Sasuke was tense, the alert had gone out, they were now officially in a battle for survival against Kirigakure, he was standing next to his squad, named 'Combat Volunteer Squad 4' according to the man who organized the groups.
He was put in the same squad as the brothers and Saiken, and it was weird seeing the brothers in combat gear, he was so used to seeing them in casual clothes that the ratty cloaks and breather masks threw him off.
"Hey Saiken." Gozu suddenly called out, breaking the tense silence. "Can you use any Jutsu?"
That was actually a good question, they should share their abilities before the fight started, it would probably help with synergy.
"Uhh, not really? I can do a lot of stuff with acid, and I know the transformation Jutsu?" Saiken replied uncertainly.
"What do you mean, 'I can do a lot of stuff with acid.' Be clearer, dumbass." Meizo said bluntly, uncaring about being insulting.
Saiken frowned at Meizo, but a quick cough from Gozu made him quickly relent.
"Like, I can spit acid, cover myself in acid, create clouds of acidic mist..." He paused for a moment. "...Stuff like that."
Sasuke was remarkably unsurprised about Saiken having a Bloodline, at this point, considering Saiken's clearly abnormal body, he was betting that Saiken was an escaped test subject or something similar.
"I am good with Fire Release and Lightning Release, you already know about my Sharingan." Sasuke reported neutrally. "Also, I can transform into a stronger form, and I have a contract with the Snake Summons."
All three members of his squad looked at him strangely.
"What?" He asked defensively.
"Transform into a stronger form?" Meizo said incredulously. "A snake contract? Fire and Lightning? You're a kid, how?"
Sasuke blinked at him, it wasn't that unusual, was it? Besides the Cursed Seal, that sort of thing probably wasn't common here.
"It isn't that surprising, is it?" Sasuke asked, mostly rhetorically, before focusing on the other part. "And I'm not a kid."
"I know some Water Jutsu." Gozu cut off any further arguments.
Sasuke waited for the rest... but nothing came.
"...Just Water Jutsu?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, he knew that both brothers were strong and fast due to their, frankly, insane physical training, but he had been expecting something more.
They both glared at him.
"You wanna fight, punk?" Meizo challenged threateningly, cracking his knuckles.
"Most Chunin only know one Element, kid." Gozu said tiredly. "Having two is usually something reserved for Jōnin, learning more than two takes time and patience."
"Wait, does that mean that Sasuke is the second strongest here?" Saiken asked curiously, but Sasuke could see the humor in his eyes.
Meizo immediately threw himself at Saiken, who laughed as he dodged away from Meizo's attempts to tackle him.
But the now good-natured brawl was interrupted by the loud whistle, signifying that they needed to get into position.
All four of them quickly took their position, well, Saiken took a second longer, clearly unused to the whole war thing.
"Alright, listen up!" The Order member overseeing the volunteers ordered loudly, causing everyone to focus on him. "Kiri has dispatched small squads to attempt to bypass our blockade, estimated to be composed of 4 to 8 members each, at most 1 or 2 Jōnin per squad! Any squad here confident in their ability to handle a Jōnin?"
Surprisingly, only one other squad raised their hands besides Gozu, but considering that this room was full of volunteers who weren't active fighters, maybe he shouldn't be too surprised.
"Right, you and you." He pointed at his squad and the other one. "Follow the Initiate." He gestured towards a masked person. "She will lead you to the sensor station, fight well."
Both squads moved quickly to follow the Initiate, not wasting any time.
***
The so called 'Sensor Station' was a gigantic earth fortification on the Wave side of the bridge, he could see at least twenty Order members standing guard, all of them wearing an Acolyte's armor.
The Initiate told them to wait outside with the other squad until someone came out to get them.
And so they waited, silently.
Thankfully, the wait wasn't long, and after about five minutes, two masked people stepped out of the fortress.
One was the Initiate that led them here, and the other was an Acolyte.
"Alright, I'm here to assess your strength and assign you appropriate targets." The Acolyte spoke confidently. "Who's first?"
Gozu stepped forward.
The Acolyte looked at him for a moment before nodding.
"Jōnin-level, but only physically." She said easily. "Next."
That made Gozu pause, Sasuke could see that he was surprised by this assessment, but not unhappy.
Meizo was next.
"... Almost the exact same, freaky." Sasuke heard the Acolyte mutter under her breath. "Jōnin-level, but only physically, again. Next!"
Sasuke would have been confused, but considering the things he has seen from The Order, the ability to gauge power with a glance was not that surprising.
Saiken was up next.
"..."
The woman stared at Saiken for several long moments, she finally seemed to shake herself out of whatever stupor she had entered and refocused on Saiken.
"I'm not even going to ask what your deal is or why you are here." She said bluntly. "Firmly Jōnin level, probably even higher."
That made Sasuke reluctant to step up, it was clear she had figured something out about Saiken unrelated to his strength, but he wasn't about to be left out.
"..." She stared at him for a moment. "What in the Watcher's name?"
Sasuke did not know what she saw, so he didn't really know what she was asking about, so he stayed silent.
"Definitely Jōnin-level, you've got some... unique stuff going on, huh?" She finished her sentence as a question.
"Something like that." He replied non-committally.
"Right..." She said in an awkward tone of voice. "Well, you four can handle Jōnin, so here."
She held out a map towards them, which Gozu took from her.
"Go to the marked spot and wait, the enemy should show up there soon enough." She continued calmly. "Don't die."
Without another word, she walked towards the other squad that had volunteered to fight Jōnin.
"Well then." Gozu muttered. "Let's go."
***
Sasuke could see why this spot would be targeted by the enemies, it was on a relatively isolated stretch of coast, the terrain was rough and uneven, making it hard to fight in, no one would willingly pick this place to start their battle.
So, of course, that made it the best place to infiltrate through.
His Sharingan were spinning lazily in his eyes as he stared at the sea, Gozu and Meizo had hidden themselves in a pair of puddles some distance in front of him, while Saiken was sitting next to him, making no effort to hide himself.
Because they wanted to make sure the enemy actually saw them and approached.
And approach they did.
Eight figures burst out of the ocean water, rushing towards Sasuke and Saiken with clear intention to kill, but Gozu and Meizo were quick to show themselves.
They both erupted from their hiding places and immediately rushed at the nearest opponents, as Sasuke and Saiken quickly entered the fray.
Sasuke picked the strongest enemy, which was also the person who seemed to be leading the group, and threw a few Kunai at her, but she blocked all of them without difficulty.
That wasn't surprising, he continued running towards her anyway, the woman tensed up slightly as she noticed his eyes.
She quickly dodged away from his attempt at slicing through her neck with his sword, retaliating by throwing three Shuriken at him.
He felt a bit offended when he saw that they had strings attached to them, clearly, she wasn't taking him seriously.
Quickly cutting through the strings, he weaved some hand signs.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
He spit out a massive fireball, aiming it downwards, right in between himself and the woman.
It washed over the rocky terrain, forcing the Kiri Shinobi to jump away to avoid getting burnt, giving Sasuke enough time to prepare something better.
He quickly used another Fire Jutsu.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire!"
But only a few dozen rushed towards his target, who quickly intercepted them with a stream of water.
The rest split into three groups, targeting the people who were fighting his squadmates.
Two fireballs hit Meizo's opponent in the back, giving Meizo an opportunity to wrap his chain around the man's throat, his head was quickly disconnected from his body after that.
Another four balls targeted one of Saiken's enemies, who used a similar stream of water to defend himself, but Saiken took advantage of that, his arm stretched out unnaturally fast and slammed into the distracted ninja.
Before Sasuke could see the end result of Gozu's opponent getting attacked, the woman interrupted him.
A rock spike suddenly burst out beneath his feet, forcing him to dodge.
But then another, and another, soon he was entirely on the defensive as the Kiri Shinobi kept forcing the earth beneath him to attempt to pierce through him.
"Saiken!" He yelled out loudly.
The boy glanced at him, before quickly understanding what he wanted, inhaling deeply while dodging his opponents' attacks.
Then he spit out a massive ball of acid, it flew over Sasuke's head and towards the woman.
She quickly turned her attention to Saiken and created a wall of mud in front of her, stopping the corrosive attack.
Well, better to end this fast, it seems like she was the only real threat.
He channeled Chakra into his Cursed Seal, and for the first time in several months, not with the intention of summoning Orochimaru.
His skin darkened, wings formed on his back, he could feel himself become stronger.
And for the first time since he had gotten it, it was entirely free of the mental effects.
No bloodlust, no arrogance, no homicidal urges... just power.
He made a mental note to thank Ayumu next time he saw him, he wasn't expecting this change.
With one flap of his wings, he closed the gap between him and the woman, who looked shocked by his increase in speed.
She desperately blocked his first stab, but made the mistake of looking Sasuke in the eyes.
She tried blocking the follow-up swing, but it was misplaced, his Genjutsu making her think he was aiming for her neck while he actually targeted her heart.
The sword slid between her ribs smoothly, piercing through her heart with ease.