A.N.: Hope this doesn't feel too rushed, I wanted to only show the important bits.

Chapter 19: War

Karin stood on the balcony, eyes trained in the direction of the gates, senses on full alert and mind miles away. A few days past the conference in the land of iron, Sakura left to return to Konoha; war was on the horizon, and as one of only two true battle-medics she would have to be there. As second to Tsunade at the Konoha hospital, she will also be needed to organize the others. It was quite alright, really, the other two medics remained as did the trainees, and lessons as well as every-day treatments will go on as usual. As for Karin's own medical state, her treatments reached a point where it was more "exercise" than anything – chakra needed to be circulated through the new pathways in order to widen and flex them. With her control and stamina, Karin was more than able to do so herself. No, the problem with Sakura leaving was more that... well... they became very close friends.

So now, Sakura was another loved one to worry about, risking her life somewhere out of Karin's sensing range. Her, and the rest of Hebi.

Thinking of their little team of strays now felt almost ridiculous. They were so different now, all of them. Something had been gradually shifting in each one of them since they first came back here, since they started building a true village out of the rabble of the lie that stood here before.

She never imagined they would actually succeed, but that is beside the point.

Juugo, for instance, was more confident than he had been. Though he was still far from secure in his ability to control himself, he did trust himself a little more, to the point of allowing himself the company of others. Even if he feared being too far away from him, he was no longer glued to Sasuke like a toddler to their safety blanket. He knew now, that he will not lose control so easily and when he did, those around him will help. More importantly – they will understand. They will never let him harm someone in a fit of rage ever again.

He was even something of a spiritual leader now, and it was so much fun to tease him about it. They all did at some point – even Sasuke.

She smiled. There was, perhaps, the most notable change in any of them. She remembered a time, not too long ago, she had wished with all her heart to see his smile – like that time he still couldn't remember during the chunin exams. Well, she saw his smile several times now, and a much more genuine one than back then. He was allowing himself to live his own life now, not dedicate it to the dead, no longer burying his feelings or hiding them outside of battle. Others would say that he was gentler, maybe, kinder – but she knew he always was. He might have locked these parts of himself away, but one would be surprised just how much your chakra could say about you to those truly skilled in reading it.

So for all that it was easier to notice in him, the change itself was quite superficial, really. He was still a turbulent spirit, still unapologetic, rational and capable of cruelty. He was downright vicious when he felt like it – but he felt like it a lot less, and Karin was overjoyed that he was finally breathing. He being with her was a bonus.

Even Suigetsu had changed, for all that he would try to deny it. He was far less obsessed with his precious swords, for one, or he may have opted to stay home and keep trying to make Samehada like him (smart sword that it was, it didn't). She didn't care what he said – he had gone domestic. Between the A and S ranked missions that were the only ones their village got (likely due to the lower fee in comparison to other shinobi in the area), organizing their fighters, bothering Sasuke and trying (and failing) to hit on random women, he was spending a surprising amount of his meager spare time at the Children's' House.

She spied him once in a particularly hot day turning into a swimming pool for them. She won't ever tell him, but it was kind of cute… you know… for a kappa…

As for Karin herself… she felt calmer here, and was definitely more confident. Though she had always been proud and knew her own worth, she was also enough of a realist to see her situation for what it truly was. Her childhood made her feel nothing but helpless, and the authority she held as Orochimaru's jailer was a joke. She knew she held no real power there.

So she toughened up. She took the pride she knew she deserved to feel and acted like the rest of the world was beneath her. She knew she was a pawn – so she made sure to never be treated as such. Karin knew she was smart, that she was strong, talented in ways no one else was, but the world was just too blind to see it, so she made do and played her part.

And then he saw it. The first honest compliment she could remember since her mother's death… and it was to her intellect. If she wasn't in love with him already – that would have done it.

She knew now she had no need to try too hard, no need to be anything but herself. The respect she held was earned, her efforts appreciated and her life and actions ones she could truly be proud of. Her choices weren't illusory. Life still was far from easy, and her pain surely hadn't stopped – but she had a home, for the first time ever, and Karin will destroy, die and kill before she ever let anyone take it away from her.

Which... you know... made staying behind that much harder. Her family, her friend and many others she considered 'hers' in some way or another were fighting a war against madmen and desperate pawns, and it was something of a toss-up which was worse. Karin was no front liner – she knew that. She was a defender. And with most of Oto's active force away at war her defense was probably more important now than ever.

She knew she was still supporting them, allowing them a clarity of mind and lessening of stress that could mean life or death in the heat of a battle, protecting their homes and their hearts and everything they built that held meaning. So she didn't resent her part nor believe it to be any less important than it is. She just wished she was with them so she could make sure they are alright.

Worrying sucks.

Strangely enough, a war against a criminal organization looked and felt just like a war between nations. The shinobi alliance decided to remake everyone's hitayate – sure, whatever – in an attempt of creating feelings of support and unification between once-enemies. It was a nice gesture, Sasuke supposed, too bad they all retained their native uniforms thus making the point moot. In the same vain, all of the great nations' shinobi were divided between the main units based on skill sets rather than nationality.

Oto, however, stayed together as something of a sub-unit. The decision was mutual. No outsider really knew what to make of the Oto-nin nor how best to utilize their capabilities – many of which consisted of near-extinct kekei-genkai. It didn't help that many feared the rage induced by the cursed seal that marked most of the Oto soldiers in a high-adrenaline and high-aggression setting.

For his part, Sasuke agreed it will likely be best they all remain by him. However, it wasn't solely to insure things did not go out of control. First of all, they knew how best to work with each-other, knew what situations they can trust person X to handle, who would have their backs and which crazy-plan was actually bound to work. But, most importantly, he still had a hard time trusting his people to strangers. Call him paranoid, but he just didn't want them out of his sight.

They knew that, if the constant teasing the first few days was any indication. Oh,well.

So, Oto's small force of just over a hundred shinobi served as something of a sub-division for Kakashi's unit. Sasuke didn't know why Kakashi's exactly. Maybe the strategists just figured they had the best chance at something of a teamwork, since they knew each other. Or, maybe, no one else wanted to have to deal with him. But he saw no reason to dispute it, either. It was probably for the best.

By now, the war had been going on for a long enough time that none of this mattered. A few weeks after the conference, Tsuki came to him with new information: "Madara" had implanted the rinnegan, and was now recuperating and adjusting to his new eyes and powers. The allied forces seized the opportunity to attack.

Akatsuki clearly had spies of their own, however, and the force met a ready defense in the form of its allies, led by Zetsu. "Madara", of course, was absent, but the lack of any sign of Konan or Ame was starting to become incredibly worrying at this point. Not to mention, about two weeks ago, word of border attacks reached their ears; the enemy was attacking the villages while their strongest fighters were otherwise occupied. The multiple fronts forced the army to split in order to cover all bases.

Sasuke knew that Oto was, for the moment, not under threat, but he worried for Naruto. As far as he knew, the jinchuriki was on a diplomatic mission to the capitol when war was officially announced, and was instructed to care for the management of the village while the hokage was away. Hopefully it will keep him occupied for a while, though he was bound to show up eventually if this kept going on. Please don't do anything stupid, dobe. He knew it was pointless to hope.

Under any other circumstances, Naruto would have been thrilled at the chance to "really hokage", but now it felt almost like a punishment. When he returned from his mission, it was already far too late to follow the force, and even he had to agree that with most of the council at the command post, someone was needed to run the village. Contrary to popular belief, life did not actually stop in the face of war. At least, not if you were not on a battlefield. But all of his friends were away, risking their lives far from him, and he couldn't help them, couldn't protect them. Not while he was still here.

And when the border skirmishes started he tried to be a good boy. Really, he did. He only sent shadow clones to support the forces, rather than himself. But enough was enough. He could tell things were not going too well out there. And wasn't it his fault, anyway? Weren't they only here for him? He had been wondering that from the first day he felt Konan's chakra signature, leading the Ame shinobi in the attack on Konoha.

The only reason for an Akatsuki member to not be in the main fight, is if they sought to bypass it – right? And she seemed to make a point of mainly fighting his clones.

He could not keep back any longer.

The next time Konan attacked a Naruto, sending a storm of paper shuriken right at him, he was the real deal. And trying to guilt her, again. "Why, Konan? I know you and Nagato never wanted anything but peace – the real kind! He gave his life for it, so why? Why are you still with them? Why are you attacking?" Unlike the previous times, unfortunately, one good hit won't shut him up. She will actually need to reply.

Fine.

"Don't you dare speak of him!" she cried, and it was the first time in a long time she allowed for her feelings to show in battle, "My whole world is gone because of you, Uzumaki Naruto!" she was attacking him through rage and tears both, not hindered by either, they instead appeared to empower her further. "Nagato is gone! Left me the same as Yahiko. And for what? A world that still resents him?

"He died to undo his own deeds! Ending the attack wasn't enough for you, was it? You needed to rob him of his life as well! Some hero of Konoha you are! You didn't save anybody – he did!"

"Konan, I know that! I am so grateful to him for that. But what you are doing... this isn't what he would have wanted!"

"No, this is what I want! Dying to negate what you had only just done... is dying for nothing! For things to reset and go back to the way they always were. The greater shinobi nations still don't care the slightest about us, nor will they ever!"

"But this is not the way! Konan, do you really want to become nothing? For all those you care about to become nothing?"

"My family is gone! Again! I want them near me. I want them happy. I want them alive! And if it is nothing more than an illusion... well, I wouldn't know that, will I? So what is the difference? And I will have my revenge on you in the real world!"

He kept trying to reach her, to convince her that this was not the way, that the best she could do to honor Nagato and Yahiko and their memory is to live on for them, fight for what they truly believed in... But even he could see it was of no use. In the end, Konan laid dead before him, and a few days later the attacking force was fended off. Naruto tasked a few capable special-jonin to aid the remaining council, made sure the borders were secure in case of another attack, and made his way to the front line.

If Tobi, or Madara, or whatever the fuck his name was wanted a piece of him, he can sure well try. But he will not be touching Naruto's home!

When Naruto finally reached the front (he decided to make a few helpful stops along the way), he found himself surrounded by chaos. It was the same as on the villages' borders but on a much larger scale, making it hard to distinguish friend from foe if he didn't personally know them. He was so grateful for the unified hitayate, and made sure to check each one before attacking. He hated all the bodies littering the ground, the wounded lying among the dead, some accidentally trampled to death by their own allies. War, it seemed, managed to be even worse than he ever imagined.

He saw the medical unit running around with trackers, trying to pull the wounded to safety before treating them, occasionally hearing Sakura barking out orders. He opted against paying her a visit, though; she sounded busy, and he was here to help with the fight, anyway. Also, she will probably hit him for being here. I would take enemy jutsu over Sakura-chan's 'tough love' any day.

So he fought.

Zetsu was a real pain in the ass. Not only capable of splitting himself and burrowing, but also resealing his wounds, agilely avoiding whole sealing teams and being slippery all around, attacking in devastating combinations of mokuton and poisons... Fights against him seemed to have no end, or at least, no favorable end. Sasuke was getting seriously pissed off. Could it get any worse?

"Oi! Teme! Finally I found you!" Never mind. He thought wryly, unable to suppress a small grin.

"What are you doing here, Naruto? Aren't you supposed to be hiding from these guys in a safe or whatever, not running strait to them?"

"Shut up! I was doing important work! It's not my fault if you guys can't do anything without me!"

"Hn."

"Uzumaki Naruto. The kyuubi jinchuriki." "Thank you, for making our job so much easier."

Naruto shuddered, "Brr. I hate how that guy talks. Gives me the chills."

Sasuke may have responded, he did agree with him on that, but right then Zetsu lunged himself at Naruto, trying to catch him unaware. Susanoo's foot moved to try and step on him. Again. Zetsu burrowed under and quite literally sprouted elsewhere.

Again.

If there isn't visible steam coming off of him, Sasuke will be surprised. "Why are you so yellow, by the way? You're like a frigging glow-stick."

"Look who's talking! And this is Kurama's sage-mode." Sasuke just blinked at him. "Kurama! You know, the kyuubi? We're friends now." Naruto was grinning, and Sasuke was surprised at his lack of surprise. Naruto befriending chakra monsters, too, now? Sure, why not.

Zetsu lunged again and they readied themselves for attack. The fight was still long and difficult, but for two shinobi who hadn't seen each other for years, their teamwork was astounding. Not a single word needed to pass between them, going off of subtle cues and the slightest movement of the other's body to convey whole strategies. Eventually, Naruto could sense Tobi's large chakra signature approaching the battlefield. This needed to be finished – now. A spinning rasengan sent a column of wind that lifted Zetsu up away from the ground and enlarged the black flames of susanoo's arrow. Zetsu will not be recovering anymore.

And that is when "Madara" showed up.

Why was it that fighting a single person felt more taxing than fighting an entire army? At least he had only one rinnegan – Sasuke assumed the nerves of his left eye had atrophied since he lost it in whatever – preventing him from using some of the abilities pain had showed. He still felt impossible, however, powerful beyond measure, and his focus sticking to Naruto turned the whole thing from a war to a mass-scale protection mission.

At least he was still human and needed rest from the massive amounts of chakra he'd been using. Otherwise, they never would have made it.

Sasuke was resting, trying to meditate by the fire to gather himself before the fighting starts anew come morning, when the high-pitched screech had him looking to the sky. Almost immediately he raised a hand, recognizing the hawk as Tsukai, the summon in charge of delivering periodic updates between him and Karin. It eased his worry for the village, while his short replies assured Karin he was, in fact, still alive, and at least well enough to write.

He brushed a finger over the bird's short forehead in thanks before removing the tiny scroll from its carrier. It was the same impersonal, to-the-point update as always, not unlike the one he will send back, but after it, on the very bottom, two final lines broke the pattern:

When you come back, I have a surprise for you. Not a bad one – promise. :)

What could 'a surprise' possibly mean? And why will Karin write that – with a smiley face, at that? They kept the wording simple and practical for a reason, not giving any real information and taking care not to reveal any affection in case the letters were to fall to the wrong hands. Even if she said the surprise itself was good, the very mention of it at all worried him.

In the end, he decided not to comment on it in his reply, only saying everything is going well, updating her on the medical state of their warriors and himself, and letting her know that, though they were making notable progress now, it will still be some time before the war is over. The worry and curiosity, though, will keep plaguing his mind for weeks to come.

The mask flew away, and Kakashi stopped his attack, staring at the face he could never forget. "No..." Tobi - He's name is Tobi. He's Tobi. He's not... - smirked as he threw him off with a kick.

"Have you finally lost your edge, Kakashi?"

"He was the kindest soul that... You cannot be..."

"Obito? Oh, but I am him."

"No. You can't be. Obito was my hero. The person who taught me about the truly important things. The one that refused to let a comrade die, even if said comrade was a little shit. He would never choose a world of lies over reality. He would have never hurt..."

"This is a world of lies we live in. Kakashi won't fail to protect Rin. Rin will never die. Minato-sensei is indestructible. But you did fail, and Rin died and so did Minato-sensei. But that can't be – therefor, it is a lie. The true lie is this world. And it is time to awake from it."

"You can't actually believe that. Obito, what happened to you?"

"I woke up, and saw the lies." Kakashi didn't see the attack coming, nor even tried to block the next. Or the next. Or the next.

The one after that was blocked by someone else. Someone that shouted at him "Get a grip on yourself, Kakashi! Whoever he was to you, whatever you felt for him, shove it out of your head!", and Kakashi felt inexplicably furious.

"Some of us can't just turn our emotions on and off on a whim. Some of us don't like attacking our friends!" Kakashi couldn't remember ever being so angry at Sasuke, not even after finding Naruto that day. Somewhere inside, he knew he was being unfair, he knew Sasuke was right. But that part was too far away to matter right then.

It was alright, Sasuke understood betrayal well enough. But this wasn't the time. "Well, you better learn fast, then. Because that man clearly can, and if you want to die that's fine – but do that on your own time!"

Obito laughed, "I like that philosophy. Sure, hurry up and die, Kakashi. As you are now, you are nothing but trash anyway."

His next attack was blocked by a flash of yellow, rather than black. Minato-sensei?.. No... "Don't you dare lay a hand on Kakashi-sensei! The way I see it, the only trash here is you! Someone who would abandon a comrade!" Minato-sensei... Kushina-sama... You can be proud. Obito's eyes widened for a moment before dodging the multiple fists flying at his face. Sasuke, for his part, suppressed a flinch of his own at the (hopefully) accidental jab.

Naruto caught his eye and started shifting, and he allowed for a smirk, releasing susanoo again and feeling the seals healing the damage to his eyes even as it happened. He didn't have much left in him, but he did have enough for one fox-shaped suit of armor, still.

It was time to end this. Sorry, Kakashi. You'll just have to self-destruct later.

With Obito's death, it took only a few more days for the small villages to surrender. The war was over. The rinnegan destroyed.

The world was safe.

As soon as the wounded were stabilized, they could all go home. Finally.