For all of its numerous elite Jōnin and its legions of Chūnin, the entire village was currently relying on only five of its Genin to put a stop to Gaara's advance; the One-Tail had already devastated the commercial district and was currently stomping its way through the residential district, the very lifeblood of the village…
"All right!" Tenten shouted, having just finished laying out her plan. "If everyone understands what they have to do, then let's begin!"
"Got it!"
Together, the five Genin let out a shout of acknowledgement— though some, who shall remain nameless, were a little less vocal with their enthusiasm than the others. Nevertheless, they all had their parts to play, which they had all agreed to, so Tenten, Neji and Karin left together first, while Sakura and Sasuke stayed behind.
'We can't let Gaara go any farther, or else he'll flatten my apartment building,' said Inner Sakura grimly. 'Which is where I keep all my stuff…'
But Sakura's house and the residential area weren't the only places in peril— up ahead were also Ichiraku Ramen, Granny Tsunade's future house (the Hokage residence) and most importantly, the ninja academy. Sakura wasn't sure if the teachers had evacuated the students yet, so it was imperative that they stop the One-Tail's advance!
"Lend me your fingers, Sakura," said Sasuke, turning to her with a serious look on his face.
'Eh?' said Inner Sakura. 'Could it be that Sasuke is into exhibitionism play?'
"Out here, in front of everyone?" Sakura spluttered, her face blushing pink. "I mean, I'm flattered, but this is hardly the time… eep!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, before clasping his left hand around Sakura's right hand to make hand signs together. Ox! Hare! Monkey!
"Lightning Style: Chidori!"
Sakura quickly let go of Sasuke's hand, as if she'd been stung; a mass of lightning chakra, so dense that it could actually be seen with the naked eye, had begun gathering in his left palm, crackling and chirping loudly…
Shinobi were all about stealth (it was literally in the name)— but despite having been designed by Kakashi for assassination, the Chidori really wasn't stealthy at all.
However, and luckily for the Chidori's users, there existed a special school of thought concerning stealth: it did not matter if you got spotted on a mission, as long as you killed all of the witnesses!
…
"Be careful, Sasuke," said Sakura worriedly.
Tenten had assigned the hardest and most unenviable task to Sasuke; once Sakura had appeased the rampaging Naruto, he was supposed to catch Gaara's attention and lead him into position… and from the way he was eyeing the One-Tail's tail, it looked as if he was going to be using the Leaf Village Secret Tech: One Thousand Years of Death (Chidori ver.)!
"You should worry about yourself more," Sasuke said coolly.
'Kyaa!' squealed Inner Sakura. 'He's like, so cool!'
Above them, Gaara and Naruto were still exchanging blows— for the amount of chakra they were both using, it had to be the lowest-level fight between Kage-level beings that Sakura had ever witnessed. Two Genin, with the power of God and Anime on their side, battling it out with the most unimpressive academy-level Bukijutsu and Taijutsu imaginable…
!!!
Suddenly, Naruto turned into a meteor— he had just been slapped by the One-Tail's huge paw—and he hurtled through an apartment building, piercing straight through it like a hot knife through butter, before crashing into the ground on the other side!
Such a blow would have turned any ordinary shinobi into a fine red paste, but Naruto was built different— there was so much Tailed Beast chakra gushing through his body that he was basically a human-shaped punching bag of highly resilient chakra in this state.
Even so, after taking such a blow, Naruto was guaranteed to be stunned for at least a few seconds, so this was Sakura's chance to calm him down, while he wasn't bouncing about!
Sakura snatched up the Bashōsen from the ground and sprinted to the hole that Naruto had created in the apartment building and jumped through it. Dodging the falling rubble, Sakura ran through the Naruto-shaped hole and emerged safely on the other side of the shortcut.
There was a huge crater in the middle of the street where Naruto had landed— right in front of Ichiraku's. Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, was standing in between Naruto and the enormous One-Tail, which had just lumbered its way around the building…
'Ayame!?' cried Inner Sakura. 'Could it be that she's about to show her true power?'
Ayame had assumed a fighting stance; her entire body exuded a feeling of 'come and have a go at me, if you think you're hard enough.' And yet, for some reason, her figure seemed to be growing smaller and smaller, in Sakura's field of view…
'She's actually slowly running away backwards!' shouted Inner Sakura. 'I got my hopes up for nothing!'
Seeing the legendary Rinnegan would have to wait, sadly.
And now that Sakura thought about it, had her father Teuchi really abandoned her here to take care of Ichiraku's, while he went to watch the Chūnin exams on his own!?
…
Gaara growled upon spotting the helpless Naruto— he made the One-Tail raise one of its gigantic paws, ready to squash the annoying orange gnat flatter than an okonomiyaki pancake…
"SASUKE, NOW!" Sakura shouted.
Sasuke swiftly manoeuvred himself behind the One-Tail's hindquarters and jumped; plunging his Chidori shoulder deep into the spot right underneath its big floppy tail.
'That's one way to get its attention,' Inner Sakura remarked, as she watched the great beast roar and turn its enormous body to swipe at Sasuke.
Naruto struggled to his feet, visibly exhausted. His chakra cloak was visibly thinning, now that his emotions were stabilizing— but this wasn't good. He would need all of the chakra that he could get in order to make the Bashōsen work!
"S-Sakura, you're okay!" Naruto blubbered, his bottom lip quivering slightly. "I thought—"
Sadly, their reunion was cut short.
"We've got it from here, leave the rest to us!"
One by one, ANBU and ordinary Jōnin flickered into Sakura's field of view. They landed on rooftops, raining elemental Ninjutsu of all natures down at the beast below. These elites had been posted in key spots around the village, and naturally, once they had got rid of all the enemies in their sectors, they had come to help with the main threat…
"Stop!" Sakura shouted in frustration. "You're only making him madder!"
There was no way that Sasuke would be able to lure the One-Tail into position with all of these well-meaning Leaf shinobi bombarding it with Ninjutsu, so it looked like it was going to be up to her to do something about them…