In the arena's spectator stands, chaos reigned.
"Protect the civilians! Evacuate according to plan! Withdraw in an orderly fashion to corridors C3 and D5!"
Roars, orders, the clash of blades, the crack of ninjutsu, and the sudden eruption of terrified screams mingled together, sweeping through the entire Chunin Exam arena. One moment, the genin had been awestruck watching Sasuke face Shukaku's colossal claw; the next, the sudden violence left them stunned.
"What's happening?!" Haruno Sakura shot up from the railing. Her emerald eyes widened in disbelief. Below and around her, the once-orderly stands were now utter bedlam.
Civilians fled in panic, shoving and tripping over one another. Yet, through the tide of confusion, agile figures surged upstream. Some pounced on disguised "spectators" who had suddenly lashed out, while others swiftly guided the innocent toward designated exits. Those guides were unmistakably Konoha shinobi. Among them, Sakura recognized several familiar chunin and even a few senior jonin.
"What's going on?! Those people... weren't they civilians?" Yamanaka Ino stood as well, her pale-gold ponytail whipping through the air. She pointed at several "merchants" below who had just torn off their disguises and were now locked in fierce combat with Konoha shinobi.
"Enemy attack... Suna and Oto," Nara Shikamaru muttered, his brow tightly knit. His eyes swept the area before he quickly concluded, "Looks like we've been kept in the dark. This isn't a spur-of-the-moment incident. The village was prepared."
"What?!" Akimichi Choji's bag of chips slipped from his grasp. He stared at Shikamaru. "Prepared? Then we..."
"Maybe we're part of the bait," Shikamaru said succinctly. "Or rather, the 'uninformed' who make the show look real."
"How could this be..." Sakura murmured. Suddenly remembering the match, she whirled to look down at the center of the arena.
An even fiercer melee had erupted there. Scores of Konoha shinobi were clashing with Suna-ninja over the jinchuriki, Gaara.
Baki and his Suna team, lured into a well-prepared Konoha trap, were being steadily driven back. And Sasuke was right in the thick of it!
"Sasuke-kun!" Instinctively, Sakura prepared to leap from the stands.
"Wait, Sakura!" Ino seized her arm. "It's too chaotic down there! And—"
She never finished her sentence. Several figures landed in their section of the stands. Their jonin instructors had arrived: Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Yamato, who had just stepped away from command duties below.
"Sensei!" Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, and the others cried out in unison.
"Situation critical. Here is the short version," Kakashi said, his visible eye devoid of its usual laziness. "Suna and Oto have joined forces to assault the village. They are calling it the Konoha Crush Plan."
Though they had guessed as much, hearing it confirmed by Kakashi still sent a jolt through the genin.
"We obtained advance intelligence," Asuma continued, the cigarette in his mouth long since extinguished. "To avoid tipping our hand and to draw as many hidden enemies as possible into the trap, ordinary citizens and you examinees weren't informed beforehand."
Kurenai stood beside him, her normally gentle face now grave. "The plan is underway. The enemy's first strike has been countered. Your mission is to follow the chunin guide squads, withdraw via the preset safe corridors, and assemble at Shelter Three! Barrier and medical teams are waiting there."
"But... Sasuke—" Sakura blurted, her gaze sweeping the chaotic arena below. The intensity of the battle horrified the young genin, who had never known war.
Kakashi's gaze flicked across the field, lingered for an instant on Sasuke, and then snapped back. "The fight inside the arena is being handled. Obey orders and withdraw, now!" His tone brooked no argument.
"Y-yes, sir!" Sakura clenched her teeth and forced herself to look away.
"Move!" Yamato waved his hand, and two masked Anbu dropped onto the edge of the stands. "Stick with them! Keep formation and do not panic!"
Similar scenes were unfolding in the nearby sections.
"Kiba! Shino! Follow!" Kurenai ordered Team Eight.
"Yes, Kurenai-sensei!"
"Lady Hinata, stay close." A Hyuga branch jonin appeared beside Hyuga Hinata, his expression stern.
"I-I understand," Hinata whispered. Her fingers twined together nervously as her eyes kept drifting downward. Naruto was still in the contestants' lounge!
Down below, the center of the arena was far more violent and perilous than the stands suggested.
Clang! Clang! Kunai and shuriken collided in mid-air, spraying a shower of sparks.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Simple but effective ninjutsu detonated inside the cramped space, sending dust and gravel flying everywhere. Sunagakure's infiltrating elites and Konoha's counter-force fought a no-holds-barred battle on what had, only minutes earlier, been a tournament ground.
"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?!"
On the far side of the chaos, Uchiha Sasuke leaned against the broken remnant of an earth wall, gasping for breath. The twin tomoe of his Sharingan spun wildly as he tried to make sense of the sudden turmoil.
He had only come to take the Chunin Exams! He only wanted to beat his opponents in the official matches, prove himself, and earn the rank! So why had the entire arena suddenly turned into a battlefield? Sunagakure, Otogakure, and even Konoha... everyone had thrown off all pretense and were killing one another right on the field!
His question was about to be answered.
"Uchiha Sasuke!" a low shout rang out.
Sasuke snapped his head around, his Sharingan locking onto the newcomer. It was the proctor from earlier, Gekko Hayate. The special jonin's face showed none of its usual sickly pallor. His eyes were sharp, and the shinobi blade in his hand was blood-stained—proof he had just come from battle.
"Get out of here, now!" Hayate ordered at lightning speed, his gaze sweeping warily around the area. "This isn't where you should be!"
"What the hell is going on?!" Instead of retreating, Sasuke stepped forward, his eyes fixed on Hayate. "Sunagakure and Otogakure... why are they attacking? And why does it look like Konoha was ready for it?!"
Hayate glanced at him, then toward the ever-intensifying clash in the distance. "Sunagakure and Otogakure joined forces to hit the village. It's the Konoha Crush Plan. We intercepted intel early and turned their trap against them." He paused, his gaze returning to Sasuke's face. The proctor's eyes carried a heavy weight that the young boy had not yet learned to bear. "This isn't an exam. It's not a match. This is war."
War!!
The word sent a shiver down Sasuke's spine. In the Ninja Academy textbooks and history lessons, the term always felt distant. It was something that belonged to their parents, to earlier eras, and to bullet points memorized for written tests. He had never imagined it would rip through the peace of everyday life and crash into his reality.
Seeing his shock, Hayate offered quiet reassurance. "Don't fear the battle. Lord Third, Lord Jiraiya, and... Lord Tejima will lead us to crush the enemy."
"Yeah... understood," Uchiha Sasuke answered reflexively. Then, he froze.
What had Hayate just said?
Lord... Tejima?! He knew exactly who Hayate meant: Tejima Shinichi. A graduate of his same year who had left everyone in the dust, taken as a personal student by the Third Hokage. Calling him a genius fell short; only the label 'monster' could do him justice. But... Lord? A special jonin addressing a twelve-year-old genin with such deference?
Hayate caught the instantaneous stiffness and the storm of doubt brewing in Sasuke's eyes. He frowned slightly, then understood. This Uchiha prodigy was still trapped in a Chunin Exam rivalry, completely oblivious to the higher-level chain-of-command changes enacted during an emergency.
"Seems you're out of the loop. Listen, Sasuke. Right now, rank and age don't matter. The village is on its highest alert. Only strength, duty, and the Hokage's orders count. One month ago, at a high-level council, Tejima Shinichi—by virtue of the absolute power he demonstrated, his Wood Release inheritance, and his advance warning of this attack—was granted temporary special command authority by the Third Hokage. His status and authority..." Hayate paused, his voice firm. "...equal that of Lord Jiraiya's and Lady Tsunade's during the Third Shinobi World War."
"He, alongside the Hokage and Lord Jiraiya, now forms the three supreme pillars supporting Konoha against the invaders. Hence, addressing him as 'Lord' is wartime protocol. It is a sign of respect for the burden and power he carries, and a consensus among everyone in the know—including me."
Boom! Those words churned Sasuke's insides far more violently than the earlier mention of war. It was more intense, more... shattering.
Three supreme pillars? Status equal to Jiraiya and Tsunade?! He didn't yet know who those two were, but the titles alone sounded overwhelming.
"When did Shinichi reach that level?!" Sasuke's voice trembled. His breathing hitched, blood rushing to his head as his ears rang.
Proud as he was, having set defeating that man as his life's goal, he had viewed classmates like Tejima Shinichi, Hyuga Neji, and even Uzumaki Naruto, as mere rivals to surpass—nothing more. Never had he imagined that, before the contest had even truly begun, one of them had already leapt past genin, chunin, and even jonin, reaching a station that demanded a special jonin's reverent "Lord"!
Hayate allowed no more time for digestion. "Your chakra is drained. Your fight with Gaara proved your strength, but withdraw now to Shelter Three and regroup with the other genin. That's an order!"
Sasuke's lips pressed into a tight line, yet he obeyed.
"Alright.." he spat, spinning on his heel to sprint down the corridor.
Wind howled past him as the sounds of slaughter faded behind. Yet, his mind thundered on.
Three supreme pillars... Lord Shinichi... 'On my own, I'm too slow,' he thought. 'So slow I might never catch that prodigy, let alone... defeat him.'
As he retreated, Sasuke felt a surge of frustration, quickly followed by an unexpected wave of relief....
...The one standing at that unreachable height was Tejima Shinichi. He felt relieved that someone so powerful seemed willing to guide others.
'Since going at it alone is too slow...' Sasuke never broke his stride, but his gaze hardened with resolve. 'I'll seize the fastest shortcut in front of me.'
"Tejima Shinichi!" Sasuke roared aloud, his voice echoing down the stone passage. "I'm sticking with you! From you, I'll take every ounce of strength I need!"
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