangetsu asked as they announced they would proceed to the next match. Suigetsu against Gaara. I looked at them and smirked at Suigetsu's scared face.

"Yeah no, I give up, I'm not fighting that guy!" he yelled, flailing his arms around. It was good though, there was an imminent attack, my genin was not going to fight against an unstable jinchuriki just before, especially if said jinchuriki was a signal of some sort.

"Well then, Temari and Nara Shikamaru, get down!" Temari did, flying on her giant fan, and I could just hear Shikamaru complaining in my head. I kinda missed old Shikamaru, he was a good friend and colleague. But well, now he was twelve! And boy was their match hilarious. Incredibly interesting in term of strategy, leave it to Shikamaru, but hilarious because of everyone's reaction to Shikamaru giving up when he had Temari trapped in his shadow.

"The kid was spent, in a real mission it would have allow his team to retreat," Dai commented idly, his left cheek supported by his left hand. "Pretty smart."

"He's a Nara, they're geniuses more often than not," I replied mechanically, my eyes searching for any signs of Sasuke and Kakashi. Haku went down on the field and shared a look with Genma. And we waited.

We actually waited for a contestant who was late when they had a schedule to respect. I glanced at the Kage. Something wasn't right with Rasa, that was for sure, but there was a weird feeling in the air. It was just...dread, and it made all of the hairs on my body stand on end. Fuck, Naoto-senpai would have been useful. My stomach was twisted in an awful knot.

"Uzu.." Mangetsu trailed off next to me, slowly turning his purple gaze toward me, "is it just me or does Konoha ANBU seem to be very hostile out of sudden?" I frowned at the sudden wave of chakra in the air and white feathers suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As one man, the four of us dispelled the genjutsu as lots of people fell under it. I saw Temari and Kankuro leaving with Gaara, and Haku woke Naruto up and left with him, Chōjūrō following closely. Fights broke out a little bit everywhere in the stadium and explosion were blocked above us, the barrier emitting lights at every bombs. I widened my eyes when I spotted a huge white bird in the sky, a blond guy riding it.

My attention was stuck on his coat, even with the Hokage getting in a fight with Orochimaru.

Black. With read clouds.

Shit. Shit!

How much have I changed by getting Danzo kill so soon and keeping the Uchiha alive!? It was the fucking Butterfly Effect! Save a powerful clan, the attacks will be more powerful, of course!

And Kakashi and Sasuke were still not there. Probably attacked by some Sound-nin on the way because whatever Orochimaru wanted to do in the Forest of Death was compromised.

"Akane!" I turned around to see Ko, Byakugan on, running toward me.

"Dai, Ko, find Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi, they probably were attacked on the way," I ordered them, my eyes turning cold.

"I'm gonna get my brother," Mangetsu said, summoning Kabutowari before jumping away. If Deidara was here, then Sasori...Sasori...

As chaos exploded around me, the Uchiha with us patted my shoulder. His harsh gaze made me calm down. In front of us, I could see Shisui and Itachi busy fighting against a tenacious guy.

"Sensei!" I looked up at Tenten, who was leading a group composed of Neji, Kiba, Hinata, but also Shikamaru, who clearly didn't want to be here, and Sakura, who looked crazy worried.

Fuck. Fuck Kiri and Konoha, right now there were kids lives on the line. I would deal with Yagura's wrath later. Fortunately for me, it seemed like the Uchiha with me read my mind.

"As a jounin and you genin, you're all gonna follow me and Uzumaki-san. We have to find Uzumaki Naruto and two genin of Kiri who ran after the trio of Suna."

"Kiba, Hinata, Neji, lead the way, they went for the forest at twelve o'clock."

And we were gone.

"Well," Kakashi started, looking at the smoke coming from Konoha with a frown, "it seems like we're not the only one having some troubles."

"Shouldn't we go back?"

"No, Fugaku-san can deal with the civilians and there are many shinobi," Kakashi said, looking back on the ninja from Oto. "We have some business here Sasuke."

The Hokage implied there would be an enemy attack, and having people watching them for the past month because Sasuke was a target had been stressful. Kakashi had to admit that if Orochimaru himself had showed up, he did not know if he could have done anything. Even if having many jounin level Sound shinobi was not an ideal situation either with Sasuke next to him. The best outcome would be backups, but with the village clearly under attack it would be complicated.

At least he thought so until Hyuuga Ko arrived from nowhere.

"Kakashi, look up!" Sasuke told him, a Chidori shining brightly in his hand. Kakashi did and felt relief wash over him. The two ink birds exploded and two anbu from Danzo's old Root landed in front of them, along with one of Akane's teammate.

"Is any of you hurt?" said teammate asked them, already checking for any injuries.

"We're fine," the silver haired jounin replied quickly, "situation?"

"Well, Uzu told me and the Hyuuga to come and find you when you didn't show up. A genjutsu sent everyone off to sleep except for those who dispelled it in time. There were fights in the stadium when we left, and around the village. There's none of the huge snakes destroying the village because of your barriers, but shinobi fighting in the streets. Hyuuga said the Police Forces had already sent civilians to safety and now were busy fighting too."

"Naruto and Akane's genin went after the Sand trio," Ko added before attacking.

"Fine. Then we need to get rid of them and reach the closest battle grounds to help. Sasuke, congratulations, instead of passing your Exam you have an A-rank mission!" Sasuke just frowned at his sensei's closed-eye smile. They were all under attack and that Gaara was dangerous. Of course Naruto would go after them, but Haku would know better, wouldn't he? Except if...

"Kid, Kiri is fighting with you on this." Sasuke started at the young man's voice next to him. His straight brown hair was held back by his forehead protector and his green eyes were deadly. "Uzu is probably after her cousin right now to take care of the jinchuriki and Mangetsu and Suigetsu are in the streets fighting. Don't worry, Konoha has never seen more of the Mist Swordsmen than today. Two qualified and two still in training. You've seen Zabuza-san, haven't you?"

"If you're done chatting, then fight!" Kakashi cut them off sharply, slicing a Sound-nin's throat quickly.

"The Chuunin Exams! You were that Uchiha!" I exclaimed loudly, a accusing finger pointed at the Uchiha. A vein popped on his temple in frustration.

"Your teammates tried to make you understand since they got here and you remember me just now?" I scowled at him. To me, the Chuunin Exams in Kumo wasn't six years ago but twenty-nine years ago! Of course I didn't remember his face, just his fucking eyes!

"Is it really the time for this kind of talk?" Neji interrupted us coldly. Aouch, point for him.

"Hn, no. How far are we from them?"

"We're still at the same distance, Naruto-kun and the people with him are still running after Suna," Hinata filled us in. "But we have other people coming behind us, they don't want us to reach them."

"They're strong," Kiba added, and Akamaru barked in approbation.

"I can reach them fast, but I'd be on my own. I can direct them, my genin are with Naruto after all," I told the Uchiha, who had his sharingan burning in his eyes. "Shikamaru is smart, he could lead a small group and try to make a plan to distract the incoming and Hinata stays with you to guide you so you can join us. Other Konoha shinobi should be on their way too, right?"

"You have a point," he admitted and looked over his shoulder. "Nara, take Hyuuga Neji, the brown haired girl and the Inuzuka with you! Make a plan to keep the people who follows us away for a while and try to stay alive!"

"What but..."

"Shikamaru," I called out to him and he looked at me, slightly panicked at the order, "I know it's scary but you're the smartest and you know how they all fight. Backup should be on its way too." He nodded slowly and sighed.

"What a drag." Okay, he was calm again and already planning.

"We'll join you later Uzumaki-san," I nodded, connected my chakra to the kunai I gave Haku and teleported to it.

"What's up people?" They all jumped and glared at me. "That's the welcome I get for coming to help you?"

"How did you get there so fast nee-chan?"

"Not important now Naruto, you're after an unstable jinchuriki after all." I searched in my back pouch and took a small paper out of it and gave it Haku. "If Gaara really loses it to Ichibi, use that, I got it from Jiraya-san and it should put the bijuu under control, calm him down. Naruto," I looked at my cousin, who was completely lost, "don't question how I know stuff, but Gaara is like you okay? You have the Kyuubi, and he has the Ichibi. However, Ichibi is pretty nasty and hateful so he uses Gaara's loneliness to their advantages. Ichibi will take full possession of Gaara if Gaara falls asleep, okay? So keep him awake and if he falls asleep, wake him up. Haku, if Gaara starts to transform, try to use the seal. Put it on his head and it will work on his own. Chōjūrō, use your sword to break through Gaara's defense, it's made of sand so if it's soaked in water it will be slower."

"What about the other two?" Haku asked me, staring straight in front of him.

"Hopefully, they will be smart enough to know it's best for everyone not to release Ichibi here. But no killing, there is no need. I'm pretty sure Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, never would have done an attack on Konoha on his own, or more like he wouldn't have done anything without someone whispering things in his ear."

"Orochimaru," Naruto groaned next to me. I glanced at him and noticed his eyes flashing red for a moment, the seal on my stomach itching slightly. "He..."

"He's way out of your league now, the Hokage is dealing with him. You have a mission now and it's to stop the Sand Siblings from releasing Ichibi. Naruto, understood?"

"Yeah! Gaara's my friend and I'm gonna save him 'ttebayo!" I smirked and cut my thumb to summon Seihitsu. Naruto yelped a little when the wolf appeared and groaned slightly.

"Unstable jinchuriki, take Naruto on your back we're speeding up." Naruto jumped on the wolf without a word and with a look to my genin, we sped up.

Yet, I couldn't help the dread invading my body. Because Deidara was fucking here, still bombing the barrier and the Akatsuki never sends member on their own. Sasori was around, and I knew him and Deidara were responsible for Gaara's temporary death before. It would be stupid to go get the jinchuriki now, wouldn't it? Then what...scouting?

Crap, Temari, protect your brothers until we reach you guys, please.

Hey! Thanks for reading! Please review so that I know you liked it :)

Ederisu: Thanks for the review, and Yagura will reappear soon. The Uchihas being in Konoha, they won't be as present as in the first Arc for a while.

Bye !