Konohagakure is bustling with visitors from all around adding to the already festive atmosphere brought about by the cooperation between villages in this year's chunin exam. Under the surface, Sunagakure gave in to the devil's temptation and agreed to join Otogakure/Orochimaru in a coup in an attempt to kill the third Hokage and weaken Konoha's power. This is mainly because the Daimyo sanctioned a series of budget cuts to Suna which put them on the brink of collapse. Otogakure on the other hand is directly under Orochimaru's control so almost no effort is needed into getting support from this powerful yet illegitimate village.
Orochimaru has been busy these past few days as he arranged many things for the success of his plan to 'take over the control of Konoha'. Or so the ones who are cooperating with him liked to believe. In truth, he couldn't care less about Konoha's future and simply wanted to endulge into the pleasure of sowing chaos to his beloved village and finally get rid of the old crone of a Hokage who was once his mentor.
On another note, this is actually a part of a deal he had with Danzo. In this deal, Hiruzen will die and Danzo will then take over while the other target, Rasa will also die and weaken the military power of Sunagakure to further secure his reign. So in essence, this is simply a case of hitting multiple birds with one stone. Orochimaru of course wouldn't lose out on this deal as he asked for additional resources and rare specimens from the power-hungry old veteran.
The snake sage lazily watched as the cogs of fate began to move according to his whims and predictions. A little bit more and he will soon be able to free himself to the mortal coil and transcend himself to a new perfect being. Time slowly crept and the time for the final matches to begin has finally come. The seats in the coleseum are filled with shinobi and civilians alike. The anbu can also be seen at times making rounds in order to ensure the security of the public during the event.
The first match is between Dozu and Shikamaru which ended up as another one of Shikamaru's win despite the gap in overall ability in ninjutsu and taijutsu. Then Naruto faught Neji Hyuga in a bout full of arguing over who is holier than the other which of course ended up as a win for the highly plot armored protagonist.
Genma Shiranui, the referee for the final rounds then called in Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara for the next match. Perhaps due to the workings of fate, the guy is late again in this alternate reality much to the transmigrator's wonder. He changed plenty of things already without a care for the future consequences but some events truly just played out just how it is meant to play out. After a quick briefing about the rules of the bout he gave the signal to BEGIN and jumped out of the stage.
Sasuke began attacking with shurikens and then with taijutsu he copied from Lee, his month-long training seems to have paid off as his speed can now be compared to when Lee took off his weights in the preliminary match. Unfortunately for him nothing seemed to work against Gaara's defense. Even his fists are starting to ache from punching the steel plates embedded between the layers of iron-sand. In addition to that, it seems like he isn't the only one who referenced Lee's taijutsu. Gaara also incorporated some of Lee's moves into his own.
Gaara's unfair advantage in the form of more chakra, more speed, more strength, more jutsu, more defence, more gears, and many more mores is like an insurmountable wall to Sasuke. He gritted his teeth as the demons of his elder brother whispered to him of his inadequacies. He jumped back to lessen the damage he recieved from a hit and wiped the blood that is beginning to hamper his vision. He crouched down low and the screeching of a thousand birds could be heard from the blue electric sparks that came from his hand.
Sasuke ran forward destroying anything in his path. He even activated his sharingan in order to deliver his best hit. To his surprise, Gaara's chackra network blurred and disapeared like an illusion. The lightning arcs then disappeared slowly as Sasuke gritted his teeth. He felt like he is just being toyyed with by his opponent.
Gaara then surrounded himself with iron-sand and transformed into a scorpion. One of the pincers bombarded him with a rain of needles while the other has a rotating drill-like thing. He felt helpless for the first time against an opponent, he who is unmatched in the ninja academy is nothing more than a toy in front of a boy one year younger than he is. Albeit said boy is already 5'10 and is no way smaller than him it doesn't change the fact that he lost fair and square. Well not really fair but he didn't need to know that.
*BAM
Sasuke coughed out blood as he removed himself from being embedded into the wall of the coleseum. The people who made bets are roaring for him to do something.
"The power that you seek so much has always been within you. What you need is to master yourself. Because while mastering others is strength, mastering your own self is true power. Come and fight me, I will show you."
The fighting lasted for another ten minutes before Sasuke collapsed from over exertion much to the disappointment of the audience from Konohagakure. Genma quickly announced Gaara's victory and called upon the next participants to prepare. Five minutes later and three people can be seen in the middle of the stage once more. Shino, Kankuro, and Genma is simply repeating the same old rules to the participants in accordance to the standard operating procedures of these events.
"BEGIN!"
Genma jumped backwards but the two participants did not move. He himself began to look around with a kunai in hand ready to pounce on anyone who looked at him the wrong way. Being a jonin himself he knew a genjutsu when he saw one, and those feathers falling like rain is definitely a wide ranged one.
Clashing can already be heard all around them shinobi from Oto wearing a disguise revealed themselves and attacked. Spies began to burn and trigger explosions on the village while reinforcements slowly poured into Konohagakure. The anbu quickly tried to aid the Hokage but failed due to the ambush meant to delay them. They became helpless seeing how the barrier erected by four of orochimaru's pawns effortlessly killed an anbu. The four violet flames formation is especially prepared so that Orochimaru can take his sweet time against his mentor, anyone who makes contact with it will be engulfed in flames.
"Kazekage, you should avoid conflicts and seek a resolution through negotiation."
"Hehehe Honestly, things have gone to shit. I was just about to snatch Sasuke-kun. Anyways, your ignorance ends here old man. You brought this upon yourself. Remember that when you go to the afterlife."
Orochimaru finally ripped his mask and grinned at his teacher's shocked face.
"Orochimaru. I expected this time would come. But I will not just keel over and die if that is what you are expecting."
Hiruzen sighed seeing his student. The past always finds its way to bite one in the ass when he least expect it.
"Hahahaha I hope you already picked a succesor for the position of Fifth Hokage because a vacancy is coming right up."
Orochimaru placed the kunai in his hand closer to the Hokage's juggular vein in a slow teasing manner.
"Are you enjoying this? Will it really bring you happiness if I your teacher died in your hands?"
Hiruzen however did not even flinch much to Orochimaru's disapointment.
"To tell you the truth, I was merely bored. Hehehe so I came here to have some fun."
He released his mentor and walked to create some distance between the two of them.
"I know you can't even be bothered with revenge. What is it that you really want?"