The first rounds will be ten minute match ups in the following order:
"First match: Hinata Hyuga V Sakura Haruno.
Second match: Kiba Inuzuka V Rock Lee.
Third match: Kankuro no Sabaku V Shino Aburame.
Fourth match: Tenten V Temari no Sabaku
Fifth match: Neji Hyuga V Sai
Sixth match: Gaara no Sabaku V Sasuke Uchiha.
In the stadium, round one match one…
Hinata gave her best glare at her opponent. In all reality, though, it came out to a mildly annoyed expression.
Better than her academy days, at least. The Hyuga heiress curled her toes in to mentally ground herself, something her kind cousin Hikaru suggested. The usually verbose and excitable man instead gave her a gentle head pat that morning and ordered her to 'try her best' but 'not use all her energy- like a true shinobi'.
In other words, this fight was not going to be her last. When Hinata had moved to question him, Hikaru had just winked at her with a shushing gesture and used a shunshin. Guilt eating at her for knowing her cousin had given her some kind of hint, Hinata barely heard the proctor yell 'start'!
Sakura, apparently, had no such problems. The girl with the pink bob flew towards Hinata and knocked the girl back with a quick punch to the nose.
Hinata winced, but activated her Byakugan; she had ten minutes to either surrender or make Sakura do so. Easy, right?
When a senbon tried to graze her cheek, poison evident on the blade, Hinata decided that perhaps she wasn't quite ready. Nevertheless, she had to prove she was not a failure. With steely eyes the shy Hyuga leapt towards the budding medical prodigy, gentle fist strikes aimed at vital spots.
Sakura tried to keep the fury out of her eyes when Hinata hadn't reacted to the proctor giving them the heads up to fight. Sure, Sakura knew she wasn't as 'prestigious' as the clan genin, but she at least deserved an attentive opponent! Socking the girl in the jaw moments later was just what she needed- even with the booing from the crowd asking for a 'shinobi' fight.
What, did they think all shinobi fought with jutsu? Rolling her eyes Sakura threw a paralyzing senbon towards Hinata- who finally looked halfway prepared- hoping for a quick win. But, the girl dodged, and flew at Sakura in a frenzy of jabs. If it weren't for Hikaru-sensei's training, Sakura was sure she'd be dead by now.
Dodging the blows, Sakura parried with kunai and senbon, aiming for spots that allowed her poison in, yet failing to make contact. Finally deciding something had to give, Sakura stopped moving.
Hinata's eyes widened as her palm successfully struck the taller girl's shoulder. Balance was off though as the girl ever so slightly leaned further in, trying to catch her balance.
And that's when Sakura struck. With a vicious smirk Sakura used her good hand and grabbed Hinata's neck, a senbon embedding itself in the flesh. A fast acting sedative had the Hyuga heiress out in seconds. The stadium cheered, entranced by the fast taijutsu and odd finale. Sakura just healed her shoulder and gave the antidote to her comrade; they were from the same village, after all.
Up in the stands, Hisashi Hyuga…
Hisashi kept the sigh of relief off of his face, glad that both children would be out of harm's way come the invasion. Hanabi had been ordered to stay in the compound last minute due to a made up offence (the Hokage wouldn't let them tell the child and break the secret after all), and he ordered Hikaru to make sure his daughter didn't exhaust or overtly injure herself. While the teen was an utter disgrace to the Hyuga name, he followed orders.
And because of that, Hinata would be safe in the shelters. Even after being treated, Hinata would be escorted to the shelters before any fighting happened. While other genin would be forced to fight or make their way to safety, his child wouldn't.
Now he would just have to act like he was pissed at her.
"An utter disgrace, that worm" An elder scoffed.
"Yes, certainly" Hisashi replied, mentally assigning the 'disgrace' title to the elder, not his daughter. He was disappointed in Hinata, true, but in this instance, he couldn't be prouder.
Later, with Naruto…
Naruto had felt a strange pride seeing his former and rather weak crush win the match. The matches that followed were...less than impressive. While Kiba tried his best and Kankuro was a brilliant puppeteer, their opponents, Lee and Shino respectively, were ruthless.
Having sparred with Lee many times, Naruto knew the boy was just showing that he valued his opponent. Doing the 'Primary Lotus' and then punting Kiba into the far wall before the first minute ended was not something most would see as 'friendly' but Lee saw it as him acknowledging Kiba as an equal.
Hopefully Kiba saw it that way when he woke up in a week.
Shino, as opposed to Kiba, new about the invasion. Not that anyone told him, but the boy had a habit of knowing things he shouldn't because of his bugs. Naruto saw that familiar gleem in Shino's eyes… or, well, glasses… as the proctor called start. Kankuro tried his best to forfeit. He really did, raising his hand as soon as the match started and opening his mouth. But as Shino seemed to know the boy was a future enemy, he was shown no mercy.
It took Hayate threatening Shino to get the bugs off of Kankuro's unconscious body, completely drained of usable chakra and his puppets eaten. Naruto swore he witnessed Shino smirking on his way back up the steps.
Temari, it seemed, had the advantage in the next fight. Ten Ten, while talented, was forced to use unorthodox attacks and jutsu when Temari kept blowing her's away. In the end, the ten minute timer rang as both girls wasted time on taunting, marking a bitter end.
Through it all, Temari just kept smirking, much to Deidara's and his's chagrin.
With Sai…
Sai kept his face impassive as he raised his voice.
"I would like to withdraw, please." He said with a monotone voice. Hayate blinked, as did his opponent, the 'genius' Neji Hyuga. Sai knew he could beat the older boy, but that was no consequence; He had a job to do, after all. Even showing up here was a waste of time, but the Hokage insisted.
"Are you sure?" Hayate asked, more out of propriety than necessity. Sai just nodded and walked off the stage. Neji started protesting, calling him a failure. That was fine.
He had a real mission to accomplish.
"Sai, you ready?" An ANBU murmured from behind his mask in the ceiling when he was out of sight. Not slowing down, he cheerfully replied.
"Of course, sir. Dragon-sama can rest easy." Chittering in the hallway were countless ink animals, ready to strike out Konoha's foes.
"Good; remain in position." With that, the ANBU's voice was gone, leaving Sai to conceal his art and himself in the shadows, waiting.
Back in the stadium, the final match of the first round.
This was it, Sasuke mused. This was where he'd make his mark, prove he could be a chunin, be worthy of his clan name. When the proctor called 'start', Sasuke was already throwing explosive notes at the sand arm coming his way, fully prepared to win. His Sharingan spun wildly in afternoon sun, tracking each movement.
While it was the first round, and Sasuke had never 'technically' fought his opponent, Kakashi-sensei had described what the redhead could do. Sand armor, ability to move over a ton of the stuff at will, and an unquenchable lust for spilling blood.
Sasuke ran through hand signs, hoping this move would work.
"Lighting style: electromagnetic murder!" Grasping onto a sand limb, the flowing electricity dented the mass, making the Uchiha smirk, thinking he made some progress, letting a round of 'Phoenix Fire' bombard the main body of the sand armor.
That smirk vanished when the fire caused no damage, and Sasuke had to do five backflips to avoid being crushed. The crowd loved it when his arm got caught, ripping it out before Gaara crushed it. Blood dripped down the Uchiha's arm.
"Yesss, mother; I'll give you blood. Blood." The psycho was muttering to himself. Sasuke just heated up the wave of sand trying to overcome him with a fireball. As the wave started turning to bits of glass, Sasuke smirked; the audience roared in approval.
"I don't know who your mother is, but giving her blood sounds like a stupid gift," Sasuke drawled, channeling his inner Kakashi. The man knew how to push buttons.
"You darre insult mother! I'll kill you! FEED YOU TO MOTHER!" An inhuman growl erupted from Gaara, and before Sasuke's eyes the boy started transforming.
"W-what are you?!" He gasped, Sharingan mapping the volatile chakra unraveling from the torso. The sand started taking on a humanoid face. Chuckling darkly, Gaara's raccoon eyes bore into Sasuke's.
"I'm a demon." Gaara replied bluntly. He raised his arm. "Now, die-"
Explosions resounded across the stadium, stopping Gaara in his tracks. Seconds later a blanket of smoke covered the stands, hordes of Konoha shinobi leaping out.
Gaara moved to attack once more, but his sensei- Baki, Sasuke's mind supplied from Kakashi's briefs over various famous shinobi- appeared, along with Temari.
"Gaara, stop! Transform in the spot" The man seemed to say, but Sasuke's ears were still ringing so he wasn't sure. "You do it here and the Konoha scum will stop you, not to mention you'll kill our men. Temari, let's go." With that, the trio vanished in a swirl of sand, leaving Sasuke dumbfounded.
"What, how…"
"Invasion, kid, everyone but Konoha is the enemy and we have to stop them." The proctor drawled, killing two Suna (weren't they Konoha allies?!) chunin. "You learned genin protocols for invasions in the academy, right?" Sasuke nodded while his brain clicked into place. "Yeah, go do that. Your squad mate is up in the box, go to her and the rest of the genin."
Wanting to stay but biting back his insistence when a splatter of blood courtesy of a beheaded Oto shinobi- they were in on it too?!- landed near his now deactivated eyes, Sasuke nodded and bolted off to find Sakura and Sai. They had civilians to lead from the stadiums to the bunkers.
It all clicked while he dodged flying kunai, seeing Sakura punt a Suna shinobi to the sun: this was planned. The drills they had last month, the extra training, the harsher chunin exams (according to gossiping guards), not to mention that kidnapping attempt!
The invasion was known.
With Naruto, right before the invasion kicked off…
When that vile chakra- so familiar yet foreign- pulsated out of his fellow Jinchuuriki, Naruto clutched his head. Kurama was not happy.
Let me kill him! That insufferable worm, he DARE mock me with that PUNY DISPLAY OF BIJUU CHAKRA?!
"Shush. We have to be ready, I don't know if he'll go ahead and transform here or attempt to flee. Either way we have to get him out of the village- something I CAN'T DO IF YOU'RE SCREAMING AT ME!"
That shut his partner up. Angel tensed beside him when Naruto looked down once his head stopped exploding. She could feel it, like everyone else. His summons too, especially Akira and Habiki.
Anytime now would be the signal, whatever it was. The inhuman laughter from Gaara sent chills down Naruto's spine, and he signaled for Deidara to be ready for intervention in case Orochimaru decided to let the other boy transform during the match.
That's when low grade explosive bombs filled the stands, and screams erupted from civilians. Konoha let loose her own explosives, and instantly the fighting began. Opening his palm, Naruto held it out so all the summons. With a quick flash his open palm was a closed fist, and with it every one of his thirty summoned felines had disappeared; they had their own prey to handle.
Meanwhile, Naruto turned to Deidara, who nodded once, summoning a giant clay bird. With practiced eased the two leapt onto its back, gone after their prey before anyone was the wiser.
With the special ROOT takedown team...
Dragon glided through the underground tunnels, feet barely touching the floor in his haste. Tanto out, the ANBU commander sliced through traps and guards alike.
"Stop- gack!" One such guard fell down lifelessly missing his head. Dragon idly noticed it was someone from his generation who went missing a decade before. Not stopping, yet absorbing everything with his Sharingan, Dragon flicked his blade rid of the blood in time to cleaver through a wire trap. Behind him, Kakashi and Tenzou dodged debris while mentally preparing themselves. It was during this time the copy ninja let his thoughts drift to his younger boss.
Normally, Shisui Uchiha would have been using the shunshin and quipping about the 'weak fools trying to stop the almighty Dragon the Great' while being serious in the mission. Normally, he would have said or did something to alleviate the tension that came with this mission- but today wasn't normal.
Today, they were killing fellow Konoha shinobi, cleansing the rot that infected their home. Above them enemies were falling like flies, their blood soaking the ground crimson and copper. In here, Shisui had already slain fourteen guards with nary a twitch, headed for the den of vipers Danzo kept.
Today was not normal, and Shisui Uchiha- no, Dragon- was not one to be messed with. Kakashi Hatake, renowned for his loyalty, knew he had nothing on his boss and friend, the man who gave up everything. So when one ROOT agent attempted to drop from the floor while Shisui was blowing up a door, Kakashi silently broke their neck, not even bothering with his eye smile or lazy quips.
For today was not normal in Konoha.
Within minutes they came to a trap door, one meant to lead down to the main chambers Danzo lived in for the Neo Uchiha children to have easy access. Only those with Uchiha blood could access it, making it perfectly safe for the old Warhawk seeing as he owned the Uchiha… or so he thought. Wordlessly the commander summoned his bird, letting it fly to Tenzou's shoulder.
'We're here. Follow the plan' Dragon signed. Twin nods and drawn kunai were all the confirmation he needed before jumping down. Kakashi glanced at his partner and their guide. The bird tilted its head before soundlessly flying down a corridor, beckoning the jonin to follow; he did.
Danzo's chambers….
Old, decrepit features stared at paperwork, not really reading. Today his plans were coming to fruition. Konoha was burning while destroying her enemies, and his shinobi were ready to mobilize. The Neo Uchiha brats were safely being held in their quarters, out of the way until he required it.
It was quiet, just as Danzo liked it. While normally he'd have fifteen shinobi guarding his office, today he had five, content that life, for once, was looking up.
A knock at his door, one that he would describe as frantic if he had not beaten such emotions out of his shinobi, alerted him to his guard (not that he needed one, of course). A mousy black haired youth, barely twenty two, came in with a low bow.
"Speak." He ordered, not liking that he was interrupted.
"Danzo-sama, we have intru-" The sentence was cut off by blood pouring zig zagged across the boy's chest. Five lumps fell from the ceiling with dull thuds, without blood or screams to accompany the deaths. They just… fell.
Within half a second Danzo had his Sharingan and Mokuton activated with branches reaching wildly.
"Tsk tsk, Danzo-chan, wouldn't want to use up your chakra, neh?" A demonic voice chuckled darkly. Danzo, already out of his robe, ripped the binding over his eye for clearer scans. If he had emotions, he'd be panicking from the lack of presence or chakra.
"I see you broke through my security seals- impressive considering I only have one entrance, and have yet to sense them being broken down." Danzo slightly complemented, hoping for the intruder to respond. Sure enough, it did, making the warhawk's blood run cold.
"You happen to have two entrances old coot." One of his masterpieces had betrayed him them. No, that was impossible! Only those with Uchiha blood could bypass the seals that would kill anyone else.
"...Itachi Uchiha. I see." Realization dawned. Of course his pawn finally turned on him. No matter, Danzo was sure he could overcome him.
"Not quite old man" was the last thing Danzo heard before a blur- even to his Sharingan!- just appeared in front of his face. "This doesn't belong to you." A growl from the blur before it plucked the eye out and just… appeared, by the door. The casualness of the move, so much like how he himself acquired the eye.
Clutching the throbbing abyss that was his socket, Danzo squinted, watching as the blur became his most hated foe in Hiruzen's faithful ranks of lap dogs.
"No. It can't be… Dragon?" Shock was what Danzo was feeling, seeing the man plopp his weapon against Hiruzen's policies into a jar and banish it away somewhere. The commander gave nothing away but held up a thumbs up and flashed a familiar red eye from one of his black sockets before letting it disappear.
Thoughts, wondering who the Dragon could possibly be flooded the warhawk, who racked his brain over the Uchiha family.
It couldn't be any of the younger teens in the Uchiha clan, as he killed them himself. Nor could it have been the elders or normal chunin; those were too weak to pull of the commander position.
That left one option, dragging Danzo into a fighting position.
"I should have known Itachi couldn't be trusted to kill you, Fugaku Uchiha. That fool of a Hokage has let you live; I will rectify that mistake now."
Dragon only let out a tired sigh in response.
"And here I thought you were smarter than that. Well, perhaps me kicking your ass around will jog your intelligence."
Shisui did well to keep the snigger in as Danzo hurtled a 'Wind Style: Vacuum blade' at him through a kunai. So easy for Shisui to dodge, and he did so, appearing in the hallway. Shisui went threw hand signs, his back towards his foe already preparing another attack.
"Fire style: Great fire dragon" Shot past him, aiming for the traitor and thief. However, trees erupted in front of the man, who smirked at his accomplishment.
"You may be strong Fugaku, but the Uchiha never could defeat the Senju. Hashirama-sama may have been a peace loving fool, but his power lives on to be properly used for the great tree."
"You call that Mokuton? Man, and I thought you were desperate using Tenzou. Even he has more control over his jutsu than you." Shisui sneered. He kept the disgust as a mask, already knowing exactly what Danzo did from his summons. "And those Sharingan! I'll have you know know that eyes are supposed to go in the head, not the arm. Seems somebody doesn't know basic anatomy."
"Shut up you welp. You were never this annoying before Itachi was supposed to kill you; the mask has made you cocky." Danzo growled. Shisui smirked inwardly, finding it amusing that the truth was there for Danzo, but the man couldn't work it out.
Shisui knew he was stalling; Kakashi and Tiger were...taking care of the rest of the base, with him cleaning up this side of the buildings. Afterwards, they were to evacuate, as this fight was bound to get messy.
Thankfully Danzo's last stronghold was near the outerwall, far away from most civilians- it made it to where Shisui could have some fun in this job.
Before he got his eye back- was that really less than three minutes ago- his mind had been a raging storm. He has stormed the building, silently killing all who opposed him. But now, now he had the chance to make the man suffer.
Danzo noticed his silence and scoffed. Instead of trying to talk more, Shisui used several shunshins to get above the tree, chest swelling with chakra.
A roaring fire ball hit Danzo head on, the man's chakra burst forth in an attempt to get away.
"Well that...was anticlimactic" Shisui mused, briefly wondering if he should have killed the man weeks ago.
Only shinobi instincts save him from being impaled by a wooden spike bursting from the ground. Danzo emerged with it, slightly panting, but alive. The only difference was one of the eleven Sharingan closing. Ten more glared at him.
"I...see. So you mastered Izanagi, huh." Honestly, Shisui was surprised, as not even Fugaku-sama had bothered to learn the technique, knowing that it would take an eye away. To most Uchiha, their eyes were everything, worth their death to protect.
"Yes, a useful technique, one I plan on using to kill you." The man prepared a 'Wind Style: Vacuum blade' through fifteen kunai, lobbying them straight at Shisui. In turn, the Uchiha turned commander activated his Sharingan once more and caught each spinning blade.
Quickly throwing them back, Shisui followed and got into Danzo's defenses. The pair engaged in a taijutsu dance, a flurry of kicks and strikes made possible through Sharingan and experiences bought with blood.
Shisui dodged a fist full of wind chakra, then did a hand spring back as wooden branches shot from Danzo's arm. Thankfully Shisui had seen this move before from his numerous spars with Tenzou.
"Wind Style: vacuum wave!" Danzo released. It was one of his most powerful attacks, known to take out opponents in waves. Shisui quickly used the move he made his Jinchuuriki agent learn, one most overlooked.
Hiding like a mole, letting the user dive into the ground, was not what Shisui would call a 'flashy' jutsu, hence why most shinobi never bothered to learn it. However, the low ranked jutsu saved his life, letting the Uchiha weather out the storm
Landing silently, Shisui glanced around, noticing Danzo was breathing hard.
"Is that all you got?!" He mocked. "The great Danzo-sama, brought down with your own jutsu?"
Fire ball met wind shields, Danzo's chakra compensating for the lack of natural air. The two forces condensed, blowing both parties back with a large boom.
Shisui blinked his eye, grateful for the breathing mask as the air filled with debris and sunshine flooded in. Danzo wasted no time, weaving hands together amongst the broken grounds.
"Wood style: Underground Roots!" His ancient voice growled, the ground erupting as waves of roots that existed before the village rose up, snaking violently to his will.
Before the warhawk could attack, however, Kakashi and Tenzou appeared slightly behind Shisui, unconscious children in their arms, ROOT shinobi- the last of the forces, no doubt- ran from the rubble. With a flick of his wrist they fell, marking the end of Danzo's little army.
"Well I guess it's time to get serious. Finally, Tiger, I thought I taught my men better than to take long eradicating an enemy base. I ended up having to blow it up myself!" Shisui said seriously, before cracking his neck and staring Danzo down. Absently he noticed two more eyes were closed.
"Susanoo." The ANBU commander whispered, his dear friend rising up around him and the last of his clan. Danzo's face twisted into horror, a beautiful look to match the screams of Suna and Oto shinobi nearby.
"No. It can't be...:"
"It can, though. I never left a body, after all." Shisui chided.
"Shisui Uchiha!"
With Naruto…
Getting out of the village had been difficult emotionally for the blond ANBU agents, as seeing their home being attacked by enemy shinobi and snake summons pulled at their sense of loyalty. Even knowing that his comrades and summons were protecting in his stead couldn't keep the guilt out of Naruto's heart.
Flying over the forest, Naruto kept his tried to mind clear of thoughts about the village, letting Kurama guide them. The two chakra signatures he dreaded, however, were following just below.
"Mouse…" Deidara grunted. He noticed them too. They were headed to a five- six including the Bijuu- on two fight, with no available back up. Sending bombs down there would be a mistake, as the forest could go up with it, potentially letting the Jinchuuriki get far enough away to unleash the monster. The small explosions the pursuing duo let off accidentally while running was already proving disastrous.
That couldn't happen. They could lure all their opponents into the same area- which was what they were trying to do now- but it was risky at best. Oto forces could arrive soon to back up their pursuers.
"I know, Fox. You keep the Jinchuuriki from letting the demon out… I'll handle the Guran woman and her partner." Deidara whipped his head back, shock evident even through the porcelain mask.
"No! Are you crazy, hn?! You almost died last time un. Dragon-sama will kill me if you die, not to mention Roach-teme."
"I'll be fine, I don't even plan on fighting them, just setting off a ring of blasts to contain and then I'll head towards your 'art'. Guran may be able to survive my traps, but Jiraiya-sama gave me some special seals that should stop them from continuing on." Naruto kept that the barrier seals were supposed to contain the Bijuu for resealing if all else failed to himself. Deidara seemed conflicted. "I can sense some other shinobi following us further back and Gaara's demonic chakra is billowing out as we speak; I'll make this a fair fight for us, until then take this!" Naruto thrust two of his seven main water scrolls, enough to keep the Bijuu infused sand from overtaking them. Really, Deidara just had to last three minutes alone before he arrived with chakra chains.
"Hn… don't become art...senpai." Was all Deidara said. In his own way he didn't want Naruto blown up. In reply Naruto snorted.
"I helped trap this forest. I'll see you soon, and watch out for Baki!" And with that, Naruto Uzumaki leapt off the clay summons, chains rattling in the wind behind them. Really, two ANBU were too much for taking down a Jinchuuriki when one could explode it and the other could trap it, right?
That's what Naruto assured himself with as he landed on a branch inches from a chain reaction seal, staring at the two followers that made even Kurama seem wary.
Be careful. Kill them quickly and get back to Shukaku! I want to rip him apart! Kurama roared, letting two tails instantly form, mavelonent chakra fill the air. The tags required his specific Bijuu chakra to activate. Now he just had to get the tagged kunai at five separate points before setting them off.
"Little fox, little fox, I've been waiting for you. To think, instead of making me wait for Gaara to tire you out, you came right to me." Guran licked her lips. Her companion, a white haired man with a sickly complexion and red dots above the eyes, stared balefully at him. It was like Naruto was an objective, not an opponent.
"Guran" The man whispered, "Do not insult Orochimaru-sama by taking this like a game. Knock him out and let's go." Guran gulped in fear.
'Interesting, she's afraid of him.'
He is a Kaguya, stay away from him, Naruto… Kurama warned. Naruto blinked, ready to question his friend, when he had to dodge something shooting from the man's fingers, eyes widening when the spikes hit the chain reaction, setting it off.
"This is going to suck," He grumbled. Dodging a set of crystals, the ANBU agent started wondering if perhaps he was too hasty in splitting up, already looking for points to fixate the kunai to and just wanting this whole invasion thing over with.
As he prepared to unleash his chakra, the unholy scream of Shukaku stopped everyone in their tracks.
The Bijuu had risen. And he had foolishly left his friend to face it alone.