The Sun and the Moon (BL)

Chapter 6

Complete panic. People running; screaming; a few of those who were wounded were already being taken care of by the Security Unit who were stationed to watch the gate; the others were already engaging the perpetrators. The five rogue attackers were deflecting any attacks that were aimed at them.

"Why are they only defending?" Naruto noticed after watching the fight for a few minutes. Sakura stood to his side and they both rushed to aid the unit when they saw the youngest member receive a long slash on his arm.

"Wait!" Stopped by Ino, the two looked at her for an explanation; she looked shocked as she looked on at one of the attackers.

"Choji . . . Hinata?" They must have come back from a mission moments before and came rushing back once they heard the explosion. Choji looked to be on guard; he knew better than to underestimate an enemy and kept a keen eye on the enemy that was almost through the gate. Hinata stood confidently with a firm look in her eyes, the old shyness and insecurities gone. War really does change people.

"What's happening?" Sakura questioned. She looked at Ino for an explanation, but the latter simply stood there, eyes not leaving the fight happening in front of them.

"It can't be . . ." Everyone turned to look at her. Ino pointed to an elderly man, one of the attackers, who lead the other four as they advanced towards the gate. The Security Unit backed up, trying not to make any rash movements. "Mr Tadaichi . . . That's Mr Tadaichi!"

"Mr Tadaichi? You mean your regular from the flower shop?" Ino could only nod in confirmation.

"Are you sure, Ino?" Choji turned to look at her. He trusted her, immensely, but he heard about Tadaichi's disappearance and was aware that he was loyal to the Leaf, so it was hard to believe that he would now be leading an attack on the village.

"There's no mistake! But he'd never turn against the Hidden Leaf! So why?"

"Does that mean that he could be under some Genjutsu?" Hinata offered.

With a realisation, Sakura continued, "And the others could be the ones who went missing!"

"What?!" It never crossed Naruto's mind that the missing people would now be attacking the village.

"Then, these are Hidden Leaf shinobi?" He should already be used to it, especially after everything that happened during the war, but Choji found it hard to fight his allies, Genjutsu or not. While he was able to overcome this hurdle, he still struggled with it mentally.

"That's why we can't do anything other than defending!" One of the guards fighting the hostile shinobi threw out a kunai, in an attempt to stop their advancement. It pierced Tadaichi in a non-vital spot, but the man didn't stop, as if he did not feel the pain from the wound, no, as if he hasn't even noticed that he got hurt.

"He didn't even dodge." Naruto knew that there was no way that a shinobi, even a retired shinobi like Tadaichi, wouldn't be able to dodge such a simple and straightforward attack.

After advancing until he was right at the gate, the group stopped their movement. Tadaichi, eyes now an eery red sent chills down Naruto's back, looked down at the kunai protruding from he left shoulder, grabbed it, and pulled the entire blade down his body. His face made no indication as to any pain he should have felt in that moment, there was no hesitation in his movement. Blood spilt like a waterfall from the gaping wound, staining the stone under his feet a sinister red.

Ino clasped her hand over her mouth in shock. "Doesn't he feel any pain?" Sakura was already used to blood and all the gory details; she was a medic ninja during the war, she saw worse wounds than this.