My New Life is Harder Than Expected(Naruto SI-Waifu Catalog) (Patreon)

Chapter 22

“Let the Chunin Exam Finals finally begin!” Declared Hiruzen at the top of his voice receiving cheers from the crowd.

“So, it’s the pipsqueak vs the shorty first huh?” Kushina asked rhetorically back from getting snacks and sitting on my left.

“Still mad at him?” I asked curiously looking at the redhead from the corner of my eye remembering what she had told me of their encounter.

“No but I don’t like the kid much if I’m being honest. Too immature.” She answered honestly. “And would you look at that, the pipsqueak already took him out.”

Looking down at the arena I saw the form of Naruto on his back with Hanabi standing in front of him in the traditional Gentle Fist stance having just closed his tenketsu points based on what I felt of the teen.

“Hoh, is that the fox’s power?” Izumi asked curiously with her Sharingan active noticing how a red chakra suddenly surrounded the boy and reopened his tenketsu points.

“Yep, not that it will help the kid.” I said in a knowing tone.

True enough as soon as Naruto got up again Hanabi was already upon him not giving him the opportunity to do anything as she sealed his chakra again and this time knocked him out by hitting a pressure point on his neck.

“That was quick.” Izumi said with a small sweat drop deactivating her Sharingan after confirming that Naruto was really down this time. “Though I guess that’s to be expected based on your ‘talents’.”

“Mn…” I muttered waving down at Hanabi with a smile when I saw her look for me before waving enthusiastically when she found me.

“Worried about them?” Kushina asked in a small whisper making sure we weren’t overhead.

“Yeah…” I admitted freely especially as a moment later Sasuke’s match was postponed with Kankuro forfeiting his after that.

The next match between Temari and Hinata was then announced forcing my concentration back down to the arena.

“Don’t worry Akari, they’ll be okay.” Kushina said in a reassuring tone as she held my hand with her own.

I could only nod my head as I silently observed Hinata’s match letting a smile grow my face when I saw Hinata performing the Kaiten to defend from one of Temari’s wind attacks.

“Four eyes is here.” Izumi whispered in my ear.

“Yeah, I noticed him a minute ago.” I whispered back then looked at her from the corner of my eye. “Make sure he doesn’t escape.”

Izumi narrowed her eyes at that with her Sharingan activating and her 3 tomoe began spinning merging to create another pattern for a moment before it disappeared a second later showing her regular black eyes again. “Right.”

Focusing on the match again I beheld Hinata quickly taking down Temari once she managed to force the girl into close combat which was the latter’s weakness.

“Seems my days as a Sensei are over.” I muttered quietly offering a wave to Hinata who like her sister was quick to search for me on the crowd and offer me a shy yet determined smile.

“Seems that way.” Kushina and Izumi said at the same time.

“Just in time too.” I said looking to the top of the stadium for a moment before Kakashi and Sasuke suddenly appeared in the middle of the arena standing back-to-back.

“Ugh what’s that word you sometimes use to describe something painful to watch? Oh yeah. That’s cringe.” Kushina muttered with a deadpan commenting on their entrance and especially Sasuke’s new edgy look.

“Super cringe.” Izumi said in a monotone.

“Get ready, I can already sense a large amount of chakra signatures at the edge of my senses. It looks like it’s happening as planned after all.” I warned in a quiet whisper.

Getting nods from the two girls I mentally prepared myself for what I had been planning to do for years now.

=====

(Kage Viewing Platform, Mei POV)

‘Tsk, when are the exams going to be over? I want to have my date with Akari-kun already.’ Mei thought in displeasure doing her best not to pout.

The past few months without him had been almost torture for her with the only thing keeping her mind occupied was all her duties as the Mizukage keeping her busy for most of the day.

Heck, Mei had been so busy that she hadn’t even been able to call him with the kunai that he gifted her. There was many a time that she was tempted to just call him over in the evening but by the time she was finished with her duties it was always late at night and she decided against it.

“What did you think of the last match Mei-dono?”

Blinking at being addressed, Mei turned her head towards the owner of the voice and saw the Hokage looking at her expectantly.

‘Crap! I totally spaced out and didn’t hear what he said! Oh! The match, right.’ Mei thought in embarrassment with a small blush appearing on her cheeks for a second before she willed it away.

“It was a well fought match. The girl clearly shows the aptitude of a Chunin. Pardon me for asking Hokage-dono but this girl and the girl from the previous match were both taught by the same Sensei, correct?” Mei responded to the question and asked one of her own.

“That’s correct.” Hiruzen nodded in agreement. “You actually already know him Mei-dono. The Sensei of those two is young Akari-kun.” He revealed with a slightly teasing tone that was noticed by Mei causing her blush to return.

“I see. Thank you.” ‘Hmph, surrounded by pretty girls as always huh?’ Mei thought in slight jealousy.

Seeing the crowd suddenly cheer at something Mei looked down at the arena and saw that Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake had finally arrived.

‘Sasuke Uchiha huh?’ Mei thought curiously looking at one of the last remaining members of the Uchiha Clan just like Akari.

A few minutes later after observing his fight with the son of the Kazekage who was sitting on the other side of the Hokage, Mei had only one thing to say about the young teen.

‘Weak. Is this boy really a member of the same clan as Akari? Or did Akari leave such an impression on me that everyone else appears weak in comparison?’ Mei contemplated curiously not finding anything special about the teen at all other than he was slightly handsome.

“Not as much as my Akari-kun of course~” Mei whispered with a slightly lewd smile on her face recalling Akari’s perfect face and body.

“Hmm did you say something Mei-dono?”

Mei inwardly froze in place at the voice before silently cursing in her mind. ‘Damn! I said that out loud, didn’t I?’

“Oh, my apologies Hokage-dono I was lost in thought for a moment.” Mei dismissed with a wave of her hand not even looking in the man’s direction.

“Of course.”

Mei fought off the urge to say something to the old man after hearing the teasing tone in his voice.

Hearing a loud chirping sound Mei refocused her attention on the match to catch the sight of the young Uchiha running straight at his opponent with his hand shrouded in lightning.

‘Chidori huh?’ Mei thought curiously this being the first time seeing the technique in action that had made Kakashi Hatake famous.

The Kazekage’s son Gaara, became the new victim of the technique based on the screams of pain he released when the technique connected.

‘It’s over.’ Mei thought silently watching as the sand protecting the boy retreated revealing Gaara holding his bleeding shoulder in pain.

There was silence in the stadium for a moment before Mei’s danger senses kicked in and she immediately jumped back taking her guard with her avoiding the kunai thrown her way with explosive tags tied at the end of them.

‘An attack!?’ Mei thought frantically immediately taking in her surroundings narrowing her eyes as a smoke bomb went off a moment later obscuring her vision.

“Stay alert Chojuro!” Mei barked at the guard at her side causing the teen to immediately unsheathe his blade and stand on guard in front of her.

“Hai!”

A moment later another explosive went off when she noticed the Kazekage sneak up on the Hokage, hold him in a choke hold and jumping away with the Hokage in tow.

‘Suna is attacking!?’ Mei thought in confusion for a second before shaking those thoughts away and deciding to lend a helping hand to the Hokage.

“Chojuro! Help the Leaf shinobi deal with this mess while I help the Hokage.” Mei ordered before following after her fellow kage not waiting for a response.

Landing a good distance away from them Mei noticed four sound ninja in each corner of the building but paid it no mind for now.

“What’s the meaning of this Kazekage-dono?” Mei asked with a glare directed at the man.

“It doesn’t concern you.” The Kazekage said looking at her for a brief moment before barking out orders. “Do it!”

“Gyaku Kuchinose no Jutsu (Reverse Summoning Technique).”

Mei felt goosebumps in the back of her neck when she sensed a new chakra signature appear from the summoning scroll used by one of the sound ninja.

“Kukukuku… Long time no see Sarutobi-sensei~”

=====

(Regular POV)

BOOOM!!

‘Right on time!’ I thought immediately getting to my feet along with the girls. “Be safe.” I whispered before jumping down into the viewing platform not hearing their response.

“Sensei!?” Hanabi asked in a surprised tone causing Hinata and Yakumo to turn in my direction as well with relieved looks on their faces. “What’s going on!?”

“We’re being invaded by Sand and Sound.” I said bluntly only to stop for a second to roundhouse kick somebody trying to sneak up behind me snapping their neck and sending them flying. “Team 6! I have a mission for you.”

Blinking at the shocking news I just shared, they stayed silent for a moment processing what I just said before straightening their backs and looking at me in attention. “Hai.”

“I need you three to head to the Ninja Academy and help the teachers evacuate the students to the shelters.” I ordered knowing they would be relatively safe there due to the place being a high priority target.

“Hai.”

“Good, let’s go! I will open a path for you.”

Without further delay I jumped down and lead the way all the while killing anyone that dared to get too close before finally making it to the top of the stadium and turning to the girls.

“This is where I leave you. Be careful out there.” I said pulling the three girls in for a group hug for a second ignoring their surprised gasps and disappearing a moment later.

It was time deal with the trash.

=====

All around the village the sounds of explosions and screams could be heard as Shinobi fought against Shinobi.

Strangely enough though the invading party was a lot less than one would normally expect when it was two villages attacking with one of them being a major village that had a military force of about 10 thousand soldiers.

Instead of thousands of shinobi flooding the village killing everything in their path, only a few hundred could be seen at most something that the invading force was also starting to notice making them nervous.

“Tsk, where the hell is everybody else?”

“Don’t those idiots realize that we won’t be getting another opportunity like this in the future?”

“We all got the signal at the same time so why are there so few of us?”

Unbeknownst to them, back at the area where they had all gathered before the invasion began, was a scene straight out of a nightmare.

2 huge piles of corpses numbering in the thousands could be found in a clearing with their blood forming a big puddle in the middle dying the grass red. Every now and then a new corpse would appear from up in the air in a blue flash just adding to the gruesome scene.

=====

(Outskirts of Konoha, Temari POV)

Flee.

That was the only thought currently going through Temari’s mind at this moment as she and Kankuro carried their injured little brother out of the Leaf Village and most specifically away from that monster.

Ever since first meeting Akari Senju Temari knew in the back of her mind that their invasion was bound to fail. After all, by now the whole Shinobi World knew that Akari Senju had inherited the infamous Mokuton capable of taming Tailed Beasts.

Gaara, her bloodthirsty little brother who feared no one, had been terrified of the guy when in one move Akari immobilized him and almost took his life.

That’s why even if it went against her father’s, the Kazekage, orders Temari had chosen to retreat the moment her brother had been injured by Sasuke Uchiha and the signal for the attack was given.

Her heart had almost stopped when Temari caught sight of Akari as he clashed with Baki-sensei before breathing in relief when she saw that he was leading his students somewhere and paid no attention to them.

“Temari!”

Temari was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Kankuro’s terrified shout as he came to a sudden stop almost causing her to lose her balance.

Looking forward Temari felt her blood freeze as standing in front of them was none other than the person she was just thinking about.

“Yo. Going somewhere dear guests?” Akari asked them with a relaxed smile on his face as he was just talking about the weather.

“We’re dead.” Temari whispered in despair.

=====

(Underground Root Headquarters, Danzo POV)

“Danzo-sama, the village is currently under attack by the combined forces of Suna and Sound under the command of Orochimaru.” A masked Anbu said while kneeling in front of his desk.

“I’m aware.” Danzo said simply not looking up from the current documents he was reading.

“Are we not to provide aid?”

“The Leaf will be fine without our assistance. Jiraiya is here along with Akari Senju.” Danzo said still not looking up from his desk. “If everything goes correctly this could be my opportunity to finally become Hokage.”

“For now, make sure to monitor Akari Senju from a distance. I want to know how strong he’s gotten since he defeated the Yondaime Mizukage. He could well pose a problem for my plans in the future.”

“Hai, Danzo-sama!” The nameless subordinate said before leaving him alone again.

What Danzo didn’t tell his subordinates was that he had helped Orochimaru with the invasion by providing him important information in return for Orochimaru killing Hiruzen so he could finally become Hokage.

Danzo saw no other option ever since he first learned of his old friend’s plan to groom the boy for the position of Hokage. A foolish idea in his opinion as Hiruzen’s ideals would be passed along to the boy which he didn’t agree on at all as he thought it would lead to Konoha’s downfall.

To his frustration though, Hiruzen’s plan was working.

The village adored Akari Senju and saw him as the new coming of his ancestor Hashirama due to his prodigious skills and accomplishments even though he was still very young. The boy also had the respect of most of the Clans further cementing just how important he had become to the village.

If Danzo didn’t act now then it would be impossible for him to become Hokage in the future if the boy continued to grow in both strength and popularity.

‘According to Orochimaru, the boy might be stronger than Itachi was when he left the village at this point.’

Danzo suddenly perked up in alarm when space shifted around his surroundings before he found himself in a void filled with an innumerable amount of randomly arranged and differently sized prisms.

‘Who!?’ Danzo thought in alert immediately inspecting his surroundings and focusing in front of him when he saw the same distortion in space happening again.

A moment later a figure appeared from the rift in space making him frown when he saw who it was. Especially at the red glowing eyes staring back at him with an odd design. ‘Mangekyō Sharingan.’

“Akari Senju.”

“Danzo… Our meeting has been long overdue.”

=====

(Kage Battle)

“Orochimaru! No good will come by deriding the dead and playing around with time!” Hiruzen exclaimed in anger as he watched the resurrected forms of his two teachers by his former pupil.

“Konoha is finished!” Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage, said in a serious voice as he stood next to Orochimaru.

“This looks bad Hokage-dono.” Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage, said in a worried tone with her hand reaching her pouch for a certain kunai.

“Long time no see… Saru.”

“Oh, it’s you… You’ve gotten old, Sarutobi.”

The forms of the first and second Hokage’s said in a monotone voice as they woodenly walked out of their coffins.

“I never thought I would meet the great brothers in this manner… It’s regretful.” Hiruzen in return with a sad look on his face.

“Edo Tensei, huh.” Tobirama said looking back at Orochimaru for a moment with a frown. “This youth summoned us, then? He’s something else…though I see that you didn’t bring us back in our prime or I would have already killed you by now.”

“Then Sarutobi. Does this mean we must…fight you?” Hashirama asked in a sad tone. “There’s always fighting…no matter when you live.”

“Mind if I join the festivities? I’m feeling a little left out. This is a momentous occasion after all. It’s not every day you get to meet and fight your long-departed ancestors even weakened as they are.” A new young voice cut in taking almost everyone by surprise.

A many pair of eyes turned in the direction of the one speaking to find a young man with blue hair and golden eyes standing beside Mei Terumi who had a small smirk in her face all her nervousness from earlier nowhere to be seen.