Reduce All Creation To Ash

"Are they the only ones who are going to be fighting?" Looking down at seven kids standing inside the arena Rei looked over each one of them. "Well, actually Sasuke was supposed to be here already. He's running later than Naruto." Looking up at Ino as she spoke, Rei brought his attention back down to the arena.

'Well, I haven't had the chance to see any real ninja fights except for all those Sound Ninja this should be fun.' Leaning back in his chair slightly, Rei listened as the Third Hokage stood from his chair and walked to the edge of the platform where the Hokage's were watching.

"Welcome, everyone! You all have our deepest thanks for coming to the Village Hidden in leaves for this Chunin exam. We have come to the final competition between the eight candidates who made it through the prelimnanries. Please stay till all matches are complete and enjoy!"

With the exam underway, the referee ninja took a quick second to inform the candidates of the matches before telling the audience. Furthermore, just like that, the first match of the Chunin Exams was on its way. Watching as two fighters one being a yellow-haired boy and the other being a member of the Hyuga clan the match began.

As Rei watched, he could not say he was particularly impressed with anything. The entire first half of the match was more or less a simple fight. However, he had to admit his interest peaked when he saw visible chakra for the first time. From what he had learned, the chakra was always supposed to be invincible to the naked eye unless it was highly condensed and concentrated.

This type of thing continued throughout all the following matches. Despite feeling as though he could defeat all the people, he watched fight he didn't simply lounge around. He took the time to look at all of their techniques, moves, and strategies just in case he needed them in the future or possibly had to fight one of them.

Eventually, all the rounds passed except for the final one. Waiting for the final match to start Rei and Ino began talking. "So what exactly have you been doing for the past few months?" Looking towards Rei with a look of interest Rei decided to give her slight details. "Well, you remember when I said I was looking for someone. Well, let us just say they weren't easy to find. First I had to…"

Beginning to chat back and forth, the two of them only stopped when Choji spoke up. "Hey, Ino are you really not worried about Sasuke not showing up?" Freezing when Choji said that Ino looked over at him and then at Sakura who looked depressed. "Of course, I am! But Rei isn't going to be here for too long. I wanted to catch up." Pulling out an obvious excuse, Choji narrowed his eyes.

"Ya but you two have been talking throughout every match except for Shikamaru's fight." Lowering her head to what Choji said it was partially correct. Though Rei did pay attention to the fights to learn, he had been talking with Ino half the time as well when he had nothing to do. Looking for a way to avoid the question Ino suddenly thought of something.

"Anyway! Rei, what did you think about the fight?" Being thrown into the conversation, Rei decided to be honest. "Well, I wasn't really interested in any of them." Hearing Rei, both Ino and Choji stared at him with confused looks. "So not a single fight piqued your interest? What about Naruto fighting Neji that was insane."

Hearing that Rei thought back to that fight, Rei thought for a moment before shrugging. "I guess so." Suddenly Sakura turned her head and looked at Rei with a slight glare. "Well, you just wait till Sasuke gets here, and then you'll be impressed." Hearing Sakura, Rei suddenly pointed towards the arena. "You mean him?"

Suddenly everyone looked down at the arena only two see two people standing there. "Sasuke!" Screaming Sakura, Ino, and everyone else in the crowd seemed overjoyed. However, Rei immediately began to tune everyone around him out. 'If Orochimaru is going to make his move then this would be his last chance…'

With the final round finally, underway Rei remained silent through the whole thing. Keeping his senses primed, he scoured the audience with his eyes. And sure enough, some people who had been remaining still and silent suddenly moving. Moreover, when the final round reached its peak, it only took a couple of seconds for Orochimaru to make his move.

Suddenly everyone in the audience began seeing white feathers falling from the sky. One by one, they all began to fall asleep. Looking around alertly, Rei also saw that everyone near him was falling asleep. Seeing Ino next to him was falling asleep as well. Rei placed his hand on her shoulder before releasing a burst of Reiryoku into her body.

Immediately the Reiryoku surged through dispelling all types of foreign chakra. 'Well, guess I know that this type of Genjutsu does not work on me.' As Ino began to wake up from the Genjutsu Rei, saw three figures dash out from the crowds. One being Kabuto in disguise as a Leaf Anbu and two sound ninjas.

However, that was not the only movement. Looking directly at Rei, Kabuto gave the remaining two sound ninjas hidden in the crowd as spectator's their target. Immediately they leaped forward with their kunai drawn. Seeing this, Kakashi was ready to intervene, but Rei acted faster. "Get down."

Hearing Rei's warning as she woke herself up, Ino quickly ducked her head. After doing so, Rei quickly jumped into the air dodging both sound ninja while simultaneously grabbing their arms. "Hado #11: Tsuzuri Raiden." An instant electricity current flowed into the two sound ninjas frying their bodies.

Promptly after Rei threw their bodies towards the spectator area's back wall, witnessing this Kakashi had a pleasantly surprised look on his face. 'He is quite speedy for his age and able to release such a powerful lightning style without hand signs.' Soon more sound ninja and leaf ninja joined the spectator area turning the entire place into a battlefield.

However, despite all that, Kabuto's eyes remained on Rei. He had the same thought process as Kakashi and even more so. 'Having him and Sasuke would make this escapade to the leaf all the better.' After dispatching the sound ninja, Rei had finally taken notice of the massive barrier that had been formed on the Hokage platform's roof.

Looking closely towards who was inside the barrier, his eyes automatically focused onto the person holding the Third Hokage. 'That is him… It has to be.' Rei's gaze grew dark as he spoke out loud in a grim tone. "Orochimaru." Only someone who was at the epicenter of all this chaos could be the one who caused it.

Hearing Rei mention Orochimaru's name everyone looked up at the barrier as well recognizing who was holding the Hokage hostage. "It is him." Seeing that Kakashi wouldn't even be bothered to wonder how Rei knew who Orochimaru was. On the other hand, Kabuto finally understood what Rei's goal was.

'I see now it all makes sense. The kidnapee is here for revenge.' Switching his gaze from Rei to Ino, who was cluelessly sitting next to him, he smiled behind his mask. 'Interesting.' Without any warning, Kabuto dashed towards Rei revealing his hand from under his cloak. Using the different chairs as platforms, he went directly past Kakashi and Guy due to them being preoccupied with Sound Ninja.

Catching a glimpse of Kabuto's chakra knife-like hand's Rei quickly moved to meet him. Bending his legs, he launched himself using the chair he was standing on as a spring. Drawing Ryujin Jakka in that next instance, Rei swung directly towards Kabuto's head, and in response, Kabuto brought back his hand and jabbed toward Rei.

"Ahh!" In a flash of sparks, Rei's blade met Kabuto's knife. Reacting to the sudden clash, both Ino and Sakura were forced to lower their heads. As they stared at one another, Rei could hear Kabuto's voice through his mask. "I am impressed you managed to escape our grasp before you were properly transported. Though you were overconfident coming here."

Glancing behind him for a moment, Rei smiled back at Kabuto. "Oh, I was transported. I just didn't like the reception, so I decided to come here." Hearing Rei Kabuto's expression suddenly changed. He was a spy for most of his life, along with being a natural-born liar. Furthermore, at this moment, he could tell Rei was not lying.

'But if he escaped Kimimaro would have stopped him even with his illness there is no way he could have… No…' Watching the gears in Kabuto's head turn Rei's smile began to turn into a face of annoyance. "And sadly you're in my way." Doubling the force, he was using in his arms and leg's Kabuto's face behind his mask was revealing a look of miscalculation.

Before he had a moment to retreat it was too late and Ryujin Jakka had begun to slice through his chakra. Having no choice, Kabuto gave up on the offense, disabling the chakra on his hand that was clashing with Rei, and instead dodged out of the way while drawing a kunai from his back pouch.

Priming his throw while dodging he threw the kunai directly at the person next to Rei. 'Bastard.' Noticing who his target was, Rei quickly sheathed Ryujin Jakka before reaching his hand out and grabbing Ino by the arm. "Huh?" Surprised she was suddenly yanked Ino found herself being carried by Rei the next second.

"Hold on tight." Before she could even understand what was happening the world around her began to change into a blur. "Wait. What!" Squeezing onto Rei's clothes for dear life Ino couldn't tell what was going on. However, for Rei, it was a little tenser. Flipping backwards onto the spectator area's back wall, Rei suddenly jumped past Kabuto and using his one free arm, flipped himself onto the roof.

On the other hand, Kabuto watched with a grin on his face as the injury on his hand he got from Rei began to heal at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, on top of the roof, Rei had finally stopped moving, giving Ino a chance to catch her breath. "I thought I was going to die." Rei smiled before replying to her.

"Well, you almost did." Looking up Ino froze for a moment before realizing exactly where she was. "Uh, I… You…" Trying to get the right word's out Rei's attention suddenly changed as seven different sound ninja landed on top of the roof surrounding him. Following after those ninja's arrival was Kabuto whose mask had a large cut on it from Rei's last strike. Taking off his mask, Kabuto allowed it to drop to the floor before he began talking.

"How noble of you to move our fight here to protect those people and your little friend. Nevertheless, it does not matter. Kimimaro was sick when you fought him, limiting his ability to fight dramatically. If you think you can beat me because of that, then you are dreaming." As Kabuto spoke Rei slowly put Ino down, gesturing for her to stay behind him.

Pointing behind him at the purple barrier surrounding the Hokage and Orochimaru, Kabuto continued. "The barrier surrounding Lord Orochimaru is known as the Four Violet Flames Formation. It is quite impenetrable even for the Anbu black ops and anyone who touches it will be burned by its flames. So you see your fighting a pointless battle protecting a village that is going to lose either way. So how abo-"

Kabuto's rant suddenly stopped as Rei raised his hand to him with a look of pity. "It seems you have misunderstood many things about me." Continuing to display a look of superiority Kabuto inquired. "Oh and what exactly did I misunderstand?" Despite hearing Rei Ino, who was still behind him couldn't help but feel worried.

"Rei are you sure you can handle them?" In response, Rei simply only said three words. "Wait and see." Looking directly at Kabuto, Rei began to count down. "One you assumed that I came up here to protect the leaf villagers, which is wrong. I just didn't want anything getting in the way. Two, I am quite grateful to Kimimaro for what he was able to teach me."

As Rei spoke the second reason, both Ino, Kabuto, and all the surrounding Sound Ninja felt as if an unknown pressure was suddenly crashing down on them. This influence even stretched down to Kakashi and Gai who suddenly stopped fighting. "Kakashi do you feel that? I've never felt anything like it."

In response, Kakashi looked up slightly before speaking. "I do, and I don't know why but it's suffocating." Feeling this abnormal pressure, the sound ninja around Rei suddenly took a step back. "And finally I'm going to teach you exactly why nothing in this world is impenetrable." Watching as Rei closed his eyes as if he was listening out for a faint noise, they all watched as he slowly placed his hand on his sword's hilt.

"Reduce All Creation To Ash. Ryujin Jakka!"