Author's Note

I think most people would remember what happened during the Chunin Exams finale, if not, you can probably go stare at the actual NARUTO show or manga at some point. I tried to whittle off the canon Chunin Exam bits that weren't entirely necessary to my writing… but as always, an asterisk in the section label means it contains paraphrased or quoted parts or scenes of the legitimate canon NARUTO chopped up and put into text. The next TWO chapters have a lot of replay of canon material, if you feel like skipping past them because of that. Though, I recommend reading the butt end of the NEXT chapter at least, if you choose that route.

Other note. March 2022. Probably not a good time to be writing an invasion arc. But stories are stories and reality is reality. I can control how a story is told, but I can only hope for how reality goes.

Chapter 42

Katiya (approximate time: almost invasion time.)

No one in Konohagakure made a fuss as she made her way to her seat to watch the Chunin Exam finale. One of us could realize it was because Konohagakure at the moment was still uncertain if Orochimaru had simply killed a random Oto-nin sensei to take his place to get closer to Sasuke Uchiha—or if all of Otogakure was really just at his beck and call like it was. Katiya, on the other hand, did not care beyond the fact that she was allowed to exist undisturbed.

Mostly.

"Excuse me, Katsu, sir?"

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"Baki, of Sunagakure. I have a message from the Lord Kazekage for you, if I may."

Katiya blinked, turning around in her seat to look at the man apparently named "Baki". She found nothing of note besides his cloth covered eye and her own recognition that Gaara's sensei had a name. She looked to the scroll he was carrying. She turned her head to make eye contact with "the Kazekage" who nodded his head slightly in her direction, apparently noticing her eye contact across the arena. Katiya took the scroll. Gaara's sensei retreated to his own seat in the arena stands.

The "Lord Kazekage"… right. Nice of him to send me a message from beyond the grave, she thought sarcastically.

She opened the scroll and skimmed it before lighting the scroll on fire between her fingertips. It got a few of the nearby jonin sensei and a few ANBU to look at her, but it was no worse than what could happen should the contents fall into Konoha's hands. Her lord didn't appear to be that concerned about Oto-Suna relations coming to light so close to the invasion anyways. She nonchalantly brushed the ash off of her clothes and then pulled out wired headphones to attach to the radio under her wheelchair. One can suppose the sounds of looming invasion preparation could be interpreted as music.

According to the scroll, Lord Orochimaru was intending on sending three teams of Oto-nin with kill orders after Sasuke Uchiha. She, on the other hand, was to neither abduct nor kill him. Just to ensure his safety as unsuspiciously as possible if all hell broke loose between him and Gaara.

Joy.

Gaara* (approximate time: 10:00 AM)

SasUkE UcHiHa was still a no-show—he was LAtE and it was making Shukaku—the purveyor of his mother's wishes DisPleAseD. Gaara withdrew into his mind to calm them—Shukaku and the mental image he had of his mother.

The first match would be between NaRutO UzUMaKi and nEji hYuGA. They were both people that inTeResTeD Gaara greatly—and Shukaku too, the UZuMAki boy. They knew SaSuKe uChiHa would come soon—those EyeS—they told him that. He and Shukaku knew. Those eYEs—so similar to his own—yet also—

—worthy PrEy…

Gaara turned his attention back to the match. The mutual interest of them both, the Jinchuriki and his demon, kept them quiet and still. For the time. It did not matter how long the Uchiha would take, he could wait.

"It'll be gone and over before you know it."

Time would go and pass before he knew it. He could wait.

Kankuro* (approximate time: 10:40 AM)

Bad timing. He himself was meant to go next—after the loudmouthed Uzumaki—all because of Sasuke Uchiha's late appearance—and because it was supposed to be the Uchiha's match against Gaara that precluded the signal for their invasion. He knew his sister was holding back to save chakra—and he knew he had even less raw chakra reserve than she did. In order to follow his sister's strategy, he'd therefore have to make a somewhat suspicious move in order to preserve chakra and his jutsu anonymity…

"Proctor, I forfeit," Kankuro called.

He sent a glance to his sister, who nodded nearly imperceptibly—they both knew of Kankuro's intentions should he have had to actually participate in the exam finale. Gaara kept his eyes fixed to the arena grounds, waiting for the next match. His brother's actions did not concern Gaara and likewise, Kankuro, did not concern himself with Gaara.

…

If Kankuro had turned slightly more, he would have seen the person who would have been his opponent tilting his head ever so slightly downwards behind his shaded lenses and mouth-covering jacket panel.

Kabuto* (approximate time: 11:00 AM)

"No shinobi medic has ever taken an oath to 'do no harm' but you and I are probably some of the few Oto medic-nin to actually try to do what medics are supposed to do… and heal. Attacking Konoha as a whole for so little a reason as petty revenge isn't exactly minimizing damage… It's still a huge risk with little return."

He wasn't there to watch the match where one Neji Hyuga beat up his younger cousin. Even so, he could see the damage inflicted. With the coming invasion, no one would ask what had compelled him to heal her while under his ANBU disguise. Even if they were to do so, one would doubt he could say himself. He just did.

Temari* (approximate time: 1:20 PM)

The Chunin Exams were a farce. It wasn't even the exam, the village noblemen, or even their performance victory that dictated whether they were declared chunin or not. It was the Kage, or in her case, the Kazekage.

And she had already been declared chunin, much like hundreds of shinobi before her, without ever setting foot into the arena. The arena she was about to enter, then, only to attract the view of the noblemen who might hire her village. Attract their patronage—their money—into Suna's business. Important, but not so much as so she found it necessary to go all-out. She needed to save energy for the raid, after all, and it would have been too suspicious if the both of them—her and her brother both dropped out of the Chunin Exam finale.

Unlike the prior stages and the preliminaries, she just needed to make it look like she was putting full effort. Minimal chakra. She was fully intent on nothing but her wits in her match, or as close to it as she could, anyways. She glanced up to the Kazekage in the stands. That would be her argument if her father wanted to make an issue over why she had lost—if she were to lose. It was a good thing her opponent was some lazy slacker that had to be thrown into the arena. She had expected her match against one "Shikamaru Nara" to be a breeze and perhaps was a bit sloppy because of it.

… (approximate time: 2:10 PM)

Wind Scythe Jutsu versus Shadow Possession Jutsu. They had quite the match of wits in battle strategy… She didn't expect the match to come that close, not in front of her father and felt she only fared as well as she did because Shikamaru had forfeited himself, apparently running low on chakra.

What the hell? she mentally asked, ironically mirroring Shikakmaru's own "what the hell" moment.

The Nara had made a few droll comments about boy and girl stuff—like she wasn't a kunoichi trained for war and beat up a Konoha-nin just a month prior—and he just forfeited like he had no interest in the official chunin rank. Which was quite possible if one of us was familiar with his slacker personality, as he had basically announced to her.

… It was as if Shikamaru had guessed her own lack of interest in the exam and just wanted to play at that level to test her out. But Temari's mind brushed the Nara's enigmatic actions over as unimportant. She jerked her arm down after being forced to raise it via his Shadow Possession Jutsu and left the fight arena with a scowl, only somewhat ruffled by the Nara's aforementioned actions.

Shikamaru* (approximate time: 2:20 PM)

He had felt his opponent—Temari—straining against his jutsu when he latched onto her. Clearly, winning meant a lot more to her than it did him. And he was eventually going to run out of chakra if he kept up his jutsu—or had to repeatedly use it like he had done. He found the Chunin Exams were such a drag, anyways.

Naruto—who had pushed him out of the railed upper floor and into the arena and now jumped down just to berate him—Naruto though—

Shikamaru let out a groan as he approached.

Gaara* (approximate time: 2:30 PM)

"Only a fool wastes his time trying to become something he can never be… There is only one destiny we all share equally… death."

"I'm not gonna run away and I never go back on my word, that is my nindo... You and your stupid 'destiny' stuff… It may be the Hyuga way to cave into destiny, but it's not mine! … I'll change the future of the Hyuga clan—after I become Hokage!"

Shukaku had gotten antsy feeling the Nine-Tails' chakra. The spat of words between the blonde Jinchuriki and the Neji Hyuga one—though Gaara had appeared outwardly apathetic—found its way into the latter's mind. The Hyuga had lost the match despite having destiny on his side—

—weAK—WEaK—sAsUkE uCHihA bEttER noT—

"Is he really not going to show up?" Gaara's siblings—Kankuro—asked a newly arrived Temari from the lower arena floor. Temari was saying something—or was going to—whatever—

—SaSuKE UcHiHa—

"He'll be here," Gaara rasped apathetically, his eyes focused on the empty arena grounds. He was only vaguely aware of anything else that wasn't Shukaku or his eventual target. "He'll definitely be here."

There was a puff of smoke.

sASuKe uCHiHa'S FiNaLLy ArriVeD! Shukaku screamed and then giggled. He seemed to have been picking up on Gaara's interest in the former, capitalizing it to increase his demands for blood.

"... I told you he would come."

…

Gaara made his way down the building's interior corridor to the stairs. The two random… Kusa-nin…

Soon, Mother, soon, Gaara thought to his mother. Soon, soon.

Unaware, Shikamaru and Naruto were making their way up from the arena floor. The-thump. The-thump. The-thump. The two Kusa-nin that had tried to stop Gaara from reaching the arena floor should have stayed out of his way.

One of them had tried to run.

wEAk—WHAT ThE HeLL dO YoU ThinK YoU'RE dOiNG, iTty-BitTy, PaThEtiC SCARED—diSgUsTinG—DiD yoU noT seE theiR PaThETiC liTtLe feAr?!?

Gaara walked down the steps leading down, past two statues of uninteresting random people.

—iF yoU WaNT tO kiLL sOMeTHiNG—kiLL thEM ALL Or KiLL mE sOmetHinG GoOD foR oNCe, LittLE GAaRa!

He saw his opponent—UcHiHa—coming out into the arena.

Soon, Mother, soon.

—iF YoU wAnt tO KiLL SoMEthiNG, kill mE SomEtHinG GOOD! kiLL Him—KILL HIM NOW! OR KILL THEM ALL NOW!!!

I will, I will…

His mother's will, what created him and bid Shukaku stay with him, took precedence over any of his father's desires. She had been kept waiting long enough, he felt. And he knew his father would not be there to stop him this time. Whatever signal "the Kazekage" was meant to give on behalf of Otogakure, Gaara would never heed.

Katiya* (approximate time: later.)

She had zoned out in the rather long ten minutes where her charge had yet to show up. When the Uchiha finally did, she finally heard the go-ahead to re-enable her leg from having minimized the chakra flow to it to fool any Hyuga's prying eye, over her headset-attached radio. She flicked her index finger over her knee and let her finger glow briefly with chakra. Quick, discreet healing. The invasion would begin soon.

"Begin!" said the Chunin Exam proctor.

Gaara… began an attack… only to have a… fit.

Her grip on the arm of her wheelchair tightened. She blinked. And then it… began to abate. Something… felt wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it. But her mind told her not to move when her heart… The Uchiha began his own attack—fast—like the other green unitard kid's one. Katiya buried the sensation and relaxed herself once more. Gaara got kicked back, but he had already put on his own armor made of sand.

It was alright.

"What's the matter Gaara, is that all you've got? … I'm going to tear off… all your armor!" the Uchiha yelled down below.

There was a lull in battle after a few quick exchanges, the two matching each other in damage and energy expenditure, by appearance. There were a few cracks in his armor… left side, by the eye… little bit on the right arm… Then Gaara stood back up, in a radius of his own sand. He encircled himself in it, forming a spherical shield around himself.

"Sensei—please—you've got to stop the match!" It was the Naruto kid—rambling on about Gaara and his issues, concerned for his teammate some ways away.

How cute, part of her mind faintly intoned.

Again, a familiar wash of riling chakra took to the sky, followed by an eye made of sand. If she really paid attention and didn't have the chatter of nearly an entire village surrounding her or headphones on, she could have heard the sounds of Gaara's rhythmic chanting for Shukaku to take over his body. Instead, she just blinked expressionlessly and waited for Lord Orochimaru's signal for the true invasion to begin. She felt some… emotional… thing, but she couldn't quite find the name for it.

She ignored it. It was alright.

Kankuro* (approximate time: 2:45 PM)

The two more rational Sand Siblings watched in horror as their brother threw the plan by trying to pull out Shukaku too early. And with Gaara down in the arena, Temari didn't have the same very present impetus to cover her brother's mouth or mind her own words. Their nervousness over the complication made by Gaara made them just a slight bit too loud and too unfocused on the thought of potentially being overheard, frantically trying to figure out how they'd recover their father's plan.

Unbeknownst to them, their frantic whispering caught the attention of a nearby Exam contestant. The same one that would have been Kankuro's opponent had the latter not forfeited.

Kabuto* (approximate time: 2:50 PM)

Lord Orochimaru gave the signal.

As expected, Kumogakure rode on his lord's invasion plans to attempt to abduct one of the Hyuga children to gain access to their Byakugan kekkei genkai. Only, the Kumogakure "spies", as one "Katsu" had thought of them, were in fact far from staying in Oto without Oto's knowledge. Otogakure being so small and new and formed solely for manpower, it needed as much foreign aid as possible. Their alliance was solely a quiet unofficial off-the-books item but it didn't change the fact the attack on Konoha was advantageous to all its enemies. Orochimaru was no fool so as to not capitalize on it.

No one from Kumogakure would have guessed that one man behind a Konohagakure ANBU mask—who had just healed a Konoha kunoichi—was in fact the same man who had conspired with them to facilitate that same kunoichi's abduction.

The battle occupied nearly everyone still conscious who could have noticed when he left to join Oto forces.

Katiya (approximate time: whacking time.)

She went to join Oto's raid, battling away the Konoha-nin keeping her from her Uchiha charge. Gaara, after screaming out in pain as a result of the Uchiha she had to go after, appeared to collapse in his spherical sand shield... She put the thought of Gaara from her mind. The only surviving genin team of Suna-nin to the Chunin Exams went to follow their last directive from their father—to recover Gaara to Sunagakure—and the Konoha-nin were scrabbling to do whatever they thought best.

The jonin of them attempted to regain control over the arena and the invasion as Orochimaru made to engage their Hokage. The Konoha genin—some of them—going after the younger retreating Suna-nin. The Uchiha was (rather stupidly in her opinion) one of them. The Uchiha's pursuit of Gaara would be an unimportant detail to the mission Lord Orochimaru assigned her to.

She followed after the Uchiha.

The three teams Orochimaru had dispatched in addition to herself had taken on an anti-ambush configuration, one member of their nine total trailing behind. But one best should know that three teams approaching from the same direction is two too many to go unnoticed for a discreet pursuit. Katiya, more familiar with Oto's general incompetence though, was not thinking about the teams' strategy (or lack thereof). Rather, just thinking them too great a nuisance in general, she opted to skirt around their pursuit route at an increased speed. The decision would come to spare her a few additional delays, as some of us might know.

Kankuro* (approximate time: 3:00 PM)

They had pulled Gaara out of the arena—then out of Konohagakure—and then found themselves tree-jumping in the vague direction of the Land of Wind border in silence.

"We need Gaara for the operation!" Temari had admonished before they took off.

"You two take Gaara and tend to his wounds. As soon as his chakra has been restored, the operation will continue," his sensei had replied, as Kankuro mentally replayed.

Gaara had only been able to get through half a transformation thanks to Sasuke's lighting-style jutsu—Gaara was injured and in a state of semi-unconsciousness for once—and likely among the only reasons why Kankuro found himself once again in one of those rare times he was actually able to touch and carry his youngest brother.

On one hand, it put a surprising pause on Kankuro needing to see a monster up close and personal again. But in the other—his brother was bleeding out, wasn't dead—but was a dead weight on their ability to withdraw to safety. Because—clearly—they still had orders to follow even with the botched plan. Kankuro gritted his teeth. It was bad.