Tanna watched interested as Sasuke almost knocked Gaara out by burning the air around his sand guard. The problem was, if memory serves right, if he fell asleep the chakra beast inside him would awaken. Sasuke had won against Kankuro and moved to the next round which resulted in him being paired against Gaara. Then Tanna felt a hand holding her and saw Yoshino looking around with an exhaustedlook on her face as which alarmed Tanna. Tanna looked around as well and saw people around them falling asleep and Tanna frowned as she remembered there was a Genjutsu attack as well. It had been years and certain details were now lost to her like the battle list for the finals but she did not have time to worry about that right now.
Tanna pinched the older woman's cheek, 'I hope this works in snapping her out of the genjutsu.'
Yoshino, "Ow! Let go! Let go!"
Tanna, "Welcome back!"
Yoshino, "Mnn... What happened?"
Tanna, "I think someone used a powerful genjutsu to put everyone to sleep."
Yoshino eyed her, "And since you don't have any chakra receptors whatsoever you were unaffected."
Tanna, "For now, if they decide to attack us, I am dead meat."
Yoshino, "I will not allow that. Look, my son is here."
Shikamaru, "Mom, sensei, are you two ok?"
Yoshino, "I am alright. Thanks to Tanna - chan here."
Tanna, "No chakra receptors."
Shikamaru nodded, "Lucky, come on. Ino - chan will guide you out. I am heading out with Naruto - kun, Sasuke - kun and Neji - sempai."
Tanna, "Alright, we understand. Just be careful."
Yoshino, "Come along, Tanna dear. We are getting to safety. Oh look, Mikoto - chan is joining the fight as a Jounin."
Tanna looked at the right, "Huh! I guessed she was a shinobi before. Seeing her in full shinobi gear is pretty cool."
Mikoto, "Yoshino - dono, Tanna - chan, this way quick. Get to safety."
Tanna, "The kids went after Gaara, the son of the Kazekage earlier. I think he might have lost control."
Mikoto nodded, "We will deal with it."
Tanna followed Yoshino to a safe area and realized they were in the medbay, 'I just hope the kids will be ok.'
Sakura, "Tanna - sensei? Yoshino - sensei?"
Tanna, "Sakura - chan, are you alright?"
Sakura, "I am fine sensei. What is going on up there?"
Yoshino sighed, "Konoha is under attack. I do not want to jump to conclusions but it seems Suna and Sound are working together."
Sakura, "Suna and Sound? Since when did they get along?"
Tanna, "That's what is suspicious. I just hope the Hokage is alright."
Yoshino, "Do not worry too much, Tanna - chan. Despite his less than stellar reputation among women, Jiraiya is actually a strong shinobi. I am sure he can protect the Hokage."
Tanna nodded, 'Right! Jiraiya is here but can he truly stop death from claiming someone who has been marked? Zabuza and Haku met their ends so the Hokage... '
Yoshino placed a hand on Tanna's shoulder, "It will be ok, Tanna - chan. I know you are worried but we will get through this. I'm going to help around and get information. Stay put."
Tanna sighed as she took a seat, 'I hope the school is ok. I know there are shinobi there but still. If I were the enemy, the school of non - shinobi children would be my target.'
Meanwhile Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji were going after Gaara who was going on a rampage. Shikamaru noticed Naruto was observing Gaara again, the blond had been doing that from the first time they met the red head. The Nara wondered if the Seal prodigy saw something the rest of them did not, considering the scowl that always crossed the blond's face. Neji sighed noticing it as well but stayed focused on catching the rampaging redhead then they had to jump away from each other. Naruto's scowl became a furious glare and Shikamaru shivered seeing the quiet fury on the blond's face. He made a mental note to never anger the blond, he still remembers the mock battles their Senseis forced them into, the seals were a pain.
Neji, "Naruto, Sasuke, go after the rampaging red head. We will deal with these people."
Sasuke hesitated, "You sure, sempai?"
Shikamaru, "Look as much as I would prefer a team, we cannot afford to let the Kazekage son to destroy the village. At the rate he is going, we will have nothing but rubble on our hands."
Naruto nodded, "Gotcha! You two better be safe and careful."
Sasuke smirked, "Unless you want a furious and punch happy Sakura on your case."
Shikamaru, "Tch! Your whole team is so troublesome."
Neji, "Hn. Go!"
Shikamaru, "Neji, how are your chakra levels?"
Neji, "It is decent. If we are smart we can bring them down. They seem pretty arrogant."
Shikamaru smirked, "And arrogance can kill you on the field."
Neji, "Sensei's words. Let's do this."
Naruto, "There he is. Sasuke, remember the trick we used on Zabuza."
Sasuke, "You want to use that on Gaara. I do not know if it will work. That sand looks alive almost like a summon."
Naruto, "It is not a summon."
Sasuke eyed him, "You know something about it."
Naruto, "Pervy Jiji showed me a few things about the people high up in the political arena."
Sasuke, "Ah! That complicates things a little, but it is doable, right?"
Naruto, "Yes, I just need a summon big enough to tackle that. But collecting chakra is a pain."
Sasuke, "Right your chakra control."
Naruto, "So throw me at him and keep him distracted. Five minutes, that's all I need."
Sasuke, "You got it. Come on!"
Naruto went through a very familiar transformation jutsu while his clone ran beside Sasuke. Sasuke carried the large Shuriken on his back as they spend up and headed to where Gaara was rampaging. The large tanuki was now getting closer to the Academy and they still had classes going on, at least that was what nee - chan had told Naruto. They rushed and noticed there was no kid in sight, perhaps they evacuated already? That would be a good thing for them, it would make battling Gaara much easier, Naruto just hoped his nee - chan was safe and ok.
Jiraiya, "Well, well, well, who do we have here?"
Kazekage, "Jiraiya - kun, reduced to becoming a guard now I see."
Jiraiya, "Shut it! Orochi - teme, you are still as insufferable as before."
Kazekage or rather Orochimaru laughed at that, "Ku! Ku! Ku! You have become smarter I see. I wonder if it's your own growth or the fact you are a Godfather now."
Sandaime stiffened, "Leave the child out of this Orochimaru - kun."
Orochimaru drawled sarcastically, "Oh? You mean how Danzo left my first students out of the war?"
Jiraiya gritted his teeth, "That was Danzo's choice to make."
Orochimaru laughed, "Excuses! Excuses!"
Sandaime stepped up, "Jiraiya - kun, leave this to me. Figure out the seal instead."
Jiraiya, "I... Fine!"
Sandaime, "I know you have many grudges against me Orochimaru. But why did you have to involve others?"
Orochimaru tilted his head, "Why not? You care about them, so the best way to hurt someone is by taking away those that care about. I believe it was written in one of the books, one of your teachers authored. For a civilian with no chakra, she has quiet a sadistic mind."
Sandaime, 'He is talking about Tanna's book.'
Orochimaru attacked with his sword, "Who would have thought Konoha would be so lucky? An outsider comes in, takes in the Jinchuriki, and starts a very unintentional unification of the village women. Maybe, I should kill her first."
Sandaime parried the attack with his kunai, "Orochimaru, that is enough. She is not a shinobi."
Orochimaru laughed cruelly, "Oh yes, I noticed that she is not. She does not have a single chakra coil in her body. It is a wonder how she is even alive. Hmm? Did you do something old man?"
Sandaime frowned, "Everyone in this village is important to me. Do not even dare to try and touch them."
Orochimaru, "Hu! Hu! Hu! Hu! Such a strong reaction Sensei ~ Oh! Perhaps you are worried the young Jinchuriki might turn on the village if anything happened to her. Is that it? I have heard how close those two are to each other. A couple of orphans living together, such a sweet fairytale, don't you think?"
Sandaime, "You were an orphan too, Orochimaru. Have you forgotten?"
Orochimaru, "How could forget? I had to bury my parents with my own hands. All because the rest of the clan were no longer around or missing under mysterious circumstances."
Sandaime eyed him, "You have been holding a deep grudge against this village for a long time."
Jiraiya, "Almost done with the seal."
Orochimaru, "Too late. Look!"
Sandaime looked at where Orochimaru was pointing and cursed at the sight of the large tanuki that was rampaging. Hiruzen gritted his teeth, he trusted his shinobi to be smart and help the village evacuate as fast as possible. The chakra however brought back dark memories from the past, the night it went wrong, the night he lost both his successor and his beloved wife, Biwako who had insisted on helping. Sandaime focused on battling Orochimaru instead but before he could attack his student had brought out three coffins. Jiraiya stiffened on seeing the seal on the three coffins and glared at his ex - teammate who had started using the corpse animation jutsu.
Hiruzen felt old, "You, you would go this far."
Jiraiya, "Really? Desecrating the dead now, Oro - teme? Have you no honour as a shinobi?"
Orochimaru, "Honour? That's a nice joke, Jiraiya - baka. We are shinobi. What use is something like honour to us? We do not have such luxury. Now, my new puppets attack."
Jiraiya, "ACK! Minato - kun's zombie looks pissed off."
Hiruzen, "Nidaime - sama, Shodaime - sama, this is my fault for not maintaining your gravestones. Forgive me! I will fix this."
Jiraiya was fending Minato off, "We better do it before the kids return. And I absolutely hate the thought of one of my students under your thumb Oro - teme."
Naruto meanwhile had been thrown in his transformed state towards the rampaging giant tanuki and imbedded himself on his left shoulder. Naruto stared to discreetly collect his chakra in order to summon the largest frog he could even though all his attempts before were a spectacular failure. Jiraiya had attempted to throw him off a very slippery cliff to shock him into summoning one but his sealing instincts had kicked in and instead of summoning he had accidentally teleported himself to the top. Yes, he had been secretly learning his Dad's Kunai teleportation technique. Was it safe? No, but who could stop him. Does the Sandaime know? Not till he did it in front of Jiraiya and got a lecture of carelessness.
Did his nee - chan know about it? Yes, she knew about it, but she just requested he talked to other experts first as she was no seal user. That was honestly a very fair point in Naruto's opinion and nee - chan focused on practical theory of shinobi career rather than actual shinobi stuff considering her physical condition. Naruto tried to summon frogs before but he only summoned tadpoles the entire month though by the end of the training month he was able to summon a frog. Though the frog was tiny and not the giant frog that Jiraiya had wanted him to summon. Naruto protested the little fella was still useful and could send and bring letters between him and his nee - chan.
Nee - chan found the frog cute too though the little one was terrified of his nee - chan for some reason. Naruto focused on the fight in front of him and created clones and started to collect chakra for the mega summon he wanted to do. He would question the little frog's sudden fear later on, it was not like nee - chan ate frogs or anything though she knew people who did eat them. Naruto watched as his three clones hiding away from Tanuki's sight gathered chakra and sent it back to him before disappearing. Naruto grinned as he felt the chakra boost and started the summon praying it will work this time, there was no space for mistakes with the village on the line.
Sasuke, 'Really hope this works Naruto.'
Neji, "Sasuke, are you alright?"
Sasuke, "I'm fine. Shikamaru?"
Neji, "We had to fend off a few Sound shinobi. Shikamaru stayed back to give a full report. He will join with his team."
Sasuke, "Right, we need to distract him till Naruto summons his A game."
Neji, "Naruto has a summon?"
Sasuke, "The Pervy sage that has been training him insisted on giving him the frog summon. Apparently his Dad had a frog summon too."
Neji jumped away from a sand tentacle, "I think I understand that. If my father had a summon contract, I would want it too."
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, I think he is ready to summon.... Wait, that feels strange."
Itachi and Shisui were fighting together side by side like a well oiled machine, though Itachi could honestly do without the very unnecessary commentary. Then they felt it, in fact they were sure every shinobi felt that presence, after all the last time it appeared the village faced destruction. Not to forget the loss of many shinobi and civilians that occurred that one particular night. The two Uchihas looked at each other then nodded started to dash towards the source of that very familiar chakra. Naruto meanwhile could only blink and blink again as he sat on top of what looked like fox fur instead of a giant frog. The fox on the other hand snorted and started to laugh sending shivers down those who heard it.
Fox snorted, "Well, well, well, what have we here? My dear foolish sibling trespassing in my territory. Why don't you speak? Did you become mute?"
Naruto, "You are the Kyuubi... Hey! You hijacked my summoning."
Kyuubi snorted, "Do you believe a mere frog could help you with a chakra beast? That too one of my siblings?"
Naruto, "I had a plan?"
Kyuubi, "Ah yes, the plan to use genjutsu and make the frog look like me. Fool! You absolute fool. You would have been hurt and your poor nee - chan. Have you thought about how she would feel?"
Naruto, "It... It was a good plan... "
Kyuubi, "Well, it has been a while since I pushed my little sibling around so I will lend you a paw how about that."
Naruto looked away, "Fine.... Didn't you have nine tails?"
Kyuubi, "You only had enough to summon me at one ninth of my power. If you want a frog focus harder next time."
Naruto grumbled under his breath but agreed to battle with the fox against the other Jinchuriki. Naruto shouted over the roars at Sasuke to make space for the fox and tanuki who were now fighting each other very viciously. The blond had a feeling there was sibling rivalry and grudge between the two but who was he to judge. Even he and Tanna had their petty quarrels over the years though they always made up over the yummy food his nee - chan made. Sasuke though had a very flabbergasted and confused look on his face, he was pretty sure it was a frog summon Naruto had not a fox summon. Hell, he even watched Naruto try summon frogs only to end up with tadpoles that time he visited him in the hospital after his accident.
Neji, "Did Naruto make a pact with the Kyuubi?"
Sasuke sweated, 'I had forgotten Naruto was the Jinchuriki. It did not seem important back then.'
Neji, "Or is that the contract his father had?"
Sasuke, "Perhaps, I never questioned him as it seemed private."
Neji, "I see. I understand."
Sasuke, "Nii - sama and Shisui - nii. What are you doing here?"
Itachi, "We felt a powerful chakra burst and came here as fast as possible."
Shisui, "What is happening?"
Sasuke, "Naruto summoned a giant fox and is now battling who I suspect to be the Jinchuriki of Suna. Just feel the chakra, do not even try to deny it."
Shisui, "Heh! You are too smart for your own good."
Neji, "Are you serious? That's the Jinchuriki of Suna?"
Sasuke nodded slowly, "Use your byakugan. You will see. Actually why have you not used it after fighting Shikamaru?"
Neji, "I do not have unlimited chakra like a certain blond. Oh sweet Kami!"
Itachi, "Impressive, isn't it? To think chakra beasts of these magnitude exists."
Neji, "No, that's not it. Yes, it is impressive though."
Shisui, "Then what got you shocked?"
Neji, "Naruto - kun just... He just... "
Sasuke tensed up, "What did my foolish fiance do this time, Neji?"
Neji, "He grabbed the uhhh... Jinchuriki and slammed his head against his really hard.. "
Shisui started to laugh out hard, "That's one way to defeat them."
Itachi chuckled, "Indeed, it is."
Sasuke looked exasperated, "It seems to have worked. The tanuki is not rampaging anymore."
Neji, "I can see the sand siblings heading in their direction."
Itachi, "We should go."
Naruto, "Have you calmed down now, teme?"
Gaara, "Why?"
Naruto, "Why what?"
Gaara, "Why would you protect them? Why would you fight for them? Humans do nothing but hurt you."
Naruto, "Ummm.. Hey I will be blunt with you about this. My parents were pretty good shinobi when they were alive. So because of that whatever enemies they had are now my enemies. Did I ask for it? No, but that's life and as for the why... Well, I have people that I consider mine, you know? My nee - chan, my friends, my teammates, even the Pervy sage and Jiji. They are my people and I am going to protect them."
Gaara, "That's it?"
Naruto, "Obviously! No need to complicate stuff more than necessary."
Gaara chuckled, "I expected you to preach about love like that green fellow."
Naruto, "Love is just the bonus. You can't force it, it must happen on it's own. Besides there are people who love you too, you know."
Gaara turned to where Naruto was pointing at, "I guess so. I have never tried to love them."
Naruto, "That is a decision that you must make yourself. No one can force you."
Temari, "Gaara - kun, are you ok?"
Kankuro was standing tentatively behind her, "We were worried."
Gaara, "I am alive. I am also no longer following the plan. Lord Kyuubi made it clear he does not like trespassers."
Temari paled, "Oh! Right! Understood."
Kankuro, "I shall tell our shinobi to stop. I may not be as high level as father but."
Shisui, "That was not your father."
Temari "Excuse me?"
Itachi, "Orochimaru was pretending to be your father."
Gaara hissed, "He was what?"
Naruto, "I was not expecting that."
Sasuke, "Neither was I."
Neji, "Now what?"
Naruto, "Want to come with me?"
Gaara, "Excuse me?"
Itachi, "Naruto - kun, it is not that simple."
Naruto raised his hand, "Hear me out. What if, Orochimaru had taken over after the second exam. This fight was instigated by him between Konoha and Suna."
Temari, "Still, we were enemies just a few minutes back."
Naruto, "I am also a Jinchuriki and our chakra beast have reached an agreed consensus."
Neji almost stumbled, 'What?'
Gaara, "Under what authority? As far as I know Jinchuriki have been treated as objects."
Naruto, "As the one and only host of the nine tailed fox I can. As you all just saw, he can if he wants to, hijack summons."
Shisui, "So, that was unplanned after all."
Naruto, "Yes, shall we? Or do I need to give more reasons?"
Temari, "I feel too tired to argue right now."
Kankuro, "Me too. You are one crazy mother fucker, kid. I like it."
Naruto, "Great, let's go."
Tanna, "Is it over?"
Yoshino, "Yes things have quieted down."
Tanna, "Sakura - chan has her hands full."
Yoshino, "She knows what she is doing. You guided her after all."
Tanna watched the pink hair move from one bed to another checking on the patients while helping the new ones coming in and giving them treatment. It was mostly checks and getting them to the right healer to help them but she was pretty busy moving about and working. Being a medic definitely suited her and Tanna wondered if she will become Tsunade's apprentice again or would she carve her own path in the future. Tanna hoped she considers becoming an apprentice, she still recalls the medical help she gave others in the Shippuden era. Maybe she could help her out, she still remembers Tsunade's love for sake and perhaps she should consider buying some.
Yoshino, "What are you thinking?"
Tanna, "Just wondering what will happen next, after this. I was not expecting such a bold attack to be honest."
Yoshino nodded in understanding, "I know what you mean. We can only hope for the best."
Tanna, "Indeed."