The Lost Flower of the Hidden Leaf (WIP)

Chapter Fifteen; The chase

Sasuke held on to his injured left hand. He stared wide-eyed at the sand barrier surrounding his opponent. The hole he made in Gaara's supposedly perfect defense with his Chidori was pitch black, but something had grabbed and nearly torn his arm right off. Something not human.
He reactivated his Sharingan, sensing a harrowing presence coming from within the darkness. A gleaming yellow eye met Sasuke's cautious gaze. The young Uchiha shuddered. What the hell was that thing? 
Suddenly, the armor around the hole cracked. The fissures multiplied rapidly, disintegrating right before Sasuke's eyes. Sand melted off Gaara like snow in the sun. The red-haired thirteen-year-old with the symbol for love tattooed on his forehead panted heavily as he clutched his bleeding shoulder. 

Those weren't his eyes, thought Sasuke, as Gaara's regular light-green orbs peered up at him. But then... what did I see before? Never mind, I struck him with my Chidori, so I have to finish —

A thundering explosion drew Sasuke's attention. He looked up, gasping in horror at the smoke around the main dais where the Hokage was. His heart lurched when he recalled seeing Katana there earlier. Sasuke rose to his feet, forgetting all about the pain in his arm, but the match proctor — a shinobi by the name of Genma — leaped in front of him before he could sprint off to find her. 

"Stay where you are," warned Genma. 

"But I have to —" Sasuke then noticed a heaviness descending on his body, trying to overtake him. Was this...? Genjutsu! He quickly clasped his hands together to sign and yelled, "Release!"

Air filled his lungs as he took a deep breath. The sudden fatigue instantly went away. Sasuke's Sharingan roved over the stands. All spectators, but a few Jōnin, were fast asleep. He looked toward the dais again as the smoke cleared, catching a great see-through purplish blockade on top of the roof. 

The Hokage and Kazekage are trapped together. Is it for their protection or...?

Sasuke turned back to his opponent, finding Gaara's sensei and siblings had jumped into the arena. They didn't seem at all perturbed about what was going on around them and focused solely on the red-headed teen. Gaara whimpered and grabbed his head. It was like something was trying to possess him.

"He's suffering a reaction," said the blonde sister. "He can't do it anymore!"

"Sensei, what are we supposed to do?" asked the black-hooded brother in alarm. "You want us to go ahead without Gaara?" 

Go ahead? What's he talking about? What is going on here?

Their sensei's jaw clenched as he looked back at the team. "I'm calling it off. You two take Gaara and withdraw. I'm going to help fight. Now go!"

"Y-Yes, sir."

The girl handed Gaara over to her older brother, and they sped off, up and over the arena wall. Sasuke remained in place, uncertain of what to do. The arena was in utter chaos. Sounds of steel clanging against steel and of Jutsu being cast resonated in a eerily harmonious orchestra. Though he knew he should find Kakashi to see what he could do to help, his heart overpowered his mind. Katana was trapped somewhere in the middle of it all, possibly right where the Hokage was. If anything happened to her...

No, I can't think like that. She's a skillful and clever maiko. None of these clowns could even get close to her.

"Uchiha," said Genma then, breaking Sasuke's chain of thought, "sorry, but the Chunin Exam is over. Go after Gaara and the others, right now. You're already at Chunin level, so if you consider yourself a Leaf-shinobi, do something useful and stop them."

Sasuke tsk-ed at the order. He didn't feel like abandoning his best friend, but no way was he going to let those Sand-shinobi get away either. Especially since he and Gaara still had a score to settle. He went in pursuit, hoping Katana was safe and far from harm.