A/N: Okay, for the record, I have no idea how Danzo fights. But the bad guys always seem to have swords, so I gave him a sword. Almost done now, only two or three chapter left. Thanks go out to: Belladonna-LaMorte, iNsAnE nO bAkA, deerang88, The Laughing Phoenix, Wulfkun, kerumica, melissa, Yokura, singing ferret, DarkRavie, VescaWithoutWings, Silvergem88, Thealie, Tara La'Quinn, Hebi R., incensedance, x-smith, Fritter and Rangerfan58.
With that said… *sets out chapter… runsandhides*
Chouji roared again, staggering slightly as the pain from his wounds finally made itself felt. Rage could only carry one so far, and the heavyset boy's had eventually run out. He glared up at his enemies anyway, his eyes filled with tears even as he snarled and launched himself at his opponent. Seeing the man slam backwards even as he stumbled to his knees, he prepared himself for the attack he could see being set up – but it never came.
The other's eyes widened, blood leaking out of his mouth as a sharp point burst out of the front of his chest. The point vanished, the man falling as the spear was pulled out from behind, and Chouji was left blinking in shock and disbelief as an aunt gave him a smile. "Hey, Chou-kun. Your dad's worried about you, you know. Asked us all to keep an eye out for you while we were out here."
The boy climbed to his feet, his voice breaking with hope as he spoke. "Dad's… okay? But, the house…"
"Oh, that" his aunt looked a little sheepish – or at least, as sheepish as an armored woman covered in blood can look – "Well, we kind of got a little overexcited when we found out there was a rebellion going on, and that we'd get to help take down the Hokage. But yeah, as far as I know Chouza's fine. Now come on, let's go do our part to end this mess."
Chouji's face lit up, and he followed the ex-Chunin eagerly.
-0-
Unknown to the boy in question, one of ROOT's best was observing the battle, wide eyes held in captive fascination by the conflicting feelings on the fighter's face. Sai's thoughts were jumbled, the confusion caused by the sheer intensity of the larger boy's emotions making him hesitant to join the battle even though his comrades were losing. He couldn't help the small, traitorous part of himself that wondered, 'what would it be like to feel so much…?'
Unsure of his path for the first time, Sai did nothing, only watching in awe as the other two ROOT agents were defeated by one supposedly 'weak' rebel. 'Danzo-sama always said that emotions were a weakness, but… this boy… this boy seems to be gaining strength from them. Why is that…?' Sai sat, hidden on his rooftop, even after the fighters had left the street below. It wasn't until a shadow fell across him that he turned, and looked directly into the eyes of another one of the rebels.
-0-
Just outside of Konoha's walls, a sixteen man group raced through the trees, the slender kunoichi in front ducking down at the wall and pushing bricks in a specific order and with precise timing. Everyone held their breath, and Hayate murmured quietly. "Come on, don't let them have found our back door… yes!" The sickly-looking Jounin hissed in excitement as a section of brick fell away, revealing a small tunnel in the western wall.
Sharing a triumphant glance and an eager grin, the missing nin charged back into their home, killing intent radiating from them all.
-0-
Iruka stifled his panting, fighting to ignore the stitch in his side as he double checked to make certain that he really had lost the ROOT squad that had been chasing him. The Chunin worried about his kids and his friends – he hadn't seen more than glimpses of a few of them ever since he had gotten separated over an hour ago – but he knew that it was too late for second thoughts now. At this point, whatever would be would be, and all of the worrying in the world wouldn't change it. All he could do was complete his part of the mission – take down as many of Danzo's supporters as he could.
Once sure that he had lost his pursuers – there had been too many of them for him to hope to fight – he ducked around a corner and jumped for the rooftops. He leapt to another roof, and promptly drew his kunai as he found himself facing a lone ROOT operative. But… he stopped, hesitating as the other turned to face him. The operative was only a boy, no older than Naruto, but what caught Iruka was the look in the boy's eyes. It was a confused, directionless expression that he had seen too many times in his children, and it wrenched at his heart even coming from this enemy child.
And then the boy spoke. "I don't… understand… how can they fight so hard?" he asked, his tone both despairing and pleading, like a lost child begging for direction. Iruka melted, even as his shinobi training screamed at him for being an idiot. Like so many years before, Iruka held out his hand to a confused child – and just like back then, a smaller hand was tentatively placed in his.
-0-
Hinata and Sakura fought hard, trying desperately to push ROOT's forces away from one of the buildings currently serving as a shelter for civilians caught in the battlefield. But there were just so many. Both of the girls were bleeding from multiple wounds, but neither was giving up. Sakura gestured for the other girl to fall back for now, taking advantage of a momentary lull in the fighting to at least partially heal or bandage the worst of their wounds before the reinforcements they had seen coming actually arrived.
And then the new squad showed up, and both girls knew that they were hopelessly out of their league. One on one, they each kicked butt. Two on one they could both handle, and even three on one, they could hold their own. But with this new addition, the girls, already wounded and tiring, were outnumbered four to one. They shared a stubborn glance, bracing themselves to take out as many of their enemies as they could before they fell.
And when the enemy surged forward – they were thrown back, slammed into by a… piece of… wall? Both girls turned to look in the direction that the flying slab of plaster had come from. A blonde woman, long hair pulled back into a two-tailed ponytail, stepped out in front of them. "How the hell did I let myself get talked into this?" the woman muttered. The blonde glanced over as a younger, black haired woman jumped off of a nearby roof and landed beside her. "Shizune, remind me to kick that bastard's ass when this is over."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama." As 'Tsunade' charged after the ROOT operatives, 'Shizune' glanced back at the two girls, sharp eyes taking in the many wounds – as well as the bodies of the ROOT operatives who had been unlucky enough to face the girls when they were fresh. "Are you both alright?"
The girls nodded, a little numb. Shizune gave them a quick smile before running after her comrade. Hinata turned wide eyes to Sakura. "Who was that?"
Sakura shrugged, bewilderment written on her face. "I don't know, but…" both girls cringed as the blonde sent three ROOT agents flying with one punch. "I'm glad she's on our side." Hinata nodded slowly.
-0-
The squad ran, racing to intercept the rebel team en route to eleventh avenue. The leader took a shortcut through a small alley – and came flying back out of it. The rest of the squad dropped into combat formation, and stared in shock. What seemed to be half of the Hyuuga clan was assembled in the streets, their battle gear on and their gazes hard.
Two identical men slid back into a low stance, the one on the right curling his fingers in an unmistakable gesture. 'Come'.
-0-
Shikamaru stumbled, dropping into a fast foot sweep as he struggled to avoid the new enemy who just dropped in on him. Literally. He had to release the Shadow Bind on one of his earlier opponents, leaving him rather disadvantaged at five to one against him. He dodged a fire jutsu, sending a pair of shuriken flying, one lodging in the throat of the closest man even as he slid back out of range. Now four to one.
He braced himself, eyes flicking over the street, mind racing to come up with a plan. And then – he blinked, surprised as a kunoichi in full battle gear dropped between him and his enemies. He quickly looked over the woman – and for the first time in his life, Shikamaru gaped, bug eyed. His voice was high and incredulous. "MOM?!"
The young tactician spun to his left, eyes widening even more as his father dropped down beside him. "Need a hand, Shika?"
"You, when, how? What are you two doing here?"
"We decided to help." Yoshino shot a hard glare over her shoulder at her son. "But you are in a lot of trouble once this is over, young man."
Shikamaru responded in the manner of males the world over, his voice small and somewhat dazed. "Yes, ma'am."
-0-
Danzo turned, sending a cool look to the young woman currently serving to intercept messengers and organize the information before reporting it to him. His voice was hard as he spoke. "Megumei, hold any further messages. I am joining the battle."
The girl was flustered, but stammered out the appropriate response. "Y-yes, Hokage-sama." The Hokage simply picked up his katana and brushed by her.
-0-
Neji silently cursed ROOT to the most painful deaths he could think of as he fought. He and Lee had encountered Tenten trying to hold off an entire squad by herself, and – though he had to admit, she had developed some good techniques since the last time he had seen her spar – they had had to immediately drop down to help. They had killed over a dozen of them, but ROOT's forces just kept coming, and the three were quickly outnumbered.
Just when it seemed like there would never be a break, a loud 'pop' sounded in their ears. A ridiculous amount of smoke billowed out between the three and their enemies, and when it cleared, the teens were left looking at the biggest frog they had ever imagined. And then a man, looking middle-aged despite his white hair, jumped down and landed in front of them.
Neji broke through his shock first. "Who the hell are you?!"
A disturbingly wide smile broke out on the man's tattooed face, and he struck a strange pose. "Why, I am Jiraiya-sama, the Legendary – ack!" the man yelped the last part as he dodged a kunai flung at his face by a ROOT agent. "Introductions later!"
As the man charged into the battle, the three teenagers looked blankly at each other. "Weirdo" Tenten muttered. Lee nodded fervently.
-0-
The ROOT squad moved purposefully down the road, intending to surround the small group of rebels reported on Fourth Street. They rounded the corner – and pulled up short. They faced what appeared to be an eight foot high wall of insects behind four trench-coat clad shinobi.
Their faces must have been truly a sight – had the buzzing not been so loud, they might have heard a low chuckle coming from the usually stoic Aburame group.
-0-
Ino's hands trembled, her breath coming hard and fast. She knew that she was nearing chakra exhaustion, but to stop fighting now was death, and she didn't want to die. She ducked under another strike, kunai flashing out to score a deep gash across one opponent's gut, spilling intestines onto the rooftop. As she slipped behind him, moving quickly out of range, she stumbled to her knees.
She jumped back to her feet, raising hands in preparation to attack. She thought quickly, trying to find the most effective but least chakra-draining jutsu that she knew. Her fingers began the motions of a simple jutsu – and her opponents seemed to go berserk. Their limbs flailed, and from the expressions on their faces, she knew it wasn't intentional.
Her eyes lit up as she realized that she was seeing the effect of her clan's Mind-Body Confusion technique. Movement from a rooftop to the left caught her attention just before a familiar voice called out. "I've got this one, princess."
She stared. "Dad?!"
-0-
Kakashi allowed himself a small smirk as yet another ROOT operative fell before him, and then glanced around. He drawled, indulging himself with dry humor. "Maa, seems like I'm out of playmates… guess I'll just have to go and find some more."
"Or you could fight me, Hatake."
Kakshi dropped back into a fighting stance, the hairs on the back of his neck raising as the voice spoke from his left. He hadn't sensed the other's approach at all. His eyes narrowed, focusing on the face he had never seen in person, but had still seen every day – the face of the Godaime, Konoha's tyrant and his greatest enemy. "Yes," he retorted, his voice still dry but sharper now. "Yes, I could do that."
A moment of stillness, and then, as if at some hidden signal, both men jumped forwards. Steel clashed against steel, Kakashi's kunai pushing against Danzo's sword. Someone looking from the outside would not have been able to make out much – the two men matched move for move, each strike was blocked and each counterstrike was avoided. 'How the hell…?' Kakashi wondered, startled at the older shinobi's ability to match him so well.
The bewilderment must have shown in his eyes, because Danzo laughed. "Your Sharingan eye allows you to predict my movements, Hatake, but my decades of experience allows for the same. But unlike with you, this ability is mine by right." And with those words, the man appeared to vanish.
Kakashi had just enough time to recognize the technique – 'kawarimi?!' – and then the old shinobi was behind him. Even as Kakshi twisted around, trying to duck out of the strike he could feel coming, he felt a sudden impact against the back of his head. The Copy Ninja had the briefest sense of falling, and then his sight went dark.
-0-
A few rooftops away, Naruto glanced up from his own opponents just in time to see Kakashi go down. Time seemed to slow for the blond, everything happening in slow motion as his silver haired teacher fell. And then the man hit the ground, and the world went red.
"YOU BASTARD!"