Just to let you know that this story is coming to an end. Finally. I can't really say how many more chapters there will be, but I'm assuming less than six. Not that many. Maybe even less. Who knows. Anyways, on with the story that took me two months to write! (Which I apologize for!)

'Thinking'
'Kyuubi_talking'
"Talking"
/Naruto Talking to Kyuubi/

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just my own characters.

War Within Konoha

Konoha's POV

The village was on high alert. Every able ninja was in battle gear, their weapons and any ammunition all stocked and sharpened. The medic team was stocked up on medicine and supplies, waiting until everything started. All civilians were hidden in safe places. The whole village was ready.

"Anything?" A feminine voice spoke, coming up from behind the young Uchiha who was perched on the high wall surrounding the whole village

Without having to turn around, Sasuke shook his head. "No, Hokage. Everything's been quiet."

Tsunade nodded her head. She came to a halt beside her ANBU captain and overlooked the forest that surrounded the front side of the village. She knew Orochimaru was within a couple of hours from her village and she had the slightest clue if he was going to attack from the sides and front or just the front. But, she knew how her old/ex comrade worked. She expected him to be making a grand entrance. Probably have a good handful on his ninja take the lead a give them a 'surprise attack' from the sides.

Her eyes scanned the sides of the village. More than half of her ninja were surrounding the walls and the rest on the inside of the village, waiting. A handful of ANBU, along with Neji who was leading them, were out in the forest, waiting patiently for that surprise group to come. They were to make sure no one got past them.

"Where are the Sand Siblings?" Sasuke asked without taking his eyes off of the landscape.

"Termari is situated at the East wall, Kankuro the West and Gaara is around here somewhere." She answered.

And as if on cue, the red head Kagekage walked casually up to them his head to the side as he too, watched the scenery. You could tell he was ready for the battle by the tension built up in his shoulders and the grim look on his face. His gourd was still on his back with a small trickle of sand leaking out. A defense mechanism the man liked to use when he wasn't in his home country. Just in case an enemy tried to attack a team mate and he wasn't near them, Gaara could use the sand on the ground as a fast shield.

"Anything?" He asked and came to a halt on the Hokage's other side.

"No." Tsunade answered. She then glanced over at the younger man and asked with a stiff voice, "Any word from him?"

Sasuke stiffened from the question but kept his mouth shut. His gaze hardened underneath his mask.

Gaara shook his head. "He hasn't sent anything yet." Referring to the bracelet.

Tsunade nodded her head and let the silence overcome them for a few minutes. When all was quiet, she finally muttered, "He better not come back. If he does, his ass will be getting kicked."

A ghost of a smile graced Gaara's lips. He didn't say anything and there was nothing that needed to be said. He just shook his head and set his gaze towards the horizon. It was still pretty dark outside and the sun was just starting to poke out. It would be a couple of minutes before the sun rose, lightening everything up with its morning glow. He wondered how much longer the army was supposed to arrive. Already, the village had been on high alert for three hours.

As if almost reading his mind, somewhere in the distance, the sound of metal upon metal was heard. Immediately, all three of their gazes turned to the sound.

"Wasn't expecting it to be this soon," Tsunade grumbled to herself. She glanced over her shoulder, signaling to her ninja on the ground and within the village to be on alert because the ANBU squad was already engaged in battle. As she was turning her head back around, her cat-like reflexes kicked into high gear as she dodged a kunai headed straight for her eyes.

"And so the battle begins." She muttered and straightened up to face whoever threw the weapon. But she stopped when she caught sight of the horizon. As the sun rose behind them, the army came at a fast pace. There was literally hundreds of the ninja and looked to be more. But that wasn't what got her attention. It was Orochimaru and who he brought out to join the fight. The damn bastard was making this one serious battle.

Naruto's POV

Gamakichi had said the army was within two days of the village and that the Leaf was horribly out numbered. So Naruto had Kyuubi running at top speed that if any random by-stander was around, they would only see a big blur of red. They wouldn't even feel the ground rumble and shake because the fox's feet touched the ground for maybe a millisecond.

"How much longer?" Naruto asked normally, even though the wind drowned out his voice. He was perched on the fox's head, arms crossed at his chest. Chakra secured his feet down so he wouldn't be flying off and he didn't move. He wasn't really affected by the sudden powerful wind wiping by. Sana was a different story. She was sitting on her legs with both of her arms wrapped tightly around her brother's leg. Unlike him, she would have been highly affected even if chakra secured her down. Her brother had grace, that's what it was. She was just lucky to be holding on.

Kyuubi hissed like normal at her host. "If you'd stop asking every hour, maybe we'll be even farther than we are now. You're lucky on the time we're making now."

Naruto didn't say anything. He wasn't affected by her tone of voice. His thoughts were wondering about the village. What happens if they don't make it in time? The village were warned about the threat and the army wasn't really full of powerful shinobi (going back to when he had fought a good portion of them at Orochimaru's hideout), but it was the number that concerned the young Jinchuriki. They could be the worst ninja ever but a number did mean something, and they did have some sort of skill in them. And who knows what kind of powerful ninja Orochimaru was hiding before.

"We're about five hours away." Kyuubi muttered, breaking Naruto of his thoughts.

Naruto nodded and glanced at his surroundings. Despite everything being blurred, he knew exactly where they were. How could he not? The sand was a distinct color and the heat was something you'd never forget. They were passing by the Sand village. As much as he wanted to stop, for reasons he didn't want to say, he turned away from it.

As he stared ahead of him, Kyuubi interrupted his thoughts with, "Don't let your emotions get in the way of the battle, kit."

Naruto only nodded. "I won't."

"You better. If you want me to help, then keep them in check. Sana, make sure he does."

Sana bobbled her head up and down and tightened her grip. Naruto glanced down for a second and uncrossed his arms to lay a hand on her head. By the time they arrive at the battle, he would have to bottle his stronger emotions up. If he didn't, he could kiss Kyuubi and her help goodbye. With his emotions attached to the fox, and if they were strong enough, he could accidently force Kyuubi back into the cage. It happened once before while he was training with the fox. Sana had been dozing in a safe spot underneath a tree when a venomous snake bit her in the leg. It was so sudden, Naruto freaked and bad things happened. Kyuubi had yet still refused to forgive him. But ever since then, he made sure during a battle with the fox out he kept his emotions in check.

'I'll keep you safe, Sana. I promise.' He thought and glanced back up to the horizon. They passed by a familiar tree, despite the speed they were going, and he knew it wouldn't be too much longer before they reached the village. 'Just a little longer…' He thought.

XxxxX

Barely two hours into the battle, Sasuke back flipped out the area to get a view of what was going on. He appeared on an empty spot on the wall, slightly destroyed from the enemies, and paused. Glancing around, he was half satisfied and half not. Everyone in the Leaf –plus the three Sand siblings- was fighting at least four to one. They were doing well. Bodies of the enemies started to liter the floor and blood was spilt everywhere. There was maybe a few Leaf shinobi that littered the ground, but otherwise the rest belonged to the enemies. What he wasn't satisfied with was how every time one enemy fell, another two took its place.

Interrupting him from his report, a sad excuse for a ninja blocked his view with a raised ax. The man, no the boy looked no more than eighteen with freckles littering his cheeks and nose. His face still had that round face to it and large innocent looking eyes. But instead of finding innocence in those large blue orbs, he found hated.

"Die, you scum!" The boy screamed and swung his ax at Sasuke's neck.

Easily, the Uchiha ducked under and threw his fist at the boy's midsection. The force of the punch sent the kid flying backwards, his weapon dropping out of his hands. Sasuke didn't even stick around to watch the kid hit the wall with a sickening crunch and collapse into an unmoving heap. He disappeared to a place higher and immediately touched his neck to radio the other ANBU.

"Report," He ordered clearly. He removed his fingers and scanned the surrounding areas. He could pretty much make out everyone who was fighting. Hinata, along with Shino were fighting side by side, protecting a couple of houses that the enemies were trying to destroy. The old team ten were fighting in one area, all working together and keeping a pretty solid hold on protecting their area. He couldn't find where the Hokage or Jiraiya were, but he wasn't too worried about them.

"The East side is holding its own." Someone reported in, most likely Hellino, one of the senior ANBU ninja.

"South is holding fairly well. Not too many coming this way. It looks like they're more focused on the gate." A feminine voice replied over the radio.

Sasuke touched the radio and said, "Don't let your guard down, Amanda. That's what they want you to think." He knew not to underestimate Orochimaru and what direction they were to attack in. Even if the back was secure, he didn't want them to let their guard down.

He waited on one more report, from the West and when he didn't get one, he touched the radio and barked out, "Keo, what is your status?"

After a couple of seconds tick by and there was still no report, he let out an annoyed growl. That man never did like to report in, no matter how important it was. And just when he was about to yell something, the other side clicked on.

"I had to leave the West side to aid to the Elder's den." Keo's rough voice came through.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "You had orders to stay and protect the West, Keo." He said. "Who the hell is on the West side?"

"And that would be me," Kakashi's voice came through the radio. "But the West side is holding for now."

Sasuke nodded to himself. At least Keo had the common sense to leave authority to someone who knew what they were doing. "Glad to see you're on board, Kakashi." He said. "Report back in ten minutes. Including you, Keo." When he clicked the radio off, he added at the end, "You fucking dumb ass." Mentally, he wrote a note in his head to punish Keo after all of this was over. That kid was number one on his shit list, and if it was possible, he was even higher.

He shook his head to rid himself of distracting thoughts and rejoined the battle, helping a new batch of Genin take out five enemies.

Tsunade's POV

Her village was holding fairly well against the threat. True, she was running back and forth between the medic station to the front lines, but she wasn't all that worried. The ninja attacking her village would be considered Genin level, if not just a tad bit stronger. But with as many as there were, that was really the only problem she saw. Well, not to forget her unsaid fear that Orochimaru was just playing with them. She had a hunch that the snake was using the weaker ninja to tire out the village before he sent his stronger ones in. It was a smart plan and she could see him doing it.

And not to forget about Orochimaru. He was always in her sights even though he never moved from where he was perched on top of the head of all snakes; Manda. Orochimaru was serious about this war yet, he wasn't doing anything yet.

"Probably because Naruto isn't here," A voice said next to her, reading her thoughts. She looked over to her right and found Jiraiya calmly standing next to her.

Tsunade nodded her head and turned it back to watch her old ex-comrade. "And if he knows what's best for him, he won't show up here." Even as she said it, she already knew that at one point, the blonde was going to make an entrance. She didn't know when, but she had a hunch it was going to be soon.

Jiraiya scanned his perimeter. "Are you going to be summoning Katsuyu?" He asked, mentioning the head slug and Tsunade's summon.

"If things become worse than they are. But I'll have to leave the village in order to do so. I don't want to cause more damage to it than there already is." As if on cue, a loud explosion came from within the village, followed by screams of pain.

"I hear ya there. I don't know if I'll be able too, but I'll try to summon Gamabunta."

"Let's just hope things don't turn out badly to where we have three head summoning's out."

Another explosion occurred in the village, this time sounding closer to the two. Jiraiya glanced behind him and his eyes sought out where the two explosions were.

"Looks like we'll have to redecorate the Elder's tower." There was no regret or disappointment in his voice but amusement.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Let's just hope the old hags are okay." She didn't dwell on the thought for too long before her attention was brought back to Orochimaru when she noticed a movement coming from him. She stared, wondering what was different. Both summoner and summon looked exactly the same just a second ago. Why—

Cutting her thought bubble off, her reflexes kicked into overdrive and she jumped high into the air to deflect a hundred or so weapons headed in her direction. She didn't even have to say anything to her former comrade since he had disappeared from spot to evade the attack.

Just as she reached the highest climax of her jump and gravity started to bring her down, her peripheral vision caught sight of the weapons that were thrown at her had a mind of their own. Instead of hitting the ground where she was just standing, they seemed to angle upwards and with the same force as before, were accelerating towards her.

Slightly confused but not showing it, the Hokage used some of her chakra to use the air around her as a solid surface to get the hell out of there. She back flipped in the air and landed on the ground with grace but didn't have time to do anything as the weapons continued their pursuit. They seemed to have her on some kind of tracker.

Bracing herself, she pulled out a kunai out of nowhere and started to deflect the weapons aiming at her face from above. They all came at once, making her hands a blur to anyone who was watching as she tried to protect herself. Every time she deflected one, they would bounce off and hit the ground like a normal knife would and stayed there. Only a few stray ones managed to hit their mark, but only left behind a small scratch.

When the last one was deflected, Tsunade straightened her stance and looked around. A scratch on her cheek caused a slow line of blood to flow freely down her face.

"What the hell was that?" She asked no one in particular as she stared at the graveyard of weapons surrounding her. And more importantly, who had made her a target. She glanced up, looking for her attacker when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg. When her eyes sought out the pain, she noticed a kunai there. But what caught her attention was the weapons that lay stuck in the ground started to move. At first just a little but then started to move faster like a vibration.

"Shit…" She mumbled. Quickly she kicked off the ground once more, this time using a little chakra to launch her higher into the air. But as soon as her feet came off the ground, the weapons did too. They turned around and launched themselves after her.

Kakashi's POV

He was battling a group of idiots that barely knew what they were doing. He had to admit, he was a bit insulted. But nonetheless, he battled them, taking them out in a couple of seconds. But just as they went down, another group easily replaced them. They were like ants, multiplying at fast numbers and there wasn't much he could do. He refused to use chakra, saving it until he was in dire need.

Kakashi took out the new group within another couple of seconds and before giving a third group to notice his easy victory, he pushed off of the ground for some place high. Ever since that dumb ass Keo sought him out to take his leadership on the West side, he hadn't seen the ANBU ninja anywhere. He only knew where he was because of when Sasuke radioed everyone about their situations. He, much like everyone else in pretty much the whole village, didn't like Keo and thought of him as a dumb ass. There was good reason, but right now it being the man left his post to someone else to go do something else. Irresponsible idiot.

As his eyes scanned the West side of the village, trying to get an estimate on the numbers, a blur caught his eye. He turned his head and watched the movement. At first, he was a little startled. Tsunade was running and jumping everywhere, like a kid playing tag. Ninja style. Following her was hundreds of sharp objects, most of them kunai. When she moved this way, they followed. When she some crazy move trying to lose the weapons, they instantly followed. She even teleported to a different spot but somehow the kunai knew where she was. It was like they had a sensor on her. Or like someone was controlling them…

Having it hidden ever since the battle started, Kakashi pulled his headband up from his eye and blinked open his left eye. The sharingan came to life. Both eyes scanned the whole battle field for anything highly suspicious. To be able to control a numerous amount of weapons, you had to be seeing what you were doing, especially if you had them targeting someone. The person could still be a good ways, just as long as they have some sort of view.

He wouldn't have admitted it, but he almost scanned over an enemy standing very still on an abandoned roof. It was a woman dressed in a tight black outfit that seemed to hug her body nicely, showing off her curves. She had a sword strapped to her back along with a few pouches strapped to her legs, holding probably different types of weapons. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun and in front of her, her hands were crossed at the wrists and her hands in firsts. It was such an abnormal stance, Kakashi assumed she was the one controlling the weapons aimed at his hokage.

He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but the woman seemed slightly familiar. He had to of seen her before, maybe a couple of days ago? But, he didn't put anymore time or thought on the matter as he held out his right hand and started to gather chakra to his palm to create his favorite technique. The Chidori. This woman had some nerve attacking his hokage.

Sakura's POV

Wiping sweat off of her brow, she patted one of the Genin on the shoulder, signaling that he were all healed up. The eleven year old grinned real bright before scampering off to re-join the battle, eager to show his class mates and friends that he could still fight. Watching him, the young medic ninja couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain enter her stomach. The little kid, full of so much energy reminded her of her old comrade in their days of youth. Now, so much had changed.

"Sakura!" A voice got her attention.

Said name pulled her gaze away from where the boy had disappeared to where a group of newly wounded Leaf Ninja appeared.

"Right, I'm on it," She called back and quickly went to help aid the wounded. Ever since the battle started, she held her post at the medic tent right outside of the hospital. Those that were gravely injured took refuge in the hospital while those who broke something or had a bad cut stayed outside. Her time was spent healing one comrade after another so that they could rejoin the fight fully healed.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked a girl who looked no older than seventeen.

The girl held her arm up and a river of blood flowed freely down it. Her face was as pale as paper and she looked as though she was about to pass out standing. "And that's not all." She said weakly. "I think I may have sprained my ankle and -," She never got to say anything more before a kunai was embedded in the back of her throat. Instantly dead, her eyes lost its light and she fell forward with her eyes still opened. Sakura had no time to catch the poor girl before she had to dodge out of the way as a wave of weapons was hurled in her direction.

"Scatter!" She cried out, hoping everyone heard her and moved out of the way before they too, were killed or injured.

Glancing around her, Sakura saw a large group of enemy ninja heading their way, weapons drawn and looking for more blood. She looked over her shoulder and yelled out, "Those of you that can fight defend the hospital at all costs. The rest of you, take shelter." She turned back and prepared herself for battle to help keep the hospital safe.

Jiraiya's POV

Jumping from one building to the other, Jiraiya surveyed his surroundings. In all honesty, he couldn't tell which side was winning. There were so many enemy ninja that he couldn't keep track of the numbers. Somehow, they just keep popping up. Thankfully, Konoha was holding its own, but he didn't know for how much longer. The ninja would tire soon and their fighting would get sloppy if things were to continue to go as it was. And things could get ugly.

One thing he did notice when he was making rounds was that Orochimaru was holding back on them. He had his stronger ninja still on the sidelines, just waiting for the right opportunity. He only knew of one strong ninja in Konoha fighting, but he saw Kakashi fighting her, after helping Tsunade out with the killer, tracking weapons.

Jiraiya paused from his jumping and landed on a familiar roof. He paid his landing no attention, knowing exactly who used to living in the apartment a few years ago, and looked out in the enemies ranks. Orochimaru still hadn't moved from his spot on top of Manda and the snake seemed pleased by the body count that continued to rise, from either side.

"Err…" He mumbled, his hands curling into fists at his side. He wanted ever so badly to summon Gamabunta but he couldn't. Summoning the chief toad would end in disaster because one, the last time he tired to summon him, it left him in the hospital for a month (Because Chief found out what happened to Naruto) and two, the village would be crushed. There wasn't enough room to summon the toad let alone having a big enough space for two gigantic summons fighting. For once, he was feeling useless. How were they going to get rid of Manda if he couldn't summon Gamabunta? Or any summon big enough to fight the snake?

Gaara's POV

"Sand Coffin." Gaara closed his fists just as the sand around him closed around a group of twenty enemy ninja, forming a rather large ball that floated an inch off the ground. The sand suddenly tightened and the cries and yells that were muffled by the wall of sand was abruptly cut off as the sand turned a dark crimson color. Gaara turned away from the sight as the sand fell away and calmly walked away. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was getting a little restless. The ninja that kept coming at him were all so weak and it felt like he was being toyed with. At first, he planned on not using any chakra, but after the enemy ninja just kept coming, he wanted a break so he brought out his most lethal jutsu and easily put an end to their lives. He wasn't proud of it; he was just tired of the easy targets. Now he didn't have to waste any energy he had on weaklings.

Soundlessly, he jumped away from the graveyard he was just in to a higher place. He didn't even touch the ground before someone, a man, came at him with a sword. At first, the Sand ninja easily dodged and was pulling his hands up to control the sand around him when something out of the ordinary happened. His opponent guessed what the ninja's next move was and preformed his own jutsu, forming a deadly fire around them.

The fire seemed to lick across the hard earth around them, touching every surface that held sand. Gaara watched calmly, already aware of what the man was doing.

"Now," his opponent smirked and looked Gaara dead in the eyes. "You can't use your precious sand."

"Turning the sand to glass from the extreme heat of the flames, I must admit, I'm a little impress." Gaara said, not at all sounding impressed. "Not many of my opponents have used that against me yet."

The man kept his smirk and the fire around them slowly went out. All around the two, bright glittery specks appeared everywhere. Small fragments of glass.

"But I should probably tell you," Gaara continued and smirked when he saw the man lose some of his smirk, "that just because you changed the property of my sand, doesn't mean I can't withdraw more elsewhere." And with that, a shadow appeared above the man.

Looking up, he barely had time to scream before sand same crashing down on him, crushing him against the earth. Gaara only looked away with boredom as the battle continued on.

Sasuke's POV

Sasuke had been non-stop fighting at the same time as being everywhere at once. He was first up at the gate, taking out as many enemies as he possibly could while defending the front. Then he was torn away when one of his own comrades was badly outnumbered and went to help. As soon as the situation was handled, he was informed that the hospital was under attack. Now, that was exactly where he was.

Punching a man who must have been in his early thirties square in the nose –hearing a sickening crunch at that too- he pulled his sword out from his sheath off of his back and ran it through someone's chest. He yanked it free and didn't even watch the man he had just killed crumple to the floor in a heap before he was on his next target.

"Thanks for the help," a breathless Sakura came over, helping him fight off a few people that came out of nowhere. She threw a couple of kunai at them, hitting their intended targets just as Sasuke slit someone's throat.

"No problem." He grunted. When no one was coming after him, he straightened his stance and glanced around. It seemed as though the area was clear –but for how long- just filled with dead bodies. "Do you think you can handle it from here?"

Sakura wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and looked around. "I think so. As long as there isn't another group coming out of nowhere, I should be able to hold the medic field. Maybe try to restore it so the hospital isn't over crowded."

Sasuke nodded. He sheathed his sword back up and was about to leave the ground to go back to the North gate when an incredible, loud hiss shook the ground.

Both shinobi's heads snapped up at the sound and their eyes sought out the noise. At the North gate, starting to make its move towards the village, was Manda. The snake decided to join the battle. Orochimaru just stood calmly on his summon with a smirk lighting his face.

"Shit," they both muttered in unison.

"If he's making his move now," Sakura wondered aloud, her face paling just the slightest.

"Then the rest of his force is on their way." Sasuke grimly added. "And we're already outnumbered as it is."

"How will we be able to cope with all of them? I mean, yeah the weaker ninja came in first, but with their numbers we're separated and focused on them. With the rest of Orochimaru's ranks coming in, who knows how strong they are. We can't fight all of them at once!"

"We'll have too." The ANBU captain glanced over at his old team member and gave her a rare, encouraging half smile. "Just focus on healing the injured. I'll be sending anyone who isn't too busy to help defend the hospital. Just try to heal as fast as you can; we'll be needed all the help we can get."

Sakura nodded. Her face hardened and she twirled around and was about to run into the hospital and something stopped her. The sound of the earth rumbling and the loud battle cry caught her attention as well as Sasuke's. They both turned around to see Manda opening his mouth and taking aim at the village. He sprang forward with only a grace snakes had when attacking their food. As soon as he took off, time seemed to slow down.

One minute the snake was moving forward, the next, a rather large mass of orange knocked against the reptile, knocking it off course. The snake went flying sideways and hit the ground, sliding against the hard surface and knocking trees and any poor unfortunate souls aside. Manda came to a stop a few hundred yards away, but still seeable from inside the village. He looked pissed and a little confused. What had hit him?

Almost everyone in the village, good or bad, stopped fighting to see what had pushed the great Manda out of his attack. To have stopped that big of a summon and send him flying. And what they found had some people shrieking in fear.

Standing in the trees besides the village was the Nine-Tailed fox, her back arched as she glared and hissed at Manda. And standing upon her head was none other than Naruto and Sana Uzumaki.

Naruto, with his arms crossed at his chest and a smirk on his face, surveyed his surroundings and spoke to where everyone could hear him, "Y'all started without me?"

XxxxX

Until next time!

And yes, I just had to add Naruto saying something similar to that. Reminds me of his old personality.

Now I know a lot of the chapter is blah, because you know how I am with battle scenes, but live with it. If it's any way confusing, let me know and I'll either explain it to you or just rewrite it. :P And to let you know, I do NOT plan on going into details with other people's fighting. I'm really only gonna focus on Naruto and Sana and when they fight because I suck at writing. And it'll be less stress on me if I only have to focus on two people.

Please tell me what you think!