Rasa watched Hiruzen Sarutobi jump back under the assault of his golden dust, and as Orochimaru followed the Hokage, Rasa turned around, not giving chase.

The initial plan was to rampage with his wide-area techniques across Konoha, demolishing a large chunk of the village while attracting a large amount of the stronger Konoha defenders toward him to let his ninjas raid and kill more freely.

They could cause disastrous damage within an hour, proving Sunagakure’s might, and then swiftly retreat before Konoha could muster a proper, organized resistance. Orochimaru and his forces were nothing but another layer of distraction.

It was a good plan.

But…

Rasa’s eyes fell on the two exhausted S-rank kunoichi inside the arena, and his expression grew cold.

He couldn’t let them live.

For the prosperity and peace of mind of Sunagakure, they needed to die today!

Pushing his speed to its absolute maximum, Rasa sprang forth toward the two girls in the arena, overtaken only by his massive, heavy waves of golden dust that threatened to flood the area.

It had been barely five seconds since the white feathers filled the arena and the chaos started. Hinata and Ino had their own plans. But before they could start helping the defense, a massive shadow covered them. Looking up, their eyes widened as a small mountain of golden dust was about to drop on them.

The girls quickly exchanged a glance, mentally communicating before Hinata gained a displeased look when she lost the mental rock-paper-scissors game, and dealing with the attack fell to her.

But their match was over. As such, their restrictions no longer mattered. Now it was time to put on the big girl pants.

Hinata closed her eyes and her eyebrows furrowed in intense focus as lightning chakra flooded her body, sending arcs of lightning connecting various body parts with the ground as they slithered like snakes.

She then clenched her fist, strengthening her already exceptional chakra reinforcement with lightning chakra as she reeled her arm back, and more chakra flooded it.

The chakra pressure she exuded in that moment of preparation gave even Ino shivers and made her hair stand as she recognized a minor, bastardized application of Hinata’s Railgun.

Then, Hinata swung her fist.

…

On the outskirts of Konoha, a certain Jonin was happily humming under his mask while hopping on tree branches while reading a certain innocent orange book.

What a nice day they were having! The world could not get more peaceful.

“Bastard! Let me go!” The broody boy, tightly tied with a rope and bent over his shoulder like a particularly loud sack of potatoes, let out a shrill scream. “You hear me!? I am going to stick a kunai so far up your lazy ass you will be vomiting steel for a month!”

Just then, the said certain Jonin jumped just a teensy bit too high, and if the tied boy hadn’t quickly wiggled and ducked down, the top of his head would have been bashed against a thick branch.

Opsie?

“Oi! Kakashi!” Sasuke madly barked, seething so much that it was a small wonder he was not frothing at the mouth.

The now named Jonin, Kakashi, blinked and slightly tilted his head. “Hm? You said something, Sasuke-chan?” He cheerfully asked with an eye smile as Sasuke had to wiggle to the right to evade being face-planted into a tree trunk.

“My match! I am late!” Sasuke screeched, pushing against the chakra-reinforced ropes as he tried to escape.

“Hmm…” Kakashi sagely nodded. “That’s a problem, isn’t it?” He nonchalantly quipped before leaving a small pause. Only then did he shrug, very coincidentally throwing Sasuke’s body slightly up. Sasuke didn’t manage to react in time and was whipped by a thin branch straight in the middle of his face, causing him to howl in pain.

“Nothing we can do about that, I guess.” Kakashi added as he caught Sasuke’s body with his shoulder again, digging deep into Sasuke’s stomach with it.

That would teach the boy coming to his training in green spandex.

“The Chunin Exams…!” Sasuke wheezed, gritting his teeth through the pain as tears filled his eyes.

“Eh? Didn’t you say we are already late, Sasuke-chan? You were probably already disqualified. Why not let it go? There will be the next Exams, too.” Kakashi lazily said, waving his orange book in the air to add some flair to that statement. “Let’s just go eat some ramen instead. Your treat!”

“Fuck no!” Sasuke vehemently protested with a pain-filled squeak. “Let me go! I am going to fight that Suna freak!” He stubbornly insisted, making Kakashi wearily blink.

“You sure?”

“Yes!”

“Sigh. Kids nowadays.” Kakashi grumpily drawled as they neared the village, but he did slightly change the direction of his tree-hopping.

To be honest, he didn’t want Sasuke to fight Gaara. That Suna boy was a trouble.

Plus, with Orochimaru lurking in the shadows…

Kakashi’s mission for this month was to protect Sasuke. Surprisingly, nothing really happened during their training. So, the only logical conclusion was that Orochimaru was going to strike during the finals.

With that in mind, wouldn’t it make sense to simply… not go?

Today, when the little, wide-eyed Sasuke-chan was about to go on his way back to Konoha, eager for his match, Kakashi captured him and tied him up. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. The boy stood no chance.

Unfortunately, as a ninja of Konoha, he had to toe the line. Being late can be somewhat acceptable. Especially with Kakashi being Sasuke’s Jonin Instructor.

He could shoulder the blame for it. No biggie.

But not showing up at all? Now, that would cause a lot of trouble. Therefore, Kakashi’s plan was to come to the Exams with Sasuke near the end.

The kid would be told he was disqualified.

He would cry. He would complain. He would scream!

And Kakashi would pat him on the head.

Then, they could go back to their ordinary lives of killers for hire. They would leave the arena, dodging any nefarious scheme from Orochimaru, and maybe go for a ramen together with Naruto and Sakura.

His plan was impeccable. Nothing could go wrong!

Kakashi burst from the treeline and landed on a nearby rooftop with a practiced ease before he started hopping through the village, heading toward the arena.

He was halfway there when massive waves of golden dust burst into the air out of nowhere above the arena, and Kakashi instantly recognized the technique.

The Kazekage was attacking somebody.

Chill went down Kakashi’s spine, and his good mood instantly evaporated. His sole eye tracked the massive waves as they started crashing down…

And Kakashi’s mood dimmed even more as he realized many spectators and ninjas would be crushed if it were not prevented. This was no defensive move. No. The Kazekage was attacking. And that meant the Suna was also attacking Konoha.

Sasuke’s continuous struggle and shouts brought no more joy to Kakashi as he noticed with the corner of his eye a massive purple barrier spring up on a rooftop near where the Kage booth was located.

Just seeing its purple color gave him another bad premonition as he recognized the technique. He quietly and gravely sped up toward the arena with solemn determination, hoping he would not be too late.

Just as the waves of golden dust halfway disappeared under the walls of the arena, about to crush whatever poor bastard was inside… and Kakashi dearly hoped it was not Naruto… suddenly, a deafening thunderclap resounded throughout the entire village. To Kakashi and anybody else, it sounded as if lightning struck right next to them.

Kakashi stumbled as his eyes widened upon seeing the thick, mountain-sized waves of heavy golden dust being instantly blown apart, leaving only small glittering grains of gold sprayed high in the air across the clear sky above Konoha. And in between them, a pulsing pillar of highly condensed lightning chakra shone, rising from the arena toward the sky and piercing one of the clouds.

‘So, that caused the thunderclap.’ Kakashi idly thought with a baffled expression under his mask, honestly speechless at how good at lightning release somebody would have to be to do something like that.

He had a hard time looking away from the slowly dispersing cloud around the still-present, but slowly disappearing pillar of lightning chakra.

Kakashi’s instincts suddenly flared. Danger!

His eyes widened, and he just barely managed to brace himself with his chakra while crouching down, covering Sasuke with his body as the shockwave from the technique swept past them, almost blowing them back with its force, while their organs slightly rattled alongside the nearby windows.

Then, the air wave followed and their hair flayed wildly alongside their flapping clothes, but Kakashi straightened up despite that, recognizing that the dangerous part had passed.

‘What the hell is going on over there?’ He silently asked himself as he gazed toward the arena with trepidation.

His fists clenched. One thing was for certain. Something was very, very wrong. He needed to hurry up and get there.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep