Even if Sarutobi-sama lives, he'll be too injured and take too long to recover to continue as Hokage, so the Tsunade search will still happen. Let me spell out the summary of events as I'm seeing it at this time, as revised again having concluded that I really WON'T be needing the services of Mr. Most Evil Eyeshadow, and that Drakensis agreeing with my initial assessment is enough confirmation that the resurrection gambit I'd been thinking of wasn't all that plausible:
First fight is Tenten vs. Neji, thanks to Neshan's help getting ready for the finals she nickle-and-dimes him to defeat with thrown weapons that can sometimes even penetrate the kaiten and which use far less of her energy to trow than it takes him to defend in any case. She comes out looking really good as a first-gen ninja having beaten a genius of one of the strongest clans, which also serves to deliver the same attitude adjustment, since according to him it is the destiny of the clanless to face defeat when faced with skills and traditions honed by generations of refinement with an advanced bloodline.
Insert Katsu/Zabusa, because Temari/Shikamaru isn't all that exciting and I wouldn't want to just transcribe it even if it wasn't, the at least one more fight before Gaara and Naruto go down to the ring (having eliminated Sasuke because the curse seal was too restricting against Mina in the prelims.) Due to having met Jiraya earlier and being one training cycle ahead, Naruto blows a hole in the side of the sand-egg with the Rasengan, but because the force is not concentrated so much it doesn't actualy injure badger-boy, who keeps going with the transformation - it does tell tell Orochimaru that his invasion plan is toast, since Mr. Bloodthirsty Psycho couldn't wait for the signal to start pulling out his demon, so he attacks Sandaime-sama, and kabuto does the mass-sleep genjutsu.
Gai, Kakashi, Neshan, Sakura, Mina, and Shikamaru resist it, and Neshan recognises the technique but realises it needs to be countered so rest of the ninja in the stands can help deal with the attack before he hunts down Kabuto - Kakashi and Gai keep the Sand and Sound attacking the the stands off of him with the genin as a second line - Shikamaru keeps pretending to sleep until someone gets close, then blindsides them. With the wide-area dispel activarted, the rest of the attackers in the stadium are easily dealt with, and most leave to repel the invasion while a few stay to protect the various civilian dignitaries where they are, since the arena has been secured... or has it?
Gaara has transformed even as orders are being given, and several genin are dispatched to help Naruto against his sibs and lead him to the outskirts of town, told to attack only enough to keep the beast's attantion and lead it away until more help can come. Neshan explains that the barrier raised by the Four Sound will take a lot more work to break than the sleep genjutsu, Serenity tells him not to worry about it. She henges into her appearance before she'd died and says that she knows he was there, surely Kakashi hasn't forgotten THAT jutsu? He recognises her, asks if that's a good idea since it killed her the first time. Serenity assures him it will be all right, her grand-niece is really something special.
Some more Sand nin show up, just after she starts, and the neutral ninja are asked "Even though it's troublesome, please defend her for your own safety, because the energy of that jutsu will explode around her if the technique is interrupted." The Konoha ninja, meanwhile, try to keep the Sand away from the neutrals, because letting one of them get attacked could bring their country in on the side of the Sand and Sound, and are mostly successful - Katsu and Zabusa can indeed do the silent killing thing here on their own recognizance to assist.
With Shuukaku-Gaara drawn away from the stadium Naruto summons Gamabunta and it becomes a kaiju-battle, at which most of the other genin back off - several are wounded, and Naruto told the rest to get the others out of the area just before doing the summons. Realising they aren't capable of fighting at that scale, they head back to the stadium, since its medical rooms are a lot closer than the Konoha hospital. The remainder of that fight goes somewhat as in canon, save for Sakura not being sand-globbed to a tree - only Hinata (having quickly recovered from her fight against: ) and Rikou stay, mainly because this is NARUTO fighting and they can't possibly abandon him to the monster who crippled their team mate Lee - and not needing to combi-henge into a fox due to Naruto's greater offensive ability with Rasengan, even if it does take summoning a clone to help form it.
Fighting the big snake, Jiraya has summoned several other largeish toads, and some one asks when he had time to go summon Bunta to fight the other kaiju. Not even having had time to notice Bunta over on the other isde of town, he looks around, surprised, and says that it wasn't him, so it must have been the Uzumaki brat. The enquirer (Ebisu?) is shocked, but they don't have time for that, it's back to the fight.
Back at the stadium, Neshan has gone beetle-hunting and Serenity finishes her technique, knocking down the outer layer of the 'safe' and the upper floors of the building, so the Four Sound have to drop the inner layer voluntarily to catch their fall. The break in concentration also gets Sarutobi-sama out of the genjutsu trap just before he pulls out the Fuin Shiki Fuujin, and Gai and Kakashi jump in to assist, possibly others as well (Zabusa? Katsu? Other neutrals?) The Third tells them to go after Orochimaru, who decides to flee with the tables having been turned so, plus appoints Tenten acting Chuunin on the spot and tells her to take a team of four and pursue the Four Sound so they can't join up with Snake Boy. The resurected Nidaime and Shodaime warn that they won't stop just because their summoner has fled, to which The Professor gives a thin-lipped smile and tells Enma to transform again - then whips out Nidaime's Raiken, recovered form Aoi, and attacks.
Someone approaches through the trees as Shuukaku collapses into sand - it seems Kimimaro was sent for when Sasuke was eliminated and Kabuto failed to kidnap him from the hospital, and found yon Uchiha twerp angrily training just inside the walls instead of watching the tournement he'd been knocked out of. Kimi is carrying him unconscious over a shoulder, but headed into Konoha instead of out when he saw his beloved master's foreign puppet fall, intending to take out whoever was responsible - since Naruto is totally wiped out by now, and he arrives just after Temari and Kankuro leave with Gaara, this is what might be termed a 'shituation' for Our Hero.
Naturally, the girls jump in, and discover that they make a pretty good team, with Rikou's mist and ranged jutsus to distract and confuse him, while the Jyuukan ignores bone armor and toasts the meat inside. Naruto is just aware enough to thank Rikou and tell Hinata that he never knew she was so strong and amazing before passing out. Nathan, are you loving this yet? How about when I tell you that the genjutsu Rikou tried to use on Hinata in the prelims had lingering effects even after being dispelled?
Enma is forced to dispel, but has worn down Shodaime to where The Professor can take both his own senseis out, though his own wounds are prbably too great to survive them by more than a few seconds. Various scenes of elder relatives of the genin in the exam mopping up the invaders.
Neshan vs. Kabuto - it may be desireable to have him escape, plot-wise, or to have an ambiguous death that he could have escaped from.
As for the other pursuits, Choji has already stayed to deal with Jirobu, Rei takes Tayuya, her spirit wards dispelling the giants and the crows reducing the effect of the genjutsu by telling her what's where, plus her whistle arrows disrupt the music. Shikamaru the Strategist vs. Ukon and Sakon the Skull-Fuckers should be good, for a while at least, and Tenten has ranged attacks to try to deal with Kidomaru.
Kakashi and Gai vs. Orochimaru, they're just BARELY falling behind, even with him worn down by his former sensei. Who to have come as reinforcements against the second stage curse seals is open to question, but either Anko or Jiraya should get the finishing blow on that bastard - they both owe him for one thing or another. I lean toward Anko.
Beyond that... Eh, I dunno. this is already a lot more detailed than I wanted to get, when I'm only at 20% or less of the first arc, and there's a minimum or three between it and this.
- CD
ETA: Fights are up for grabs - I might do Rikou/Neji and Tenten/Temari, and have Shika vs. someone else, with the K/Z scene to cover the interlude while he strategises.
Edit 2: I swear, I'm not typing drunk, so there must be a gremlin in my keyboard to cause all those typos.That which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
Next morning, Harry found himself butt-naked in the other side of town, mouth tasting of lima beans. - from Uzumaki Harry by Shadow Crystal Mage
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
First fight is Tenten vs. Neji, thanks to Neshan's help getting ready for the finals she nickle-and-dimes him to defeat with thrown weapons that can sometimes even penetrate the kaiten and which use far less of her energy to trow than it takes him to defend in any case. She comes out looking really good as a first-gen ninja having beaten a genius of one of the strongest clans, which also serves to deliver the same attitude adjustment, since according to him it is the destiny of the clanless to face defeat when faced with skills and traditions honed by generations of refinement with an advanced bloodline.
Insert Katsu/Zabusa, because Temari/Shikamaru isn't all that exciting and I wouldn't want to just transcribe it even if it wasn't, the at least one more fight before Gaara and Naruto go down to the ring (having eliminated Sasuke because the curse seal was too restricting against Mina in the prelims.) Due to having met Jiraya earlier and being one training cycle ahead, Naruto blows a hole in the side of the sand-egg with the Rasengan, but because the force is not concentrated so much it doesn't actualy injure badger-boy, who keeps going with the transformation - it does tell tell Orochimaru that his invasion plan is toast, since Mr. Bloodthirsty Psycho couldn't wait for the signal to start pulling out his demon, so he attacks Sandaime-sama, and kabuto does the mass-sleep genjutsu.
Gai, Kakashi, Neshan, Sakura, Mina, and Shikamaru resist it, and Neshan recognises the technique but realises it needs to be countered so rest of the ninja in the stands can help deal with the attack before he hunts down Kabuto - Kakashi and Gai keep the Sand and Sound attacking the the stands off of him with the genin as a second line - Shikamaru keeps pretending to sleep until someone gets close, then blindsides them. With the wide-area dispel activarted, the rest of the attackers in the stadium are easily dealt with, and most leave to repel the invasion while a few stay to protect the various civilian dignitaries where they are, since the arena has been secured... or has it?
Gaara has transformed even as orders are being given, and several genin are dispatched to help Naruto against his sibs and lead him to the outskirts of town, told to attack only enough to keep the beast's attantion and lead it away until more help can come. Neshan explains that the barrier raised by the Four Sound will take a lot more work to break than the sleep genjutsu, Serenity tells him not to worry about it. She henges into her appearance before she'd died and says that she knows he was there, surely Kakashi hasn't forgotten THAT jutsu? He recognises her, asks if that's a good idea since it killed her the first time. Serenity assures him it will be all right, her grand-niece is really something special.
Some more Sand nin show up, just after she starts, and the neutral ninja are asked "Even though it's troublesome, please defend her for your own safety, because the energy of that jutsu will explode around her if the technique is interrupted." The Konoha ninja, meanwhile, try to keep the Sand away from the neutrals, because letting one of them get attacked could bring their country in on the side of the Sand and Sound, and are mostly successful - Katsu and Zabusa can indeed do the silent killing thing here on their own recognizance to assist.
With Shuukaku-Gaara drawn away from the stadium Naruto summons Gamabunta and it becomes a kaiju-battle, at which most of the other genin back off - several are wounded, and Naruto told the rest to get the others out of the area just before doing the summons. Realising they aren't capable of fighting at that scale, they head back to the stadium, since its medical rooms are a lot closer than the Konoha hospital. The remainder of that fight goes somewhat as in canon, save for Sakura not being sand-globbed to a tree - only Hinata (having quickly recovered from her fight against: ) and Rikou stay, mainly because this is NARUTO fighting and they can't possibly abandon him to the monster who crippled their team mate Lee - and not needing to combi-henge into a fox due to Naruto's greater offensive ability with Rasengan, even if it does take summoning a clone to help form it.
Fighting the big snake, Jiraya has summoned several other largeish toads, and some one asks when he had time to go summon Bunta to fight the other kaiju. Not even having had time to notice Bunta over on the other isde of town, he looks around, surprised, and says that it wasn't him, so it must have been the Uzumaki brat. The enquirer (Ebisu?) is shocked, but they don't have time for that, it's back to the fight.
Back at the stadium, Neshan has gone beetle-hunting and Serenity finishes her technique, knocking down the outer layer of the 'safe' and the upper floors of the building, so the Four Sound have to drop the inner layer voluntarily to catch their fall. The break in concentration also gets Sarutobi-sama out of the genjutsu trap just before he pulls out the Fuin Shiki Fuujin, and Gai and Kakashi jump in to assist, possibly others as well (Zabusa? Katsu? Other neutrals?) The Third tells them to go after Orochimaru, who decides to flee with the tables having been turned so, plus appoints Tenten acting Chuunin on the spot and tells her to take a team of four and pursue the Four Sound so they can't join up with Snake Boy. The resurected Nidaime and Shodaime warn that they won't stop just because their summoner has fled, to which The Professor gives a thin-lipped smile and tells Enma to transform again - then whips out Nidaime's Raiken, recovered form Aoi, and attacks.
Someone approaches through the trees as Shuukaku collapses into sand - it seems Kimimaro was sent for when Sasuke was eliminated and Kabuto failed to kidnap him from the hospital, and found yon Uchiha twerp angrily training just inside the walls instead of watching the tournement he'd been knocked out of. Kimi is carrying him unconscious over a shoulder, but headed into Konoha instead of out when he saw his beloved master's foreign puppet fall, intending to take out whoever was responsible - since Naruto is totally wiped out by now, and he arrives just after Temari and Kankuro leave with Gaara, this is what might be termed a 'shituation' for Our Hero.
Naturally, the girls jump in, and discover that they make a pretty good team, with Rikou's mist and ranged jutsus to distract and confuse him, while the Jyuukan ignores bone armor and toasts the meat inside. Naruto is just aware enough to thank Rikou and tell Hinata that he never knew she was so strong and amazing before passing out. Nathan, are you loving this yet? How about when I tell you that the genjutsu Rikou tried to use on Hinata in the prelims had lingering effects even after being dispelled?
Enma is forced to dispel, but has worn down Shodaime to where The Professor can take both his own senseis out, though his own wounds are prbably too great to survive them by more than a few seconds. Various scenes of elder relatives of the genin in the exam mopping up the invaders.
Neshan vs. Kabuto - it may be desireable to have him escape, plot-wise, or to have an ambiguous death that he could have escaped from.
As for the other pursuits, Choji has already stayed to deal with Jirobu, Rei takes Tayuya, her spirit wards dispelling the giants and the crows reducing the effect of the genjutsu by telling her what's where, plus her whistle arrows disrupt the music. Shikamaru the Strategist vs. Ukon and Sakon the Skull-Fuckers should be good, for a while at least, and Tenten has ranged attacks to try to deal with Kidomaru.
Kakashi and Gai vs. Orochimaru, they're just BARELY falling behind, even with him worn down by his former sensei. Who to have come as reinforcements against the second stage curse seals is open to question, but either Anko or Jiraya should get the finishing blow on that bastard - they both owe him for one thing or another. I lean toward Anko.
Beyond that... Eh, I dunno. this is already a lot more detailed than I wanted to get, when I'm only at 20% or less of the first arc, and there's a minimum or three between it and this.
- CD
ETA: Fights are up for grabs - I might do Rikou/Neji and Tenten/Temari, and have Shika vs. someone else, with the K/Z scene to cover the interlude while he strategises.
Edit 2: I swear, I'm not typing drunk, so there must be a gremlin in my keyboard to cause all those typos.That which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
Next morning, Harry found himself butt-naked in the other side of town, mouth tasting of lima beans. - from Uzumaki Harry by Shadow Crystal Mage
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows