Rotted Rowan

Tock

Beta: Cyndaquil123

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Sakura

She literally could not believe what she witnessed.

The Kazekage, in broad daylight, tried to kill their Hokage. Obviously, he was intercepted by ANBU. Then gold sand flooded the stadium, forcing Sakura to jump above it to get out of the way. She could see her fellow Genin had also avoided the attack, but she didn't have a lot of time to process that. In the distance she could hear several explosions go off and judging from how distant they sounded she concluded they must have gone off in a residential district.

Sakura barely had time to process that fact because then she saw that a flood of Sunagakure shinobi and kunoichi were viciously trying to kill the civilians in the stadium.

Beside her, Naruto landed and he shouted, "We're being invaded!"

"I can see that," she retorted hotly, sprinting up the side of the stadium to reach the peak. The two teammates climbed up and she gasped at what she saw.

Chaos. Utter chaos. Hundreds of Suna shinobi and kunoichi were flooding the streets.

"How—how did they get in?!" she asked in bewilderment. Naasica had mentioned the reports of increased activity in the forest by Suna, but it had been a couple dozen. There had been dozens of Suna shinobi and kunoichi permitted into Konoha, not hundreds!

How?!

"We can worry about that later," Naruto growled, "they're attacking the civilians. We need to go."

"Right. I—I'm going to find a perch."

Naruto hesitated to take a step away. "You—"

"I'll be fine on my own. Go, stay with Hinata," Sakura ordered, already sprinting away.

"If you die, I'm going to read your diary!"

"Fuck you!"

Sakura dashed through the madness, weaving and diving through the fights.

Thank goodness they didn't start halfway through the tournament. I'm still full energy, she thought, leaping up. I need to get to a higher position to snipe.

One of the best positions in the city would be the Hokage's tower, but it was so obviously going to get swarmed. Therefore, the next best spot would be on top of their heads. Sakura would be able to get a complete view of the village. The only thing hampering her would be her ability to fire shots from such a distance.

I can do this, she thought to herself as she scaled up the cliff. It took her another minute to reach a good spot. She quickly pulled out her bow, dropping to the dirt floor. She laid flat on her belly, turning her bow horizontally over the edge. She needed to remain as inconspicuous as possible. She'd test out a few shots to see how she felt about the distance. If she liked it, she would use the fūinjutsu seals Naruto made for her to cast a genjutsu around her. She'd be hard to pinpoint.

Couple shots then set up traps, Sakura thought, drawing back her first arrow.

The first shot soared straight through a Suna kunoichi's head from behind. To her surprise, none of her Suna companions even turned around to look in the direction of the attack. It was as if they hadn't noticed. Surely, Jōnin-level shinobi and kunoichi would realize they were being sniped?

Their lack of reaction made her frown. Weird. They're solely focused on fighting the people in front of them.

Indeed, from her viewpoint, it looked like they behaved more akin to rabid animals than level-headed shinobi. They were biting, clawing, and howling at the Konoha shinobi. There was a mad gleam Sakura could catch in some of their eyes, a hint of pure desperation. She was too far up to see much else, but it was clear that they were fighting like they had nothing else to lose.