Cue the music, dim the lights, pull up a chair and pop some popcorn. Its time for the first saga in By These Fists. At this point, we can say with some certainty that the fic shall pick up pace and intensity.

Chapter 36: Bloodsoaked Symphony – Fanfare

Dawn came quickly that day, wrapping the village of Konoha in crimson embrace. Under that color-bleaching redness, teams of Root and ANBU loyal to Danzou patrolled the streets of the market district in pairs. Given the small size of the force, even that was more than would be normal.

The boarders of the clan districts were patrolled by full platoons.

Nonetheless, Danzou smiled to himself as he stood on the rooftop of the Hokage tower. In a briefing hall that stood a full half the length of the village from his location, he knew that two of his handpicked apprentices and personal guards, Sai and Te, were briefing their 25 platoons of Roots and ANBU. Within an hour, the force of 100 Konoha Black Ops Shinobi would be on their way, headed for the location that Te had so recently provided them, the location of the Sound village. Once there, his students and apprentices would make good his final victory over that fool Sarutobi and his legacy. If all went according to plan, then by the end of the week, the only shinobi left alive with any ties to Konoha would be the ones in the village, and in that force of 100.

The dawn's blood-soaked fingertips were quite prophetic, really. Soon blood that was once of Konoha would freely soak the ground of some distant battlefield. And when it was over, Danzou would be all that was left standing.

Its good to be the Hokage.

1

In spite of his title as Masshakage, and the disastrous spiral that followed Operation Bloodsoaked Symphony, Danzou was an intelligent and powerful shinobi during his time. A fact commonly known that has fallen into obscurity is that his previous bid for the position of Sandaime Hokage, a bid which came within 10 votes of success. Danzou, more than any other influence during Sandaime's reign, is what caused much of the man's problems with the council. Having achieved his post without the overwhelming majority that both his predecessors met with, and with his primary rival for the post still standing in direct opposition to many of his policies after his achieving the position of Hokage, a difficulty which neither his original successor the Yondaime (whose opponents of Orochimaru and Hiashi Hyuuga either left the village, or were themselves not particularly interested in the post) nor the Godaime (who faced no serious opposition, as the only other candidate, Jiraiya, was entirely uninterested in the post), would be forced to deal with. It was not until the Rokudaime that another shinobi ran the risk of being in such a position, and in his case the resolution is well known, and need not be delved into.

Danzou's decision to deploy a hundred of his personal shinobi forces to the site of Operation Bloodsoaked Symphony was tactically and strategically a wise option. The size force should have been sufficient to wipe out the remaining shinobi of both the Sound and the Konoha rebellion, and by doing so, deal with all of Danzou's major opponents in one swoop. Suna, considering its disastrous loss three years before, and the loss of international prestige from this defeat, would not be willing to challenge Konoha again, particularly with the international knowledge of their rapidly strengthening treaty with the village.

Of course, in shinobi battles, all it takes is a few powerful shinobi at the right place to tilt the entire balance. As a Konoha shinobi, Danzou knew very well that one of Konoha's greatest strengths was the incredible number of shinobi who could cause such a tilt that they produced with each generation. With such in mind, Danzou took care to account for all of these shinobi that he could.

Of course, primary among those shinobi to account for were the deposed Godaime Tsunade, the Seal Master and Summoning Ekiseijin Jiraiya, and the Forbidden Researcher and Deception Ekiseijin Orochimaru. The three shinobi of the Sannin could easily cause havoc with Danzou's strategic assault if they were allowed to roam uncontained, yet it would take a force of nearly equal size to what he had already committed to really ensure that all three would be fully distracted from the battle. Thus, Danzou's plan was simple, risk, yet foolproof; allow the Sannin and their legendary enmity to take them out of the equation, waiting until they were irrevocably involved in their own long-standing conflict before his own shinobi became involved.

Following the legendary might of the Ekiseijin came those shinobi who bore the title of Jounin. Of these, there were only a few whom Danzou truly saw as threats; the Copy Ninja, Hatake 'Sharingan' Kakashi; The Lady of the Veil, Yuuhi 'Dreams-eye' Kurenai; the Captain of the Guardian Ninja, Sarutobi 'Deadeye' Asuma; the self-proclaimed Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, Maito 'That nutjob in spandex' Gai; The Mind Breaker, Morino Ibiki; Mitarashi 'Serpent's Venom' Anko; and the man known simply as Yamato. The plan in regards to these shinobi was the same as that for the Ekiseijin, wait until the battle had them so deeply involved that they could not extricate themselves enough to really aide their fellows, then crush them. The plan was flawless from the intel Danzou had.

Danzou, as a senior shinobi, had been aware that intel wasn't perfect, especially in this kind of situation. However, Danzou was confident that no shinobi under the rank of jounin would truly be able to offer a challenge to his Root and ANBU forces. After all, the average Root shinobi was on par with a high-level chuunin or a Special Jounin, and ANBU could routinely match Jounin in open combat. A force over 100 strong comprised of such strength should have been sufficient. This confidence that only jounins could cause any appreciable depletion of his forces, would serve as the first note to his funeral dirge.

This is not to say that Danzou's confidence was necessarily misplaced. After all, it was not until the end of the war that the members of Konoha's Dozen Saints themselves realized what precisely they were becoming.

2

The predawn light that was just starting to touch on Sunagakure's buildings found itself dancing across the malachite eyes and vibrantly pink hair of one Haruno Sakura as she paused momentarily outside the room of one Konoha Chuunin in particular. She knew that he was most likely up already, well on his way through his own pre-mission preparations. In all honesty, this quiet check on her teammates had become part of her own ritual in the years between Sasuke and Naruto's departures, and Naruto's return.

It gave the ritual all the more poignancy when she allowed herself the thought that followed that one. If all went well today, then the next time she performed this ritual, she would be checking on three teammates. The thought was forced from her mind almost as soon as it formed, Sakura couldn't afford to let anything distract her at this point. There was a long way to go before Sasuke was with them again, and a lot of things that could go wrong.

Knocking softly, she waited patiently for some form of response. A soft poof-pop occurred just behind the pinkette.

She could still remember when Naruto was brought to the medical clinic after his brutal experience in what Baki had called the Crucible. The majority of the major injuries on the blond's person had already healed or were well on their way, the only real problem he seemed to be suffering from was a lack of chakra, and in Naruto's case, that was a problem that was anything but slow to rectify.

After Sakura, Rin, and Tsunade had finished reaming Naruto, Kakashi, Baki, Kakashi again, Baki again, Naruto again, Gaara (until he subtly reminded them that he WAS still the Kazekage and they WERE in his village.) Kakashi again, Baki and then Naruto again, Kakashi had asked Naruto how he had gotten quite so banged up. After Naruto explained that he had stepped into one of what Baki called feeder canyons, and after Baki explained exactly why that was such a bad idea (prompting another round of reaming by the medic trio) Kakashi had asked how Naruto had escaped. After his explanation of having precision-placed a Kage Bunshin and then using Kawarimi with it, the room was filled with little more than a stunned silence.

It was broken as Jiraiya, who was leaning in the doorway, began to quietly chuckle. In a tone of voice that Sakura had never known the voyeuristic shinobi was capable of using, had explained his recently constructed theory. Naruto, he decreed, was slower than most any other shinobi in the room to learn a given jutsu, (this had prompted the almost expected outburst from Naruto, and Sakura's immediate knock upside the head – and subsequent repairs of any damage caused). However, Naruto's slower learning speed was merely a price to be paid for another, possibly more useful ability. In short, he learned techniques slower because he learned not just how to perform a jutsu, but why and, more importantly, how they worked the way they did. Because he learned the how and why of every jutsu he learns, Naruto had an incredible talent for manipulating jutsus into doing things most couldn't dream of. Such as the ability to create a Kage Bunshin at a location that was at least 25 feet away from the user, and around a blind corner; or the ability to use a Kawarimi to assume the location of a moving object. Jiraiya shook his head as he looked at his apprentice, a rueful grin splitting his lips. He had admitted at that point that he had never seen Naruto perform either trick, much less do them both in such rapid succession.

The blond had thrown out a devil-may-care grin, and promply had passed out, now that someone had acknowledged that he had done something truly earth-shaking. Since that time, Naruto had taken every opportunity to not only practice his manipulation of jutsus he already knew, but to try and find out what he could do with other jutsus. What had once been an unconscious talent that made him Konoha's Number One Surprising Shinobi was rapidly becoming a powerful ability that he called upon at will.

Sakura was amazed at the improvement he had been making using his Kage Bunshins for training. She had been informed of the training method, of course. As the team medic, it was the kind of information she would have to know, as it was not at all unlikely that she would have to deal with Naruto after the mental fatigue at some point in their careers. Naruto's ability with Kage Bunshin had always been defining, so it was only fitting.

Turning to the blond, she felt her eyes widen slightly. Although it was far from the first time she had seen a shinobi topless, much less Naruto, she still was surprised to see the finely formed, lithe musculature that would almost seem more at home on a dancer or gymnast than a professional shinobi warrior/martial artist. Of course, when Sakura thought about it, the fighting style that Naruto had been working in recently seemed to be as much dance or gymnastics as it was actual combat, although its effectiveness couldn't be denied.

"You checking up on me, or checking me out?" the blond clone's tone was slightly mirthful. Sakura saw the dozens of tiny muscles tense in readiness, as the clone prepared to avoid one of Sakura's megaton punches.

Deciding not to let all that beautiful muscular movement go to waste, she threw him the slightly feral grin that Jiriaya had once told Naruto only a kunoichi could really do correctly. No other type of woman had the finely honed killing intent to get that particular predator's grin right. "Both; you ready?" The question was immediately followed by a punch towards the center of the clone's mass. At this range, he wouldn't be able to completely dodge.

She was more than a little impressed when the clone reached out, using her arm as a brace to roll over her shoulder, pushing the punch into the ground her he had been standing. Both knew that neither was really giving this the effort that they would have to in an actual fight, but then again it wasn't a fight. It was a reflex test, and Naruto's clone had passed. Any lasting injuries or side effects from his intensive training with Jiraiya and Kakashi, would have carried over to his Kage Bunshin. Kakashi, as the only remaining shinobi of Konoha who used the Sharingan, had made it clear that the training was only partially to perfect Naruto's newly discovered talents. As Naruto was going to shortly be fighting Uchiha Sasuke, who was a master of the Sharingan, and would at some point in time be guaranteed to come up against Uchiha Itachi, whose Sharingan was even more powerful than Sasuke's, he had to learn not only how the Sharingan worked, but also how to fight against it.

He had gone one better. Having grown to understand the basic premise of the Sharingan, and how as it grew it extended this basic premise into more advanced, aggressive, forms, he had put his talent for manipulating jutsus to very good use indeed. At some level, Sakura was almost looking forward to this fight; they would finally be able to prove to Sasuke, once and for all, that they were not weights that would merely hold him back. Hell, if he really wanted revenge on his brother, Naruto was practically an Itachi-magnet; if Sasuke stuck around long enough, he would have his chance. (AN: I don't like putting these into my text often, but in this one case it's a necessity. Naruto has NOT reverse engineered the Sharingan, although what Naruto's talent boils down to is a talent for reverse engineering jutsus; that is to say, taking the finished product and breaking it down to the component parts so that he can manipulate them in various ways, producing either slight changes (oodama rasengan) or massive changes (you'll see))

Spinning in a rapid backhand, she watched as clone-Naruto ducked under the strike, before she followed with a roundhouse from the far side. Clone-Naruto's face was completely unphased just before the strike caught him at just above his elbow, causing him to disappear in a cloud of smoke. She frowned at that. Sasuke had always been faster than either Naruto or herself, but she hadn't realized that Naruto was also that much faster than her, that his clone had known he could dodge that follow-up roundhouse if he had needed to.

In any case, the real Naruto was probably dressed by this point, so she should be expecting the door to open in three… two… now.

On cue, the door behind her opened, and Sakura found herself looking at the shinobi who had only-Kami-knew how many times over earned the title of Konoha's Number One Ninja at Surprising People; Uzumaki Naruto. The most recent surprise that she knew of was his change in garments. Nothing drastic; in reality it was probably done in response to the biting heat of the desert, as his black and orange jumpsuit tops had all mysteriously become vests one day, the edge of the tops having been very carefully and cleanly sown into simple, yet effective hems.

"Satsified?" Naruto asked, as he met his teammate's gaze. She smiled that same semi-feral grin.

"For the moment." Sakura felt the words slip out of her, and for a brief moment wondered what was going on with her mouth today. First admitting to Naruto's clone that she was checking him out, knowing very well that the original Naruto would get the information the moment the clone was dispensed with, and now she was semi-hitting on him, in the hallway, before the very mission that would bring Sasuke back.

She looked at Naruto for a moment, and saw the heavily guarded thoughts dance behind his eyes. He was doing that exact same math. Whether he was wondering what she was doing, if she was using him as practice for when Sasuke came back, or was hedging her bets, Sakura couldn't' tell. She could see, however, that whichever option he chose, he didn't like it very much.

The pair of them pushed the thoughts away almost simultaneously, before Sakura carried on. "If you've got everything under control, I'm going to go check on Kakashi." The blond nodded, and his long-term teammate turned, and bustled away. Naruto caught himself, watching that part of her walk away was not something he needed to do right before a mission. Particularly not this mission, he couldn't afford that kind of distraction in this fight. It could easily prove fatal.

With a shake of the head, Naruto closed his door, and turned back to what he was doing before. Although it wasn't a habit he had taken up before, he found that with the sleeves removed from his tunic, the winds he controlled could be hard, and sometimes painful where they lashed at his arms, Baki had admitted that this was part of the reason that most wind users preferred to use some sort of tool to serve as a focus, as with a sword or dagger it was easier to keep the wind on just the blade, where with the hands there was an extra issue of worrying about the wind coming after the user's arms.

That was how Naruto found himself wrapping his hands and half of his forearms in black linen bandages, before slipping on a pair of the fingerless gloves shinobi preferred. And only a fool would ask what color Naruto used for these gloves. The gloves firmly in place, Naruto balled a hand into a fist, staring at his closed hand for a moment. Drawing his fist back by his hip, he swung, letting his hand open as it came parallel to his chest. A ripple of air moved, and he saw a small line carve itself into the target on the wall. Nodding to himself, he closed his fist again, locking his gaze on the closed fingers. He would bring Sasuke back this time. Even though it would probably cost him everything.

3

Kakashi shook his head as his pink-haired student strode away, this particular part of her pre-mission rituals complete. He understood, really. It was part of being a medic ninja, it was easy for them to grow almost possessive of their teams; and assuring themselves of the status of 'their charges' was almost as instinctive as breathing for medics. He had grown to learn this after his stint being teamed with a certain medic ninja of some power.

A certain medic ninja that, if his nose wasn't finally failing him after twenty-some-odd years, was rapidly approaching his room. Listening, he heard soft footsteps approaching the corner. Looking up, he saw Omoima Rin round the corner. Sighing, he prepared himself for another round with the medic ninja.

It had become almost ritual for them over the past several months. Every couple of weeks, she would come by, saccharine sweet and playful, before she found another quality in her former teammate that had, in her opinion, turned for the worse. Last time it was his proclivity for A and S-ranked assignments, the time before that, she had gone after his precious Icha Icha!

"Hey Kakashi!" Rin said, as she stepped up to the silver-haired jounin. He sighed. "Rin, I don't need this now. We're supposed to be moving out by mid-afternoon, and I've still got a half-dozen things to do." Nonetheless, Kakashi stepped back slightly as Rin closed the distance between the two of them, placing himself so that he couldn't be readily driven into a wall if Rin decided she had the desire to do so again. The door to his room stood securely closed to his right hand side as Rin leaned against the closed panel.

"Aww… Don't be like that. Its not like I'm gonna be staying here or anything." A slight pout tugged at Rin's lower lip at Kakashi's biting retort. He frowned, that pout was rapidly becoming a sign for him. A big one with red lettering; warning all who pass by here to abandon all hope.

"Yes, but I've still got to figure out what to do with the genin; its not like we can bring them to this." Kakashi shook his head at the thought. He understood that Tsunade needed her lieutenants to delegate some decisions to, but this one was one of the more troubling ones, and he couldn't really put himself to the other issues until he got this one settled.

"See if Gaara has some missions to keep them busy, I'm sure he'll understand; and its not like its hurting Suna too much to be able take a few more missions at a time, even if they're lower-ranked ones."

Kakashi frowned. It was a thought, he'd have to delegate a few jounins to stay behind to observe them, but that wasn't difficult, and he had quite a few jounins who could be trusted to do the job, Ebisu being top on the list. "And what of the field hospital? Normally I'd say Shizune should do the set-up, but she's not here, and although Sakura's competent, she needs at least another half-decade's experience before she goes setting up field hospitals on her own, an hour before battle." Kakashi shook his head "Besides, I couldn't keep her out of this one if I chained her to a mountain."

Rin frowned at this. "Hello, Senior Medic Ninja to Hoseisan. I've done that before, several times. When are you going to remember that I AM a ninja still Kakashi." The brunette demanded, her purple cheek stripes standing out brilliantly against her slowly reddening cheeks.

Kakashi frowned. So that was her chosen topic for today, was it? He couldn't afford to deal with this, not right before a mission, particularly not this mission. This was his chance to make up for his mistakes in handling his team, and Kami knows he made more than a few. Unfortunately, Kakashi had yet to find a method to shut Rin down once she reached the point where her cheeks started to turn colors. He watched her eyes flash, and knew the rant was ramping up to begin. He had to stop this now.

A crazy thought entered his mind, and decided that it was just insane enough to follow-up on. Darting forward, he grasped her shoulders, and turned her so that she was pressed up against his door. Positioning his leg between hers, he pressed firmly up, causing her to yip in surprise. Reaching up, he grasped his mask with one hand, pulled it down, and crashed his lips against Rin's, using his knee and the door and his arms to pull her higher up, making the distinction between their heights less of an issue, although it wasn't really much of one to begin with.

Rin's hands came to life, and Kakashi felt his brain begin to fog over. One of his hands worked free of holding Rin and found the doorknob. As Kakashi staggered through the door with Rin, kicking it closed as he passed through it, he realized that A: it was harder than it looked to hold a kunoichi up with one arm, and one leg, while closing a door with ones foot, and B: he was going to be a little later than he had planned with getting the orders distributed to those jounins.

4

Jiraiya shook his head as he put his little smut-colored book away. He had to give the guy credit, Kakashi knew how to worm his way out of things well. There were times when Jiraiya wished he was half as good. Today, today wasn't one of them. Cold day in hell before today would be a day he tried to weasel out on what seemed to be inevitable. He had a hatchet to bury, and he had the perfect place in mind. About two inches above bridge of Orochimaru's nose, right between his eyes.

Oh yeah, that was the spot, alright.

5