But soon, he was fighting again with the Sand and Sound Village ninjas who suddenly popped out from who knows where.
In an instant, the entire open-air arena for the Chunin Exams fell into total chaos.
"It's really a mess like a pot of porridge."
'But the messier, the better.'
With this chaos, no one would likely notice whatever he was about to do later.
"Uchiha Kage!", Gaara, who had been staring intently at Uchiha Kage, let out a roar exactly like the one Sasuke made earlier.
With Maki's approval, he released part of his consciousness from his body and successfully entered a semi-Tailed Beast transformation using this method.
He entered the Pseudo-Transformation state.
Swoosh!
Half of his body transformed into the One-Tail Shukaku's body, and Gaara stretched out Shukaku's massive claw and fiercely swiped toward Uchiha Kage nearby.
"Watch out!"
Naruto, who had just taken Sasuke's body, saw this and quickly shouted a surprised warning.
For some reason, seeing Gaara in this state gave him an inexplicable sense of disgust.
A strange power surged out from within his body.
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
However, before Naruto's warning could even finish, and without Uchiha Kage himself needing to act, a dragon-shaped stream of water suddenly appeared and blocked Gaara's Pseudo-Transformation claw attack.
"Gaara!", Seeing Gaara knocked away by the water dragon, Maki, the Sand Jonin team leader, immediately joined the battle.
"Acting Mizukage of the Hidden Mist, are you going to interfere in the conflict between the Sand and the Leaf?"
Taking out a kunai, Maki looked warily at the blue-clad kunoichi who appeared in front of Uchiha Kage.
"Hmph, this lady... cough, I don't have time to deal with your Sand Village. Get lost!"
After helping block Gaara's attack, Terumi Mei quickly and excitedly walked up to Uchiha Kage.
"Kage, your Hokage has gone crazy. Come with me to the Hidden Mist!"
Though unexpected events occurred, Terumi Mei didn't think it was a bad thing.
For example, she now had a perfect excuse to take Uchiha Kage away.
"Lady Terumi Mei, the situation is unclear. We should leave here as soon as possible...", Ao, who followed behind Terumi Mei, thought she was about to do something serious, turns out she just wanted to abduct this boy back to the Mist.
'This is just too...'
Ao was already too exasperated to even complain.
"Shut up!", Without turning her head, Terumi Mei scolded her escort and continued to wait excitedly and expectantly for Uchiha Kage's reply.
"Kage, come with me. Konoha is about to fall into the quagmire of war."
"Thanks for your kindness, but I have other tasks. I'm not going to the Mist," Uchiha Kage was touched that Terumi Mei still thought of him amidst the chaos.
But that was it.
As an evil Uchiha, how could he be swayed by a little wife from another village, interfering with his own paradise plan?
"Naruto, Neji… prepare to capture the Sand's One-Tail Jinchuriki."
———
"W-What happened?"
"I think I heard that the Hokage wants to assassinate the Kazekage? And Uchiha… Itachi?"
"That rogue who wiped out the Uchiha Clan?"
Ino, Sakura, and Tenten were just about to cheer on the Chunin Exam matches below when they suddenly heard voices from the Hokage's viewing platform.
Not just them, but everyone nearby also fell into panic.
Especially when the ground began to tremble and a fountain of gold sand erupted nearby.
"The Third Hokage couldn't really be senile like Asuma-sensei said, right..."
Holding her head down to avoid falling sand and rocks, Ino glanced fearfully at the sky where a battle had broken out.
How did things suddenly turn out like this?
"What do we do now?"
Sakura and Tenten looked like startled rabbits, stunned and at a loss.
They felt like they were just attending class at school and suddenly Godzilla showed up on the field.
"Don't panic."
As a Jonin, Kurenai Yuhi was also shocked by the sudden events on the top platform.
Recalling Sarutobi Hiruzen's emergency evacuation drill the day before, Kurenai had already expected something might happen in the village today.
But something like an attempted assassination of a village leader? That was beyond her imagination.
The Hokage must've been controlled by Uchiha Itachi!
Otherwise, he couldn't have acted so foolishly.
"Shino, Ino, Sakura, Tenten… head to the exits and organize evacuation of the civilians. Hinata, protect your sister and immediately report to Hiashi-senpai."
"Yes."
With Kurenai as their backbone, Ino and the others quickly calmed down.
"Shikamaru, Choji, go find Asuma. The village is in a state of emergency. Every extra Jonin is one more line of defense."
"Yes."
Shikamaru, who had planned to sneak away, quickly got serious.
But Kurenai's orders happened to match his own thoughts.
"Sensei, about Kage..."
On the way to evacuate the crowd, Ino looked worriedly toward Uchiha Kage in the center of the arena.
"Don't worry, his strength far surpasses mine as a Jonin teacher. If something happens to you all, nothing will happen to him."
Just as Kurenai finished speaking, Uchiha Kage was attacked.
But what neither she nor Ino expected was that the person who blocked the attack for Uchiha Kage was the Mist's acting Mizukage, Terumi Mei.
"This woman really is still scheming."
"Sensei..."
Seeing Terumi Mei approach Uchiha Kage, Ino felt it was time to stand in solidarity with her female teacher.
If that Mist woman snatched away Uchiha Kage in this chaos, they'd all cry.
"Don't worry, with me here, I won't let her succeed!"
Patting Ino on the head and giving Hinata a reassuring look, Kurenai solemnly drew her kunai.
"You all must be extra careful. This situation is no joke."
"Yes!"
———
"You're not Rasa… you're a puppet summoned by Edo Tensei!"
Dodging the sweeping gold sand, Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly shouted at the man in the Kazekage's robes.
"Edo Tensei?", Uchiha Itachi, who had rushed back, heard this and immediately examined the 'Kazekage' carefully.
Indeed… this Kazekage's body had the scent of the dead.
And the skin on his face was cracked like dry mud, far too unnatural.
"As expected of the Professor of Ninjutsu, able to see through my jutsu so quickly," Though the body was Rasa's, the voice that came out was Orochimaru's.
That's right, from the beginning of today's event, Orochimaru had used Edo Tensei to summon the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, whom he had killed, and had been using him as a puppet double all along.
"But my plan has already begun. Those Sand ninjas earlier were sent to deal with your ANBU. If all goes well, Konoha will be destroyed today."
Watching the Sand and Leaf ANBU begin their fight below, Orochimaru slithered out from Edo-Rasa's shadow with a sinister laugh.
"And you, my dear teacher… in this chaotic situation, even if you had a hundred mouths, you can't explain to the public. Everyone now suspects you tried to assassinate the Kazekage."
"Orochimaru, your scheme will never succeed!"
Removing his Hokage robes, Hiruzen, now in full ninja armor, glared at Orochimaru in fury.
The righteous speech he gave, the moral high ground he stood upon, all of it had now been thrown into the gutter by Orochimaru.
Even if he defeats Orochimaru today, there's no way he can cleanly distance himself from this event.
Conspiracies and suspicions will definitely arise in people's minds.
Especially since he's about to march against the Sand Village...
Now even a three-year-old wouldn't believe that Konoha is the pure victim.
'This damned Orochimaru, not playing by the rules!'
'Damn it, who leaked the information to him?'
'He actually knew in advance that I was going to deal with him?'
Right now, Sarutobi Hiruzen was feeling overwhelmed.
But what he could confirm for sure was that there must be a traitor inside Konoha.
Otherwise, Orochimaru couldn't have made the first move and falsely claimed he tried to assassinate the Kazekage.
———
"What kind of reincarnation? Kakashi, do you know what kind of jutsu this is?"
Might Guy kept watch on Uchiha Itachi nearby while curiously asking his back-to-back partner Kakashi.
"A forbidden jutsu that can bring the dead back to life. Of course, it's not real resurrection, but more like mocking the dead."
Though this forbidden jutsu hadn't appeared in the ninja world for a long time, the well-informed Kakashi had heard of it.
"That's right, this jutsu is a technique that mocks the dead."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at his remaining fighting force.
Uchiha Itachi exposing his identity early had already caused Kakashi and the others to doubt him, the Hokage.
As for Uchiha Itachi…
Forget it. With the enemy right in front of them, better to protect Itachi for now.
"Kakashi, take your men to stop the Sand enemies below, then notify the ninjas conducting evacuation drills in the village. Once the civilians are evacuated, counterattack any enemies that enter the village!"
"Yes, but…"
Kakashi also understood the urgency of the situation.
But he couldn't help glancing at Uchiha Itachi nearby.
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