The stadium roof shuddered again, harder this time.
Around us, the genjutsu was finally starting to fray. People weren't waking up gently; they were snapping out of it in pockets of sudden, breathless panic.
My chakra senses—raw from forcing myself awake—tasted the crowd like a mouthful of static. The thick, gray-pink numbness of the sleeping spell was tearing, replaced by the sharp, sour-copper flavor of mass terror.
Naruto's hands were still curled into fists at his sides, his eyes tracking the Sound shinobi who were suddenly pouring into the stands. They didn't look at the sleeping civilians like they were people. They looked at them like furniture that needed to be cleared.
"We have to do something," Naruto growled, the bonfire of his chakra flaring hot enough that it felt like rough sandpaper scraping against my awareness. He took a half-step toward the nearest attacker.
I grabbed his belt from behind like a leash. "Naruto—don't—"
"They're gonna kill them!" he yelled, jerking forward anyway.
The Sound nin's head snapped toward us. His gaze locked onto Naruto. Oh good, prey that moves.
I hated Naruto for being brave and loud and impossible, and I loved him for it in the same breath, and my brain didn't have time to process either.
"Fine," I spat, sprinting after him.
Naruto hit the Sound nin first—a shadow clone popping into existence mid-run, slamming into the attacker with a wild, messy punch. The Sound nin stumbled back, surprised.
I pulled a flash tag between my fingers and slapped it onto the stone at the Sound nin's feet.
"Close your eyes!" I barked.
Naruto didn't.
The tag popped like a miniature sun. The magnesium-white glare was a physical strike, a blinding wall of light that instantly bleached the color out of the stadium.
Naruto yelped and fell backward, clutching his face. "OW—!"
"YOU'RE WELCOME!" I shouted back.
The Sound nin screamed too—blinded and off-balance—and Naruto's clone smashed a fist into his jaw. The attacker went down hard, sliding into a row of sleeping spectators like a broken doll.
Naruto ripped his hands away from his face, eyes watering. "What the hell is happening?!"
"An invasion," I said, and the words felt too big in my mouth.
He stared at me. For a split second, he looked nine years old again. Just a kid at the edge of a riot, trying to understand why adults let the world turn into knives.
Then a figure dropped onto the railing above us, landing light, one hand in his pocket like he hadn't just stepped into a massacre.
Kakashi.
His visible eye swept the chaos in a single, calculating glance: sleeping crowd, foreign shinobi moving in coordinated waves, Sand pulling away from the arena in a specific direction.
Then his gaze snapped to us.
"Sylvie," he said, sharp. "Naruto."
Naruto's chest heaved. "Sensei—Sasuke—!"
"I know," Kakashi cut in, and just hearing that word—know—made my throat tighten. "Listen. You two stay alive. That's your first job."
Naruto opened his mouth—
Kakashi leaned in, voice low and brutal. "If you die here, you can't protect anyone. Do you understand?"
Naruto swallowed hard.
Then nodded once.
Kakashi's gaze flicked to me. "How's your chakra?"
I almost laughed. It would've been hysterical and awful.
"Like a hamster on a wheel," I said. "But it's still running."
Kakashi didn't smile. "Good. Use it smart."
He turned his head slightly.
And that's when I saw Shikamaru properly.
Still "asleep."
Still sprawled.
But now his shadow wasn't quite matching the angle of his body. It was too ready. Like it was waiting for a command.
Kakashi's eye narrowed a fraction.
He knew too.
Shikamaru was already in the game.
Kakashi didn't call him out.
He just spoke loud enough to reach him anyway.
"All genin who are awake—protect civilians. Get them out of the stands. Do not engage unless you have to."
Naruto bristled. "But—!"
Kakashi's voice sharpened like a blade. "Naruto."
Naruto shut up.
Kakashi's hand slammed down onto the railing and he vaulted, landing closer to the arena exit lanes. "Sasuke is pursuing Gaara."
My stomach did that drop again.
Gaara.
The sand kid with the dead eyes and the murder aura that tasted like dried blood and cracked bone.
Kakashi's gaze pinned Naruto. "He's a threat right now. I'm going after Sasuke. You're going after Gaara."
Naruto's eyes widened. "Me?!"
"You're fast," Kakashi said. "You're stubborn. And you won't stop until you're dead. That's useful today."
Naruto looked like he wanted to argue with the compliment.
Kakashi slapped his palm to the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu."
Smoke. A pop.
A very small dog.
Pakkun appeared with a grumpy squint and a tiny flak vest. He looked around once, took in the chaos, and sighed like an overworked salaryman.
"Seriously?" Pakkun said. "Again?"
Naruto blinked. "A dog?!"
Pakkun's gaze snapped to Naruto. "A ninken, brat."
Kakashi crouched and tapped two fingers to Pakkun's forehead. "Track Gaara. Sand siblings. They're extracting him."
Pakkun sniffed once, then sneezed. "Ugh. Sand gets everywhere."
Kakashi's gaze flicked to me. "Sylvie. You're with Naruto."
My heart lurched. Not romantic—just anchor.
Orders meant structure.
Structure meant I didn't have to decide everything alone.
"Yes," I said immediately.
Kakashi's eye cut to the "sleeping" Shikamaru. "And—"
Shikamaru's finger twitched once, barely visible.
Kakashi's voice didn't change. "—you're coming too."
Shikamaru's eye cracked open a hair.
He looked directly at me for half a second.
Don't say anything.
I didn't.
Shikamaru sat up like he'd just woken naturally, rubbing the back of his head with exaggerated grogginess. "Tch. What a drag…"
Naruto pointed at him. "YOU WERE AWAKE?!"
Shikamaru squinted at Naruto. "No."
Naruto's face went red. "YES YOU—!"
Shikamaru's shadow slid an inch, curling around Naruto's ankle just long enough to make him stumble.
"Oops," Shikamaru said blandly. "Must've been the genjutsu."
Naruto glared. "I hate you."
"Get in line," I muttered.
Kakashi didn't waste more breath. He vaulted off toward the arena lanes, already disappearing into smoke and bodies.
"Okay," I said, voice tight. "We need to—"
A crash shook the stadium.
Not from the stands.
From above.
My chakra senses caught it before my eyes did—an ugly, vast pressure in the Kage box area, like a lid had been slammed down.
The air tasted… wrong.
That void flavor again.
Orochimaru.
A massive, low-frequency thrum suddenly rattled my teeth. From the Kage box, a wave of cold, pressurized air rolled down the stands, smelling of scorched stone and the sharp, metallic tang of a coming storm.
My skin prickled.
I forced myself not to look. Not because I didn't want to.
Because if I looked, I'd freeze.
And freezing was how you died.
"Move," Shikamaru said, suddenly all business. His voice dropped into that calm tone that made you obey even if you wanted to bite him. "Stampede's about to start."
He was right.
The genjutsu was breaking in pockets. People were waking up confused and terrified, which meant they'd run in whatever direction their fear pointed.
Thousands of bodies.
Narrow exits.
If we didn't guide them, they'd crush each other for the privilege of not being stabbed.
My hands moved before my brain finished panicking.
I yanked out a stack of pre-drawn tags—cheap, messy, imperfect—and started slapping them onto stone along the aisles.
Not wake-tags.
Directional.
Little "push" seals—subtle wind nudges, barely chakra, the kind you used to redirect smoke or roll a ball.
Only now I was using them to steer humans.
"Left," I whispered, pressing one down. "Left, left, left…"
My chakra pool winced again.
Nausea tickled my throat.
I swallowed it down like a bad secret.
Naruto grabbed a sleeping man under the armpits and hauled him up like a sack. "Hey! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
The man blinked, startled—then saw a Sound nin two rows over and screamed.
Naruto flinched. "Okay! Don't do that!"
"Helpful," I said, because I couldn't stop myself.
Pakkun trotted between us, sniffing. "Gaara's already moved. You idiots better hurry or we're chasing sand footprints for three miles."
Shikamaru's shadow stretched out, thin lines slipping across the steps like ink. It didn't grab anyone—just tripped one panicking civilian gently, turned their fall into a stumble that redirected them away from a choke point.
It was disgusting how good he was at it.
"Stairs are clogging," Shikamaru said. "We need a second exit."
I scanned fast—eyes, senses, logic.
My senses tasted the crowd like a mouthful of static. Too much. Too many emotions. Fear had a flavor: copper and sour sweat.
I couldn't stay "open" like this long.
I forced my chakra perception narrower. Just the immediate area. Just the flow.
"There," I said, pointing. "That service tunnel—"
Naruto looked where I pointed. "That's not an exit, that's—"
"It's a hole," I snapped. "Holes are exits if you're desperate."
Shikamaru nodded once. "Works."
Naruto stared at both of us like we'd lost our minds.
Then an explosion boomed outside the stadium and Naruto's face changed.
He didn't argue again.
He just moved.
We cleared bodies. We dragged people. We shoved Leaf chūnin into positions where they could actually help, because half of them were still in the "I can't believe this is happening" stage of reality.
I slapped a sticky tag onto a Sound shinobi's sandal when he ran past—pure instinct—and the guy faceplanted into stone with a wet crack.
Naruto winced. "Ow."
"Not dead," I panted. "Just… introduced to gravity."
Shikamaru's shadow flicked. "Nice."
Compliments from Shikamaru felt like being handed a coupon for a store you didn't want to enter.
We reached the tunnel.
Narrow. Dark. Smelled like dust, old stone, and something faintly damp.
The roar of the stadium became a muffled, rhythmic pounding through the thick bedrock, the vibrations traveling up through my heels and mixing with the scent of wet clay and the sour, sharp sweat of the panicked crowd.
The civilians hesitated, staring into it like it was the mouth of a monster.
Naruto threw his arms wide. "GO! GO! GO! THIS IS THE EXIT NOW!"
The air around Naruto flickered with an angry, dark-citrus glow—a bruised orange that pulsed with a raw, abrasive heat, scraping against my senses like rough sandpaper.
A woman stared at him, trembling. "But-"
Naruto leaned in, eyes fierce. "If you stay up here, you'll die."
She swallowed hard, then ran.
The others followed, pulled by terror and Naruto's brutal honesty.
Something in my chest tightened at that—Naruto saying the ugly truth out loud without flinching. He always did that. Even when it made him look stupid. Even when it made him look cruel.
Sometimes truth was cruel.
My hands were shaking.
I didn't know if it was adrenaline or chakra depletion or the fact that the screaming outside sounded too much like...
No.
Not that.
Not now.
I swallowed again, hard, and forced my brain back into the present.
Shikamaru leaned close, voice low. "Once they're flowing, we peel off."
"Peel off where?" Naruto demanded, because he was Naruto and subtlety hated him personally.
Pakkun sighed. "Out of the stadium, toward the forest. Gaara's trail is headed east-southeast. Smells like… insomnia and murder."
Naruto's eyes widened. "That's not a smell!"
Pakkun stared at him. "You'd be surprised."
I gave the last civilian a shove toward the tunnel and slapped two more "push" tags down to keep the flow from reversing.
My head throbbed behind my eyes.
The world tilted slightly, like my body was angry at me for spending chakra on strangers.
Too bad.
I wiped sweat off my upper lip with the back of my hand.
Naruto turned to me, eyes sharp now. "Sylvie. Are you okay?"
The question hit weird.
Not like a teammate checking a tool.
Like… him noticing I was human.
My throat tightened again.
"I'm fine," I lied automatically.
Shikamaru snorted. "You look like you're about to throw up."
"Supportive," Naruto snapped.
"I'm realistic," Shikamaru said. Then, to me, quieter: "Don't overdo it. We need you functional."
Functional.
I nodded, because nodding was easier than admitting my vision was starting to blur at the edges.
Above us, the Kage box barrier pulsed faintly, like a bruise in the sky.
Somewhere inside it, the Third Hokage was fighting alone.
Somewhere outside it, the village was breaking.
"Okay," I whispered, mostly to myself. "Okay. We're doing this."
Naruto bounced on his heels like a caged animal. "Let's go!"
Pakkun trotted toward the exit lane, already sniffing. "Try not to die. I hate paperwork."
Shikamaru stretched his shadow back into himself, face blanking into calm. "Troublesome day."
I almost laughed.
Then another scream cut through the air—closer now—and the laugh died in my throat.
We ran.