NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 273: Civil War
How could matters have taken such a spectacular turn for the worse?
Personally, Sakura blamed Tenten— though, if she was being fair, it wasn't entirely right to lay the whole mess at Tenten's feet… even if her instincts were spot on. Part of the blame lay with the Fifth Hokage as well!
To ease the burden on Gaara— who'd volunteered to act as bait and put himself in a difficult situation, to sniff out any Akatsuki infiltrators and any political rivals eager enough to jump at the occasion betray him— Tsunade had assigned Sakura and Tenten to watch over him during the exams, knowing they were more than capable of dealing with whatever enemy might cross their path.
A week earlier, Tsunade had even tasked Tenten with assisting Kakashi, Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai in slipping into the exam grounds during the second phase of the Chūnin Exams for added insurance. She'd done her job admirably, using the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to transport them over the Sand's surveillance net without being seen…
But the problem was that she had performed a little too admirably.
Knowing precisely where Hōichi— the bald, biwa-playing monk/would-be assassin— was hiding during the second phase, Tenten had 'coincidentally' teleported the entire squad of Jōnin directly in front of him. Naturally, the man had panicked and swallowed a poison pill…
He had died within moments, leaving them with no clues about the identities of his co-conspirators… and shortly afterwards, the artificial sandstorm had died down.
Unaware of the assassination attempt, Gaara had carried on with business as usual, waiting for the rats to come scuttling out of the floorboards. And a week later, they had— during the very public third phase of the exams, which had never taken place in the original timeline. And to ensure the coup d'état was a success, they had gone all out!
In other words, it was time for the visitors from the other villages to follow Hashirama's example and use: Wood Style: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees and leave.
"That's not funny!" shrieked Ino when Sakura told her as much. "In case you haven't noticed, we're surrounded by enemies!"
Indeed, the temporary Team Asuma was in dire straits.
Gaara was curled up in the foetal position at their feet, and they were surrounded by a crowd of furious Sand shinobi.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"
There was a blur of green from the spectator stands— Sakura couldn't make it out clearly, since her Sharingan had reverted to energy-saving mode some time ago— followed by a literal eruption of Sand-nin. In a flash, a straight line was carved into the crowd, as the men and women surrounding Sakura were brutally tossed into the air by the green flash, raining down on either side of the newly made opening in the encirclement!
"Yo!" said Guy, sweeping up Gaara in his arms and flashing them a brilliant smile. "Never fear, for Konoha's Sublime Blue Beast is here! Need a hand, young ones?"
"Guy-sensei!" exclaimed Sakura, Ino and Chōji.
Team 3's teacher was a welcome sight indeed. To avoid a diplomatic incident in case something happened, Tsunade hadn't come herself to watch the exams' finale, but she had sent the participants' Jōnin-sensei!
"GET THEM!"
Momentarily stunned by the sudden appearance of Guy's eyebrows, the Sand-nin surrounding them quickly shook off their surprise and tightened the encirclement, but…
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Sakura and the others ducked. Still holding Gaara in his arms, Guy sprang up and executed a 360-degree spinning kick, knocking the nearest enemies back into the arms of their comrades and sending them sprawling like bowling pins.
"Follow me!" shouted Guy, running briskly out of the encirclement through the gap he had made.
Sakura and company wasted no time sprinting after him, dodging flying kunai and shuriken as they ran up the arena's walls to the competitors' box, where there was more fighting to be had.
All earlier enmity between rival villages had disappeared in the face of a common enemy— the Leaf, Mist and Grass Genin teams' Jōnin-sensei had formed a circle around their exhausted students to protect them, repelling wave after wave of Sand-nin.
"Coup d'état or not, the Sand has much to answer for," Terumī Mei said, wiping her mouth after spitting molten lava at a nearby group of Sand-nin. Glancing at the three young shinobi as they vaulted over the railing after Guy, she added, "Good. Now that you've got your Genin, Kakashi-san, can we please start making our way to the hospital wing?"
Sakura had left Chōjūrō, Haku and Suigetsu in pitiful states, so they had been taken away for treatment. But with the unstable situation the Sand now found itself in, there was no telling what might happen to them!
"We're all in the same boat," said Kakashi, as he finished dispatching a trio of Sand-nin. "We'll gladly help you recover your charges as long as you can help us escape the Hidden Sand Village." He turned to a man Sakura didn't recognise and added, "Will you join us, Amakusa-san?"
"That's your problem," snorted a short man wearing a Kusagakure forehead protector. "We have dignitaries to help evacuate, so as soon as we can break out of this encirclement, you're on your own."
Glancing around, Sakura noticed something odd. Where had the three Rain Genin gone? They'd still been there when she'd left for her match.
"Onee-sama, onee-sama!"
Karin was busy treating Lee, who was lying on the seats with a gaping wound on his arm.
"The underground people!" she whispered fearfully in Sakura's ear as she knelt at her side to help with the treatment. "They're here! They're on the surface!"
Now, everything made sense.
Most likely, the agents provocateurs hidden in the audience weren't human, but disguised White Zetsu! Sensing an opportunity to collect another Tailed Beast, they had taken advantage of the Sand's political instability, the crowd's spiking anger and the already existing conspiracy to orchestrate the fall of the Hidden Sand… right under the Leaf's noses!
"Wait, wait!" came Shikamaru's voice. "They're on our side, don't attack them!"
Sakura looked up from Lee's pale body— Shikamaru, Temari and Kankurō had attacked the Sand encirclement from the rear and frayed their way through to the centre.
"It's all over," said Temari bitterly. "Lady Chiyo and Lord Ebizō are dead. The Sand is lost to us."
"FALL BACK!"
At the sound of the voice, the Sand-nin abruptly ceased fighting and retreated a few metres… though they kept the encirclement intact, and the allied Leaf, Mist, and Grass shinobi at the centre did not lower their weapons. After a brief moment, the crowd of Sand-nin parted, allowing four men wearing turbans and beige robes to step into view.
"Tōjūrō! Jōseki! Fugi! Baki! You damned traitors!" growled Kankurō, his fingers twitching to send his puppets forwards to tear them limb from limb. "How could you have the Honoured Siblings murdered in cold blood!? After everything they've sacrificed for the village!"
There was an awkward pause, as the four councillors looked at each other in confusion.
"We did no such thing?" said Fugi, whose pointy ears poked out through his turban. "Did we?" he added, giving his companions sidelong glances.
Jōseki and Baki shook their heads as well.
And speaking of which, Baki seemed to have miraculously recovered from his life-threatening injury. Good for him!
"Well, I certainly didn't," said Tōjūrō. "What are you going on about?"
"Liars and murderers," hissed Temari, clenching her war fan so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"At any rate, it was certainly not our intention for our honoured guests from afar to get dragged into our internal affairs," said Tōjūrō, bowing slightly, "The council has decided that the Kazekage is not fit to rule, and that the One-Tails is to be extracted from him. He must be held accountable for failing to prevent this entire, sorry situation!"
"Indeed," said Jōseki. "We have no desire for war, so you will be allowed to leave in peace, naturally… just as soon as you hand over our Kazekage."
Sakura snorted.
These four traitors were the ones responsible for the coup d'état, but they wanted to execute Gaara for failing to prevent said coup d'état!? How hypocritical!