Izayoi's P. O. V:
Kakashi says with a frown, "Quite a lot of them, huh?"
"We've been careless," Says Guy. "And now even Hokage-sama..." He gazes towards the balcony where the Kage are standing. Guy gasps. "Izayoi, Kakashi, look, there! Inside the barrier."
We turn our heads only to see a tall man with pale skin, long black hair and green snake like eyes standing in place of the Kazekage.
"Orochimaru," Kakashi and I say in unison.
"Orochimaru?!" Sakura exclaims as she jumps to her feet. She turns to the arena. "Hey, Sasuke—!" But the Uchiha was already gone. "What?! He's gone!"
Two Sound ninja leap for Sakura and I mentally curse. Sakura gasps and covers her head.
However, before the Sound ninja could attack Sakura, Kakashi blurs before them and cuts them down with his kunai.
Kakashi leans over the pinkette on the back of her chair and tells Sakura, throwing her a sheepish closed eye smile, "Sakura? Just stay there while I trim the enemy down to size."
A Tokubetsu Jounin with shades perches on a rail and shoots out flames at incoming Sound ninja.
I engage two Sound ninja in combat, the enemy wielding kunai knives. Our bodies blur and their blades glint in the sunlight as they clash with my sword.
My brown eyes hard, I summon a second sword much to the enemy's shock, and continue to clash blades with them.
I dance around their kunai before I slash one in the gut and kick the other back into the wall.
Guy karate chops a Sound ninja and gives a war cry, making both me and Kakashi sweat drop. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was enjoying this. Heck, I am too!
I meet Kakashi's eye and the exasperated look confirms my thoughts. I send him an innocent closed eye smile before two Sound ninja engage Kakashi.
He dodges their attacks before kicking the one in front of him, then punching the one behind him.
Kakashi, Guy and I stand back to back.
Guy says seriously, "Nicely done. But I'm worried about Hokage-sama."
I ask in a serious tone, "What should we do? If we touch that barrier, we'll be incinerated."
Kakashi says, "Leave that to the ANBU Black Ops. We have enough to handle here. Besides, Hokage-sama isn't just some pushover, you know."
Guy and I say, "Yeah, but...!"
Kakashi says while looking back at me, "Just remember, Guy, Izayoi: he is the Hokage. He can handle it." We see Orochimaru moving the kunai and gasp. He stabs it into his own hand, however, spraying blood.
Orochimaru moves away from Hiruzen and holds up his hand with the kunai in it. He then removes his blue Kazekage hat. Hiruzen smiles as he faces his former student and removes his his own red Kage hat.
Sound ninja swarm us. Kakashi deflects a kunai while I summon a bunch of swords from Shoten. The enemy before me looks scared as hell as he takes in my furious expression, right eye shadowed by my bangs, but I thrust my arms forward with a cry of exertion and take down a few others with the first ninja.
Guy kicks away another before leaping after another ninja.
I cut down another Sound ninja as I notice a Sound nin coming at my husband from behind. He swings his kunai and strikes the enemy without barely looking. Guy leaps up and kicks away four Sound ninja while I get surrounded by five.
I swing my katana and dodge kunai attacks, cutting a ninja's stomach, and stabbing my sword into a second. I dodge a slash before I swing my Shoten, changing it to an axe.
I swing the axe and it cuts down another. I deflect a kunai and dodge another attack before I swing my katana at my final opponent.
I change my sword to my Flame Empress blade and swing it, burning the enemy and making them scream. I then switch to my Sea Empress sword and a blade of water cuts into another couple of enemies.
I see a few Sound ninja try to attack my son and Amaya, and I'm about to stop them, but a familiar pink cloud suddenly envelopes the enemy.
"Cloud Release: Cloud Bomb Jutsu!" (It's like Airies' technique from Fairy Tail.)
"What is this?!" A Sound ninja cries.
"I don't know, but it's soft!" Says another in a dazed voice.
"Need a hand?" I blink my eyes in surprise as a female Chunin with her blond hair unbound and brown eyes lands near me. She wears a mesh shirt with a navy blue crop jacket over it and a matching coloured apron skirt over her light blue spandex shorts and on her feet are thigh high boots. She has bandages wrapped around her arms and fingerless wrist length gloves on her hands.
"Kasumi!" I exclaim in recognition. "You're here?"
She nods. "Yeah! When I heard that two of your students made it to the Finals, I knew I had to come watch!"
I smile at her. "Thank you for protecting Ken and Amaya."
The Ikeda asks as she blinks her eyes, "Who's this?"
I explain, "This is Kasumi Kumo. She's a Chunin and my former female teammate."
"Hi!" The blonde greets.
"Thank you for saving us, Kasumi-san," Amaya says gratefully.
"Anytime!" Kasumi says before leaping away to take out more enemies.
I engage a Sound ninja in swordplay near Sakura as Kakashi lands a row in front of her, the pinkette still covering her head. "Sakura," The silverette addresses. I stab my sword into the ninja's chest before slashing at another. "It was worth teaching you Genjutsu during survival training for the Genin exam. You truly do have a natural talent for it."
"Huh?"
I land on the ground and swing my two katanas for five enemies.
The enemies cry out as my swords cuts them.
"Release the Genjutsu and wake Naruto and Shikamaru." Sakura looks to where the said boys were passed out. "Naruto will be delighted. He'll be getting a mission after such a long time."
I meet a Sound ninja's kunai with my katana in front of Kakashi and Sakura as she looks back at her Sensei. I pull back and swing my Robe of Yuen spear at him.
"What kind of mission?" Asks Sakura.
Kakashi explains, "You'll have to be careful on this one. It's the first A rank assignment since the Land of Waves." This causes Sakura to gasp.
I hit Sound ninja with my spear, taking him out with how hard I hit them with it. A Sound ninja goes to attack Kakashi but I appear right behind him, changing my sword rapidly to a long sword with wings on either side of the hilt. Sakura gasps as the sword strikes the ninja's back and he goes tumbling, but I was already moving onto my next target, adrenaline pumping through my body.
Sakura exclaims, "But Sensei! What are you doing?! With this battle going on, why send us off on some mission?"
Kakashi responds, "Sasuke's chasing Gaara and the other Sand ninja."
"What?" The pinkette breathes as Kakashi holds his kunai to his left thumb and digs it in, drawing a thin line of blood.
"Sakura, release the Genjutsu, wake Naruto and Shikamaru and follow Sasuke," Kakashi instructs.
I dodge a kunai aimed for my chest before I thrust a sword forward. I cut him down. I then dodge another kunai. I slash my sword and cut the man's right side before blasting the third ninja with flames from my Flame Empress Sword. As the fourth attacks me from behind, I whirl and slash my long swords at him and he goes down with a cry.
Sakura asks, "But, then... shouldn't we wake Ino and Choji and go in a group?"
Kakashi says, putting his kunai away, "No time. I suspect that more Sand and Sound ninja have already infiltrated this village." He adds while I clash my sword with a Sound ninja's kunai, "Besides, if you have more than four ninja essential to a squad, it takes longer to get anything done, and it becomes more difficult to hide from the enemy. You learned that in a survival training programme at the academy."
Sakura gasps in realisation, "Of course! With four squad members that means you'll be coming with us, right?"
Doing swift hand signs, the Hatake answers, "No. I must not leave this place." There's a poof of smoke as he places his hands on a person's back. "Summoning Jutsu!"
One of the cutest pugs I've ever seen appears. He wears a blue vest and a Leaf headband on his head, like Sakura's, and his fur is brown while his ears are a darker brown.
"Huh?" Sakura says, eyebrow raised.
Kakashi explains, "Pakkun here will track down Sasuke by scent."
Sakura says in disbelief, "Wait, seriously! Our fourth member is a puppy?! What about Amaya?! Can't she come?"
I hit the enemy's face with the hilt of my sword before kicking him, pausing near the male Jounin. I peer back at the Haruno. "Amaya's mission is to protect Ken, and she absolutely cannot take him with you to go after Gaara."
The pug leaps beneath Kakashi's legs to the Haruno and gets right in her face. He drawls, "Alright, listen, little girl! Don't you dare just go around, saying I'm just some cute puppy!"
"Ok, it's time. Sakura, go release the Genjutsu."
Sakura gives a nod before crawling among the seats to her comrades Pakkun following. Upon reaching Naruto, she does hand signs and taps two fingers to his back.
"Huh...?" Naruto utters as he stirs awake. He sits up while rubbing his eye. "Hey, what's going on, Sakura?"
Sakura sees a kunai flying for him and exclaims, "Get down!!" She throws herself atop Naruto and throws them to the ground. The kunai hits the wall behind them. "I'll fill you in later; just stay down." She then crawls to Shikamaru. A dry, flat, deadpan expression appears on her face as Sakura hovers over him. "Shikamaru, don't tell me you're pretending."
When he still doesn't get up, as though thinking she'd leave him alone, Pakkun goes up to Shikamaru and clamps his jaws nonchalantly around his lower leg. There's a moment of silence, then...
"Aaarrrggghhh!!" Screams Shikamaru as Sakura clenches an angry fist and he waves his leg about, trying to shake off the Ninja Hound.
"You'd released the Genjutsu, too, you faker! Why were you pretending to be asleep this whole time?!" Sakura demands angrily.
Shikamaru sighs as he finally peels Pakkun off his leg. He starts pinching the Ninja Hound's cheeks, explaining, "Ngh! I didn't want to get involved. Give me a break." He then starts tugging at Pakkun's left cheek. "I couldn't care less about Sasuke."
There's a slap as Shikamaru releases the pug's cheek. Pakkun growls but he ignores it as he goes to play with him more, right before Pakkun clamps his jaws down on Shikamaru's hand, making him cry out.
Just then, a Sound ninja appears right behind the Uzumaki, kunai poised to strike. "Behind you!" Sakura cries.
"Dammit!" I think as I slash at my opponent, taking him out. I turn to stop the ninja but there's an explosion as Guy beats me to it, throwing the man into the wall.
"So fast," Breathes the Sound ninja as I let out a breath of relief.
"Not just fast, powerful!" Then he pushes against the Sound ninja which causes him to go sailing right through the wall and out the other side.
Sakura breathes as Kakashi and I land before them, "Guy Sensei..."
They turn their heads to Kakashi as he begins, "Now, I'll explain the mission. As soon as I do, go through that opening. First, track down Sasuke and stop him. Then find a safe location and await further orders."
Naruto gazes at me as he asks, "Did something happen to Sasuke?!"
Crawling over to him, Sakura whispers, "I'll tell you what happened to him on the way. Now, let's go!" Sakura grabs Naruto, wrapping an arm around him, before leaping out through the hole made by Gai.
"Whoa...!"
Shikamaru grumbles, gazing after them, "Why me? What a drag!"
Leaning up on his knee, Pakkun tells him, "Listen, Whiner!"
"Huh?" He utters, glancing at him.
"Look, if this mission is a success, as a reward, I'll let you touch my paw or my pads. So there's no reason to sulk."
"What?" Shikamaru quirks an eyebrow in confusion.
"Come on!" Pakkun urges, holding up a paw. "They're really soft!"
"They're... what...?"
"No one ever wants to shake..." Pakkun groans, hanging his head. He then shouts as he spins around, "But my paws are so soft and supple!!" He holds out his paw to the Nara who just stares at him, dumbstruck. "Forget it. Let's go."
He then bits on Shikamaru's hand again, causing the Nara to cry out, before dragging Shikamaru after him out the hole, screaming all the way.
Guy asks Kakashi, "Are they going to be ok by themselves?"
"Yes. They'll be fine," Responds Kakashi. "Pakkun will protect them. As long as they don't go too far..."
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The ANBU in the middle says, "Naruto and the others must've gone t stop Sasuke."
"Those brats?" The Sound nin on his left scoffs. "Huh! No matter how many little Genin go after him, it won't do any good." The ANBU takes out what looks like a Ninja Info Card and they gaze at it. "Huh? Is this the data on the kid from before? Come on! You give him too much credit."
"Guess again," Says the ANBU, causing the Sound nin to gasp. "Underestimate the enemy, and you will die."
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Guy punches and kicks away a couple of Sound ninja.
Now with his Sharingan activated, Kakashi slashes at an incoming Sand ninja before dodging another and slashing at him, then throwing a third over the stairs with a slash of his kunai.
A Sound ninja lunges for Ken and Amaya, but the silverette does hand signs. "Water Style: Liquid Bullet Jutsu!"
She fires a few bullets that take down the ninja.
A Sand nin lunges for me but I cut him down with a single swipe of my long sword, before I change it into my Lightning Empress spear.
With a thrust, I whirl around and a bolt of lightning hits another Sand ninja about to attack me. I then change it back to my former sword and cut down another enemy.
Kakashi, Guy and I stand back to back. Guy says in confusion, "It doesn't make any sense. I'm shocked that not just the Sound but so many Sand Jounin would try to infiltrate."
I remind him, "Well, think about it. That's why they call it "war."
I cut down a Sound ninja across the back as Kakashi throws a kunai at another ninja. He then clashes his kunai against another while I do the same. Guy punches down a Sound ninja from the back of his head.
He then holds up his fingers while giving a war cry before engaging a Sand and Sound ninja, taking them both out. Raido, Kakashi, Kurenai, Aoba, Kasumi and I are at the railing, gazing down at Baki facing Genma in the arena, Kakashi leaning on his knee.
There were dead enemy ninja amongst some craters.
Guy says, "I guess that's all of them."
I sigh, "For now, anyway."
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We see the barrier surrounding the Hokage has finally vanished. Kakashi, Guy and I have moved out t the arena and stand on either side of Genma. The three of us have cuts bleeding under our left eyes, while I have another gasp on my right upper arm.
Guy points out, "Look! The barrier!"
"It's gone," Says Kakashi.
Genma demands, "Where's Hokage-sama?"
The ANBU Black Ops pursue the Sound ninja fleeing with their master, but the spider guy shoots out a web that sends the ANBU falling to the ground.
Guy says, "Kakashi, Izayoi , they're pulling out. We should go after them!"
Kakashi says as we turn to Guy, "Wait, Guy. I'm not so sure."
"That's right!" We look to the ANBU before us. "Let's not be too hasty. If we rush in, we might get snared in their traps."
Guy demands, "What are you suggesting, then?! That we simply stand here and let the swine escape? After what they've done to our village?! That's not the Leaf shinobi way!"
Steppingfirward, Kakashi demands, "So, you propose that we do nothing, eh, Kabuto?"
The ANBU removes his mask to reveal a young man with silver hair and glasses covering his black eyes. He smirks. "Well, aren't you the clever one?" Baki glances to him. "Time t call it a day."
Kakashi asks, "Are you going to run away from me again?!"
"That would be too obvious," Responds Kabuto. "Why should I show my hand when it's so much more fun keeping you in the dark? That eye of yours can't see everything, can it? Unlike the Uchiha clan, you haven't mastered it yet." Kakashi and I glare at him. "How dare he?! "Oh well!"
Kabuto puts his hands in a hand sign before he and Baki disappear in a cloud of smoke.
We all head up to the Kage building where we find the Third on his black, covered in injuries but with a bloody smile on his face. There's a swirling symbol with kanji through it on his stomach; a seal.
The Third Hokage is dead.