12

Crumbling Leaf

A huge amount of chakra started to gather in the raven haired boy's hand. "Right now, you might have surpassed me, but know this…" The lightning appeared once again but not only in his palm, this time it kept increasing to the point where it was no longer in his hand but it completely covered the Uchiha's body. "I'm not far from you!" Sasuke's chakra burst and shot into the sky.

The crowd in the stadium gasped at the tower of lightning that had formed out of the raven haired boy's body.

Sasuke brought his arm forward, willing the chakra pillar to twist, forming a spiral. The end of the column started to change; the spectators could discern what seemed to be eyes and fangs as the chakra took the form a dragon's head. "Raikiri Ryuu!" The Uchiha shouted as the head at the end of the spiral let out an intimidating roar.

"Incredible…" Gai thought as he watched in amazement his rival's student. "To be able to manipulate chakra like that at such a young age…" The jounin looked to his right, and to his surprise, his grey haired comrade had an extremely concerned look on his face. "Is it that much of a burden…?" The man thought as he went back to watch the arena.

By now the dragon had taken form completely, it was several feet long, the head was almost the size of a small horse, its long body came down in a spiral that ended in the Uchiha's left hand. The serpentine body had remained moving since it's creation as the head seemed to be tilting towards the sand golem in from on it.

The raven haired genin tightened his hold on the chakra flow, causing the dragon to roar again. "…This…" Sasuke voice came strained as he tried to ignore the building pain in his body, specially his left shoulder. "…is…my power!" The boy exclaimed as he rapidly lifted his left arm and brought it back down again, immediately the chakra dragon shot forward and rammed its head against the sand giant, pushing the golem back.

Naruto gritted his teeth; he didn't need his Sharingan to see how Sasuke's body was shaking from all the strain caused by the jutsu. "How far are you planning on going?" The blond whispered softly. Unknowingly to him, his hand right hand was cracking the ledge of the balcony out of unconscious concern.

The Uchiha refused to lessen the force with which he was pushing the chakra dragon against the golem, though now the sand monstrosity was starting to push back as Gaara's insane laughter was heard once again. "Hahaha…This is power? To us, this is nothing!" The redhead shouted from inside the sand.

The giant grabbed the dragon by its neck and pushed it away from its sand body.

"No…" Kakashi whispered as his worry increased.

"What's happening?" Gai asked looking at his friend again.

The grey haired man sighed as he close his eyes. "Think about Sasuke's dragon" The lazy jounin started. "What characteristic of it had you caught onto?" Kakashi asked as opened his eyes and looked at his comrade.

Gai pondered in thought for a couple of seconds as he went over everything he had seen about the chakra dragon in his head. Suddenly, the eccentric jounin's eyes widened. "It has never stopped moving." The man declared.

Kakashi nodded. "Though Sasuke is able to manipulate the lightning chakra into taking the form of a dragon, he's unable to maintain it stable. He needs to sustain a constant movement in order to keep the chakra flowing and for the dragon to stay alive." He explained. "If Gaara is able to hold down the dragon and keep it from moving, even for a second, then this match would be over." The gray haired man informed.

The sand giant raised the dragon higher as it prepared to slam the lighting incarnation into the ground. Moving his left arm back, Sasuke managed to release the dragon from the golem's grip.

Taking a step forwards, the sand golem brought its arms up and a barraged of sand bullets shot at the Uchiha.

Sasuke swung his arm over his body, causing the dragon's body to wrap around his body, blocking him from and attack. Though the dragon's body stopped to protect the raven haired boy, the head never stopped and it immediately shot towards the giant as soon as the barrage seized.

The force of the collisions was strong enough to push the golem back, but the sand monster soon regained its ground and got a grip on the dragon's body.

The Uchiha swung his left arm to the right, freeing the lighting dragon from the giant's hold, before swinging his arm back. The dragon moved to hit the side of the sand giant, only to be caught by the golem's grip once again. "Damn it!" Sasuke thought, his vision was starting to become hazy. "I won't be able to keep this jutsu much longer…I have to make the next attack count…!" With determination, the raven haired boy brought his arm back, releasing the lighting creature from its hold. "This is my power!" Sasuke exclaimed as he brought his arm forward with full force.

With a tremendous roar, the dragon shot towards its opponent once again, this time traveling closer to the ground than the previous times.

Before the sand golem could react, the dragon shot upward with his fangs bearing, graving a whole of the giant and taking it along as it rose into the air.

Immediately, Sasuke jump, getting higher than the two chakra beings. Using the dragon's body as leverage, the raven haired boy shot himself towards the sand monster, gathering all the chakra released on the dragon's body into his left hand.

With the extra charged Chidori burning in his hand, Sasuke rammed his hand into the sand golem's body, breaking through it and causing the sand to start to disperse. The whole stadium cheered as the giant's body started to break down.

Sasuke closed his fist to retain the Chidori in his hand and used the falling blocks of sand to propel himself towards the redhead's dome, driving his Chidori-covered hand into the sand sphere. The crowd immediately turned silent as all waited to see what would happen next.

"AAAHHH!" A horrible scream was heard through the arena. Suddenly, Sasuke felt as though something grabbed his arm, pain starting going through the Uchiha's body. "Blood… my blood!" Gaara's cry sent a chilling feeling down Sasuke's spine as he tried to free himself from the hold on his arm.

Finally been able to step away from the sand, the Uchiha jumped back, but, to the boy's horror, a grotesque arm made out of sand was attached to his.

The monstrous limb let go of the raven haired genin and retreated into the dome. Just like the golem, the sand in the sphere started to fall back into the ground, revealing the redhead.

Gaara's hand was clenching his left shoulder as blood travel down his body. The sand-nin's eyes were fixed fiercely on the Uchiha.

Naruto's eyes, which a moment before had been watching the arena intensively, suddenly widened as he look around at the stadium, the blond could see white feather falling throughout the arena as the villagers started to drop down unconscious. Immediately, the genin brought his hands up to dispel the genjutsu.

Shinobi all over the stadium jumped in the air, Kakashi and Gai watched as a group of what seemed to be ANBU leaped to intersect some of the Sand-nins. "You're going to make this into a contest, aren't you?" The silver haired man asked as he looked at his comrade.

Gai smiled as he caught an incoming Sand-nin and drove his head into the ground with amazing force. "I already started my count." He declared while giving a thumbs up.

Kankuro, Temari, and Baki landed beside Gaara. "What's wrong?" The puppeteer asked as he wondered if it was safe to approach his brother.

"Fool!" Baki exclaimed. "What were you thinking trying to transform before the plan started?"

Temari knelt in front of the redhead. "He's experiencing the side effect; he's too unstable to go on now." She declared, looking up at her sensei for guidance.

"What are we suppose to do now?" Kankuro asked, desperation starting to become evident in his voice. "Are we suppose to proceed without Gaara?"

Baki stood silent for a couple of moments as he tried to analyze the situation as fast as he could. "Retreat…" He whispered to his students. The order was received with bewildered looks from Temari and Kankuro. "You guys go and take Gaara with you." The jounin said before he was interrupted by the genin's objection. "I'll join the fight here, now go!" He ordered.

The siblings merely nodded. Kankuro placed Gaara's arm over his shoulder before the three of them jumped over the stadium wall.

"Grrr…." Sasuke growled as he tried to chase after the Sand genins but his body prevented him from moving. "Damn! I don't have anymore chakra, my body is going numb." The Uchiha thought as he fell on his knee.

Suddenly, the raven haired boy sensed something flying at him, and, out of reflex, Sasuke caught the object with his hand. Looking down at it, the genin saw it was a soldier pill. "If you plan on chasing after those guys, you'll need it." Genma said casually as he walk pass the Uchiha and stood in front of Baki. "You're a leaf shinobi after all, make yourself useful."

Sasuke sent a small glare at the tokubetsu jounin before eating the soldier pill. The boy immediately felt the effects of the pill; his body became lighter as he shot in pursuit of the Sand genins.

Up in the stands, Sakura watched the raven haired boy jumping the stadium's wall as he chased the three siblings. Acting on instinct, the pink haired girl stood up, Sakura froze before she was able to follow her teammate. Two San nins had appeared in front of her, their hands were already clutching kunais as they travel in her direction.

Sakura could only stare as the blades approached her. Suddenly, what seemed to be a pair of black blurs appeared in front of the girl, knocking down the two Sand nins. "How distracted were they that they didn't even sense two genins sneaking up on them." Shikamaru commented as he nudged the fallen shinobi's body with his foot.

"Are you alright?" A monotonous voice asked the pink haired girl. At first, Sakura thought that Naruto had come to save her, since the voice had as much emotion as the blond had shown the last few days, for reasons unknown to the girl a blush appeared on her face. "Sakura?" The sound of the voice snapped the girl out of her trance.

Looking carefully, the kunoichi saw Shino standing next to Shikamaru instead of Naruto. "Y-yeah, I'm alright…" She said as her blush intensified, this time she knew it was out of embarrassment at her confusion.

Shikamaru and Shino looked at their former classmate in confusion, but before they could express any of it, the three Leaf genin found themselves surrounded by a group of Suna shinobi.

All three of them brought their kunais out to defend themselves out of instinct, but they soon found it unnecessary as all of the Sand nin suddenly dropped dead before them. "I got more than you did Kakashi!" Gai announced happily as he step on one of the bodies.

The jounin had appeared from either side of the group of genin, taking care of the Suna attackers. "Do we really have to keep count?" Kakashi asked as he sighed.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun has…" Sakura stepped forward as she begun to talk, Kakashi merely gave her a sign to let him speak first.

"I know about Sasuke, he's chasing those three Sand genin." He said calmly. "That's why I came for you three." The man added.

Shikamaru let a small scoff. "And here I was thinking he wanted to save us." The Nara commented as he folded his arms.

Kakashi gave the black haired genin a small glare. "You are spending too much time with Asuma." The jounin say.

"No, he was already this cynical back at the academy." Shino said in a composed voice, earning a small glare from Shikamaru.

"Anyways" The lazy shinobi interrupted. "I'm here to assign- wait a minute, where's Naruto?" Kakashi asked as he looked around for his other student, due to the blonde's new personality, the silver haired man wouldn't had been surprise to see him already fighting the Suna shinobi.

Shikamaru shook his head. "I don't know; he suddenly disappeared after the genjutsu started." The lazy genin said.

A group of Sound nin was running through the streets of Konoha. "Who would have thought that their defenses would have been so easily broken?" One of the nin commented.

"Yeah, it seems that everyone was only focused on the stupid exam." Another one said.

"Come on guys, let's go finish this mission." The one Oto shinobi in the front said as he jumped into the air. Suddenly, the nin felt a boot on his face that sent him flying back into the ground.

The rest of the Sound nin immediately looked up to see who was attacking them. "So, Otogakure is taking part in this attack as well." Naruto asked as he stood in front of the invading shinobi.

One of the Oto nin growled in anger before he launched himself towards the blond. "Why you little…!" It was all he managed to say before he suddenly went quite and, with a tarrying look on his face, dropped to the ground.

The rest stare in shock at the newly arrived Konoha shinobi. "Wait" One of them said as he stepped forward. "This guy is just a kid!" He declared.

"Yeah, he's probably a mere genin that just got lucky and sucker punched us." Another one declared. "Let's get him!" The Oto shinobi shouted, his comrades roared in agreement as they prepare to attack.

Their eyes widened in terror when they realized that their bodies couldn't move. Suddenly, the surroundings turned black while the sky was tainted with crimson. Before they could completely register their surroundings, their bodies were bound by chains. "You guys can't be jounins." The blonde's voice snapped the Sound nins' attention back to him, their eyes widened even further as they saw the strange colored Sharingan in his eyes. "Otherwise you would have realized that…" Numerous blades appeared hovering in mid air in front of them. "You've been in my world all along…" The boy's words sounded like a death sentence for the Oto shinobi. Their screams fell on deaf ears.

Kakashi could hear the fighting that had broken out all throughout the village. "I have an idea where he might be." The jounin though as he glanced at the clouds of smoke that were forming all around the village. "Well, you four would have to then." He said as he turned towards the three genins.

"Wait a second Kakashi-sensei, did you say four?" Sakura asked, looking up at her sensei confused.

Without answering, Kakashi started on a set of hand seals which end up creating a cloud of smoke. "Let me introduce you to the fourth member, and tracker, of your team, Pakkun" The smoke dissipated revealing a small brown dog.

"That it?" Shikamaru commented with disappointment as he looked at the canine. "This little dog looks like it could be hurt just by looking at a kunai."

With surprising swiftness, Pakkun jumped on the Nara's head. "Who are calling little? Pony-tail boy." The dog said with unexpected seriousness.

CoughCough Kakashi's fake cough directed the genin's, and the dog's, attention back to him. "You can discuss your dysfunctional unit later on, I'm about to assign you an A-Rank mission." At the mentioning of 'A-Rank', the group placed their undivided attention on the jounin. "Sasuke is in pursuit of those Sand genins, I want you to intercept and stop him." The man announced.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

Kakashi sighed slightly; he had hoped that they wouldn't question him. "There's something odd with the redhead, I think that it might be dangerous if he and Sasuke were to resume their fight, that's why you have to stop him before he catches up to them." The silver haired man said. Even without completely understanding the situation, the genins, and the dog, nodded. "Now, go!" Kakashi ordered right before the group set off.

As soon as the genin disappeared, Kurenai landed beside the silver haired man. "Are you sure about this?" She asked with a concern look. Kakashi merely nodded as he sensed their chakra getting father away from the stadium. The black haired woman sighed. "Well, there's something I need to do, so I'm going to ask you cover my back." She said and, before Kakashi had a chance to answer, she was gone.

"Hey Kakashi! I already have 10 on my count!" Gai announced as he slammed his opponent into the ground. "11!" Kakashi sighed again as he jumped into the air.

Kurenai moved to a different part of the stands. "Kai" She said before placing a hand on one of her students.

Kiba shook slightly as he awoke. "It's too early for school, Hana-nee…" The boy murmured as he robbed his eyes.

The kunoichi shook her head in mild disbelief. "Kiba." She said with a little force.

Immediately, the brown haired boy immediately straightened. "Kurenai-sensei, wha-what's going o-?" The boy didn't need to finish his question, as the answer was right in front of his eyes, leaving him speechless.

Standing up, Kurenai picked up the body of her third student. "Kiba, I don't need to explain the situation to you, do I?" She waited for the Inuzuka to nod. "I want you to take Hinata to the Hyuuga estate; she's not safe here with her current condition." The woman explained.

Kiba stood up. "But I-" The blond begun but was soon silenced when his sensei brought one of her hands forward to silence him.

Once the boy calmed down, Kurenai continued. "Kiba, this is a very important mission, are you telling me you can't handle it? Do I have to ask Shino?" The woman said, knowing which buttons to push with the brown haired genin. "Or maybe Naruto?" She paused before the last push. "Or perhaps Shikamaru would do a better job than you?"

The kunoichi's technique had immediate effect. "There's no way in hell that lazy Nara can do this mission better then me!" Kiba exclaimed. "I am the most suited shinobi in this whole village for this mission!" He declared as he continued to shout.

Kurenai smiled as she walked behind the shouting boy and placed Hinata on his back. "Very well, have safe trip." She said before returning to battle.

Kiba make sure that his teammate was secure on his back and Akamaru on his chest before setting off towards the Hyuuga estate.

The group kept on jumping through the trees. "How are we doing Pakkun?" Sakura asked.

The dog shook his head. "We're still about the same distance, they are all moving pretty fast." The small canine stated. "But on an even grimmer note, we're being followed…" Pakkun announced calmly.

"What? Who's following us?" Shikamaru asked. "Damn, I knew that I should have pretended to been asleep." The Nara thought.

Pakkun scoffed. "Yeah let's ask the dog what's happening a mile away, the fact that he can't see color is compensated by the fact that he has a super powered Byakugan." The dog mocked the black haired boy.

Before Shikamaru could make a comeback, Sakura intervened. "Guys, stop arguing." She said. "We have to think about what we're going to do with the pursuers?" She asked, looking at her companions.

"Someone should stay behind and hold them off." Shino say as he stopped running. Immediately, the others stopped as well and look back at the Aburame. "I'll stay…" The black haired genin stated with a serious tone.

Shikamaru merely shook his head as he jumped to the branch Shino was standing on. "No, I'll stay." The Nara said. "After all, my abilities are made for stalling." He said.

"What are you planning?" Shino asked silently without looking at his comrade.

The Nara merely smirked. "Like I said, I'll stall." The boy stated before he set off.

Naruto clenched his head as he struggle to stay up. "Baka, what were you thinking?" The fox raged inside the blonde's head. "Using that genjutsu in all of them at the same time, you know what its backlash causes." Kyuubi ranted.

The blond shook his head as he felt the immense strain on his eyes start to subside, and at the same time trying to ignore the angry bijyuu screaming inside his head. Suddenly, the genin's eyes widened and turned to look in direction of the forest. He had sensed when Sasuke started to chase after the Suna genins, and when Sakura and the others started off after the Uchiha, but now he could sense a new group of chakra signals after them, and the Sharingan-user could bet all his ramen that they weren't from Konoha.

Shaking the headache off, Naruto started towards the forest.

Kiba ran through the deserted streets of Konoha with Hinata on his back. "I'm almost at the Hyuuga estate, just a little longer…" The boy thought as he picked up the pace.

Suddenly, a kunai landed in front of the Inuzuka, stopping the black haired genin on his tracks. "Well, well, what do we have here?" A voice directed Kiba's attention to the road ahead where three Oto shinobi appeared. The boy immediately check to make sure Hinata was secure on his bank, in case the situation turned into a chase. "Oh, and it seems he's carrying a girl too." The one in the middle commented.

When the group of Sound nin stepped forward, Kiba took off, the only thoughts in the Inuzuka's mind were about keeping Hinata safe. "I love a chase." One of the Oto shinobis stated.

Kiba kept on running, the brown haired boy was about to turn the corner when a kick came flying towards the side of his face, sending him flying back, he could barely manage to make sure that Hinata wasn't injured by the fall. "You're too slow, kid" The third Sound nin stated.

The Inuzuka stood up as he glared at the three shinobi in front of him. Taking a moment to briefly wish he had his soldier pills with him, the boy check his hold on Hinata and got into battle stand.

The group of Oto shinobi dashed through the woods, it was easy for them to follow the foot and paw prints left by their prey. "Down there" The leader stated as he pointed at a clearing up ahead. The whole group landed and started to look around.

"There's no one here" One of them stated when they couldn't find their prey.

"But their tracks lead this way." Another one responded, still looking around.

The leader shook his head. "Well, let's see if we can pick up their trail again." He ordered as he prepared to jump to a branch, just to find his body unable to move. "What? What's going on here?" The Sound nin stated as he look around and saw his comrades in the same situation.

The sound of footsteps caused them to look at the edge of the clearing. "Never thought it would be so easy to trap you like this." Shikamaru said as he step into the clearing, his shadow was connect to the Sound nins'. The boy threw a series of kunais and shurikens he had in his hand.

Surprising the genin, the Oto shinobi started laughing as all the blades were deflected by kunais before they reach them. "You're way in over your head Nara." The leader said. "Did you really expect us to just come down without security measures?" The group continued to laugh.

Shikamaru bit his lower lip as he look in direction from where the kunais had come. "Damn…, I didn't account for this." He thought as he looked at his shadow. "The jutsu won't hold on much longer…"

By now, the Sound nins' laugh had been reduced to a chuckle. "Well, what would it be kid?" The leader begun again. "Should we have our guy kill you now? Or wait until your jutsu ends? After all, it's been a while since we play hit the target as a group." The joke caused the Sound nins to start laughing again, while Shikamaru could only glare at them. "Face it kid, the mighty Leaf has crumbled down."

Kiba hit the ground one again; face first as he moved his body to prevent any harm to come to the girl on his back. "How touching." One of the Oto shinobi said as he cracked his knuckles. "Haven't you realized yet, kid? Once you're dead she'll be next!" He mocked, causing the other two to start laughing.

The Inuzuka struggled to stand up. "Damn, if any of the guys see me like this…" The boy took off towards the Oto shinobi with his clawed hand ready to attack.

The moment the Sound nins brought their hands up for defense, Kiba jumped into the air, landing on the other side of the Oto ground, and resumed his running. "Cute, kid" One of the Sound nin commented as he turned around and threw a kunai at the boy.

The blade hit Kiba in his left leg, causing him to stumble in the ground. "Why don't we finish this? It's already getting boring." Another one commented. The other two nodded and took out a kunai each.

Kiba watch helplessly as the three of them dashed towards him, all he could do was move his body slightly to protect his teammate. "I failed you Kurenai-sensei…" The brown haired boy apologized in his mind as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Hinata…" He could hear the sound of blade closing in on him.

"I could just give up now…" Shikamaru pondered. "It would save a couple of minutes of agonizing wait." He reasoned. Suddenly, Naruto's image flashed on the Nara's mind. "Heh, I guess you won't let me give up twice in a day." The boy said softly with a dry laugh.

"What are you muttering, kid?" The leader of the Sound group asked.

One of the others laughed. "I think he finally lost it!" He declared; the other Oto nins joined him laughing.

A sound above the laughter caught Shikamaru's attention. "I guess you wanted me to hold long enough for this…" The boy said softly with a smirk on his face. Even in the distance, he could hear the sound of a hawk flying over the village. The Leaf genin started to laugh.

The Sound nins immediately, stopped laughing. "What's so funny?" One of them asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "It's over." The boy said calmly. "It's over for all of us." He announced serenely, looking at the Oto shinobi mockingly.

The Sound leader growled in anger at the look in the genin's eyes. "Stop talking nonsense!" He roared before looking towards his comrade in the tree. "Hey, just take him out now!" The Oto nin ordered. Shikamaru's eyes immediately shifted toward where the attack would surely come.

The Inuzuka waited for the piercing pain to come, but instead, all he felt was a strong wind blowing pass him and heard the sound of one of the Oto shinobi grunting in pain. The boy opened his eyes slightly, but the sight in front of him caused them to open up completely.

One of the Sound nins was on the floor spitting blood while the other two were in fighting stance, but what surprised the brown haired boy the most was the sight of Neji standing in front of him, also in a fighting stance as he faced the Oto shinobi. "I'm sorry I'm late." The Hyuuga said softly without looking at the Inuzuka. "I'll take care of these guys." The prodigy declared as he finally turned his head to look at the brown haired boy in the eyes. "And Kiba, thanks for keeping Hinata-sama safe…"

The clearing remained in silence as the Nara waited for the attack to come. "Hey! What's going on?" The Sound leader exclaimed, looking in direction of his comrades.

"Oh, you're talking to this guy?" A voice was heard throughout the clearing. The next moment, the body of a Sound nin fell to the ground with a kunai impaled into his neck. "Sorry, but the two of us got into a disagreement." Naruto said as he landed next to the body.

"Who are you?" One of the Oto shinobi asked, fear was starting to appear in his eyes.

The blond ignore the question as he walked towards the Nara. "Pretty decent performance, for a second there I was worried that you would throw the towel before I got here." The boy commented.

Shikamaru smirked. "I knew you wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I've done it, it would have been too troublesome having you criticize me everyday at my grave." The black haired boy simply said.

A smirk appeared in blonde's face as well. "That's true." He said as he turned to look at the group of Oto shinobi. "But you can let go of the jutsu now." The Sora Sharingan appeared on Naruto's eyes. "I have then on my sight…"

Raikiri Ryuu – Lighting Edge Dragon (Made up)

A/N – Well, I know I took a couple of months, but I kept it under three months. Don't really know how long it will take me to write the next chapter, there are a few things that I want to check over first. I have a lot of things planned for the next chapter, some of them will be really interesting, so expect the chapter to be long. Thanks for reading.