Chapter 60 All hell breaks

It was the moment many had been waiting for, the final battle of the first rounds. So far it had been a very eventful chunin exam. Sasuke couldn't wait for his chance to show what he was capable of. Although from what he had seen of Gaara in the previous fights a month ago, the boy wouldn't hesitate to kill him. Well that was fine with him, he made peace with death a long time ago. There were worse fates, and he had gone through a couple of those when he had been a child. A lot of weakness had been beaten out of him that night. Some people would have let that crush them, he had been forged into something harder. He had to be harder to survive this world. But lately the steel in him had been tempered again by the bonds he had formed with his team.

At first he thought it a weakness, after all his older brother had told him to hate with all his heart. But maybe there was another way. After listening to Kakashi's story about another Uchiha, and the things he and his teammates had been through. He was starting to see things differently. Why did he have to go through life on the path his brother set for him? He didn't like the idea of playing to the tune his brother set for him. He was offered power by a madman, the mark still on his neck. But at what cost, he was gaining strength faster now since joining this team then all the years before. Naruto had challenged him the most, to push himself to greater heights.

Yes they were teammates, and rivals but they were something more as well. He smirked as he walked down into the arena seeing Gaara doing the same. He wouldn't let Naruto show him up with the fight he had, Sasuke had an even bigger challenge now as well. Any mistake here could kill him, so Sasuke would use everything he had to deal with this fight.

Up in the stands everyone looked on.

"You think he'll be okay?" Sakura asked a bit worried. He was confident in Sasuke's skills and abilities, but Gaara just wasn't normal. Plus the boy gave her the creeps, the way the boy talked in that monotone gravely voice and his nearly dead eyes. She just hoped that whatever training he went through with Kakashi worked.

"Don't worry my dad would have whipped him into shape," Naruto said proudly. He knew first hand that when his dad got serious about training it could get intense. Sakura nodded at his words taking some measure of comfort in them as they watched on.

You could sense the tense atmosphere this was a fight many wanted to see. Sasuke, the famous Last Uchiha, versus Gaara of the Desert, both boys many came to see. Although both young Sasuke held the pride of a nearly extinct clan, while many may not know of Gaara personally, his mission record was amazing for his age.

Sasuke looked across at the red headed boy. The other boy's arms were folded like always. Gaara always seemed like he was confident and bored at the same time. Although Sasuke did catch a small glint in the boy's green eyes, almost like Gaara was considering noticing his presence. Sasuke waited for the Proctor to start the match. As soon as they were given the go ahead, Sasuke ran forward. He had to fight quickly against this boy and he was soon to find out just how right he was. Gaara moved up a hand as he started out using his sand bullets. Small projectiles came out of the surrounding sand at his feet they flew out at dangerous speeds just like bullets.

Sasuke had activated his sharingan and saw the attacks coming. He pulled the sword out that he kept behind his lower back. With quick cuts he slashed through the sand as he kept moving forward. He knew that was just the opening move, and there could be anything coming next. The boy could control the sand to do anything, the only limit could only be the other boy's imagination in using it. He was right as large spikes came at him when he got too close. He managed to dodge them by jumping through the air, twisting his body to avoid others that came for him. He used his sword to cut through the sand spikes as he thought he was very close when he landed.

Sasuke tried a slash with the sword but a wall of sand came nearly out of nowhere blocking it. He jumped back in time to avoid Gaara's counter attack. All of this was happening very quickly, but the battle was nowhere close to being over.

Sasuke put his sword away as he saw an opportunity to try for a grand fireball. He quickly used the ninjutsu as a very large ball of fire went at Gaara. He still stood there as his sand went to defend. But even with all that sand, it nearly broke through. The super heat of the fire started to cause some of the sand to turn to glass. That was a substance that Gaara couldn't manipulate, even if it had once been his own sand.

But most of the fire was used up against the sand, the little that made it through didn't make if past Gaara's sand armour. But Gaara wasn't worried, in fact he was starting to feel a bit of adrenaline kicking in. He was actually getting excited, this boy was turning out to not be a disappointment. His blood would feed his mother greatly. He knew what the others told him, what his father told him. Keep the match going and wait for the invasion signal. Then he was to unleash the true power within him. But he didn't care for plans or invasions. He was enjoying himself too much, this Uchiha would do well to prove his existence to the world.

In fact he wasn't going to wait any longer, he had been waiting for an entire month. He hadn't done anything and the demon within had been whispering all this time for blood. He was in a stadium full of people so there would be much blood today. He grinned as he formed a full sphere of sand around him.

Up in the stands with the Suna team they couldn't believe what Gaara was doing. He only did that to buy time to call forth his Tailed Beast. It was also too soon for this to happen, the signal hadn't been given yet but they couldn't stop it now.

Sasuke tried to get close to the sphere but large spikes would only shoot out to hit him. He tried another fire jutsu again but for some reason this sand was more difficult to turn to glass than before. This was obviously a purely defensive jutsu that the Suna boy was using. Obviously he needed a focused attack to get through, something like a fire jutsu was just too wide spread. He only grinned as it was time to show the new trick he learned. Sasuke jumped up to one of the walls of the arena as he prepared the new jutsu.

His team was watching as Naruto saw the hand seals and sharply looked at his father. "Dad, did you really teach him that jutsu!"

"Well it turns out that Sasuke can use lightning elements, plus I figured that it would be the one jutsu that I could teach him in one month that would get through that sand." Kakashi told him. "Plus only someone with a sharingan can use that jutsu to its fullest potential. Anyone else would have a huge blind spot that would be fatal."

"What are you two talking about?" Sakura asked them a little annoyed that she wasn't informed what was going on.

Naruto only looked at her with a smile. "Don't worry, you're about to see my dad's best jutsu in action."

A sound like many birds at once suddenly filled the air, Sasuke's hand was glowing as what looked like he was holding lightning in his hands. He quickly ran down the wall, leaving a trail of destruction in the wake of the jutsu. He moved faster than he had ever moved before, all that speed training that Kakashi put him through. Speed was one of the essential parts of this jutsu, without speed you couldn't use it effectively. He ran too fast for Gaara's defences, plus with the sharingan he could see attacks that would come at him.

He dodge just enough to avoid being hit but nothing could stop him. He felt the chidori pierce through the sand. It was an odd sensation, he had only used this one rocks up until now. His hand and arm felt slightly tingly from the lightning, but moving through the sand. It was like piercing water with your hand. Then he felt it connect with something, something not as hard. He ended the jutsu before he lost too much chakra and he could have sworn that he felt something wet against his hand.

He heard a scream from behind the sand a moment later, and it wasn't ending. He quickly jumped back as his opponent wasn't dead, which meant he was too exposed in that position for a counter attack. The boy was still screaming when the sand fell away and he could see that there was a wound on his arm. Apparently he was screaming something about blood, but he didn't care. He prepared himself for the next attack, and given that his opponent seemed more unhinged than normal so there was no telling what was going to happen next.

But if he didn't do anything soon, Sasuke planned to attack anyway.

In the stands looking over the fight, stood a certain white haired genin of the leaf. At least that's what many would have thought seeing Kabuto, if he was in his normal clothing. At the moment he was disguised as an ANBU black op. The white mask and cloak were easy enough to take off an ANBU he had taken out earlier.

Kabuto now saw that the time was right. For some reason Gaara had tried to call out his demon earlier than planned. Well the boy looked close to blowing any restraints he kept on his power, so he might as well get the real party started. Their people should be in place in and outside the village by now anyway. Those that infiltrated the stadium were here already that he could see. It was time for the genjutsu, and to signal the attack and the end of the Leaf Village.

Soon after that, small white feathers seemed to fall over the stadium from out of nowhere. Everyone looked up wondering where such things had come from. Then people started to feel tired, like weights were attached to every part of their bodies. Everything was getting heavy and they couldn't keep their eyes opened.

"Oh man I feel like taking a nap," Naruto yawed out. Did his fight take this much out of him already? Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a bit that seemed okay to him.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura muttered as she felt the effects taking hold. She shook her head trying to get her mind focused. She slammed her hands together into a seal. "Kai!" She dispelled the genjutsu that had been forming on her. Her mind clearing up she looked around to see all the jonin still up but so far everyone else had fallen asleep. "What's going on?"

"Sakura get everyone who is genin and above up, Gai and I will cover you." Kakashi said in a calm and serious tone.

Sakura was going to ask, cover her from what, when she saw that several of the people in the stands close by were disguised ninja. They jumped out of the civilian clothing and they wore grey clothing. She noticed that they all wore the symbol of a sound note, making them Sound ninja.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Anko said to her while looking at the enemy with a grin on her face. "Things are about to get bloody so get your friends up."

Sakura nodded as she quickly went to work as battles started all over the place.

Among the two Kages, things weren't much different as the Kazekage and his bodyguards went to attack the Hokage and his defenders. Sarutobi saw the Kazekage make his move, in his younger days he would have been able to move fast enough to get out of the way. So now the Kazekage was holding a kunai to his throat.

"So I see you finally sprung your trap," Sarutobi sighed as looked out at the battles starting. "I figured that it would be on this day that you would attack."

The Kazekage stiffened a bit but he recovered. "Oh so you knew about this after all. I was worried but I thought we covered all possible leaks. I guess we missed one."

"Yes you did," The Hokage stated calmly as though nothing was going on at the moment. "So where is my old student?"

"Why, right here sensei." Orochimaru's voice said from behind the white mask of the Kazekage. He grinned as he saw the shocked expression on his old teacher's face. "I have to admit that the fool had entertained the plan for a bit, but he didn't have the backbone to go far enough. So I had to take matters into my own hand."

"When Suna realizes things they will turn against you."

"Oh I know, I left the body of their Kazekage in a place that won't be found in time. Plus when everything is over Konoha will have fallen and Suna will be too hurt to come after me for some time. Plus I'm sure that any survivors of Konoha will want blood for the destruction of the village."

"And they will hate, I promise you on that one," Orochimaru said gleefully. "I have orders to kill all the women and children and the civilians. To burn this village to the ground when your forces are in retreat, to leave nothing that can be rebuilt. But since you knew about this attack I suppose you already have plans in motion."

The Hokage smiled, "Yes and it's too late for you to do anything about it. Already my ANBU have been silently taking out Suna and Sound teams that you thought you had infiltrated."

"Yes but what of outside the village?" Orochimaru grinned. "I know the defences of this village well, how else could I have gotten in so easily? I've spent time looking and I was disappointed to find that you haven't changed the security of the village totally when I left. But anyway, we should be seeing one of my surprises right now."

Off in the distance there was a rumbling sound, from their viewpoint they could both see a large snake attacking one of the grand walls that defended the village. The ninja that were there tired to fight it off, but a snake that size made its scales as thick as armour.

"You're not the only one with surprises you know," The Hokage said to him. "You're not my only student that has been staying here."

Orochimaru's eyes widened as giant toads started to appear.

"I should have guessed that old pervert was here, well this certainly makes things interesting. Did you get all of the infiltrators, will he be able to handle my summons." Orochimaru said. "I admit, I'm not as confident in my total victory. But I will settle for bringing this village to its knees. In such a weakened state, and with no allies there are many that will take advantage of it."

"I think I've had enough of your talking," Sarutobi said as with quick reflexes even for a man of his age he managed to get out of the hold. He had been surprised before, but he had been planning on getting out of Orochimaru's hands as soon as he could. The talking was just a way to force his focus slightly off him, just enough to get out.

He threw his robes aside as the black and grey battle armour that had been under it was now shown. Orochimaru only chuckled as he threw away the white robes to reveal his true appearance.

"It seems that you also dressed for the occasion," Orochimaru told him. "But I don't want anyone to interfere in this. This is an old score between you and I, so I want to ensure that."

He raised a hand and out of nowhere four other ninja, in Sound clothing appeared on the rooftop. They quickly went to four sides as they started with hand seals. The ANBU had managed to take care of the first group of Sound defenders, they were now trying to reach their Hokage. But before they could get too close a barrier was created. The ANBU were about to go for the four ninja that created the barrier but they enclosed themselves in a secondary one.

The lead ANBU looked around and he couldn't see any way inside. It seemed to be totally enclosed. Leaning down he placed a hand onto the roof. He stayed like that for a minute before he pulled his hand away.

"Sempai?" One of the other ANBU asked him.

"It's no good, it covers the entire bottom as well, we can't get in." He said disgruntled.

Elsewhere with Hiashi and his family, he had managed to keep awake from the genjustu. Hanabi was still asleep but he was unable to wake her as he was busy with the enemy. He was surprised to see that Hinata managed to keep awake as well. On the other hand, given who her sensei was maybe he shouldn't be surprised. She was helping him to protect Hanabi so he didn't have to worry about anyone slipping past him. His eldest was doing very well to help out, although her style wasn't as refined and advanced as Neji, she was doing well.

Then a few ninja got between him and his daughters, for a moment he panicked on the inside. He tried to move to their side but was prevented. He noticed more were starting to gang up on Hinata as she was covering her younger sister. Although her skill had improved she wasn't good enough to handle that many opponents. He was going to try a desperate move to get to them, it would leave him with all types of openings that he knew their enemies would exploit. But before he tried to do anything he noticed that Hinata was making hand seals.

He hadn't known her to use ninjutsu before, most Hyuga only knew basic ones as they focused more on the gentle first. When she was finished a mist started to form around her and the others. It looked like the same technique that the Mist ninja has used earlier. He was so caught by the action that he nearly missed a Sound ninja using a kunai to try and slash at his throat. Hiashi managed to dodge it and counter, striking the man several dozens of times in a second. The man crumpled to the floor, his chakra totally shut off.

It was then that he could hear the confusion of the Sound ninja inside of the mist. They called out to one another but they soon were cut off by their own cries of pain. Hinata was fighting them all now, while they were blind she could see them. Even if the mist was blinding her, thanks to her bloodline she could see through any type of mist. He battled on as he kept an eye on his eldest daughter. He would have to ask when she learned this.

For Hinata she was trying to focus on protecting her sister, and not the fear that was gripping her belly. She had never been in such a violent environment. Sure she had seen battle but this was something on another level entirely. There was a mass of confusion as there were yells, cries, and sounds of battle all around her. So she focused on just protecting Hanabi and pushed the fear down. She had used the mist jutsu only in training before. When she had trained with Sakura with their water affinity, she had used the scrolls that Sakura had gotten from Kakashi.

What she hadn't known was that this was one of the moves he had copied from his battle with Zabuza.

Hinata used the blindness of her opponents to her advantage. While they stumbled around she easily slipped in among them and attacked. They couldn't dodge her attacks at this range with no sight, if they could see she would have been overwhelmed. She was glad that she took the time to use this move and that there was enough moisture in the air to cover a small area. She didn't have the reserves or enough water to cover an area like say the stadium like a jonin could. But this was enough for her. So she focused on the enemy, pushing everything else away. Her body reacted almost as if on instinct, when one opponent fell she went to another, then another and another.

It wasn't until she noticed that all her opponents were now down on the ground that she let herself calm and focus outward. Slowly the mist unfolded and she looked to see that Hanabi was safe. She looked to see that her father had also finished with his own enemies and he was looking at her. She wasn't sure, but was he looking at her with…pride?

Her uncle broke the moment as he appeared among them, "I'm sorry for being late, it took time to make my way here."

Hiashi nodded knowing full well how hard it had to be. He looked around the stadium and saw that Neji was up by this point. He saw that pink haired friend of Naruto's waking up the genins. "It looks like Neji is up with his team, he should be in good hands. Please take Hanabi to be safe with the others and ensure that the children of the village are protected."

Hiashi saw his younger twin hesitate if only for a second. Hiashi knew full well what his brother was thinking. "Hinata go see to Neji, I'm sure your sensei has need for you to be with your team." Hinata was surprised but she bowed slightly with her head before leaving. "Don't worry brother, by what I saw, your son had grown very strong."

His twin paused if only to give a small smile before picking up Hanabi. "Yes he has. But as a father I can't help but still worry."

Hiashi could only nod in agreement.

Back with the others, Naruto was just finally waking up. He didn't know what was going on at first, the last thing he remembered was something about feathers. Now he was looking up at a ceiling with Sakura looking down at him.

"Naruto, wake up!" Sakura shook him knowing how groggy he got when he first wakes up.

"Huh? Wh-what's going on?" Naruto shook his head and slowly got up. He looked around to see nothing but chaos. There were people fighting all over the place and he saw all his friends looking slightly overwhelmed by everything as well. "What the hell!?"

"We're being attacked by the Sound and Sand ninja," Sakura told him. "They seemed to have put their people in the village to attack us."

"Huh? Sand, but aren't our villages friends?" Kiba asked knowing at least that much. Then again he couldn't really deny what he was seeing at the moment. He could see at least a few people with the Suna symbols on them. He looked down to see that the full Suna team was now in the arena and Sasuke was all alone. "Oh crap, are they going to gang up on him?"

Everyone that heard it looked to see where Kiba was pointing.

"Oh hell no," Naruto said as he looked to Sakura. She nodded her head as the two of them went off to join their teammate. They avoided any ninja on the way there only focusing on joining their friend.

Kakashi saw this but he knew that it might take all of Team 7 to deal with just Gaara. He was a bit busy himself just dealing with the forces with the other jonins at the moment. He saw Gai was with his students as they were moving around clockwise. It looked like he was going to take the clear out the stadium. Kurenai and Asuma were fighting near him and Anko was somewhere behind them helping to ensure no one snuck up on their backs.

He looked to Asuma and Kurenai. "I think my team could use some help with the blonde and the puppet user."

Kurenai nodded her head looking to Kiba. "Kiba, you and Akamaru. Go."

The two didn't need to be told twice as they rushed off to help them. Asuma looked to Ino and Choji, the two knew what they were being asked as they went off to join Kiba.

"Well I think we need to get things moving," Anko said as she looked to everyone there. The fighting had lessoned enough that she could relax a bit. "Everyone else get scrolls telling them what to do?" She saw they nodded. "Well let's get going. I got the kids to help protect, apparently so I need to make my way there."

"I'll cover you with Shino and Hinata when she gets here." Kurenai said seeing her young female student running towards them. She would reach them in a few more seconds, so she would grab her on the way out and explain along the way.

"I have to help with the streets, so Shikamaru you're coming with me." Asuma said to the Nara boy, who did not look very happy about it.

Anko stopped before leaving facing away from Kakashi and Gai as they had just started another round of attacks against a new wave of enemy. "Kakashi, you better not get hurt or I will be pissed."

Kakashi only chuckled before backhanding an attacking ninja. "I know, that's why I won't."

Anko only smirked before she left with the others.

In the arena things were a bit more different, Gaara was screaming incoherently with one bloody hand on his face. Temari was trying to calm him down but it wasn't working. Gaara's injury plus his bloodlust was too much at the moment. Kankuro looked nervously behind him as his newly rebuilt puppet was already out. It had taken him the entire month but he got it working just in time. Sasuke already had his sword out but he wasn't going to make a move, not just yet. There were three of them and only one of him so whoever he attacked, two could attack him in return.

Although given how the blonde woman was trying to get Gaara under control he could in theory attack the makeup man. But that was only in theory. He suddenly heard some new foot falls behind him. He didn't turn his head as if he took his eyes off he knew that guy with the puppet would attack as soon as he did. But then he smirked as he knew those sounds, well at least two of them.

He wasn't surprised to see Naruto come up beside him and Sakura on the other side. Both of them had their weapons drawn and were ready for a fight.

"What took you so long?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Ah shut up, we could just leave you alone with them you know." Naruto said slightly annoyed.

"Fine by me, not like I actually needed any help." Sasuke told Naruto. "It is only three of them."

Sakura sighed, "Anko-sensei was right, all men are just boys." She muttered to herself. Kiba with Ino and Choji came by right behind them at that moment. With that Kankuro looked a bit more nervous, the odds were now two to one, well numerically at least. But he was still worried about Gaara behind them, if he let loose his full power numbers wouldn't matter. He would attack friend or foe if the worse came. He just hoped that Temari could convince Gaara to go because right now things were not looking good.

Next up Chapter 61: Konoha Battlefield