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CHAPTER X

(The Father that Buries His Son)

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The battles thus far had been entertaining for the most part. The youth of this day and age were certainly imaginative and diverse in their fighting styles. Most of them hadn't known the hardship of losing someone close to them or having to kill in order to survive, but that didn't stop them from giving it their all. It was a shame they would know that feeling by the time the day was through.

"I knew this day would come, however, you're not going to defeat me that easily, Orochimaru."

"I told you didn't I? You should have picked the Godaime Hokage long before now."

Orochimaru was right, if Hiruzen was being honest with himself, the chance of him surviving this battle were slim, but he still had enough strength to stop his plans for an invasion. The barrier that had been constructed now had a second interior barrier that would prevent him from taking out one of the four young shinobi maintaining it. There was nothing he could do, this battle was his only chance at redeeming himself for failing to stop his student in the past. Perhaps he really had been a fool for thinking the Sannin could see reason and would eventually return as an ally, but it wasn't happening today.

Throwing the cumbersome Hokage robes to the side, Hiruzen dodged Orochimaru's first attack and countered with a mud attack. It was a cheap shot and his former student was playing possum, as if the attack had been more than a instinctual counter. Just as he suspect, the snake Sannin reemerged and the fighting commenced between two powerful opponents. The battle would stall every few minutes, in that time the Sandaime Hokage would catch glimpses of the battles raging on outside of the barrier and of his loyal bodyguards doing their best to break through to aid him.

Naruto, his successor's precious little boy, looked to be turning into a man, holding his own against Suna's own jinchuuriki. Roots and plants bent to his will and before long, the Suna boy was on the ground, unable to fight any longer. Sharp, reflective gold eyes scanned the area, likely searching for someone who needed his help, before those intelligent eyes met his own dark ones. Nara Shikamaru said something to the former blonde and then began directing the other Genin with Sasuke and Sakura's help. Gai's team was off in the distance, corralling bystanders from the arena, directing them to safety zones and fending off attacking enemies in the process. Naruto had a determined look on his face and was shouting instructions at someone to assist with removing Gaara and his siblings from the battlefield, before he vanished from his line of sight.

Hiruzen didn't have time to contemplate what the Naruto could be planning when Orochimaru made his next move. Suddenly three coffins sprang from the tiles between them and the numbers on each had him reeling in horror. It was going to be hard enough to fight his former student alone, but what the Sannin was planning would mean the end of him for sure. The coffins began to radiate with the power of summoning and Hiruzen had to do something fast.

However, he only had time to stop one of the summonsing, thankfully the one that would reveal Naruto's lineage for sure. Heaving a tired sigh to catch his breath, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood in front of his predecessors, the Shodaime Hokage and his own Sensei, the Nidaime Hokage. The brothers were nothing more than shells of their former selves, quite literally comprised of earth, chakra and the seals controlling them. It was painful to see them ripped from their eternal rest just to cause him suffering.

"Hiruzen-kun, be careful, he's going to force me to use my mokuton." Hashirama warned, the Shodaime's hands were already forced together and moved against his will. The tall tale cracking of wood in motion filled the small battle field and spears of wood sprang out from around the founder of the village. He dodged an attack from Tobirama-Sensei and barely evaded getting impaled by Hashirama's wooden spears.

"Behind you!" Tobirama-Sensei shouted, but it was likely too late, even as he tried to dodge whatever was coming at him.

However, he suddenly found himself closer to Hashirama then he had been before, more specifically, closer to the wooden spears. There was a collective pause as they tried to figure out what had happened. Even Orochimaru was waiting for the dist to settled with the patients of an excited child. There was a stiff breeze and as the dust vanished, a short figure stood, silver tail lashing out behind it and it's ears flattened against long, silver hair.

"Naruto! How did you get in here?" Hiruzen demanded in panic, worrying more when the boy seemed nonplussed by his concern. "You need to leave, immediately!"

"You would have every right to be concerned, if I was in fact completely Naruto. He is but a child, but I…" The Sandaime Hokage wasn't sure what he was hearing, but he did not like the sounds of it. "I am Kurama. Please Hokage-sama, continue your fight and I will assist in any way that I can." The boy said with a serene smile, motioning to the paused battle.

"I don't want you to interfere, but if you can get in, can you get other people in too?" Shooting furtive glances at the openly curious gaze in Orochimaru's eyes, he wondered how long this momentary pause would last. Both parties in this battle needed to catch their breath, most battles of this caliber never lasted this long, but the snake Sannin had bought himself time to drag it out with the barrier.

"I can, anyone specific?" Naruto-Kurama-or-whatever-he-called-himself asked, the calmness the young boy excluded unnerved him. Not in the same way Danzo's ROOT minions did, but it was like the calm before the storm and the Sandaime was afraid of what that meant for the little boy he had nurtured these past thirteen years.

"Start with the Anbu stationed outside of the barrier and any Jonin who approach that you think can be spared to help. I'm strong, but even I cannot take on three Kage level opponents alone." He admitted and a sinister grin twisted Orochimaru's overly pale features.

"Finally admitting you've become old and weak Sensei?" His former student taunted, watching with rapt attention as Naruto moved to one of the Shodaime's spears and fazed through it. "Amazing, he really is a mokuton user." The Sannin mused aloud, completely forgetting about the Hokage for a moment to watch as Kurama reappeared with the three Anbu that had been outside of the barrier moments before. Snapping out of whatever inquisitive stupor he was in, Orochimaru was on the attack again.

The Anbu were quick to dispatch against the two Kage, simultaneously attacking when he did. The three of them weren't strong enough to take on a Kage level shinobi, let alone two, and Kurama was forced to dodge attacks in the confining battle field. One of his men managed to wound Tobirama-Sensei, but it healed over as quickly as it formed. However, they kept pecking away at the undead forms of his predecessors, while Kurama tried to stay out of the way. The young man was successful until one of the Kage, Hashirama, started seeking the boy out personally when he tried to leave to bring in a passing Jonin.

Distracted for only a fraction of a second when Kurama cried out in pain, a shuriken got him in the gut, Hiruzen felt a severing pain in his left arm. Looking down in horror, he stared at the appendage laying there, not quite comprehending what had just happened. Instinct was the only thing that saved him from the next blow, rolling out of the way and leaving a trail of blood behind him. Cauterizing the wound with chakra to slow the worst of the bleeding, the Sandaime Hokage turned to his Anbu just as they finished off his Sensei, returning him to the clay he had been forged from. If they survived this, his men deserved promotions, it was no easy feat to take out a Kage level shinobi, even with three Anbu working in tandem.

"Two of you take on the Shodaime, I need one of you at my side." He ordered, trying to catch his breath. Their only saving grace was that Orochimaru looked just as tired as he was feeling, but the battle was hardly over.

One of his men crunched a pill and he felt a surge of chakra next to him. "Ready whenever you are, Hokage-sama."

The battle turned in their favor for a short time, at least while his loyal guards were in fighting condition. That was until Hashirama managed to mortally wound one of his men. They didn't scream out when he went down, but his teammates rage filled cry as he finished off the founder of the village told him that his Anbu had been injured bad. He and Kurama joined him just as the Anbu fighting at his side lost a leg to Orochimaru's sword, Kusanagi. It must have been what he had lost his arm to, Hiruzen mused to himself, watching as the remaining Anbu turned to pull his teammate away from the battle, before rejoining him at his side.

"Hokage-sama, do you think you can distract Orochimaru for a moment?" Kurama asked quietly beside him, he used his rose whip to counter another slash from Kusanagi, its sharp edge severing the vine into several pieces.

"I can, but there isn't going to be much that you can do against him." He watched as the young man flooded the area with kage-bunshin, each attacking from a different direction, teamed with his remaining Anbu, it effectively distracted Orochimaru from them for a moment.

"All I need to do is get a hold on him for a moment, you'll have to attack him in order to give me a chance to get away." Kurama murmured, crouching down and slipping some kind of pill or seed into his mouth. "After that, it is only a matter of time and I can focus on getting the injured out of here."

It wasn't a half bad plan and if he made it out of this alive, he was going to make sure the boy he considered a pseudo grandson, knew how proud he was of him.

"Very well, be careful though, if you can't get a clean shot in, I want you to back off." At his command, the silver haired young man's body began to twist and crack, smoke wafting out of nowhere to cover him.

Orochimaru finished with the clones and turned back to the Hokage, the still standing Anbu retreated to his side and Kurama was nowhere to be seen. "So the little brat decided to run and abandoned his Hokage, really Sensei, you're too soft on-"

Whatever he had been about to say was cut off when a silver blur shot out from some rubble and lunged at the snake Sannin. Lashing tails swayed in an attempt to keep the pony sized fox from being tossed aside by a surprised Orochimaru. Sarutobi was almost panicking himself when he counted nine tails… only to recount and realize there were, in fact, only eight. Blood and drool dripped from its muzzle as sharp teeth had sunk into his former student's thigh and Hiruzen broke himself from his surprise to deliver a fatal blow to the man he once considered a son.

Of course, what was a fatal wound to a normal person, Orochimaru had found ways around it. The wound vanished almost as fast as it had appeared and Kurama was tossed to the side. There was a strangled yelp as he skid across tiles and smacked into one of the remnants of an earth jutsu. The silvery fox slid down onto the rooftop and despite a vain attempt to get back up, didn't quite manage it as he shifted back to a humanoid form, coughing and holding his abdomen.

"You might as well give up if you're relying on a genin of all people to save you, Sensei." Orochimaru was taunting him, but this battle was nearly over and the Sannin had expelled more chakra than he was likely to admit any time soon.

"I rely on all of my shinobi to protect this village with their own strengths, from the weakest genin, to myself, the Hokage. The will of fire burns brightly in each of them and I trust them with the future of this village."

It surprised him how honest he was with that statement, it almost confronted him with the fact he was staring his death in the face. There was only one way he could think to take down his student for good and it was going to be the end of him. Flashing through the seals one handed took longer than he expected, his remaining Anbu was doing a good job of keeping Orochimaru busy, but he was no match for the Sannin, even uninjured.

Just as he was finishing the final seal, Orochimaru suddenly stopped moving and clutched his leg. He half growled, half cried out in pain, sickly yellow eyes meeting reflective gold through the pain. "You! What have you done to me?"

Turning to Kurama, the young man had forced himself to his feet, the sinister smile curling his face partially hidden behind curtains of silvery hair. "I have planted a chakra consuming plant into your leg, one that will slowly devour its host once it has taken root. You have maybe five minutes before it reaches the gate of death."

Chakra surged from Orochimaru and power leaked untamed around him. There was a decided panicked look on his face as his eyes landed on the Anbu that had attempted another attack while the Sannin was distracted. He didn't stand a chance once his former student had him in his grasp, his Anbu was sacrificed by the Sannin to buy himself some time. Seals appeared over Orochimaru's toketsu points and he collapsed, calling out for the four barrier holders to assist him.

Though they had used up a good portion of their chakra holding the barrier, they were in far better condition than anyone else on the rooftop at them moment and Hiruzen had to watch as Orochimaru escaped capture once again. It was painful to think what the man would do when he recovered, because the Sandaime Hokage had no doubts that the man would find a way to escape death… he always did.

Still, he ordered passing men to pursue the traitor and turned to the young genin and his injured men that had fought beside him. Helping the Anbu member who had lost his leg onto his remaining foot, he guided him to a more secure part of the rooftop so that when a medics arrived, they wouldn't fall through the compromised structure. He moved to help Kurama into the same area, but the young man was still standing, now looking out over the city with a look of a man who has seen such destruction and pain before.

"Humanity is on the precipice of change once more. Your determination to protect what is precious to you never ceases to amaze me." Kurama mused, watching as enemy shinobi were subdued.

"You speak as if you don't consider yourself one… I know the villagers haven't treated you the best, but they are wrong, you are not the monster they accuse you of being and I think today is the first step into proving to them that you aren't." Hiruzen encouraged, hoping that this village had not led another youth down the path of vengeance.

"Oh, you misunderstand, I hold no ill will toward them for their foolishness, nor do I fancy myself better than humans. However, despite past incarnations, I am in fact not a ningen. I was reborn in the form you know as Naruto and though I'm still him, I am not at the same time."

It was confusing to say the least and in a way Hiruzen was mourning the little boy who would pull pranks on the villagers. Kakashi had reported Naruto's changes and like many other things, he had buried his head in the proverbial sand to avoid seeing it. However, this situation was hardly one of his worst follies and he was loathed to admit it, but he could use this to his advantage.

Given enough time, Naruto, no this kitsune could be his ace in the hole with the right guidance. He was ashamed to realise how much that line of thinking reminded him of his old teammate Danzo. There was so much he hated about what that man did in the shadows and he would be truly damned if he would allow the memory of Naruto to be used in that way.

No, he wouldn't, couldn't push him down that path.

Tigress was first to get medical attention, her body broken in so many places that he recovery wasn't promising. Crane's missing leg was reattachable, as the cut had been clean, but it would be a long time before he could walk again on it and even then he would be hampered permanently by it.

Bending down to retrieve the mask from the Anbu that lay broken at his feet, he held back tears as he gazed into the empty eyes that stared back at him. Konohamaru would be devastated to know he would not be going home with his father tonight and that his mother might not survive until morning. Kurama came up beside him in silent comfort and he handed the young man his son's tiger mask. Taking the tattered remains of his Hokage robes, he mournfully covered the motionless body of his son.

If his wife was still alive, she would have never forgiven him for losing another of their precious children; perhaps it was time for him to retire again.

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AN: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed~ Until next time!