A/N: Hello everyone! Glad you're back. Embarrassingly short chapter this time, and for that I apologize. But, I wanted to get the most bang for the buck with this one and leave you with a little something to think about at the end. The Evil Cliffy Queen reigns again! HA! Ok, enough already, let's get to it. Enjoy!

Sasuke had watched Jiraiya and Gamaken's fight with the large blue and gold snake. He thought the old man's still got it. He looked around for Kimimaro who seemed to be nowhere in the general vicinity. It seemed as if Kimimaro had abandoned his battalion even before the battle had begun. What Sasuke didn't know was that a certain pale individual was actually watching his every move – his chakra masked by his own jutsu, as well as the haze from the fire and smoke that still smoldered.

Sasuke thought to himself, there's nobody left around here except the old man and some ANBU. I think I'll stick around here for a while and see where and when Orochimaru decides to show his face. All Kimimaro's men are dead, mine probably are now too. I don't hear any more explosions, so the Leaf must have defended itself thus far. They don't know that Orochimaru brought all those men and snakes as sacrifices. He himself is the one who's going to take down the Village – with a little help from his friends. I think he considers Kimimaro one of his "friends." Too bad he'll be dead when Orochimaru needs him. All I have to do now is find him.

Quietly, Sasuke waited to see what was going to happen next. Then he saw the large bird fly over head. He watched it as it took off over the Village. Looks like the Hokage is gathering the troops. Good, keep them away from me so I can kill Kimimaro without any interruptions. I wanted to make it look like an accident, but now, there's been a change of plan. He waited for his opportunity to exterminate his enemy.

The bird circled over the Village. Tsunade quickly made her way to the arena and waited for the bird to circle there, announcing where they were to meet. She hoped that everyone was ok, and that no one had been killed or gravely injured. All the Leaf ninjas were attending a wedding not two hours previous to the start of the battle. She figured that not many of them would have been prepared for what they ended up facing. But they were Leaf shinobi, and they never ceased to surprise her.

Jiraiya saw the bird and waited to see where it settled. The arena – Tsunade's calling us in. He turned and headed in that direction, the ANBU running off in front of him.

Anko saw the bird, and then saw where it circled. Time to go. Looks like Tsunade's gathering everyone together. Hope she's got another plan. It's too quiet around here now. I hope Kakashi's ok. She took off following the bird to the arena, but not before grabbing a large blob of frosting from the remnants of her wedding cake and shoving in her mouth.

Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi saw the bird, gathered everyone that was with them and followed it. When they arrived at the arena, Anko was already there. As soon as Kakashi saw her, he breathed easier and jogged over to her.

Anko saw him coming, and broke into a run. Her coat flew open and Kakashi stopped running as he got an eyeful of Anko running at him in nothing but her Fridays, bra, and her coat. She stopped a few feet in front of him and said, "WHAT? Aren't you glad to see me?"

Kakashi pointed from her head to her toes and back up again and said, "Oh, I'm quite happy to see you, but I'm not too happy that everyone else can see you too."

Anko looked down because she'd forgotten she didn't have her "street clothes on." She smacked herself in the forehead and then buttoned her coat.

Kakashi smiled and said, "That's better. Come here."

Anko walked to him and he folded her into his arms. He said, "I'm sorry today went so badly. We'll be married soon, I promise."

Anko said, "It's ok. I know. Everything will work out. It has to."

Tsunade cleared her throat and all the rest of the Leaf shinobi that followed the bird soon gathered at the arena, except Naruto.

Konoha's Fifth stood in the center of a circle of ninjas of all ranks. Some of those ninjas present were burned. Some bled. Some were bruised. But all seemed accounted for, again, except for Naruto.

Soon everyone noticed he wasn't there because there was no one shouting or complaining loudly about what had just happened. That worried Tsunade slightly. Still, she decided that she couldn't wait any longer for him. Precious seconds were ticking away, and just about the entire rest of the village population was still hiding under the Shinto shrine. She had to make sure that everyone in the village was safe before she could let anyone go back to their homes, if they still had homes to go back to.

Tsunade said, "Thank you all for what you've done. We seem to have won the battle, but I'm not sure if we've won the war yet. Has anyone seen Orochimaru?" No one spoke. No one indicated that they had. She continued, "That's what I was afraid of. He's playing with us. He's probably watching and waiting. All the civilians are safe for the time being, but to ensure their safety, we have to make sure that there are no infiltrators in this village, and none of those damn blue and gold fire breathing son of a bitch snakes!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. She continued, "Naruto told me that there were six total snakes. From the silence everywhere, I'd like to believe that all the men who attacked are dead or captured, and all six snakes are down. So own up, who got a snake?"

Jiraiya raised his hand and said, "I called in Gamaken – he got one."

Anko said, "I called in a snake of my own who beat it to death on the ground. And I made sure that each and every person who attacked outside the shrine was put down permanently. Those bastards; I should go back and cut them into little pieces,"

Tsunade said, "Ok Anko. We get the picture, settle down."

Anko still mumbled, "pieces of shit each one of those fucking bastards how DARE they ruin my day."

Tsunade barked, "ANKO!" Anko shut her mouth and silently fumed.

Kakashi knew better than to try and coddle her so he just spoke up instead and said, "The hounds were with us. I sent Bull in. He got the job done. But didn't like the taste too much."

Tsunade said, "That's three. I had Katsuya crush one, so that's four. Please tell me the other two are dead!"

Temari raised her hand and said, "Tenten, Genma and Shizune and I took out a battalion, then I called in my itachi to take out one of those nasty snakes."

Everyone looked at her, and Kakashi said, "You had ITACHI here? THE Itachi?"

She said, "NO! MY itachi, you know the weasel with the giant sickle?"

Everyone was relieved. There was no WAY they wanted anything to do with Itachi in the Village. Not right then anyway.

Tsunade said, "OK, that's five. Who got the last one?" Not a word. Not a peep. She said, "Oh God, there's one more still out there."

Everyone hoped that the one more that was still out there, hadn't gotten Naruto.

A/N: EVIL!! HA! Something to think about - one snake left, Naruto's missing, can you guess what I did?

Next up: The Leaf ninjas divide into two groups with very specific missions. Sasuke and Kimimaro have the throw-down of the century, while Anko says she shouldn't even try to have another wedding because Orochimaru will just find out and ruin it. Kakashi makes a silent promise to himself after hearing her say that, and finally I leave you with a terrifying cliffy. See you soon!