(IC) The Life of a Shinobi (Chapters 3-4: The Chunin Exams Tournament)

Lien was speechless and frozen with shock. Although she knew Mugen was capable of strong ninjutsu, she figured he was more of a taijutsu and weapon user, and didn't expect such an excellent combined use of the Eagle Vision, Lightning Style Armor, and Chidori to defeat her. She had pretty much exhausted herself, so after overcoming her shock, Lien turned towards Mugen. "I accept defeat," she said, "But I hope I've proven myself to be a formidable opponent. I see that I must continue training and I look forward to fighting you again once I've gotten stronger."

"Sure... I'll be waiting for our next fight, kay," Mugen said as he started walking back to the stands. As the battle concluded Hiro made his way to one of the Cloud ninja waiting on stand by. "Hey," he said, "tell the Raikage that I found the fox." The cloud ninja quickly moved to a spot that the Raikage could see then flashed a signal with a mirror. It read, "WE'VE FOUND HIM."

Having received the signal, Anon smiled. "This is the Raikage speaking," said Anon through the communicator, "Proceed with plan Akatsuki-Cloud." "Will do," replied Danji. Danji placed his hand on the ground and smiled. "Time to start the party! Summoning Jutsu!" As the smoke cleared from the summoning jutsu, an army of 100 cloud shinobi was revealed. Apparently, the summoning jutsu was used to transport them from their village miles away.

Meanwhile, back in the stadium, a cloud jonin approached Hiro. "You're mission is to subdue the one tails got it?" said the ninja, "D will take care of the nine tails. You'll most likely have to use your full tailed beast powers to defeat her." With Lien having surrendered, Rento ended the match. "The winner is Mugen!" he said. While the crowed was cheering, an explosion was heard outside of the arena and everyone went silent with fear, wondering what had just happened.

"What the-?!" Renji began to say, surprised by the sudden explosion. "What in the world was that??"
Kazuma gritted his teeth. "Not entirely sure, but I can take a really good guess." The two ninja looked at each other and then looked around. Could it be the Cloud ninja from before are making their next move? Is this an invasion?

"Looks like they've made their move," said Kitsune, "All team defend the Leaf Village!...GO...GO...GO!!!" Akira quickly drew her sword told all of the villages to head to the bunkers while Kaito made his way to the hokage. Back in the area, Mugen looked around him seeing nothing but fear and panic. "Whoa, what's going on..." he asked.

Kazuma, along with Renji and Shikaru, rushed into the arena where Mugen and Lien were. "Come on, you two, move your butts and lets get out of here!" Kazuma shouted.
"We've already let Shikaru here in on the whole situation," Renji added.

"Where do you all think you're going?" came a voice from behind. It was Doske, standing with his hidden blades ready. "I believe we have some unfinished business," said Zantu who was standing next to him. The two cloud shinobi were flanked by ten cloud jonin who entered the arena rather than evacuating with the civilians.

"Lord Hokage, we must get you to safety," said an Anbu. "It's too late for that," said the Raikage. Konohamaru glared at Anon. "So it's as I feared," said Konohamaru, "What is your purpose Anon? Why are you attacking the leaf?" "I don't need to explain myself to you," replied Anon as he cloaked himself with the Lightning Style Armor, "You won't be alive much longer anyway."

Despite the panic around him, D managed to remain calm as he walked through the crowed. "D I can sense Kurama nearby," said Gyuki from inside D. D began looking around and soon saw a young man barking orders with a communicator. "That's him!" exclaimed Gyuki, "That's the nine tails!" D slowly approached Kitsune.

On his way to the Hokage, Kaito noticed the genin in the area being surrounded by cloud ninja. Think quickly, he dives into the area killing 4 cloud ninja with kunai he threw while he was in the air. Before landing on top of Doske knocking him to the ground then using the rasengan to blow away Zantu.



"Are you guy okay," he asked.

"Thank the heavens, you came just in time," Renji said as took a small breath of relief. "I thought we were goners, for sure."
"Kaito, listen," Kazuma shouted, "For all we know, your sister is still in medical care. We need to get her and everyone else to safety before things get too out of hand!" Although, we should first find out why they're doing this. All of this seems a bit too pre-ordained to be just a random attack.

Although Kaito killed 4 of the cloud jonin, there were still 6 others.  Also, the Doske and Zantu that were attacked were merely shadow clones.  "Impressive move," said Doske, "but you didn't think two JONIN would be so easily defeated did you?"  "Jonin?" thought Shikaru, "I knew these guys were a bit overpowered to be genin."  "Now then," said Doske, "How about we have some fun."  Doske and Zantu put their hands on the ground while one of the other cloud jonin put his hands on each of their backs, supplying them with some of his chakra.  "Denpō Sekka (Telegram Flash!!)" said Doske and Zantu in unison. Electricity flowed from both of their hands into the ground and towards Kaito and the gang, zapping all of them.

"Mugen," Kaito quickly shouted, the boys together made Shadow clone and used them to jump it to the air. While in the air the two summoned Giant Shuriken and threw them at Doske and Zantu as the began their attack.

Doske and Zantu avoided the shuriken easily. "Teach these brats a lesson!" yelled Doske. The 6 cloud jonin began their attack. One attacked Lien, one attacked Shikaru, one attacked Zashimaru, and three attacked Kazuma. Doske then cloaked himself with the Lightning Style Armor and sprinted towards Kaito, while Zantu prepared to fight Mugen.

Meanwhile, the battle outside the stadium was intense. The summoned army of cloud shinobi had intercepted the sand and leaf shinobi that were evacuating the arena, and the fleeing civilians were getting caught in the cross fire. Tanzu Shiboshi and Rento Aya had located Danji and Rokku. Although it had been many years since the leaf had to deal with the Akatsuki, the stories of them had not been forgotten. "Those robes..." said Tanzu, "Those two are members of the Akatsuki." "The Akatsuki?" replied Rento, "I thought the organization had been wiped out after the last shinobi world war." "The organization has been resurrected," said Danji, "and our mission is the same. Capture the tailed beasts, resurrect the ten tails, and rule the world." "But why is the Land of Lightning assisting you?" asked Tanzu, "What do they get out of this?" "Beats me," replied Danji, "But it's none of your business anyway." Tanzu and Rento pulled out kunai, prepared to battle Danji and Rokku.

Back in the stadium, D tapped Kitsune on the shoulder. "Excuse me sir," he said.

Kitsune turned around to see that D was standing be hide him. "It took you long enough," he before jumping out of the way. On the ground around D was a special elemental seal made by the Anbu. The seal shot flames around D trapping him in a cage of fire.

Back in the area, Kaito began his battle with Doske the two traded blows at high speeds but Kaito used his shadow clones to slow Doske down enough for him to get clean hits. At the same time, Mugen was fighting with Zantu, like Kaito he used shadow clones to overwhelm Zantu along with his uncanny speed.

D looked at the cage surrounding him.  He smirked shortly before lighting up.  Suddenly, there was a massive explosion that dispersed the seal.  Anyone near the cage was blown away, and a large portion of the stadium (where the explosion happened) completely collapsed.  As the smoke from the explosion began to clear, the 8 tailed Gyuki was seen.  As he was fighting the cloud jonin, Shikaru looked over at the massive beast and was almost frozen with fear.  "Not good," he said. The beast began to roar loudly enough for the whole village to hear. Leaf and Sand citizens began to panic even more, while the cloud shinobi had a huge boost of moral. Gyuki began to demolish more of the stadium. Large pieces of rubble flew towards the shinobi in the arena, causing their fight to be interrupted. "It's getting dangerous here," said Zantu, "We should get out of this stadium before it becomes nothing but ruins." "I agree," replied Doske. Doske, Zantu, and the other cloud shinobi fled the stadium as Gyuki continued his rampage.

"What the hell is that?!?" Kazuma shouted, pointing at the giant beast.
"It's huge!!!" Renji said shocked. "Yeah, and it's destroying this place. We have to get out of he-" Then he remembered something. "Kaito! What happened to Hizana??!"

"She's safe. As for all of you, clear out quickly!" The voice came from behind the group. They turned around to see who it was. "Sanmaru-sensei!" Renji said.
"Hey, are you listening? Unless you want to be buried alive, get a move on outta here!!"

Konohamaru was have difficulty keeping up with Anon, but he managed to avoid any lethal blows from Anon's hammer. Two of the four anbu protecting Konohamaru had been killed by Anon, but the other two stayed by the Hokage's side. "This guy is no joke," said one of the anbu, "Not sure if we can keep this up." "That speed of his is more than I can handle," said Konohamaru, "and his strength greatly surpasses mine. I need to find a way to slow him down." Suddenly, large pieces of rubble rained down on their location and everyone scattered. "Shoot," said Konohamaru, "this monster is gonna destroy the village if we don't stop him." Taking advantage of the distraction, Anon jumped in the air with his hammer raised and attempted to crush Konohamaru. Anon's incredible speed gave Konohamaru insufficient time to react, but suddenly, a wall of sand appeared and blocked the hammer. "It's the Kazekage!" exclaimed one of the anbu. "His speed is superior," said Gaara to Konohamaru, "but let's see him take on the Hokage and Kazekage together." "Right," said Konohamaru with a smile.

Meanwhile, as Gyuki was destroying the stadium, he looked over and saw Kitsune. "There you are," he said. He immediately started rampaging in Kitsune's direction. "Here I come nine tailes!!!!"

Kitsune charged Gyuki once he was close enough he used Flying Thunder God Technique to transport the eight-tails outside of the village. Now that they were far enough from the village Kitsune quickly summoned Gamakichi who at this time was as big as his dad. "Hey Kitsune, what's big ugly squid? You trying to make sushi or something," Gamakichi asked.



Kitsune simply laughed and said, "that's not a bad idea, do you wanna help me out." In response Gamakichi drew his sword as he said, "not a problem I was getting hungry anyway." Back at the stadium, Mugen and the gang made it outside to the cloud attacking the whole village. "This is bad," says Kaito, "you genin need to get everyone to the bunkers. I'll by you some time, y'know!" Kaito made as many shadow clones as he could then had has army scatter around the Leaf Village fighting off as cloud ninja as he could.

As everything was falling apart Hiro made his way to Ayano. He used a genjutsu to knockout the sand ninja next to her as he approached. "Sorry about this kid," he said, "its nothing personal its just my job."

"That reckless boy," Sanmaru sighed with an annoyed tone in his voice. "But he's right. You all need to help the villagers to safety and avoid as much trouble as you can," he ordered. As he began to go after Kaito, Kazuma intervened and said "Wait, sensei. Do you have any idea what's going on? We have a right to know," he stated motioning to the group behind him.

"Kazuma, now isn't the time for-"
"If now isn't the time, then WHEN?? How can we defend ourselves if we don't know anything??" Sanmaru paused for a moment to look at the genin before him. He took a deep and quick breath and said, "I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect an assassination attempt on the Hokage. Couldn't be a random invasion, looks too pre-planned." Renji pointed at the Eight-Tails. "But what about that thing?"
"That's one of the Tailed Beasts: Gyuki. Add HIM with all this, and starts to look familiar. Only one group comes to mind... the Akatsuki." Just the mention of the name sent shivers down everyone's spine. "I thought the Sixth Hokage wiped them off the map years ago," Kazuma inquired. "Well, assuming they're back, that means they'll be coming after not only the Hokage but the other Jinchuriki as well." Which also means Kitsune is in grave danger, Sanmaru thought. "Jinchuu-what now?" Renji asked confused. "I'll explain after we save the village," Sanmaru barked, "now quit dawdling and GO!" And with that he sped towards the Hokage's last known whereabouts.

Gyuki looked around with a confused expression on his face, "What happened? How did I get here?"  He suddenly saw Kitsune summon a giant frog, which then began to talk about turning him into sushi.  "I think I'd prefer some frog legs right about now!" he yelled.

Back in the stadium, Gaara and Konohamaru were managing to hold their own against Anon.  Anon was fast, but he found it difficult to penetrate Gaara's defense.  Anon dropped his hammer onto the ground and began to concentrate an excessive amount of lightning chakra into his left hand.  "This is a little jutsu passed down by the third raikage," said Anon, "Try blocking this! Jigokuzuki (Hell Stab!)"  

Anon directed the attack towards Konohamaru, and Gaara used his sand to try and defend him.  Unfortunately, Anon's jutsu ripped right through the sand.  Once again, Konohamaru was unprepared for the attack and had insufficient time to react.  However, one of the two remaining anbu pushed Konohamaru out of the way just in time.  As a result, however, the anbu himself was hit with the attack and cut in two.  "Darn it!" yelled Konohamaru.  "Stupid leaf shinobi," said Anon, "Always sacrificing for their friends.  Unfortunately, his sacrifice will be in vain...because you're still going to DIE!!!!"  Anon charged Konohamaru with his hell stab again, but this time Konohamaru managed to dodge it.  "That was close," said Konohamaru.  He looked over at Gaara.  "Hey Gaara, distract him for a few seconds.  Gaara nodded and then looked towards Anon.  "Rendan: Suna Shigure (Successive Shots: Sand Drizzle!)"

Elsewhere, Ayano had just been confronted by Hiro.  As he approached her, she sensed the two tails chakra inside of him.  Having seen Gyuki attack Kitsune, she assumed Hiro was planning to attack her.  She immediately started to attack Hiro using blasts of sand.

Having come out victorious in their battle with Tanzu and Rento, Danji and Rokku arrived inside the stadium. "Phew, those two put up a good fight," said Danji. The two looked into the distance and saw as Hiro confronted Ayano. "Okay it's time we split up," said Danji, "I'll go help the octopus fight the fox while you stay here with these two."  Rokku nodded in agreement and suddenly Danji vanished.

Hiro dodged every attack Ayano threw at as he closed the gap between them. Once he was close enough he used a genjutsu to trap her in a dark room. "That sand of yours would stop any physical attack, right," he said, "be what about mental attacks?"

Ayano was unprepared for the genjutsu and had little idea how to stop it.  She didn't frequently fight genjutsu users.  As Hiro approached, however, he was pushed back by a sudden gust of wind.  Yuudai, the leader of Ayano's team, had shown up and was now standing in front of Ayano.  He touched her forehead and released her from the genjutsu.  "Are you alright lady Ayano?" he asked without taking his eyes of Hiro.  "Yes I'm fine," she replied, "Thank you for saving me."  "My assumption is that the cloud shinobi are attempting to kill or capture you," said Yuudai, "I'm not sure which of those is their goal, but I don't plan on letting them succeed in either one."  Yuudai walked over to the sand shinobi that Hiro knocked out earlier and released him from the genjutsu.  "What happened?" asked the shinobi as he woke up.  "That young man over there knocked you out with a genjutsu," replied Yuudai as he helped the man stand to his feet.  Yuudai pulled a kunai out of his pocket and looked at Hiro.  "I can tell this guy has a lot of chakra," said Yuudai, "and after having seen who attacked Kitsune, I assume he's the Jinchuriki of the two tails Matatabi."  "Your assumption is correct sensei," replied Ayano.  "Although you're both Jinchuriki," said Yuudai, "I believe the Matatabi is stronger than Shukaku.  Also, he probably has the full power of his tailed beast, while you only have half of yours.  With that said, I want you to go find Yumi Saruwatari. The two of you will be safer together. Me and this gentleman here will hold off the two tails as long as we can."  Although hesitant, Ayano agreed that this was the best decision.  Allowing her tailed beast to fall into the hands of the cloud could be devastating.  "Be careful," she said.  "Same to you," Yuudai replied.  With that, Ayano took off.

Meanwhile, Anon was using his super speed to avoid Gaara's sand bullets. He jumped up into the air and noticed Konohamaru flying towards him with the rasengan. Having no way of dodging it, he used his Hell Stab against it. The struggle between the Rasengan and Hell Stab lasted only a few seconds, and soon, the Rasengan exploded, knocking Konohamaru into a wall while Anon landed safely. "Darn it," thought Konohamaru, "His jutsu is even strong enough to penetrate the Rasengan." Gaara, floating on his platform of sand, flew over to where Konohamaru had landed. "That jutsu of his can cut through anything it seems," said Gaara. Suddenly, Konohamaru got an idea. "Gaara, I have an idea!" exclaimed Konohamaru. He briefly whispered into Gaara's ear. "I don't have time for games!" yelled Anon, "Enough of your chatting!" Gaara suddenly put up a shield of sand in front of him and Konohamaru. "Is this a joke?!" yelled Anon, "I could break through this easily!" Anon prepared his Hell Stab again, but before he could use it, Gaara moved out of the way but kept himself covered. Anon now saw Konohamaru charging him with the Rasengan. "That crap again?!" exclaimed Anon. Anon charged Konohamaru with his Hell Stab, but suddenly, before the two attacks made contact, another Konohamaru approached Anon from the side with his own Rasengan. The Rasengan was aimed at the side of Anon's arm, and once it made contact, it caused Anon's arm fly back and hit him in the chest. With the Hell Stab still active, he unintentionally stabbed himself with his own attack. About 2 seconds after being stabbed, the real Konohamaru's made contact with his Rasengan from the front. With no Hell Stab to block it, the Rasengan made a direct hit and sent Anon flying.

"Ah man," sighed Hiro as he watched Ayano get away, "great now I have to chase after her, thank buddy." He turns around and walks away from the two sand ninja and looks at the Kage's battle. "And it looks like my boss was just killed too," he said in a comedic tone, "so I guess I'm not getting paid now, huh." Hiro looks back at the two sand ninja and said, "I guess I'm done here. I have no entries in fighting if I not getting paid."

elsewhere, in the village Kaito and his clone was doing there best to fight off the cloud ninja as Mugen and the group got the villagers to safety.

Yuudai was confused.  Apparently, the two tails was getting paid to do this and wasn't just following orders.  "Okay then..." said Yuudai.  However, before Hiro left, Rokku arrived and landed in front of him.  "What are you doing Hiro?" Rokku asked softly, "Don't you have a mission to complete? If these two are a problem then I can gladly take them off your hands.".

Outside the leaf village, Gyuki had no intention of wasting time.  "I don't have time to play games nine tails," said Gyuki, "I'm going to end this fight right now!"  Gyuki suddenly began to amass chakra into a sphere form outside his mouth.  Gyuki then fired the chakra into a beam form at Gamakichi and Kitsune.

"I think that was the last of them," Renji stated, as he and the others got everyone to safety. They all occasionally looked back to the clashing of steel and the explosions. Kazuma took a moment to reevaluate the situation. Most of the villagers are alright, he thought, but everyone else... He thought of all the shinobi dying senselessly, what could happen to the Hokage, and the Tailed Beasts roaming about...and of course, the Akatsuki.

"Hey. Hey Kazuma." Renji tried getting his attention, but to no avail. He saw the solemn look on his face, the burning in his eyes, and noticed where he looking: the parts of Konoha that were turned into a battlefield. "No," Renji quietly said. "No..nooo... you're not thinking what-" And suddenly Kazuma made a mad dash towards the fight, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.


Meanwhile, Sanmaru made it to find Gaara and Konahamaru. "My lords, are you unharmed?"