Chapter 30.1- Gamer of the Desert

If there was one thing about the finals that I had to say stood out, it was just how much of it we got to see before the stone nin sprung their inevitable ambush. Sasuke and Dosu Kinata had spent ten minutes dancing around the arena in a display of good taijutsu until the Uchiha fell prey to the Sound genin’s device one too many times and ended the fight with a chidori to the chest. I’d wondered if Kakashi would have taught the move without a psychotic jinchuriki present to warrant the need for it. But maybe the incoming invasion from two rival villages was enough to give him the needed kick up the arse.

Either way, the next two matches had been able to go on as planned, and after Uzumaki Naruto failed to even so much as land a blow on Rock Lee, and Kankuro forfeited after a long battle with Hyuga Neji, it was time for Shira and the stone nin. Daisuke, his name was. From the moment he stepped on the arena, I felt a tension in my bones. This was it. The Kage booth had been silent as the grave as we all watched the matches. The tension of what we all seemingly saw coming was enough to make things quite a bit awkward. After allying with Hiruzen officially, he’d been kind of enough to let me know about the true reasons the invasion was being allowed to move forward. He needed the time to evacuate all the civilians, and he wanted to use the invasion as proper justifications for war reparations from Stone and Sound. I could see the reasoning. I wouldn’t have done it if I sat in his place, but that was why he was the Hokage and I was the Kazekage.

When Daisuke’s match began, Shira jumped forwards to attack, and the boy smiled sardonically before my sand snatched my genin in a cacoon. It was not a second too soon as the stone nin exploded in the middle of the arena, covering the stadium in smoke from the shockwave.

With my sand floating about, I could just about sense what was going on in the arena, and it was pandemonium. Ninja ran across the aisles touching people and making them explode? Stone nin, then. Definitely explosion corps. Of course. Some other ninja were already moving to intercept them, but I could already tell that the death toll would be well into the hundreds. I checked in on Ebizo and my siblings with the clone that they had with them, and they were already halfway out of the village. Good.

When my attention fully returned to the situation, Hiruzen had already been tossed to the rooftop and was faced with both Orochimaru and Ohnoki. They;d ignored me. How drab. In a blur of sand, I reformed on the roof right next to Hiruzen as four shinobi- Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, and both of Orochimaru’s hooded guards- stood on all the corners of the roof and began to go through handsigns. I almost actually laughed as the barrier technique was formed. Guess the more things changed, the more things remained the same.

“Hiruzen, Hiruzen, Hiruzen. You’ve definitely lost it. The God of Shinobi I knew in my youth would have seen this coming from a mile away and smited us all. He definitely wouldn’t have needed an upstart to stand at his side to fight his battles.”

“The Ohnoki I knew never needed such tactics. So I guess we’ve both changed with the times” The Hokage said with a smirk that shone through his voice as he took off his hat and robes to reveal his pure black battle outfit. The Tsuchikage, in a similar vein, floated into the air before removing his own coverings and appearing in a split apart green coat divided into four sections with yellow trimmings, and red collar. Floating in the air above us, he seemed to sneer.

Orochimaru’s reveal was much less dramatic. The Sannin just took off his hat while laughing hysterically. “Such a surprise, Gaara-chan. Kukukuuuu” Ignoring him was the best bet, and it was exactly what I did. When the battle began, it was on Hiruzen’s terms as Orochimaru was forced to abandon his laughter in favour of weaving seals to form a water wall to shield him from the Hokage’s great fireball.

Spotting the opportunity, I weaved two seals of my own before slamming my palm forwards, enhancing and stoking the flames with my great breakthrough. Orochimaru’s water wall was a poor defence in the end and he was forced to dive into the roof to escape the explosion from the fireball. Ohnoki, on the other hand, just stared at the rest of us, not weaving seals at all.

In the end, it was Hiruzen that saved my life by kicking me in the chest. I was about to scream betrayal, until a blast of light flew right where I’d been less than a second ago. The blast hit the roof and continued on as everything it touched ceased to exist.

“Ohnoki the fencesitter is not just a master of the dust release. Like his sensei before him, he is also capable of camouflaging his appearance with water release.” As Hiruzen spoke, the Ohnoki that had floated before us collapsed into rocks as another one faded into existence a few meters away from me.

“Unlike his master, however, Ohnoki’s technique is not perfect. Watch for a tell tale haze or use that sand-sensing ability of yours to sus out his position.” I almost did a double take at Hiruzen somehow figuring out that I could sense things through my sand.

“If either of you were going to live past today, I’d tell you that you’d get used to it” Ohnoki spoke with a scowl on his face, but this time I was ready for the surprise and my body flowed around the attack as I transformed my midsection into sand and let the light blast part as I opened space in my sandy form for it to do so.

I shoved my inventory open and let the sand flow out around me and seep into the rest of the rooftop battlefield. It went around, forming a solid layer of sand on the flooring, apart from a three inch circle around where Orochimaru stood. Hiruzen seemed fine with letting my sand touch him, showing his faith in this marriage of convenience. Ohnoki just floated, unhindered and unbothered by the sudden change in the situation.

A/N; I’m probably going to focus entirely on Gaara v Ohnoki for the rest of the fight and let the Hiruzen battle fall to the wahyside, but best believe some elements of that fight will affect this one.