Invasion
Feathers fell down onto the arena. The three members of team seven nodded towards each other. Sasuke and Sakura had replenished their energy with the seals again and were fully charged to fight against the attackers. They saw that in the kage booth a smoke bomb went off, but they knew that their sensei and the Sandaime would be more than up to fighting any opponent. Naruto took charge and they quickly tore through any ninja that bore a Suna or Oto forehead protector.
"Sakura, head over to the VIP lounge and make sure that none of the guests there is injured. We'll also direct any injured over there for treatment. Sasuke, you take command of the other genin here. We need to secure certain locations in the village, most prominently the academy, the hospital and the routes to the shelters. We can only properly strike back at the invading forces once the civilians are safe," Naruto recited their orders.
"Understood," Sasuke replied and collected Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Ino and Hinata.
Those of them that had fought had their injuries treated by now. Thankfully none of them was in really bad shape.
"We're going to help out securing important locations. Team ten, you'll cover the hospital and follow the orders of whichever superior ninja is in charge there. Team eight, you're with me to cover the academy and the routes to the shelters. We need to get all civilians to safety as quickly as possible," Sasuke repeated Naruto's orders and handed out jobs.
Naruto was already gone from the arena, off to the village to do his part. Sasuke knew that Naruto was part of a small group of people that had to take our as many opponents as possible. He had seen him rush off with Tenten Jakonato, a student of Gai Maito, his sensei's self-declared eternal rival. The girl was great with thrown weapons and from what he knew, that was the perfect combination with the one jutsu that Naruto knew and that had made his father famous. The flying thundergod.
Naruto and Tenten raced over the roofs of the village. They had practiced for two hours each day over the last week to get their combination attacks perfected. Naruto had taught Tenten the shadow clone jutsu and given her a fully charged chakra storage seal to pull two clones off. Each clone of her had a scroll with Naruto's special kunais. Death would rain onto the attackers from above. For now they would concentrate on groups of attackers that weren't in close proximity to any civilians. While Konoha had started evacuating the civilians as soon as the finals had started in secret, they couldn't make it obvious. So they had concentrated on areas that weren't that important, but housed a lot of people.
"Targets in reach in ten seconds," Naruto said, using his sensor abilities to estimate the distance.
"Roger," the original Tenten replied. "Ready to fire."
The two clones jumped to the sides and went looking for their own groups with two Naruto clones each to repeat the attacks. Once they were close enough, Tenten unsealed the kunai from the scroll she had been given and started firing them at the enemies. Naruto vanished in a yellow flash and below Tenten the opponents started falling like flies within seconds. She had read about this jutsu's devastating power, but seeing it used in front of her was something entirely else. Naruto flashed back to the roof once he had killed the last attacker. He made two clones to collect his kunai for another use. They would deliver the filled scroll once they were done sealing them all up again.
"Target destroyed. Let's move on, Tenten," Naruto said.
She nodded and they continued their job.
Orochimaru had kidnapped the Sandaime Hokage and now shed his disguise as the Kazekage. Kimimaro had managed to distract Kakashi, so that he hadn't followed them. His elite guard, the Sound Four, erected a barrier to keep all opponents out. Sadly they were not fast enough to get it up before Jiraiya, who had been closest to the Kage Box, entered.
"Oh, isn't it a nice team reunion?" Orochimaru asked, silently cursing. With both his sensei and Jiraiya as his opponents he would be hard pressed to win. But he had a trump card. He would just have to call back-up.
"We are just missing Tsunade, then we would be complete."
"Today this will end, Orochimaru. Today I will correct my old mistake!" The Sandaime said.
Jiraiya looked around and inspected the construction of the barrier. The only way would be to take out the pillars, the four ninja that held the barrier. Sadly without somebody of Tsunade's strength it would be hard to destroy the roof to make them lose their hold. But he had a jutsu that would have a similar effect, even if not on her scale.
"Sensei, can you occupy him for a while? I will take care of the four that hold the barrier," Jiraiya said.
"Hurry up, Jiraiya!" The twice retired Hokage replied. "I am sure he has some nasty surprises planned."
"Of course, sensei," Jiraiya confirmed and ran towards the corner where the guy with the six arms sat holding the barrier.
"Oh no, you don't Jiraiya!" Orochimaru shouted, knowing that if Jiraiya wanted to destroy the barrier, he would find a way.
"Your fight is with me, Orochimaru!" The Sandaime Hokage exclaimed and went through handseals.
"Earth release: Mudflow river," He called out and unleashed a stream of mud from his mouth.
Orochimaru dodged the mud and countered the jutsu.
"Earth release: Earth encampment wall," He said and created a wall of earth to deflect his sensei's jutsu.
Jiraiya had reached the corner and concentrated chakra in his right hand. Soon he had a spinning ball and rammed it directly under the inner side of the barrier.
"Rasengan!" He shouted.
His attack took out a good part of the roof and the one holding the jutsu was had pressed to keep the barrier up, but he managed. Under him was now an opening, which Jiraiya immediately used.
"Summoning jutsu."
A green toad his height appeared.
"Hello, Gamakiri. Ready to show this upstart that works for Orochimaru how stupid that decision was?" Jiraiya asked the female toad.
"Oh, Jiraiya, you always have such a way with words," She answered chuckling.
"Combination jutsu: Toad water bullet," He stated and combined his chakra with that of Gamakiri.
The water from Gamakiri shot with enormous force into the hole Jiraiya had made with the rasengan and took out any tiles from the roof that were still whole. The water additionally forced the six armed guy to lose his balance and let the jutsu go. The whole barrier fell down and the ANBU that waited outside and the Godaime Hokage, who had killed Kimimaro quicker than Orochimaru had expected, attacked. The Sound four now involved the ANBU in fights activating the second level of their curse seals.
Orochimaru was furious that his plan didn't work just because of that baka Jiraiya. He flew through a series of handseals to get one last attempt for victory.
"Impure world resurrection jutsu!" He called out and coffins began to rise with numbers on them.
The Sandaime flew through his own handseals to prevent them all from coming out.
"Shadow shuriken jutsu!" He exclaimed and shot a barrage of shuriken at Orochimaru.
The coffin with the kanji for 'fourth' was kept down, the first two were opening. Jiraiya went back to his sensei's side and Kakashi landed next to them.
"This is looking bad, sensei," Jiraiya commented.
"Not as bad as it could have been. I managed to prevent the third one. And with the barrier down back-up can help us when they have dealt with his guards," The Hokage commented.
Then they saw massive snakes destroying the village walls in the east.
"Now, don't you think you are needed out there, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru sneered.
"Nah, I can leave that part to my godson," Jiraiya confidently replied.
"Your godson?" Orochimaru asked surprised.
"Yes, I think you know of him. Messy, spiky blond hair, blue eyes, whisker marks on his cheeks and a talent and determination I only saw in his father before," Jiraiya commented.
"So, the fool that sacrificed his life made you godfather of his son. He must have been desperate to make a pervert like you godfather of his only son," Orochimaru mocked Jiraiya.
"Better a pervert than a paedophile," Jiraiya mocked back.
"You really think I wouldn't have prepared for anybody interfering with my plans? My men are already catching him and Sasuke. Once Konoha is destroyed I will mark Sasuke and turn Naruto to serve only me."
Jiraiya started laughing with Kakashi chuckling along.
"I hope you weren't overly fond of the men you sent after them, you won't see them again," Kakashi said. "Those two will take out any opponent that they encounter," He stated completely serious.
As if Naruto wanted to prove Jiraiya and Kakashi right a giant toad appeared directly where the snakes were.
"You said something, Orochi teme?" Jiraiya asked smugly.
"You will still not win against me," Orochimaru said and rammed kunai with controlling formulas into the necks of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages which he had resurrected.
After having taken out six groups of enemies with the three groups of them, Naruto and Tenten had reached the outer wall of the village. They then were surprised by a giant snake tearing the wall down.
"Shit, that thing is huge!" Tenten exclaimed after having jumped out of the way of falling wood and stone from the wall.
"A summons. Orochimaru must have left a sealing formula somewhere to get the snake here. There are three ways of dealing with it. One is taking out all summoners, the second destroying the sealing formula," Naruto explained.
"And the third?" Tenten asked.
"This one: Summoning jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed.
Under Naruto appeared a giant blue toad with a shield and a club in its webbed hands.
"Naruto? What is the matter?" The toad asked.
"Gamahiro, I need your assistance dealing with that summoned snake. We need to prevent that it kills our ninjas," Naruto explained.
"No problem," Gamahiro responded and lashed out with his club.
Tenten watched in awe how Naruto and his toad partner dealt with the snake. The snake tried biting the toad, but it deflected with the shield. Then Naruto was somehow on top of the snake's head and landed a hit with a rasengan, which made the snake disappear.
"Thank you for your assistance, Gamahiro," Naruto called out. "I need to go on, there're still too many enemies and soon the full out counter strike will be launched."
"It was my pleasure, Naruto, call me whenever you need me again," Gamahiro replied and went back to the toad summoning realm in a cloud of smoke.
Naruto landed on the ground easily. He and Tenten then continued taking out enemies that tried getting through the hole in the wall, only to find out that a weapons mistress with incredible aim that spread flying thundergod kunai and the son of the Yellow Flash, who could use said jutsu perfectly, were deadly opponents.
Sasuke and Team eight were fighting off a handful of Suna ninjas that had targeted the academy. They covered the backs of the evacuating academy students and their teachers. The chunin teachers would be able to protect the children on the way to the shelters as long as they could buy them time. Shino unleashed his bugs on the Suna ninjas. Kiba and Akamaru used their double drilling fang technique to tear into the enemies and Hinata practically danced around the attacks of the enemies and landed her own whenever there was an opening. All of them had got some chakra storage seals, all prepared before the invasion by Dark Phoenix and given to the chosen team captains on orders of the Hokage. Sasuke had handed them out just before they had split from Team ten.
Now all the genin were at full reserves chakra wise and could fight at their best. Sasuke shot a fireball at his opponent and followed it up immediately by running after the fireball, using the cover it offered hit to close the distance and get a deadly hit in by stabbing the Suna ninja into the heart. As there were only four opponents, they were soon done and continued to their next location. Sasuke gave orders about directions and they were off again. As long as their opponents were at genin or chunin level they would be able to take them on. That much they knew.
Shikamaru had bound eight attacking Oto ninjas and it allowed Choji and two other chunins that protected the hospital to take them out. Ino supported them by throwing poisoned senbons on her opponents from a safe distance. Her taijutsu wasn't strong enough to go up against chunin or higher level ninjas, so she did what would be successful. And having to shield against poisoned needles while other attacks also were used against them was not easy.
The main problem was that there were lots of attackers. Much more than they were. While they had already taken out about twenty enemies, there were still about thirty left and they were hard-pressed to defend the hospital. And this was only their side. The other sides were also under attack and the other ninjas entrusted with the duty to protect the hospital were also in full fight. Then suddenly a high number of kunai rained down between the ninjas. Then there were yellow flashes and the ninjas fell quickly.
"Wow, that were a lot at one time," they all heard a voice from above.
They looked up and saw Naruto and a brown-haired girl with twin buns on her head standing on the roof.
"Perfect aim as always, Tenten," Naruto complimented.
"Thanks, Naruto. But you're doing the bigger part of the work here," Tenten replied.
"Hey, without your incredible aim this would be impossible and you know it," Naruto gave back. "We've cleared the area for now, but stay on guard for more attacking."
"Thanks for the help, Naruto," Choji called out and the blond waved only to race off with Tenten, just leaving a clone behind that collected the kunai.
"I can't believe it, he knows the flying thundergod jutsu," one of the chunin exclaimed once he got over his astonishment. "Just like the Yondaime."
"Well, he is his son, isn't he?" Ino asked.
"Yes, but that jutsu was thought to be lost when Yondaime Sama died. To think that Naruto has perfected it with thirteen, it's incredible," the second chunin pointed out.
The members of team ten understood, but they were used to Naruto performing in a league of his own by now. They had gone up against him in countless training sessions and knew that you could never underestimate him.
They saw the signal from the Hokage monument. The evacuation was complete now. They could strike back without holding back. The group of three nodded at each other. It was time to show why they were Konoha ninjas. Soon they encountered a group of five Oto ninjas.
"Ice release. Thousand flying ice needles," One of them exclaimed and let ice needles shoot at the group from all sides.
"Steel release, blade forest!" The second one shouted and razor sharp steel blades grew from the ground, spearing those that hadn't been hit by the needles.
Only one of the five was still alive after the two had performed their attacks. But he felt his breath being taken away after the third one touched his throat.
"Poison touch, toxic breath," she said calmly.
He didn't live long after that.
"We're done with this group, Haku," the steal release user said.
"Good, Sanae. Kimie, we need a distraction for the next group in the next street. Can you release your poisonous mist?" Haku asked.
"Sure thing, Haku. They'll find out why we're now valued special jonin of Konoha," Kimie answered.
The three former accomplices of Zabuza had, after a few weeks of interrogation and negotiations with the Sandaime Hokage, decided to settle down in Konoha. They had gone through probationary periods of three months each and had then been put into Konoha's ranks. Haku was working part-time at the hospital thanks to his medical knowledge and was trained to get his licence as a full medic nin. Sanae had performed some missions with several Konoha teams of mostly B-rank level and Kimie was now part of the Torture and Interrogation Department and had found a friend for life in Anko Mitarashi, her partner there. Both were real sadists and loved causing pain to their victims. As Konoha offered them many boons if they agreed to join the village, protection from persecution by Kiri and the chance to rebuild their clans in Konoha among them, they had decided to fully embrace their new village's ideals. And having people around you that didn't hate you for your bloodline limit was really nice after having to deal with being hated for how you were born for years.
Jiraiya had managed to trap the Shodai Hokage in his swamp of the underworld jutsu and was now destroying his head with a rasengan to get the control formula out. He had the impression the Shodai smiled before he was sent back to the afterlife.
Kakashi was similarly successful with the Nidaime. He countered the water release with his lightning release and his sharingan abilities. Even the infinite darkness techniques was dispelled by the eye's ability to see through genjutsu. But it was still a hard fight. The Nidaime was incredibly strong and Kakashi had to be on guard all the time to keep up with him. Thankfully he had a massively larger jutsu repertoire than the resurrected Nidaime and he managed to break through his defence to follow Jiraiya's example to attack the head. A chidori destroyed the control formula. The jutsu broke and the body of one of the Oto genin from the chunin exams was revealed.
The Sandaime while fighting with Enma in his adamantine staff form was giving Orochimaru a hard time. He had attacked again and again, but had failed so far. None of his attacks with Kusanagi got through. His sensei was astonishingly good in form.
"You seem to be in good form still, sensei," He commented.
"Well, when you know about an invasion for a month you have enough time to prepare," The Sandaime answered.
"So you knew and didn't do anything to stop me. How arrogant!" Mentally he shouted in rage. How could the old fool have known his plans?
"Oh, don't wonder about our information. When we knew you were after Sasuke after your fight with Anko, we prepared for the worst case scenario. We watched your little spy, Kabuto and found out that Suna was conspiring with you. So we just had to make sure your ace, Gaara wouldn't be any danger to us. Didn't Naruto do a fantastic job?"
"So you knew about Kabuto. How?" Orochimaru asked while trying to overpower his sensei. This didn't look good for him. The sound four were dead or knocked out, the two summoned Hokages taken out and now he had to face both his sensei, Kakashi and his old teammate.
"You can thank Naruto for that. He was suspicious about Kabuto when he showed information about the genin in the exams. He just couldn't explain how somebody would try to take the exams seven times in a row and not be promoted. Not to mention that he freely gave information up. He informed me and Ibiki of his suspicion and we kept an eye on Kabuto. We didn't take him out as he was useful for us to watch and it would have tipped you off. This way we had the chance to trap you. You won't escape this time." The Sandaime said.
Jiraiya appeared and attacked Orochimaru with a hair needle barrage. Kakashi followed with a raikiri and the Sandaime with a flurry of attacks with his bo-staff. Together they got some good hits into the defence. The ANBU shot elemental attacks at Orochimaru and he knew he had to somehow flee. He got hit by a fire jutsu from Jiraiya and his right arm was completely burned.
Orochimaru hissed in pain. But what he saw next was much more worrisome. Jiraiya powered up a new rasengan while his sensei's fingers were glowing and they were just centimetres from his stomach.
"Five elements seal!" The Hokage shouted and rammed his hand into Orochimaru's stomach.
The loss of his chakra was enough to stop Orochimaru from using his skin shedding jutsu. Jiraiya's rasengan hit his stomach perfectly. Orochimaru, the so called genius of the sannin died by the hands of this old sensei and his teammate whom he had thought to be an idiot all his life.
TO BE CONTINUED...