This chap is dedicated to ScarecrowDT for such a lovely review for ch. 26 – honestly, its reviews like that that really keep me going, I love nothing more than hearing how much my work is enjoyed and appreciated by my readers! Thank you so much! ^_^ But, of course, that takes nothing away from EVERYONE who takes the time to read and review my work – rest-assured they are deeply appreciated, even if I can't personally respond to you! :D

Title: 'Sweet Nothing' by Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch – awesome song! ^_^

Also! I have some fan-art for SC to show you! Well…it's not really fan since I drew it, but you know what I mean -.-' Here:
directionoftime. deviantart art/ On-A-Full-Moon-Night-Of-Spring-355252903
Here's some fan art *cough, my own, cough* for Fascination too! ^_^ For those of you who might have read my KakaXOC story, heres a look at my OC! ^_^ -
directionoftime. deviantart art/Fire-of-Ambition-354241260 (you know the drill about spaces .)

Also thanks to Amaterasu (as I know her haha) for inadvertently helping me to figure out how I should solve the prob between Saku and Kaka! ^_^

I've been working on this story for a YEAR can you believe that? Whoooo hahah GNF only took me about four months….but hey, art takes time… (see the sneaky excuse there? :p don't worry, this story will be finished, it just takes time occasionally)

Storm Cloud – Chapter 27 – Eats Away At This Heart Of Mine

Sakura hadn't moved from her spot on the roof for some hours, she'd frankly been quite grateful for the time to be alone with her thoughts without having to argue with someone, or issue orders or even just be in the limelight. She'd been watching through her binoculars for any movement towards the Kumo border, or any sign that the numerous skirmishes were escalating. She wasn't sure what time it was, but before she was really ready to deal with anybody, a strangely familiar presence made itself known and sat down beside her;

"Here you are…" Sasuke began, his voice its signature dispassionate timber,

"Worried?" The kuniochi quipped whilst still not looking away from her binoculars,

"Just curious about something," His vague beginning was not only unbecoming of the current – and naturally terse Uchiha – but also quite irritating, "I saw Kakashi last night, quite late…and he seemed very on edge even after I'd spent much of the afternoon with him discussing battle tactics when he'd seemed little more than tired from prolonged battle," Her hands gripped tighter on the binoculars,

"And you're telling me this why?"

"Did you guys have an argument last night?" Sakura finally pulled her eyes away from the binoculars and flashed her eyes over to the slouched sitting former-nin next to her, her incredulousness written clearly over her face, his dark eyes flashed with slight amusement at how easy it had been to draw it out of her,

"What makes you think that?" Her attempt at re-calming herself was futile for Sasuke's next statement had her mouth drop open in utter disbelief,

"Well, you guys are dating, aren't you? Who else would Kakashi have argued with that might make him so grumpy?"

"You…how in the hell did you know that?" The kuniochi sat up slightly, into a more comfortable position for talking to the boy next to her, who shrugged nonchalantly as though it couldn't have been more obvious,

"Kakashi seemed happier than usual…so we followed him for a day and he went to yours, so…"

"You spied on us? Are you a pervert?"

"No! It was Naruto's idea…" Better to blame the idiot,

"So Naruto also knows? Great…" She slapped a hand over her eyes in frustration as Sasuke tried to rescue the situation (his recent months back in the company of his old friends and current boss had really done him the world of good)

"Ah, Sakura, don't worry too much…we've kept it to ourselves and…well…why?" The medic slowly lifted her eyes to meet his, almost not believing her ears,

"You're expecting me to explain myself? Do you think I want your approval?" This was dangerous territory – her voice might have been carefully laced with unthreatening overtones, but the Uchiha wasn't quite prepared for Sakura to be so reticent with her words,

"No...it just seemed a bit…random, that's all – isn't it weird dating your teacher?" She ran a hand through her hair as she sighed her frustration out – herself and Kakashi was a hot potato to say the least and it was something she'd been desperately trying to avoid all morning, but apparently, it was something she was going to face, whether she liked it or not,

"Who'd have taken you for a gossip, Sasuke?" She couldn't resist the slight dig at him for his nosiness, "But he's not my teacher and he hasn't been for ages, years…" But maybe it's the sense that that was once the case that's got Kakashi in a knot? "Kakashi is a man I respect a lot and like spending time with – he feels the same, so what's wrong with me dating him?" Sasuke merely shrugged at that, "I know it'll probably seem really weird to you guys, but there's really nothing wrong with it – we're both consenting adults," She handed him the binoculars, "I really should go check up on Gerimaru, anyway – so take over her for a while, would you?"

"Sure…" He still seemed a little thrown, so she offered an olive branch,

"Thanks, though," She disappeared from the roof before he could say anything more and headed down towards the make-shift 'cell' that had been used to keep Gerimaru contained, she hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him since she'd captured him a few days previously and it was high time she got to the bottom of whatever it was that had him pretend to be on her side. As the kuniochi walked, her mind also turned to Kakashi, if Sasuke's instinctive thought was that their dynamic was still very student-to-teacher, then was that also at the forefront of Kakashi's mind? Was that why he'd been so awkward last night? He'd had a few nasty days – even without his injuries she could see it on him – perhaps the maelstrom of fears that might be playing on him had bled their way to the surface? Kakashi was not invincible and his own fears could pull on his strings and play him the puppet as much as the next man.

She was more than aware of how strongly (and doubtlessly excessively) she'd reacted to his words, it wasn't easy – and her own fears played games with her too, she hated to admit it, even to herself, but it was bitter thought to imagine that Kakashi think himself so superior and ultimately pity her, or see her as something weak and needing to be humoured. She as she neared the door, she took a deep breath and tried to reorganise her thoughts – the problem with Kakashi could wait for a little while, right now she had to deal with Gerimaru; as she pushed open the door, however, a familiar shock of silver hair caught her attention and both men on her thoughts turned to look at her as she entered the room. The kuniochi very nearly grimaced at the bad fortune whilst she connected eyes with Kakashi, his face-eye was passive as ever, though she fancied she could see an undertone on something negative within it.

It was on thing to tackle the aftermath of an argument, though quite another to do so when the other party was still wading through their residual anger…who was laughing at her for thinking her personal problems could wait a while? Crap…


Stag duty was the worst thing about warfare, Genma had decided; it was one thing to be full of the adrenaline and intensity of battle during the day, but to suddenly switch all of that off and slam on the anchor…yet remain awake and alert was a hell completely aside from battle. He drew a great breath in, feeling the air fill to the very base of his lungs before he sighed it out, with nothing else to occupy his boredom; the tokabetsu Jounin forced himself to remain seated upright, knowing full well that if he dared to lie back, he'd drop asleep in seconds.

He was so tired none of the normal quick-result methods would work – no amount of fresh air, water or rubbing at his eyes would leech the tiredness from him, eventually he decided to brave the bitterness of a Taiki/Iwa spring night and wander for a little while – it might, at the very least, make him so uncomfortable that he'd have no choice but to stay awake. Crawling out of their camp, he stretched up tall – taking the risk of exposing himself so much to enemy eyes, it was either that or be no set of eyes of his own to watch for his comrades' safety.

The night was clear and cold – a fat moon that smiled down with all the light it reflected, the coniferous, stubborn trees and created unnatural shadows in the depths created behind the glare of the orb; he couldn't sense that anything was off and so he focussed on how much his various extremities were freezing off, just so that his brain hadn't fixated on how gnawingly fatigued he was. The perimeter of their base was small and a relatively easily defended area – the woodland surrounding them was extremely dense and the layer of underbrush made silent movement impossible aside from the area they'd cleared. Even so, a ninja was never too careful and as soon as the presence prickled at the back of his neck, Shiranui whipped out a kunai and tensed his muscles, waiting for further signal; he crouched low and darted out as soon as he caught the flicker of movement, unfortunately, however, his target wasn't what he was expecting,

"W-hey…Genma! What are you doing?"

"Ugh…Naruto…what the hell are you doing wandering around in the middle of the night?" Genma lowered his kunai irritatedly, as the younger shinobi let out a steep breath of comedic relief,

"Hey, I needed to pee…besides, weren't you supposed to stay inside the camp whilst you kept guard?"

"I was falling asleep," He shot back, as they wandered back away from the woodline, "Besides, why didn't you warn me you were getting up? I could've killed you,"

"Haha!" Naruto's uninhibited laughter cut across, perhaps a little too loudly for the cautious night, "Yea right! Nobody can kill me!"

"That arrogance of yours, Narut–" Both shinobi suddenly snapped to attention as another presence made itself known to them – what was with all of the traffic tonight? With their kunais drawn, they took up the standard defensive positions – Genma wondering if this would end up being another member of the platoon out to irritate him, but instead, a curiously shaped, shadow appeared from nowhere – and as it twisted, slowly and deliberately, Genma's mouth fell open in utter surprise at the fact it turned out to be a woman…and elderly woman…one who just so happened to apparently be Kakashi's grandmother.

"What in the f-?" She frownded at Genma's poor choice of words,

"I know shinobi are famous for their filthy mouths, but really, in front of an elderly woman such as me?" She questioned, with one of her eyebrows raised looking the least bit frail or delicate that her words implied,

"But your…Kakashi's grandmother,"

"What?-!" Naruto cut across, only to be sharply shushed by her,

"Do you want to bring the entirely of Iwa out here? I heard you from more than a mile away!" She scolded, "But its imperative I speak with you, Mr…"

"Shiranui Genma," He offered, "But why? How did you…?"

"I recognised you from that time you were here a few months ago – with Kakashi,"

"Yes…that's right – you were in the corridor carrying a pot of tea," He remembered, his head cocking to the side slightly in recognition, as the elderly woman smiled wryly,

"It wasn't entirely an accident…but still I have much to talk with you about – is there somewhere we can get out of the cold?"

"Y…yes, of course,"

"Genma, idiot – we don't know if we can trust her! Even if she is Kakashi's grandma!"

"She's already here, Naruto, we can't do anything about that now – but can find out why she's here – this way, please, Urushima-san," Genma motioned for her to head towards the main tent, "Naruto – go and advise Aoba and Hanishi-san of the situation,"

"Roger!"

"Now," Genma began as soon as they were seated inside one of the tents, which had been cleared of all the sleeping shinobi (who were rather…disgruntled at having been moved on in the middle of a much needed night's sleep), it had been taken over by Aoba, Hinishi, Naruto, Genma and Ino, who was the attending medic as well as the resident 'truth teller'; "Urushima-san, please tell me why you're here,"

"I must leave Iwagakure…the place is collapsing and I do not wish to be here when it crumbles…I've wanted to leave for a long time but this seemed to perfect opportunity,"

"Why didn't you just leave yourself?"

"In the middle of a war? Ho ho ho," She waved her hand slightly, as though it dismissed the suggestion for her, "I know I look young and spritely, but there's still far too much risk – I doubt Konoha would be happy to take in an enemy nin on the eve of war!" Hinishi narrowed his eyes slightly, dropping a hand onto the table edge, with the other at his hip,

"Urushima-san, exactly what opportunity are you hoping we'll provide you with?"

"An escape to Konoha – I have not been a serving shinobi for some time, the Iwa authorities think I am too feeble, but I hold some power yet and I'm certain I can be an asset to Hidden Leaf – even if it's only through what I know," That caused all of the shinobi present to purse their lips slightly in worry – a ninja of questionable allegiance both was and wasn't a desirable one to have,

"You seem all too willing to betray your village,"

"That is not my village, Hinishi-san, it hasn't been for a long time, though I was powerless to leave – Iwagakure is a twisted village that has no respect for its shinobi nor love for its citizens, I wish to see it crumble and taste its own bitterness," Her expression was solid and determined, Genma really couldn't feel any falsity from her – but that by itself wasn't nearly enough,

"I see…forgive me, Urushima-san, but we must make certain you aren't lying – or attempting to betray us. Ino, please look into her mind and determine whether she's lying to us." The kuniochi nodded and moved forwards, pulling her chakra to the fore and regulating it ready to perform her clan's jutsu as she spoke sensitively to the elderly ninja,

"This will be invasive, Urushima-san, but you will not be harmed,"

"I understand," She replied whilst raising her chin slightly, in an obvious, though checked move of acceptance and complicity; the blonde raised her hands and placed them on the elder's hair, her mind's eye quickly awakening in the stranger's brain – it took a few minutes of scanning but a lot of memories surfaced, most depicting many Iwa nin – all of whom elicited feelings of anger and hatred.

One memory that appeared before Ino was – amazingly – of Kakashi – sat in front of her and apparently grinning, what the? Unable to resist probing a little further, she discovered that this had taken place more than a month or so previously, where she'd met up with her…grandson for the first time in some thirty six years. This, of course, utterly floored Ino – and after looking around a little more and finding more evidence to support her theory – concluded that Urushima was indeed telling the truth.

"…What is it?" Hinishi asked after seeing the look on Ino's face,

"You…you're Kakashi-sensei's grandmother?" the elderly woman smiled genially and nodded,

"Hai…one reason I'd like to leave is to reconnect with Kakashi," The entire group shared a dubious look with each other at that remark,

"Otherwise, Hinishi-Taichou, she is telling the truth – I can detect no ulterior motive,"

"Alright…then if you want us to get you out, Urushima-san, then you'll need to help us with some choice bits of information," The elderly woman grinned slightly,

"I anticipated this and made a point of gathering some especially useful bits of information for you," Her grin turned a touch a malicious, "Primarily which bits of Iwa are the least well-guarded and which bits the daimyos tend to frequent the most," Hinishi raised his head in a slow, half nod as he took in that snippet of information, perhaps he was acting rashly, but this was a delightfully tempting offer that had flown into his lap – and any chance to end the conflict on a quicker time frame was a boon he couldn't afford to miss.

"Then it appears, Urushima-san, that we have some serious planning to do,"


Wazishi rubbed his hands over his forehead for the fifth time in as many minutes, he almost felt as though he was on the verge of a heart attack from the stress the Kumo nin were forcing on him. He'd tried in vain to explain to them that Gerimaru had been abducted rather than fled, but the Kumo nin were apparently as stubborn as they were stupid – the Kenjin had to admit, he sorely missed Gerimaru; as irritating as he could be, he was someone Wazishi trusted very much and knew he could rely on.

"Well? What are you going to do? We were due to make the move on Konoha three days ago…if your stupid ninja hadn't gone and run off," The most senior of the three Kumo nin spoke up in his typical arrogant timbre,

"Asiro-sama, I have explained to you the situation – and there is nothing more I can do about it at this very moment, it would be too bizarre for me to send out a number of my forces to go and retrieve a supposed 'ally'," The dark haired (and horribly scarred) shinobi frowned, disgruntled,

"Yes, you've long explained that, old man, and it's a stupid idea, what we're asking is that you send out a few of your nin to go to Konoha, for some reason and infect them with the modified virus from within," The aubergine haired kuniochi sighed impatiently, "That was our plan will be used to its best effect…and you better cooperate, Wazishi, or you'll lose even more of your ninja to…unfortunate accidents," The elderly man sighed heavily, still unsure of how he might best thwart the two tyrants in front of him,

"H-hai, Kazuko-sama," He just sorely hoped that Gerimaru was having better luck than he and that somehow, Konoha would forgive him for the position he'd let himself get caught in.

"It's about damn time! Honestly, you keep me locked up here for days and you've yet to even ask me anything! I'm not a trophy, damnit!" The red-headed Uzu nin demanded as soon as Sakura had stepped into the room – expertly pretending he couldn't see the obvious tension between them,

"Shut up…I still have no idea of your intentions, Gerimaru, so until such time that I do, you'll remain as my prisoner,"

"Excuse me," Kakashi began, his irritation clear to say the least, "I was in the middle of the interrogation,"

"He's my prisoner, you should have discussed it with me before you tried to step in," Kakashi's eye narrowed fleetingly,

"I am the most senior shinobi here, I take over the responsibilities for further protocol and dealing with prisoners,"

"Bollocks, we're the same rank," Her expression was one of utter defiance, Gerimaru saw, as she span around to face him, the Uzu nin wasn't sure why but Kakashi merely issued a short, irritated breath – since when did the Copy Nin take insolence from a once subordinate? "Gerimaru, what was it, exactly, that made you decide to 'join' my team and I when we were about to leave?" The captured shinobi's eyes darted between the both of them,

"Just as I told you then, I didn't trust the fact that Kumo had been visiting Uzushio and that there had been a vast area of destruction on the West side of the island," Sakura folded her arms and shifted the weight on her feet,

"And yet you knew absolutely nothing about the situation?"

"I'd been out of the village for a number of days, travelling to Konoha," The redhead attempted to answer with patience, but it was obvious it took some restraint,

"Sakura, how long have we known each other? How much have we both put in to forming an alliance between the Leafs and Whirlpool? You really think we'd jeopardize that so easily? And for what, to align with those Kumo assholes?"

"Gerimaru," Kakashi began, finally stepping forward, "Whilst it's true that it seems very illogical for you to suddenly appear after so many years to make false friends, we can't rule it out as a possibility. We're all at great risk here, Gerimaru, and Konoha is vulnerable, any mistakes could well prove fatal," There was a queer intensity to the silver-haired nin's voice – it wasn't anything like weakness, but neither was it the same as the cool confidence he normally exuded,

"I know that… but I don't know what I could do to convince you I'm telling the truth. I honestly thought you'd have a bit more trust in me,"

"I don't inherently distrust you, it's just more like…I have to take into consideration the situation and evidence," Sakura replied, in a similar timbre to Kakashi, her eyes flashed over to him momentarily,

"Though it is somewhat circumstantial, I suppose there is some credibility to it," The Copy Nin spoke next and from their still rather distant-tones, he wasn't sure if they talking about the same thing he was thinking of, his eyebrows knitted for a split second as he looked between the two Leafs, "Sakura, please explain your reasoning for capturing Gerimaru," His voice was gravely and held some edge of fatigue to it,

"…Gerimaru's suspicions inherently matched my own and for the shaky situation, he seemed to be just a little too eager to point fingers at his own people – especially for the fact he is Wazishi's right hand man. Of course, by the time we were ready to leave he'd already seen us and I didn't want to risk him casting aspersions on Konoha that Kumo might take advantage of and make the war worse for us," Kakashi nodded slowly, taking in everything the kuniochi was saying;

"I suppose in the circumstances you didn't have too much of an option…and you had to draw some conclusion," Kakashi paused for a few minutes, "Gerimaru, tell me your analysis of the situation in Uzushiogakure…do you think Wazishi is being forced into a corner by Kumo?" Both the Uzumaki and the kuniochi looked at Kakashi identically, though for polar opposite reasons – the former because he'd been thinking that might have been the case for some time, and the latter because Sakura too had been sensing Kakashi's words had been a result of him feeling forced into a corner, too.

"Well…I didn't have the opportunity to talk honestly with Kenjin-san*, he stopped me or diverted the conversation whenever I tried to address some things that were bothering me…I think he really was worried about the Kumo ninja in Uzushio…I'm not sure if he was expecting them or if they'd just forced their way in and threatened him, but either's bad.

"The only thing I can say for certain, is that Wazishi-sama never once discussed Kumo with me as being anything other than a threatening force – please believe me when I tell you that I am absolutely certain is that Wazishi-sama never had any intention of allying with Cloud – he really, really wanted a good alliance with Konoha…Cloud have been our enemies for years and were one of the primary driving forces for our near-destruction years and years ago…I feel more and more sure Wazishi-sama is being coerced against his will," Kakashi nodded sharply, raising his eyes to the ceiling in what was a typical 'thinking-pose' for him, Sakura herself moved and took a few steps towards the door,

"Thank you Gerimaru, I'll be back in a little while," Her abrupt exit apparently caught the Copy Nin by surprise too, as he seemed compelled to follow her out of the door, which snapped closed behind him. Out in the corridor, he found the kuniochi awaiting him, she looked on edge and she acted as soon as her eyes locked with his,

"Saku–" He found himself thrust back against the wall of the corridor as Sakura yanked down his mask and had her lips on his in a split second – he almost, shamelessly, found himself so caught up in the intensity of the moment that he put his lingering anger and frustration completely aside as he returned the kiss and looped his arms around her. He had missed her, despite his secondary and rather ill-favoured temper that had caught him off guard the night previously. Far too quickly he could feel her pull back slightly, but he returned to himself quickly enough, once he'd remembered the situation they were in – and just how publically they were expressing something that was supposed to be a secret,

"Kakashi, I'm sorry about yesterday…I know you've had some nasty battles to deal with and I know I was taking things a little bit personally, but," He'd heard enough, as a smile slipped onto his face,

"It's…okay…"

"No! It's not! I'm sorry, I know you've had a really hard time Kakashi – I have too, but, well, if we still have anything left to argue about, I'm pretty sure it can wait until we're safely back within Konoha – and not in the middle of a war!" Her expression was one of deep concern and also slight desperation, eager as she was to get across her apology and to reassure him, but Kakashi merely tugged her a little closer and touched his forehead to hers; the cool metal of his haitai-ate strangely reassuring against her impassioned apology,

"It's okay…we're at war, none of this is easy for anybody…let alone us who're trying to juggle a relationship at the same time…" Her reserved, almost shy grin that returned his words had his heart skip a beat; he took advantage of the fact that his face was, for once, bear and he pushed his lips back to hers.

Though this time, it was a far more intense kiss that truly expressed the ends of their relief to be together and to understand one another – that despite all of the war and hatred raging around them, they still had each other and it was a deeper comfort. Somehow, it still contained a fiery passion that had them gripping each other just a bit tighter in an effort to further rid themselves of the stresses and glean as much of the blissful and paradoxically unadulterated pleasure as they could…it really didn't matter for the fact they were in the middle of a public corridor and could be discovered at any moment – all of it just took the second seat next to the fact they were there, together, alive and happy.


"Ready?" Genma queried, allowing a smile to steal onto his face as he glanced at Naruto's hearty and oh-so-typical grin,

"Roger," The tokabetsu Jounin tapped the pressel on his short-range radio as he sounded his own voice of readiness into the mouth-piece, as the small section readied themselves, Naruto almost bursting at the seams, desperate to leap in and put a stop to the conflict he'd been caught in over the past few weeks. The radio crackled back to life and all of the pieces were set – they received their word of go – the section leapt forward, Naruto creating his taijuu kage bunshin, two of whom helping him to form his rasengan as he flew in first in line.

The poor building didn't stand a chance as the great whirling mass of wind chakra flew and twisted and sliced through the feeble wood and paper walls; the struts protested and the people within the office shouted just as loudly, but no opening was given to them for escape, as soon as the great sphere cut through, Aoba stepped up and send a great katon karyuu edan [fire dragon flame projectile] which decimated the first of the shinobi that attempted to compensate for the sudden attack, though a great wall of earth appeared and blocked the last remnants of the jutsu, it appeared utterly unharmed.

The earthen blockade fell away to reveal a familiar, haunted face and beady eyes,

"Peikou…" Genma hissed as he began to flash his hands through his own seals, leaping forwards to tackle the troublesome nin head-on whilst Naruto and Aoba primarily tackled the remaining nin in the room to even up the odds – the other shinobi that were working on planting more of the explosives at the key points Riika had outlined in the plan they'd concocted two days earlier, everything had been run through and planned to almost sickening detail – including many contingency plans just in case. They knew Ashikino would be here and Genma was all set for him – he hadn't fought Peikou before, but Kakashi had and he'd learned a lot from even the brief encounter…and he'd told the tokabesu Jounin all about it.

At the same time, just as Naruto had thrust his rasengan through the corner of the building, two other simultaneous explosions detonated in major buildings across the hidden village of Rock, the confusion caused by the simultaneity gave the Leaf ninja a swift advantage, in that the effective shinobi within Iwa were unsure which threat to attack first – in these vital few seconds, though, the Konoha nin had followed up with their own, more directed attacks at specific enemy nin. The fighting was tight and focused, every nin opposing the Iwagakure forces felt as though this was the final effort – that if they could succeed in this battle, then enough would have been done that they could return to Konoha…and maybe even put the war to rest.

Genma gritted his teeth as he collided punches and kicks with Peikou, the twisted man's grin was unsettling as was imaginable and it wasn't easy to prevent it from distracting him; the man gave him no quarter and Genma had no time to step back and cast an appropriate jutsu that might flatten the sickly man. He had a defence jutsu cast, though, which encrusted his right hand in dense rock which meant his hitting power was vastly increased; Genma wasn't finding it easy to counter the crushing power of the punches and find his own in between the wide swing spaces – Genma managed to pull back and leap away, giving himself some space whilst he dug into his pouch and pulled out a scroll that, when unfolded, summoned a genjutsu – though it immediately appeared to Peikou like it was an oddly shaped shuriken.

"Ha, you'll never get me with that you pathetic Leaf – this city will never crumble to your excuse for an invasion…you Konoha nins have had an easy ride for far too long,"

"And you think you're the ones who deserve to decide everything? You've caused a lot of people a lot of trouble over the years," The fake Genma responded, keeping Peikou occupied whilst the real nin darted over to the left, dropping a couple of kibakufuda[exploding tags] as he went, but, through sheer bad luck, the Iwa nin hurled a shuriken and it struck a tag on the far side of the room, hurling Genma to the floor and jolting Peikou out of the genjutsu and res-sparking his irritation worse than before, the Iwa nin nearly barked his anger and leapt forwards, hardly giving time for Genma to find his feet, or form any sort of defence.

Naruto darted into the group of Rock shinobi that had gathered below the building he'd just hit, throwing kicks and punches through his kage bunshin, though most of them were easily destroyed at the hands of shinobi that were as skilled as they were angry; the blonde was coping well with the first three of the nin, but the remaining two had thrown giant shurkiens and cast a water jutsu before Naruto could react to defeat it. But he was in luck, for a great blur moved and at once the throwing star was deflected and an enormous earthen hand rose out of the ground and grabbed the great wave that shot towards the blonde Leaf. Riika darted forwards, seconds later, with a long sword drawn and her chakra charged,

"Whoa! Kakashi-obaa-chan! Way to go!"

"Hmm, there's still it a bit more to me than wrinkles!" She sped forwards and slashed through the first nin, her reactions far swifter than was naturally assumed for the elderly, her sword began to glow with a bluish haze which enlargened her reach by almost three feet – and caught the second shinobi by surprise ad severed his right hand just below the wrist. Her second thrust pierced his chest and killed him in a moment; she turned back and, upon seeing that Naruto was now thoroughly in control of the battle, she darted away, knowing there was one man in particular she would relish killing.

He wasn't far and was, happily, on the losing side of the battle; she waited, safely hidden in the shadows for some time, observing the twist and flow of the fight; Shiranu was a good fighter with quick reactions, but his weaknesses were obvious and the proof was in how long the battle had taken already. She again charged her sword with chakra and paused, just as Peikou darted forwards, he noticed the kuniochi, however, and hurled a fistful of shuriken in her direction, yet her chakra charged blade easily cast them aside as though they were made of little more than cardboard.

Peikou had no knowledge of her jutsu or either believed her no longer capable, as he'd turned his attention right back to Genma and that was his fatal mistake; she'd lunged with her chakra sharp bade and priced it through his chest, manipulating her chakra at the final moment to send two tendrils out, parallel to the initial blade – just to cause that man a fraction more pain.

"Urushima-san we can't thank you enough for help us in this matter," Hinishi bowed his head slightly in thanks, whilst the elderly woman smiled lightly, feeling her own sense pride at the fact she'd managed to take her own slice of vengeance on Iwa, killing her share of those who'd done her wrong. The battle hadn't taken too much more time, after some the Lords and most of the senior shinobi had been taken out, the others buckled willingly and it was easy to reinstill a sense of authority to the tentative hidden village – though Konoha couldn't withdraw all of its forces, they'd called for reinforcements to be sent before they went in and the present company should be on the return journey for respite within three days.

"You're quite welcome...I do want…one thing for my troubles," Hinishi narrowed his eyes slightly and cocked his head playfully, knowing what was coming,

"What, exactly?"

"I want to emigrate to Konoha."


"…Got it?" Wazishi queried, keeping his senses wide open for any listening in Kumo shinobi, his specially selected team all nodded as they crouched in front of him, "I know you know this – but Konoha are not our true enemies here,"

"Hai, Kenjin-san," The taichou responded swiftly, his firm nod assuring Wazishi ever-so-slightly that his underlying message had been received and understood,

"Then you're dismissed…see to it that you complete your mission," He spoke louder this time, though his heart was as heavy as his eyelids,

"We will hurry and complete what our Kenjin-san commands of us," Hanomaru-Taichou spoke with a confidence that was not matched by his heart – he knew what was being asked of him – to not attack Konoha with the vials of virus that he'd been entrusted with, but he couldn't realistically see how he could do anything else – it would be obvious within days or weeks that Konoha hadn't been hit and then it would his hide – or at worse, Wazishi-sama's – at the hands of the remorseless Cloud ninja.

He lead his team away swiftly – after a bow of courtesy to Wazishi – he wouldn't be able to think clearly until he was off the island of Uzushio and would no longer have the Kumo breathing down their necks; Hanomaru didn't know what Kumo had on Wazishi-sama, but it was evident that they were in a tight position and it was looking more and more like the choice was between Hidden Whirlpool and Hidden Leaf.

…Of course, Hidden Whirlpool was looking at a massacre not matter how long they played the games Cloud set out for them – the master invariably killed his rat when he was bored of the game. His team's apparent mood mirrored his own as the pace slowed considerably once they were onto mainland Fire, they'd chosen to arc up and attack Konoha from a North-Easternly position – mostly because it afforded more time for them to think about how they might tackle the issue of an order they didn't want to execute.

Hanomaru had wondered if he might approach Konoha and discuss the issue with them, but he accurately guessed that the nation in the midst of war on two separate fronts, would not have the tie or resources to devote to a diversion convincing enough that their Kenjin-san and the village would not face a vengeful decimation.

"Hanomaru-Taichou!" Ankira shouted, catching the team leader's attention,

"Hai?"

"My scouting animals have reported something – I…it seems they think they're catching the scent of Gerimaru-san,"

"W-what?" Hanomaru was genuinely surprised as he skidded to a halt on the broad branch, the rest of his team appeared beside him in seconds, "Gerimaru was captured over a week ago – we thought he was taken to Konoha,"

"Kiina is certain, Taichou, he's about forty kilometres north west of here,"

"Any other scents?" Ankira's ninja-fox had the best nose Uzu had ever seen;

"Many, but I never met with the Konoha nin who came to our village, and neither did Kiina, so whether its them or not…" He trailed off as Hanomaru nodded,

"Well, it seems quite unlikely that Gerimaru would choose to remain there and not return to Uzushio of his own free will – we have to assume that he's still being held by his captors…and what sort of Uzushio nin would we be if we abandoned our superior in his time of need?" Ankira and the rest of the team all grinned,

"We couldn't possibly call ourselves Whirlpool nin, Taichou, besides, it is on our way…"

"Can't argue with that – lead the way, Ankira," The team darted off – at twice the pace they'd been clocking before – partly due to the fact they could put off their mission for a tiny while longer, and partly due to the new sense of purpose and desire they had in rescuing Gerimaru. Their captain slowed them once they got to about fifteen kilometres out and he slowed them enough to explain the plan he'd been concocting,

"Alr–" The rest of the word died on his tongue as his senses picked up on the presence of Kumogakure forces closing in on the decrepit city, their number wasn't particularly great, but it had been something of a shock – why would they be in this part of Fire? Not to mention the fact they could expose the fact he hadn't yet completed his mission, "What…the…f—"

"Taichou, let me go in and assess what's going on…it's pretty obvious that Konoha must be here, otherwise why would Cloud care about this place?"

"Ishi, this is too dangerous, I can't let you,"

"You know my kamereon technique is perfect, I know I can get in and find out what's happening," The determined blue eyes of Ishi was almost convincing enough – this situation had just gotten way out of hand, and frankly, even the Jounin team leader wasn't sure what the best course of action was; "Please, Captain, I know I can do this – if anything happens I can keep still and none will see me – besides, Kumo haven't attacked yet, they're still a good ten kilometres away from the city…their advance is slow,"

"But we don't know why, Ishi, there could be a trap there that no amount of invisibility will help you avoid…" Hanomaru sighed sharply and dropped his forehead to his fingertips, rubbing them stressfully across the dark material tied there,

"Taichou," The youngest of the team spoke up, "I think some of the Cloud ninja are starting to move, towards the ruined city," The captain's head snapped up as he heard this, edging forward in a subconscious, though vain, effort to verify his subordinate's words;

"What do we do now, Taichou? We can't sneak in through the middle of a battle and rescue Gerimaru! That is too dangerous,"

"Well we can't just sit here and wait for the squabbles to settle themselves, can we? Besides, we have our own mission to complete and we can't delay too long… we'll head in as a group and cover each other – we'll circle around to slip in through the least occupied area, the forest grows right up to the outskirts,"

The three who remained of the team all shared a brief nervous look between each other, this had suddenly taken precedence over their original mission – and as much as they did not want to carry it out, it was something quite different from sneaking into the midst of battle to rescue one of their captured nin – which could potentially land them between two mutual enemies who'd happily crush them along with their primary targets.

Still, the Uzuzhio nin couldn't seem to find the words to halt their Taichou and he took off, leading them around the far, Eastern edge of the abandoned city, they kept low and hidden, wary of the great shouts and fights of the battle, the thunderous explosions and cracks of jutsu befalling their opponent. Ishi, who was about a Chuunin level, was very conscious of his proximity to the conflict behind him – he'd never been in such an intense battle – very few Whirlpool missions were conducted outside of their territories – and even fewer happened where they ended up in conflict with other high ranking ninja.

Almost all of Uzushio's energies went into hiding away their existence and defending themselves from unfriendly eyes, learning the skills and abilities of the other nations, but never engaging them – Naidime Ishi had never been into the interior of Fire and he certainly had never considered facing more than one enemy at a time.

"Alright – Ankira, you and Kiima lead in the two o'clock direction, then myself, Yima and finally Ishi – keep your eyes open and avoid all trouble if you can, the key is to free Gerimaru not to engage with the enemy, which could potentially be both Konoha as well as Cloud, who'll kill us or Wazishi-sama if they find us here,"

They darted through the streets, the nin fox leaping ahead, yipping its signals to change direction or avoid any persons nearby; the city was far larger than they'd imagined and the traps that had been strewn about the place were intricate and they only avoided most thanks to Kiima's sensitive nose that detected the concentrated points of unfamiliar scent. They got right to the interior of the city before Ishi and Ankira separated off to find Gerimaru, whilst Hanomaru and Yima span around to cancel the attack of an unfamiliar blonde kuniochi holding a great fan.

"It would seem that we're really the centre of attention, right now...hmm?" Their weapons flicked in their hands and chakra began to swirl in anticipation of a confrontation, "What the hell are Uzushio shinobi doing here?"

"We're here to rescue one of our own who was taken prisoner," Hanomaru explained quickly, as the kuniochi frowned slightly and cocked her head,

"The readhead? Gera…uh–"

"Germaru-sama, yes,"

"He's free at the moment – he's helping us fight the Kumo nin – but last I heard you lot were cahoots with Cloud," She seemed rather well informed for the fact she wasn't a Leaf ninja,

"What's going on?" Kakashi appeared a second later, his clothes slightly tattered and a few nicks in his skin,

"Kakashi-san! I had no idea you were here! We came to rescue Gerimaru-sama, but we here he's free,"

"Right, right," Kakashi threw his fist around, the specialised kunai gripped in it deflecting the shuriken thrown at him, "Gerimaru's helping us and you'll have to as well – Kumo are causing too many problems, we can talk about it later,"

"H-Hai," Hanomaru span around and flew into the battle – he trusted Kakashi and had worked with him all that time ago when they'd first arrived in Whirlpool and had visited the old ruins the hidden village. As he buried himself into the attack – there were four Kumo nin clustering, each attempting to land a blow on Sakura, though she wasn't making it easy, between her decimating strikes that ruptured the ground and her exceptional evasion techniques meant they'd yet to land more than a scratch.

Hanomaru leapt forward and swiped the edge of his kunai at the closest nin, who dodged, and brought his own kunai up to block the strike, giving the kuniochi some breathing space. The Kumo shinobi didn't appear to recognise him, and he cursed the fact his clothing so easily gave him away as Uzushio shinobi; still he hated Kumo more than he was ordered to hate Konoha, so he darted back and prepared a lightning jutsu. He thrust his hand forward so that a form of hiraishin [electric needles] that discharged with enough forced that it literally stopped the Cloud shinobi in his tracks, whilst their death was swiftly dished up the Sand shinobi who hurled a great blade of wind energy at the defenceless ninja, and he was sliced nearly in half.

The fighting was clumsy the buildings took a harsh brunt of the worst of the jutsu, many of the Cloud nin befell the numerous traps that had been loaded about the place – yet, they were obviously on the losing side and the Leaf ninja were beginning to take some heart that they might be able to quell their enemy and this side of the fighting soon…but it was too soon to let their guards wane.

"Kakashi!" Pakkun's concerned voice shouted as the little pug dashed forwards, appearing out of the treeline, weaving through the legs and kunais, he'd never been so busy over the past few days as he had been in his life, "Kakashi! You have to retreat, there's reinforcements coming from–" The pug skidded to a halt as Hanomaru jumped aside from a great fire jutsu that had been cast by the last Kumo nin to be disposed of – but he couldn't evade it all, however and it singed its entire way down his right hand side, including his haitai-ate, which had been essentially split in two.

A shuriken and the three vials of virus in liquid suspension slipped from the pouch and fell down towards the ground, through sheer bad luck, the shuriken fell and scratched open a wound on the pug's head, micro seconds later, all three of the vials dropped onto Pakkun's haitai-ate and smashed open, dribbling the small, but potent volume over the pug's head and into his wound.

"Pakkun!" Kakashi shouted, his instinct telling him whatever had been present in the glass bottles was not for fair means,

"The vials!" Hanomaru grabbed at his pouch and span around, very quickly grasping the situation, "They were vials of the virus! It's been released! We have to get out of here!" The Uzu nin screamed, catching the attention of all very quickly, whilst he darted away, to put as much distance from the potentially lethal virus as he could. Kakashi, however, only moved forwards, skidding to a halt so that he could scoop Pakkun up in his arms, utter dread filling his veins as the pug merely whimpered pitifully…

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*Just in case you've forgotten or missed this in an earlier chapter, 'Kenjin-san' means roughly 'wise man' and is something I've used for a means of addressing an elder/senior shinobi in Uzushio

-Hope you all remember who Kazuko is! Mwahahaha, her part Kumo was limited, but there she learned valuable things *evil grin*

Nnnnnnnooooooooo! Pakkun! :O

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