-Sasuke and Gaara's fight-

Someone elbowed me in my side and I jerked awake. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and running my hand over the sore spot near my coccyx. I shouldn't have slept in that position, it's too uncomfortable.

"What the hell-" I was cut off when Sakura grabbed my arm excitedly.

"Did you see that?!" she exclaimed, pointing to the field. Her eyes were bright and shining. My mind struggled to keep up with her enthusiasm.

"See what?" I asked, rubbing my eyes again.

Sakura groaned. "Were you even watching it? How can you know that Sasuke's out there being awesome and sleep? Are you even human?"

"I'd rather not be if that's how I'm expected to act," I muttered. I looked around, just now realizing that everyone was cheering. "Why all the excitement?"

"Sasuke did an AWESOME jutsu! I think it's called the Chidori ... anyway, yeah, and he got caught in this ball thingy that Gaara did but he got away and now everyone's cheering because they've figured out just how awesome and great and cool Sasuke is."

I rolled my eyes at her lively exuberance. "Whatever." I sighed and slouched in the chair. "I'm going back to sleep."

"You are no fun," she complained but then returned her gaze to the battle. I closed my eyes but it didn't take me long to realize that I wasn't go back to sleep. I actually wanted to see the rest of the battle. From the way Sakura was acting, I knew this was a great fight and I didn't want to miss any more of it. I slowly opened my eyes and eased back up.

Sasuke was panting and clutching his arm, but other than that, he didn't look worse for wear. The too looked evenly matched. I saw Gaara's mouth move, he was also clutching a wound that looked as if it was pouring blood, and I assumed they were talking to each other. Everyone in the crowd had their eyes trained on the fight before them. I guess I was about to be one of them. And Sasuke looked as if he was in the lead.

I turned my head forward. Something floated between my eyes. I crossed my eyes to see it. It was a white feather. Soon more and more began falling from the sky.

"What the hell?" I whispered as I caught one in my hand. I looked at it with bewilderment. Where had these come from?

I turned to Sakura to ask her if she knew but she was staring, looking around with her eyes wide. I followed her eyes and saw that Ino was slouched in her chair. And, I noticed Naruto and everyone else in the arena. They were all slouched over, looking as if they were sleeping soundly.

"You see this, Kakashi?" I heard Guy's voice and I turned around to see him and Kakashi standing a little behind me.

"Yeah. Genjustsu," Kakashi answered.

They both held their hands together and said, "Kai!"

Beside me, Sakura did the same thing. I looked between the two jonins and her. "What's going on?" I asked, completely confused. Kakashi stared at me and I knew exactly what he was wondering. How did she not fall under the genjustu? I had no idea myself.

Sakura shrugged, looking just as confused as I did. "I have absolutely no idea. I just did what they did."

"It's a genjustu," Guy answered. "Someone's trying to get everyone to sleep." He turned to Kakashi. "What do you think's going on?"

Kakashi shrugged, his hands tucked in his pockets. "I don't know. But whatever it is, I have a strong feeling I'm not going to like it."

As if responding to his words, there was a long explosion overhead. All our heads looked up in shock towards where the Hokage was sitting. There was a huge cloud of dirt and smoke covering the area, obscuring our vision.

There was another loud boom but it sounded farther away. Fear spiked my heartbeat. I looked around, my fear apparent in my face, both for the reason behind the noise and a place to hide. Immediately I tried tampering it down. My wimpy nature was showing through. It was what I most hated about myself.

But the thought that maybe someone was breaking into the village. And that maybe that someone was the ninja of the Land of Lightning, coming to take me back and stopping at nothing to get me. The fear escalated. I no longer believe that running was so bad an idea.

I looked at Sakura, looking just as scared as I did. I looked at Naruto, still fast asleep, his cheek against the floor. Then I looked at Sasuke, his eyes on the cloud of smoke obviously not under the genjutsu.

I knew that, if it came down to it, their life would never be as important as mine. I would forfeit theirs in an instant to save myself.

I was just about to run for safety when ninjas shot out of nowhere. They cut down a few Leaf ninjas that had went to stop them and continued advancing. At about the same time, the kage of the sand, (was it the Kazekage?) shot out the smoke cloud, holding a kunai to the Third Hokage's throat.

Beside me, Sakura gasped. I held back my own gasp of horror. What was going on here? Were they enemies? Why would the Third Hokage sit so cordially with the Kazekage when they weren't allies? Or was this all a trick?

The four ninjas shot out of their cloaks and I saw them discard mask that look just like the ones the ANBU wore. It must have been planned, I mused. They were disguising themselves all along.

"Ninpou-Quad Purple Flame Wall!" the four shouted and four high purple walls shot up into the air and surrounded the two kages.

"What's going on Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked. Her eyes were wide. "Was that the Third Hokage and the Kazekage? We're allies!"

"This is bad," Kakashi muttered.

"Traitors from the sand," I heard Guy say. My eyes widened and immediately darted towards Gaara. From the sand?

Suddenly Gaara's teammates and sensei dropped down in front of Gaara, facing Sasuke. I shot out of my seat immediately. I jumped over the limp bodies, ignoring Sakura when she called out to me. I ran up to the edge and jumped over the side. I landed on all fours, crouched, before running towards Sasuke. As I neared, I saw that a jonin was also standing in front of him. I skidded to a halt beside him.

"Lea, what are-"

"You guys have a problem?" I asked the sand ninjas before me, cutting Sasuke off mid-sentence. I rested a hand on Machaera's hilt for reassurance, as my hands were shaking. I prayed they didn't see. I felt an unusual feeling of protectiveness rushing through me. That must have been why I came down here so fast.

They were completely ignoring me. They were too busy tending to Gaara who was shaking uncontrollably. I blinked, wondering what was wrong with him this time.

"I knew it," I heard Temari say. She stooped to Gaara's level. "Gaara?"

"Fool! You can't try to change into your true form now!" their sensei shouted.

"He's experiencing the side effects!" Temari shouted back.

"What are we supposed to do now?! We can't do this without Gaara!" Kankuro added in.

The sensei looked torn. I frowned, wondering what the deal was. His face changed many times then finally, it looked as if he came to a conclusion. "Abort the mission."

"W-what?" Temari stood unsteadily on her feet. "What about you?"

"I'll join the fighting. Take Gaara and run."

Kankuro and Temari exchanged glances before, nodding. They both lifted Gaara to his feet and were off with him. I watched them go, still a bit confused.

"You're one of Orochimaru's men, aren't you?" The jonin asked. My head shot up at the name. This couldn't be that snake's doing. I looked down at Sasuke. He was still clutching his arm, staring at the sand sensei.

"Who knows?" the sensei answered with a smirk.

"Hey! What's going on?!" Sasuke shouted from behind me.

"Sorry," the jonin said. "But the Chunin exams are over. You go and pursue Gaara and the others. You're already at the chunin level. You might as well put that to use for the good of the village."

Sasuke grunted then came to his feet. "What's going on?" I heard him mutter to himself. He ran off with full speed, and I began to follow him.

"Lea!" the jonin called. I stopped and turned to him with a questioning raise of my brow. "Go help the others in the audience. Your skill will be needed."

I nodded, wondering what my skill was and why I couldn't go with Sasuke. My curiousity of what was wrong with Gaara had overpowered my earlier fear. I no longer felt like running.

I ran up the wall and landed back into the audience. Sakura rushed up to me immediately.

"Where did Sasuke go?" she demanded. "Orochimaru is here! He's behind this!"

"I know. He went after Gaara and the others."

"Why did you let him go by himself?! What if something happens?!" I shrugged. I was sure that Sasuke could handle himself. Sakura turned on her heels swiftly. "I'm going after him!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two shadows. My body moved on its own. Like a flash of lightning, I drew my sword and swung it around in a skillful arced X. Two sound ninjas dropped to the floor, blood oozing out a large wound in their abdomen. A splash of blood landed on my cheek.

"Where ... where did they come from?" Sakura asked, shell shocked.

"Good job, Lea." Kakashi and Guy got into readying position. "Incoming."

I positioned my sword before me. A ninja charged after me and I met him in the air, my sword to his kunai.

"I'm worried," I heard Guy say.

Kakashi answered him. "Concentrate on what is before you. Let the ANBU handle what's going on upstairs."

"But ..."

"There's nothing to be worried about. Besides, that guy is the Leaf Village's Hokage."

I sliced down another ninja, this time dodging the blood that sprayed. I spared a quick glance at Kakashi and Guy and saw that they were dispensing of the enemy quickly. I swiped my foot under another ninja and sent him a roundhouse kick. My sword finished him off.

I wondered about that blind faith Kakashi had for his Hokage. Could someone really believe so much in another person?

We cut down all the enemy ninjas that attacked us.

"Sakura!" Kakashi shouted. "As I expected, you have a knack for genjutsu."

Sakura peeked up from under the seat. "Wha- what do you mean?"

"I want you to nullify the genjutsu placed on Naruto and Shikamaru. We have a mission. Naruto's finally going to be happy."

"What kind of mission?"

"Listen carefully. For the first time since the wave country, this is an A class mission."

"Huh?!?!" Sakura exclaimed. I flung a ninja over my head, knocking him out as soon as he hit the ground. I was listening intently. "What do you mean an A class mission, sensei?"

"Right now, Sasuke is going after Gaara and his team members from the sand. After you nullify the genjutsu for Naruto and Shikamaru, I want you all to go after them."

"I-if we're going after them, shouldn't we wake Choji and Ino and the others?"

"Right now the village is being invaded by sound and sand ninjas. We're going to need all the men we can get. And since you aren't used to anything else but the basic four man team, too many persons will only slow you down. Right now, you, Naruto, Shikamaru and Lea should be enough."

"But - but how will we find them? They have a massive head start."

Kakashi did a few hand signs and slammed his hands down. "Summoning Jutsu!" A dog appeared.

"Yo," the dog greeted. I slashed through a ninja then stopped and stared at the pug. What. The hell. Was Kakashi. Doing. With a. PUG. My skin crawled and I backed away from it.

"Take Pakkun with you. He'll be able to track Sasuke's scent."

"Wait-wait, we have to take a dog with us?" I asked staring at Kakashi incredulously.

Pakkun looked over at me. "Got a problem with that, sweet stuff?"

I shivered uncontrollably. "Just stay away from me," I warned.

Pakkun did a dog shrug and turn to Kakashi. "What's the beef?"

"The village's under attack. I need you to help them find Sasuke and lead them to him."

"Piece of cake. Sorry to hear that. The village being attacked and all."

Kakashi kicked away a ninja. "Go Sakura," he ordered. Sakura shimmied over to Naruto and released the genjutsu. The blond boy sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Huh? Sakura? What's going on?"

"Shh!" Sakura pulled his head down. "Get down!"

She shimmied over to Shikamaru. She looked down at him a moment "Shikamaru ... you ..."

Pakkun bit his finger and Shikamaru yelped. "You were awake all along," Sakura accused. "Why were you pretending that you were knocked out?"

He rubbed his finger. "I didn't want to get attacked. I refuse! Who cares about Sasuke?"

"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto! Look out!" A shadow passed over Naruto's head. The same rush of protectiveness surged through me like a roaring volcano, and with a war cry, I shot towards the enemy ninja, moving like lightning. My fist covered with purple chakra and I punched him in his stomach.

"F-fast..." he whispered, blood running down the side of his mouth.

"Don't you dare touch him," I muttered back, then slammed my other fist, also covered in purple chakra in his face. He went straight through the wall.

I looked down at my hands with the purple chakra, before it disappeared. What the hell was that? It was just like what happened during my fight. What the hell was happening to me?

"Now that Lea has shown off her powers to you guys, get going. Find Sasuke and bring him back safely."

"What happened to Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded.

"I'll explained on the way!" Sakura grabbed Naruto and they were out the hole in the wall.

Shikamaru groaned. "Why me ...?" He followed them.

I made sure Machaera was safely his sheath before I headed for the hole.

"Lea," Kakashi called.

"Yeah?"

"Make sure there safe."

"Yeah, whatever."