The sun hadn't even risen when the two figures approached. Both were almost impossible to distinguish in the darkness other than that one was tall, the other short, possibly his wife. It was too dark to see either their clothes or their faces. The morning mist swirled a little as they walked. Both walked with a determined and steady step, not like most travelers who were caught out after dark.
Finally, they reached their destination: Konoha.
The city was completely silent at that early hour, and the large imposing doors rose up through the mists to greet the two travelers. Neither seemed to intimidated by or even interested in the size or the atmosphere of the doors. They continued towards them with pausing or hesitating.
The doors were both firmly closed until at least six, when the late comers would come to get seats for the Chuunin Exam Finals. Both figures stopped right at the doors. The taller one leaned over and said something to the shorter who didn't seem to respond. For a moment, nothing happened, but then one of the doors opened slightly, and a young man with a tired and irritated face looked through the small crack and glowered at the two figures.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait until the doors officially..." The Uchiha on guard began, but he trailed off and slowly stepped aside as the two passed, neither so much as looking at him. Once they were both gone and out of sight along the roads, the guard shook his head and looked at the slightly opened door in a confused way.
"I sure hope no one gets wind of this..." he muttered, "sleeping on duty and the wind getting the door opened...Akira must not have locked it...Hokage-sama would have killed me for not noticing it. Good thing no one's come in..."
As he closed the door and locked it, the sun began the rise, slowly staining the clouds blood red.
The dawn had arrived.
Neji was the first to wake up. He opened one eye and looked around at the sleeping figures around him. No one even twitched. Heaving a small sigh, Neji sat up and crept out of the hotel room. They needed their sleep. Even Gaara had been knocked out so that he wouldn't lose control that day. Everything had been painstakingly prepared for. Even Zabuza had a place in the plan. Neji smirked at that thought. It was actually kind of funny in a sick way.
Everything was going perfectly.
Naturally Sasuke and he had both been nervous about that, but it seemed that their worries were being misplaced. There hadn't been anything to complain about. Even Naruto's little arrest had blown over without much of anything happening.
Neji was thinking about going to the ramen place that Naruto was always raving about for breakfast, just so that he could see what all the fuss was about. Secretly, Neji thought that the only reason he was so loyal to it was because the two had been decent to him. To Neji, all ramen tasted the same, other than the individual flavors.
Maybe it would be better not to talk about it.
Well, there were always other stores that were open at this time. He didn't worry about the others missing him. They would know where he was. That was the strange thing about them; they always had a good idea where everyone would be. Maybe they just knew each other too well.
The sun was just starting to rise as Neji walked down the all but deserted street. It was pleasant to walk around when no one was around other than the ever present ROOT members that just got on your nerves. At least he could half pretend that they weren't there. Neji could get something to eat and enjoy the peace and quiet.
"Hello, my eternal rival!"
Neji whirled around to see the green clad Rock Lee, dashing towards him and waving frantically at him. Lee dashed past him and ran backwards until he was right beside Neji, who was wishing that Lee had just kept running.
"Hello, Lee," Neji said, trying not to sound as unsure of the situation as he was.
"What are you doing on this youthful morning?" Lee asked, happily, "Gai-sensei told me that it was best to run one hundred times around Konoha for my training to be a ninja! Would you like to join me?"
Youthful?
"Um, I'd better not," Neji said, "I need to save my energy for the Finals, but...didn't you say that you weren't a ninja when we met?"
Maybe that would get him on another train of thought that didn't involve some seemingly impossible exercise routine that would probably kill him to try. Neji had been right. Lee's expression changed completely. He was suddenly much more serious. He looked around as if what he was saying was some kind of top level secret, and, from Neji's limited knowledge of the way things were now in Konoha, it might have been.
"No, I'm not officially a ninja," Lee nodded, "Please, Haru, as my eternal rival, you have to keep this a secret. Promise me that should you tell, you will lose the spring of your youth!"
"...I promise..." Neji muttered, promising himself to tell the others about this guy the second that he could. Naruto would get a kick out of it.
Lee nodded, as if that ridiculous vow was more than enough to convince him that Neji wouldn't tell anyone. Maybe to him it was.
"I was not permitted to be a shinobi because I cannot properly channel Chakra," Lee began, "Because of this the Chuunin teachers would not accept me, but that did not deter me, my eternal rival! In secret I continued to train everyday in hopes that I could pass the Genin Exam despite my handicap, yet no Chuunin would even stop to see if I was worthy. Then, three years ago, I was training alone, when Gai-sensei found me!"
"Gai-sensei?" Neji asked, remembering a Gai from Kinen.
"He is amazing, Haru!" Lee's eyes almost had stars in them as he spoke, "He came up to me and asked me why I wasn't at class, and I said that I wasn't allowed. He was furious and promised that he would help to train me personally until I was acknowledged! If I was not a genius by birth, he would make me into a genius of Hard Work!"
Lee struck up a pose and gave Neji the thumbs up, with his teeth actually flashing at him.
"Don't worry my eternal rival! One day we shall fight together and celebrate the glory of our Youth!"
Neji blinked, realizing that he was supposed to say something to that story.
"So that would mean that you specialize in taijutsu," Neji said thoughtfully, Kimimaro would slaughter him, "With such a focus on it, I'm sure that you're better than most would be. You could say that I specialize in taijutsu as well."
Also, Gai, as he remembered, was one of the most talented taijustu specialists in the world. If he had taken an interest in Lee, then Lee must have been a more talented person than Neji gave him credit for. He would have to actually take him seriously if they went up against one another. That was, unless Lee would join Gai in Kinen. That, from the sound of how Lee obviously practically worshiped Gai, was a real possibility.
Lee's eyes were practically burning up as he looked at Neji, "Yosh! I have decided to become the great taijustu specialist in Konoha! If you too are a taijustu specialist, then the fact that we are eternal rivals was truly meant to be!"
This sounded a little disgusting for Neji, and he started to think up a way to get out of this very strange situation.
"Well, I guess I'll go for my breakfast. You enjoy your...run..."
"Yosh! The flames of youth burn brightly in both of us! Until next time, my eternal rival!" Lee called before dashing off.
Neji watched him go, not saying anything and resumed his walk. Neji didn't remember much about Konoha. He had only been seven when they left, but something told him that Lee's story would have been different. There was no reason why someone who had special needs would be denied training. The only thing that came into Neji's mind was a factory that was producing ninja as quickly as it could for some reason that he could only speculate on.
But a factory would have identical products, and ninja couldn't be identical. Ninja had to be what people expected least. Predictable ninja got killed. Lee had had the potential to be extremely unpredictable, almost as much as Naruto, the world's most unpredictable person.
So, Konoha wasn't going to waste the time that it would take to make strong ninja, each with their own skills and weaknesses, it was going to create a mass of trained fighters. That meant that Konoha didn't care if you got killed. It was sort of like how Sai had described ROOT, where you don't even have a name. While too much individualism might lead to anarchy, not enough led to...a true machine.
So, this was why Gai had joined. Because he saw that Danzou saw people's lives as expendable. He saw people like shogi pieces, if a sacrifice was needed, he would do it, and Gai was, while apparently weirder then fiction, not a person who seemed to want to see the death of others.
A genius of hard work eh? Neji thought with a small smile. He supposed he was going to see soon just what someone like that was even capable of. After all...
This was the day that they made their gamble.
Neji made it to a small restaurant that sold some meat buns that he kind of liked a long time ago. He had once gone there with his father. Neji blinked at that thought. It was strange, at one time, all Neji had thought about was his father and how he was going to avenge him. Somewhere in the past years, his memories had calmed down. Yes, Neji missed his father, and he still harbored a grudge against his uncle for what he had done, but it wasn't the most important thing anymore.
His father would have wanted him not to spend his life in bitterness, but to surpass the Main family. Neji was no longer a caged bird, both he and his cousin had left their cages a long, long time ago.
"Fancy seeing you here," a tired, irritated voice said.
Neji looked up to see Tenten, and made a gesture for her to sit down. She remained standing. Neji shrugged and took a bite out of his meat bun.
"Ohayo, Tenten-san," Neji said, sounding disinterested, "if you don't want to sit down, fine, but don't stand there glaring over me as if I've committing some kind of crime by eating this meat bun."
Tenten grumbled and sat down across from him, looking like she wasn't really sure why she was even doing this.
"I hope that I didn't injure you too much in the fight," Neji said, and, realizing that this probably would sound arrogant to her, added, "though you look like you could handle more than I gave you."
Tenten looked at him skeptically.
"You really think that I'm a good fighter? As good as any guy you've fought?" she asked.
"You're better than some and worse than others," Neji shrugged, "If I called you the best I've fought I would be lying to make you feel better, but you're far from the weakest. If you adapted your style, you would be very formidable."
"What do you mean 'adapted my style'?" Tenten asked, this didn't seem to be the answer that she was looking for, "Why did I lose to you?"
"Your fighting style is made to fight against an opponent who, like most short range fighters, doesn't have much defense against long range attacks, but if you go against someone who is also long range or who had developed a defense against long range attacks, you will lose," Neji said taking another bite, "The reason that I defeated you was because I know a jutsu that will protect me from flying projectile weapons."
"But my stepmother says that using an elemental jutsu is cheating..." Tenten muttered, than, probably realizing that that sounded kind of foolish, she blushed and looked away.
"Then enforce your weapons with Chakra," Neji said, "A weapon with some kind of power behind them will usually go through a jutsu that was done under the idea that it's just a normal weapon. Rather like what the famous female of the Sannin, Tsunade, does. Reinforcing her punches with Chakra to get more power."
Tenten gave him a very suspicious look.
"Why would you help me?" she asked.
Neji shrugged, "It's a suggestion. Take it or leave it, but I'll tell you this: the way you are, you couldn't hope to beat anyone on my team."
Tenten stiffened and glared at Neji.
"I promise you, Haru, I'll surpass you," she said calmly.
"Than do so, I'll wait for you," Neji smiled a little; "I'll look forward to our rematch."
Naruto woke up only to narrowly avoid being clubbed to death by Zabuza's sword. He rolled back and jumped to his feet, two kunai in hand already.
"What was that for?!" Naruto almost yelled.
"Wake up call," Zabuza seemed to be in a cheerful mood, "This is my last day playing nursemaid to you brats so I decided to celebrate!"
"By killing me?" Naruto asked, looking around to see if the others had survived the experience.
Kimimaro was sitting on the couch, cracking his bones and smiling at Zabuza. That would mean that Zabuza tried but almost was impaled. Haku was looking unhappy and gave Naruto a rueful look. That meant that Haku had gotten surprised and created an ice mirror. Gaara looked just fine. Well, Zabuza wouldn't have been dumb enough to try...right? Hinata and Sakura were also just fine, though looking annoyed. What was it with girls and special treatment? Sasuke was smirking and polishing a kunai. He probably had been waiting for it. Naruto cursed him and all light sleepers. Sai was looking just as annoyed and shocked as Naruto. He had probably thrown a kunai or two, but this wasn't a situation that he was best at. Neji wasn't there at all. He had probably left before Zabuza could do the honors.
"If you couldn't dodge it then you deserved to die," Zabuza shrugged.
Naruto wished that he could kill him right there.
The door opened after a moment and Neji walked in. He looked around at everyone's faces, and an annoyed expression appeared on his face.
"I missed something amusing didn't I?" he asked.
"Only Honda-sensei trying to kill us," Hinata sighed, "Well, kill the boys."
Neji sighed a little.
"I always miss the best parts," he grumbled, "I would have liked to see Masaru flip out. By the way, Taiki, I'd better see some action this time."
"Don't worry," Naruto said, turning to face all of them, "We're all going to see action today. We all know our jobs, there's no need to brief ourselves again. Everyone, do your best, and remember, no matter what happens today: If things get too crazy, get out. We're not that good.
"He who fights and runs away lives to see the light of day," Sasuke recited, "We know, mother."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "So, what are we waiting for," he said with a grin, "Let's get moving! We have a war to win!"
The village of Konoha had basically shut down for the exams.
Every single shop was closed as the villagers prepared to see the festivities. As most people in the village weren't ninja, it was probably the only time that some of them even saw the people who the village was built to house. Much to most school children's annoyance, the Academy was still in session, but it seemed that a great deal of children 'were sick' and had to go to the Exams in order to feel better. This was the one event where this kind of behavior was even tolerated. It seemed that Danzou had a good idea of how far he could push people.
Naruto found himself on the balcony overlooking the whole scene as the crowds starting to file in. The upper seats were reserved for the more respected VIPs and from that point the level of importance continued lower and lower in the stadium until if you were extremely unimportant, you might just get killed by a stray kunai.
His eyes scanned the crowd, looking for familiar faces. There was Anko, she looked annoyed about something, possibly her boyfriend couldn't come. He got a glimpse of Hayate, looking sick as usual, with the purple haired woman that Naruto didn't know. He noticed his old landlady, looking older and a little less hateful than she used to. Then again, she wasn't looking at him, so it was hard to tell. It was mostly people that he didn't know, or might have known a long time ago but didn't remember.
At last, he saw the two he was looking for.
Jiraiya and Tsunade were walking up the stairs towards the VIP section of the seats, close to where the Hokage was supposed to sit. Jiraiya looked like he was talking animatedly to Tsunade, who was ignoring him completely. One of Jiraiya's hands went around Tsunade's waist and she abruptly smacked him, sending him sprawling down some stairs, he stood up, a picture of hurt innocence, and ran up the stairs yelling something at Tsunade.
Good, everything was going smoothly.
In the last mouth, there hadn't been a lot of communication between them other than one or two letters updating them on the more important parts of the plan. They hadn't talked at all to Kakashi or the other members. After all, contact would have been seen as strange and even summons might be found out eventually, especially with the wild card of Orochimaru running around loose.
The only teacher they had had was Zabuza, and he was only interested in getting through this so that he never had to see any of them again, yet even he seemed a little different. Naruto was starting to think that he had a very strange, sick way of showing affection. It usually involved trying to kill them with his giant sword. Maybe that was why only strong people could be around him.
There was some movement, and Naruto turned to see Shino and Yumi. Shino bowed a little to the group, but Yumi didn't so much as blink. For all purposes she was going to act like none of them were even there. Naruto understood why Sasuke wanted to beat her so badly. She embodied every bad trait of Sasuke's entire clan and magnified it. What was worse was she wasn't even a real Uchiha.
"Ohayo, everyone," Shino said, looking around. "Good luck on all your fights."
"Ohayo," and "hn" were the general responses from everyone.
Temari and Kankuro, who hadn't even looked up when they arrived, both made noises and turned away to face the arena. They hadn't been talking all that much since they had arrived. Everyone who was supposed to be there was there. Sora was glowering over at Naruto, who was making a show of ignoring him. Kiyoko was sitting in an absolutely masculine way, glowering at anyone and everyone. What was that girl's problem?
Suddenly there was a burst of noise as fireworks were let off to know that the Exams were beginning. Really this was more of a sporting event than anything else. There were even people walking up and down the stands with food and drinks for the spectators.
There was a poof of smoke and the man who seemed to always have a stick in his mouth, Gemma or something like that, appeared. No, it was Genma. He was looking around at the crowds in a bored kind of way.
"Welcome everyone to the Exams, participants, come down and show yourselves to the viewers," Genma called, still chewing on his stick.
There was a rush of movement as everyone left the balcony that they were using and trooped down the stairs, into the center of the dirt arena.
It was the first time in Naruto's life that he had ever stood in front of such a crowd, and as he heard the cheers of excitement, he vowed to himself that he would be here again. It was a rush of excitement that caused his head to grow light. For a child who had been ignored when he was younger, this was heaven. Yes, he had people now, but this was different. This was...amazing.
"You're getting into this," Sasuke hissed to him.
"We're going to be back here one day, all of us," Naruto hissed back, "and then, they're only going to be cheering for us."
"Still striving for acknowledgement, eh?" Sasuke sounded amused, "I think I'll help you with that. Just try to make sure that they're chanting your name more than mine."
"I don't think that I could get the girls to stop," Naruto grinned, looking over at a group of teenage girls who seemed to be busily creating a makeshift sign showing their support for Sasuke, "Aw, look, you attract older women too, just like-"
"I thought we agreed to never mention that again. It was a complete mistake on his part, he even apologized. It was dark, he was drunk, and we were hiding out there anyways."
Naruto grinned.
"You two talk too much," Kimimaro muttered, "but I have to admit, this is pretty interesting..."
"Just don't do anything weird," Neji muttered.
"I only do things like that for my opponents," Kimimaro smirked, "It's tiring to do things like that anyways."
Everyone exchanged looks that doubted that he wouldn't have pulled out his spine if he had thought that he could get away with it. A whole arena squealing in horror and disgust would have been perfectly in his character to try to create.
"The rules of the Exam are simple: you will fight one another in one on one matches. Victory will be determined by who is made unable to continue first. However, just because you win or lose the tournament does not guarantee that you will or will not become Chuunin. You will be judged, not on your fighting ability, but by if and how you exhibit the proper attitude of a Chuunin. Victory will only guarantee that the judges will have more time to see you, which may raise your chances," Genma explained.
"So that would mean that everyone here could end up a Chuunin," Hinata said thoughtfully.
"It also means that no one could," Kiyoko grumbled and cursed a little.
"She's a bright ray of sunshine," Kimimaro muttered to Neji, who shrugged.
"There's one in every group," he said.
"Therefore, you will all be facing off against your predetermined opponents, beginning at when the Hokage and Kazekage give the word,"
Naruto looked up at the high balcony that he assumed was where the two leaders would sit. They were empty at the moment, but he could see motion that told him that they were about to appear.
"And two leaders have appeared," Genma smirked as both robed figures stepped into view.
Gaara looked up at the figure of the Kazekage with a dead face. Naruto realized that it was the first time in years that he had even seen his father. What was he thinking? Was he happy to see him? Angry? With Gaara's poker face, it was hard to tell, but Naruto had to guess that it was some kind of mix of both of them.
Danzou's face as he looked at the small group was completely unreadable, his eyes locked on to each of them in turn, none for a significant amount of time, and then both of them sat down. The crowd went wild at what was apparently the signal to begin.
"The first match is Uchiha Yumi of Konoha against Masaru, an orphan from Kusa. Everyone else, clear the arena!" Genma announced to the crowd, "The rules of the individual matches are simple: you fight until the other surrenders, cannot fight anymore or is dead. All weapons and strategies are permitted and there is no time limit."
Naruto trudged forwards, looking back at the smirking Sasuke. He seemed confident. Well, he had been working hard to come up with a way to defeat her using speed and only some of his more or less unattached attacks, but Yumi had nothing to hide.
He hoped that Sasuke's confidence wasn't arrogance.
As everyone else walked off the arena, Sasuke's eyes stayed focused on Yumi. This was it. This was what he had been dreaming of for a month and training like mad for.
It was time for Sakura to get her revenge.
"Are you prepared, Kusa nin?" Yumi asked, "You have time to surrender."
"I wouldn't surrender if my life depended on it," Sasuke shot back.
"That's a shame for you, because it does," Yumi looked at him dead on, "I intend to kill you, Kusa nin. You annoy me, and you have no respect for your betters. I intend to show your village just what becomes of such an arrogant child with no clan and no name."
"I don't intend to kill you, Uchiha Yumi," Sasuke hissed, "I intend to let you live with the shame of losing to a boy with no clan."
"Then let us begin," Yumi said her whip in her hands, "and see just who is the greater."
"Down, children," Gemna said calmly, "Breath for a moment. While I can see you're both looking forwards to this, torturing isn't allowed."
"But you said that everything was allowed," Yumi pointed out.
"Those are the official rules. I don't get a thrill out of twelve year olds torturing one another, so I'm going to stop the fight. Hokage-sama won't care, and most of the VIPs have wives and children who they don't want to introduce to the idea of torture just yet."
"Weakling," Yumi snarled.
Sasuke shrugged. "Fine with me,"
"Alright, you two, you can start trying to murder each other on my command," Genma said, "One, two,"
He spat out his toothpick between the two, and both sprang into action to the roar of the crowds.
Sasuke wasn't going to hesitate in speed. He had accidentally shown it during the preliminaries out of anger, and he was going to use that to his best advantage. Sasuke matched Haku in terms of speed, quite a feat, and with speed on his side, he could manage to win without resorting to more powerful, and traceable attacks.
Sasuke dashed to the side, with Yumi mirroring his actions, throwing a barrage of kunai that was returned by Yumi deflecting to the side. He caught some kind of movement out of the corner of his eyes and jumped back quickly to avoid the path of the tip of Yumi's whip.
"Ah, I see you remember my Kinzoku Shihai no Jutsu," Yumi said, "I'm glad you managed to avoid it. It'll make this entire fight much more fun."
Sasuke smirked but didn't say anything.
He had been training to avoid that technique since Sakura mentioned that there were drugs in it. The last thing that he needed was some kind of hallucinogenic to make him start saying things that he shouldn't. He had enough of a handicap already trying to defeat the little witch without using handseals or any of his better attacks or even the Sharingan.
Still, he didn't need those things, Sasuke dashed on the attack again, avoiding the whip and trying to get close to her.
All techniques had a flaw, just as all kekkei genkai had some sort of flaw to them. Kimimaro had to drink a tremendous amount of milk, Haku was always cold, Hinata had little offensive power, Neji had a blind spot, the Sharingan couldn't copy certain techniques. Somewhere, Yumi's metal techniques had to have some kind of flaw.
And he was going to find the weakness of her technique.
Dosu tried to keep himself from cringing under the cold, even stare of Kabuto.
"I thought that you were going to get them disqualified," Kabuto said softly, "I left the job up to you, but all you did was make a rumor that one of them had been in the shinobi district? Orochimaru-sama wanted them out of the way. He wasn't interested in causing their execution."
Kin shrugged, "I don't see why they're so important to Orochimaru-sama," she grumbled.
"Because they have exhibited power, and Orochimaru-sama is always interested in those who have power," Kabuto smiled cheerfully.
"So he means to recruit them," Dosu said thoughtfully, "Had we gotten them disqualified, Orochimaru-sama would have approached them. I see..."
"You have one chance to redeem yourselves," Kabuto told the trio, "and that is to convince them to help us when the invasion begins. There is no love lost between Kusa and Konoha, and that might work to your advantage. Thankfully, you've reigned yourselves in so that you haven't said anything too offensive to them, so maybe you can save your lives."
Zaku snarled at Kabuto a little bit, "And just what are you doing, Kabuto?" he asked, "I haven't seen you helping much."
"I've been talking to one of our contacts in Konoha, making sure that there was nothing that could go wrong in our plan," Kabuto smiled at them, "After all, as an assistant medic, there are only a few places that I'm allowed to go, though I do get to see everyone's medical record."
Dosu sighed, they didn't really have a choice. If they didn't they'd be killed. Orochimaru didn't take kindly to failures. They had already failed in the Exam. Even if they hadn't really mattered in the plan, they had been there to make it seem that Oto wasn't really involved until the very end. Now, people were wondering if they had purposefully dropped out.
"Hai, Kabuto-san," Dosu said.
Kin and Zaku folded their arms but didn't say anything.
"Have fun talking to the ones who lost," Kabuto said, his face was both pleasant and bored, "and good luck."
With poof of smoke, Kabuto vanished.
Dosu looked at the other two, who were looking nervous. Kin was playing with her hair and Zaku was shifting from foot to foot. They had every reason to be upset. This was their last chance. Granted, the last scheme hadn't been the most inspired in the world, but if they failed again, they were going to die.
"Well, what are you two looking at?" Dosu said, his voice betraying his tiredness, "we have losers to convert."
The old woman looked like she was likely to die at any given moment and was only being held together by determination. Her face, though wrinkled and worn, gave the appearance that she had once been very pretty, and though she was slower than she had been, her muscles had not atrophied as much as most people her age. Her clothing was typical of a citizen from Wind Country, but she was traveling alone while most people seemed to like to move around in a pack for some reason. She walked slowly past the gate, ignoring the guard.
The young man wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation. Yes, he had been taught that everyone was a possible threat, but this woman might just die if he was too sharp with her, causing a scandal.
"Ano..." he said, coming up behind her, "I need your passport."
The woman stopped and stared at him as if she had never seen anything like him in her long life. Then she blinked and started to laugh, a cackling, unpleasant sound that nonetheless had probably once been attractive.
"I was just pretending to be senile!" she crowed, and dug in her robes for a passport and handed it to him. While he gazed at it suspiciously, she gazed at him suspiciously.
"You remind me of someone..." she mumbled to herself, "Uchiwa...Ushiha...Uchiha...Ryuu...Ryuuki...yes, Uchiha Ryuuki..."
"Hm?" the young man looked up, "You knew my grandfather? He was a pretty big hero after..." he looked at her and blinked than coughed, "Move along, Chiyo-ba-san."
"Don't treat me like some old lady," Chiyo grumbled, walking past him into the city, grumbling the entire way.
She wasn't supposed to be there. The Kazekage had given her and her brother specific orders not to turn up, but Chiyo seldom listened to orders anymore. She was retired, and there wasn't a whole lot that the Kazekage could do other than throw a fit. The citizens respected her more than they respected him anyways, and she was still deadly, even if she was a little shower now.
This was the first time that Chiyo had ever actually seen Konoha. It was a pleasant looking place; one wouldn't have thought it was the seat for one of the most power hungry men in the world with all the vendors and civilians running around.
Chiyo remembered Danzou. She hadn't ever fought that man, but she had heard the rumors. Everyone had, but this place was almost peaceful. If it wasn't for the fireworks showing the beginning of the Exam and the guard, Chiyo might have thought that she had accidentally gone to a civilian city.
That wasn't going to last.
Chiyo hadn't come here out of her grudge, she was simply here to see what was going to happen. It was idle curiosity. And of course because the Kazekage wasn't himself. Making that alliance with a former Konoha nin to destroy Konoha. There was really something wrong with the man.
It was strange that she was standing in the heart of the nation that had killed her children and destroyed her grandson and wasn't attacking. She didn't really feel anything aside from the fact that it was a warm day and her nose itched a little.
She supposed that age did bring wisdom.
Besides, these children here were not the ones responsible for the crimes of Konoha, and if she attacked, she would just perpetuate the cycle. Chiyo didn't want to create a generation of children like Sasori.
Mikage Satoshi wasn't a very good ninja. He was always passed over for promotions and his love life was somewhere close to being comparable with a sedated parakeet. While he worked hard, Suna had a tendency to sneer at him. He had been a Chuunin longer than any other of the ninja and nearly everyone either ignored him or was 'nice' to him.
No one was more surprised than he was when he was told that he was going to be the one to give the signal for the invasion to begin.
Satoshi was beyond himself with joy. This was his chance to prove to all of them what his worth was. This was the chance for him to shine! He watched the battle before him with only passing interest. The Kusa boy and the Uchiha girl were currently involved in a mixed battle of psychological mumbo jumbo, kunai, and whips. It really wasn't that interesting since neither of them were actually using jutsu. What was with these two?
Anyways, he shook his head and looked for the signal. The guy who was supposed to make the move wasn't there.
Wasn't he late?
Satoshi was starting to get worried. The signal was a simple movement, just a fall from the thirteenth step on the thirteenth staircase. Maybe he had been told wrong. Maybe he had made a mistake. Maybe they had decided to use someone else.
Now he was worried. All this second guessing was making him sure that he would give the signal no matter who fell. After all, what were the chances anyways? As he watched, a girl or boy, it was hard to tell at this distance, tripped and fell.
That was it! That was the signal!
Relief flooded over Satoshi as he put his hands together to form the jutsu that would begin everything. He didn't bother to notice the pink haired girl who had come to help up the boy or that there was no one with pink hair in either Suna or Oto.
As he watched the feathers slowly wafting down to the unsuspected audience, he smiled.
Everything was going according to plan.
Or so he thought.
Sakura pulled Haku up a smiled at him.
"I've never seen you so light on your feet," she joked.
"I guess it has to happen to everyone at least once, and there was a boy's toy truck there." Haku sighed, looking embarrassed.
"Well, we need to get to the top," Sakura said cheerfully, "That's where the best view is!"
It was also where the signal was supposed to come from. Sakura was starting to feel excited for the first time since she was there. She was getting a kind of weird thrill out of the fact that everything was going to work. It was exciting and a little scary. Secretly, she was already trying to think of just what she was going to explain to her parents about her absence. It was something that she was kind of frightened of, but looking forwards to. At the same time, it would mean that she would be separated from the group, but maybe...well all the rest were basically orphans...maybe her parents would allow it?
Probably not.
Sakura remembered her mother and father. While they might have allowed Sasuke, Hinata, and Neji to live with them and tolerated Kimimaro, Haku and Sai, there was no way on this earth that they would tolerate Gaara or Naruto. Sakura could still remember the day she saw Naruto crying and her mother had dragged her daughter away from the boy that she was seriously considering running up to and giving a hug. No, Naruto and Gaara were Jinchuriki and until they proved themselves, they were hated.
"Are you alright, Emi?" Haku asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sakura smiled, "I was just thinking about after the Exams..."
"It's best not to worry about that until we're past them," Haku said, looking at the figures of Sasuke and Yumi, "We still have a long way to go..."
"You worry too much,"
"You can never worry too much,"
"Tsunade with the kitchen sink,"
"Good point,"
It was only then that Sakura noticed the feathers and the fact that there were people falling asleep around her. Her eyes widened, and without a word, she grabbed Haku's hand and ran up to the roof, taking the steps two at a time.
Sai was waiting for them, for once looking worried at their sudden appearance.
"You're a little early. Did Taiki..?" he trailed off looking at their faces.
"Do you have the thing?" Sakura asked, "We don't have time anymore. We're setting it off now."
"We were supposed to do it after the first fight," Sai reminded her, looking confused.
"Someone else is starting something, we have to give the signal!" Sakura almost screamed, "It doesn't matter if it isn't in the plan. Those feathers aren't in the plan either! Why are you even fighting about this, you idiot!"
"Ok," Haku said before Sakura lost what little control remained over her and started to murder Sai, "Let's go."
Sai took out the firework that he had stolen that morning, and Sakura lit the fuse. All three watched the firework go up and at the blast, Sakura yelled "Kai!" undoing the genjutsu that hid their Hakumei uniforms.
It had begun.
Sasuke was panting a little, ignoring the wound on his shoulder from a kunai that he hadn't dodged in time. Yumi was panting a little too, her ponytail was lose and she was starting to look annoyed that Sasuke wasn't as easily defeated as Sakura had been.
"You're better than I expected," Sasuke panted.
"Strange, I was going to say the same about you," Yumi said, "I really want to kill you now."
Both were off again, and Yumi's whip was behind Sasuke struck him in the back. There was an explosion of smoke and Yumi was staring at a log with a tag on it. Yumi whirled around, but Sasuke was charging for her, kunai in hand.
Yumi blocked with two kunai, but Sasuke sent a kick that connected.
"Kinzoku Kawa no Jutsu!" Yumi gasped.
What looked like a sheet of metal wrapped around her and large spikes shot out. Sasuke barely managed to jump away to keep from being impaled, but he was still wounded by one of the spikes.
He clutched his side and felt wet blood. Cursing, Sasuke took out four more kunai and waited for Yumi to reveal herself again.
When the metal went down, Yumi smirked over at Sasuke. Her hair had fallen down, and Sasuke noticed that she looked a good deal older with it like that. The high ponytail had made her look younger for some reason. Sasuke shook his head in confusion. He was thinking ridiculous things.
"You're good," Yumi admitted. "Better than I thought. I wasn't going to use one of those attacks on you, but now I see that I have to. Rejoice, Kusa-nin. You're about to see the greatest weapon of the Uchiha clan."
Sasuke didn't look impressed. How was she going to pull this off?
Yumi blinked and Sasuke almost gasped. Her eyes were crimson in them were three swirling marks.
"The Sharingan," Sasuke muttered. Had she had a transplant? But then wouldn't it be like Kakashi's? How was this possible?!
"Yes," Yumi smiled, "Did you think because I was a woman that I hadn't activated it?"
Uchiha Yumi...too old...not right...Sharingan...
Sasuke's eyes widened
He knew!
It was then that Sasuke noticed the feathers. There were hundreds of them floating down around him, and from the signs in the stands (Sasuke hadn't taken his eyes off of Yumi) there was some kind of genjutsu involved.
This hadn't been the original plan.
Then the explosion went off.
Sasuke wasted no time worrying about the feathers or the fact that the signal was early. He threw down the flash bomb that had been in his pouch and undid the genjutsu. It was funny how much better it felt to know that everyone in the world could see his uniform. He wasn't Masaru, the cynical orphan from Kusa anymore. He was Arashi no Sasuke, the second in command of Hakumei, and anyone who doubted that would burn. The Sharingan activated behind the mask, Sasuke prepared for a true assault.
"Katon: Hoenka!" Sasuke yelled, jumping up in the air and sending at least three huge fireballs hurling towards Yumi.
She dodged and Sasuke landed, his hands in another pattern.
"I think that it's time that we stopped pretending, shouldn't we, Uchiha Yumi-oujo-san?"
The firework caused everyone who wasn't asleep yet to look up, and Naruto, Hinata, Gaara, Kimimaro, and Neji, all with their genjutsu undone, jumped out of the box along with everyone else. Naruto noticed that Kiyoko was suddenly taking a flute from under her shirt (gross) and was dashing off with a group of people who seemed to be waiting for her. Temari and Kankuro were both already gone with Gaara in hot pursuit.
"Haka, after then," Naruto yelled.
Kimimaro nodded and jumped off in the direction of Kiyoko.
Hinata and Neji knew where they had to be, and Gaara seemed intent on his mission. Shino wasn't anywhere to be seen. Crud. Naruto landed on the roof and looked around. He had his own job to do after all.
"Yo, Loser!"
Naruto sighed and turned to face Sora, and his eyes widened. Sora was outlined in red, and the Kyuubi's Chakra inside of him started to feel sick.
It looked like he was going to have to be a little late.
The explosion hadn't even finished when Jiraiya and Tsunade started moving. Both of them dashed past the VIPs with ease, ignoring the AMBU and heading straight for Danzou, who hadn't even moved yet. Both of them had kunai's ready.
Unfortunately, so did the Kazekage.
No one could have been able to tell just who stabbed the figure first. One moment, the Hokage was standing with the Kazekage besides him, and the next he was on the floor with three people standing over him. Jiraiya stared at the Kazekage, who looked evenly back...with slightly peeling skin...and snakelike yellow eyes...
"Orochimaru," Tsunade hissed, her eyes narrow.
Orochimaru said nothing, but he pulled off the remains of the mask and smiled at the two, licking his lips.
There was a popping sound, and all three of them looked down with horror at the body of Uchiha Fugaku. They had completely forgotten about each other.
"What-" Orochimaru started, but was cut off by a war cry from the large group of ninja masquerading as civilians attacked.
The battle that would go down in ninja history as the Chuunin War had begun.
Omake: A Moment of Understanding.
Haku sighed as he slid into the hot spring, his eyes closed. After a long day of traveling, this was probably the most welcome feeling in the world. The rest of Hakumei were resting or eating in other rooms, and at the moment, it was just Haku. Oh, the bliss of just being able to basically float in the water without anyone around.
"Um, excuse me," an unfamiliar male voice said, and Haku opened his eyes to see a naked man smiling benevolently at him.
"Miss, you and your friend must have gotten confused, this is the men's bath," he chuckled.
It just wasn't fair.
Wait, friend?
Haku turned around to see a blond man with delicate features glowering at the man. Both of them seemed to have noticed the word 'friend' and looked at one another at the same time.
A rare moment of complete understanding passed between them, and finally, the man spoke.
"Do you think that having our hair long makes it better or worse?" he asked.
"Probably better," Haku sighed, "I cut my hair once...it was awful...they all thought I was a sporty girl..."
"...I'm so sorry..." the blonde man said with a small shudder.
Both young men shared a look of total commiseration, and the man who had spoken first looked between the two and slowly began to realize his mistake.
Suffice it to say that Haku and Deidara had become fast friends and long after the meeting, they would both remember that they were not alone in the lonely road of being men who were prettier than most women.
It was a pleasant thought.