June 9th 2002:

The entire Leaf-Village had descended into pure pandemonium. A massive three-headed snake came from the eastern side of Konoha. Numerous Sound-Shinobi and Sand-Shinobi had begun their attack.

Orochimaru had shed his disguise and returned to his normal form. The Sound-Four had trapped him and Hiruzen Sarutobi in a powerful barrier to block off outside help from the Anbu officers of the village.

Kakashi Hatake, Might-Gai, and Genma Shiranui had been ambushed by a multitude of high-class Sound-Shinobi. Baki intended to wait on the sidelines for the perfect opportunity to intercept the three of them.

Kabuto Yakushi had abandoned his Anbu outfit once he had cast a Genjutsu over the civilians and less skilled Ninja to knock them out. Sasuke Uchiha had heard the commotion and had left his room in the infirmary.

Kankuro and Temari had taken Gaara away from the arena after his failed transformation. Ryomen Sukuna had exited the upper platforms and had joined Naruto Uzumaki in chasing the three Sand-Ninja down.

Most of the civilians who hadn't attended the third stage of the Chunin-Exams had been guided to shelters by lower-ranked Shinobi. Standard protocol dictated Genin had to prioritize lives over battle.

Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka had been broken out of the Genjutsu by Asuma Sarutobi and had been given the task of protecting civilians, injured Shinobi, and tourists from hostile Shinobi.

"Damn it!" Naruto's enraged eyes flashed a bright crimson. "Get back here, you three bastards! Why the hell are you attacking the village?!"

"Mind your own business, you irritating brat!" Kankuro leaped onto a fourth roof-top, Gaara secured in his hands. "Follow someone else!"

Unimpressed, Temari glared at her brother. "Keep your mouth shut! Any form of distraction like yelling can trigger Gaara's transformation!"

"Sukuna!" Naruto growled at his teammate, accelerating his speed. "What the hell do these bastards get out of attacking Konoha like this!"

Matching Naruto's increase in speed, Sukuna responded. "Think about all of that crap later. You should focus on catching these three."

"Don't talk like you can beat us!" Kankuro clicked his tongue, spotting a platoon of four Sound-Shinobi on a roof-top. "Take those two out!"

The platoon of Sound-Genin appeared in front of Sukuna and Naruto in the blink of an eye, obeying the orders of the Kazekage's child because of their alliance. Naruto flipped over them, determined to stop Gaara and his siblings.

"Can you handle those four for me?!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder, fanged teeth clenched in concentration. "Thanks a bunch!"

"I didn't even agree to that." Sukuna's hand twitched in annoyance. "Whatever. It would be best if Naruto was the one who fought Gaara."

Three of these Sound-Shinobi crumbled in eruptions of blood. Unlike a number of the opponents who Sukuna had faced so far in his second life, these weaker opponents' durabilities were not that impressive.

Stunned at the sudden scene of his comrades' death, the fourth Sound-Shinobi got scattered into blood from a Dismantle. Sukuna ascended into the air, landed on a guardrail, and vanished.

Four crimson ringed eyes were swept across the streets of Konoha to analyze how much damage had been inflicted upon the village. Sukuna alighted on one of these streets, checking his surroundings.

Despite how unexpected the attack of Konoha had been, a majority of Leaf-Shinobi had the situation under control to an acceptable level. Sukuna felt the cold touch of a chakra scalpel on the side of his neck.

"Kabuto." Sukuna's lower eyes looked at the blue-haired boy who stood to his left. "I didn't think you were the type to follow orders."

"Oh?" Kabuto had raised an amused eye-brow. "I thought you'd be more surprised to find out that I was never a real Shinobi of Konoha."

"I don't really care." Sukuna snorted at him in mockery. "You must be Orochimaru's underling, huh? Shouldn't you be helping him out?"

Kabuto pressed the tip of his chakra scalpel into Sukuna's neck, drawing out some blood. "Indeed — I am Orochimaru's follower."

"But forget about that." Kabuto's free hand adjusted his glasses. "I'm much more interested in talking to you about your bloodline limit."

"That's kinda funny." Sukuna remained impassive. "I'm not all that interested in talking about my bloodline limit, so can you piss off?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Kabuto chuckled in response. "Lord Orochimaru has become keen on learning about your bloodline limit."

"He gave one of his most fearsome subordinates the task of taking your corpse to him." Kabuto smiled. "He wants to experiment on it."

Unafraid, Sukuna pretended to shake. "How scary. You can tell by my face that I'm just terrified of what that snake-themed bastard wants."

"Careful." Kabuto wagged one of the fingers of his other hand. "You shouldn't be calling Orochimaru by such a distasteful nickname."

"Back to our discussion." Kabuto tapped his chakra scalpel on Sukuna's neck. "What can you tell me about your mutated chakra?"

"Let's talk about something else." Sukuna smirked, voice casual. "Who's this 'fearsome subordinate' you mentioned? Is it you, Kabuto?"

"Me? Goodness no." Kabuto shook his head. "I'm only telling you this out of entertainment. This subordinate's name is Kimimaro Kaguya."

"Your corpse isn't even his top priority, though." Kabuto said. "Orochimaru wants to weaken the Hidden-Leaf as much as possible."

"Kimimaro's top priority is killing every Leaf-Shinobi he encounters." Kabuto explained to him. "It's all so amusing to me! I wonder how—!"

Turning his head to his right, Kabuto felt the meanest of punches being driven into his face and hurtling him into a wall. Sasuke caught his dropped chakra scalpel, then crushed it in his gauntleted hand.

Behind him, Shino Aburame and Neji Hyuga scanned the sector for more hostiles who could be hiding from them. Neji saw no-one, looking at Sasuke and Shino in indifference. "This region of Konoha is empty."

"My bugs cannot detect anyone else." Shino pitched in, hands tucked into his coat's pockets. "They aren't capable of detecting Sukuna either."

"Except Kabuto, of course." Shino said, impassive and calm. "Wasn't he one of the Genin from Konoha who left during the preliminaries?"

"You'd be right." Kabuto emerged from a cracked wall. "I suppose there's no point in concealing who I am from all of you anymore."

Kabuto pulled out a Sound-Village head-band, put it on, and grinned. "I'm lord Orochimaru's loyal follower, nothing more and nothing less."

"More like a pathetic intruder." Neji's Byakugan glared at him in disdain. "You're outnumbered, Kabuto Yakushi. It's four versus one."

Sukuna touched the back of his neck. "Naruto should be fine against Kankuro and Temari on his own. I'm not sure about Gaara, though."

"Kabuto also mentioned Kimimaro Kaguya to me." Sukuna's head was tilted. "From what I remember in my last life, wasn't he really sick?"

"Kabuto or Orochimaru must have made some kind of medicine for him." Sukuna thought. "Damn it. I'll worry about those details later."

Arm extended out at Kabuto, Shino let a swarm of bugs surround the area. "Like Neji has told you, Kabuto, you are indeed outnumbered."

Sasuke's Two-Tomoe Sharingan spun in a perfect rotation. "I'm not sure how strong Kabuto is. But I do know about his skill in Medical-Jutsu."

"Please, don't belittle me like that." The small disarming smile on Kabuto's face twisted into an unamused one. "I'm uninterested in you."

Shino was caught-off guard when Kabuto had broken into his defensive guard a mere moment later. Brandishing a new chakra scalpel, Kabuto cut into a chunk of Shino's shoulder and laughed.

Swerving on the heel of his foot, Kabuto raised his chakra scalpel and fended off the swarm of bugs that flew at him by slicing them apart. Kabuto returned his attention onto Shino, smile casual and light.

Neji had blocked Kabuto's path, having entered the traditional Taijutsu stance of the Hyuga-Clan. However, Neji had not recovered much from his match against Sasuke. Most of his wounds had reopened.

Taking advantage of these injuries, Kabuto carved his scalpel through Neji's protective stance and knocked him onto the ground. Kabuto hummed. "If he was at full health, that would have been more difficult."

Kicking Neji into a wall, Kabuto glanced at Sasuke and Sukuna and realized they had stayed stationary. "What are those two planning?"

Shino grasped at his lacerated shoulder, breath hitched in hidden pain. "He took out Neji that fast? I know he was still injured, but…"

Kabuto heard movement from behind himself and noticed that Sukuna had left this secluded region in the village. "Kimimaro will find him."

Sasuke lurched forward, lashed his clawed gauntleted hand outwards, and lunged towards Kabuto in a flash of vicious speed. Kabuto flicked his chakra scalpel out to dig into Sasuke's shoulder—but stopped.

Flames flickered next to Shino and formed into a Fire-Clone—who grabbed the Aburame and disappeared in a burst of agility. Uncaring of Shino's escape, Kabuto redirected a slice to the face downwards.

Sasuke flexed his gauntleted hand's clawed fingers, as though becoming used to the sensation of having them. Kabuto pocketed his chakra scalpel, eyes closed. "I'm surprised you would stay behind."

"You said you were Orochimaru's follower, right?" Sasuke's features were cold. "What can you tell me about the Curse-Mark he gave me?"

"Of course you'd be curious about that." Kabuto chuckled. "It's a little gift from Orochimaru. He's just taken an interest in your future power."

"This is the perfect opportunity for us to talk and fight." Kabuto took out his chakra scalpel, posture calm. "I want to see more of your power myself."

Sasuke blinked his Sharingan-accentuated eyes, unamused. "I still have a lot more questions for you about this mark and Orochimaru."

"I'll see if I can answer them." Kabuto adjusted the glasses on his face in amusement. "I also want to see if you're worthy of the Curse-Mark."

(-)

Sukuna had trusted Sasuke enough to handle Kabuto. Rushing through the village of Konoha in a distortion of speed, Sukuna wasted no time and launched dozens of Dismantles at any enemy Shinobi.

A decent chunk of these enemy Shinobi who had approached Sukuna for battle had been weaker Genin from the Sand-Village and Sound-Village who hadn't competed at all in Konoha's Chunin-Exams.

Blood was sprayed across the concrete as Sukuna slapped a shoulder of a fourth Sound-Genin and used Cleave to slash into it. Knocking her into a pile of unconscious or dead bodies, Sukuna looked around.

Everywhere around him had remained in pure chaos. Leaf-Shinobi were embroiled in battle against droves of Sound-Ninja and Sand-Ninja. Sighing to himself, Sukuna decided to track down Naruto.

"How many of them are there?" A Sound-Chunin behind Sukuna erupted into blood. He grunted. "I'm lucky these ones aren't durable."

Sukuna had assumed that Kankuro and Temari had taken Gaara to the western section of the Hidden-Leaf—the section that had an abundance of forests, plant life, and animal life. It was his best bet.

The enormous three-headed snake that had arrived from the eastern side of Konoha had been stomped on by a ginormous toad. Ignoring the odd sight in the distance, Sukuna disappeared in a crimson blur.

(-)

Naruto rolled across the air, skidded across five tree-branches, and reached a clawed hand out for Temari and Kankuro—the second of the two held Gaara in his hands and placed him on a tree-branch.

Temari swung her fan at Naruto, summoning a whirlwind of wind that consumed him and flung him downwards. Lumps of soil jolted upwards from the impact of Naruto being slammed into the ground.

"That should keep him down for a while." Temari huffed, sweat coated on her fore-head from stress and annoyance. "Come on, Kankuro!"

Kankuro secured a shaking Gaara in his arms once more. "Damn. We still have no clue how long it'll take for Gaara's transformation to start."

"At least that Sukuna fellow isn't here." Kankuro scowled. "Naruto must have left Sukuna to handle those four Sound-Village Genin alone."

"That should keep who down for a while?!" An irritated voice called out from behind them, accompanied by a low grunt. "You won't get away!"

"Fast!" Temari turned around a second later—but a punch to the nose hurtled her into the bushes below them. "His strength is incredible!"

The puppet on Kankuro's back leaped off of it, acting through the control of Kankuro's chakra threads. Karasu—the name of the puppet—flicked its arm out, ejected a poison-coated Kunai from its wrist, and lunged for Naruto.

Naruto leaned his head out of the poison-coated Kunai's range before the heel of his foot was buried into its chest. Karasu cracked a little from the powerful strike—but its enhanced durability helped it fight on.

"Gaara hasn't restabilised yet." Kankuro flexed his fingers to make Karasu tackle Naruto off of the tree-branches. "What should I do?"

A Rasengan annihilated Karasu's head. Despite this, Kankuro was able to maintain his control over the undamaged sections of its body. Naruto glared at the puppet in annoyance, impatience flickering in his gaze.

Closing in on the puppet in a crimson flash of speed, Naruto smacked his knuckles into the middle of its body and obliterated it into chunks of whatever materials it came from. His eyes glowed a low red. "Next."

Since Karasu's core had been broken beyond repair, the rest of its body had soon followed and Kankuro had nothing left of the puppet to control. Teeth gritted in frustration, Kankuro thought of his next move.

Temari had rejoined Kankuro on the tree-branch, disregarding her broken nose. Naruto clenched his fist from where he stood on the ground, widened his red eyes, and stamped his foot onto the soil.

Somersaulting into the air in a blur of inhuman movement, Naruto touched his feet down on the tree-branch and cast a hand-sign. Droplets of wind in front of Kankuro exploded, bruising his cheeks.

"Wind-Style: Droplet-Burst." Naruto then summoned a legion of Shadow-Clones—who clasped their hands. "I'm taking you down!"

Unprepared to face such a large number of opponents, Temari swept her fan in a diagonal motion and dispersed the clones ahead of her to create a straight path of escape. Kankuro loaded Gaara into his arms.

Gaara snapped his eyes open, surprising Kankuro and Temari. Opening his mouth to address his brother, Kankuro grunted as he was backhanded down into the bushes and Temari was kicked into the soil.

All of Naruto's Shadow-Clones were dispelled by pellets of sand. One of Gaara's hands grabbed his head while the other curled into a fist. Gaara grinned at Naruto in mania and shouted out. "The ninth one!"

"Why does he keep calling Naruto the ninth one?" Realization graced Temari's mind. "Wait…The ninth one — like nine-tails?"

"It can't be!" Temari dragged herself over to lean against a tree trunk. "But it does make sense. Gaara is the Jinchuriki for the one-tails."

Naruto glanced at the spots where his Shadow-Clones had stood seconds ago, returned his focus on Gaara, grinned at him in mockery, and said. "You can stop calling me that. I think I get what you mean!"

"Mother has let me retain control for once!" Sand whirled around Gaara's body. "The blood of the ninth one will prove my existence!"

"Gaara's still in control?" Kankuro heard what Gaara had proclaimed. "I guess this isn't gonna be one of his more normal rampages, huh?"

Naruto noticed the speed of Gaara's sand had increased compared to its old speed during their match in the arena. Sand stretched out for Naruto and the sand on Gaara's body covered him more and more.

Spinning through the air and landing on a different tree-branch, Naruto failed to block off the sand that slithered onto his shoulder and yanked him into a tree trunk. Stepping out from it, Naruto felt Gaara's chakra.

"What the hell?!" Naruto's senses were on full alert. "His chakra's gotten even more dense! And I swear his sand keeps getting faster!"

(-)

Sukuna had reached the forest-based section of the village and had heard a loud boom of sound in the distance. Channelling cursed-energy into his muscles, Sukuna rushed across a dirt path.

Two Sand-Genin had set their sights on this area and had pounced on him, seeing him as an easy target. Dismantle cut them apart in a blaze of blood. Sukuna increased his general speed, becoming a distortion.

Small craters formed in the ground from the touch of his feet. Sukuna entered some kind of clearing to find a shorter route to his teammate. Halting himself in his tracks, Sukuna gazed at his surroundings.

A pile of corpses that included only Leaf-Shinobi littered the grass. Blood smeared their head-bands and bones were buried in their flesh. Sukuna paused once more at the sound of peaceful and soft footfalls.

Sukuna directed his four-eyed gaze to the white-haired teenager who had slaughtered those Leaf-Shinobi in cold blood. Kimimaro Kaguya stopped, noticing Sukuna and tilting his head at him. "It's you…"

"He recognized me." Sukuna tensed his muscles. "I didn't think I'd encounter Kimimaro this early. What a coincidence he was here…"

Contrary to what Sukuna had expected from him, Kimimaro seated himself down on the top of a flat-surfaced boulder, pulled out a small container of pills, popped its cap open, and swallowed one of its pills.

"You must be Ryomen Sukuna." Kimimaro stood up, speaking to him in a composed tone. "Kabuto made sure I knew what you looked like."

Sukuna relaxed his muscles—but pumped cursed-energy into them. "You must be Kimimaro, huh? Kabuto mentioned you in our chat."

"Indeed, I am." Kimimaro nodded, then extended his hand outwards. "My lord has entrusted me the mission of bringing him your corpse."

The bloodlust Kimimaro projected at him was not like Orochimaru's own bloodlust. Kimimaro's intent to kill was somehow peaceful, serene, merciless, and brutal all at once. Sukuna clasped his hands.

Naruto and Sasuke had developed and gained new abilities over the one month break they had been given to train for the third stage of the Chunin-Exams. Sukuna hadn't let himself fall behind his teammates.

"Convergence." Sukuna kept his hands clasped, compressing the blood in between his palms. "Let's try this out, then. Piercing-Blood!"

Kimimaro maintained his calm demeanour, drawing a blade-like bone from his shoulder and batting the blast of blood downwards. Sukuna separated his hands, scoffing to himself. "His reflexes are impressive."

In less than a second, Kimimaro appeared behind Sukuna and flicked the bone in his hand at his neck. Shadows danced around them, forming into a white-furred wolf that held the bone in its closed mouth.

"What is that?" Kimimaro wrenched his bone out from the wolf-themed Shikigami's mouth. "I wasn't told that he had a summoning contract."

Sukuna dispelled his Shikigami into the shadows, lashed his arm out, and went in to snatch Kimimaro's blade-like bone from him. Regaining his focus, Kimimaro roundhouse kicked Sukuna and hurtled him back.

"Even his physical power is insane." Sukuna sank into the boulder he had been kicked into and grinned. "He's not like Doto or Orochimaru."

Dragging himself out of the boulder, Sukuna flipped backwards and launched a Dismantle into the bone Kimimaro had used for a weapon. It was slashed into dust, much to Kimimaro's expectations of him.

"The invisible pulse of destruction." Kimimaro pulled out a second blade-like bone from his shoulder. "My lord did tell me about that."

"I'll have to leave Gaara to Naruto and Kabuto to Sasuke." Sukuna rushed forward and slammed his foot down. "They can handle it."

Kimimaro stared at the small chunks of soil that Sukuna had ejected into air around him and swung his bone in a horizontal gesture. These chunks of stone were scattered soon after as Kimimaro then waited.

Sukuna positioned himself next to Kimimaro, elbow reaching out to knock itself into his chest and disorientate his stance. Kimimaro was faster—but was intercepted from the appearance of another creature.

Toad had wrapped its tongue around Kimimaro, flinging him closer to Sukuna's elbow and allowing him to drill it into his chest. Kimimaro felt a second impact rattle his entire body. "There's that two blows in one."

"A toad summon?" Kimimaro watched the toad melt into the darkness of the area. "First that wolf and now this toad. It's quite odd to me."

"Are they created from the shadows?" Kimimaro asked himself, having the tip of his bone deflect a punch to the jaw. "Is it a bloodline limit?"

"There's also that blood manipulation he used against me earlier." Kimimaro raised his bone. "What other abilities could he have?"

"I thought his mutated chakra itself was a bloodline limit." Kimimaro thought. "All of these other abilities could be derived from it, then."

Sukuna reached out and snatched the blade from Kimimaro's hand. Cleave crumbled it into dust before Sukuna embedded an upper-cut into Kimimaro's jaw. Divergent-Fist's second impact soon followed.

"His physical endurance is also insane!" Sukuna grinned, elbowing Kimimaro in the gut. "His control over his bones isn't that bad either."

Head snapped back at what looked like a painful angle, Kimimaro tolerated it without visible effort and backhanded Sukuna. Dropping the dust in his hand, Kimimaro spoke. "I'm impressed you broke it."

"My bones are even denser than steel." Kimimaro said. "I can understand now why lord Orochimaru wants to study your power."

Sharp bones grew from Kimimaro's back. Taking two of them out of his body, he declared. "I will make sure you won't get too mangled."

"You really follow Orochimaru of all people?" Sukuna stuck his tongue out in disdain. "Why don't you use your strength for yourself instead?"

"Don't misunderstand any of this, Ryomen Sukuna." Kimimaro replied. "I live to see that lord Orochimaru's will is fulfilled. I will murder you."

"Blah. Blah. Blah." Sukuna moved his hand like a mouth. "You keep yammering about so much random crap. Stop wasting your time."

Kimimaro obliged a mere moment later, body-flickering in front of Sukuna and moving his sharpened bones downwards. Sukuna widened his eyes at Kimimaro's inhuman agility, then chuckled.

"Supernova." Small orbs of blood all around them exploded in the direction of Kimimaro's bones, diverting their path. "It worked…"

"Try and keep up!" Spiderweb spread a wave of cracks across the soil underneath their feet. Sukuna blurred forward. "Build up momentum."

Kimimaro had applied chakra to his feet to keep his footing on the cracked ground. "He damaged the ground? That won't help him much."

Sukuna aimed a right hook for Kimimaro's chest. Kimimaro sprouted out bones from that section of his body, redirecting the bones in his hands towards their original target. Sukuna rolled himself backwards.

In a jump of complete athleticism, Sukuna returned to his feet and clasped his hands. Kimimaro realized he was going to fire off another blood of pure blast — this time it was targeted for his upper-torso.

"My bones should be able to protect me from that." Kimimaro brandished the bones in his hands. "Otherwise I can block it myself."

Piercing-Blood was shot off towards Kimimaro's upper-torso, like he had anticipated. At the last second, though, Sukuna changed the course of its route and blasted it at Kimimaro's unprotected knee.

Noticing the change, Kimimaro flipped upwards and landed behind Sukuna in a rapid series of movements. Sukuna separated his palms, glanced at Kimimaro in amusement, and whirled himself around.

Dismantle had been launched into Kimimaro—but, instead of damaging him, it was the bones sprouted from his knee that were destroyed. Sukuna scowled a little. "He has a decent defense."

"Dismantle and Cleave can cut his bones into nothing." Sukuna distanced himself from him. "But he can just keep producing them."

"I hate using weapons." Two Kunai slipped into Sukuna's hands. "But I'll be able to channel Shrine into these to use Cleave and Dismantle."

Kimimaro and Sukuna both became blurs of inhuman speed. Sukuna channelled Cleave into both of his Kunai as he and Kimimaro clashed their weapons against each other. Cleave severed the bones into two.

Discarding the broken portions of the two bones in his hands, Kimimaro and Sukuna moved across the clearing and exchanged a number slashes, parries, and slices. Sukuna's foot reached outwards.

Two of Kimimaro's finger-tips opened up and bone pellets rained down upon Sukuna's foot. Losing his balance, Sukuna managed to fend off a strike to the nose and was then kicked in the abdomen.

Unworried about his punctured foot, Sukuna shrugged off the damage, dropped his two Kunai, and rose to his feet. Cursed-energy enhanced his physical prowess while Kimimaro lowered his bone weapons.

Sukuna clenched his fists. "This is fun."

The battle had only started.

A/N: Thanks for reading.