"The Exorcism of Sarada Uchiha" is finished, "The Gutsy Jinchuuriki" is coming along and may be completed sometime this month, and I also am almost done with a new story for ItaHana (past) called "The Plague", if anyone is interested. It's quite different than usual and kind of influenced by my past Uchiha oneshot series.

Here comes moments that have long been in waiting...

Warning: GRAPHIC violence and disturbing situations.

Composition by Adrian von Ziegler.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Blood Night

For two of her friends to marry before a war coming was logical enough, since any day before could be their last - as well as the night itself. He was honored to see Temari and Shikamaru's union, but neither of their fathers could be present, nor could the rest of their families.

Hanaru was fighting not to cry, as was Naruto.

Gaara was proud to be here and not miss his sister's happy day, but their brother would never be here - except he had to be watching from the other side.

What made the end of the evening was both him and Naruto telling the newlyweds to get a room of their own if that kiss of theirs was going to lead to something more. Human love so strong in the beginning and breaks apart in death, most of the time - but that is how it is with my kind. "Those two, after all they've endured," Sasuke noted when the pair was off before them, and the humans would be able to enjoy the reception downstairs. "And humans lightly say 'love conquers all', when it's just as fragile as life itself is..."

"But it also means to enjoy it while it lasts," his wife interjected, putting her hand on his shoulder to shut him up, then leaned up to peck him on the cheek. He grunted right back.

And speaking of love, that left him and a certain someone to deal with.

He and Hanaru barely communicated since that night she barged into his room, threw herself at him and declared her love in the most groundbreaking way possible, disregarding the rules. What happened between them crossed the line, felt so powerful and ordained. His restraints all but fell, he let his vulnerable side open so that she would see only. She was shocked that he bled from his eyes, and then she saw it in Sakura at the wedding. So he told her vampires did cry, but it was blood rather than clear human eye water.

Besides him and her, there was the matter of everyone preparing for the bloody night heading their way like the perfect storm it was.

Jiraiya had returned to join them, but rather than fight, he would be among those overseeing communications with everyone and over the town. Keeping information on their aircraft and incoming ships from abroad - and meanwhile, caskets of the living dead freaks were brought in every moment and being released to line up for slaughter on the day that would come.

As for Naruto and Gaara - they had a surprise that would burst fully powered on the battlefield that secret, intense training had paid off on. He'd seen it himself, and so had their sisters.

Tailed Beast Power Mode.

In using this power once you've bonded with the tailed demon, much of the appearance changed drastically if you were still the same person, and a powerful coat of an aura visibly enveloped the body, accompanied by prominent black swirls and various lines about the body. Naruto's was golden yellow while Gaara's was brown-gold. With this ability, their prowess would be god-like enhanced, which was something to look forward to seeing. The results in training ended with collateral damage.

Imagine these two out there cutting down undead soldiers in their paths.

He saw the glaze in both women's eyes - especially hers. They were both proud of their brothers. If Madara was going to take them, he would have to try.

There was no way to predict what exactly would happen from the enemy's side, but the plan was to have Naruto and Gaara as well as himself deal with the armies that would butcher the living in the streets, leaving Hatake and Uzuki's units scouring for any close-handed minions of Madara's, since Itachi remembered his sire and old mentor for that.

That meant saving Madara for last, or if chance would come sooner than that.

~o~

Jiraiya back with them, but he was among the men to oversee the activity with their planes and ships, and she was wary about him coming, though him living in Konoha was no longer an option. So she let him do what he wanted for once...even if he would lose his life.

She couldn't take another loss like this, but behind closed doors, he assured her she would. And it wasn't like he was gone forever, because their granddaughter might learn a way to link them together for occasional communications as she did with her parents.

Back to the important tasks at hand: the craft at sea they lost communication with was likely sabotaged or destroyed by the Akatsuki. It was the Ro, their course off of Suna's jurisdiction, which was why she was here. "What's the status?" Tsunade demanded, and then her attention was diverted to Sub Commander Yamato who cleared his throat.

"Ma'am, as explained, Ro ignored all emergency hails, but we managed satellite photos and got these photographs." He presented said images and displayed not only a bloody red cloud painted on concrete, but there was also an individual on deck who hadn't yet been identified.

"And two of our platoons are approaching by helicopter to assess the situation," Jiraiya said.

Indeed, both of them did a good job, but - "You gentlemen did well, but cancel the operation at once and order them to come back. They won't stand a chance." She jumped nearly out of her seat when a loud beep was heard from one of the consoles on the upper platform. It turned out that both of the helicopters were shot, but not from the Ro...but from down below on the deck.

A single shot from likely a musket.

This was enough to make her flabbergasted along with the men of the room. How could - how could that be?!

But what was done had been done, and they could assume this was the work of vampires or one of those zombie hybrids. And it had to be the one who was down on that deck. So they would follow jurisdiction, and that meant Itachi and Sasuke were going out there.

It also meant the Akatsuki were attempting to lure them in.

It also begged how they moved vampires across large bodies of water. It was extremely problematic, given they were unable to travel if they turned into an animal that flew. Senju sending their own on their own battleship would have to be on their part, too. Though Shizune explained that it would be problematic, too, given the preparation between the voyage would take far too long. We can't count on them staying put.

Dropping them from above was out of the question, too, since the Ro was equipped with anti-aircraft weaponry. No plane could get that close.

That left one more option: getting Itachi himself onto that ship alone - the one that loaded all the undead experiments. And Shizune knew just how to get him on.

~o~

That ship was out there, and someone was down on its deck shooting down every aircraft coming its way, so someone had to put an end to the killer himself or herself. Whoever it was had to be extremely skilled if they conquered all with a single musket.

He was given the Kurotori, which had the capabilities to approach the Ro without detection. This was in the Senju for generations, going into any enemy territory without getting blown up to pieces but an occasional scratch. It was a great weapon that made Itachi feel like it was solely his alone, though his mistress made it verbally clear that it would have been his had he been the master.

The closer he got, the higher he rose and slowed the speed, then the moment he dropped low and straight before increasing the speed, the greater the anticipation grew as the other beast below sensed his presence in the craft.

Itachi saw the structure of the inhuman fiend. He was a morbid cross between human and zombie in appearance, and with vampiric qualities in the teeth. Long dark hair, brownish skin which was stitched about, and his mouth as well into a Glasgow grin. I can see his eyes...red sclerae and green, pupil-less irides. A true monster visually.

There were more life-forms aboard the ship, and some of them were humans along with more undead in caskets which hadn't been unloaded yet. He was going to fire the shots on every single one of them by targeting the ship alone - though the one on the deck raised their arms and fired a single shot his way as soon as he saw Itachi approach in his line of vision.

Damn it. No choice but to do Plan B.

Here was the surprise: the Kurotori contained an extra ride that would get him out of here should he be forced to eject if shot. Its time had come after a lifetime of glory...which it would go down into a blaze of, though its collision left nothing but flames that were taking its time to spread and destroy this vessel once and for all. Leaving the stitched puppet for him to deal with, and he would get his information through the Tsukuyomi rather than tasting impure blood.

The wrecked outer craft hit the heart of the Ro, taking the lives of every human and screeching ghoul in the lower depths with it - and left Itachi with not only his untouched getaway as well as his towering, shadowy self against the zombie man who towered a couple feet above him. He could tear apart any human being with his bared hands if he wanted to, and that must have been what he did before tonight. I assess that he has not one heart, but another. How had he been manufactured after being either torn apart or blown to pieces in his old life before this miserable one? But Itachi Uchiha was not here to talk or speculate, but to do his job, and he certainly wasn't about to ask this beast of his past.

But he would say this for sure: "Those who desecrate the dead - and those who walk as a putrid shell of their former self, doing the deeds of others - will join their ranks."

He let himself turn into a murder of crows, taking flight around the zombie man who growled at him and roared that he had a name despite his appearance, that it was Kakuzu, and this night he would take the heart of the Senju's pet vampire without turning him to dust before he could.

"So do what you wish, Kakuzu."

Just as he expected: the musket was pointed at him, but the shot wasn't able to hit him as Itachi transformed again into crows, reforming himself over and over as the shots inside were coated with blessed metal. The last shot, however, was caught between the vampire's teeth, which he seldom did - and it was the last bullet which he crushed without error, spitting it all out onto the ground much to the disbelief of Kakuzu. Itachi seized the moment of weakness as his opportunity.

Both of his hands ended up piercing through the stitched, living cadaver's hard flesh, breaking both hearts within - and that was when he saw IT before his eyes. He didn't need to delve deeper.

Madara has launched his armies onto Konoha from above. But they have not attacked yet. They are waiting for the night to come.

This was not the only cruiser; there is more, but they are undetectable for us.

~o~

Itachi took out that ship, but that hadn't been the only one. More were back out there but undetectable, and that decreased their chances of knowing how much more they were numbered against the enemy. That didn't stop them from increasing their military strength, either.

In the middle of the guards being up, there was the matter of her friends and their families.

Shikamaru said to both his parents that he and Choji got an offer from Suna that they were welcoming a new studio with Temari's connections. They were going to leave and start over in a new town, but they would be able to come back home and visit anytime, after they got settled in. It was a half-lie that had to work.

Of course, the response was that Choza was utterly devastated that his son was going to leave, and so was Karui - and that was when she chose to break it off with him because he thought of himself rather than THEM. That was when Hanaru chose to just...she had no idea what to think of that betrayal and treatment of her friend. Poor guy was bawling his head off as soon as they were all back at headquarters, and she did most of the comforting herself.

It means I should let her go, too. I thought she could be a good friend to us, but she's extremely shallow - more than I thought.

Though, in the end, it didn't matter. She and Temari had their boys and each other as well as a much higher calling. It was all for the best.

When Itachi came back after his mission, she went to him because she needed to. She had no idea how to console him or help him, but he needed her as much as she needed him because she found herself fearing for his life. Which is silly because he's a mighty, six-hundred-year-old warrior of the undead. He can get out of anything.

Hanaru wanted to believe he was keeping himself alive not only for that night, but for HER.

The tension between them continued to grow even as he found time to "spar" with her; what he did was take her out at night on smaller missions so that she would truly get the hang of killing vampires and zombies. And she got the hang of everything so much that she couldn't be more proud of herself - and the pride was in his eyes when she had the last bloodsucker out of three in a single night to dust.

Her grandparents were proud when they learned of her progress that it made her break down into their embraces.

It was her being in Naruto's shoes when she saw how far he came.

Even more was her and Itachi behind closed doors when he finally came to her in her room which was all hers now, and he would sometimes stay with her until she went to sleep, his cool, hard body spooning with her warm, soft one which was hardening now after rigorous training and all. His touches were so soothing as his words, and his kisses soft and tender, making her moan and sigh, curling into him and wishing he would just be there when she woke up. If not for his injections to keep himself alive during daylight.

One thing bothered her very much, and it was the fact he never said he loved her back, though he made it clear that he cared for her and would always be there for her. And he did accept her feelings which were the same as his, which she was glad to accept - for now. I never thought the man I dreamt about would really be the one I love. I never thought ANY of this would happen to me, and my friends as well.

Nor did she ever think the bloodiest night of their lives in which humans and monsters would go to war with would come.

No one predicted that the moon would turn red tonight. And the next blood moon wasn't due for another two years. Only this wasn't just any ordinary blood moon...

It's on this night that has begun to shape our lives.

She was gearing up with her friends the night before, all of them wearing navy blue with green flak jackets - and so were Sasuke and Sakura, who was going to do her best to heal everyone she was stationed with - when they all heard the news that communication with the civilians below was lost. Which meant the enemy had cut them off from the innocent people who were all going to die - except their allies who were extremely sophisticated despite living amongst sand.

"No response from the Pacific fleet or even our air forces," Sasuke told them grimly, eyes bleeding red. "However, we just got in the report that dirigibles are moving over Konoha as we speak, so we move out and move out NOW!"

The Akatsuki were at the gates, and only Senju and Suna stood against them.

~o~

Konoha, a peaceful town filled with love and laughter despite any hardships, was demolished in a single night that never seemed to end. It began with the blimps in the skies that Sasuke Uchiha spoke of.

Below the aircrafts, life was going on as always: young couples or single youths partying and heading home late, solo or on each other. Other older couples, married or simply enjoying each other's company, were leaving comfortable dinner dates and heading home or leaving home for that. Even a few families were out of the house for whatever they would do to keep their bonds strong.

However, tonight doing all those things would be the last, just as those safe in their homes would find that it was no longer a sanctuary from the evil coming overhead to land in the streets for one purpose only.

The sooner the water tower, the clock tower as well as all the important buildings were shot each with a single missile, chaos reigned supreme.

Fire and smoke blew into the skies.

People screamed and ran for their lives, as the explosions trailed after most of them and others were left to be targeted for what would happen next. And the leader of this monstrous anarchy relished the "beauty", therefore ordered more in the form of his creations which were dropped down from the highest heavens...to feast and tear apart every man, woman and child who ended up in their way.

At this rate, the entire town would be left as nothing but a ghost of its former self, littering with bones, rancid meat and gore which flowed in rivers down the streets. But this war was still in its early stage, so there was still time left to stop this madness.

~o~

So, Akatsuki has taken us under control, did they? And with these newborn equivalents keeping us here? Honestly!

Honestly, indeed, Tsunade found the whole thing funny. Everyone was at their posts and ready to fight as soon as they saw their chances, communication cut off between each other. Jiraiya was extremely shocked when they were all "trapped" - but the freaks around them were even more shocked because she, the great Tsunade Senju, was laughing at them for their actions.

"You're all nothing but frogs parading in front of a viper. Of course I would find it funny. And I wish you luck claiming your iron cross from your commander in hell."

And so Shizune's wires lashed out to strike the ringleader who ended up in pieces and plenty of blood across the floor. All of them were gone in no time. She pitied these children for failing at trying to keep bigger children in their place. "Well, that was fun watching you clean up," Tsunade told the girl. "And gentlemen, sorry you had to witness all of that." Jiraiya chuckled nervously and reached to wipe his face with the cloth he produced from his jacket.

But this was far from over: Konoha was under siege at this very moment, and they'd lost all contact with everyone. But Suna was still on their side and going to strike when they saw fit. Where they all were at the present was going to be their next target if none of them got out of here alive...

...but then Jiraiya piped that he was going to stay here while she made her way back to headquarters unharmed and with all her men she could spare.

Tsunade gasped; he was asking for a death wish by staying here -! "It's possible that we can restore communications," he told her. "We got to establish command with whatever bases we have left that are fighting against those things." He closed his eyes. "So I'll be commanding officer for my family as well as my organization and the innocents who are dying at this moment."

He was guilty for not being with them for years even though he left because of HER word, and as a result, she started to feel that way - and then she reached into her jacket to pull out the one thing she saved for him after all these years: the magnum loaded with blessed silver-tipped rounds.

His eyes lit up when he took it from her, and when he looked up at her, he smiled with those dark irises still shining. And then he HAD to tell her something at a time like this that a young girl should be blushing over and not thinking too much about. Nor was it the kind that made your heart sing like the birds of spring.

"Tsunade, before you leave, I might not get a chance to ever say this, but for all it's worth, I really did care about you more than just as a best friend. And it's not just because you're the mother of the child we both lost, or the grandmother of two awesome kids who are out there giving it all they have."

In other words, you're declaring your love.

"I know," she answered softly, standing up from her chair and smiling back without shame, not bothering to bark orders at those around them to get to work reestablishing communication with their allies. A flustered Shizune hurried after her.

When they were outside, there was the carnage that was once a joyful town where her son and grandchildren grew up, free from all of this, and she gritted her teeth to the point of shattering them all for good. She could feel the wrinkles forming between her eyes and the space behind her forehead throbbing. She was loading her rifle with blessed bullets and was ready to fire at any ghoul which would rise.

"Okay, Shizune, let's get home to the others."

~o~

Much of the dead in the streets had risen to become mindless zombies, like the ones that weren't manufactured by the devil in the air who was overseeing the bloodlust.

Here she was with her friends, the ANBU squad, and the two vampires who were here to protect them all. They had communications installed, her grandfather being there to oversee it, though the message made her nearly lose hold of her weapon if Sakura and Temari were not on either side of her. The boys were struggling to keep hold of themselves as well, thinking of their own families who were lost in that merciless, bloody annihilation.

At least Grandma Tsunade must have gotten away, but still...

"Oh, God, Grandpa."

Her watery eyes fell to the watch that was still around her wrist, with the crystal hearts and the delicate framework that he had given her, seeing it was only nine thirty-eight. It was going to be dragged on forever, and she wasn't sure her heart was going to heal after losing the man who raised her and Naruto. She could picture the howling grief he must be unleashing at the moment.

Gaara now has Tailed Beast Chakra Mode like Naruto in this story - but this time the power is "Tailed Beast Power Mode". :D Though it's been difficult to create his own appearance since Shukaku gets extracted from him.

I'd been conflicted if I should give Gaara in Tailed Beast Mode (not the Sage version, but close enough), since we never see any other like that besides Naruto. So I therefore decided to make Gaara distinct by giving him a different colored chakra (which isn't mentioned in here).

Yups, Kakuzu is "Rip Van Winkle" in this version, and the undetectable aircraft Itachi uses is renamed Kurotori ("blackbird"), which is a variant on the SR-71 Blackbird Alucard flew as he went to confront the demented Rip van Winkle. Oh, yeah, and Kakuzu has only TWO hearts this time around.

It was hard to write the destruction of Konoha in such grisly detail. In fact, I remember the first time I saw the Millennium letting loose its freak armies upon London in Hellsing Ultimate OVA - especially a BABY BEING EATEN. :O Goddamn, that's something too sensitive for me to write.

As for the end with Hanaru breaking down, wait for the next chapter for more on that. Meanwhile, review, review, review. :D