"Hokage-sama!" a voice yelled, as a younger member of his clan entered Fugaku's office.
He'd been just about to leave for the night too. The young man paused as if waiting for instructions. It irked Fugaku how often this happened. Something so urgent came up that they would run right into his office screaming, but after entering they wouldn't actually tell him what it was until ordered to do so.
"What is it?" he asked impatiently, in order to finally get the man talking.
"A sizable force of enemy ninja has been spotted approaching the village," he reported. "They appear to be from the Otogakure."
What was a tiny village like that doing provoking Konoha? Something about this didn't feel right.
"Where are they headed?" he demanded to know.
"Well, we can't be certain it's their target," the younger Uchiha stated, "but they seem to be headed in the general direction of the cave where the hostages are held."
"Tell me that sooner!" Fugaku berated the man. "I don't believe in a coincidence of that magnitude. Find Itachi and have him meet me there. Also, wake the entire clan and have them prepare for combat."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he answered, but just stood there as if awaiting further instructions.
"What are you waiting for?" he questioned crossly. "Get moving."
The man finally made a hasty retreat. He couldn't believe how far the youth of Konoha had fallen. It seemed even among his own clan they were nothing but imbeciles. Grabbing a few of the guards stationed outside his office, he departed quickly to put a stop to this incursion.
Otogakure must have found out about the hostages somehow, but what could they be after? Could they simply be hoping to blackmail Konoha much as Fugaku, himself, had done? Somehow, he didn't think it was that simple.
******
"The latest scouting report shows they're still heading this way," one guard announced to his partner.
The two black haired men were dressed in a standard Uchiha outfit with the clan symbol prominently displayed.
"It's pretty clear now that this is their destination," he continued. "Should we kill the brats before they get here?"
His partner considered this for a while before shaking his head.
"No, a lot of them have real potential. It'd be a shame to lose them. I think we've done enough for our purposes already. Let's just pull out."
Making good on his plans, the two men gathered up the few other guards on duty and departed, leaving the cave abandoned of all except the captives. Once they were a good distance away from the cave, each of them dropped their Henge. Then they set out toward where they could receive further instructions from Danzo.
******
It looked like they'd made it just in time. Fugaku, Itachi, and four other Uchiha elite touched down just as the hostages were being lead from the caves.
"Move away from the children and surrender immediately," Fugaku ordered the foreign ninja. "If you do so, you may yet survive."
"I think you should be worrying about your own survival," said a voice from behind him.
Startled at not having detected the speaker before then, he turned around and was unable to suppress a gasp. All three of the legendary Sannin were arrayed behind him, Orochimaru having been the unknown speaker.
"Take the kids back into the cave and guard them until this is over," Jiraiya ordered, but rather than obey they looked to Orochimaru for confirmation.
"Do it," the man confirmed. "My teammates won't be able to fight properly if they're at risk. They're very sentimental types."
"So you're the leader of Otogakure, huh?" Fugaku asked the snake Sannin. "What interest does a traitor like you have in Konoha politics anyway?"
"You mean it's not enough to want to avenge my dear departed sensei? Or want to work with my old team one more time?" he asked mockingly. "But if you must know, I have been promised a certain something I'm interested in as payment for my services."
"Well don't think the three of you and some ragtag forces from a backwater village can stand against the might of Konoha," Fugaku told them confidently.
"I think you'll find you have more than just us to worry about," Jiraiya retorted. "Kakashi is going around right now gathering up support from the other clans. With the hostages safe, I don't think he'll find any shortage of help."
Frowning, he turned to the ninja that had come with Itachi and him.
"You four, go and capture Kakashi," he ordered. "And make sure that he hasn't stirred up too much trouble."
He wished he could have kept at least some of them, but Kakashi was not the sort of man to be underestimated. This was going to be a difficult battle, but if they could hold out, they should receive aid before long. He'd try to keep them talking for now.
"But you haven't really freed them yet have you?" he asked.
Seeing Jiraiya's face begin to turn an unusual shade of purple he realized that Itachi was already at work. The man didn't even realize he hadn't been breathing for the last minute or so.
Sadly, before he passed out, Tsunade noticed as well and reacted by giving her teammate a rather fierce punch to the gut, expelling the air from his lungs, and breaking the Genjutsu. His breathing started up again, returning his face returned to a more normal color.
"There are easier ways to break me out of a Genjutsu, you know," Jiraiya wheezed.
"That was Genjutsu?" Tsunade asked facetiously, "I thought you'd just forgotten to breathe."
Distracted by their antics, he almost didn't notice Orochimaru in time, just barely managing to dodge a strike from him. He was glad he'd removed his Hokage robes before coming here, as even the fraction of a second they would have delayed him would have been too much.
Fugaku quickly went on the defensive, doing everything he could just stay alive as Orochimaru pressed his assault. The worst thing was, he was only using Taijutsu, kunai, and shuriken so far, but Orochimaru was a known Ninjutsu specialist.
"So weak," Orochimaru mocked. "You're a disgrace to the Hokage name."
It was obvious Orochimaru was only toying with him. But hopefully, his overconfidence would be his downfall. Fugaku may not be as powerful as his predecessors had been, but he was sure Itachi could have competed with the best of them.
******
Jiraiya couldn't believe this fight was still going on. He knew the kid was supposed to be a prodigy but this was ridiculous. He'd managed to avoid taking any injuries while fighting two of the Sannin at the same time. Not only was he faster than he had any right to be, but he was an expert at Genjutsu.
Even with Jiraiya knowing they would be coming, his opponent had a knack for subtly slipping in a minor Genjutsu. So he kept finding his finishing blow was just a couple inches to the right of where it needed to be, or that Itachi was standing a foot further back than he thought was.
In such a manner, he'd somehow been hanging on throughout the fight. The only salve to his bruised ego was that Itachi seemed to be struggling too much with not being killed to mount much of a counter-offensive. But then, he could fight defensively, since time was probably still on his side.
Pulling out a kunai, Itachi slashed it across the palm of his left hand. Was he going to summon something? He hadn't heard of the boy having any contracts, and that cut was a bit overkill for a summon.
Hearing a scream from Tsunade, he realized its true purpose. He must have heard about her hemophobia. Breaking away from Jiraiya, he dashed towards Tsunade, bleeding palm extended towards her. She cowered away from him as he approached, only to lash out with a fist right as he got in range.
The suddenness of this caught even Itachi off guard. And while he did catch the fist with his bleeding palm, Tsunade's monstrous strength ensured that his effort only reduced the force of the blow, which continued into his face, lifting his whole body of the ground.
As Jiraiya attempted to make use of the confusion to get in his own blow, he could have sworn that a brief glimpse of Itachi's mouth showed him now missing a couple of teeth. But Itachi was too skilled to let that distract him, and was going through hand seals the instant his new backward momentum had freed him from Tsunade's fist.
A stream of fire blocked Jiraiya and Tsunade's respective advances and allowed him time to recover.
"It appears you've gotten over your phobia," Itachi declared calmly, not seeming at all rattled by his mistake.
"You think I would get involved in something like this without taking care of such a major weakness first?" she replied.
"No, I suppose not," Itachi answered.
It looked like their fight had dragged on too long, as he sensed someone else in the clearing. He glanced in the directions of the intruder to see Orochimaru's old student, Anko, launching at attack at her former sensei.
"Anko, he's helping us topple the Uchiha Clan," he called to her, hoping she would see reason. "Let him go for now and help us take them down."
"Let me make one thing clear," she yelled in reply, "I don't care who wins this little civil war, but I am not passing up a chance to kill this treacherous snake."
Jiraiya gave that argument up as a lost cause. He just wished Orochimaru would have taken out Fugaku earlier rather than toying with him. Although even with Anko helping the man, he was still probably more than capable of ending the fight quickly if he would get serious.
But then, maybe Jiraiya should do so himself before he started accusing anyone of not putting forth their full effort.
"Can you hold him off by yourself for a little while?" he asked Tsunade.
"No problem," she replied. "You haven't exactly been very useful in the first place."
He wanted to fire back a retort, but the fact that she had been the only one to actually get in a successful attack put him in a bad position for that. Well, let her see just how easy he was to fight without Jiraiya's help! In that frame of mind he dropped back and went through the hand seals for a summon.
In a puff of smoke, Shima and Fukasaku, two toad elders, appeared.
"What are you calling us out for this time?" Shima asked irritably.
"No time," Jiraiya said. "Tsunade is fighting a monster on her own. I need to enter sage mode now."
"That boy over there?" Shima asked dubiously. "You've really let yourself go if you can't handle a kid like him without our help."
"Not now, Ma," Fukasaku berated her.
They continued to bicker, but at least did hop up onto his shoulders allowing him to start the process of entering sage mode. Natural energy began to flow into him, and his body began to reshape in response the imperfect balance he had between it and his chakra.
Rejoining the battle, Itachi wasn't able to keep up with Jiraiya's enhanced speed, especially while having to deal with Tsunade at the same time. Finally slipping through his defenses, Jiraiya got a full power blow to the young man's chest, feeling ribs give way beneath him.
Not even giving him time to recover, he followed it up with a powerful kick to side of his head. Rolling along the ground, he came to a stop and shakily got to his feet. The tomoe in his Sharingan were swirling around in an almost drunken manner. It was the first time he'd ever had a chance to see the effects of a concussion on the Sharingan.
Sensing something none of them could miss, all fighting stopped as their attention was drawn to a source of chakra that had appeared a short distance away.
"It seems help has arrived," Fugaku said smugly.
"Don't feel so sure he's on your side," Jiraiya fired back.
******
A fourth tail sprung about behind Naruto as he braced himself for the effects of it. His entire skin felt as if he'd just entered a bath that was too hot for comfort. Fortunately, none of his skin was actually burning off. And while he had to suppress a new rage coming from deep within him, he was able to remain in control.
He breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't supposed to try this again yet, but it seemed all his training had paid off. He had a feeling he was going to need all the power he could get.
Charging swiftly towards where the battle was taking place, he reflected on the conclusions he'd reached. Fugaku's crimes were unforgivable. Even taking everything the man had told him at face value that was still the case. He'd murdered the Sandaime when they hadn't exhausted all other options.
And he may have wanted the hostages released at some point, but he'd supported their capture and use in the first place. These were crimes for which the man should pay, and he certainly didn't deserve to be Hokage.
He'd realized this during his introspection. He'd also realized it didn't matter to him. The man had taken him in, given him a family, treated him kindly, stopped the harsh treatment of the villagers. His life had become so much better than he'd ever imagined it would be in the days before the coup.
Whatever crimes the man had committed, he still owed the man far too much to betray him. And beyond even him, there were Sasuke and his mother to consider. They had been an even larger part of what had made his life great and were innocent of Fugaku's crimes.
So now it was time to repay them. And with that, he let out a feral roar and charged into to the fight.
******
This was worse even than the fight with Itachi had been. Naruto was almost as fast as Jiraiya was, even in Sage mode. But worse, the demonic chakra around him seemed to protect him from attacks, and the one time he'd even tried to attack him physically he'd burned his hand just touching it.
It seemed to be doing a number on the boy's clothes too. His shirt was now in tatters, leaving the Yondaime's seal clearly visible. Thankfully, his pants seemed to be made of sturdier materials, leaving him decent. Although he idly wondered if the boy could teach any kunoichi to reproduce that effect.
Currently, he was doing his best to keep the boy's attention and stay alive. Tsunade was trying to finish off Itachi, who was weakened by his injuries. Jiraiya was grateful he hadn't waited any longer to get serious. He didn't want to think of how this fight would be going if Itachi was still in top form.
Glancing over, he saw that Orochimaru seemed to finally be getting a little serious having taken out Kusanagi. It looked as if Anko had been removed from the fight as well, lying on the ground unmoving. Jiraiya hoped he hadn't killed the poor girl.
Suddenly realizing his mistake, he cursed himself for getting distracted. Even that brief instant had been all Naruto needed to finally tag Jiraiya and slam him into the ground, creating a small crater. Stunned by the blow, he had no time to prepare for the follow-up, which seemed designed to finish him off.
But before it could be delivered he stopped and reared back as if in pain. Seeing a blue beam connected to the jinchuuriki's chest he followed it to the other end and saw Tenzo standing about 30 feet away from Naruto. The red chakra was starting to retreat from around the area of that beam.
"Since when can you do that from so far away?" Naruto said in a deep guttural voice he attributed to a side effect of the Kyuubi's chakra.
"A little something I worked out after all our practice," Tenzo replied calmly.
"No! I won't be beaten like this!" Naruto cried out.
And indeed after saying so, the red chakra seemed to start fighting back, once again encroaching upon the area that had been cleansed by Tenzo's technique. But before it could close up, Orochimaru rushed in slammed his palm into the boy's stomach, taking advantage of the opening in Kyuubi's Chakra Tenzo had provided.
A second seal appeared around the one that bound Kyuubi within Naruto, strengthening that cage and cutting the boy off from the bijuu's chakra.
The boy let out a scream and drooped unconscious to the ground. He saw Fugaku trying to use the moment's distraction to attack Orochimaru from behind and started to call out a warning. But it was unnecessary, as he spun and cleanly separated the man's head from his shoulders with Kusanagi, putting a definitive end to Fugaku's reign.
"Did you have to do that?" he asked.
"Don't be so cold, Jiraiya-kun. I was doing you a favor" he replied, "I know you're determined to try to handle this without wiping out the entire clan. There are many who would insist on his execution, and his clan would never peacefully allow for that to happen. Easiest just to have him die in battle."
Jiraiya knew he was right, but wasn't about to admit it. Turning his head towards the sound of a large thud, he found the cause to have been Tsunade dropping Itachi's unconscious body onto the ground.
"Nice of you to help me out after you finished up over here," she said irritably.
"We knew you could handle it," Jiraiya replied cheerfully.
"I've freed the hostages as promised. And seeing as I have my payment right here, I'll leave the rest to you," Orochimaru declared, smirking in that annoying manner of his.
Then, lifting the limp form of Itachi over his shoulder, he gathered his men who were exiting the cave and departed.
******
"Mom, are you in there?" Sasuke called from the door to Mikoto's bedroom.
"Yes, I was just doing a little reading," she replied.
"Something's going on outside," he told her. "And whatever it is I don't like it. I want to get you out of here and take you somewhere safer."
She could tell by the sound of his voice that he was serious, so she quickly got up and made her way to the door, sliding it open.
"Where's Naruto?" she asked. If there really was trouble, she was worried that he would find his way right to the center of it. He seemed to have a knack for that.
"I don't know," Sasuke admitted. "But I'm sure he's fine."
She wasn't so confident, but didn't know what she could do for him at the moment, so she followed Sasuke towards the main entrance to the house. But they found their way blocked by a blond-haired man who she recognized as Yamanaka Inoichi.
"I'm afraid I can't let you leave," he informed them. "I'm going to have to ask you to put down your weapons and come with me."
Not willing to comply, Sasuke charged the man, but came to a sudden halt before he reached him.
"You should listen to him," said another man who had hidden his presence until then.
He must be Nara Shikaku, she realized when she saw that it was the man's shadow that had caused Sasuke to stop.
Seeing the boy continue to struggle, despite being restrained by the man's jutsu, Shikaku walked towards Sasuke and threw some kind of power in his face, causing him to slump as if unconscious. The jutsu kept him standing, causing him to look like a puppet held up by strings.
"Sasuke!" Mikoto called out worriedly.
"Don't worry Ma'am," Inoichi said politely. "He's just asleep. We're not going to hurt either of you, but I'm afraid that we are going to have to take you into custody. It's not safe for an Uchiha to be wandering around tonight."
Knowing there was nothing she could do, she went along quietly. But her inner thoughts were a chaotic contrast to her calm outward appearance. She was filled with worry for Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi, her husband, her friends and neighbors in the Uchiha district, and a thousand other things.
She didn't care if her husband was overthrown, as it appeared might be happening. She just wanted them all to make it through this. That was enough for her. They could deal with whatever else happened when it did.
******
It was like a dream come true for Hinata. Hatake Kakashi had shown up at the clan compound claiming the hostages had been freed and asking their help to overthrow the Uchiha Clan. Her father had quickly agreed, but had forbidden her from coming with. Soon the room that had been filling with Hyuuga Clan members was left nearly deserted as most of its occupants departed to follow Kakashi.
Hinata was tempted to defy her orders and go after them, but as much as she'd worked on her self-confidence, she still didn't have the courage to openly defy her father's orders. But he hadn't said she had to stay here had he? If she couldn't help them, at least she could go ensure that Hanabi was alright.
Sneaking out, she departed towards the location she knew that they were held. Its location was not meant to be kept secret from them. She'd even been there more than once when they'd insisted on her visiting Hanabi after one of their sessions.
It was just that they'd designed the facility to be almost impossible to sneak up on. And the results of any failed rescue attempt would be harsh enough that no one had dared to try it.
Moving through the forest, she wondered if they would even still be there. And what would she do if the place was empty? But her fears were unfounded as when she entered the clearing the children were still congregated there.
Almost as soon as she'd arrived, she heard a familiar voice screaming in frustration. "For the last time you stupid brats. Get away from me. I didn't even come here to help you, and if you don't leave me alone I'm going to stick you all back in the cave."
The voice belonged to Anko, who was sitting on the ground, wrapped in bandages and surrounded by a number of the children. What she was doing there, Hinata had no idea.
Putting that aside to think on some other time, she looked around the clearing. She quickly spotted Hanabi standing with her back to Hinata while a young blonde woman knelt down in front of her with her hands on Hanabi's face.
Quickly moving towards her sister, the woman stood up as she saw her approach.
"I can do more for you later with the proper tools," she told Hanabi.
"Thank you Tsunade-sama," Hanabi replied, her voice and whole body language making it clear that she was very sincere. "You did more than enough just freeing us."
Tsunade? Of the Sannin? She mentally retracted her previous labeling of her as a young woman. Noticing that Tsunade was gazing at someone behind her now, Hanabi turned around and spotted Hinata.
"Nee-san!" she cried out, running up to Hinata and engulfing her in a hug.
Hinata returned the embrace wholeheartedly. She was startled at how much better Hanabi looked than the last time she saw her. The scars on her face having faded to where they were much less prominent. She supposed that must have been what Tsunade was doing when she'd arrived.
The younger girl was now sobbing in her arms, her appearance seeming to have broken the composure she'd forced on herself in front in Tsunade. It was as if all the pent up emotions of her captivity were gushing out right then.
Hinata could understand her reaction, unable to hold back tears completely, herself, at finally being reunited with her sister. But she felt she should try to comfort the younger girl in some way.
"It's alright," she said soothingly. "You're free now. And I'll never let anything like that happen to you again."
The promise did seem to offer some solace to her sister, who calmed a little. But they still remained locked in their embrace for some time after that.
******
Danzo was pleased with himself. He was currently helping direct the invasion of a section of the Uchiha compound. He made sure to encourage the use of the deadly force. For many, that took very little encouragement.
He almost regretted it coming to this. Using Fugaku, he'd been able to get a lot done these past few years. But the original plan was still the best way to go. The Uchiha Clan was far too dangerous. They were unstable, bitter, and had nothing but hate towards anyone but themselves.
Itachi may have refused his order to eliminate the rest of the clan back before this started, but when Danzo was determined to do something, it got done. He knew that if put in power, the clan would bring about its own demise, especially with a little help from him.
It had almost happened too fast, and he'd even been forced to take steps to prevent an uprising early on. Too soon and it would have interfered with some of his other plans.
His only real regret was how that cursed Hatake was foolish enough to hope to reform some of the Uchiha rather than eradicating them all. But it mattered little. Fugaku was dead, Itachi probably wouldn't survive Orochimaru's experiments for long, and his own forces were doing their best to take out any other clan members they could in the confusion.
In addition, a number of Uchicha were still in Suna or on other missions. He doubted many of them would accept any offers to return, and he would make sure those who refused were labeled missing-nin. Then Danzo could have them hunted down at his leisure.
It wasn't complete extermination, but the clan was broken, and would likely never be a significant threat again. Not that he was going to leave it at that, but it was a good start.
The source of his inability to finish up on that good start chose that moment to appear next to him.
"I'm surprised to find you fighting on this side," Kakashi said.
"I don't think that I like what you're implying," Danzo replied sharply.
"Well, I've been told that you did claim to have witnessed the Sandaime naming Fugaku his successor," Kakashi informed him, somehow sounding as if he were just having a casual conversation despite the obvious accusation his words contained.
"And so I believed to be the case for some time," Danzo lied. "However, I have long suspected, and recently received confirmation, that my perceptions of that event had been manipulated by the Uchiha Clan and their accursed Sharingan."
"Yes, it's fortunate for you that this revelation came out when it did," Kakashi commented.
"I've been just as loyal a participant in this as any number of others who served Fugaku during his reign," Danzo barked angrily, "Unless you plan on punishing us all, I suggest you stop accusing me and get back to work on securing Konoha."
"Now, now, I haven't accused you of anything," Kakashi replied. "I'm just glad that this misunderstanding I had about your role in things got cleared up. As for securing Konoha, I've heard that you've had a bit of bad luck."
"Supposedly, you run into a lot of people who refuse to surrender, leaving you no choice but to defend yourself with deadly force," he continued. "I thought I'd stick around and see if I could turn your luck around, as those I've run into have been somewhat more cooperative."
Let Kakashi play games while he could. He wouldn't let the younger man spoil his mood. Besides, with everything going on, it wouldn't be odd for an Uchiha or two to disappear. Some had to escape after all. Danzo looked forward to replacing his lost eye in the near future.
******
AN
There you have it, the climax of part 1. But the story is far from over. I made it clear for a while that Naruto would be forced to pick a side, but I doubt many of you predicted that he'd come out on the loosing end.
The next chapter will feature reactions, fallouts, and tie up as many loose ends as I can from part 1. But you'll also get the first glimpse of the direction I'm taking the second part of the story.
As always, reviews are encouraged.