OMG I returned?!

Wait wait wait- 122 favs and 184 followers?! O/O *hyperventilates and faints*

And in only five months, give or take! Oh for the love of muffins and cheesecakes… I'm so happy, elated, euphoric and oh-my-god shocked that so many people find my story worth reviewing, faving and following! Thank you so much! *group glomp!* ^.^

*cough* So, back on track…

Thanks to NarutoxHonoka, juman1994, Rose of The Wind1, Dragonnotte, cloystreng, Prescripto13, Anony-mouse, Yungsun, long live marshmallows, Guest(s), jleath1234, Sailor Pandabear, Yip and love toshiro dragon for their reviews! :D

NarutoxHonoka (and Yip): you'll see, you'll see… buahahahah! *thunders on the background*

Long live marshmallows (and Guest): unfortunately, I didn't see any episode of Doctor Who, but oh well :/ And yes, I think Younger Kakashi should listen to his guests… ;)

Guest: …uhm. I didn't plan on making them discover the whole Jinchuuriki-thing. But I think they'll never know – at least not until they get the clearance to know or majority of Konoha discovers it. I'll think about it, really ;D

Jleath1234: Chibi Kakashi is too young to actually buy an Icha Icha… but his older self has a really good memory ;) I'll see if I can add a version of this scene in the next Chapters, thanks for the suggestion :3

And, uh, since this Chapter contains fight scenes… beware, I can't write those very well. But might as well give it a try, don't you think? ;3

Chapter 20: Konoha vs Iwa

The 'second' line was worse than Kakashi imagined.

Corpses were scattered everywhere, some whole and some torn to shreds – by what, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. The stench of blood was almost enough to make him puke, and he would have if he didn't have his mask. It was the first time he pitied the Inuzukas for their most prized ability, and he had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

"Eikuro! Why the hell did you retreat to the second line?!" Jiraya shouted angrily to the other captain, who was breathing heavily. Every inch of his body was wounded and it was a wonder he didn't faint yet.

The brown-haired man was quick to answer, "Too many enemies, half their forces were underground and attacked us – we lost twenty-three chuunins and eight jonins."

Jiraya nodded grimly and didn't waste any more time before jumping several meters over the Iwa army. Time to bring a friend on the battlefield.

'Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram-' "Summoning jutsu!"

A huge green toad landed on several enemies and immediately took his twin swords from his back. Jiraya anchored himself to the toad's head before ordering, "Everyone, ATTACK!"

The Konoha shinobi charged their opponents with renewed vigor – the battle seemed lost, but with the Toad Sage by their side the tables were finally turned! Their forces attacked with every ninja art they knew of – ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu… the Iwa nin were overwhelmed by their opponents' sudden reinforcements and confidence. The Toad Sage wasn't exactly holding back, either.

Somehow, the medics were redirected to the backline to heal the wounded while Jiraya and Gamahiro took control of the battlefield.

Kushina ordered Rin to join the medics and the two boys to stand back while the jonins took care of the tougher opponents. Obito clearly didn't want to, but a menacing Earth Golem seemed to convince him otherwise – the genin was almost squashed by its hand, and he would have been if Kushina didn't knock out the Iwa-nin.

Three enemies were dashing toward Kakashi from different directions to surround him, but they were in for the shock of their lives when the chuunin crouched and two chakra claws shot from his back and pierced two shinobi's hearts. Kakashi used his third opponent's surprise to form several hand seals.

"Raiton: Lightning Strike!"

The Iwa-nin barely dodged the attack and was too distracted to notice Kakashi's Shadow Clone behind him, his tanto ready to strike.

Kushina covered Obito and Rin's retreat to the backline with a Great Water Vortex before making her way through the Iwa army and supporting her comrades with taijutsu and ninjutsu. She remained close to Kakashi, in case he was in trouble and Jiraya couldn't reach him.

The Iwa shinobi fought tooth and nail to maintain the land they gained, but they were eventually pushed back by the Konohan reinforcements – they expected them, but no one could have known the Toad Sage and the Uzumaki would jump into the fray!

"Fireworks!"

At someone's shout, every Iwa shinobi retreated immediately. Several Konohan grinned, thinking the enemies were too intimidated by Jiraya and Kushina's presences and ran away. It was such an odd retreating code, though they weren't surprised – the less likely the word, the safest the code was.

Older Kakashi's eye widened. He remembered the basics Iwa signals when he first led the Third Division, and "fireworks" meant…!

He quickly possessed his younger self's shadow clone and shouted, "Explosives!"

Just as that word left his mouth, the ground lit up with chakra.

Kurama snorted. He had to do everything, it seemed.

Both Kakashis were knocked out because of the explosions – the older one had the brilliant idea to warn his comrades just a split second before the bombs blew up the entire battlefield, thus knocking himself through the shadow clone.

Well… at least someone could have heard his exclamation and actually got away. Maybe.

Kurama took control of Kakashi's body and used his chakra claws to shove the rocks away from him. He remained crouched and surveyed the battlefield.

Stones, boulders and entire chunks of earth were scattered across the whole surface, even where they weren't supposed to be. The dust had yet to settle down and several body parts were lying underneath big rocks, surrounded by what looked like internal organs.

The air reeked of blood, ash, dust and explosive clay. Kurama's nose twitched at the horrid stench and he redirected the chakra flow away from his sensitive nose. Throwing up now wasn't the most appealing option, really.

His minor injuries were immediately healed due to his chakra and Kurama started walking to find the survivors. It was quite the explosion, he had to admit: so many explosives buried across the whole battlefield caused a lot of damage. It wouldn't surprise Kurama if some enemies died as well – whoever had to activate the bombs didn't have much time to let his comrades go away, not when Kakashi shouted it was a trap.

Kurama found the first survivor under several rocks and he was surprised to recognize the chakra – Kushina. It was eerie how her long red hair resembled a pool of blood, like she was dead. He pushed the ridiculous thought aside: his past self would never let his host die, whether said host was a loud obnoxious woman or a hyperactive blonde kid.

The bijuu shoved the boulders aside to see how his ex-Jinchuuriki's wounds were. He sighed in relief when he confirmed she didn't seem to have any threatening injuries and everything was already being healed by the past-Kyuubi's chakra.

Kurama shook lightly her shoulder. "Kushina, wake up," he whispered in her ear. He didn't sense anyone threatening near them, but it was better being safe than sorry.

He narrowed his eyes when the woman didn't stir. Why were humans so weak and slow when they had to recover from a damn explosion?! Now wasn't the time to sleep! Kurama gathered a little of Kakashi's lightning chakra to his fingertips and poked the woman, hissing, "Wake up, human!"

That seemed to do the trick and Kushina jolted awake, trying to punch him. He blocked it and smirked haughtily. "Kushina, you shouldn't attack your comrades, don't you think?" Kurama enjoyed every bit of her shocked expression at his words.

"K-kyuu…!"

"Now, you know my name's Kurama."

Kushina's eyebrow twitched slightly. "…W-What did you do… to 'Kashi-kun?" she said through gritted teeth. The Uzumaki was clearly trying to push away her dizziness to appear threatening – and failing rather poorly, he might add.

Kurama held his hands up in mock surrender. "I didn't do a thing," he stated, "that brat is just recovering from the explosion."

Kushina narrowed her eyes slightly and eventually decided that Kurama was saying the truth. She sighed and stood up, not even wincing at her injuries. They were minor, anyway – Kyuu would heal them in a heartbeat.

"Let's find… the others, then." She announced and Kurama nodded in agreement.

Tsuriji Iwari of the Explosion Corps grinned. His trap blew up the entire battlefield and every Konoha shinobi was as good as dead!

He looked at his men – thirty-five chuunins and thirty-eight jonins were behind him, smirking at the damage. They lost more or less ten shinobi because of the explosion, while the ones missing were killed by the Konoha forces. Who cared – the tree huggers were dead now, maybe even the infamous Toad Sage!

"Tsuriji-taicho," someone called behind him, "I think the Hatake brat was there, as well."

A kunoichi nodded. "Yeah, that little bastard warned the other Konoha scum – too bad he died with them," she agreed, grinning evilly.

Tsuriji, on the other hand, was less elated and more worried. Tsuchikage-sama ordered him to get the Hatake alive if he showed up on the battlefield –the price for Kumo's collaboration on the other border of Hi no Kuni. Problem was, the brat was most likely dead and if Kumo heard about this, well…

Damn it, why couldn't explosions solve everything?

"Find him," the blonde-haired leader ordered, "and bring him here. Tsuchikage-sama wants him alive, and alive he will be."

Several Iwa-nins looked at him confused for a second, before obeying and jumping onto the battlefield with their captain.

It was a wonder they didn't meet any enemy yet.

Kushina and Kurama gathered eleven shinobi, but five of them couldn't fight and the other six were injured heavily. They insisted they could help, but Kushina convinced them otherwise with her Angry Glare. It was the 'I know you're lying your ass off' version, which made even adult and battle-hardened ninjas feel like little children caught with their hands in the jar of cookies.

Kurama tensed. "Kushina, ten chakra signatures are nearing us." He whispered in her ear. Such a deep voice would look strange on a ten-year-old boy, and he didn't want others to hear.

Kushina's eyes widened. They couldn't fight well with eleven wounded nearby: and even then, ten unknown shinobi against two was a rather unfair battle. But they didn't have any other choice. The smell of blood was heavier near them, and they couldn't move fast enough to get away without alerting their enemies.

They eventually decided to hide the wounded and lure the Iwa-nins away – the Jinchuriki will kill them, unwanted attention be damned. Whether they realized it or not, this battle could decide who would win the war.

Kurama and Kushina hid behind some rocks and coated the surrounding area with chakra, so their enemies couldn't pinpoint them or the injured Konoha shinobi. It was much easier and convenient than trying to dampen their signatures: being Jinchuuriki, their chakra reserves hardly passed unnoticed.

Plus, they could tell immediately if those ten people were enemies or not: if they were allies, they would recognize Kushina's chakra; if they weren't, then they would be in for the last fight of their lives.

When the unknown signatures stopped at the edge of the chakra-coated field, Kushina narrowed her eyes. Ten enemies, six of them jonin level, against two Jinchuuriki. If they used to its fullest the element of surprise, at least four would go down before they knew it.

Kushina glanced at Kurama. "Do a clone," she signaled, "triangular seal formation."

The bijuu flashed her a feral grin that, although very odd to see on a boy's face, made her feel slightly comforted. Kurama was really helping them and Kakashi-kun, his friendly behavior wasn't faked – otherwise he would have already broken the seal to go on a rampage.

Right before digging his way under the Iwa-nin, Kurama created a Chakra clone in order to allow Older Kakashi to help. He just knew the Hatake would shout at him during the entire fight if he didn't have a possibility to jump into the fray. And, knowing his suicidal tendencies, Kurama wisely didn't create a Shadow Clone, but a chakra one – more resistant, similar to the real body and with larger reserves for jutsu and boosted movement.

He was definitely not following a human's orders. Not at all.

Kurama wordlessly sneaked underground and grinned at his enemies – not that they could see it, of course. He quietly formed several hand seals, remaining hidden till the last second because of the chakra-drenched air.

'Katon: Great Inferno!'

He leaped over the Iwa-nin and gathered his fire-natured demonic chakra in his lungs before spitting it to the ten enemies. The fire covered the distance in less than two seconds, scorching the earth below and three unlucky chuunin. Kurama almost cringed at the smell of burnt flesh and the agonized screams. Better senses weren't always an advantage, but he couldn't allow himself to lower them with enemies nearby. Not when the Timeline was out for their heads.

The other ten shinobi looked at Kurama and immediately hurled a kunai barrage at him – charged with chakra, if the increased speed was any indicator.

Kurama dashed to his left before jumping away when a particularly vicious-looking earth spear appeared from below him.

"The Hatake brat!" shouted someone, finally recognizing him.

Now that the Jinchuuriki were sure their attention was fully on him, Kushina and Kakashi's Chakra clone slapped two seals on the ground, feeding it the Kyuubi's energy. As they expected, no one noticed the subtle change in the air already heavy with chakra. Nobody except Kurama, who leaped further from the Iwa-nin and applied the third seal, forming a triangular shape with the other two.

"Fuinjutsu: Chakra Field!"

The ground lit up with red burning chakra at their shout and only four shinobi got away fast enough to avoid their deaths. The other three enemies screamed in pain as their chakra systems were overloaded with the Kyuubi's poisonous energy, before collapsing lifelessly on the ground.

The Jinchuuriki were forced to move, however, when three clay birds flew at them before exploding.

Older Kakashi woke up by his younger self's side, crouching over the ground. He raised his head and tensed when he saw four other Iwa-nin in front of him. Kushina and Chibi Kakashi were on his right and both sides were looking at each other, like daring their enemies to do the first move.

What happened when he was out?

"About time you woke," Kurama's voice swirled in his mind, "Kit is still asleep because of the first explosion."

"So you're possessing the original body?" Cue his mentally raised eyebrow.

"Yup."

"…Alright."

The four Iwa-nin glared at the two Jinchuuriki for a second before moving. The only blonde ninja on the battlefield – jonin, most likely the captain – put his right hand inside a black bag tied around his waist, while the other three jonin dashed forward to attack them head-on.

The one on the Jinchuuriki's left engaged the Chakra clone with taijutsu, sending earth-natured chakra in his limbs to harden them and strengthen his attacks.

The clone would have already dispelled if it was a regular Shadow one, Kakashi had to admit – his opponent used a jutsu similar to Kakuzu's, a very good technique… but an earth-natured one, as well.

Kakashi briefly checked the clone's reserves and inwardly grimaced. He couldn't spare much chakra if he didn't want to distract Kurama with the memory transfer. He used his superior agility and reflexes to avoid as may hits as possible, luring his opponent away from his comrades.

It was better if no one witnessed this.

Clearly believing his stronger build would have guaranteed him a quick victory, the jonin didn't bother paying attention to the boy's irregular chakra flow and trying to dodge his hits. After all, what could a little brat do to him when he was using the Body Hardening jutsu?

Certainly not pierce his ribcage with a fist.

A lightning-charged fist, his mind helpfully added as life slipped through his fingers.

Kakashi let the Chidori fade from his hand and briefly checked his reserves. He used already a fifth of his chakra to kill the Iwa-nin and there were still a lot of enemies to face – there couldn't be only four shinobi, after all. Iwa reinforcements would arrive soon, and who knows who'll join the battle?

He sighed. Why did everything have to be so troublesome?

Kakashi was ready to get away and help Kushina, only to stop abruptly as fifty other signatures neared his position.

A little while before

As an Iwa jonin attacked Kakashi, another one quickly flashed some hand seals.

"Suiton: Tidal Wave!"

Both Kurama and Kushina leaped away from the massive wave – where did he get that much water? – only to be immediately engaged by the two remaining jonin.

The bijuu jumped backwards to avoid a powerful dropkick and shot a chakra claw from his right hand. It had a reddish glow and the enemy looked confused for a millisecond before quickly dashing away. He must have seen what happened to his comrades when the claw pierced through their ribcages.

Right after hiding, the jonin hurled four shuriken at him – and of course they had to become twenty because of the Shuriken cloning jutsu. Kurama avoided most of them and deflected the others with a chakra claw. He swiftly dashed behind the Iwa-nin, only to stab thin air.

His opponent didn't attack him directly anymore and, whenever he seemed near, it was only an earth clone. The Iwa-nin kept his distance and observed him, watched how the boy avoided and blocked his weapons and earth jutsu.

Kurama tensed slightly when he heard the high-pitched sound of a thousand birds' chirping. Why the hell was Kakashi using the Chidori?! He knew it was freaking loud, was he trying to get everybody's attention?!

"Doton: Mud Dragon!"

Kurama quickly gathered Kakashi's chakra in his hand, changing its nature to lightning.

"Chidori Nagashi!"

It was unstable, but the long lightning blade managed to cut straight through the Dragon before vanishing in a shower of sparks. Kurama gritted his teeth – damn human body, unused to control too much chakra. The boy had a long way to go before his body could properly control his Jinchuuriki-sized reserves.

He abruptly turned around and saw two white birds aiming straight at his face. Kurama dashed away as the first clay bird exploded. He didn't expect its force to throw him several meters away, making him roll over the ground.

"Kur- Kakashi!"

Kushina's shout didn't really help Kurama when the second bird targeted him. He could feel the woman making her way to his position, but another loud explosion –and the two Iwa jonin, most likely – kept her away and too busy to save him.

Not that he actually needed someone to save him, obviously.

Kurama quickly extended his chakra and wrapped it around himself just a millisecond before the explosion hit him. He felt its power and allowed himself to roll over the battlefield's uneven surface, tightly maintaining his control over his chakra. He knew that even a little slip could cost him –and both Kakashis- the possibility to live and change the future.

To save Naruto, as cheesy as it sounded.

The bijuu felt himself stopping abruptly as something grabbed him – or rather, the chakra cocoon he wrapped around Kakashi's body. He almost smirked when he recognized the nearest chakra as Kushina's, who somehow rushed to get him. Kurama reabsorbed his chakra and watched with a slightly amused expression the distress rolling off the Iwa-nin.

"T-Taicho, do we really have to get h-him alive?!" one of the jonin whispered to the blonde man, looking somewhat worried.

Oh, they were trying to get him alive? Well, they were doing such a great job that, if Kurama hadn't thought quickly, he would have died. He snorted derisively to himself. The Timeline was getting creative to kill him, but really, incompetent jonin?

Well, not the blonde one. Even though he was the one who threw the clay birds, he seemed pretty focused and in control – meaning the birds weren't overpowered without a reason. His eyes were both green, but his hair covered the right one. His outfit wasn't very different from the normal Iwa uniform, and his features reminded him of another blonde Iwa ninja, somewhere in the future.

Was he… a relative of Deidara's?

Kurama narrowed his eyes at the man. Comparing him and Deidara from both his and Kakashi's memories, they looked very similar. So that bag contained explosive clay, he had mouths on his hands and-

Kurama almost winced.

"Ow… I think I hit my head." A familiar voice spoke in his mind, sounding vaguely sheepish. All his memories came rushing back and it took Kurama two tries to untangle the complete mess of thoughts, sensorial perceptions and emotions. Once the memory was back in place, the bijuu's eyebrow twitched.

"Why the hell did you get dispelled?"

Older Kakashi chuckled uncomfortably. "It wasn't my fault there were fifty Iwa shinobi and I was alone, really…"

Kurama glared at him harder. "You had faced far more opponents in your previous life," he growled, "why did you let yourself be stabbed? You do know the Chakra clone's memory transfer is much more taxing on the mind than the Shadow clone's, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kakashi waved his hand dismissively, rolling his eye. "And the Rokudaime labeled it as a Jinchuuriki-only ninjutsu, since a normal human's mind was most likely to shut down from the sensorial inputs of a Chakra clone – yeah, I know."

"And it is disadvantageous to the caster if the clone dispels in the middle of a fight." Kurama deadpanned through gritted fangs. The look would have been enough to melt the moon, but Kakashi looked completely unaffected.

"Maa… I'm just not really used to fight in a smaller body…"

Both time-travellers stopped bickering when the three enemies' chakras spiked and they started attacking again. This time, one of them remained crouched in an awkward position –was that a paralyzing seal on his left leg?– and swiftly formed hand seals before shouting:

"Doton: Earth Golem!"

The ground underneath them shook and entire chunks of earth crumbled to reveal the imposing figure of a golem. The Jinchuuriki didn't have time to stare at it when the other two jonin engaged them. They always remained far from them and preferred throwing sharp ninja tools or explosives than coming near them – which was a good choice for them, if they didn't want to be caught in one of Kushina's seals.

The golem wasn't exactly helping matters, either. Kurama knew he couldn't waste Kakashi's lightning chakra against those enemies, especially when the blonde one used Deidara's jutsu. He was the most dangerous, since he managed to bury his explosives all under the battlefield. Who knew what he was hiding?

Kurama created two chakra claws to deflect the weapons thrown at them and jumped over the battlefield, avoiding the flock of clay birds. If he had to save Kakashi's chakra, then he'll use his own.

"Katon: Great Phoenix Flowers!"

He didn't bother throwing shuriken –which would have been melted by Kurama's chakra – and simply aimed his attacks at the crouching Iwa-nin. He determined the flames' temperature and smirked as the golem put his arms over the caster to protect him.

As the flames hit the intended target, the golem's arms became black because of the heat.

Kushina's eyes widened slightly in understanding and she kicked away her opponent before forming several hand seals of her own while Kurama covered her.

"Suiton: Water Bullets!"

She quickly threw the sphere-like water on the golem's arms and smirked to herself when she heard the sounds of crumbling rocks and the enemy's pained shout. His jutsu became his grave, and now there were only three opponents.

…no, forty opponents was more correct.

As the golem crumbled over his caster, thirty-something other Iwa-nin joined their comrades and surrounded the two Jinchuuriki. The relatively small army smirked at them like predators hunting a defenseless prey – or like they were already imagining how their blood would taste.

If Kurama hadn't been a blood-thirsty demon once, he would have dismissed their grins as something far less creepy.

Oh well.

The bijuu quickly created a Chakra clone and allowed Older Kakashi to possess it before taking his tanto. Being forced to fight into a smaller body was something he wasn't used to, but he had to deal with it until Younger Kakashi woke up again.

He glanced at Kushina and checked briefly her chakra. He only wanted to feel how much energy remained in her, but Kurama was taken aback by its panicked buzzing and the random falters in its flow. Why the hell was that woman afraid?! Of all times, why was she afraid in the middle of a freaking battle?!

"Because the Timeline needs a reason to kill us."

Kurama almost face-palmed. Of course, hindering Kushina while there wasn't any other help was basically sending them straight to Hell. However, he didn't have time to be worried about why he didn't think it before, because every enemy attacked them at once.

Flying boulders, clay birds, weapons, tidal waves and, although rare, lightning bolts came rushing at them from all sides. There wasn't anywhere to go without being injured in a life-threatening way and, knowing the Timeline's stubbornness to erase its errors, Kurama knew he couldn't hope to heal himself well enough while fighting. He had to block the attacks.

The bijuu tried to wrap his chakra around them, but there was something blocking it – that something being four seals placed in a quadrangular formation. Eight shinobi were guarding those damned pieces of inked paper and – if Kurama read right – the seals suppressed only fire-natured chakra. Which was his own, obviously.

Kakashi immediately jumped in front of Kushina to shield her, while Kurama readied the tanto in his hand to deflect as many attacks as possible – if they had to die, they would die with dignity!

"Fuuton: Great Breakthrough!"

Several Iwa-nin were knocked back by the wind's force and majority of their attacks were thrown back – the weapons and the water jutsu spun out of control, hitting whoever had the misfortune to be in their way, while the lightning jutsu vanished in a shower of sparks.

The boulders and the clay birds were slowed and the Jinchuuriki quickly used that advantage to jump back.

"Gastuga!"

Eleven Inuzuka charged at the earth jutsu and bravely shattered the boulders with their ninken. The clay birds exploded as the shinobi neared them, but they were quick enough to avoid major damage and jumped back to join their comrades.

"Are you OK?" asked Jiraya, quickly leaping near the two Jinchuuriki, "Kushina? Kakashi?"

The Uzumaki nodded. "Yeah."

"Sure."

The Toad Sage's eyes widened when he heard Kurama's voice leave his grand-student's mouth, but before he could apply a chakra-suppressing seal on the boy Kushina shushed him, whispering, "We can trust him."

Jiraya was clearly suspicious, but he dropped the issue. Discussing about an S-ranked secret in the middle of a fight wasn't really recommended. "We found the injured Konoha-nin you helped," he reported briefly, "and we arrived just in time to save the day." Then he whispered, "Obito and Rin are there with four jonin and four chuunin."

Kushina nodded again before shifting into an aggressive battle stance.

Every Konohan remained deathly silent, except for the quiet whimpers of the injured.

There were an Uchiha, an Inuzuka, a Hyuuga, five iryo-nin and, quite obviously, two unlucky genin. They had the task to heal and protect the injured Kushina had found, but they were told not to return to the backline – Jiraya or another jonin would get there and give them the all clear, but they had to remain there until then.

Obito kept glancing around him, even if Ryoko Hyuuga was already checking their surroundings with the Byakugan. The gruesome tales he heard about the frontline just wouldn't go away and he found himself trembling in utter terror – would the same horrible things he heard happen to him, too? He could feel tears forming in his eyes and he furiously wiped them away, taking off his goggles.

Was he really this pathetic? Not even fighting, and yet he was crying?

Damn, he shouldn't have listened to that old arm-less veteran.

"There's something wrong here," the Uchiha suddenly stated, narrowing her eyes. "The chakra stuck on these rocks…"

"…it isn't blue," Ryoko completed, finishing her sentence. "It's… red."

Everyone tensed. How could someone's chakra be red? Iryo-nin could change its color, as did some Kekkei Genkai – but they had never heard about this type of modification.

"Maybe it's Kushina's," added the man, frowning slightly, "I saw her chakra more than once, and it was a little red… but never this much."

One of the iryo-nin shrugged. "At least we know no enemies got here – and if they did, Kushina-san fought them and won. Otherwise there would be more traces of unknown chakra."

The ten shinobi fell silent, accepting his answer. All jutsu used chakra, it was inevitable that some of it would remain on the battlefield. Only the sounds of the fight taking place somewhere around them interrupted their silence – at least, until Rin spoke up.

"A-Ano… did anyone see Kakashi-kun?"

The adults glanced at each other before looking around. The medics shook their heads and kept working on the injured.

"Hatake?" Rin nodded at Sarushi Uchiha, pleasantly surprised the kunoichi didn't sneer her teammate's name. "His chakra is here, even if Kushina-san's is covering pretty much everything."

"I've met him on the travel," Kenji Inuzuka added, still sniffing on the ground, "and his smell lingers here before going that way." He pointed north-west and his ninken woofed in agreement.

Ryoko looked in that direction. "He's fighting with the others," was his statement. Cue the far away explosions coming from north-west.

It didn't take long for Obito to react.

"H-He's FIGHTING?!" he shouted, shocked to the core. Bakakashi was freaking fighting against a freaking army?! He may be a chuunin, but everyone had his limits! Why the hell was he (still ten year old, damn it!) in the middle of the battlefield?!

"Quiet!"

Obito backed away from the three Clan members as they hissed at him. Rin glanced worriedly at him before refocusing again on her task – trying to stabilize a man with a nasty burn on his left leg. Luckily for her, Sarune came along and everyone was always ready to help.

Which was a really good thing, since Rin and Obito almost got killed by a landmine.

If Ryoko didn't use his Kaiten, they would have been as good as dead. It seemed that whoever planted those explosives had enough time to get behind the shinobi and bury some mines right there, thus killing several medics – only ten iryo-nin out of twenty-three survived. The other five were in another area to heal the injured that Jiraya-sama found.

Obito frowned, remembering when everyone admitted they never encountered Bakakashi and Kushina-nee after the biggest explosion they have ever seen. Jiraya looked rightfully worried and immediately ordered the Inuzuka and Hyuuga to find them as soon as possible. Rin and Obito volunteered to search for him, but the man forbid them to go anywhere near the fight.

And, obviously, Kakashi and Kushina were in the middle of a freaking battle.

Just fabulous.

'What do you mean 'not now'?! Give me my body back!'

Kurama snorted at the tiny disrespectful human under his paws. "In case you haven't noticed," he growled, "we all are in the middle of a fight. You'll get it back when we aren't."

Younger Kakashi's eyebrow twitched. He just woke up from a damn explosion, only to find out Kurama and his older self were already fighting. But hey, the body was his! He had the right to use it, especially when his life was at stake! Alright, his one-eyed self and the 'all mighty' bijuu might have more battle experience, but no one was more used to a shorter and smaller body than himself!

Kurama stabbed two chuunin while surveying the battlefield and ignoring the body's owner. Every Konoha shinobi was holding his ground quite nicely, despite being almost blew up by a mine field. It looked like Older Kakashi's warning had been followed by many, so a lot of ninjas survived without hindering injuries.

Jiraya was wreaking havoc all over the battlefield with fire and earth jutsu, not even bothering to summon his toads again. He probably didn't want them to accidentally kill other Konohan, but Kurama wasn't sure – if something could kill more people and it was your task, why not use it?

He glanced at Kushina – she was fighting against the blonde bomber from Iwa, who seemed to be advantaged. After all, earth was more powerful against water, and Kushina didn't know any Raiton jutsu to deactivate the clay bombs.

Just as a clay dragon was about to hit her, Kurama bolted from his position and molded Kakashi's chakra again.

"Chidori Nagashi!"

The dragon got pierced by the lightning blade and crashed on the ground like a string-less puppet. As expected, it didn't blow up anything, much to the blonde's shock. He must have been asking himself, "How does this boy know my jutsu's weakness?" Kurama inwardly grimaced as the blade vanished again and he ignored Younger Kakashi's amazement and curiosity.

Kushina's eyes widened as she reached inside her pouch – to take a seal, most probably. However, she didn't get the chance to do it because Jiraya landed beside her. He ordered her to help the others while he took care of the blonde shinobi. Kushina glanced briefly at the enemy and Kurama before leaping away.

"The Toad Sage regards me as a serious threat?" the Iwa-nin asked rhetorically, never taking his green eye off the man. "I feel so honored to be considered a worthy opponent by a Sannin..." he shifted his stance, "…and I'll gladly take away that title from you."

He seemed to completely ignore Kurama as he molded his clay again and threw it. This time there weren't only birds, but spiders and humanoid… things that charged at the same time Jiraya. The Toad Sage easily avoided the birds and the jumping spiders, as did Kurama. Their opponent hurled less powerful explosives at him, but he wasn't complaining: Younger Kakashi was still demanding his body back, and he wasn't really so subtle in his request.

When two clay humanoids came running at him, Kurama immediately gathered Kakashi's lightning chakra again. It was damn loud, but who would care about a little kid fighting for his life?

"Chidori!"

Kurama had enough of Older Kakashi's memories to know how much chakra he should use and he didn't waste time to cut off the humanoids' limbs. The bijuu narrowed his eyes, however, when the pieces started molding by themselves and formed other annoying clay-things, just smaller than the original.

All those things jumped straight at him and Kurama had to take Kakashi's tanto to cut through them. He had to charge the blade with lightning chakra, otherwise it would remain stuck into the clay – at least, that Uchiha said so. Most probably from experience.

And yet, Kurama couldn't allow himself to use too much of Kakashi's chakra. With Naruto it was much easier – his main jutsu didn't need a change in nature other than the Rasenshuriken, so the bijuu didn't have any problems in lending his energy. And even then, Kurama had time to learn how to merge the blonde's wind chakra with his own fire one. But for Kakashi, the jutsu he could use required skill and lots of training in changing other elements.

He could easily mix his chakra with fire, wind and water-natured ones because of his own experience with Naruto and Kushina, but lightning and earth were still a work in progress – which wasn't finished by the time he time-travelled.

And of course the boy had to be lightning and earth natured, just the natures for which Kurama didn't have a bit of affinity.

Thus returning to his original problem: Kurama couldn't boost Kakashi's lightning or earth jutsu with his end-less energy.

'If you have to use my chakra all the same,' the boy spoke from his spot under Kurama's paws, 'then why don't you give me my body back? Who else knows how to control my chakra better than me?' He was using to his own advantage his older self's absence to make Kurama give him control again, and it seemed to be working.

At least, more than demanding it back.

Kakashi quickly jumped away from the little pieces of clay and glanced upwards to check what was happening over him. The chakra spikes he felt were powerful and he couldn't help but be worried.

There was something he could describe only as a dragon, flying merrily in the sky. It lost chunks of clay from its tail and it spat explosive bullets on the ground, destroying a good part of the battlefield and killing several ninjas. Whether said shinobi were from Konoha, Iwa or both, Kakashi didn't know.

Jiraya and the unknown blonde were fighting over the dragon and sometimes Kakashi could see explosions and flames rise from the creature.

The boy didn't have any time to look around before he was attacked by other Iwa shinobi from all sides.

"Doton: Earth Dome!"

The four shinobi slammed their hands on the ground and four walls rose from the field, surrounding Kakashi and closing over him. He quickly jumped away just in time to avoid being buried, feeling grateful to his minor height.

He charged his tanto with white chakra and dashed behind the nearest enemy before thrusting the blade into his flesh. The man made the error to underestimate him, just like others did.

Another shinobi charged at him with a katana and tried to use his longer reach to his advantage. Kakashi was forced on the defensive to avoid the Iwa nin's slashes and another enemy tried to get behind him. The chuunin was quick to create a chakra claw from his back and pierce that fool's chest.

He smirked at the katana-wielder when he saw his shock and charged his tanto with Kurama's chakra to knock his sword from his grasp. The shinobi didn't expect a little boy to be able to face stronger opponents at once, but he managed to jump back just in time to avoid a lethal blow to his throat.

The two remaining ninja were soon joined by other six shinobi, and Kakashi found himself surrounded once again. It was time to try that move.

'Kurama, are you ready?'

"Tch. I was created ready!"

Kakashi didn't stop contemplating the bijuu's supposed creation and crouched on all-fours, allowing Kurama to gather his chakra to his back. It burned slightly his skin, but he knew he couldn't waste too much of his white energy to dull the pain – better in pain than dead, right?

The enemy shinobi dashed forward to get him, only to be met by eight chakra claws, red by both Kurama's chakra and their blood. When their hearts stopped beating, Kurama released his hold and Kakashi jumped over the earth dome to check the battlefield.

The Konoha forces seemed to gain the advantage thanks to Kushina and the other Clans' fierce fighting, while the clay dragon didn't drop bombs anymore. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and saw two shadows –most probably Jiraya and the other blonde – falling down the clay creature, before it exploded in a shower of flames.

Several shinobi glanced worriedly at the explosion before gathering chakra to their feet and anchoring themselves to the ground. The blast threw off some ninjas and destroyed another portion of the battlefield before setting the surrounding area on fire.

Kakashi was immediately hit by awful smells and he had to force himself to get there to help killing that unknown blonde – the other Konohan could hold their own against the Iwa-nin, so they didn't need his support. He wasn't going there to check if Jiraya was truly OK, nope. Just because his older self's presence could very well kill everyone else, it didn't mean he would worry over anybody.

Not at all.

His ears were greeted by the sound of clashing metal and he crouched, forcefully slowing his breathing. Skilled shinobi were usually the most unpredictable and he didn't want to take any chances with that unknown guy. He was careful not to touch the flames or stay too long on the scorched ground. Kakashi and Kurama suppressed their chakra and hid behind a boulder, miraculously still intact from the explosion.

Jiraya and the blonde were fighting with their weapons and Kakashi was sure that, if he didn't have Kurama's improved reflexes, he couldn't have seen their movements. The Sannin seemed to be saving some chakra for the next fights, while the other looked like he was putting every drop of effort in that battle.

Kakashi readied his tanto to strike and waited for the blonde to turn his back to him, so he could get him from behind. The boy quietly charged the blade with lightning chakra in case the man had some explosives still in his pockets and waited for the right moment.

Both he and Kurama discreetly winced.

"Hatake, don't get dispelled!" was the bijuu's furious snarl as he untangled the Chakra clone's memories again, "First you get stabbed, and now you depleted the chakra I gave you?!"

Just then, the blonde turned his back completely at them and Younger Kakashi bolted from his hiding place. Now he couldn't get away!

"Don't do it!"

"Stop…!"

Time seemed to slow down.

Jiraya's eyes widened as he saw Kakashi behind the jonin, eyes red and tanto ready to strike the enemy's heart. To many, the boy was nothing but a blue blur over the scorched ground.

Tsuriji turned around when he felt a chakra flare from behind him and he instantly poised his blade to pierce the unknown shinobi's gut.

Kakashi used too much chakra to dash behind the Iwa-nin and he couldn't stop fast enough to avoid the glinting blade in the man's hand.

Kurama and Older Kakashi called out the boy too late, too busy trying to solve their problem with the Chakra clone.

And everything stilled as they felt blood seeping from their wound.

"It's done! It's finally done!" [cit.]

Yup, I finally updated! :D

If you want to ask about OOC decisions, it's because the Timeline can influence them and make them choose the wrong one. As you can see, fighting scenes aren't my forte.

So, I'm officially looking for a beta who's willing to bear with my erratic update schedule and is good at correcting fight scenes, too… even if there won't be much of them for some time :P

Still, if you readers want to, I can try to write Minato and Orochimaru vs A and Killer Bee… 'cause I didn't really plan on actually writing it. I might just say the fight was quite the experience, but nothing they couldn't handle. Or not…?

Uh... chibi Vocabulary time?

Gatsuga: on Narutopedia, it meant "Fang passing fang". Do you remember Kiba's jutsu in the Chuunin exam against Naruto, right? Imagine that.

Katon, Fuuton, Suiton, Raiton, Doton: respectively, fire, wind, water, lightning and earth style.

But wait...! This Chapter is OH MY GOD IS THIS +7000 words?! :O

...Well, at least I made up for the delay, didn't I? ;)

Now review, please suggest me how to correct this, ponder if you want to be my beta and, if you find my characters OC, grammar mistakes (I'm sure there are some, but I can't put my paw on where they are) or you want to write some observations, you're free to do so ;)

Beware of the Kitsune's rage!

Shiiroi Kitsune