Hiruzen gasped as the Kazekage was suddenly behind him. Tenzo and Yūgao ran toward him for support, but was met by two of the Suna guardians. The Kazekage wrapped an arm around Hiruzen's neck while raising a kunai to his throat. He suddenly leapt off the ground, taking the Hokage with him and landed on the roof top. Four hidden ninja appeared as well, dropping their disguise as they formed a square on the roof, surrounding the Kazekage.
The hidden ANBU watched as the now reveal Sound ninja revealed themselves. The Hokage's personal guard was still being held up by the Sand ninja. By the time ANBU reinforcements arrived, the Sound ninja were already going through hand seals with their knees to the ground.
"Ninpō: Four Flames Formation!" they yelled as a purple barrier began to form around the area. One of the ANBU touched the barrier and flames began to consume his body, he rolled down the roof top and onto the ground, dead.
"What do we do?" one of the ANBU said as they stood at the barrier.
The leader of the group, Ōkami, looked at the barrier before looking down at the fallen operative who had been charred to death. "We are going to have to wait for the commander to arrive." he said as he turned to the rest of his team.
"What will we do until then?" an operative with a Badger mask asked.
Ōkami didn't answer at first. As he began to think about and analyze their situation, he caught slight movements withing the shadows of the arena. He narrowed his eyes as he drew his ninjatō. This caused his team to tense as well and they reached for their weapons and went on the defense.
"There are other ANBU officers here." Ōkami stated.
One of his team members began to relax a little. "That's good, right?" he said.
"Not exactly." Ōkami stated as he kept his eyes on the one with the white cloak. "They are not our ANBU. I have never seen them in my life. And the commander did mention that there were hidden enemies amongst us. It seems we have been infiltrated."
The whole team tensed. "What shall we do?" a leopard masked ANBU asked with her kunai held in vice grip.
"We will pursue the infiltrators." Ōkami asked before jumping away from the building. His team followed.
"What about the commander's orders?" a panda mask operative asked.
"These are the commander's orders." Ōkami replied. "He told me that if we couldn't get to the Hokage, then we assist the jonin. Our current targets are above their skill set. That means its our duty to provide assistance."
No one argued the captain as they descended into the stadium. They quickly disappeared into the shadows, following the infiltrators in the nearby woods. The sounds of metal meeting metal rung in the air as their battle went into full swing. The infiltrators didn't know what hit them as they were being dispatched with little effort. Their blood would stain the green grass of the forest as Ōkami and his team ran toward the village walls to help delay the incoming invaders.
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"Barrier Ninjutsu, huh!?!" Gai commented as they watched the purple square barrier form around their Hokage. "To think that they could outwit the ANBU...."
"They're not just ordinary...." Kakashi trailed off.
Sakura looked at the barrier worriedly. She didn't know what to do. After she had realized that she was placed under a genjutsu, she had dispelled it. Once she was back in reality, the Kazekage had suddenly grabbed the Hokage with a kunai at his neck. She watched as the Hokage was taken to the top of the tower and shortly afterward, the purple barrier formed around them. Kakashi and Gai had appeared in her stand a couple of minutes before it happened. She wondered if they knew what's going on.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura called out worriedly. "What's going on?"
Kakashi's single eye traveled down to his little genin. She could see the worry in her eyes and knew he couldn't hide it any longer. "We are under invasion." he answered as he turned toward the arena floor.
"ANBU are here as promised." Gai said as he saw the ANBU arrive at the purple barrier.
Kakashi turned toward the roof of the Kage box and saw a team of ANBU members at the barrier. Unfortunately, one of the members ran into the barrier and his body instantly went aflame. Screaming, the burning member was tumbling down the roof, rolling until he hit the ground, dead. He was slightly surprised when his team didn't even bat an eye at his predicament. One of them could have simply used a water jutsu to put the fire out, but instead, they didn't do a thing. What the hell kind of training did they go through? Even when he served as an ANBU captain, the ANBU wasn't that cold. His mind traveled to the current commander. A shudder went down his spine at the thought about Kitsune. The man was cold as ice, and thinking about it, it shouldn't be surprising that his subordinates were acting just as cold.
Taking action, Kakashi and Gai began to make their way downstairs. They stopped as a person with a mask landed in front of them. He wore a black cloak and the jonin deduced that he was an ANBU operative.
"What are you doing here?! Lord Hokage is danger!" Gai exclaimed.
The operative didn't respond. He made a tiger seal with his hands. Unknown to the jonin, he was signaling for shinobi hidden in the audience. Breaking out of disguise, several shinobi began to jump from the stands and appeared beside the ANBU operative. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at shinobi.
"What a nuisance." Kakashi commented.
Gai narrowed his bushy eyebrows. "To think the enemy was masquerading as our ANBU...." he said before realization crossed his features. "So it was also that guy who used Genjutsu!"
"Yeah....there's no mistake." Kakashi said as he got into a defensive position.
Before either jonin could move to attack, there was sharp whir in the air. Suddenly, the raised pointer and middle fingers of the ANBU's hands was sliced off. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise as his fingers fell to the ground and blood squirted out of the stubs. Before anyone could react, another ANBU appeared, wrapping what looked like a chain around the infiltrator's neck.
"Take care of the others." the panda masked operative said as he dragged the ANBU down into the stadium with him.
Gai and Kakashi looked at each other and blinked. Once they finally snapped out of their shock, they nodded before meeting the hidden Sound ninja head on in a battle to the death. Sakura could only watch speechlessly as the battle ensued. More and more shinobi began to appear from the audience and the fighting increased. She was lost in what to do in the chaos. She looked worriedly at her friends that laid asleep around her. What should she do?
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(With Kitsune.....)
"Kitsune-sama!" someone called out.
The commander slowly turned to one of the tracker teams he had scent out two days ago. The team was comprised of four members and a ninken. The captain of the team wore a panther mask and stood at attention in front of his commander. Kitsune nodded to him.
"Report!" Kitsune said.
"Enemy camps and supplies has been destroyed as ordered." Pansā reported. "A total of five enemy camps were found 10 miles south, east, and west of the village. Three belonged to the Sand while two belonged to the Sound. There is also evidence of Rain shinobi. Whether they aided the invaders is unknown."
Kitsune nodded. "Anything else?" he inquired.
"Hai." Pansā responded. "When we arrived at the camps.....no one was there." he said hesitantly.
Kitsune narrowed his eyes under his mask. "What do you mean?" he said, unconsciously leaking killer intent.
Pansā lightly gulped before straightening to answer his commander. "While there is evidence of encampment, there was no one present. My guess is......" he started.
"Infiltration." Kitsune finished with narrowed eyes.
They all heard sudden explosions, catching their attention. Clouds of smoke began to spout from certain spots of the village, putting them all on alert. Kitsune quickly turned to the team he dubbed as Team Alpha.
"Where is Team Rho?" he demanded.
"They are currently traveling back to the village, sir." Pansā answered.
"I want you to intercept them and tell them to break formation." Kitsune ordered. "I need both of you to pull back and get out of uniform. I want you to infiltrate the civilian safehouses and snuff out any possible infiltrator. We don't know how deep enemy spies have been planted into the village so I need you to be diligent and eliminate any and every threat. Understood?"
"Hai!" Team Alpha chorused.
"Dismissed!" he voiced as Team Alpha disappeared from view.
After their departure, Kitsune left his position and bounded up the village wall. His eyes widened in shock as he saw smoke and flames coming from the Academy, Hospital, and a few other places. His eyes zoned in on the Academy. He left in an instant, moving a high speeds to get to his destination. 'Konohamaru....' he thought worriedly before his mind traveled to the person who was responsible for creating the barrier. 'Something must have happened. There was no way my barrier teams should have been taken out like that.....'
When he finally arrived there, the building was lit aflame and parts of the roof had began falling. The sign barring the fire symbol had fallen off the building and he saw a few people trying the escape the fiery flames. Kitsune ran in, searching frantically for his little disciple. He may not have had the best relationship with his grandfather, but the boy didn't deserve to suffer because of the Hokage's insolence concerning himself. He created two clones as they split off and began to search the building for young Sarutobi. Smoke began to fill the building, making it hard to breath and see.
While his clones had managed to find others who were stuck in the building and had taken them to safety, the original was still in the building looking for the kid. In his search, he had came across a few members of his barrier team, dead with slit throats or pierces to the heart. He grimaced at this as he continued to search the building. When he reached the third floor, he heard stifled sounds coming from one of the offices.
Hearing it, Kitsune expediently headed in that direction. He kicked down the door before storming in the room. The sounds grew clearer and walked up to the metal lockers. Charging his hand with lightning chakra, Kitsune grabbed the lock and broke it before opening it. In the locker, was a crying Konohamaru who looked scared. When the crying boy finally looked up, he gasped at the person who had opened the door and came to rescue him. He was wearing a fox mask and was tall. He could barely make out his spikey black hair and he wore a coat with fur on it. He was about to say something when he finally went into a fit of coughs, being exposed to the growing smoke in the room. A piece of the roof fell off, making him jump.
Kitsune quickly grabbed him before darting out of the room and down the hallway. More pieces of the roof began to fall as he ran down the stairs. 'We're not going to make it if I don't do something....' he thought to himself as he ran down the second flight. Closing his eyes, Naruto began to focus his chakra as he ran. He had never tried it before because he didn't know whether he had the bloodline for it. One of the secrets to his father's speed was an application of his family bloodline along with the Hirashin. It was through this bloodline that he was able to quicken the time it took for him to teleport to his anchors. When Kitsune read his journal, he said it was a technique called the slipstream.
It was basically a variation of the Namikaze clan technique, the Flash Step, a jutsu that allowed the user to move so fast that it appeared as if they were teleporting. In its variation, the user enters something called the slipstream, a small ripple in space and time that flows into the jet of matter and energy that streams through the space-time dimension. In the slipstream, the user focuses their chakra into the flow, anchoring their chakra into it and using the flow to travel at intolerable speeds. The way his father described it, it was like a current of energy that fuses with your chakra and carries you. He even said that it was faster than the Hirashin itself and even more dangerous.
Kitsune kept his eyes closed and lightly gulped when he finally found it. With a small prayer, he covered Konohamaru with his cloak, pulling him into his chest before they disappeared. Kitsune gritted his teeth before he suddenly appeared near the Hokage monument. He gasped as he fell over, dropping Konohamaru in the process. Pulling his mask off, the commander lurched over, throwing up all the contents of his stomach.
Konohamaru blinked as he was suddenly out of the building and was at the Hokage monument that was a good miles away from the Academy. He turned to the man that was currently throwing up his guts. His face contorted into a disgusted frown as he turned around to give the man his space. Kitsune groaned as he held his stomach. His heart was beating rapidly and he was sweating heavily. He would not be doing that anytime soon. Hell, he didn't even know if he wanted to use the damn thing. He didn't know how is father did it. He had never moved so fast in his life and using the technique took a lot his chakra, due to it being his first time using it. He closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths. His mind spun a little and a bit of blood fell down his nose. Yep, he was never doing that again.
When Kitsune finally recovered, he placed his mask back on before slowly standing on his face. He was still slightly disoriented as his body tried to adjust what it had just gone through. After getting himself together, he turned around and looked down at Konohamaru who currently had his back turned toward him. He inwardly chucked as he caught his breath. He would have don the same in his situation. Watching someone vomit their guts out wasn't the most pleasant sight to see.
"Are you alright?" Kitsune rasped.
Konohamaru finally turned around to look up at the man. He noticed his body was smoking a little and guessed it was from the building they ran out of. "Yes." he said hesitantly.
"Good." Kitsune replied as he looked up at the sky.
Konohamaru just stared up at the man who had just saved his life. He couldn't help, but notice how tall he was compared to him. He was long enough to be his shadow. He looked at the markings on his mask. There was a star in the middle of his forehead with two red lines going down the bridge of the nose. He wondered what they meant as he continued to stare at the statuesque form. His eyes traveled in the direction of the Academy. He suddenly frowned. He didn't see what happened sense his eyes were closed. But he felt himself be covered with some type of cloth before there was a small breeze. Next thing he knew, he was being dropped in the grass and met with teh sight of a raven-haired man vomitting. He began to wonder. Had they really moved that fast? It all seemed to happen in a mere millisecond. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the man spoke to him again.
"Where are your friends?" Kitsune asked.
It took Konohamaru a moment before realization crossed his features. "MOEGI! UDON!" he cried in panic, not even bothering to think about how the Commander knew them.
Kitsune frowned before he kneeled down in front of Konohamaru and placed a hand on his shoulder. Konohamaru looked at the man with teary eyes. Kitsune felt his gaze soften as he sensed the boy's worry and guilt. He knew he was inwardly blaming himself and it wasn't his fault. The young Sarutobi could barely make out the violet eyes that gazed into his own eyes as the commander spoke.
"We will find them, Konohamaru." Kitsune said sternly, making the boy's eyes widen. "Together." he replied as he stood and held out his fist toward him.
Konohamaru stared at the man in shock as loose tears fell down his face. His eyes traveled down to the fist held toward him. He stared at it for a moment before his own fists clenched. He looked up at the commander with a fire in his eyes that Kitsune had never seen in the boy before. He smirked under his mask. 'I knew you could do it, Konohamaru.' he thought as he watched the boy bring his fist to meet his. Konohamaru nodded to the commander, telling him that he was in. Kitsune nodded to the boy in respect before he turned toward the treeline. He stood in front of Konohamaru and squatted down with his back toward him.
"Hop on." Kitsune ordered.
Konohamaru quickly climbed onto his back. Once he adjusted, Kitsune made sure he was secure on his back before bounding into the trees. Everything appeared as a blur to Konohamaru as they moved toward the village. He only hoped that is friends were okay. They had gotten split up during the bombing. He buried his face in Kitsune's cloak. He would find them. And afterward, he would train harder so that he would never lose his friends again.
(A/N: Did that slipstream explanation make sense to you guys? Comment and tell me what you think.)