Warnings: swearing, shounen-ai,

Disclaimer: Naruto (and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and not me)

A/N: Again, thanks so much for reviews!

Chapter 20

Sasuke eyed the ticket in his hand. Lucia's name was written neatly on in, as was Arrow's. Though tickets in Yule Land were personalized and he therefor couldn't use it for anything – especially not with everything going on at the moment – the message was clear; stay.

The train made a last warning call and Naruto's eyes grew worried. "I really can't make you leave, can I?" he asked tiredly. Sasuke shook his head determinately. Itachi smiled in amusement as his brother's display of stubbornness. Naruto sighed loudly and turned to look up at the shadows looming over his town. Then he shook his head at Tamari who immediately got on the train. The Yule Express moved slowly away from the platform at first. Then it picked up speed and was hastily completely out of sight.

"Fine then," Naruto sighed in defeat. "Let's go back and see if the Guards have been able to get into Mr. Santa's house." Apparently not in the mood for going through the crowded streets again, Naruto teleported them back to where they'd left Tsunade.

The sight that met them reminded Sasuke of the beginning of a big war scene from a fantasy movie. On one side was the house, circled by the Barriers, and on the other stood a line of Guards with Tsunade at the front. Alarming black smoke still emerged from the house. Tsunade's face was an absolutely terrifying display of pure anger and hatred, her eyes narrowed at the house.

Sasuke spotted Kyuubi standing next to Gaara in Tsunade's line of offence. It wasn't until Naruto pulled on his sleeve that he realized that he'd been about to move closer to the intimidating sight. Looking back, he saw Itachi discreetly backing away to stand in the shadow of the houses behind them.

A nasty orange light lit up the windows of the house. The Barriers understood the strange signal and stepped back, breaking their formation. The door was opened and a large body fell out of the house, landing in the snow with a sickening thump. A loud gasp emitted from the group of elves and Sasuke realized that he actually recognized the lifeless man in the snow; the long white beard and hair, the red coat and the big belly.

"Mr. Santa," Naruto whispered in horror and held a hand up to his mouth. Sasuke could feel his trembling through their joined hands. It was too surreal. He still had a hard time believing Santa Clause to be real and now he was dead?! Deadly silence laid over the elves as a tall figure walked out from behind Santa. He had long, greasy, black hair and creepy yellow eyes. If not for the hint of pointy ears behind the hair Sasuke would probably never have guessed this person to be one of Santa's little helpers, ever. Demon, Troll, Vampire – sure. Elf – no. Whispers around the Guards revealed the man's name; Orochimaru.

Tsunade was the first to come to her senses. "Orochimaru, explain yourself!"

The man in question smirked, causing an uncomfortable shiver to run down Sasuke's spine. He walked past the man in the snow as the Barriers formed a circle around him.

"Oh, it's quite simple," the man finally said. His voice was even creepier than his appearance and Sasuke felt like his ears were being raped. "I've simply made room for the next greater era to begin. It's time for a revolution."

"What the hell are you talking about, you freak?" Kyuubi barked from behind Tsunade.

"The time of giving away magic to foolish humans in the form of ridiculous and pointless gifts that we spend far too much time, energy and magic on, is over. We, the elves, have the great potential of being the leading race on Earth, yet we hide in a dark and cold dimension, and for what? So that we can watch humanity destroy the entire planet? Our dense Sarutobi, our Santa Claus, has deceived you all into following his ideology. To not only work hard to earn magic, but to give it away for free. And since the magic is given away for free anyway, I see no reason why I, the only logical choice of leader, can't just take it. And so I will."

Loud yells from the crowd erupted and several Guards couldn't contain themselves and jumped forward to attack the man. Sadly, the Barriers' magic lay like a heavy blanket around Orochimaru and they were flung back.

Orochimaru grinned evilly and reached down under the dead man's chest. He grabbed the chain around the man's neck and pulled hard. Holding up the crystal pendant at the end of the string, he smirked once again before disappearing in a globe of light.

All Guards simultaneously turned to look at Tsunade. The look of disbelieve and terror on her face were quickly replaced with a determent narrowing of her eyes. Sasuke had never been around a person with such authority and leadership as that woman, and he couldn't help but listen to every word coming out of her mouth.

"To the Tower," she hissed through her teeth. "Stop him before he reaches the Source! Now!"

All Guards yelled a loud 'Yes Ma'am!' and teleported themselves away. The only Guard left was Kyuubi who'd caught sight of Naruto and Sasuke, and was now clearly scouting for Itachi. The older Uchiha nodded in greeting from his spot in the shadows. Kyuubi made his way over to Itachi and the two of them whispered quietly amongst each other.

Naruto's face was still stained with terrified disbelief. Sasuke rubbed his back soothingly. The blonde turned swiftly before he flung himself around the teen's waist, burrowing his face in the other's shirt. All around them horrified elves stood, most with tears streaming down their faces, as elves clad in white uniforms sat around the dead man before transporting away with him. Sasuke cringed as he heard a sob from Naruto and kissed the top of his head. Not too far away from them, Ino and Sakura were crying loudly while a pair of male elves tried to comfort them.

Tsunade walked past them all, fire burning in her eyes. A grey-haired man followed her closely. About half of the elves followed as well. Naruto slowly removed himself from his hiding place in Sasuke's shirt as Kyuubi and Itachi went to stand beside them.

"What now?" Sasuke asked to break the silence. Naruto and Kyuubi exchanged vengeful looks.

"Now we help stop that crazy son of a bitch before he ruins everything our kind has spent more than a millennium creating," Kyuubi growled.