I woke up early to post this, and I'm in a little bit of an early morning daze. If this AU note seems strange in any way, it's probably because of that.

I know it's only been a few days since I posted the last chapter, but because of the few days worth of delay while I was waiting for Silken Danser to reply to my PM's to ask if she was done critiquing, I was busy writing the next chapter. This chapter, and voila! It's done early! You all get two chapters only a few days apart! I hope you all like it!

I wanted to write the epic climatic battle in this chapter, but I realized early on that this chapter would have been way too long if I included that in this chapter. I can assure you all though, that that battle will take place in the next chapter. Endure with me a little longer, and you will all finally get to read all about how Hinata officially becomes the world's first kunoichi and proves to the entire country of Japan that a girl can be more than just a pretty face! Stay tuned!

My favorite part of this chapter to write was the last little bit with Orochimaru. We finally get the chance to take a peek at some other Narutoverse characters that unfortunately had to be brushed aside for awhile simply because they couldn't fit into the main story. It was fun writing about all of them, and I hope you all like it, too! :)

This chapter is currently unbetaed. Silken Danser just has a small chunk left to finish critiquing for the other chapters and then I can send her this one to review afterwards. Rest assured, the other chapters will be fixed soon! Please be patient with all the typos!

Despite how horrible the last chapter was, I still managed to score 20 reviews! Not bad! Not bad at all! ;) It's everyone's favorite time again! It's time to thank all those wonderful reviewers:

- Cloud4012

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- reviewer

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As always, your reviews mean the world to me! I hope you will all continue to leave even more wonderful reviews for any future chapters that might be written! Thank you all so much!

Please note: I do not own Naruto or the movie Mulan. Naruto belongs exclusively to Masashi Kishimoto and Viz Media, and Mulan belongs to both history itself and Walt Disney Studios. This is a fanfic made for fun, not profit!

Please remember to review once you're done reading. Remember, everyone, reviews fuel my creative juices! If you all want more chapters posted on a weekly basis, please help me stay motivated by leaving more wonderful reviews!

Happy Reading!

EDIT:

As of 6/13/16, this chapter has been edited by my beta reader Silken Danser. Other than a few tweaks here and there with grammar mistakes, pretty much everything is still the same.


Chapter Eight: The Sound Strikes Back

Traditional Japanese music played loudly throughout the streets of the Imperial City, and citizens of all ages lined the roads as they watched the spectacular parade that had been thrown together upon learning that the Allied Shinobi Forces had defeated the last of the Sound ninjas and had successfully won the war. The entire city wanted to celebrate upon learning this joyous news. Spirit companions wandered the streets alongside their masters or mistresses, street performers were dressed up in elaborate and colorful costumes, dancers twirled around gracefully as ribbons in their hands swirled around their heads, musicians blared out merry melodies on sets of drums and trumpets, men on stilts in the parade tossed around great handfuls of colorful confetti across the street and over the heads of the people in the crowd, and high overhead, beautiful and elaborate kites soared in the dark, nighttime sky, being flown by young and cheerful children whose parents had splurged on them due to the happiness of the occasion.

The crowds continued to clap and cheer harder than ever as they watched the parade go by. This would be a day that would go down in history. Not only was it the end of the war, but it was also the day that would be known as the day that Orochimaru had died. The greatest traitor to have ever come from the Land of Fire was finally gone. The rest of the country could rest much easier now that they knew that he would never be able to wage war upon them ever again.

As the parade marched on, the last members of the Allied Shinobi Forces took up the rear, followed closely behind by a large red parade dragon being operated by a number of other street performers. When the crowds finally caught a glimpse of their heroes, the man leading them down the street, a Kiri ninja judging by his forehead protector, called out loudly over the din of the crowd so that everyone could hear him, "Make way for the heroes of Japan! Captain Naruto Namikaze and the ninjas of the Allied Shinobi Forces!"

The crowd went wild upon finally seeing the troops, and they screamed and cheered their praises at the top of their lungs.

Kakashi and Ebisu were the ones in the lead, as they were the veteran ninjas. Ebisu thrived under the attention, and happily waved to the adoring crowd from atop his shinobi stallion as they all leisurely walked down the streets toward the Imperial Palace. Kakashi had to keep up a pretense of being proud of the defeat of the Sound army too, and waved briefly to the crowd, but if one were to pull down his blue cloth face mask, everyone would see that his face actually looked very similar to the faces of the majority of the men following behind the two of them as they continued through the city.

The regular ninjas in the squad filed after the army leaders in a long, single file line. None of them were joining in on the celebrations. They all had matching solemn, depressed expressions. Five ninjas in particular looked really upset. Kiba and his dog Akamaru, Lee, Kankuro, Shino, and Choji just kept looking down firmly at their feet as they walked through the city. As Kankuro was the Kazekage's eldest son, he was carrying a flag over his shoulder with the Imperial Crest of the newly formed Japan, but not even he was looking around at the people in the city he had all but grown up in after the country had been unified. They all hated the fact that they had left Hinata behind in the mountains, but they were especially ashamed of themselves since none of them had been brave enough to stand up to Naruto and demand that they at least allow her to travel with them until they were safely out of the mountains. A woman or not, Hinata Hyuuga was still a hero. She was the one who should be soaking up this praise, not them.

As the leading strategist in the army and the two leaders next in command after Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, and Shikamaru all rode ahead of the rest of the men on their own horses, only a few inches directly behind the blonde Captain. Unlike Gaara and Sasuke, Shikamaru had no qualms with what had been discovered that morning, and although he had definitely been shocked when the true gender of the Hyuuga representative had been exposed, he had only been slightly angry at Hinata. He hadn't been as mad as the rest of his friends. Gaara and Sasuke had calmed down from their anger over Hinata's deceit not long after they had all left her stranded in the snow on top of the mountain. It wasn't right what she had done, breaking the law in order to take her father's place in the army, but neither of them believed that Naruto's decision to simply leave her up there had been okay. All three of them had tried many times all day long to try and talk to Naruto to find out what he could have possibly been thinking by doing that, but Naruto would not answer them. They all exchanged worried looks as they traveled down the streets of the city.

Throughout the entire journey down the rest of the mountain, Naruto had been absolutely silent. At first, it was simply because he was still angry at finding out the truth about Hinata, and not to mention embarrassed for having been comfortable enough around 'Hiro' to tell 'him' private things about his past, from the prejudice he was currently facing due to being part Uzumaki to the fact that he had been planning to find the Hyuuga girl he had saved back when he was kid. That anger had mostly faded away by now, and instead, Naruto was filled with a different emotion: guilt.

He felt so guilty for what he had done to Hinata, leaving her out there alone in the snow. Even though he had been upset with her treasonous lie, it was still no excuse for what he had done to her. She had been healing from a sword stroke to the stomach. He knew he had spotted Shino drop her a few days' worth of supplies before leaving, but even with that little bit of extra food, there was no way that would last her long enough to get out of the mountains. She would have to ride that horse of hers to make it out in time to find another village and get more provisions, but with her injury as bad as it was, it was dangerous for her to ride. He wouldn't be surprised if she ended up freezing or bleeding to death out there. While he did not strike her with his father's kunai, her death was still on his hands.

Naruto fought back a sad sigh when he heard many of the people in the city chant out his name. He was happy to be home again, but he couldn't even focus on the people around him. He was too caught up in his thoughts. Those in the crowd that recognized him as the Namikaze heir immediately assumed that the reason why he seemed so quiet was because of the deaths of his father and Jiraiya, but they couldn't have been more wrong. His only thought right now was of Hinata. He should not have left her out there, that's all there was to it. She should be the one who the people were dubbing a hero, not him. She was the one who had saved all of Japan by setting off that avalanche, but her heroic deeds and glory were being given to him and the rest of the troops even though they had done nothing but stand off on the sidelines and watched.

Even if she ended up somehow surviving out there in the mountains and managed to get home, he would never see her again. He would never be able to amend his horrible, anger-fueled mistake…

Or at least, that was what he thought.

Hinata burst out from the crowd while still riding Rin, and nearly knocked some pedestrians down to the ground when she struggled to get her stallion to slow down so she could try and search frantically for the spiky-haired blonde in the parade. It had taken her hours of nonstop riding at top speed to get here so quickly and catch up to the rest of the army, who had come down here at a presumably slow speed since they too had only just arrived. Her stomach was throbbing in agony because of her fast ride, a ride that she should not have made while in her condition, but that made no difference to the young heiress whatsoever.

She was just one girl.

An all together rather unimportant girl in the grand scheme of life.

She needed the help of Naruto and the rest of her former ninja comrades if there was to be any hope at all in saving the lives of the Four Kage's, the Mizukage Regent, and all the members of the Honorable Families.

It took her a few moments, but she soon spotted her favorite orange-wearing shinobi on his horse in the parade, and she kicked her heels hard into Rin's sides to get him to start moving again so she could catch up to him.

"Naruto!" she shouted over the roar of the crowd as she rode up, ignoring the startled looks from both the civilians around her and the Imperial ninjas who were supposed to be keeping the street clear so that the parade could go on toward the palace without a hitch.

Many of the men in the line jumped when they heard the familiar voice of their former female comrade, but Hinata ignored all of their surprised looks as she rode directly up to Naruto. Naruto had nearly fallen off his horse when he heard Hinata's voice, and he turned slightly in his saddle just in time to see her and Rin racing up the line of men to catch up to him.

He was astounded to see her again. He couldn't believe she was here. How the hell had she managed to ride so fast all the way down the mountain with her injury as bad as it was? As she slowed her stallion down so as to trot at the same pace as Naruto's horse, he spared a quick look down at her stomach. There was a small tinge of blood on her flak jacket. She might be trying to suppress her pain right now, but blood was definitely starting to seep through her bandages again, and she and her horse were both panting hard from exhaustion and were covered in thick layers of sweat. They must have been riding hard nonstop for awhile now in order to catch up with them. But why? Why hadn't she gone home?

"Hinata…?" he said slowly, unable to stop himself from blinking in surprise.

He wasn't the only man there that was shocked to see her. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gaara, Sasuke, and Shikamaru all staring at her with wide eyes as she approached , and he definitely could overhear the somewhat muffled choked gasps from Hinata's friends as she rode past them in order to get to him. There were other quiet mutterings from the rest of the men in line, too. The only men in the Allied Shinobi Forces that hadn't seemed to realize that she had shown up were Kakashi and Ebisu, who were leading the procession and therefore were looking straight ahead rather than over their shoulders, so they hadn't seen her.

Hinata ignored the rest of the men, though. As much as she wanted to apologize all over again to her five good friends, the two Co-Captains, and the leading Tactician for all deceiving them for so long, she didn't have any time to waste. Naruto had to know what she knew about the invading Sound ninjas. She started sputtering out fast, nervous words while at the same time internally praying to every god and spirit she knew of that Naruto would believe her warning.

"Naruto… Orochimaru and his Generals… they survived! They're in the city!" she gasped out between deep, panting breaths for air.

Naruto stared at her for half a second after she told him this, not really absorbing it, but then an ugly scowl spread across his face. The guilt he had been feeling only a few minutes ago quickly vanished as the same rage he had felt back when he had discovered the truth about 'Hiro' on the mountain that morning fueled him once again. This was just another lie. Another lie to try and get back in with the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces. He had already been hurt and betrayed by this girl before. He would not make the same mistake twice. Despite what most of his friends thought, he was not an idiot. He did possess some amount of common sense, and his common sense was currently telling him to tell Hinata to shove it.

He glared hatefully at her. "You don't belong here, Hinata! Go home! Go home before the Closet Pervert sees you!"

Everyone in the platoon that was in the nearby vicinity stared in disbelief at the angry blonde for how he had so rudely dismissed the Hyuuga heiress. They all knew he was still mad, but none of them thought he had it in him to be so mean before.

For a moment, Hinata stared on helplessly as Naruto urged his horse onwards to pick up the pace so he could move past her. He was ignoring her warning. The thought that he was going to let the royals perish just because he was still angry with her was echoing about in her head. If she had still been the same girl she was when she first left home several months ago to take her father's place in the war, she probably would have just frowned sadly and then quietly urged Rin to get out of the way of the parade, but that was then. She was not that same girl anymore. If there was one thing being in the army had taught her, it was confidence. Confidence in herself. She had not ridden all the way down that snow capped mountain with such a terribly painful injury just to be ignored like this! She was confident she could get Naruto to believe her!

A determined look spread across the young Hyuuga princess's face as she kicked her heels back into Rin's sides again, and quickly trotted forward so as to be on Naruto's other side. She couldn't just give up. She had to keep trying!

"Naruto, please! I… I saw them in the mountains! They're c-coming! They're going to… They're going to kill the Kage's and the Honorable Families! You have to believe me!" she desperately insisted. Didn't Naruto understand that this wasn't a game? People's lives were at stake! Why couldn't he put aside his grudge against her and listen to what she was saying?!

Naruto's generally bright blue eyes turned as cold as ice as he glared even harder than ever back at her. "Why?!" he snapped. "Why should I?!"

Hinata initially flinched back a bit from the harsh words he had all but spat at her, but then a harsh glare of her own spread across her face. She was not going to be treated second rate by Naruto, no matter what he thought of her. Even if he never spoke to her again after tonight, she had to get him to listen to her. This was about more than just him or her. This was about the fate of the entire country! She ordered Rin to trot forwards and completely halted the parade when she cut Naruto off momentarily from riding on. Naruto's horse was forced to stop so as to not run into Hinata or Rin, and Naruto and Hinata locked eyes once again.

Hinata ignored the confused looks from the rest of the crowd and the surprised looks from the rest of the men in the platoon as she fixed the man she dearly loved with all of her heart with a pointed look. "Why else would I have come back?" she countered. "I… I all but dashed down that m-mountain with a sliced open stomach to tell you this… even though you really should be executing me."

Naruto's lips pressed together into a tight line as he momentarily looked away. When he turned his attention back to her, he tried to say something back, but Hinata quickly cut him off, only this time, her words were softer and more hesitant, and everyone who heard her small whisper could hear the hurt tone echoing within them.

"You… You said you trusted Hiro… Why is Hinata any different…?"

There was a tense silence at that, as Naruto didn't reply right away. But when he did, his words were filled with absolute venom. "I thought I knew Hiro… I don't know Hinata! How can I trust you?!"

He started to urge his horse onwards so as to move around her, but then Hinata said something else. Something he really hadn't been expecting.

"Would you h-have trusted the little girl you gave your scarf to?"

Those that had heard her stared at her quizzically, not understanding what she was talking about, but Naruto completely tensed up upon hearing those words. He didn't want to think about that. The little girl from his memories was someone he had cared about his whole life, and he had intended to search for her after the war was over, but now that he knew that that little girl and the lying Hinata were the same person… he didn't want to think about her anymore. She was a liar. There was nothing worse in this world than liars…

With one last small growl so as to lock away his personal feelings, the Namikaze heir shot the Hyuuga heiress one last annoyed look before firmly kicking his heels into his horse and shoving his way past her. He did not once look back at her. No more of this. He would not be tricked by her lies again. He just had to ignore her and pretend that he didn't notice the feelings of sadness and regret welling up inside of him. He would get over this soon. There would always be other girls. He could do it. He could force himself to forget her…

Hinata watched him as he forced his way past her, hurt beyond all belief as she fought hard against the stinging sensation that was welling up in her eyes. She would not cry right now. For one, she didn't want to seem weak to everyone, but more importantly, even though Naruto refused to listen to her, she still had to do something to try and save the lives of the Kage's and the Honorable Families, so there was no time to waste on crying out her feelings.

She looked over at the rest of the men in the platoon, hoping that maybe one of them might help her. Gaara and Sasuke were pointedly ignoring her, as they too were just as angry as Naruto was at her tricking everyone. Shikamaru looked as though he was completely befuddled by her warning, but not enough to try and help her out. Kiba, Kankuro, Shino, Choji, and Lee, meanwhile, were shooting her quick looks out of the corners of their eyes as they walked past her. They all looked concerned at what she had said about Orochimaru and his leading Generals having all survived the avalanche, but none of them were bold enough to step forward and offer to help her try to find and stop them. They were just as hurt as Naruto was at her deception. They weren't sure if they would ever talk to her again.

Hinata frowned when she realized that no one in the army was going to listen to her, but she couldn't stop herself from saying one last thing.

"Keep your eyes open," she told them all. "I… I know they're here…"

"Hey, you! Hyuuga girl!"

Hinata jumped a bit from her seat on her horse and spun around to look over her shoulder. One of the Imperial City ninjas was shoving his way through the crowds on the side of the street to march his way up to her. He actively glared at her once he was right beside her. "Get out of the street! You're blocking the parade! Don't you know your place in life?!"

Hinata flinched backward. She didn't like the way he spoken to her, as though she was nothing more than a second rate citizen, but she nonetheless nodded, and steered Rin off to the side of the road so that everyone else could continue on down the street. She wanted desperately to say something back to that ninja for treating her as though she was no better than a mound of dirt, but she knew that this was not the time to get into a verbal spat, not when she could very well be the only person in all of Japan that could do something to stop the last remaining members of the Sound army.

Rin, however, didn't care about this fact. He would not let anyone get away with treating his wonderful mistress so poorly. He snorted furiously in the ninja's direction as they passed by, and the ninja took a wary step backward from the angry horse. As soon as they were out of sight of the ninja and were riding off in the direction of the city's public stables, Hinata giggled, and gently patted his neck.

"Thank you, Rin. You… You're always so loyal…"

Rin neighed happily in reply as they approached the Imperial boarding stalls for city visitors with horses. Hinata quickly hopped off her stallion's back, collected her knapsack and the last of her money from her saddle bags, and approached the man who was in charge of the stables.

"How much for one night's worth of taking care of my horse and boarding him here?" she asked.

"Two thousand yen," replied the owner, not even paying attention to the girl in front of him as he was more focused on the parade passing by.

Hinata's pearlescent eyes all but bulged out of her head. "T-Two thousand yen?! That's… That's all but robbery!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, prices are up because of the occasion," said the owner with an annoyed eye roll. "Take it or leave, Girl, but know this, this is probably the cheapest offer you'll get. Unless you're willing to risk tying your horse up to a hitch post overnight and having a thief snatch him up, I assume you will accept my offer."

Hinata frowned, but opened up her small drawstring purse to take out the money, which she all but slapped down into the stable master's greedy, grubby hands. The man smirked at her as she patted Rin's neck in farewell.

"Don't worry, Rin… I… I p-promise I'll be back soon…"

Rin whinnied sadly as the stable master led him away, but nonetheless respected his mistress's wishes as she rushed back out into the crowd on foot. He knew that although he wanted to stay with his mistress, he would only be in her way right now. It was better if he took a long needed rest and let her do what she had to in order to try and stop Orochimaru.

She did her best to dash as fast as she could through the mob of citizens to reach the large, crowded square in front of the Imperial Palace. That was where the army and the great big festival dragon were all walking towards so they could finally speak with the Kage's and see the Honorable Families up close and officially announce the end of the war. As she shoved her way through the crowd, Kurama and Usagi both hopped out of her knapsack. Usagi tucked herself away into one of the many pockets of her green flak jacket while Kurama made himself nice and cozy atop her left shoulder. There were so many people in costumes and spirit companions wandering the streets that he blended right in with the crowd, so there was really no point in him hiding, and since it was so loud, no one took any notice of the nine-tailed, orange fox when he spoke.

"Now where are you going?!" he demanded as Hinata ran through the archway leading up to the square in front of the palace that was jam packed with hundreds of citizens from all over the country.

Hinata just spared her fox guardian a quick look before focusing all her attention back on the bodies of Naruto and the rest of the troops, who by now were climbing up the steps to the palace, where the Four Kage's and the Mizukage Regent were waiting for them. "To find someone who will believe me!"

Her feet pounded down across the brick pavement of the street as she shoved her way through the crowd, trying to get as close as she could to the royal palace. When she spied an Imperial City ninja manning the unseen wall between the general population and the long line of men in the Allied Shinobi Forces climbing up the seemingly never ending flights of stairs, she dashed directly up to him with a desperate look on her face.

"Sir! Sir, the Kage's and the H-Honorable Families are in danger!"

The ninja stared at her for a moment, and then he started laughing right in her face.

"Ha! That's rich! Who are they in danger from, huh? The Great and Powerful Snake Traitor? He's dead, girl!"

He continued to laugh mockingly at her as he forcefully shoved her away from him and back into the massive throng of people.

Hinata winced for a moment as her stomach twisted the wrong way, but she was mostly able to ignore the pain. She was quite insulted by his mocking laughter, but couldn't resist trying again.

"But sir! The Sound shinobi are here…!"

It was no use, though. Not only was her voice lost in the din of cheering people in the crowd, but the ninja had already turned away from her to gaze up at the top of the stone steps in front of him to watch the historical event unfold.

Hinata bit her lip, but jostled several other pedestrians out of her way as she tried to approach a different ninja. "Sir! P-Please, I… I need your help—"

"Shut up, Woman! Can't you see that it's about to start?"

He roughly shoved her away from him with a sneer before also focusing his attention at the top of the stairs like that other ninja had done before him. Hinata literally had to bite down hard on her tongue to suppress a particularly loud yelp of pain when his hands accidentally pressed down on her injury.

Hinata's heart broke at being so rudely dismissed and brushed aside by everyone. They all seemed to think that just because she was a woman, she was useless and mad! It truly showed what the difference was between the two genders. If she were still 'Hiro' not only would these men have listened to her desperate pleas for help, Naruto in particular would have heard her out. Why was it that women were always brushed aside? Why did all men seem to think that women were so inferior?!

"No one will listen…" she whispered dejectedly to her fox guardian.

Kurama huffed. "What did you expect, Woman? Remember, you are a girl again. You're best chance at finding any help right now is by using that Transformation Jutsu you learned during training to turn yourself back into a boy and then explain yourself to the ninjas on watch."

But Hinata only shook her head at that suggestion. "Lying and pretending to be a boy is the reason why… why no one in the army trusts me anymore, K-Kurama. Pretending to be something I'm not is what got me into this mess… it's definitely not what is going to get me out of it now…"

Kurama growled as he wedged himself inside the cover of her knapsack to stay hidden, and even Usagi bleated worriedly from her spot in Hinata's pocket. Her newfound pride of being a woman could very well be the very downfall of all of Japan. They both were about ready to start reprimanding her for not going ahead with Kurama's very wise suggestion, when the great pounding of drums resounded throughout the entire square, signaling that it was time to begin the long awaited declaration of the end of the war. All three of them immediately hushed along with the rest of the crowd to watch the important event.


Naruto was following the example he usually saw on a daily basis from his two friends Gaara and Sasuke, and was forcing himself to keep a seemingly emotionless expression on his face as he and the rest of the men in the platoon climbed up the great mass of stairs to where the Four Kage's and Mizukage Regent were waiting for all of them on the second landing below the front doors of the Imperial Palace. The long line of troops were followed closely behind by the large red celebratory dragon from the parade.

The palace itself was several stories high, and the main doors into the grand structure were both painted vivid burgundy with a gold trim and door knockers. They were made of exquisite hard wood with oriental carvings of the various kanji symbols of each of the lands in the new Japan: the Land of Fire, the Land of Winds, the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Earth, as well as the other minor regions such as the Land of Tea and the Land of Waves. Great marble statues of powerful summoning creatures guarded the doors on either side, their carved faces looking both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. From atop some of the many high towers in the majestic palace, there were servants shooting out streams of colorful fireworks across the black tiled roofs, and from almost every set of windows, more servants were excitedly poking their heads out so as to watch the historic moment. They weren't the only people in the palace who were excited. Standing regally in the many balconies were nobles from various clans all over the country, all whispering eagerly amongst themselves when they spied the brave men climbing the stairs so as to speak with the country leaders.

All Four Kage's and the Kage Regent stood side by side at the very near top of the steps, and gathered directly behind them, the members of the Honorable Families all stood together. They were all dressed in their finest clothes for the occasion, and even the Kage's that normally didn't choose to wear the white Kage robes on a daily basis were wearing them now, the only exception being Mei as she was simply the Mizukage Regent. She was therefore wearing the most elegant ocean blue kimono she owned, though for once the blue Mizukage hat was on her head to still show her rank of being the temporary leader of the Land of Water. All five leaders of Japan and even all the members of the Honorable Families were either smiling happily or smirking to show how impressed they were when they saw the heroes of the war come to a halt directly in front of them.

Naruto kept his expression neutral to hide how he was currently feeling because of the whole business with Hinata as he looked around. He wasn't particularly close to the other Kage's, the only exception being the great Third Hokage, and other than being friends with all the members of the Hokage's family, the three Sand Siblings, and even being fond of the Raikage's brother Killer Bee, he wasn't very familiar with the other Honorable Families. He didn't do anything other than nod courteously to the other Kage's and the Kage Regent, but he did shoot a half hearted smile at Hiruzen, who smiled warmly in return.

Then his gaze shifted just beyond them to look over at the Honorable Families. Sure enough, Killer Bee was flashing him a quick grin, and although Temari's teal eyes were searching for the faces of her two younger brothers behind him, and, coincidentally, flashed challengingly at a certain lazy shinobi a few steps off to his right, they did lock onto his for a brief moment, and she smiled kindly at him before resuming her search among the troops for Kankuro and Gaara. Kurotsuchi, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, just gave him a courteous nod and smile, which he politely returned. They had never been all that close while growing up, so other than being relieved and happy to see that he had survived the war, she was just there for appearance's sake. Mei Terumi had no family members or close companions other than that of her two bodyguards Chojuro and Ao, who were currently standing off to the side with the other Kage bodyguards with somewhat relaxed expressions on their faces since they were also happy to know that the war was over. Naruto glanced over to see the family members in the Hokage's family. Tsunade had a small smile on her face as gazed at all of them, and beside her stood the forms of his two dear friends Sakura and Konohamaru. Sakura shot a warm, genuine smile at him for a few seconds until she saw Sasuke standing behind him, and all her attention immediately turned toward the raven-haired shinobi that she had loved ever since she was a child. Konohamaru on the other hand was focused solely on him, and he was smiling excitedly at who he considered to be his all time hero and role model. He flashed Naruto a thumbs up, pausing only for a moment to give a brief wave to his sensei, Ebisu, who he was also happy to see had survived the war. Lady Kurenai stood beside them, and although she was smiling warmly at all of them, she was slightly preoccupied by the small pink bundle she was carrying in her arms, and would coo at it affectionately every few moments when small whimpers resounded from it.

She had had her baby during the few months while they were all away, and judging by the color of the blankets the child was swaddled in, it was a girl.

Naruto forced a small smile on his face as he nodded to all his old friends, and then he looked up at the balconies overhead where the representatives of prominent ninja clans were watching over everything. He knew his dad wouldn't be up there, as he was gone now, but maybe if he was lucky, he would see his mom. Those on the Namikaze council may not like his mother very much anymore because she was a former member of the traitorous Uzumaki clan, but even they couldn't deny that it would be rude of the entire clan for them not to send her to this event. Not only was Kushina his mother, and he was the Captain of the last remaining troops in the Allied Shinobi Forces, but she was also now the widow to the late clan head, Minato Namikaze, who had been the General of the army. It would have disrespectful for their clan to not allow her to attend this end of the war celebration.

To Naruto's dismay, he couldn't find his mother's face in the crowd of nobles. He could spy the faces of other prominent clan heads he vaguely remembered, but he struggled to locate his mother. He wanted to keep looking around for her, but a sudden tap on his shoulder brought him back to the present.

"Naruto, the sword," Kakashi discreetly whispered to him.

Naruto jumped a bit at the unexpected words, but then he realized what Kakashi was talking about and hastily nodded before turning to face Ebisu. Ebisu was carrying the infamous sword that had formerly belonged to the late Orochimaru in his both of his hands. They had discovered it amongst all the wreckage left behind in the avalanche during their trip down the mountain after abandoning Hinata, and they had brought it along with them to present to the country's leaders as a token of proof that the evil snake summoner and his Sound army were officially defeated.

Naruto held out his hands for the sword, and Ebisu wordlessly handed it over to him. Regardless of personal feelings toward one another, this was an important moment, so they could set aside their differences for now. At least long enough to get through everything that would take place tonight.

But still, even as Naruto watched the Hokage, the Kazekage, the Tsuchikage, the Raikage, and the Mizukage Regent step forward to begin the historic event, Naruto still felt down, because again, he didn't deserve to be the one up here. More than anyone, his father, Jiraiya, and Sasuke's older brother Itachi should be here doing this, as they were the ones who fought toe-to-toe with the Sound ninjas, but even despite that, there was still someone else who deserved all the credit for the war even more than the three of them did.

Hinata.

He wanted to sigh sadly at that thought, but a servant suddenly beat a large drumstick down on an oversized gong, and the resounded ringing from the metallic instrument not only brought a sudden hush over the enormous crowd at the unspoken request to quiet down, it also brought the parade to a complete stop.

The Hokage stretched out his arms and spoke as the representative of all five Kage's put together. "People of Japan, heaven smiles down upon our new allied country. Japan will sleep safely tonight, thanks to the efforts of our brave ninjas in the unified Allied Shinobi Forces." There was a loud roar as the citizens in the square applauded and cheered enthusiastically at this declaration.

Everyone in the Imperial City was so happy.

The war was over.

Japan had won.

The evil Orochimaru was gone forever.

Nothing could ruin tonight.

Nothing could happen that would ruin this wonderful festival.

Eventually, the four men and the one woman were all forced to raise their hands for silence when it became evident that the crowd didn't intend to stop cheering anytime soon. The noise slowly died away, and Naruto took a step forward with the sword Kusanagi held out in front of him. He really didn't want to be doing this, being the one to present Orochimaru's sword to all five of them, but as the Captain and leader of the platoon, it was his duty and so he didn't have a choice. He felt almost like a plagiarist doing this, and in a way, he was. The defeat of the Sound army had been all thanks to Hinata, not him.

Still though, he bowed respectfully to the five of them, and held out the sword with both hands. He normally wouldn't really care about being respectful to any of them if he saw them any other day since he'd grown up around all five of them and their families, but as this was an important occasion, courtesy was required. "Honorable Kage's and Lady Regent," he said in a loud, clear voice so that everyone in the square could hear him. "I present to you the sword of Orochimaru."

The Kazekage, the Tsuchikage, the Raikage, and the Mizukage Regent all nodded in response to the respectful presentation of the enemy leader's sword, but Hiruzen smiled sympathetically down at Naruto. He had always considered the hyperactive blonde as almost a surrogate grandson while he was growing up, and he knew him well enough to know that he was troubled right now and not really thinking about the current event he was partaking in. He misunderstood the reason as to why this was, though.

"I know what this must mean to you, Naruto," he said quietly so that only the Namikaze heir could hear him. "Your father and Jiraiya would have been very proud…"

Naruto sighed at that thought and nodded. Despite how upset he still was about the whole Hinata mess, he was sure the old man Hokage was quite right about that, and that just made his heart pang painfully as he thought about the Pervy Sage and the hero of his life, his dad… "Yeah…" he said sadly. "I know…"

He started to pass the Hokage the sword, when quite suddenly—

Hiss!

A somewhat large snake summoning that no one had noticed until right then burst out from the shadows of the railing of the stairs and flung itself between Naruto and the Hokage so as to clamp the blade of the sword firmly in between its teeth. It started slithering away as fast as it could, and successfully avoided the many people that tried to bar its path as it started making its way up one of the many long pillars of the palace so as to reach the black tiled rooftop.

Everyone there, ninja and civilian alike, immediately gasped and started murmuring amongst themselves in confusion. What the hell was going on? For one thing, why was this snake stealing Orochimaru's sword? And for another, how did a snake summoning even get through the summoning world to show up here tonight? The last snake summoner was supposed to be Orochimaru, and he was dead… wasn't he…?

Everyone stared as they watched the snake climb higher and higher up the pillar until it came to rest beside a somewhat large, shadowed carving on the rooftop. It dropped the sword at the statue's feet, and then slithered up it until it had comfortably draped itself around the carving's shoulders. Then, quite suddenly, the carving moved! The hand reached down to grasp hold of the handle of the sword, and then the statue slowly stood up from its place in the shadows, revealing that it was not a statue at all. It was Orochimaru, and he grinned wickedly down at the now frightened people far down below.

Everyone in the crowd either fearfully gasped or screamed in horror upon seeing the presumably dead traitor from the Land of Fire standing ominously above them, and they all instinctively edged away from the rooftop where he was looking down at all of them from, not wanting to be anywhere near the insane, maniacal man.

Naruto's eyes became as big as saucers as he slowly reached down into the weapons pouch on his leg to draw a kunai. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was completely flabbergasted to see that Orochimaru was here, alive and well. How the hell did he survive that avalanche?!

Then another thought popped into his mind. Hinata had been right. She had been telling him the truth. She had tried to warn him that he was still alive and was going to go after the Kage's and the Kage Regent, but he didn't listen. Why had he been such an ass and didn't listen to her?! Now, because of his fucking pride, Orochimaru and his five Generals—

Wait a minute… where were those five creeps?!

Naruto barely had enough time to start looking around wildly across the rest of the black tiled rooftops of the palace for the other five survivors, when there was a large tearing of what sounded like fabric from somewhere behind him and the rest of his fellow division leaders. He swung around in time to see the five Sound Generals, Kabuto, Sakon and Ukon, Tayuya, Kidomaru, and Jirobo all emerging from their hiding spot in the celebratory parade dragon.

An ambush. The last survivors of the Sound army had ambushed them all when they least expected it and when they were all right in front of the Kage's and the Honorable Families, and they had been too stupid to see through such an obvious tactic.

Naruto raised up his kunai to try and attack, but the Sound ninjas already had the element of surprise and were far quicker. The conjoined twins Sakon and Ukon knocked him to the ground with a solid punch to the jaw, and then joined their comrades in making several replications of themselves with various types of Clones. While the original five ninjas seized hold of the Four Kage's and the Kage Regent, all but knocking the five separate Kage hats off their heads in the process as they started dragging them up the remaining flights of stairs, the other number of clones worked on ushering the terrified members of the Honorable Families inside the palace, as they were all valuable hostages. There was also a number of the clones launching surprise attacks on the Kage bodyguards who had been standing off to the side, and two clones both managed to successfully overpower the two loyal bodyguards of the Mizukage, and began dragging their bloodied bodies through the main entrance too. Since the Mizukage Regent had no Honorable Family members to use as leverage against her, their lives held just as much value to the Sound shinobi as any of the other royals did.

By now, Naruto had overcome his moment of defeat as he sat up on the ground. When he spied the five different fallen Kage hats on the ground in front of him he finally looked up, and saw the Kage's, the Kage Regent, and all the members of the Honorable Families being forcefully ushered through the main entrance of the Imperial Palace. The doors were closing fast behind them, with four clones of Kidomaru, Jirobo, Sakon and Ukon, and Tayuya guarding the doors as they prepared to make some type of barrier jutsu.

"No!" the blonde-haired boy shouted, jumping up to his feet and rushing toward the clones. He had to stop them now! If they put up a barrier jutsu, it would take them all forever to bust it down in order to save the royals!

Following his example, Sasuke waved his hand at the rest of his troops to get them to follow. "Come on!" he shouted loudly. That was all it took for the rest of the men in the platoon to start sprinting up the stairs to try and stop the clones from setting up that barrier.

It was no use though. By the time all the men in the platoon managed to get up there, the doors had slid shut, and the clones of the four Sound ninjas had just finished setting up the barrier. A vivid bright purple wall emerged out of nowhere between the set of doors and the panicked army, and as soon as it was up the four clones vanished completely, their work now finished.

Naruto wasn't able to stop in time from slamming right into it, but even so, he shoved the pain aside, and banged his fist up against the see-through, but still seemingly solid purple wall in obvious aggravation. He reeled back his fist to strike it again in his anger, but maniacal laughter resounded from the rooftop, and everyone in the square looked back up. Orochimaru was still standing at his spot on the black tiled roofs, and he was cackling loudly in triumph.

In the snake traitor's opinion, he had already won.

He had the Kage's, the Kage Regent, and all the members of the Honorable Families right in the palm of his hand.

By the time those idiots in the army were able to bust down that barrier, it would be too late.

He would already have Japan in his grasp.

Nothing could stop him now.

Naruto yelled out furiously as he banged his fist one last time into the purple wall of the barrier, but it didn't give an inch. He then whirled around to face the rest of the men in his squad. "We gotta get this barrier down pronto! Use any jutsu you know of! We're gonna pound down this barrier until it gives way! We have to get inside!"

The men all nodded.

"Yes, sir!"

"Right!"

"We can do it!"

Everyone gathered around up close to the purple see-through wall, and began forming rapid hand signs as they shouted out names of various powerful jutsus that they knew of, and started attacking the barrier furiously. Some men even joined together to topple over a particularly large statue from its place beside the door, and then worked together to lift it up so it could be used as a battering ram. They whammed it hard against the purple wall as the other men used every powerful jutsu they knew of to shatter the barrier, but their efforts were to no avail.

The damn barrier remained completely solid.


After Orochimaru had appeared out of thin air from the shadows and the other five Sound shinobi made their move of practically kidnapping the Kage's and the Honorable Families, the Imperial City citizens that had been watching all this from their spots in the square had gone crazy. If Orochimaru had been able to abduct the royals of their city with seemingly little to no effort even with the troops of the Allied Shinobi Forces standing right next to them, who was to say that Orochimaru couldn't kill all of them with just a snap of his fingers? Terrified and hysterical screaming had ensued as people panicked. Total pandemonium filled the square in front of the Imperial Palace as the Imperial City ninjas did their best to try and calm the frenzied mob down.

In the mad rush of hysteria, no one took notice of one seemingly insignificant teen girl with long blue hair break out from the crowd and dash as fast as she could up the steps so as to be up close to the rest of the army, who were still making fruitless efforts to break down the strong purple barrier.

Hinata was running as fast as she could up the stairs. It no longer mattered to her what Naruto and the rest of the army thought of her. They needed all the help they could get if they were going to take on Orochimaru and his last remaining band of ninjas. They'd be fools to shun her for a third time when all she wanted to do was help them.

Kurama poked his head out from underneath the flap of her knapsack, and started grumbling at her. "Woman, you don't have to get involved in this again. You tried to warn them all that those assholes were still alive and they didn't listen to you. You can just wash your hands of this whole mess and walk away now. No one would blame you this time, not when you tried to actively stop this from happening. Let those idiots deal with the consequences of not listening to you, I say…"

From the pocket of her jacket, Hinata heard Usagi start bleating something that sounded almost like agreement.

Hinata shook her head at their advice. "That would be wrong, Kurama… I can't j-just turn my back on this. I… I have to help them somehow!"

Kurama rolled his eyes at her words, but said nothing further, as she had finally made it to the top of the stairs. He dove back down into the cover of her bag to hide himself again as Hinata watched her fellow former ninja comrades continue to try to unsuccessfully break down the barrier that the Sound ninjas had set up.

She frowned when she realized that they were not only failing to realize that what they were doing was all but pointless, but were also wasting valuable time, energy, and chakra trying to get in the blocked front doors when they should be looking for an easier, alternative way inside.

"That'll take too long… They'll never r-reach the Kage's and the Honorable Families in time…" she whispered rather quietly to herself out loud.

She sighed sadly at everyone's lack of basic common sense and glanced around at the basic architect of the palace. There were many tall, decadent pillars around the entire base of the ground level of the beautiful, oriental castle. If they were around the base level in the front, then perhaps they were also along the sides and back, and if they were lucky there might even be some lined up with accessible windows. Perhaps by a series of servant windows… Servant windows were great if they were accessible. And if they were possibly above some of the pillars here, it might be possible to get inside. These pillars reminded her a bit of that huge pine pole she had spent an entire night back at the training camp trying to climb up using nothing but the chakra in her feet. If they could all use the chakra in their feet to climb up a series of pillars and then sneak inside the palace that way, they stood a chance at beating back the Sound ninjas and rescuing the Kage's and their families.

There was only one flaw. How could they bust inside the palace without alerting the Sound shinobi they were coming and make a surprise attack of their own? They were expecting the army to bust in through the front entrance should they somehow manage to break down the barrier and get in through those oversized doors, but if they were found by one of the Sound ninjas before they could get to Orochimaru while sneaking in, they could alert their leader and Orochimaru could kill one of the hostages before they could get to him.

What could they do to make sure that didn't happen…?

She pondered the question for a moment as she tucked a strand of her long blue hair behind her ear, but as she did so, a wild idea came into her head and she glanced down at the long hair in her hand.

What she was thinking… it might work, but she knew for a fact that the others in the squad would definitely not like it…

That didn't matter, though. It was certainly a better plan than what everyone else was currently doing, wasting away their time trying to break down a pretty much unbreakable barrier.

Before she could start losing her confidence and second guessing herself, she ran up a bit closer to everyone to make sure they could hear her, and then whistled sharply. "Hey, guys!" she called out somewhat loudly, a little embarrassed by her plan, but knowing deep down that there wasn't time for her to act as shy as she usually did.

Everyone immediately halted upon hearing her meager shout, and those that knew her specifically looked over their shoulders to give her surprised, quizzical looks. Once again, Naruto was conflicted upon seeing the newly revealed Hyuuga heiress. He didn't know what he was supposed to say or do to her, especially since they were all in the middle of a full out emergency.

While he was busy contemplating what he ought to say to her, Choji on the other hand had no such reservations, and simply blinked twice when he saw her before canceling the Partial Expansion Jutsu on his hand that he had been in the middle of preparing to do. "Hinata?" he asked curiously.

Hinata smiled brightly, glad to know that there was at least one person in front of her who wasn't about to yell at her. "I… I've got an idea!" she exclaimed.

She didn't wait to hear any of them ask her what it was. She turned sharply around on her heel, and started running as fast as she could away from them to try and find a set of pillars in the back of the palace underneath a set of any accessible windows. She didn't dare look back to see if they were following her or not. It was up to all of them this time if they wanted her help. Could they set aside their prejudice sexism towards women and listen to her for once, even though she was a girl? It was definitely a defining moment for the young princess, finding out if the friends she'd made over the past few months were really as thickheaded and stubborn as they'd always acted.

The others watched her as she ran off, and there was a long pause as everyone considered her words. Following the commands and the idea of a girl was highly unprecedented, not to mention possibly treasonous, but really, what choice did they have? They were getting nowhere with knocking down this bright purple barrier, and at this point, any other idea was a welcome one.

The only person there who was really sticking his nose up at her was the irritable Ebisu. "Stubborn girl! This is no place for a woman! She should just learn to stop sticking her nose into matters that do not concern her!"

But he was the only person there who thought this way about Hinata, because the other men were actually appreciative of the fact that someone else, woman or not, had a better idea on how to save the Kage's and the Honorable Families than simply wasting time and energy trying to get through this unbreakable purple wall. With quick looks over at the rather hesitant Naruto and then sending knowing smirks to one another, Kiba and his dog Akamaru, Kankuro, Lee, Choji, and Shino all turned away from the barrier and immediately started running after their female friend. There was another small pause, but then Gaara, Sasuke, and Shikamaru dropped what they were doing and started running after them, too.

Naruto spluttered when he saw his three best friends starting to ditch him with the rest of the troops.

"Yo! Where the hell do you guys think you're going?!" he demanded.

Gaara didn't do anything more than shoot his longtime friend a quick glance over his shoulder as he ran past him, not stopping for even a moment as he ran after Hinata and the others. "I do not care what becomes of my father, Naruto, but I will follow anyone who has a plan on how to save my sister."

"Tch, it doesn't take me, a genius with an I.Q. of over two hundred, to see that we're not going to be able to break down this barrier in time to save the royals," Shikamaru said with an exaggerated eye roll.

"Hn. Don't be an idiot right now, Naruto. That girl might have deceived everyone before, but she's still the one whose wild plan took out all but a handful of Sound ninjas with just one kunai," Sasuke agreed. "Whatever her idea is, it's most likely better than wasting time and energy here."

The three of them ran after Hinata and her friends without daring to look back.

For a long moment, Naruto stood there in front of the barrier, desperately wanting to be mad at everyone who had abandoned the rest of the platoon so as to follow a plan of action that the lying girl had come up with, but somehow, he couldn't find it in himself to get angry. Because in a way, his three best friends were all correct. Trying to get through this barrier was getting them absolutely nowhere, and besides, what if Hinata did have a good idea? So long as her idea managed to get them inside, they could save the Kage's and the Honorable Families, and finally be able to stop Orochimaru once and for all.

With a firm nod to himself, he turned to face Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, I'm leaving you in charge. Keep trying to get in this way. If Gaara, Sasuke, Shikamaru, or I am not back in an hour or you get wind of the worst news, stop attempting to get this barrier down and focus on evacuating civilians," he ordered.

Kakashi nodded to show he understood, but Ebisu scowled at him.

"Captain Uzumaki, do not tell me that you intend to follow after that girl! You of all people should understand that traitors have no place in the Allied Shinobi Forces!" he snapped.

Naruto paused when he heard those words, but then he turned to face the cranky advisor with an ugly scowl. "I don't care anymore that she's a girl! She seems to have a better plan to get inside than I do! It doesn't matter what gender you are or who your parents are! What really matters is how you choose to live your life, as a good person or a bad person!"

And with that, Naruto ignored the stupefied expression on Ebisu's face as he spun around, and ran as fast as he possibly could after the others that were all following the kind, brave Hyuuga princess.


Hinata had run all the way around the back of the palace in her desperate search for pillars under a series of windows or at least a balcony. At this point, it didn't matter anymore if they were servant windows or not. Just pillars beneath some sort of entryway would suffice. It took her some time, but she finally found a number of tall pillars directly underneath a chain of tall windows that were up on the second floor. She wasn't sure whether or not they led to the servant's quarters or perhaps a regal bedroom, but they would work just fine for her plan, even if she was forced to do it alone.

As she approached one of the pillars and prepared to channel her chakra down to her feet so as to climb up, her five good friends and a certain oversized ninja hound finally turned the corner and at last caught up to her. They weren't alone, either. Seconds after they had all appeared, Gaara, Sasuke, and Shikamaru all ran up, too.

"Hir— I mean, Hinata!" gasped Kiba, sounding slightly out of breath as he started panting a bit from the quick sprint. "We want… Well, I mean—"

"You all wish to help?" Hinata guessed. Her friends all awkwardly nodded to her, which she returned with a kind, happy smile. "I'm glad. I… I d-don't think I can do this plan alone." Then she turned to face the two Co-Captains and the leading Tactician. "Don't get me wrong, but… but I'm h-honestly surprised that you three are here, too. Shouldn't you all be back with the others and N-Naruto?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "I am here simply because you have a better plan than Naruto does for how to save my sister, and if Kankuro trusts you, I will trust you too. I will help you for those two reasons, and those reasons alone."

"If you have a plan, we will follow you," said Sasuke emotionlessly. "If we do nothing, the Kage's and the Honorable Families will for sure die."

"Don't get us wrong, we all respect Naruto as both our friend and as a ninja, but the troublesome idiot can't see that his idea to get inside is such a drag," Shikamaru added. "He needs a few more brain cells in basic common sense."

"Hey! Watch what you say about me, Shikamaru!"

Everyone whirled around. Naruto had just run around the corner of the palace himself, and was glaring irritably at the generally lazy shinobi as he hurried up to join all of them.

Hinata wasn't the only one there to blink twice in surprise when they saw the spiky blonde-haired boy rush up to them. She didn't understand. Why was Naruto here? She had been under the impression that he never wanted to so much as look at her again, much less try to help her with her crazy idea to stop Orochimaru and his followers. She had to stare at him for a long moment before she found her courage to speak.

"N-Naruto… what're you doing here?" she said in obvious confusion.

Naruto had the decency to look a tad bit uncomfortable as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Well… you said you had a plan, right? If you've got a better idea, I'm all for it… I think it's safe to say that everyone here knows that I sure as hell don't…"

Hinata stared at him in utter disbelief for a few seconds, but then slowly nodded. "Yes, I… I have plan…"

"Well, great! What is it then?"

Everyone turned to her eagerly, desperate to know what her plan was exactly and what they could do to help.

Hinata blushed bright red and shyly looked away. She knew her plan was good, but she honestly didn't know how the others were going to react to it. She knew for a fact that they weren't going to like it. The question was, whether they liked it or not, were they willing to do it for the good of the country? It wasn't just their lives and pride that were at stake here. The four Kage's, the Kage Regent, and all the members of the Honorable Families were depending on them, after all.

She took a deep breath, looked firmly ahead at everyone so that they knew she wasn't joking at all about what she was telling them, and then just blurted it right out.

"The first thing we're going to do is use our chakra to climb up these pillars so as to get inside, and then… and then we're going to p-pretend to be visiting noblewomen to get up close to the Sound shinobi when their guard is dropped…"

Silence.

For almost a full minute, no one said anything. All the boys in front of Hinata simply stared at her as though she had suddenly grown a second head. Her plan was completely ludicrous! They honestly couldn't believe she had just suggested to them what she did.

Finally, Kankuro was the one to break the silence by trying to awkwardly chuckle. "Wow… that's a good one, Hinata… Great joke, now what's your real plan?"

Hinata's brows furrowed at Kankuro's words. "I am not joking, Kankuro. I am being quite serious here. We are to disguise ourselves as noblewomen."

"You must have hit your head quite hard at some point to believe that any of us are going to do such a thing," said Shino, adjusting his dark sunglasses as he spoke but almost sounding as shocked as Kankuro did.

"I agree with Shino, Hinata. I do not believe that dressing up as a woman is very youthful at all," Lee said, looking quite embarrassed at such a notion.

"Screw this plan, I'm going back to where the others are," Kiba declared. "Akamaru and I can break down that barrier, no sweat! Come on, boy!"

The oversized ninja hound barked in agreement. The dog and master started to storm off back to the front of the palace where the rest of the army was at, but Hinata's words stopped him.

"Trying to break down that barrier is… is a waste of time and chakra. I k-know what I'm saying sounds very… unorthodox, but time is of the essence here. Would you rather that the Kage's and the Honorable Families were killed by Orochimaru and the Sound shinobi, or… or would you rather let go of your pride by trying a different approach in order to r-rescue all of them?"

"You are asking all of us to cross dress in women's clothes and pretend to be girls," Sasuke growled, actually looking quite angry at the notion. "You can't blame us for not wanting to do it."

Hinata quickly shot the Uchiha a small glare, finally having enough of all of the protests. "F-First of all, I'm not saying that everyone needs to look like girls in order to distract the five Generals, just a couple of us… because the others will have the objective of rescuing the Kage's and the Honorable Families while s-someone fights with Orochimaru to divert his attention so that they can all get out… Second, I'm not saying any of you have to literally put on women's c-clothing. A Transformation Jutsu should be good enough."

"But I cannot do any jutsus, Hinata, remember?" Lee interjected.

Hinata blinked, realizing that in this instance, Lee was correct. "Oh, well… I'm sure no one will mind if w-we just borrow an elegant gown from a bedroom… If we're lucky, the room above us might belong to a n-noblewoman who lives in the palace. I'll even wear a kimono, too, instead of just using a r-regular Transformation Jutsu, if that helps…"

"Ha! Looks like you'll be the real cross dresser among all of us, Lee!" Choji snickered. Even Shikamaru couldn't help but grin a bit at his friend's comment.

Lee's cheeks brightened as he threw a small, barely noticeable scowl at both of them.

"And finally… I'm not asking any of you to d-do any more than I already have…"

That shut everyone up, and they all stared quizzically at the young heiress, not understanding what she meant.

"I… I cross dressed myself for a full three months. Not because I wanted to, but so that I c-could protect my father, someone I deeply love. I know only a few of you actually personally know the Kage's and the H-Honorable Families, but… but you all wish to protect them, don't you? You want to protect all of them from Orochimaru and the Sound ninjas. I'm not asking any of y-you to do anything more than what I myself have actually done… If anything, I actually think I am being quite reasonable!"

There was a brief pause as everyone considered this. Then Shikamaru exasperatedly sighed. "Geez… When you put it that way, you make it all but impossible to say no, now… Aw man, this is gonna be such a drag…"

"Shikamaru, don't tell me you're actually agreeing with this!" Kiba gasped in horror. "You're supposed to be some kind of genius, right?! Come up with another plan, please! One that does not involve any of looking like a bunch of—"

Hinata distinctly coughed rather loudly as a somewhat offended expression spread across her face.

"—like a bunch of girls," he politely finished, although it was clear by the expression on the Inuzuka clansman's face that the word he had been planning to use before to end that sentence was definitely something that wasn't used in polite conversation.

"Kiba, I don't like this plan anymore than you do, but I cannot deny that it's probably the best we can do under these circumstances," the lazy Nara clansman groaned. "I can't deny that this will be very troublesome, but overall, the idea itself is genius, because Hinata is right. If the Sound shinobi initially see us charging in looking like our usual selves, they'll be on guard and we'll have to waste precious time and energy on a bunch of unnecessary and difficult fights, but if they see a bunch of noblewomen approaching them dressed all prim and proper, looking as though they've never so much as seen a single kunai blade before in their entire life, they'll all drop their guard. We stand a better chance at getting past them with a surprise attack like that than we would with any other plan…"

"Damn it!" Kiba snapped, now sounding rather resigned since even the genius amongst them was going along with Hinata's ludicrous plan.

"S-So… we're agreed then, right?" Hinata asked a bit hesitantly.

"Hold it. Which of us will be pretending to be girls, and which of us will linger back so as to have our full strength to rescue the Kage's and the Honorable Families?" said Gaara suddenly.

"Oh… I hadn't thought that far ahead, actually," Hinata confessed. "I honestly wasn't sure if any of you would be w-willing to… to go along with my idea and run away from where the rest of the army is trying to b-break down the barrier. I think it should be up to Naruto to decide who's in what group."

Naruto blinked twice at that as everyone there turned to stare at him. "Up to me?" he repeated, clearly surprised.

Hinata nodded, but she kept her eyes downcast a bit so as to avoid looking him in the eye. "Y-Yes… You are our leader, Naruto. It should be your c-call on who does what."

"But… But this is your plan, Hinata… Why should I take it over from you?"

This time, Hinata didn't bother to hide her sad sigh. "Well, why s-shouldn't you? You said it yourself that I don't… that I don't really belong here, anyway…"

Hinata avoided making eye contact with anyone after saying that and simply looked down at her feet, too embarrassed to look up again and show her face. She knew that it was rather childish and immature of her to bring that up right now and in front of everyone, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was still hurt by how he had treated her earlier. Was it wrong of her to want an apology of some sorts from him?

Naruto's face flamed red as the others wisely chose to stay quiet. That was a low blow, but he couldn't really say anything in his own defense at what Hinata had just said. He really had been an ass to her. It was one thing to act how he did back on that mountain this morning, because although he'd been angry at all her lies and her treasonous deception, he had still been acting as the Captain of the Allied Shinobi Forces, but earlier in the parade? He had been angry with her, but he had said a lot of nasty things to her that were completely out of line. He really couldn't blame her for being offended and assuming that he was still angry with her.

A loud cough off to the side caught the blonde young man's attention, and he looked over. Sasuke was sending him a rather unimpressed look. "This is generally the part where you're supposed to apologize to her, Loser," he said flatly.

"Yeah, you owe her that, at the very least," Kankuro agreed with a slight snigger.

Naruto shot a glare at the puppeteer, and then turned back to Hinata, his cheeks still rather red. "I… I'm sorry," he mumbled quietly. "I was wrong before. I should have listened to you. It makes no sense that a wounded girl would make such a hard ride down here into the Imperial City when she was in no shape to be doing any riding. I'm sorry…"

Hinata looked back up at him shyly, her own cheeks tinted a bright shade of pink, and then gave him a rather bashful smile as she nodded in return. "A-Apology accepted," she said quietly. "I… I can't blame you for being mad, though. Any of you, actually… I mean, who's ever heard of a girl who wanted to b-become a ninja and fight for Japan…?"

She awkwardly chuckled at her own statement while fiddling with the straps of the knapsack on her back as the others exchanged quick looks. Now that they knew her a bit better as simply being Hinata and not the man that they had all thought to be 'Hiro,' they couldn't say that they were as mad at her as they had been before. They all still weren't a hundred percent okay with her lies and decisions that had led her to be standing in front of them today, but when they stopped and considered things from her perspective, none of them could really say that they wouldn't have done the same if it had been for a member of their own families that they deeply cared about.

Naruto nodded slightly at her words, but then he suddenly looked very serious. "But still, this is your plan, Hinata. I may be the leader of the entire platoon, but you're the one who came up with this plan. You must have some idea as to who here is best suited to which parts between distracting the guards, rescuing the Kage's and the Honorable Families, and who stalls that bastard Orochimaru."

"W-Well… if it were up to me, I think Kiba, Lee, Choji, Shino, Kankuro, and I should… should be the ones to dress up like g-girls in order to distract the guards."

"What?! You gotta be kidding me! Why?!" Kiba demanded.

"Because… Because the Kage's and the Honorable Families all know Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and Shikamaru quite well since they grew up among all of them. They're less l-likely to panic if they see them storm in to rescue them than they would if… if the rest of us were to go up there."

"They know me!" Kankuro huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm the eldest son of the Kazekage! They know me just as well as they know Gaara! I should go up to help, too!"

"No offense, K-Kankuro, but everyone here knows that Gaara is stronger than you. When Orochimaru tries to strike back when they all burst in to rescue the royals, I think… I think Naruto should be the one to fight him, and Sasuke and Shikamaru should be the ones to focus on protecting the Honorable Families, b-because Gaara should focus on protecting and getting the Four Kage's and the Mizukage Regent out of there."

Everyone blinked at that, especially Gaara. "Why me?" the red-haired boy asked with narrowed eyes. "I have nothing against the other Kage's or the Lady Regent, but why should I try to protect my father? If there was one person that died today that Kankuro and I would not feel any sympathy for, it would be our father, because he's a terrible man."

Hinata was silent for a moment at that, and then she gave him a sad look. "I… I am s-sorry about how things are between both of you, your sister, and your father, Gaara, and I know that that's not really m-my business… but your sand can carry people and shield them, can it not? If you were to shield all f-five of them with your sand shield and then use the sand to safely get them all out of there… We can r-rescue them all."

Gaara considered her words for a moment, and then slowly nodded. "Very well. That is a sound plan," he conceded.

"If we are all on the same page, then we should probably start climbing up the pillars," said Shino, glancing over at the said pillars they were all standing by as he did so. "We have a sound plan, but we still need to get up there and find kimonos for Lee and Hinata to change into while the rest of us disguise ourselves with the Transformation Jutsu, not to mention that the more time we stand here discussing this, the more time the rest of the royals are in Orochimaru's clutches."

Naruto nodded at the bug-user's words. "Shino's right. Let's get on up there!"

"Hold it! What about Akamaru?! He can't climb up that pole, remember?!" Kiba exclaimed. The large white dog barked twice in agreement to his master's words.

Before anyone could begin to quietly wonder how they could possibly get the oversized dog up onto the balcony above them where the pillars led up to, a large cloud of sand suddenly flew out from Gaara's gourd. Everyone watched as the sand very carefully gathered around Akamaru's whole body so as to pick him up, and then stared as the sand slowly rose up into the air toward the balcony while still carrying the ninja hound, and set him gently down on the opposite side of the railing before shooting back down towards all of them so as to return inside of Gaara's large gourd.

Naruto blinked twice at what his best friend had just done, but then shrugged before turning to Kiba. "Problem solved!" he said with an awkward grin.

Everyone wordlessly nodded at the Captain's words, and then brought their hands together to form the hand sign so as to gather their chakra at the bottoms of their feet. The dust on the ground near all of their feet suddenly shot outwards and away from their body once this had happened, as this was the only visible sign that they had all gathered their chakra successfully, and then they began running up the pillars. All of the men in the group ran up the length of the large columns easily and without getting winded, but Hinata lingered back a bit as she cringed in aching pains from her stomach, and when she managed to climb over the railing of the balcony, she had to literally bite her own tongue to hold in a very loud, agonizing moan.

Choji noticed her pained expression and shot her a sympathetic look. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

The others also looked somewhat worried, but Hinata just forced a smile on her face as she waved their fears aside. "I'll be okay. I just wish the camp m-medic could have done a better job, that's all…"

"Hn. His skills are a joke compared to that of Lady Tsunade and Sakura," Sasuke agreed with a slight nod. "When this is all over, we can ask that they try and help continue to heal you where the Kumo medic-nin left off."

"Okay. Thank you…"

The balcony doors were locked when they tried to open them, but Sasuke simply retrieved his katana sword from its sheath attached to his waist, and charged a bit of his elemental chakra affinity of lightning to his blade before lightly slashing down at the handle to the doors. The knob blasted open as the metal was fried, and Sasuke carefully replaced his sword back into its sheath as Naruto pushed open the door and hurriedly gestured for everyone to get inside.

Hinata couldn't help but be amazed when she entered the private bedroom. She had always believed that her bedroom back at the Hyuuga clan estate was quite lavish, but compared to this lavish bedroom, her room was nothing in comparison. It obviously belonged to a woman of some nature, judging by the number of perfume bottles, small jewelry boxes, and a series of pretty painted hand fans lying across the surface of the elaborately crafted vanity table against one of the nearby walls, and judging by an open door on the side of the room revealing a huge walk-in closet beside a large changing screen, and exposing that the interior of the closet was filled with beautiful kimonos in a variety of colors. The bed itself was big enough to easily fit about four people comfortably and still have leg room, and it was covered in a soft silk bedspread and had fluffy white pillows at the head.

Despite the need to rush and get ready so they could hurry and rescue the Kage's and the members of the Honorable Families, Hinata couldn't stop herself from looking around at this bedroom in absolute awe. Who here in the Imperial Palace lived in such a beautiful room? Did it perhaps belong to the esteemed Lady Tsunade, the daughter of the Hokage? Or perhaps the Mizukage Regent, Mei Terumi? Whoever it was that lived here, it had to be a lovely young woman who always exuded a perfect femininity while out in public. Surely the occupant of this room was someone who was much better than she was at acting like a proper young lady, at the very least. After all, there was no other girl in the world who was more pathetic and worthless than her, or more dishonorable…

Hinata had literally just finished thinking this when an exasperated groan abruptly resounded, and she turned to look over her shoulder at Kankuro, who strangely seemed to be annoyed all of the sudden.

"Ah, shit! We have the worst luck in the world! We all just had to break into this room!" he grumbled. "Gaara! You know for a fact she's going to kill us for this, right?"

"Considering she is in danger right now, Kankuro, I'm sure she'll get over her anger at us for doing this quite easily," his younger brother mysteriously said, but it was clear by the way his expression seemed to be very fixed that he was not happy about where they all were, either. "Compared to her death and the deaths of the other royals, her anger at us for two stolen kimonos is highly preferable."

"W-What are you two talking about?" Hinata asked curiously.

"This is our older sister Temari's bedroom," Kankuro explained with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know if you consider yourself to be a tomboy or not, Hinata, but trust me when I say that our sister is the very definition of tomboy. She's outspoken, rude, and can be a downright bitch sometimes…"

"You forgot to add violent," Shikamaru said with a slight chuckle.

Gaara's eyes flashed dangerously over at his good friend. "Nara, I highly advise you to not speak or try to look comfortable while we are all in here. Do not think for a second that Kankuro and I like the fact that you are in our sister's bedroom right now, and do not doubt at all that should I personally ever find out that you are ever in here again… I should tell you that I know many ways to crush a man's body with various different techniques with my sand."

Shikamaru instantly shut up and quickly focused his eyes on staring simply at a gorgeous painting of the infamous sand dunes of the Sunaese Desert in the afternoon sunlight that was hanging above the dresser, determined to stare only at that during the entire duration in this room so as to not anger the scary redhead or his puppet fanatic older brother, who was also starting to scowl warningly at him. Being the victim of an assassination attempt at the age of seventeen by the two overprotective brothers of the most violent woman on the face of the earth was far too troublesome for the Nara heir to deal with.

"Are you both sure your sister won't mind what we're about to do?" Hinata asked worriedly. "We… We could always just b-borrow some kimonos from a guest room for Lee and me to change into…"

Kankuro scoffed off her concerns with a vague wave of his hand. "If Temari gets mad at anyone for this, it will be with me and Gaara, not you or Lee. It'll be a pain for us to listen to her bitching, but just like baby bro said, considering she could be killed right now by those Sound assholes, she'll probably get over it very quick."

"Let's hurry, then," Choji commented. "The two of you better grab some kimonos and get changed fast."

"Choji's right," said Kiba as he patted his trusty dog's head. "Orochimaru isn't going to wait forever for the Kage's to officially surrender before he starts getting violent…"

Hinata and Lee obediently nodded, and then walked over together to the walk-in closet. Lee looked very sheepish as he stared at all of the multi-colored formal clothes dangling from hangers against the walls.

"I… I'm afraid I do not know what to wear, Hinata. Do you have any opinion on which one I should put on?" the green spandex-wearing shinobi asked, sounding more than a bit embarrassed.

"W-Well, do you have any preference in color, Lee?"

"Green! Green is the best color of all!"

Hinata delicately fingered the many beautiful silk robes for a few moments before carefully removing a bright green kimono from its hanger, and then found a matching obi on the hanger beside it before carefully handing them over to the taijutsu expert.

"Yosh! Thank you, Hinata!"

"You're welcome, Lee. If… If you d-don't mind at all, could you close the closet doors on your way out? I need to change, too…"

"Oh, of course! No problem at all!"

Lee hurried out of the closet and did exactly as she asked by politely closing the closet doors behind him so she could find a gown of her own to change into in complete privacy from the others. She blushed a bit at the idea that her friends were all but a few feet away from her and waiting for her to change as she carefully shrugged her knapsack off of her shoulders and set it gently down on the ground. Kurama and Usagi both poked their heads out as they watched their human charge begin sifting through the racks of kimonos to find something to wear.

"This plan of yours is complete lunacy, woman! You do know that, right?!" Kurama quietly growled, not wanting the nine men waiting outside the closet doors to catch wind of his voice.

"Perhaps," Hinata agreed, but not even turning her head around to look at him as she continued searching through the racks of clothes. "But it's the only plan that has even the slightest chance of working. It… It would be f-foolish not to at least try it, especially since nobody else has any good ideas."

"And what about me and the bunny here, huh? You can't just expect us to just sit in here and wait quietly, do you?"

Usagi nodded her head and squeaked in agreement.

"Of c-course not! You can both follow all of us from the shadows. I… I'd feel much better if there were two extra sets of eyes watching our backs. You both would be doing m-me a huge help if you did that!"

Kurama grumbled a bit at that, but otherwise let the matter go. "Ugh! Fine… Just hurry up and pick something! Like the Dog Boy said, time's wasting, so get cracking!"

"R-Right!"


To ensure that none of the Four Kage's or the Mizukage Regent tried anything funny while they journeyed through the halls of the palace to meet up with the evil Orochimaru, each one of the Sound Generals held a member of the Honorable Families hostage with kunais at their throat as they led them down the corridors toward the agreed upon meeting point.

Tayuya didn't even really need his kunai held at the throat of the nineteen-year-old boy Chojuro. He was so bloodied and spent from the previous battle whilst trying to protecting his region's leader from this terrible situation, he could barely even stand. Even though Ao was being gently supported by the kind Kage Princess Sakura by allowing him to lean on her as they traveled down the hall, Tayuya would roughly jerk the injured teenager by his light blue hair as he occasionally kicked hard at Chojuro's back when he would stop to try and catch his breath, clearly winded from the long walk all the way from the front of the palace. Although he and Ao would grunt and groan from their injuries, not once did their determined expressions leave their faces. They were humiliated and ashamed of themselves that they had allowed this to happen. Not only was their kind mistress Mei in mortal danger now because they had failed in their duties to protect her, but so were the other Four Kage's and all the members of the Honorable Families, too.

Jirobo was the only one physically large enough to overpower Killer Bee, the Raikage's younger adoptive brother, and couldn't help but chuckle darkly as he manhandled the only registered shinobi amongst all of the Honorable Family members as they made their way through the palace. As the only physically healthy ninja there other than the Four Kage's, who knew better than to try anything right now should something happen to their innocent family members and Chojuro and Ao were currently in no condition to be doing any more fighting right now, Killer Bee was a threat, so Jirobo kept his grip around both of the Kumo nin's wrists very tight as he pressed the blade of his throwing knife harshly against his bare neck. Not enough to seriously injure him, but there were definitely a few trickles of blood running down his dark skin where Jirobo had pressed his knife against him a little too hard. Although Bee was generally very easy going and could be a bit of a loudmouth at times just like Naruto, he recognized that this was not a situation to be running his mouth. He kept his mouth shut and just growled threateningly at the overweight man with orange-colored hair that was restraining him.

The conjoined twins Sakon and Ukon grinned wickedly as they held their own kunai at the neck of their captive, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter Kurotsuchi. Unlike most of the royals there, whose faces all clearly showed just how angry or terrified they were, Kurotsuchi walked with her head held up high. She was just as furious about the situation they were all in and scared just like the rest of them, but if she was to die today, she was determined to do so whilst demonstrating both inner strength and class. The only other Honorable Family member there that shared her outward look of calm determination was Lady Tsunade, who also walked straight ahead in a very dignified manner. If there was anything at all about Kurotsuchi that visibly showed that she was worried, it was how her eyes kept darting over toward her grandfather Onoki's frail form as he walked ahead alongside the other Kage's and the Lady Regent. She might tease her grandfather at times and often joked with him that he ought to retire and name her his Kage successor even though she was a woman and therefore not a ninja, but she definitely did not want him to do something stupid such as get himself killed by any of these invaders in order to protect her. He was much more important to the country of Japan than she was.

The one Honorable Family member that was actively struggling against the Sound ninja that was restraining her and pressing his blade to her throat was Temari. She was growling and spitting insults at Kidomaru, the snake traitor Orochimaru, and the entire Sound country under her breath as she actively tried to forcefully remove herself from his many spider-like hands. Just like the others, the Sunaese Princess knew that this was definitely not a time for her to be actively trying to provoke the men who held knives at her throat and the throats of the people she had all but grown up beside since the county of Japan was completely unified, but the second one of Kidomaru's many hands tried to fondle her chest, all rational thought flew right out of her head. She was a brash person after all, and she spent every second of the entire walk trying to either jam her elbow right into the lecherous grin of the disgusting perverted Sound ninja, or trying to spin around so as to knee him hard in the crotch. Although the other royals there couldn't exactly say that they were pleased by her rash behavior as it could potentially cause the Sound Generals to lose their patience and hurt one of them, none of them could exactly blame her for acting difficult. The man did try to grope her, after all…

Kabuto had initially planned to grab hold of the frightened Lady Kurenai and hold his kunai right over the head of her infant daughter Mirai that she was desperately cradling to her chest, but the moment Konohamaru had seen the silver-haired Sound shinobi approach his aunt and newborn cousin, the little twelve-year-old had all but thrown himself at the ninja and had tried to punch him. At that moment, Konohamaru hadn't been thinking in the long term of what doing that would end up resulting in. He had just been so focused on protecting his aunt and baby cousin that he had acted rashly. Afterwards, Kabuto had grabbed Konohamaru's left arm and had twisted it around so hard, a loud crack had resounded before the boy had screamed in pain. It was now broken. Both Sakura and Tsunade had initially rushed forward so as to heal him, but Kabuto's eyes flashed warningly at them to stay away as he seized the tearing up boy by the neck and had started dragging him through the corridor, now making him the Hokage hostage. Kurenai cried, knowing full well that her nephew Konohamaru was only being dragged around like this because he had been trying to protect her and her daughter Mirai, but despite his own pain-filled tears, Konohamaru kept giving her reassuring looks that he was okay. If he were given the option, he would gladly try to protect her again. As the next man of the Sarutobi family after his grandfather since his uncle and Kurenai's husband Asuma was now dead, in his young childlike mind, it was his job to protect the women in his family. Even though he was not a full shinobi quite yet, he would do everything he could to protect his aunt, baby cousin, mother, and older sister throughout this entire frightening ordeal if his grandfather Hiruzen was unable to.

All four of the Kage's and the Kage Regent hated to see their family members and in Mei's case, her bodyguards being manhandled in such a despicable way just to make sure that they would not try anything to get away, but they stayed calm and collected throughout the entire walk. The Sound shinobi wanted to see all five of them sweat and panic so that they would be a shaking mess when they met up with Orochimaru, but none of the country's leaders would give them the pleasure of seeing a trace of fear on their faces. Their expressions were either cool and serene, or hardened and seemingly emotionless as they continued through the palace. The only time they looked somewhat distraught was when a certain handmaiden stepped forward from where some other servants were watching everything from the shadowy sidelines and attempted to bar their path.

"P-Please…" the girl had begged through her tears as she got down on her hands and knees in front of the Sound ninjas. "Let the Kage's and the Honorable F-Families live… They're all good—"

Kabuto released his hold on Konohamaru momentarily so as to take another kunai out from his weapons pouch and flicked it over at the girl. The girl screamed when it was embedded in her shoulder.

"Matsuri!" Temari shouted, struggling harder than ever against Kidomaru's many hands that were restraining her so as to break free and see if she was okay. Matsuri had only been her new handmaiden for a few months now, but she considered her to be a good friend, even if she did have a bit of a crush on her youngest brother. But even so, she was one of the few girls in this palace other than her fellow female friends in the Honorable Families that she enjoyed talking to, and it pained her to see her be attacked like that.

Kidomaru growled, and tightened his grip on Temari so she wouldn't get away. "Stay still, bitch!" he snapped, pressing the blade of his kunai so hard against her throat, a bit of blood started running down her neck like that of Killer Bee.

Temari however didn't care about the small nicks, and continued to struggle. "Damn you to hell and back! Let me go, you sick bastard!"

"Temari, stop struggling now," called out the voice of the Kazekage, Rasa. For once, Rasa's voice was not hardened when he was addressing Temari. Instead, it seemed to be rather neutral in all aspects for once. Temari didn't know what to make of this sudden change in her father's voice, but she still did as he said and stayed quiet, although she kept glaring hatefully over her shoulder at Kidomaru, who merely grinned lecherously back when he saw her expression.

"Do not harm our servants, Kabuto," Hiruzen stated rather seriously as he glanced over at the glasses-wearing Sound ninja with a very stern expression. "They are blameless in this entire matter. If you want to attack anyone, let it happen to the five of us. Not our servants and especially not our families."

"Tell your servants and your families not to agitate us then," Kabuto said with an evil smirk as he seized hold of Konohamaru once again. "If they don't want to be harmed, tell them not to provoke us."

Wordlessly, Hiruzen turned to look over at Matsuri who was desperately clutching her shoulder with the kunai embedded in it as she tried to stand. "Thank you for trying to help, but please tell the other servants not to try to interfere again. None of us want to see any of you get hurt because of us."

"As you wish, Lord Hokage…" Matsuri said quietly.

She slowly made her way back to the shadows without another word, although she did look over worriedly at her friend Temari for a moment before fully disappearing from view.

As soon as she was gone, Hiruzen looked over at the members of his own family and the families of his fellow Kage's. "Please… I know that this is a terrible situation and you all must be very frightened, but I must ask you all not to panic. Everything will be sorted out soon."

The Honorable Family members and Lady Mei's personal bodyguards all slowly nodded. They didn't like having to act all complacent to their captors, but they all knew that Hiruzen was correct. So long as they didn't cause any big trouble, they all just might live to see tomorrow.

They continued on down the corridor in silence for a time, but then the Sound Generals finally led them all to a set of doors that led toward the main balcony overlooking the entire courtyard in front of the Imperial Palace. It was the best balcony in the entire palace for the enormous crowd outside to witness the execution of the Four Kage's and the Mizukage Regent.

Tayuya and Jirobo released their holds on Chojuro and Killer Bee in order to swing open the doors, and then gestured for the Kage's and the Lady Regent to move forward and climb up the stairs in front of them. As the five of them stepped forward to silently do as they said, the two Sound ninjas then turned to the Honorable Families and jerked their heads in the direction of the stairs right after them.

"Go on, you all, too," Tayuya growled.

The demand for the Honorable Families to go upstairs to the balcony so as to be executed as well made all five of the Kage's pause, and they immediately stopped their walk so as to turn back and look at the Sound shinobi.

"You leave our families alone, you bastards!" Ay shouted, furious at the demand being made. "They're not involved in this!"

"Orders from the boss. They go up, too," Jirobo grumbled. "Of course, they could stay behind. But only in various pieces…"

All five Kage's were furious about this, but they reluctantly nodded and signaled for the others to follow them upstairs. They did not want their families or Mei's bodyguards to be in mortal peril like this, but they didn't have any choice. It was either go upstairs with them right now and hope like hell they might walk away from this ordeal unscathed, or let them stay behind and get cut up by these sick men. It was obvious which option was the better alternative.

The five Sound Generals brought them all upstairs onto the balcony. They signaled for the Honorable Family members to stand off to the side and then seized each one of the Kage's roughly by the arm and dragged them to the front of the balcony, that way the city could have a good view of the five of them. There were many cries down below when the general population saw the five leaders at the edge of the balcony, but Hiruzen, Rasa, Onoki, Ay, and Mei barely even had the chance to absorb the view of all the frightened citizens down in the courtyard before Orochimaru suddenly appeared in front of them, hanging upside down and standing on the curved roof tiles by conducting his chakra in his feet.

The infamous snake traitor grinned maliciously at the five of them. "Boo!" he chuckled.

The reactions amongst the Honorable Family members upon seeing the wicked Orochimaru appear in front of them contrasted greatly. Some of them took a few steps backwards rather fearfully, but others glared hatefully at the snake summoner and tried to put up the pretense that they were not the slightest bit afraid. The Four Kage's and the Kage Regent did nothing, though. They just stared solemnly ahead and made no visible sign that they cared at all that one of the most powerful and evil men in the world was in front of them and ready to execute them in front of the rest of the city. They were stone walls. They would not grace this traitor with the privilege of seeing them all cower before him.

Orochimaru didn't care that the four men and the one woman in front of him didn't seem to be afraid. Each one of them would be shaking in their shoes by the time this night was over. With another small chuckle, he dropped down from his spot on the roof, and landed on the railing in front of the five of them.

"Guard the doors," he ordered his Generals. His followers all nodded and obediently left.

Once they were gone, Orochimaru hopped down from his perch on the railing, and slowly began circling all five of the Kage's, his twisted smirk never once leaving his face.

"At long last, all five of you are right where I want you," he chuckled. "You all act as though this means nothing to you, but I know better. You all must be terrified!"

"You are wrong, Snake," Mei declared firmly, her voice hard and her eyes narrowed. "We are all proud to be the leaders of this country."

Orochimaru chuckled as he strolled purposefully up to the Mizukage Regent, an intrigued look plastered across his face. "Ah, the Lady Regent! Such bold words! I have to wonder how far this country has already fallen to have allowed a woman to be the temporary leader of the Land of Water. It really is such a disgrace…"

Mei's eyes hardened, but she wisely stayed silent as Orochimaru got right up in her face, and began playing with a loose strand of her auburn hair.

"Tell me," he went on, twirling her auburn hair around his finger. "Do you even enjoy being the leader of the Land of Water? Your older brother Yagura caused so many problems for your region that you are the victim of so assassination attempts on a daily basis… Do you think your people will even mourn you should you die tonight? I think they will all dance in the streets should you die…"

"Shut your mouth! Get away from the Mizukage!"

All eyes turned at once toward Chojuro, who was glaring hatefully at Orochimaru as he swayed in place due to his painful injuries. Without a word, Ao tactfully removed himself from Sakura, who had still been allowing him to lean on her for support, and moved to stand beside the teenage boy as he too glared at the snake summoner.

Orochimaru seemed to be almost amused as he glanced over at the two injured bodyguards. "Are these your bodyguards, Lady Regent? How pitiful they are. Not only are they such weak shinobi to have allowed you to be in this predicament in the first place, but they both seem to be under the impression that you are the real leader of Kirigakure and not simply a regent to the Mizukage throne…"

"It doesn't matter if her official title is that of being a mere regent," said Ao, not the slightest bit intimidated by Orochimaru. "She has done a far better job as the leader of the Land of Water than Yagura ever did. Even if the rest of the world doesn't think much of Lady Mei, to the two of us, she will always be the true Mizukage."

Mei's eyes widened upon hearing this exclamation, deeply touched that her two bodyguards thought so highly of her. Orochimaru chuckled in amusement, but turned away from the two loyal Kiri bodyguards to turn his attention to the next Kage in the lineup. The Raikage.

"Lord Raikage? I'm surprised you're as quiet as you are. I was always told that you're the biggest hothead amongst all the leaders. Has fear of me made you hold your tongue?"

The Raikage growled. "You are lower that the dirt on the ground, Snake! You're not even worth my time!"

"Yeah, why don't you just go jump in the lake?! With you gone, we can all get along just fine!"

Upon hearing the second speaker rhyme the Raikage's words 'snake' and 'time' with his own words 'lake' and 'fine,' Orochimaru didn't even need to look over to know who had spoken, but he did so anyway. Killer Bee looked murderous as he glared towards the snake summoner who was looking over his adoptive older brother, and his fists were clenched up into tight balls. He so badly wanted to do something to drive this evil man off of the balcony and away from his brother and the other Kage's, but in this instance, there was nothing he could do. Should he try anything at all by so much as attempting one jutsu, the snake could retaliate by either killing one of the Kage's or one of the innocent Honorable Family members beside him. If Chojuro and Ao were in any condition to fight right now, they might have had a chance, but sadly, that wasn't the case. There was nothing more he could do other than just glare at Orochimaru and hope like hell that Naruto and the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces would come up to rescue them all before something really bad happened.

"You must be Killer Bee, the Raikage's brother," Orochimaru mused. "You seem to be quite the rhyming freak."

"Yo, I'm no freak! I'm going to be the world's greatest rapper, ya fool!"

This time, Orochimaru chose to ignore him, not interested at all in the peculiar Kumo ninja. He instead focused his attention on the next Kage, Onoki.

"Lord Tsuchikage? I'm surprised that you are still the leader of Iwagakure. I would have thought that your age and lower back pains would have finally caught up with you by now."

Onoki looked somewhat miffed, but he kept his temper in check. "Bah! I may not be as young as I used to be, Orochimaru, but I'm still leaps and bounds far better than you!" he spat in disgust.

Orochimaru was not at all put off by the proud words. He merely chuckled, and then turned to glance back over at the Honorable Families. At Kurotsuchi in particular.

"I highly doubt that, Lord Tsuchikage, you cannot deny that your genes are not that great at all. No male heir whatsoever. Just a young granddaughter that will never be able to surpass you as a ninja due to her gender…"

Kurotsuchi's face hardened in pure disgust, but kept her words at a level tone. "I may be the only child of my grandfather's son who has long since passed due to the previous war, but I know my grandfather is proud to have me as his heir!" she declared. "There is more to this world than simple outward appearances! There is also strength of both heart and mind!"

"Well said, Kurotsuchi. Well said…" Onoki said with a proud smile.

"Damn right it's well said! None of us are the slightest bit intimidated by you, you slimy snake!"

All heads turned to look over at Temari. Her face did not show anything at all that resembled fear. If anything, she looked livid, and her stony eyes were locked solely on Orochimaru. If looks alone could kill, Orochimaru would be dead three times over by her glare alone.

Orochimaru actually appeared amused as he studied the tomboy Kage princess. "Oh, you must be the Sunaese Princess Temari, the Kazekage's daughter…" he said in a rather sinister manner. "Such a peculiar girl you are… Not only are you an embarrassment and set a poor example as a Kage Princess with your brash personality, but you, a girl, are the Kazekage's eldest child. It's truly a shame that your two brothers aren't up here, too. They would have been more of a challenge to bring up here, especially since they are the ones who have the better claim of being your father's heir since they're both boys rather than you do, even though you are the firstborn."

"That is enough, Orochimaru. Leave my daughter alone."

Both Temari and Orochimaru blinked at this statement, and they turned their attention toward Rasa. Rasa was actively glaring at the snake summoner, silently warning him of all the pain he would experience if he did not leave Temari alone now.

"I am confused, Lord Kazekage. I was always told that you never liked any of your children."

Rasa's eyes turned stone cold. "I will not deny that I am not the best father in the world, but I will not allow you to harm my daughter. Take one step in her direction and you are a dead man walking."

Temari was honestly astounded by this show of parenting from her generally cold father, but she did not have any time to mull over it, as Orochimaru was already replying to her father's words.

"How interesting to know that you do actually care about your children, but do not fret, Lord Kazekage. Your daughter is currently of little interest to me. It is this man—" his head turned sharply toward the Hokage, Hiruzen "—that I really wish to speak with."

Hiruzen outwardly appeared to be as strong as a stone pillar as Orochimaru approached him, but the wise Hokage was completely aware of every movement that the snake-like man made as he prowled around him, from every footstep to every intake of breath.

"Sarutobi-sensei, it has been a long time…"

Hiruzen merely frowned in response to the snake traitor's words. "Not long enough, Orochimaru."

"Why, if I were not mistaken, I would say that you were not happy to see your old student, sensei!"

"You are no longer my student, Snake. You are a traitor to the Land of Fire and an S-rank missing nin. You have no place here, nor in all of the unified Japan."

"You still don't recognize my full potential; do you, Sarutobi-sensei? You always did favor Jiraiya… or are you perhaps still upset about what I did to your son at the Great Wall while invading the country?"

It took every ounce of willpower that Hiruzen Sarutobi possessed in order to not show any outward emotion to that statement, especially when he heard the members of his family behind him either gasp in horror or growl angrily at the low blow.

"My son Asuma," Hiruzen firmly declared, "was a true Konoha shinobi, and he died an honorable death in battle. Say what you will about him, Orochimaru, but he will always be remembered as the brave ninja who warned the country about your invasion. He will always be regarded as a hero."

Orochimaru was not pleased by the dignified response. He opened his mouth to try again at unnerving his old sensei, but a sudden cry echoed through the air.

A baby's cry.

Everyone immediately turned to look over at Lady Kurenai, who was desperately trying to shush her infant daughter in her arms as quickly as she could.

"Mirai! Mirai! Shh! Shh! It's okay, sweetheart! It's okay…!"

Mirai's baby wails quieted down after a few moments after hearing the loving murmurs her mother whispered to her, but unfortunately, her crying had succeeded in attracting the attention of Orochimaru, who looked most pleased to see the widowed mother and the little baby.

He wickedly grinned as he momentarily moved away from the Four Kage's and the Kage Regent so as to saunter right up to Lady Kurenai. "I take it you are Lady Kurenai, Sarutobi-sensei's daughter-in-law," he said with fake politeness. "And what a cute child you have! Mirai, is it? What a joy! At least you have something left of your husband to treasure…"

Kurenai said nothing in reply. She just clutched her infant daughter close to her chest as she stood in front of the infamous ninja. She was terrified, but she forced herself to try and appear as strong as the Kage Princesses Kurotsuchi and Temari. This man had killed her husband. She would die first before she allowed him to harm her baby.

"Oh? Will you not let me take a closer look?" Orochimaru whispered, taking another step forward so as to try and see little Mirai's face. "I never realized women could be so rude before tonight! Well, I suppose I'll have to help myself then…"

"S-Stay away from me and my daughter!" Kurenai snapped, her words trembling a bit, but still very strong. "Don't come any closer to us!"

Orochimaru ignored her words, and took another gigantic step forward to still try and see little Mirai's face. "Now, now, Lady Kurenai… Surely you are kind enough to—"

Zing!

A single kunai flew through the air, and became embedded in the wood of the pillar only a few inches away from Orochimaru's head.

"The next one won't miss! Get away from my aunt and baby cousin!"

Everyone stared in shock at the brave young boy Konohamaru. He was growling threateningly at Orochimaru as he slowly drew a second kunai with his still working arm from the weapons pouch on his leg which had been hidden from view due to his formal black yukata. It didn't matter to the small twelve-year-old that throwing a kunai like that at a ninja who could easily end his life with a simple snap of his fingers was a stupid move or that he currently had a broken arm and couldn't even fight at the full strength of a mere Imperial City Academy student. It seemed as though to him that no one else up here had the guts to try and stand up and fight against this bastard. If no one else was going to step forward and protect them all from Orochimaru, then he would, and he would start by protecting his Aunt Kurenai and new cousin Mirai!

"Konohamaru!" Sakura exclaimed in horror. She seized the kunai he had been aiming to throw again at Orochimaru right from his hand, and tossed it harmlessly off to the side before seizing hold of his good arm and dragging him close to her. As soon as she was one hundred percent positive that her little brother wouldn't try to break away from her to attack the snake summoner a second time, Sakura glared hatefully at Orochimaru. She was the big sister. She would a die a thousand times over before anything happened to her precious little brother.

Orochimaru's face twisted into a malevolent sneer when he saw the two other Sarutobi grandchildren, and he left Lady Kurenai alone so as to walk closer and scrutinize them. "You two must be my old sensei's other grandchildren. Konohamaru and Sakura. My, my, Sarutobi-sensei! Your granddaughter is quite the beautiful young lady! If it weren't for the fact that she chooses to disgrace herself everyday by thinking she's as good as any man by electing to study medical ninjutsus, I'd say that there would be no shortage of men lining up to claim her to be their bride!"

Sakura's cheeks flushed bright red in both humiliation and fury, but before she could so much as open her mouth to shoot back a witty retort, Orochimaru's attention shifted to that of Konohamaru, and she instead focused on trying to shield her little brother from the snake summoner's line of sight.

"And this young boy… he looks just like you did when you were younger, Sensei! Spiky brown hair and coal black eyes! He's a spirited lad! I don't think I've ever met a child who would actively try to fight me while knowing full well who I am, and while injured, no less! Ah, yes… how very intriguing…"

Both Sakura and Konohamaru completely froze as the snake traitor crept closer and closer to them, but then another body suddenly wedged itself between them and Orochimaru, keeping them both hidden from view.

"Orochimaru… you have murdered my brother in cold blood and for that I shall never forgive you, but should you so much as harm one hair on my children's heads or even look the wrong way at my sister-in-law and new niece, you shall not die by ninja hands. You shall die by mine!"

Lady Tsunade was the epitome of a modern woman, and had no problem at all with being the one person there to actively poke her finger directly into Orochimaru's chest to make sure to emphasize her words. Unlike everyone else here who had never personally met the snake-like man before, with the obvious exception of her father, Tsunade had personally known Orochimaru while growing up as he had been her father's student. She was not at all intimidated by him, and even though he might want her father's head on a spike, she would die to protect her family. So long as she lived and breathed, nothing would happen to her children or her late brother's family.

"Why, Tsunade! It has been far too long! You have certainly become quite the beautiful woman! You don't look a day over twenty! Such a shame about your husband though… dying in the last war and leaving you to bring up your two children all alone…"

"Cut the crap, Orochimaru. You do not frighten me. You are still the same arrogant man you were back when we were children. If you value your life, you would stop this madness now and leave the city while you still can."

"You say one thing, but it's clear you mean another. I know you must be absolutely terrified right now, Tsunade. I'm sure you must be mentally praying to every god and spirit you know of for a miracle to happen so that I will spare your children… Well, I cannot promise you whether or not they will leave this balcony with their heads still on their shoulders by the time this night is over."

"Leave them alone, Orochimaru. It is me you want."

Hiruzen's words definitely caught Orochimaru's attention, and his snake-like forked tongue smacked the sides of his lips as he turned away from Tsunade and the other members of the Sarutobi clan so as to walk back up to his old sensei once again.

"Oh? And how can you be so sure what it is that I want, Sensei?" he hissed.

"Your quarrel is with me, the other three Kage's, and the Lady Regent," Hiruzen replied calmly. "Lady Mei's bodyguards and our family members have nothing to do with this."

Orochimaru started cackling in amusement.

"Wrong, Sensei. My quarrel is with all of you."

With another slight chuckle, the infamous snake traitor slowly began circling the five leaders standing side-by-side together right in front of the edge of the balcony. None of the Kage's showed any trace of fear on their faces and simply stared straight ahead at the people down below. No matter what Orochimaru might say or do, they would not falter. They needed a miracle to get them and their families out of this mess. They could only hope that Naruto and the rest of the ninjas in the Allied Shinobi Forces would show up in time. Until then, all they could was wait here on this balcony and hope for the best…

"Your walls and armies have fallen… and now it's your turn," Orochimaru hissed. "All five of you… bow to me!"