16 Stepping the Tail of a Dragon

As he walked closer to the edge, he could clearly hear the chaos the city was spiraling into. War cries, screams, and the clash of weapons filled the air. An explosion went off in the distance and from his vantage point, Conrad tried to figure out where the enemy may have placed their siege engines.

Then he realized that shinobi didn't need siege engines, not when they could move at such absurd speeds and use magic, jutsu or whatever they wanted to call it.

Conrad had to get to the arena as fast as possible, and he knew there was only one way. He can only hope that he isn't unavailable once again.

"DUR NEH VIIR!" he shouted, the power of the words tearing a rift in reality's veil. No reason to hold back when his nephew is in danger. Thankfully, no headache or pain was felt when he tried to call him.

A towering dark purple portal sang itself into existence with an otherworldly hum. Within seconds it dispersed, leaving behind a massive creature standing before its summoner on the mountaintop.

His students and the guards shouted in a panic, cowering at the sight of the new and terrifying gigantic creature, a dragon.

"What?!"

"What in Nirn?!"

Well, his students were cowering and looking in awe. The guards were still doing their best to look stoic, although they were brandishing their weapons and were prepared to cast their jutsu at a moment's notice if needed. No one can blame them. It was a creature even larger than the dreaded Kyuubi. And they could feel its power even if they also noticed the nonexistent chakra on it.

They would've ignored if it was a giant toad, slug, snake or bird. But it was a mythical creature that only exists in tales. Tales of heroes and apocalypse. No one could blame them if the creature that's featured on every story that caused the end of the world, is now right in front of them. Even worse, inside their village. And their experiences in handling and encounters with Tailed Beasts in the past somehow let them know that this creature is as dangerous as a Bijuu.

Especially when the creature that is rotting and decaying in appearance. The only word that came to their minds were "undead". Their other senses soon felt why it's undead sight is no illusion. The foul smell of rot, the buzzing of flies and the green mists that cover it's body soon fell upon them.

Conrad tried not to gag when the stench finally hit him. It was like someone had suddenly dropped a warehouse of rotten meat in the middle of a mass grave, and the odor instantly turned the gawking looks that his students had been sporting into grimaces of disgust. Even the guards seemed to be taken aback, perhaps even more than the ancient dragon looming by the Nord's side.

"W-why does it look like it is still decomposing?" Beta asked in her mother tongue as she pinched her nose.

His Kahjiit student just opened his mouth in silent admiration of the creature. A chicken egg can fit through his still opened mouth. He was so mermerized that he didn't even mind he awful smell of the rot with his sensitive nose.

"T-thats not even the main point here," Sven quickly said as he tried to steady himself, looking right at his teacher. "Y-y-you can actually summon dragons?!"

"A couple," Conrad answered like it's nothing. Then he tapped the exposed rib of the dragon. "But normally I don't call for this one."

"B-because it stinks?" Beta asked in whisper. Not wanting to offend the creature looming above them.

"Qahnaarin," Durnehviir rumbled after taking in his surroundings, his head slowly looking over the magelings and the assembled guards. "Are these the ones we must kill?"

The sight of the panicked expressions caused by the dragon's sudden attention would've been amusing in any other circumstances. Even their guards who don't know the language could tell the question it was asking as the dragon soon unleashed cold murderous intent. It completely washed them and struck them with domination and essence of fear. Sadly, he wasn't able to see the guards' faces because of those cursed expressionless masks of theirs.

"No," Conrad said. Suppressing a sigh and trying hold back the nausea, he started to climb over the rotting dragon's neck.

"Dovahkiin, what is the meaning of this? I am not Odahviing, I have no intention to be used as a—"

"See that?" Conrad interrupted once he got properly seated, gesturing to the city below. "There's a war going on. City under siege, plenty of enemies to destroy and a lost kin to find before he gets killed."

For a short moment the dragon looked upon the ongoing battle before making a satisfied growl.

"You could have just said that." The Nord couldn't see it from his scaly seat, but he was sure that the warmongering dragon was smiling. A yellowish drool drips from its mouth.

"Just so you know, we have a lot to talk about concerning about everytime I tried to call for you." He glared at the dragon.

"I never broke our pact, Dovahkiin. It was your brother who made you unable to call me," then his suspicions was right.

"Then when you meet him after this, tell him to wash his face. I have a lot of things that I want to do to that puny face of his. Making it taste the black dirt on Soul Cairn, as a start," he said as he pull the rotting back scale of the dragon to move him forward.

"You will be surprised on what your brother had found that plane after you left. He is much resourceful than you," the dragon smiled with its rotting teeth and lips. Conrad decided to ignore him for a while and focus at the task at hand.

As the mighty dragon spread his mighty wings, Conrad turned towards the masked guards that were frantically gesticulating among themselves for some reason. "Keep kids safe," he ordered in his mangled Akavirian, then glancing at his mount.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

The ANBU stood in silence for several seconds as they watched the dragon fly away. The magelings were clearly in awe. The girl whispered something in her native language, as he stared at their teacher's summon. The cat-boy nodded in agreement, his tail twitching.

"... Sir?" Squirrel said hesitantly. "Did we just… let the prisoner go?"

"You heard the Hokage. These people are our guests, not our prisoners," Owl explained, his arms crossed. "Besides, we didn't let him go. He just left."

"... Yes, sir."

"But captain, it seems as if he's going straight where the fighting is more intense," Badger pointed out, her tone possibly tainted by a trace of amusement.

"That won't do. We can't let a civilian under our watch wander around a combat zone."

"Didn't the said civilian just summon a mythological creature?"

"A mythological creature that felt like a Bijuu."

"That may be, but he still counts as a civilian," Owl pointed out.

"Yes, sir."

"Half of you will stay with Hawk here and protect the children," the captain ordered.

"Hey! We're not children! I—uh... six-ten years old!" Sven objected, fumbling with his Akavirian numbers.

"The rest of you come with me," he went on, ignoring the young wizard. "We will track down and protect the… civilian. Move out."

As soon as the instructions were given, half of the team moved as one, doing their best to catch up with the dragon.

"If they wanted to protect their home, they could've just said so," Beta said, which prompted a nod from her fellow Tamrelians.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

"Kai!" Sasuke exclaimed, focusing to break the genjutsu that almost made him fall asleep. He had not expected Gaara to be a genjutsu user since he had always seen him rely only on his sand, but if the Suna genin thought that an Uchiha would be so easily defeated by an illusion, he was wrong.

Gaara took advantage of his moment of distraction and, with a raised arm, sent a wave of sand rushing towards Sasuke. The Uchiha was saved from a premature demise only because his Sharingan registered the incoming attack as soon as Sasuke opened his eyes again, and his reflexes honed during training with Kakashi took over.

An instant after dodging the deadly sand he was across the field, whirling a foot into his opponent's face. Sasuke saw Gaara's eyes actually widen a little before impact. A satisfying crack was heard as the sand covering Gaara's cheek fractured.

He escaped just before the sand-user's so-called perfect defence could catch up with him and crush him to a pulp. He couldn't help but grin at the knowledge that he was too fast for his opponent.

An explosion in the audience distracted him from his thoughts. Before Sasuke could react, there were shinobi fighting all over the stadium. Even the proctor had an assailant engaged with him in the arena itself.

Gaara didn't seem to be surprised by this turn of events, though, and as Sasuke looked around, stunned at the battle surrounding them, the Suna genin sent yet another wave of sand to envelope him. This time, however, Sasuke wasn't going to be able to dodge it.

His eyes widened in the half second before he was grabbed around the waist. Much to his surprise and briefly-lived confusion, though, he wasn't squished to a pulp. He was being pulled away, and a quick look revealed that a man—an ANBU, given the mask he was wearing—had snatched him away from the match.

As he found himself being dragged over the stadium walls at shinobi speed, he gave a last look at the building that was descending into chaos. Then he did his best to wriggle free.

"Hey, let me go!" he yelled when the shinobi holding him refused to loosen his grip. "I need to defeat him!"

"The tournament is over, Sasuke," the ANBU said as he landed on a nearby rooftop. His voice sounded strangely familiar, for some reason.

"Over?" Sasuke asked, jerking free from the ANBU's hands. The man didn't make any attempt to stop him.

"Konoha is being invaded," the masked shinobi continued. "Suna has betrayed you."

"What do you mean, 'you'?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the other shinobi suspiciously. "Aren't you ANBU?"

"Not quite, Sasuke," the man said in an amused tone, removing his mask to reveal a known spectacled face.

"Kabuto?" the young genin asked, slightly confused. "What's going on here? You're a Konoha genin."

"I'm no genin," Kabuto said calmly, his demeanor completely different from what Sasuke remembered. "And Sarutobi Hiruzen is not my Kage."

Sasuke's eyes quickly widened in realization as he took a step back. "You're a spy."

"Correct," Kabuto said, throwing away the mask. "You see, Sasuke, my master has a special interest in you. But you should know that already by now, am I right?"

Sasuke hands instinctively went to the cursed mark on his neck.

"That's right," Kabuto nodded with a hint of amusement. "Orochimaru-sama sent me to give you an... invitation, of sorts."

"An invitation?" he asked, trying to ignore the sounds of battle in the distance. If the village was being invaded, there was no way help would arrive any time soon. He was on his own.

"Indeed. He is giving you an offer to join Otogakure. He will train you, and give you the power to accomplish your goal."

Sasuke froze as his mind drifted to that man. He felt the curse mark flare for a second, even with the seal Kakashi had placed around it. "And what would he want from me in exchange?" he found himself asking. Was he really thinking about it? Leaving Konoha, betraying his village to reach his goal?

"Your loyalty," Kabuto stated as if it was obvious. "And in a few years, your body."

"My body?" Sasuke asked, taken aback by such request. Had it not been for the fact that he was standing in front of a self-declared enemy shinobi, he would've felt sick. Or at least, sicker than he was feeling all of sudden.

"Orochimaru-sama's reincarnation technique is not perfect, sadly," Kabuto explained, in a way that didn't sound like he was saddened at all. "He requires a new host every three years, and he is really interested in your doujutsu."

Oh, so that was what he had meant. It didn't make Sasuke feel any better, though.

"I don't think that would be a good deal for me, then," he said, stalling for time as he dropped one hand to his side in an attempt to look casual. His hand was now much closer to the shuriken in his pouch. "After killing my brother, I must restore my clan."

"Mmh, yes," Kabuto nodded, tipping his chin in a pensive manner. "You may need your body for that."

"Yes. So... please tell Orochimaru that I'm not interested," Sasuke said, waiting for the facade to drop.

"But you see, Sasuke... Orochimaru-sama doesn't like being told no. This farce was just to see if you would come on your own, or—"

Sasuke moved, throwing three shuriken as a distraction while drawing a kunai from the holster. As Kabuto swiftly dodged the throwing stars, Sasuke jumped at him, aiming to stab him in the neck.

His charge came to a halt as Kabuto's hand closed on his wrist, and the traitor used Sasuke's own momentum to slam him to the roof.

"I told you, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said with a mocking smirk, producing a syringe from nowhere. "I'm no mere genin."

"Let him go," a voice said all of sudden, causing both of them to freeze. "He is mine."

Sasuke didn't move his eyes from Kabuto and his syringe until he saw a few grain of sands floating by. Daring to look away, he saw Sabaku no Gaara literally rising from the roof's edge, his sand keeping him aloft while simultaneously billowing out into an ominous brown cloud.

For a moment, Sasuke met Gaara's crazed eyes.

"What are you doing here, jinchuuriki?" Kabuto asked, almost disdainfully. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder what jinchuuriki meant, but he had more pressing matters. He tried to reach for his weapon pouch, but Kabuto put a foot on his free hand. Dammit. "You were instructed on what to do, you're supposed to be wrecking as much of this place as you can."

"Let Uchiha Sasuke go," Gaara repeated, his voice sounding very different from before. Almost more feral. "He must prove my existence!!!"

And with that, all the sand around them rushed toward Kabuto, whose eyes widened in utter shock. "Oh, fu—"

Sasuke interrupted the spy's rude choice of words by kicking him with all his strength, rolling away as the sand passed over where he had been lying. Getting to his feet, he watched the sand envelope his almost kidnapper. Then, it collapsed on itself.

There was a sickening crunch and the Kabuto cried out in pain before being thrown from the roof like so much garbage.

Sasuke was now alone on the rooftop with Gaara. Something brushed against his foot, and looking down he almost panicked at seeing streams of sand snaking between his legs. But the sand just kept going towards Gaara, flowing all around Sasuke's feet and not harming him in any way.

Was Gaara being fair because their match had been interrupted? No, that couldn't be. He was just playing with him, like a cat with the mouse.

He couldn't help but feel creeped out, really creeped out by the way Gaara was looking at him. It wasn't at all like in the arena. Gone was the cold and expressionless face that Sasuke was used to; but after all, this wasn't a tournament match anymore.

Concentrating on his chakra, Sasuke started forming his Chidori. Gaara threw himself at him like a sandstorm.

x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Ishina hadn't seen it coming. That wasn't good, because shinobi that got surprised tended to quickly become dead shinobi in such scenarios.

The stadium was in a state of chaos. Civilians had all been caught in a massive genjutsu, and an explosion from the balcony reserved for the two Kage had immediately followed.

It didn't take much time before shinobi from both sides had arrived on the scene, and small skirmishes were escalating in a large battles all over the stadium between the seats of sleeping people.

Konoha was being invaded, and Ishina and her team were trapped in the middle of it.

Worse, right in front of her stood one of the elite jonin of this forsaken village, who was silently staring at her with his only visible eye as if he was wondering whether she was involved in this.

She was distracted from wondering how she could survive against such an opponent by the sound of metal and an alarmed cry—a cry from a familiar voice.

She snapped her head back and saw Kurotsuchi deflecting a barrage of kunai. Ishina's eyes instantly tracked the kunai's flight path back to a Shinobi who was running towards her student, already forming hand signs for a jutsu.

Her fingers blurred through a jutsu of her own, but much to her dread it became clear that she wouldn't be able to finish in time. The shinobi leaped towards Kurotsuchi, the single note symbol in his hitai-ate perfectly visible now as he drew his head back as if to take a deep breath.

And then the Yondaime's student was there, barrelling into him like a loose boulder and sliding a kunai into his jugular.

The Sound nin dropped to the ground as the Konoha jonin took a defensive position. Two other Shinobi engaged him, eager to avenge their fallen comrade.

Ishina quickly finished her sequence of handsigns and unleashed the technique.

The concrete wasn't the best to work with, but the bleachers broke apart all the same, forming a crown of hardened spikes around Kurotsuchi and the Konoha-nin that had just saved her. The two men were impaled on the spot.

Kakashi of the Sharingan stared idly at the still-twitching corpses for a couple of seconds before turning towards her.

"I take it that Iwa is not involved in this?"

Annoyed, Ishina almost replied, but the whizzing sound of shuriken announced the arrival of more shinobi—from Suna this time—and they were thrust again into battle.

A Suna nin jumped over the spikes, diving directly for Ishina. Before she could react, something scathingly hot soared right over her head, crashing into the shinobi's torso. His screams were short-lived as the lava burned through his uniform, then his body burst into flames. Ishina dodged the flaming corpse falling towards her, turning around to see Kurotsuchi right before her, hands still held together.

"You know, that's really impressive for a genin," the jonin remarked, a spark of suspicion in his gaze.

"We train them well in Iwa," Ishina replied, hoping that the explanation would be enough in the middle of battle. There was no way it would pass more thorough questioning. As soon as she was able, she was going to have to pull her team out of the village. "I need to find my other two students."

"Your other students? If they're skilled as this one, I'm sure they'll be fine."

Ishina didn't reply to that. Not because she didn't want to, or because the battle around them made her unable to come up with a suitable rebuttal to a nosy Konoha shinobi. It was the giant purple barrier appearing on the top of a nearby roof that distracted her from that. Even Hatake Kakashi, notorious for being as laid back as he was lethal, seemed to blink in surprise at that for a moment.

"How unyouthful," someone declared loudly. "Hokage-sama is trapped in there."

Said voice belonged to a tall, muscular man dressed in green unitard that left little to imagination. To make it worse, he had the worst haircut Ishina had ever seen. Somehow, the the monstrous eyebrows were the closest thing to normal on his person. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was standing right in front of Konoha's Green Beast.

"Oh, Gai. You're here," Kakashi said in greeting.

"Yosh!" the horrifically green shinobi exclaimed as he punched an enemy with the back of his fist without even looking back. "My eternal rival, it appears that our allies have turned against us during this most youthful exam," the man ranted without even bothering to lower his voice. "And who would these lovely kunoichi be?"

"Oh, they're two foreign guests that just got caught in this attack."

"Oooh, I see. Quickly, my rival! We must escort our honorable guests to safety!"

"Ah," Kakashi intoned in agreement. "Her two other genin as well."

Ishina weighed her options. She could try to find the rest of her team by herself and then attempt to run away and possibly be killed, either 'accidentally' from the defenders or by one of the invaders. On the other hand, if she stayed with the two jonin—who were strange, but had not attacked her yet—she could keep her team safe, but there was no way she would be let go once the crisis was over.

As she realized that her chances of completing her mission were long gone, a loud roar echoed from the sky, forcing her to look up. With her eyes bulging and mouth open, she saw something that was straight out of the legends.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

The dragon and its rider circled slowly above the arena, and for a moment the battle seemed to grow quiet as the beast growled at the fighters below. Conrad ignored it as much as he could and scanned their surroundings, yelling at Durnehviir to get closer.

The purple barrier that had appeared during the brief flight was intriguing. It could've been some sort of protective ritual, but why concentrate it on the roof instead of a larger area?

It didn't really matter to him. He guessed that whatever kind of magic the Shinobi were trying to use to protect their home was their business. Knowing that they would handle it, he kept scanning the arena.

Aside from the shape, the arena didn't resemble the ones Conrad had seen in his travels through the Empire, but the purpose was clear all the same.

Unlike the Empire, though, it seemed that Akavir enjoyed the idea of children taking part in a blood sport. He was planning to have a little talk about this with the Sandaime.

Either that or just take the boy and get out of the city.

As Conrad shifted his gaze over to the area reserved for spectators, Durnehviir stopped his glide, flapping his wings to hover in place. Everywhere he looked, he could see bodies scattered across the arena's terraces. He tried to not think about the chance that Naruto was among them.

The shinobi, having overcome the surprise of seeing a dragon soaring above their heads, resumed fighting and killing each other.

He could feel the dragon's impatience through its muscular neck, but for now it seemed that Durnehviir was content with merely observing the battle.

Flickering his fingers, he called to a small ounce of his power to distractedly fuel his spell. A pale blue light left his hand and flew over the arena, never escaping Conrad's eyes. After a brief flight, it disappeared right at the other side of the arena, close to the edge.

The Nord stretched a bit out from the dragon's neck, as if it would help him see better, squinting his eyes in that direction. There seemed to be a small group of people along the top rows, made up of adults and children. The adults were obviously trying to keep them safe from the battle, but that wasn't what had caught Conrad's interest.

Orange. He wasn't imagining it, one of the smaller figures on the bleachers was wearing orange clothes.

Yes, that was the boy. Thank the gods, he had had enough common sense to stay away from the lower stands where the fighting was more fierce.

Without any warning, the massive skeletal form beneath him ceased hovering and lurched forward with a few mighty flaps of his wings. The Nord managed to grip the big spinal scales for dear life, while yelling protests to the dragon at the top of his lungs.

"Durnehviir!" Conrad shouted, all too aware of the growing distance between him and Naruto. "Turn back! We're going the wrong way!"

"Behold, Qahnaarin," Durnehviir rumbled as he inhaled deeply, tasting the air. "A great challenge waits ahead of us! A worthy foe indeed!"

A worthy foe? What on earth was the overgrown lizard—

He heard it before he saw it. He turned his head as the outer city walls burst inward, wood and stone splintering like twigs as a large form appeared from the dust.

Conrad blinked. It was a giant snake. A giant, three-headed snake.

The thing was massive, dwarfing entire streets as it slithered into the city proper, contemptuously wrecking the buildings around it with every move. It seemed that when it came to monsters, Akavir compensated for the lack of quantity with quality.

Strangeness, too.

With his luck, the damn thing probably breathed fire. Or lightning. Or acid. Or all three, one from each head.

Conrad could surely understand why the ancient dragon had rushed in the walls' direction. He himself could feel his draconic soul rear its ugly head, enticed by the idea of fighting such an exotic, and more importantly, bigger creature.

A low growl escaped his bared teeth, but before it could escalate in a full-fledged roar he noticed the tiny specks darting around the snake. Shinobi, he bet, invading the city through the breach that had just opened up.

Taking a deep breath, he did his best to keep his instincts at bay, forcing himself to remain calm and logical.

Right. Logic. He was a wizard, more or less, and wizards used logic.

The city was under attack. Actually, the city's enemies were already inside its walls. Which meant two things for Conrad.

First, that Konoha's defences were so ineffective that they had fallen within less than a day of siege, something which he would ridicule them over for as long as he lived. Secondly, that each second he spent on the back of the most smelly flying creature that had ever soared Tamriel and Akavir's skies was a second more that Naruto was left on his own in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.

Clearly, there was only one logical thing to do.

"Fine but drag that thing out of the walls. There you can fight it with no restrictions," Conrad said.

He was about to let go of its back when he remembered something and grinned mischievously.

"And let them see peek, about the true might of the dragons. Don't shame us, Durnehviir." he grinned, patting the dragon's scales before leaning to the side and letting gravity take hold of him.

"That I will!" The dragon roared proudly and flew towards its unsuspecting prey.

Forcing himself to not look down, he started to weave spells as quickly as he could and tried to not think about what would happen in just a few seconds if he stopped.

Slowing down the fall was an obvious priority, so he focused on that first. A half-assed levitation variant on the fly worked splendidly for that purpose, but much to his annoyance the drain was a bit more than he had anticipated. After all, levitation was just applied telekinesis and that kind of magic tended to suck magicka like a vampire sucked blood, no matter how skilled the user was.

He concentrated just enough on the spell until he was what seemed like a survivable length above a house, then released the spell and hastily began casting another one. Magicka burned across his skin, hardening it just before he crashed through the roof.

It hurt more than he had expected, but it was only when he finally stopped against a floor, reducing it to a heap of rubble, that he really felt pain.

His skin ached. His muscles ached. His bones ached. Yet he was still alive.

After staring at the almost man-shaped hole above him for a moment, he tried to get up with a groan, ignoring his body's protests. He made mental note to develop a more effective spell later.

As he stumbled into a mostly erect position, Conrad started rummaging through his pouch, only to pause as he felt cold liquid smearing his hands. Dread filled him as he fumbled blindly around the bag's interior. His fingers brushed against sharp edges that would have sliced his hand open if not for his hardened skin, and fearfully, he pulled the objects out.

Broken, shattered, empty vials.

Kneeling down, Conrad turned the bag inside out, letting the contents spill onto the ground. Quickly sorting the broken glass from the still intact phials, Conrad groaned as he realized how many he had lost in the impact.

How had jumping looked like a good idea, mere moments ago?

Uncorking one of the few healing potions left, he gulped it down in one go. The taste was beyond terrible, and he pressed a hand to his mouth as he forced himself to not retch. It was probably one of Sven's. How could a promising chef be so terrible when it came to alchemy? It was pretty much the same thing!

As Conrad thought about one of his apprentices' future career choices, he could feel a warm, soothing sensation passing through his body. The aching stopped and the pain subsided as the potion's magic repaired injuries, which he helped further with a simple healing spell.

He took a few breaths before putting the remaining potions back in the bag. It was time to go.

He had a nephew to save, after all.

The street was clear when he left the house he had landed in. Most of the citizens had probably gone to watch the tournament, or fled as the giant snake was sighted. He could hear the fighting in the distance and could see Durnehviir carrying the three headed snake outside the wall like he was told to.

It would have been an interesting battle to watch, but he had more important things to do. Focusing, he recalled the image of Naruto and cast a clairvoyance spell. The familiar blue light left his palm, and he started to follow after it.

Then the road broke in a massive wave of earth and he was slammed against a building.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

"Got one!" Masumi exclaimed as he felt a sense of satisfaction at seeing his victim impact against the wall.

"Sure, you got a civilian," Jun sneered at him. "That doesn't count."

"Is that envy, Jun?" Masumi asked, mocking his comrade from his missing-nin days. Even if it was just a civilian, he was the one that had drawn first blood out of his teammates. Just the first of many, since Orochimaru-sama had ordered them to cause as much damage as possible. Shinobi, civilians or visitors, it didn't matter.

Today was the day Konoha would be painted in blood.

"Cut it out you two," Hisoka, their chunin team leader called. She quickly signaled to advance, and the four-man cell moved as one, jumping above the wrecked street and starting to speed across the rooftops, their eyes scanning for any threats.

The roar of thunder came from behind them, unexpected. Masumi's eyes widened as they scattered out of reflex just as a bolt of electricity passed through the middle of their formation. Jun wasn't able to dodge as quickly as the others and cried in pain as the jutsu hit his left arm. As the team landed, Masumi forced himself to not rush to check on his friend's condition, looking instead in the direction from where the attack had come.

In the middle of the street stood the man Masumi had attacked just moments earlier, who was now calmly dusting off his odd clothes.

Masumi could feel sweat forming on his brow. The man didn't look like a shinobi, hell, he wasn't even moving like one. Yet he had thrown a raiton jutsu at them, one they had barely dodged.

They all stared at each other for a few seconds, before the stranger opened his mouth, as if to speak. It seemed that he changed his mind very quickly though, since he just closed it and raised one of his arms.

There was no warning for what came next, save for the sudden light around their opponent's hand. No handsigns, no calling of chakra, nothing. Just a strong stream of fire that erupted from the extended hand into their direction.

Masumi jumped away, guided by honed instincts. His mind, though, was screaming about what he was seeing. An elemental jutsu being cast without handsigns at all wasn't possible: it went against the way ninjutsu worked. Jun may have been thinking the same thing, or being distracted by the wound on his arm, because he was enveloped by the jet of flames.

The scream echoed through the street even after he'd stopped moving.

Masumi tried to ignore it as much as he could. The mission came before everything. Still, he couldn't help but feel something inside of him breaking at seeing Jun's horrible fate. No one deserved a death like that, not even a former missing-nin.

Gritting his teeth, Masumi unsheathed two kunai from his holster. A quick shunshin, and he was charging right up to the blond man, slashing at his face and throat. The man's head jerked aside, and Masumi felt a sense of satisfaction at the idea of having avenged his comrade.

It was short-lived though, as instead of the satisfying sound of metal searing through flesh, the Sound shinobi felt like he had just scraped his weapons against stone.

The man turned his head, glaring at him. Much to Masumi's shock, instead of the gaping wounds he was expecting, there were barely any scratches on the stranger's skin.

Then the man shouted one word that didn't make any sense. "Fus—"

The stranger said something else, but Masumi didn't catch it as he was thrown by an unseen force into a wall. Pain shot through his body at the impact, nearly blinding him.

There were flashes of light in his peripheral vision, but he was in so much agony that he couldn't focus on the fight. Maybe he had broken a rib or two, he reasoned. Putting an arm to the ground, he tried to get up. His team needed him.

His legs refused to move. With a growing horror, he realized that he could not feel his feet anymore. This… was a problem. He tried to pull himself to a standing position, but quickly realized that it was a terrible idea as pain roared through his upper body. He blinked back tears of agony. Something was broken. Likely his back.

He heard a scream, and his head snapped around, praying to whatever gods there were that it was from the bastard who did this to him.

The blond man had used another raiton jutsu with Hisoka as the target. The woman's body collapsed, twitching several times even after death. Her murderer just walked over her corpse, uncaring and already sizing up his next target.

The last of his teammates—Ippei, he thought—threw a barrage of shuriken at the enemy, before using a quick substitution to appear right behind the man, a kunai in his hand. He made a movement as if to stab the opponent in the lungs, but it was about as effective as Masumi's earlier strikes.

The stranger turned into a blur, a purple flash briefly appearing around his right hand. The next moment, the blond man was holding a weird black axe in his hand, its head buried deeply into Ippei's chest. As the Oto shinobi fell to his knees, gurgling his last breath, the man put a foot on his torso and pulled his weapon free.

He turned to Masumi, annoyance written across his face. That was when Masumi realized that he was going to die there.

He lowered his gaze, resigning himself to his fate as his soon-to-be killer started walking up to him. Walking. What kind of shinobi walked during a fight, he wondered while in pain.

As the man was just a few steps away from him, though, a sudden jet of water slammed into the blond, knocking him several feet away.

Looking up, Masumi saw several figures on the rooftops. Shinobi, part of the invasion force, most proudly wearing the symbol of Otogakure, but there were a few Suna nin as well.

Backup had arrived, probably attracted by the sound of the fight. Masumi felt a wave of relief wash over him and a hint of satisfaction at the idea of seeing the bastard that crippled him die.

Masumi saw something move in the corner of his eyes and turned just to see the enemy get up from a pile of freshly-formed mud, glaring in the reinforcement's direction. Even the worse shinobi would never be that humiliated.

Dozens of shinobi quickly flashed through a series of hand signs which resulted in an explosion of fire being thrown in the blond man's direction.

Widening his eyes, the man raised his hand, as if to shield himself from the incoming flames.

Much to Masumi and everyone else's surprise, it worked. The flames stopped right before the stranger's hand as if they had hit an invisible wall. As the fire subsided, Musumi noticed a shimmering blur around the man's hand. What kind of jutsu was that?

The other shinobi hesitated, but it was just for the blink of an eye. Soon, more jutsu started crashing against the strange barrier. A water bullet, a earth spike, a flurry of wind blades, everything seemed to be stopped or deflected by the man's defensive technique. Strangely enough, kunai and shuriken didn't seem to be affected by it, but they still bounced off without leaving any substantial damage in that stupidly thick skin.

The stranger started to stumble backwards under the onslaught, arms still raised. The shinobi around him smirked as he retreated toward a nearby house, but much to Masumi's confusion, the enemy produced a flask containing a blue liquid from his pouch and drank it right before disappearing into the building.

Poison, maybe? Could it be that the blond man wanted to die on his own terms instead of being overwhelmed? If that was the case, Masumi wondered bitterly why he hadn't done it before breaking his back.

Whatever that liquid was, the stranger had backed himself into a corner, and there was no way he'd be able to escape now. Masumi observed as the other shinobi advanced, warily getting closer to the house.

There was a purple flash from the inside, making them hesitate and step back as it turned into a red, glowing light. Then a woman on fire lunged from the doorway, throwing fire jutsu at the closest person she saw.

One Shinobi was cut down by the flames, and Masumi was able to look at her more clearly for just an instant. It wasn't a woman on fire. It was made of fire. She was like an angry, aggressive living flame, contained in a strange black shell making the rest of her body. To top it off, her feet weren't even touching the ground, rather, she was floating just a few inches from the street.

Whatever that thing was, it was not, and probably never had been, human. It was one of the most twisted summons that Masumi had ever seen, and he had seen Orochimaru-sama feed his snakes once.

The other shinobi quickly reacted to such a strange appearance, focusing their attacks on the summoned creature. There was a flash of steel as someone Masumi didn't know unsheathed her Shinobito and slashed it at the fire monster's head. The sword struck true, cutting deeply into the creature's neck, from which a rain of embers fell.

The next thing Masumi knew, the thing exploded in a burst of flames, causing him to shield his eyes from the bright light.

What remained of those shinobi that had engaged the summon in melee was now scattered around by the blast, the fire from the explosion quickly covering the whole area in smoke.

Masumi's ears were still ringing when the stranger emerged again from the doorway, stepping over the body of his own summon, which was quickly disintegrating for some reason. The blond warrior was again wielding an axe, but this time it was much longer and larger, as tall as a man. Then Masumi saw their enemy making a wide grin. What's he laughing about? Is the bastard looking down on them just because he was able to block their jutsu? He is ignorant than he had thought.

He seemed to yell something in… whatever language he—or it—spoke. Masumi wasn't able to hear it well, but thanks to years of training, he could still read the man's lips.

Hun Kaal Zor.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Danzo stood in an underground chamber, looking down at a map of the village spread flat over the surface of a large table. On either side of the table sat two shinobi, each operating a radio and reporting the events unfolding around the village to their leader.

"Second team in position, Danzo-sama," one said. "Waiting for orders."

"Tell them that their previous orders stand," Danzo replied, his only visible eye moving briefly to the spot where the team in question was located on the map. "Flank the enemy's reinforcements, prioritize taking down team leaders."

The radio operator made an acknowledging reply and relayed his instructions. Danzo took a moment to observe the situation. The enemy had already been inside their walls when the attack had begun, and more were currently converging on the village from outside. Forces of both Suna and Oto had been spotted moving through the forests around Konoha, meaning that they had managed to set up staging positions around the village without their patrols noticing.

Someone, he swore, was going to be held accountable for this failure once the invasion was repelled.

Meanwhile, Sarutobi was trapped inside a barrier jutsu above the stadium and locked in a fight against Orochimaru himself. To make things worse, it seemed that Orochimaru had summoned the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage with a forbidden technique to assist him.

The barrier rendered any attempts to help Sarutobi a moot point for now, and Danzo couldn't help but wonder how long his old comrade would be able to hold against three formidable opponents. Had it been just Orochimaru, Hiruzen may have even been able to come out victorious, if he managed to find the will to kill his former pupil and the will to follow through with it.

If the barrier didn't go down soon, though, Konoha might find itself in need of a new Hokage by the end of the day.

"Any updates on Jiraiya's position?" he asked.

"He was seen moving towards the breach in the walls, Danzo-sama, but there have been no further sightings yet," one of the operators replied. Danzo nodded in a barely noticeable way and went back to study the map. Jiraiya probably wanted to face the invaders' summon with one of his own to limit the damage to the village.

"We're getting an update from the first team: mission successful, minimal casualties," the radio operator continued.

"Order them to relocate on the western outskirts of the village and begin using hit-and-run tactics on the Suna forces coming from that direction until further notice."

"Danzo-sama," the shinobi on the other side of the table called all of sudden. "We have confirmation on the foreigner's position. He is currently engaging the main force of the invaders in the eastern residential district."

"On his own?" Danzo found himself asking, a part of him genuinely curious about this unexpected turn of events.

"Yes, Danzo-sama," the ROOT shinobi nodded. "He is showing some unorthodox abilities but it seems that he is faring well, for now."

"How did he even get there?!" he asked with a frown. "The foreigners are supposed to be in custody!"

"Our observer reported that he summoned some sort of creature and used it to fly over the village. The ANBU in charge of him let him go."

Danzo's grip on his cane tightened for a moment.

What kind of fools had Sarutobi put on that guard detail? Even if that man happened to be related to both the Yondaime Hokage and Konoha's jinchuuriki, it didn't mean it was a sensible decision letting him to run amok unchecked. Especially during an invasion. He wasn't from the village, he wasn't a shinobi sworn to protect Konohagakure and the only place he should've spent the duration of his stay was a high-security cell.

But Sarutobi's judgement had once again been clouded by his emotions and the attachment to the jinchuuriki.

"What's the situation around the Hokage Mountain?" Danzo finally asked.

"The ANBU team in charge of the prisoners has split. Half of them are tailing the foreigner's summon as we speak, while the other half is keeping watch on the others."

"Danzo-sama, the first team reports a… please repeat, first team?" The second radio operator said, pausing as he listened intently to his headset, the faintest trace of disbelief in his voice. "A dragon," the shinobi said with a neutral tone, before looking up at him. "Danzo-sama, the first team reports sighting a dragon fighting with the snake that breached the southern wall."

"A dragon?" Danzo asked again despite hearing clearly the word previously. He had to make sure he has the correct word for his disbelief.

"Yes, Danzo-sama. A dragon. It was reported that it dived and took the giant snake with it then landed outside the walls of the village. Currently, these two were fighting each other," the ROOT shinobi confirmed.

Danzo remained silent for a long moment, pondering the implications of the foreigner being able to summon creatures straight out of legend of old. He was attacking the invaders, for now at least. But nothing was stopping him from turning on the Leaf at a moment's notice. Except if...

"Is the third team still getting in position?" he asked.

"Yes, Danzo-sama. They should be—"

"Tell them to pull back. I have a new objective for them," Danzo said somberly. It was time for Konoha to gain some leverage on this foreigner warrior.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!" someone was saying, shaking his shoulder for some reason.

"Mmmh, five more minutes, Uncle," he muttered, trying to roll over and get back to sleep.

"What are you—Nevermind that, just wake up!" The shaking grew harder to the point that he felt like his shoulder was about to break. He reluctantly opened his eyes.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto said, confused. The last thing he remembered was watching Sasuke fight against Gaara. Then feathers had fallen, and sleep overtook him. He sat up and looked around him. They were in a dark cave-like place: the only light streamed in from a small hole at the top. "What's wrong?"

"We're under attack, that's what's wrong. You were caught by a genjutsu."

"Wait, where are we?" Naruto asked getting a look around them. He could see some of his classmates, along with two people he didn't recognize who were arguing either with each other or with someone that sounded like Kiba.

"We're still in the stadium bleachers," Sakura told him.

"But, it's so dark—"

"That guy over there made the walls," she pointed at the bigger stranger in the corner. "And the ceiling."

"Let us out, you moron!" Kiba half-yelled, half-growled all of sudden.

"Like hell I am! The two of us are Iwa shinobi in the middle of Konoha during an invasion," the bigger guy pointed to himself and his teammate. "Our life expectancy out of these walls I made is lower than a snowflake's in a volcano!"

"I still believe that we could've just made our way to safety using explosive tags," the other Iwa nin muttered, crossing his arms. "Lots and lots of explosive tags..."

"Good idea, Yano. That's a great plan," the big guy said mockingly. "It would only cause the fourth shinobi world war, but that's no big deal, right?"

"Oh as if this bunker you made is going to withstand the fighting outside, Mizu."

"Hey!" Kiba shouted, concern written across his face. "My teammate is wounded, she needs to see a medic. You can't keep us here!"

"Wait, who's wounded?" Naruto asks, getting up.

"Hinata," Sakura explained, and Naruto noticed the prone figures of the young Hyuuga heiress and Shikamaru, both closely guarded by Shino. "We think her wounds reopened."

"What?"

"The wounds from her fight with Neji haven't completely healed," Sakura explained.

"Oh," Naruto said. He hoped she was going to be okay. "Was Shikamaru wounded, too?"

"No, he was just put to sleep, like you."

"To be honest, I didn't plan on including you in my bunker jutsu," Mizu volunteered in a meek tone. "It was an unfortunate accident."

"Then release us!" Kiba yelled, growling in an almost feral way. Although that may have been Akamaru from his jacket. It was hard to tell sometimes.

"Yeah! Let us go, you... you rock-eater!" Naruto said, catching everyone's attention.

"Rock-eater? Seriously?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, that was the best I could come up with," he muttered.

"Look, I'm not keeping you here or anything, alright?" the bigger Shinobi, Mizu, said, raising his arms in a placating matter. "But I am asking you guys to ensure our safety."

"Safety? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, tilting his head.

"Are you for real, kid?" Yano asked, pointing to the rocks on his forehead protector. "We might as well be wearing targets on our backs right now."

"Actually, we're wearing them on our heads," Mizu pointed out.

"Shut up, Mizu."

"Uh, right..." Naruto scrunched his face up in thought. "Well, we could just tell people you're not bad Iwa-nin?"

"Bad Iwa-nin?" they chorused in outrage, clearly insulted.

"I mean… you know… not bad people?" he tried to explain, not really helping his case, given the way they glared at him.

Before Naruto could try to clarify what he meant though, they all heard the sound of something metallic being banged against the concrete-made walls

"Mizu? Yano?" a muffled voice called. "Are you in there?"

"Kuro—Yuki-chan?!" Yano called loudly, saying the last part of the name in a hurried way for some reason. "Is that you?"

"No, it's the Yellow Flash," the voice called back in an annoyed tone. "Open up!"

"Fine, fine," Mizu grumbled, starting to form hand seals. Once he was finished one of the walls parted away, revealing Kakashi-sensei, Bushybrows-sensei, and a woman and a young girl with Iwa headbands.

"Sensei!" Naruto and Sakura cried out in relief.

"Yo," Kakashi said as a greeting while Gai dispatched an optimistic enemy that had tried to attack the group from behind. "Have you been making friends?"

"Sensei, what's going on?" Sakura asked anxiously. "There was a genjutsu, and then the Iwa genin raised a rock wall around us, and—"

"And Hinata is hurt!" Kiba exclaimed, moving closer to his teammate. "She needs a medic."

"We're under attack. But I'm sure you've already figured that out," Kakashi said as he entered the small alcove, glancing at the three members of Team Eight. "Kiba, Shino, we have a mission for you. You must escort your teammate to the hospital."

"Yosh! Don't you worry for your teammate, the hospital should still be safe," Gai exclaimed, before switching to a more serious tone. "But keep a low profile on the way there. Your goal is to take young Hinata to safety, not to put her in danger."

Kiba and Shino nodded, and without wasting time, started to pick up Hinata as carefully as they could.

"Ishina-sensei, Yuki-chan, are you alright?" Mizu asked in a carefully neutral tone, as Yano tensed beside him.

"I thought her name was Kuroyuki?" Naruto couldn't help but ask. At that, the Iwa woman sent a glare in his direction, but Naruto couldn't tell if it was directed at him, her students or both.

"Please stop looking that way at my students," Kakashi said calmly. "As for you two—and I mean Naruto and Sakura—you should go find Sasuke. He may be in trouble."

"In trouble?" Naruto asked..

"Last time I saw him, he was being chased by Gaara," Kakashi continued, "You too, Shikamaru. I know you're not asleep."

"Troublesome," said Nara muttered, slowly getting up.

"Wait, you weren't caught in the genjutsu?" Yano asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought no one would notice," Shikamaru explained as he dusted off his pants. "So I could just wait until the end of the invasion."

"Wow. You're either lazy or a coward," Kuroyuki said, not having spoken since the walls had been opened.

"Hey! Shikamaru is no coward!" Naruto yelled. "He's just lazy!"

"If he's unwilling to protect his village, then he should be called what he deserves," the young kunoichi said coldly, looking Naruto straight in the eyes.

"Meanwhile, Kakashi and I will stay here to protect our honorable guests from Iwa," Gai proclaimed, ignoring the genin's antics and, more importantly, speaking before anyone said something that could potentially end in bloodshed. "No harm shall fall on them—"

"Hey, who says that we need protection?" Yano challenged, crossing his arms.

"The fact that we're on our own in the middle of a warzone," Ishina pointed out. "In a Hidden Village that is not on friendly terms with ours."

"She has a point, guys," Kuroyuki said, a bit downcast.

"You three should hurry, you know," Kakashi said, looking at his students and Shikamaru.

"But, Sensei, how can we find Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Naruto was about to ask the same thing, honestly.

"Oh, right," Kakashi hummed as if he just remembered something. Then he crouched down, quickly formed a series of hand seals. As he slammed his palm on the ground, a sizeable burst of smoke appeared out of nowhere, revealing a small pug inside of it. "Hello, Pakkun."

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Jiraiya sat on the top of a roof in a half-crouched position, looking at the battle ensuing just a short distance away.

He had been ready to summon some of his toads to deal with the giant three-headed snake that had crashed through the village's wall, surely Orochimaru's doing.

Before the beast could even rampage through Konoha, though, a large dragon had suddenly appeared and engaged the other scaly beast. It carried the giant snake and dropped it on a distance away from the walls of the village. Jiraiya had to jump towards the high wall just to see what happened next.

He couldn't help but gawk at the creature in awe as he watched it giving no quarter to the much bigger reptile. The snake is obviously surprised at the sudden development and how it was dragged without its volition. He could hear the dragon even talking to the snake. From what he could interpret from their actions, it is likely to be making challenge to the larger reptile, which the snake replied with an aggressive loud hiss from its heads. The dragon roared and clashed with the three headed snake, making an echoing boom on their contact.

Sure, it was a bit thin and sickly-looking for some reason, but it was a dragon.

A real dragon!

Fighting a huge summon with three heads as war raged around the two beasts. Yet it wasn't even a genjutsu. He had checked.

He was so going to put this in one of his books, somehow.

But as much as he would've liked to stay and see which beast would come out victorious, the village was under attack and there were better ways to use his time than just spectating. Turning around, he saw the purple barrier looming by the stadium in the distance.

For some reason, he had a hunch that that was Orochimaru's doing, too.

After one final glance to the battling beasts to commit the scene to memory, and he was off, making a beeline for the stadium.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

"Yes, I repeat! We need backup!!! Now goddamnit!" a shinobi yelled for no apparent reason. Conrad didn't waste time wondering why the man had done such a thing and introduced the man's torso to the battleaxe he had conjured.

He had always preferred conjured weapons over bound ones. It just didn't feel right to fight with a weightless weapon. A shame that it was illegal summoning them, but thankfully, this wasn't Tamriel. So the chances of being spotted by one of the Vigilants of Stendarr were very low.

The corpse fell to the ground as he jerked the daedric weapon away.

A rustle of movement was all the warning he got before a shinobi lunged at him, weapons raised. Conrad took a quick step back and struck at the woman with the axe's handle, knocking her off-balance. She quickly got back on her feet, and charged again at the Nord. Conrad waved his hand and inscribed a rune in the ground between them. The Shinobi ran straight into it, either unable to stop her own dash or just not caring.

A wave of cold washed over Conrad as the ice rune exploded beneath the woman's feet, turning her in a macabre ice sculpture.

Conrad raised the battleaxe and let it fall straight on her head. The impact shattered most of it, along with part of her upper body. After what had happened the last time he had put a shinobi under ice, he had to be sure.

A yell from behind him made him turn, and he saw that another Nord was sharing his culture with the locals. This Nord had the unfair advantage of being a conjured ghost from Sovngarde though, so he didn't have to care about such petty things like injuries or death. And he was freaking out the shinobi for some reason.

Conrad moved closer to Hakon One-Eye, standing back-to-ethereal-back as the shinobi tried to reorganize themselves. He could see shapes running along the rooftops, which meant that someone had heard the cry for help from before, somehow. He used detect life once again and found that he is facing an army of them. At least they were less in numbers than the last Thalmors he wiped out. But the problem is that they were two times harder to kill than any elite soldier he had face, individually due to their guerilla tactics.

The prospect of having more people to fight didn't scare Conrad. On the contrary, his blood was boiling in anticipation. After weeks of being cooped up in either a cell or a small shack and being forced to play the part of the nice and reasonable prisoner, the thrill of battle was as welcome as a barrel of honey mead after a long day's work.

Sadly, he couldn't afford to waste time. He had to finish this quickly and find his nephew. Nothing else mattered. He wanted to summon the undead and more daedra but knowing that this was the beloved home city of his brother and nephew, he would try to contain his own destructive battle. But he also had to make these ignorant bastards know true fear so that they would always have second thoughts of trying to attack this city in the future. Just to be safe.

The idiots that were attacking him didn't seem to grasp that, though. One of them jumped high in the air all of sudden, easily reaching two stories of height like it was nothing. The airborne Shinobi threw a cluster of throwing stars at him. Conrad covered his eyes with his arm, grimacing. His skin may have been hardened by his spell, but his eyes were not.

He felt them slashing at his skin, scratching his arms and shoulders and landing behind him. As soon as the stars stopped buzzing around him, he heard some louder thumps around his feet.

Conrad opened his eyes to take a peek, and spotted four of those puny knife-like weapons planted in the ground, having missed his feet by a long margin. He was about to insult the Shinobi's aim when he heard a low hissing sound. Looking down, it seemed that it came from each of the small scrolls attached to the weapons' handle. Why would a scroll hiss?

A closer inspection, though, made him understand that the hissing didn't come from the scrolls themselves, but from what was scribbled on them. Interestingly, it almost reminded him of runes—

His eyes widening, Conrad immediately started running away from the scrolls. That's what saved his life in the end. He had not even got past Hakon, who was looking at him with a curious expression, before the runes detonated. The legendary hero absorbed the brunt of the explosion and was sent back to the halls of Sovngarde. Conrad got hit by the debris, flames and blastwave that sent him flying to the other side of the street.

As he landed with all the grace of a sack of onions thrown in a cart, he lost his grip on the daedric axe, which disappeared in a purple blur. He tried to get up as fast as he could, which given that he had just been caught in a small explosion, may as well have been a snail's pace.

Groaning, he managed to push himself to his knees before being struck from behind. Pain flashed through his back as his attacker came at him again and again, trying to slash at him with a sword. Each time, Conrad yelped in pain. It may not have wounded him because of his spell, but it still hurt like being struck with a mace. A sharp mace.

Conrad growled as he quickly became fed up with the hammering, grasping the dirt with his hands before channelling his Voice.

"Zun Haal Viik!" he roared as he turned around, and the sword went flying from the man's grasp. The Shinobi gaped at his empty hand for a brief moment, and Conrad threw the dirt he had in his fist, aiming for the Shinobi's face.

The shinobi saw it coming, though, and raised his arm to shield himself. Conrad rushed him as he got up, slamming the palm of his hands in the man's chest and shooting an electrical discharge at point blank.

The man opened his mouth in a silent cry, losing consciousness as his heart ceased functioning. Conrad gave him a little push and he fell down, spasming like a fish out of water as the energies from Conrad's spell ravaged his nervous system. The man was either dead or would probably die soon, but Conrad didn't care. He had other things to deal with.

He looked at the shinobi observing him from the rooftops, either readying their weapons or preparing some of their spells that required entirely too many complicated gestures to function.

He is wasting too much time. He had to end this with a bang to mark them with eternal fear. But first he has to make sure that there will be no unwanted collateral damage of innocent life. Using a large scale version of detect life, he found that there's no civilians nearby and there are only less than a hundred enemies that surrounds him. He was impressed at how the people of this city was so quick in evacuating.

Maybe they were quite used in being attacked so often that they knew the standard procedure?

He took those thoughts away and decided to focus on his prey before him. He only had to worry about property damage. That was a go signal.

"Spineless sons of a motherless skeever-scat—" Conrad had enough. He would unleash upon them all of his pent up frustrations, anger and stress that accumulated over the days. And he would do it with no mercy.

"MUL QAH!"

A single shout which the heavens answered with a highly concentrated beam of light instantly descending upon Conrad. It radiated with swirling heat, cold and pure dominant power.

Ignorance will be meet with death.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Sarutobi stopped his attack at the last instant, jumping back in a more guarded stance. Orochimaru did the same, and the two resurrected Senju stopped as well, having sensed a lull in the fight even if they had been reduced to nothing but soulless puppets.

Both master and former pupil never took their eyes off each other, as they both felt the sudden appearance of a powerful, menacing presence washing over the village. For a brief moment, it seemed like the fighting throughout the whole village subsided, as shinobi of both sides felt the same. Just as quickly as it had appeared, though, it faded. It didn't disappear, since Sarutobi was able to detect it in the distance, but it was now significantly less intense than when it had first manifested.

The battle around the village resumed.

"What was that?" Sarutobi couldn't help but ask loudly.

"That would be my question," Orochimaru said coolly. Even the traitor's minions, who were keeping the barrier up, seemed perplexed. "I was wondering when you would reveal your trump card, old man. But I wasn't expecting something like that."

"What are you talking about?" Hiruzen asked, skeptically.

"You know well what I'm talking about," Orochimaru sneered, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I don't have time for your mind games, my old student," Sarutobi said, preparing to spin Enma's adamantine form at his opponents.

"I know that you created a clone of Namikaze, sensei."

At this, Sarutobi almost dropped the staff, but he was able to catch himself just in time to not look like an old fool. "What," he said, flatly. He briefly wondered if he had just gone senile all of a sudden.

"I saw the blood test," Orochimaru offered as the only explanation. "I'm surprised that you would do that. A bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"You're the last person that should be lecturing me on hypocrisy," Sarutobi said dismissively. He had his own share of sin, but he had never sunk as low as Orochimaru. "I didn't allow such experiments, and I didn't clone—"

The Hokage's voice died in his throat as comprehension creeped subtly into his mind. Minato's twin. Orochimaru had probably planted at least one spy, maybe more, and one of them had stumbled upon the blood test he had ordered after Harissen-san's capture.

Not having the whole picture, Orochimaru had jumped to the most logical explanation. At least, logical for someone like him. Sarutobi wasn't sure which was more preposterous between a clone and a long-lost twin showing up out of nowhere, though.

He couldn't help but smirk at the idea.

"What's so funny, old man?" Orochimaru asked, annoyance crossing his face.

"Nothing," Hiruzen said with a small smile. "I just know something you don't." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, visibly annoyed.

Before the Snake Sannin could say anything, though, Jiraiya landed on the roof just outside of the barrier. The Toad Sannin gave a cold look at his former comrade, who reciprocated the look twofold. Then his attention moved to the wall of purple light with an interested look, feigning disinterested in his former comrade.

"Hello Jiraiya. So kind of you to join us," Sarutobi said as if he was greeting a genin showing up late.

"Too bad Tsunade-hime isn't here, sensei. It would've been a great reunion," Jiraiya said, rubbing his chin as he surveyed the barrier. "Hmn. This one is going to be tricky."

"You may want to hurry," he told his former student, as his other former student opened his mouth wide. With a disgusting sound, the hilt of Orochimaru's trademark sword started to emerge from his throat. Sarutobi spun the staff in a low arc to stop him from unsheathing Kusanagi. Before he could make contact, a tree exploded from the roof they were standing on. Enma crashed against the tree, scraping away bark and wood alike but not even coming close to his intended target.

The Nidaime moved behind Sarutobi, hands so fast that he could barely follow them. Sarutobi substituted himself with one of the still intact shingles and evaded a powerful water jutsu that would've surely thrown him against the barrier, if not outright killed him on the spot.

"Don't rush me, old man," Jiraiya calmly said as he produced ink, scrolls, and other sealing materials.

The two former Kage rushed forward, and Sarutobi was thrust into battle once again, hoping that his student would bring down the barrier in time.