A/N: I had a strong George R. R. Martin moment when I wrote this chapter. It's never a light decision to end a character, especially one that may impact the story. For those of you that may have gotten attached to a specific character, it's not too late to turn back now. You have been warned.

I'm not sure how you are all doing in this questionable time but I hope you are all safe. While the nature of my work doesn't let me stay home and write (as much as I'd like), there are quiet moments where I can sit and catch up on my fictions, like this week. Sorry for the delay and I hope this brief pause in chaos finds you well.

Back to the Chunin Exam Festival, shall we?

~Siva'a-tasi

~III~

Standard Disclaimer: "Blah, blah, blah. (Indecipherable legalese)."

Chapter 48: No Time for Goodbyes

The Longest Day

~III~

~ Previously on No More ~

Quick. Efficient. Professional. The paired Iryo-nin carrying Neji from the arena floor knew their job as they trundled the unlikeable heiress killer off to safety.

What was that you say? Professionals wouldn't allow their feelings to impact their work?

You would be correct and they aren't but just because they're professionals doesn't mean that they haven't formed an opinion, in this case a very negative one, of the Konoha shinobi responsible for the rather gruesome death of the loveable Kunoichi that devoted her personal time to helping around the pediatric ward in Konoha General.

Unlike the vaunted Hyūga Clan, Hinata was a known entity and her unparalleled kindness left a favorable impression wherever she involved herself. In this case, she'd left a very positive impression over time due to her volunteer work at the hospital with most of the medical shinobi now working out of the fighter's sickbay in the stadium. This meant that poor Neji found himself the unexpected bearer of unwanted attention from the six-person med-cell currently responsible for his care as he was carted off like a slab of meat.

Bright sunlight quickly gave way to dim tunnels and floating lights. Occasionally he could hear the muttered phrase or sound of annoyance, such as someone sucking unpleasantly on their teeth, but he really couldn't be bothered at the moment. He was too busy trying to stay conscious.

He could have sworn there was a lull in the pace once they entered the tunnel, however, that moment of uncertainty faded away in the pain-filled malaise that the rest of his day was steadily being swallowed by. Soon enough, he was being none too gently transferred from the stretcher to a scratchy bed covered in that thin sheet of sandpaper most doctors referred to as exam paper crepe.

It was loud when it crinkled, uncomfortable on bare skin, and never stayed put when you needed to shift positions. It was also the only indication that he'd finally made it to his temporary destination.

The voices started up again and he tried to focus as the soothing warmth of Iryojutsu began resetting his fractured ribs while the sour-faced kunoichi to his left began rattling off injuries to the male documenting them on his right.

"Four... five... six cracked ribs, two on the left and four on the - and what the hell do you mean your clan feels that his worthless life is in danger?!"

Neji looked up into her masked face long enough to see that she was talking to someone off in the corner of the room.

"C'mon, Shoko. Can you blame the pale-faced bastards?"

Neji didn't appreciate the descriptor for his clan no matter how much he hated the main branch. Nor did he appreciate commoners like the male med nin on his opposite side disrespecting a noble clan like the Hyuuga.

"HE killed her, Taiga! She never harmed anyone!"

The male identified as "Taiga" winced at his partner's rage. "She was a kunoichi, Shoko. You can't tell me she di-."

"She used to talk with us during her breaks at the hospital about how these bastards used to discipline her for not killing her team's targets." The near hatred in her tone let everyone within earshot know what she meant using "discipline" in such a negative tone. "And now they have the gall to look over my shoulder because they can't trust me?!"

Wow, the emotional woman really wasn't all that pleased with him. Neji could hear the poison in her voice.

"Given what's going to happen today and your short temper, can you blame them now?"

The female huffed and the soothing warmth of her chakra abruptly vanished with the dangerous narrowing of her eyes. "Then they can finish the damn job!"

He could hear the woman's angry steps as she flung aside the privacy curtain separating him from any other patients and stormed off.

"Shoko?! ...Damnit!"

The second nin raced off after her leaving him still in a world of pain. He would have called out to someone if he thought it would do any good. Looks like he'd have to grit it out until- hello, what have we here?

Two Hyūga faces he didn't recognize hovered into view on either side of his uncomfortable hospital bed, just as the previous Iryonin did.

"You didn't make any friends, did you?"

No, that voice was not familiar nor did it sound like anyone in his clan. Their speech patterns were far too relaxed - Kami, he hated to admit that - to be any member of the branch family. He tried to discreetly build up chakra in his fingertips only to receive a not-so-gentle prod to his forehead by the second person standing on his right side.

"Heeeey! None of that!"

He blinked in confusion. One of them was a passable sensor at least.

"She's trying to patch you up since no one else in the medical bay wants to touch you so I'd play nice unless you want to suffer through the slow pain of natural healing."

Neji's confused eyes flickered to his left to notice that the figure gently placing chakra transfer seals to his now bare midsection was in fact female. How had he missed that?

Instead, he watched with rapt attention as her dainty fingers pushed considerable amounts of chakra into the small squares leading to that same heavenly sensation of warmth that numbed away the gnawing pain in his sides. His very un-Hyūga-like groan brought smiles to their not-quite-Hyūga faces.

The roar of the crowd outside reached even this far back under the stadium and broke the soothing moment.

"We don't have much time," the still unidentified female mumbled as she gently poked and prodded his ribs for any missed signs of damage forcing the occasional wince from her patient.

"Right. On it."

And like that, the males face vanished from his view.

"Sleep, Neji. When you awaken, it will be the start of a new day for you."

"Wait!" Apparently he'd finally found his voice after letting unknown impostors medically experiment on his broken body. Some shinobi he was today.

She blinked patiently. "Yes?"

"Who are you? What are you doing?"

She smiled and, despite his apprehension, he relaxed inside.

"We're keeping a promise, Neji."

His eyes bloomed as the dots began to connect.

"Sleep now. You have a long journey ahead of you."

The room became exceptionally bright as his vision went completely white. The last thing Neji heard before a deep sensation of floating overtook his senses and he knew no more was someone hissing out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Nectamia!".

~III~

"To win any battle, you must fight as if you're already dead."

– Miyamoto Musashi.

~III~

~ Konoha Stadium, Konohagakure no Sato ~

It was made quite clear to Orochimaru during the break between Phase II and Phase III of the Chunin Exams that he did not have the same control over Gaara that the real Kazekage did. Rasa maintained control by brute force through his Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai, lacing sand with containers of gold dust he kept on his person. Unfortunately, he was never much for seals so the first time he had to suppress one of Gaara's murderous rampages - which he did by applying a [Five Elements Seal] - established an uneasy understanding between the Snake Sannin and his "new son."

While the Jinchūriki didn't get "out of hand" again over the remaining break, he also didn't allow the Kage impostor to get the drop on him using unbelievable amounts of sand to keep plenty of space between the two once Orochimaru was forced to release the new seal addition. This made for a very tricky tightrope walking act as the bijū container was still vital to his plan of destroying Konoha.

He lost track of the number of chardonnay-less nights (curse this desert wasteland and its prohibition of alcohol) where he sat up with his personal guard lamenting his rather hasty decision to murder Rasa before the invasion.

Next time he had the urge to destroy a village, he'd kill the patsy right after or, at a minimum, during the invasion so that they could deal with the moody children until the time was right.

So it was with a joyful heart that the murderous uber-ninja signaled for his invasion to begin from his posh seat in the Kage box. It was clear as day to Orochimaru that Gaara lost all interest in supporting the invasion and he would need a new incentive for the little psychopath to set loose his inner demon in the heart of Konoha.

It was a good thing that he often built backup plans to support his backup plans as he sent a second signal immediately after the first one.

For the first time in four months, Orochimaru smiled, the shine of his perfect teeth never reaching his beady pair of slitted eyes.

~III~

Kabuto was halfway through the seals for the [Temple of Nirvana Technique] when he read Orochimaru's second signal.

'Interesting.'

While he'd much rather strap the young lady to a dissection table and try to deduce why she didn't inherit her father's Magnet Release, Orochimaru-sama decreed her death to be more important of an issue over his own professional curiosity.

'Oh well...' It's not like he was emotionally invested in the girl, to begin with. Besides, he had other more important issues to tend to at the moment, his fingers rattling off the remaining dozen seals for his jutsu.

Tying off the final chakra knot, as it were, to his Yin-based jutsu, Kabuto paused right before beginning the slow steady release of his technique. It was almost like taking a deep breath before letting the air hiss out from between your teeth over a thirty-second period.

He just had one final order to give first.

"Yoroi, Misumi," his face underneath his borrowed ANBU mask was a dark sneer, "go take care of our little sibling problem."

Kabuto took a deep breath then slowly exhaled, feathers falling freely from the sky. Ten seconds into his jutsu and things were going as expected right before his chest exploded with pain, his body's fluids filling his throat and mouth.

~III~

It was to be the final match.

Hiashi already had enough going through his mind, especially with the safety of his daughter, the recent plots of his own clan, and supporting Konoha's defense against the invaders in their midst. His own Byakugan-fueled scans of the audience confirmed not a civilian in sight - unless civilians were taking to packing kunai and military-grade explosive notes recently.

Once combat broke out things would become extremely hectic even with their entire section filled with Hyūga clan members to provide a buffer. Despite the rather sizable contingent, Hiashi's eyes flickered down to Hanabi right as the first feathers began to fall.

It was perhaps the very action that saved his life as his younger daughter succumbed to the sleep-inducing jutsu and tilted over backwards in her seat.

Pulsing his chakra to break its hold on him, Hiashi turned to his right to push chakra into her system and break the spell. It was the timing of his turn that allowed the lethal palm strike to hit his left shoulder blade - disabling the arm - instead of striking him directly behind his heart and ending his life.

The flash of pain as the surge of chakra burned out several tenketsu forced his body to react instinctively, his functional arm sweeping around even as his Doujutsu activated with a thought. What he saw disgusted him and brought anger flush to his normally stoic face.

Hidden from the "common view," as the Hyūga elders were so fond of coining the phrase, were the bodies of the four guards he'd brought to ensure the safety of his daughter, not from the invaders but his own family. They'd been replaced by branch members he knew were loyal to the elders and their bodies had been shoved under the empty seats near the rear of their boxed section - where the audience could not observe unless seated directly across from their location in the stadium.

It was effectively him and his unconscious daughter against fifteen of his disloyal clan but he'd have to consider the situation in greater detail another time.

Shifting his body so that it leaned backwards, Hiashi allowed another striking limb to pass close to his chest, his right palm darting out to impact between the fourth and fifth ribs of a branch member he did not recognize. He immediately pivoted behind the now staggering figure to try and close the distance back to Hanabi only to come face-to-face with another branch guard and Elder Hansuke.

The stony faces of the Hyūga positioning behind them he found eerily morbid, his gaze taking in the pandemonium surging up across the entire stadium. He briefly noted an explosion by the Hokage's platform before his two opponent's lunged during his moment of distraction.

Gritting his teeth, he had to refocus once again and rely on his better footwork to keep ahead of the two pressing for his death.

A very small voice in the back of his head noted that they were maneuvering him away from his daughter even as his father calmly stepped in front of the sleeping child.

'Tch. Bastard!'

Hiashi glide-stepped to his left trying to keep the younger branch member between him and Hansuke. He'd lament the fact that the boy's name escaped him later... if he survived.

Two quick jabs, one to the lower abdominal to provide discomfort and the second to that tiny spot near the back of the school high enough to strike the occipital lobe, a strike he knew would cause temporary blindness without being permanent or lethal. It was not a strike taught to a novice as the risk of permanent harm in the unskilled was extremely high.

If he could, he would minimize his clan's blood upon his own hands and purge the source of its poison directly.

The strike served its purpose and the branch guard struggled, his arms flailing about as he panicked in his new-found darkness.

Hansuke summarily executed him by sending a considerably larger palm strike to the youth's skull. He then followed up his own despicable behavior by stepping across the dead boy's back to close with Hiashi who was by then more than happy to oblige.

~III~

The two munching combatants emerged from the tunnel in time to see feathers falling from the sky. Both vessels shivered as their respective bijū surged a blast of chakra through their respective containers to break its hold.

"Damn. Sorry Gaara but it looks like our rematch just got postponed," the taller one muttered.

"You are not allowed to die, Uzumaki." Though he'd lost the rings around his eyes, they had not lost their eerie intensity. "We have yet to deliver our joint correspondence expressing our mutual displeasure to the Kami of Pocky."

Naruto couldn't help but snort at his almost-brother's one-track sweet tooth.

"Let's deal with one crisis at a time my friend."

Gaara blinked in shock at the familiar address then stuffed the now closed Pocky container back into his gourd. "Suna will sweep the walls as promised."

Without another word, the now serious weapon of mass destruction vanished in a sand body flicker leaving Naruto to his own devices.

"Here we go then." A heavy sigh left his mouth. "Phase three-."

"Oi!"

Naruto whipped around in surprise to see one of the Fire Lord's samurai striding boldly from a different tunnel. A quick glance to Genma earned him an unfamiliar shrug.

"I am Captain Shun Ushida."

Naruto blinked, his eyes flickering in confusion to the rapidly emptying box seats for dignitaries then back again, and then motioned as if to say, "Get on with it," an action that earned him a condescending "TSK" from the newly identified officer.

"I understand common courtesy is beyond gutter filth, such as yourself." The young military man snarled as his left thumb pushed on the Tsuba peeking out from the sash of his uniform, his right hand settling on the Tsuka, or handle.

"Oh, dip," mumbled Genma as he moved quietly away to investigate the explosion up by the Hokage's booth.

"I am going to ignore that coming from a common thug like you trying to murder me so your greedy general gets to steal my family's wealth."

It was easy to see that Naruto's casually-delivered comment struck true given the amount of red creeping up the soldier's neck to purple his face. It was a rather horrific bruising of the man's complexion raising the veins along his throat and cheeks.

"You're quite ugly when you're mad, aren't you?" Naruto unabashedly blurted out.

Having spoken all he'd intended to on the subject, Captain Shun Ushida drew his blade and charged.

Standing outside the barrier separating him from his Hokage, who was clearly fighting for his life against his former pupil Orochimaru, Jiraiya turned away from the stadium. He'd have to trust his godson to survive for the next few minutes even with the battle in the stands spilling over onto the edges of the arena as Oto-nins fled their unexpected two-vs.-one disadvantage. With Suna's forces upholding their side of the alliance, he expected things would be well in hand about the time this clash of S-ranked killers came to an end.

Seeing the Komodo Squad taking up positions near their new Kage, Jiraiya was less concerned with Naruto being in serious danger.

"Be ready," he growled out through clenched teeth, the ANBU forces hovering near him waiting for the barrier to drop as jutsu after jutsu slammed and crashed against each other inside the wall of fire before them.

Less concerned did not mean unconcerned. He would have to ask the good General later why five of his men were trying to murder his godson during an invasion.

Knowing what the invasion signal would be made releasing its effects a matter of child's play for the Suna siblings. What happened next was a bit harder to rationalize in their minds.

War, no matter how much you psych yourself up for it, is a shock to the system. Suna prided itself on its resilience, on the people's hardy ability to endure and burden be it mental or physical but this...

The first few minutes following their Genjutsu release turned into utter insanity. In the crystal-clear high resolution that only chakra-and-adrenaline-fueled vision could provide, they witnessed ninja from Otogakure brandish blades with the intent to murder helpless Konoha citizens only to erupt into fountains of blood as their Suna "comrades" ruthlessly stabbed them in the back and throat. People screamed or cried out in pain. Some lost control of bodily functions. Others wept in their dying moments asking for a long-lost loved one or parent.

By the time those who had been betrayed by their supposed allies in the act of their own treachery realized what was happening, nearly half of the invaders in the stadium were cut down. When they recovered enough to respond to Suna's "betrayal," the very "helpless" Konohans they sought to slaughter rose up to attack them from behind.

Within the first four minutes of combat, over ninety percent of the blood spilled in the stadium hailed from Otogakure, not that Orochimaru cared in the slightest.

Unfortunately, for the Suna siblings stranded in the middle of a violent mosh-pit, it was an uncomfortable reality.

"Kankurō!" Temari's voice lacked her normal calm.

"On it!"

Karasu literally burst from his wrappings, the multi-limbed puppet shifting to block an approaching Oto nin trying to blindside his sister. The puppeteer himself slid effortlessly behind her to take up a supporting position, the thick reinforced concrete corner of the fighter's box providing some flanking protection despite also hemming them in. It was a very dangerous double-edged sword.

Even as his eyes began to frantically sweep the bleachers, his left hand slipped into his hip pouch to grab a second scroll, his right hand twitching as another scream was ripped from the throat of yet another snake-patterned Oto shinobi. His eyes registered the Konoha ANBU responsible for cutting the invader even as he sent a thankful nod but the paranoid in his gut refused to turn away.

It made no sense at the time with the blood pumping through his veins but something, at the time, just seemed... off.

Perhaps it was the way he just stood there even with the threat barely more than a kunai toss away. Perhaps it was the eerie feeling that the eyes behind the mask didn't shift to the remaining threat but felt as if they stopped on his sister.

Or perhaps it was the way his partner was pulling a kunai from the back of a fellow Suna shinobi that piqued his interest. Weren't all Konoha nins in on the double-cross?

At any rate, he was glad not to have split his focus as the larger of the two tensed to charge his sister once her eyes slid off his masked frame, her mind categorizing him as "non-hostile," as she prepared to defend from a small cell of Oto nin harassing some of the remaining Genin and their Jounin senseis.

"MARI!"

Her brother's shout snapped her head back to her right and the large shinobi being shoulder blocked by Karasu just in time to see the smaller of the two ANBU leaping to attack.

She barely had time to register the attack by friendlies as her mind processed the unlikely chance of her fighting off an ANBU agent. Their corner, which provided plenty of sighting distance to pick and choose threats did nothing for one already within melee range. Even worse, she couldn't open up space with a powerful wind jutsu without injuring other allies, Suna now at the forefront given Konoha's treachery.

She hissed sucking in a huge burst of air as her fan snapped shut to deflect the kunai headed for her throat up and away from her body only to cry out as the tip struck the top of her shoulder scoring a shallow wound. She cursed and snapped out a front kick only to have it slapped away, however, the kunai withdrew for the time being.

She could hear her brother cursing off to her right but had no time to focus on him as her opponent was on her again in a blink.

Using her Great Fan like a battering ram, she continued to block and push the skinnier ABNU back to the best of her ability, which didn't seem all that inferior. Her courage bolstering with a quick triple-block, she smirked as the masked attacker lunged fully expecting her to block again. Instead, she let him slip by already swinging her fan like a war club, the metal frame connecting heavily with the back of his skull. Lifting her fan high hoping to finish him off, she seized up as a pair of hands grasped her wrists from behind stopping her final blow from landing.

Then her strength began to rapidly fade away.

A quick glance showed her brother sprawled out between the aisles and his opponent standing behind her chuckling with dark glee. Then the kneeling figure in front of her picked up his dropped kunai and staggered to his feet, his head shaking from side to side to stop the ringing in his ears.

"Finish her so we can rejoin our group," the one behind her growled.

She tugged, tried to mule kick behind her but instead got the back of her knees punted out from underneath her body making them connect painfully with the concrete at her feet. Looking up from her now reversed position on the ground, she could only gnash her teeth at the irony of being betrayed by a betrayer she'd help to betray then save. The blade rose into the air and her eyes closed despite trying to keep them open.

She may be on her knees but she wouldn't cower before these dogs.

This was always the way.

Two screams from the now brutally dying ANBU snapped her eyes open for her as her captor's arms were torn from her wrists. Her teal eyes opened to the sight of both ANBU bastards being wrapped in a [Sand Coffin] that left their masks exposed, sections of the sand blanket compressing violently as individual bones were broken one at a time.

Still kneeling, she could only blink mindlessly as the last few grains of sand molded themselves to the barely conscious Konoha ANBU.

"Are you injured?"

Temari's eyes blinked but did not focus on the concerned face of her brother. 'When did he get there?'

"Temari!" She blinked again at the urgency in his voice.

"Are you in any pain? Did they wound you?!"

Slowly, almost painfully slowly, she shook her head in the negative to indicate she was okay. Drained of most of her chakra, she was barely hanging on to consciousness as it was but she could do that much at least.

In an oddly distracted fashion, she observed the clear relief on her youngest minion's, er... sibling's face when she admitted to being at least sound of body. The sound of mind part

~III~

Hiashi dodged a rapid series of finger jabs from the older man. A fourth he nudged away with his still burning shoulder while ramming his chakra-fueled fingers into Hansuke's right elbow.

The cry of pain it awarded Hiashi's ears brought a grim smile to his face - until a searing pain in his left thigh brought his attention to the branch member crouching near the row to his left.

Pulling his left leg clear of a second strike, Hiashi stepped away from the Mountain Stance philosophy of the Jyuken and smashed his heel into the bridge of his new attacker's nose. The fountain of blood and the sound of crunching bone told him the youth was probably dead before his body snapped over backwards and collapsed into a boneless heap.

It cost him in the form of another strike to his abdomen. The blow sent him backwards hard enough for his shoulders to strike the wall of their stadium box, his eyes taking in the now six members squaring off against him and three standing near his daughter.

Then the six trying to block him in smirked, one commenting with a sneer that he should surrender peacefully so that his death would be quick and painless. His answer was a roar.

"KAITEN!"

Off-center and down a limb despite the tingling sensation he was beginning to note in the fingers of his left hand, his Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven was still enough to knock his opponents away opening up a brief enough window to push forward.

Using his uninjured leg to push off, Hiashi surged forward his body dipping just enough to allow the first obstacle to his daughter to step forward and receive a massive palm strike to the gut shooting his body across the box with enough force to crater the opposite wall. The two elders scattered to the front of the box allowing him enough room to reach out for Hanabi's obi-.

She was just beyond his reach.

THU-THUMP

One step.

THU-THUMP

Then another.

THU-THUMP

What had he forgotten? His fingertips were close enough to brush softly against her cheek, the deeply slumbering girl unaware of the danger all about her.

His body convulsed violently, blood erupting from his mouth as the light from his eyes dimmed.

'So... close.' His right arm faltered, his hand dipping slightly even as he struggled to reach her, to gently shake her awake so she could hear his voice one last time... so he could tell her how proud he was of her...

THU-THUMP

THU-THUMP

THU-THUMP

His body thudded to the hard floor of the stadium box, his arm still reaching out for her.

THU-THUMP

...

THU-THUMP

"I..." his voice was raspy, a hoarse whisper even as his vision began to dim, "I'm... (gasp)... sorry..."

THU-

The first strike from behind took his strength. Hiashi Hyūga, twelfth Clan Head of the Hyūga Clan, respected leader among his peers and not-quite cherished father never saw the second palm strike from behind that robbed him of his final moments of life, his body landing unceremoniously face-first on the unforgiving concrete floor of his own stadium box.

People were fighting and dying all around them. The stadium was awash with screams, the smell of blood, and the cries of the dying. Surrounded by the bedlam of warfare's murderous embrace, the remaining clan members of the Hyūga staggered back to their feet, some less whole than others, to stare unbelieving into the calm, unmoved face of Hideo Hyūga, Hiashi's father. They continued to stare in total stupefaction as the former clan head lowered the palm of the hand that struck down his own child.

"Move! Seal away all the bodies. Quickly!" he hissed, even making that seem unemotional. He was still the picture of model Hyūga behavior.

Shocked immobility gave way to jerky haste as the younger branch members shuffled to obey.

"We will need to fortify the compound until the Fire Lord is ready to depart Konoha with his prize." Hideo's cold eyes focused on the still sleeping form of his granddaughter as his clan members once again scurried about to his orders.

It was long past time that the Hyūga returned to more traditional values.

~III~

While chaos was taking over in Konoha's heart, its greatest defense - the great wall provided by the Shodaime - was being subverted by the corrosive element already within under the banner of hospitality and it all began with one tiny explosion of colored smoke.

Otogakure, while a village of sorts, was not overly given to the proper administrative attention to detail needed to fully develop its cadre of shinobi. This was accepted as the norm given that Orochimaru rendered the minimal effort needed to manage his developmentally stunted populace.

Given that the incredibly small pool of ninja the homicidal lunatic trusted still ranked in the single digits, it required those he did trust to don more than a few "hats of leadership."

Take for example his Sound Four, Orochimaru's vaunted Lieutenants. When not cavorting about with their leader, each held civil responsibilities within Otogakure itself answering for those obligations with Kabuto since the cruel Sannin tended to be a bit short-tempered with people that distracted him from his favorite pastime over the pittances of population management.

People stopped bothering you when they saw other people disappearing for daring to do so.

This is not to say that these appointees were exemplary in the handling of their responsibilities. In truth, many of them were unaware of their secondary roles as was the case with Jirōbō who was responsible for basic military training and education given that he had the least volatile temper among the Four.

What? Kimmimaro wasn't going to do it and Kidōmaru tended to feed people to his spiders when they bothered him so someone had to. Unfortunately, Jirōbō - more often than not - tended to leave his force directors to their own devices a lot. Leaving three nukenins from different corners of the elemental nations to come up with a unified ground force mobilization plan without specific guidance, authority to take effective command, or the necessary experience to successfully implement any such plan was, as you can well imagine, a recipe for failure (at best) or absolute disaster (at worst).

Little things tend to get overlooked, such as how do you coordinate the offensive with troops outside the stadium with the troops inside the stadium if they cannot see or talk to each other? Sure they had some communications but those were bulky relics of the first shinobi war (discount surplus), required unwieldy amounts of chakra to operate, and leaked ambient chakra enough that a novice sensor could detect them at twice the range of their communications output.

This meant that they could not effectively be employed inside the village before Otogakure had dominance over the combat zone and could move about with impunity.

Given that Orochimaru cared nothing for the welfare of his forces - Oto was created for the sole purpose of effecting his planned revenge - his force commanders cobbled together what they could with what they had. This led to the current situation of all three infiltration units hunkered down in warehouses or, in the case of the northern Breacher Unit, waiting for some signal to commence their underground approach to the northern clan sector of the village.

By the time someone in either squad detected that the assault had begun inside the stadium and convinced their assault force commander that they were neither drunk nor mistaken, the invasion for Otogakure would already be on its final legs.

This would only be personified by the violent explosion of fifty high-grade military explosive notes being air-delivered to the southern warehouse by an impatient counter-offensive force tired of waiting for the Oto-nins operating solo from said warehouse.

Oddly enough, that explosion would spur two separate events. First, it would kick start the remainder of the Oto-Suna assault to begin. Second, it caught the attention of the Iwa contingent hunkered down in the forest and they would begin a slow methodical march back to the Southeast and Konoha.

~III~

Naruto had to admire the good Captain.

His knowledge of samurai culture was thin at best. While the Uzumaki possessed a similar military structure in their former village, they were still shinobi first and foremost, only they were shinobi evolved to a more sword-oriented philosophy over decades of trading, both chakra metal from their hidden mines and sword-oriented disciplines, with one of their more like-minded national neighbors: the Samurai.

The traditional samurai of the elemental nations had always been samurai so, at first blush, it's tough to shoebox someone into a basic description. The "elemental knights" of the eastern realms held, much like their unyielding sword techniques, an iron devotion to their military lifestyle, organization, and advancement.

Being a Monogashira, or having the rank of Captain, Ushida was the equivalent of a mid-grade Chunin heavily weighted towards swordplay, or the samurai's equivalent of Kenjutsu. This showed in Ushida's advance, his footwork light and close together to evoke control over his movement. His power and accuracy showed as his first strike resounded off of Naruto's now drawn sword with an ear-splitting CLANG!

No words were shared. Ushida's first pass took him roughly one and a half paces past Naruto's right side, his oversized blade held vertically and close to his chest to intercept the cut. His sharp ears could hear the sound of the Captain's sandals spinning on rocky ground.

CLANG!

Naruto immediately knelt and pivoted, his sword in a double-handed grip as he brought the pommel up and across his body to stop from being vertically bisected by Ushida's downward stroke. Ushida's grunted effort met an equal and opposing grunt of force from his kneeling opponent who pushed upwards to force the vibrating katana away from his head.

Ushida brought up his lead leg and lashed out smashing a log to splinters leading to a mumbled curse about dishonorable ninja bastards.

"Hnh, you be you, Captain-san. Let me worry about the shinobi stuff." Naruto couldn't resist the smirk blooming on his face at the good officer's annoyance and settled into the first stance of his Crashing Wave Defense.

'Build.' He flexed his knees to lower his center of gravity while bringing the pointed tip of his sword towards the open sky. As he settled into his stance, he could see his opponent's two-handed grip tighten on the pommel of his weapon, the blade beginning to pulse with a bright blue glow.

'Coil.' Naruto effortlessly fed his chakra into the blade he still hadn't renamed, its own menacing glow responding in kind as the good Captain roared out his next attack.

"Dancing Blade Risk!"

Captain Ushida shot across the open ground separating him from his target, the angry meeting and clashing of their chakras resulting in a bright blue explosion of light.

Naruto began pulsing chakra to the bottoms of his sandals slowing down the rearward momentum of his sliding feet. 'Uncoil.'

Ushida was frozen in his forward slash with his sword fully extended. He was enjoying the results of his clearly overwhelming victory as no opponent before had withstood the charging cut of his blade. He was expecting to sheath his sword in majestic fashion before turning to watch his opponent fall to the earth in two pieces along with his now worthless sword, large and overcompensating monstrosity that it is.

Hmph, it would go well over his mantelpiece along with the child's outdated forehead protector.

He was not expecting to feel the biting sting as a blade slashed across the backs of his thighs prompting him to one, scream out in pain and two, roll forward enough to spin about and reposition his sword to defend against another attack.

He found his blond opponent standing there with his ridiculously huge blade uncut and extended out fully from his body.

"You really shouldn't zone out like that in a battle."

Ushida's eyebrow began twitching.

"That's a really bad habit that's going to get you killed one day," Naruto Cheshired.

"Not. Before. You."

Naruto could swear the young officer was grinding his teeth, his heavy breathing coming out in hissing fits. Instead, he shrugged and threw out a challenge guessing the man's techniques to be taxing on the samurai's endurance.

'Funny, for all his puffing the guy doesn't seem overly tired.'

"One last charge, Ushida-san." Naruto brought his large sword back up to the ready.

Ushida wordlessly dropped into a preparatory stance and began channeling chakra through his entire body until he glowed a healthy blue color from head to toe.

~III~

A/N: It would seem that the frozen excrement has laterally struck the rotating oscillator. Sasuke would have lost that match against Haku without Naruto. I found it only fitting to include it here in the Finals since the Wave mission was botched.

Remember to read, follow and review if you are so inclined.

~III~

[Jutsu Used In this Story]

[A-Rank] Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō (Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals): This technique is performed with the "cursed" Kekkei Genkai of the Yuki clan. Shiroi creates several large mirrors out of ice, which he surrounds a target with. By entering one of these mirrors, Shiroi's reflection will appear in all of them. Shiroi can travel between these mirrors very quickly, giving the appearance that she occupies all of them simultaneously. As such, any attacks she makes from these mirrors - usually rapid volleys of thrown senbon - can overwhelm opponents, seemingly coming from every mirror at once. Using the technique requires a great deal of chakra from its user, meaning they cannot use it indefinitely. In the anime, if the mirror the user is in is broken, they can leap out of one of the fragments and continue their attack or move to another mirror.

[B-Rank] Suiton: Mizudeppō no Jutsu (Water Gun Technique): The user makes a finger gun with their hand and, through the Hydrification Technique, compresses a drop of water in their index finger, firing it with tremendous force and speed similar to a gunshot — enough to easily pierce through a sand clone.

[E thru A-Rank; C-Rank as used in the Chunin Exams] Hyōton: Hyōken no Jutsu (Ice Release: Ice Sword Technique): The user condenses the moisture in the atmosphere into swords of ice that can then be used for close-range combat or shot at a target (short to mid-range, ~10m). As Shiroi's control is not as powerful as her prodigal cousin, Haku, she condenses her blades into extra-long kunai to make them sufficiently strong enough to resist low-ranked Katon techniques or Chunin-level chakra enhanced weaponry. The swords can be formed from great distances away.

[Mid-Rank] Ken no Michi: Samurai Seibā (Way of the Sword: Samurai Saber Technique): Unique to Samurai, this technique employs the concept of chakra flow in a similar manner to the [Flying Swallow] and Sword of Kusanagi: Chidori Katana techniques. Through the use of chakra flow, the user channels their chakra through their swords, extending both the reach and cutting ability of the blade, while allowing the user to fire crescents of chakra whenever the blade is swung. This released chakra is capable of great destruction. None; internal chakra manipulation.

[Low-Rank] Ken no Michi: Yōjimbō (Way of the Sword: Dancing Blade Risk): The user performs a quick dash towards his opponent, slashing them.. Seals: None; internal chakra manipulation.