FIRST BLOOD

In the audience, Kankuro and Temari panicked when they saw the arm. "DID HE TRANSFORM INTO HIS COMPLETE FORM?"

"I DON'T KNOW," Temari's voice was tense, "IT SEEMS HE'S BEEN INJURED... THAT HAS NEVER..."

The sand arm retracted into the cocoon of sand. Sasuke's gaze pierced the hole with his Sharingan, a sense of dread washing over him. With a resounding crack, the cocoon shattered. Gaara emerged, no longer concealed, his right arm clasping his bleeding shoulder in pain. The mysterious arm nowhere to be seen.

"I knew it! A wound! The cocoon was broken while he was still incomplete!" Temari exclaimed to Kankuro, who was also shocked at the turn of events.

Gaara stared at Sasuke with the utmost hatred. "No, it wasn't those eyes... What was that... thing that was looking right at me?" Sasuke, now with his Sharingan inactive, stared back at the beast before him, his survival instinct firing off at full force.

White feathers drifted down from the sky, surrounding the stadium. Experienced ninja, such as Kakashi and Guy, noticed the anomaly and swiftly reacted. They formed a tiger hand seal and disrupted their chakra, shouting, "KAI!". Without Naruto's notice, the falling feathers triggered a genjutsu, ensnaring him in its illusion. Fortunately, Ash broke free from its grasp and swiftly released Naruto.

In the Hokage's seating area, the two Hokage slowly turned their heads to face each other. As their eyes met, two ninja rushed forward to the side of the Kazekage. One of them removed the pin from a smoke bomb, and it activated, creating a smoke cloud that shocked everyone who remained awake. One thought ran through every Sand Ninja's mind: "Operation start!"

All over the village, chaos ensued as the hidden leaf was under attack. *Foom* Outside the village walls, a towering three-headed titan of a snake was summoned, its menacing form tearing through the barrier and rampaging within. Mysterious figures silently moved through the turmoil, their intentions shrouded in secrecy.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from within the smoke shrouding the Kage's seating area. As the figure landed on the roof, it was revealed to be the Kazekage Rasa holding the Hokage as a hostage, a kunai held up to his neck. The four Sand Shinobi that were with Rasa removed their cloaks and the bandages concealing their appearance. They jumped onto the roof. The two Kages were surrounded by them on four sides, fading away from them, clasping their hands together. <NINPOU: QUAD PURPLE FLAME WALL>. A giant, purple, transparent barrier interconnected around the two Kages in the middle and the four ninja in the corners, leaving no room for escape.

When he arrived outside the barrier, Naruto saw something he never could have foreseen. The Kazekage reached his hand to his face and ripped it off, revealing that it was just a mask and that he was never the Kazekage, but Orochimaru. Ash arrived next to Naruto and saw the same scene, a man he had never seen before was speaking to the Hokage, feeling Naruto's distress he taps into their bond and synched with naruto's memory of the man and he immediately understood the danger the Hokage was in.

"OROCHIMARUUU!!!" Naruto was about to charge, but Ash grabbed his shoulder stopping his advance. Narugo understood, ripped off a tile from the roof with a kunai, and tossed it into the barrier. Upon contact with the wall, the tile was set aflame by the purple barrier. Naruto was glad he was held back, otherwise it would have been him who burned instead. Naruto couldn't do a thing but watch his frustration grew every second.

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Same time on the stage

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*"Abort the mission," Gara was experiencing a heavy backlash from his interrupted transformation.

"You guys take Gara and retreat," Baki, the Sand Jonin, had no option but to call for their retreat.

"What about you?" Temari asked Baki.

"I'll join the battle. Now go," Baki replied.

Temari took one last glance at Baki. "Y-yeah."

Kankuro carried Gara and left with Temari, leaving Baki behind.*

Genma standing across Baki asked " is the leader of this party orochimaru'"

" Who knows let's just join the fun"

"HEY WHATS GOING ON" Sasuke taking a knee on the ground behind Genma demanded some answers from Genma. " Sorry but the chuni exams are over, you go persue Gara and the others" Sasuke was about to speak when Genma interrupted him " you're already at chunin level if you're a leaf Shinobi make yourself useful". Sasuke closed his mouth ' damn, what is this". Sasuke quickly trailed after the sand trio.

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The civilians watching platform

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Kakashi, covered in the blood of his enemies, stood firmly in front of Sakura. "It was worth teaching you genjutsu. I'll need you to wake Shikamaru up in a bit. Listen well, Sakura, I have a mission you must complete."

"A mission? What kind?"

"Ever since the Land of Waves, another A-class mission." Sakura's eyes widened visibly. A Sound ninja charged at Kakashi but was swiftly killed without any harm coming to him. "Sensei, in a situation like this, what kind of A-rank mission...?!"

"Sasuke is in pursuit of Gaara and the others. Your mission is to break Shikamaru out of the genjutsu, reach Naruto and his summon on the Kage platform's roof, and then track down Sasuke together."

"If it's like that, wouldn't it be better if I woke up Choji and the others as well?"

"With more than the five of you, it would be exceedingly harder to maintain speed and stealth."

"Oh... Five? Who's the fifth one?"

<SUMMONING JUTSU>

*POOF*

"This guy, Paakun, will be able to track Sasuke with scent."

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Kage Platform's Roof

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Naruto could only watch, tightening his fist as Hiruzen took off his cloak, standing a few meters in front of Orochimaru, who did the same. The Hokage threw a shuriken at Orochimaru. The two began weaving hand signs faster than the eye could see. As they finished, the Hokage cast the jutsu "Shuriken Shadow Clones Jutsu" that caught Naruto's eye. "Is there more to the Shadow Clone jutsu? How did he do that?" The multiplying shurikens flew towards Orochimaru. In front of Orochimaru, caskets began to rise from the ground, stopping the incoming shuriken "Summoning Worldly Resurrection." As the first one rose, it was followed by another. The Hokage weaved more hand signs and managed to stop the third from being summoned. "What in the world is going on? What are those jutsu?" Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. The caskets slowly cracked open, revealing the hidden secrets within.