AN
"Blah" Normal Speech
'Blah' Thoughts
"BLAH" Jutsu

Naruto/Final Fantasy VII
Lost Son of Konoha

Chapter 32
Fourth Shinobi War Arc II

A series of blurs raced across the landscape of Oni no Kuni as Neji led the squad that he had been assigned. Not ten minutes ago the order for the Allied forces to move out, no sooner had the order been given each of the squads moved out.

Amongst them was Sakura; the pink haired konouchi had been assigned to this team along with Lee and Samui.

As the party made it way through the trees they were on high alert, their sharply honed senses honed on high alert as they searched for the even the slightest hint of the enemy.

Making their way through the woods it wasn't long before the squad came a small clearing tree line, bodies littering the ground. "Hold." Neji ordered, the troops behind him coming to a halt, "Check the bodies but be on alert, the one ones responsible could still be nearby."

Along with her other squad mates Sakura moved into to inspect the bodies on the ground, the unmoving form facing away from her lying on its side, Lee following close behind her whilst at the same time keeping watch for any sign of any possible hostiles.

As she approached the body a crunching noise was heard from under her foot, lifting up she found a broken pair of sunglasses. Seeing the broken item Sakura knelt down and rolled the fallen man onto his back, it took her a moment to recognize the face but the moment she did her eyes widened in shock.

"What is it Sakura-san?" Lee asked. The pinkette didn't say anything, she moved aside to give Lee a better look at the body, the sight of who left the bowel haired nin's stunned.

Lying before them was Shino; half of the dark haired Aburame's face was coated in blood and had a large hole in his chest. Both Konoha ninja were silent as they looked upon the body of their fallen comrade.

Sakura couldn't really recall ever talking with the Bug Ninja, she found his clans use of insects to be rather unnerving, but still he'd been apart of her class at the academy. They'd both successfully graduated and assigned to a Genin team. They'd gone through the Chunin exams as well as.

That being said she was more saddened for Kiba and Hinata, both of them were a lot closer to Shino then she was. She knew Kiba well enough to know that he would try to play the tough guy, however whilst he wouldn't say it in public she knew that the news of his teammate and friend's death would hit him hard. Hinata however, this news was going to break her heart.

As for Lee the loose of a comrade, even one that he didn't know all that well, sadden him.

As both Sakura and Lee held their respectful silent Neji was keeping an eye out for any sign of the enemy, his Byakugan eyes darting searching for even the slightest trace of them. "What's the status?" he called out.

"Its one of the scout teams that was sent out." he heard one of the ninja assigned to him respond. "They're dead Hyuuga-san."

"I see." Neji replied; he was silent for a moment but before he could speak again his Byakugan picked up on a small chakra signature a short distance away from him and his team and moving closer. "We're moving one, there's nothing else we can do here. Radio HQ, inform them of this and the location of the bodies."

Within moments Neji and his troops were on the move again, leaving the bodies of the fallen behind.

Elsewhere Kakashi along with Tsuande and the other Kage's and being accompanied by a small battalion of troops were also on the move, they were headed towards their destination: the shine that contained the essence of the entity known as Mouryou.

Their reason for heading there was for a single goal: to lure out Orochimaru. If hoped by separating him from his main bulk of his forces and eliminating him then his forces would fall apart and be less of a threat.

Arriving at their destination they found themselves face to face with their quarry, Orochimaru was standing before the shrine, his ever-loyal assistant Kabuto at his side and surrounding them were several robed figures.

"There you are." The snake Sennien said as the party drew closer. "I did think I'd see you so soon Kakashi-kun."

"Its over Orochimaru, there's no escape for you this time." Kakashi told the pale skinned man. "Surrender, end this now and we maybe more lenient on you."

"Speak for yourself." Kurotsuchi growled.

"You dare threaten Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said in a stern tone, he was about to move before his master when the pale skinned Ninja placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy there Kabuto." Orochimaru said calmly. "Tell me Kakashi what makes you think I'd try to escape, I have everything I could ever want right here."

"You smug bastard." Kurotsuchi growled. "You think that you can just stand there and expect that you can get away with your crimes."

Hearing her voice Orochimaru shifted his yellow-eyed gaze to the shorthaired woman. "I take it you're the new Tsuchikage." He said off handedly. "I have to say that I'm surprised that your standing along side the leaders of your enemies."

"You scum bag, you dare speak as if you ever gave a damn about Iwa. You used us and Kusaga to help you try and destroy Konoha." Kurotsuchi snapped. "What you've done here, how long would it have been until did the same thing to Iwa once you were done with Konoha?"

"Calm down Kurotsuchi, don't waste your time and anger on this man." Mei told her friend and fellow Kage.

"Leaping to the defense of the Tsuchikage." "Funny since your village has a hand in this, after all I would not have had the means to create my army if not for Kiri."

"Enough, we're already aware that Kiri sold the information on how to create human clones to you." Gaara snapped. "If you think that you can create division then I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. Our villages may still have our issues but as of right now we are committed to ending the threat you pose."

"Very well said Gaara." Kakashi told the red haired Suna nin. "Last chance Orochimaru, stand down and surrender. Refuse and I can assure you that you won't survive to see the end of this conflict."

"I thank you for the offer but I'm afraid I must decline." Orochimaru replied. "Also I must say; if you believe that I was unprepared for your arrival then you are sadly mistaken. In fact I have had something special prepared for this eventuality."

As if by some unspoken command the hooded figures shed themselves of their robes revealing themselves to the gathered leaders of the five main Ninja Villages whom could only stare wide eyed at what they saw.

Standing there were humanoid figures that resembled them but at the same time they also had features reminiscent of Orochiumaru, creating a twisted looking hybrid.

"Orochimaru," Tsunade said, confusion and disgust in her voice as she gazed upon the twisted version of herself. "What…what are these…things?"

"Impressive aren't they, I think they might be some of my best work." The pale skinned man brushed his fingers across the cheek of the Tsunade clone in an almost loving way, "Acquiring your DNA wasn't an easy task but it was certainly worth it to see the results."

"How…how could you do this?" Mei spat. "These…mockeries, you would disgrace us in such a vile manner."

"How could I not? I made these subjects for a scenario just like this." Orochimaru replied, gaze still fixed upon the Tsunade clone. "After all who better then to use my enemies to protect me from my enemies."

Retracting his hand from the female clones face Orochimaru then began to back up. "Now go, fulfill the purpose that I created you for." He told his minions as he began to back away. Without an instants hesitation the hybrid clones began to advance towards the originals.

The enemy advancing on them Kakashi and the other Kage's readied themselves; these creatures might share their appearance however there was no telling if that's all they shared. Being creations of Orochimaru there was no way of knowing what he could done to them during their creation.

Knowing that their current location was not a suitable one for a fight the party quickly departed, their twisted counterparts close behind them as they moved towards a more open area.

Back with Neji he was leading his team towards the chakra signatures that he'd noticed a short distance away, he wasn't sure who it was, whether it was the enemy or one of remaining the scouting parties that had been sent out, but regardless he and his team would be finding out very soon.

Close behind Sakura, Lee and Samui as long with the other members of the squad followed after him. Many of them were feeling uneasy; the squad leader had informed them that he'd spotted something nearby. Finding the dead remains of the scouting party, certain members of the squad had been familiar with the men they had found and finding them dead did little to ease any nerves they might be feeling.

Before long the large party of Ninja emerged from the forest and found themselves in open land, as they exited the trees the party was met by the sight of two-dozen men clad in the garments of Oto waiting for them. From the looks of things this group was comprised of mostly Soldiers and along with a handful of Scouts and three Titans.

"Everyone be on guard," Neji said, his tone serious. "Remember these abominations were created using the DNA of a Jinchuriki and mixed with Kami knows what else Orochimaru might have also thrown in."

Then by some unspoken command both groups moved in to engage one another, across the landscape of Oni no Kuni the armies of the Allied Force and Ochimaru clashed with one another. Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, weapons and fists, the combatants held nothing back.

Around her Sakura grimaced as she drove her fist into the face of another Oto Soldier, the masked Ninja was sent to the ground with a dull sounding thud. She wasn't give any respite however as another enemy was quick to move in to fill the void left behind by the one she'd just put down.

Brandishing a weapon this new Oto Ninja slashed at the pink haired woman who ducked out of the way of the mans swing, she then grabbed the blade of the sword before driving her foot into his chest and sent him flying backwards.

Meanwhile Lee was squaring off against several of the Oto Soldiers, with a fluid motion honed from years of training he lashed out at one of them with his Konoha Daisenpū (Leaf Great Whirlwind) sweeping the opponents leg before delivering a second kick this time aimed at the opponents chest and knocked him into the air. Hanging there in midair for several moments Lee sent the opponent back to the ground by delivering a nasty drop kick to his head.

With one of them dealt with Lee shifted his attention to the second shifting into a Konoha Otoshi (Leaf Drop), crushing his head by slamming his hell into his head.

Samui however was not having as easy of a time as she was being pestered by a pair of Scouts, the smaller more lithe clones managing to avoid her Tantō. A cry was heard as a shadow then fell over her, hearing this the blond woman glanced over her shoulder she was met by the sight of a Titan looming over her.

Before Samui could react the Titan lunged at her, grabbing her by one of her arms and pulled at it, the former Kumo nin's eyes widened and a look of pain spread across her face as she felt the bone and muscle of her arm was torn from her shoulder.

A grunt of pain escaping her mouth Samui swung her weapon at the large clone, slicing one of its shoulders. This however did little but seem to anger the large clone. Snarling the Titan chopped at her, his open palm connecting with her neck, a audible cracking noise filling the air.

Letting go Samui slipped out of the Titan's grip, her body collapsed to the ground where it lay unmoving.

Having dispatched its victim the large Ninja was about to move on when the blade of a sword pierced through its back and poked through its chest, the blade sliced through its body and sliced it in two, the two halves of the body falling away to reveal the form of Sasuke Uchiha, the blood of his victim splattered across his face.

"S…Sasuke…" Sakura exclaimed, shocked at the sight of her former teammate, she hadn't expected to run into him so soon.

Seemingly unaware of the presence of the Allied Ninja the dark haired ninja moved on to take out several of the Soldiers, making short work of them. This action leaving Neji and the members of his team quiet confused.

"Uchiha, I thought you were working with Orochimaru." Neji called out to the rogue Ninja.

Hearing the Hyuuga's voice, Sasuke glanced over at him, a dark look on his face. "I have no allies, not these creatures not Orochimaru. This world has shown me that the only person I can count in this world is myself." Sasuke said his tone made it quite clear that he was in no mood for any games. "I could care less about this conflict, all I want from you is one simple thing, where is Naruto?"

"Naruto," Neji said, he then shifted into his clans traditional fighting Juuken Ryuu stance. "You honestly believe that I would ever tell you or even let you get near him."

A green blur suddenly appeared at Neji's side, the breeze it created ruffling the Hyuuga's hair, glancing over he saw Lee at his side, the bowel haired Ninja taking up his Gouken Ryuu stance. "Lee, what are you doing?" The Hyuuga said, his tone stern. "I shall deal with the Uchiha, you focus on the ants."

"I'm afraid I can't do that my youthful rival, we both know that Sasuke is too dangerous for anyone to take on alone." Lee replied. "Besides I have my own reasons for wanting to fight him. Even since our brief skirmish back at the Chunin exams I've wanted to know how I compared to the genius Uchiha, I want to know if I could have defeated him with my own power."

"That's your reasoning?" Neji said, raising one of his eyebrows. "Your doing this because of a small fight you had with him that happened 15 years ago? That's rather petty of you Lee."

"Perhaps it is, however it would be very un-youthful of me to say otherwise." Lee replied, "Besides, aren't you curious. After all you've never had the chance to fight Sasuke, you can't tell me that there isn't apart of you that wants to see how you compare to him."

Despite himself a small grin spread across Neji's face. "I guess your right." He then shifted his focus back to Sasuke, veins appearing around his eyes as he activated his Byakugan. "I am however going to do two things for me. First don't let your guard down around him, he's not an opponent to be taken lightly."

"And the second?" Lee asked.

"Try not to get in my way." Neji said. "I don't want to take you out on accident."

Lee grinned at this. "Is that right, I'll do my best then. Just don't get in my way either." He told the longhaired man. "Tenten wouldn't be too happy with me if I accidently punched in the face during a fight."

With these words Lee lunged at Sasuke, lashing out at him with a vicious kick that he was effortlessly able to avoid thanks to his Sharingan.

Far from this scene another battle was raging, this one being between the Kages along with Tsunade facing off against the clones that Orochimaru had created of them.

Kakashi frowned as he ducked out of the way of a swing from his clone, the pale skinned clones fist sailing above his head. Despite its obvious lack of a Sharingan the clone seemed to be an almost perfect match of the silver haired Ninja, just about every Ninjutsu he had access to and Taijutsu style he'd ever seen it seemed capable of replicating them.

Taking a moment he glanced over to where his companions were and saw that they were barley fairing any better then he was. It seemed that Orochimaru wasn't lying when he told them that he'd created these clones for the singe purpose of facing off against them.

Right that moment Tsuande was trying and failing to physically overpower her duplicate who in return was trying to do the same to her, neither of them being able to gain an advantage over the other.

Gaara however seemed was not engaging his duplicate in battle, choosing to instead use his sand to clock his pale skinned counterparts attacks. He wasn't sure what the red haired man was doing, perhaps he saw studying the clone and waiting for an opportune moment to retaliate. Or maybe he was merely content to glare at his clone menacingly.

Shifting his attention back to his clone Kakashi was in time to avoid another attack from his duplicate; raising his arm to block the pale humanoids strike before using the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to vanish from view and reappear a few feet away from the clone.

Having put some distance between him and his clone Kakashi began to quickly flip through a series of hand seals. "SUITON: SUIRYŪDAN NO JUTSU! Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" A torrent of water erupted from of the ground, winding around Kakashi as it took the form of a long bodied Dragon.

At the same time the Kakashi clone copied his action, summoning a Water Dragon of its own. The two men launched their respective Dragon's at one another, the two Jutsu's colliding into one another and caused a surge of water to splash both of them along with the ground.

With that idea resulting in failure Kakashi switched tactics, forming a familiar cross seal. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! Shadow Clone Technique!" Several puffs of smoke appeared from which two more Kakashi's appeared, one on either side of the original Kakashi.

The six copies of kakashi charged forwards to engage one another, two of the regular Kakashi's moving in whilst the third stayed in the back, flipping through hand seals in preparation to cast another Jutsu.

The Orochimaru Kakashi however had a different strategy, rather then copying Kakashi like they had been they instead choose to stand their ground as they flipped through hand seals.

Gaara meanwhile was in a different situation to Kakashi, choosing to take a defensive strategy against his duplicate rather then engage it directly.

Whilst he'd never say it aloud the pale skinned clone appeared to in possession of seemingly every technique that he did, Gaara couldn't help but just how Orochimaru had been able to copy him so closely let alone gotten ahold of his DNA in order to create his mockery.

Whilst the original was defending himself, his clone however far more focused on offense, using multiple Suna no Kaiwan (Monstrous Sand Arm) to assault the red haired Kage only for them to be blocked by his use of Suna no Tate (Shield of Sand).

More and more frustration could be seen forming on the clones face as it continued to assault the Kazekage only for the attacks to be intercepted by his shield of sand. Dispelling the arms the sand used to form them rose into the air where there clumped together into dozens of small balls of sand before being launched at Gaara as a Rendan Suna Shigure (Successive Shot Sand Drizzle).

Like before Gaara was able protect himself; this time using Kūsa Bōheki (Air Sand Protective Wall) to block the small orbs of sand.

Seeing an opportunity Gaara dropped his sand shield, using the material to take the form of the head and shoulders of Shukaku, the demon that he'd once been the host to. "FŪŪTON: MUGEN SAIJIN-DAITOPPA! Infinite Sand Cloud-Great Breakthrough!"

A large blast of wind erupted from the head, the stream of air infused with chakra-coated sand. The attack slammed into the Gaara clone, launching backwards several feet before coming to a halt. Growling the pale skinned clone glared at the Kazekage, its frustration with the man coming to a boil.

Then suddenly the angered look on its face vanished, replaced by a knowing look which then shifted into a sinister looking sneer. Seeing this left Gaara with an uneasy feeling, just what was this snake creation scheming.

Letting out what sounded like a chuckle the clone suddenly turned and began to run, an action that Gaara had not expected. Muttering something under his breath the red haired Kage dashed after his clone as it left the battlefield. Just as he was able to catch up the pale skinned clone was suddenly engulfed in a swirl of sand, obscuring it from view as it vanished leaving Gaara behind.

Nearby Temari and Kankurō were amongst a special team, of which Sai and Karui were also apart of, assigned to the Kages. At that moment the group was engaged with a large number of Orochimaru's clone soldiers, keeping their attention whilst their leaders dealt with the Snake Sennien.

From out of nowhere a swirl of sand whipped up from which a humanoid looking figure, its sudden appearance catching attention of all the combatants. At first both Temari and Kankurō thought it was their younger brother but at second glance soon noticed them pale skin and orange eyes similar to that of Orochimaru.

"What the hell is that?" Kankurō exclaimed; sounding disgusted at the sight of the Gaara clone.

"I…I have no idea…." His blond haired sister replied, "Why…why does it look like Gaara?"

Seeing that it had the attention of it's new prey the Gaara clone unleashed a large torrent of sand from the gourd that it carried and molding into a Ryūsa Bakuryū (Quicksand Waterfall Flow), launching it at everyone that stood before him regardless of allegiance, several of combatants being unable to avoid it and were engulfed by the wall of sand.

After avoiding the wave of sand the surviving Ninja, both Temari and Kankurō amongst them, turned their attention back to the Gaara clone. "Retreat, everyone get out of here." Temari ordered as she channeled chakra into her fan. "I'll hold this thing off to buy you time to get away."

"Konkurō, what are you doing?" The blond woman said sternly. "I told you to get out of here."

"You really think I'm gonna take orders from you." Kankurō snarked. "Sides what kind of brother would I be to let my sister go up against a freaky version of our youngest sibling by herself."

Temari shot her brother a stern look before shifting her attention back to the Gaara clone. "FŪŪTON: TATSU NO ŌSHIGOTO! Great Task of the Dragon!" With a mighty swing she unleashed a powerful burst of wind that descended around the Gaara clone, taking the form of a tornado/

At the same time Kankurō reached into a pouch that hung from his belt and pulled out a scroll. Unfurling it across the ground, revealing that it had various symbols and seals written on it, he performed a series of hand seals and a burst of smoke was released from the paper that quickly dissipated to reveal a humanoid like construct that appeared to be contrasted from wood.

The figure was of slim build had a mop of red hair sat atop its head, on the chest a hole could be seen on the pectoral. Two metal arms that attached to its back, each of them sporting four deadly attached to them.

With a flick of his wrists dozens of glowing chakra strings emerged from Kankurō's fingers and attached themselves to the red haired puppet, the sound of wood clacking filled the air as the puppet rose up from the ground up into a standing position. With a few subtle movements of his fingers the middle child of the three sand siblings had the puppet launch itself at the pale skinned clone.

"AKAHIGI: KIKI SANKAKU! Red Secret Technique Machinery Triangles!" The head of the puppet detached itself from the body and raised its arms, from which dozens of kunai and ball bearings were fired from the wooden constructs body.

Trapped in place by Temari's tornado the Gaara clone was unable to avoid the projectiles launched from Kankurō's puppet, the ball bearings exploding creating a large release of light, heat, energy and dust.

The explosion died away along followed quickly by Temari's wind, as both dissipated to reveal that the Gaara clone to be still be standing there. Cracks appeared across his skin before pieces of it fell away revealing it to be unharmed.

"That thing knows how to use Gaara's Suna no Yoroi (Armor of Sand)?" Temari exclaimed. "Not only does it look like Gaara it can use his jutsu as well."

"Just what is this thing?" Kankurō added, "Just what kind of shit has Orochimaru got access to to create something like this?"

Seeing its prey's moment of shock and confusion the Gaara clone fired a Rendan Suna Shigure at the pair forcing them to react, Temari shielding herself with her fan whilst Kankurō used his puppet to do the same.

With the pair The clone created a pair of large Suna no Kaiwan, the large clawed hands rising up from the sand that covered the ground and sent one of them at Kankurõ, smashing the brown haired Ninja's puppet, the air filled with the sound of breaking and splintering wood.

The clone followed this up by launching several Suna Shuriken (Sand Shuriken) were launched from the sand at the blond haired Konouchi, the spinning sand disks shredding Temari's fan that she used to shield herself.

With both of them now defenseless the Gaara clone sent the two large sand claws at the two Suna nin's, the sand engulfing and bound them in place and unable to escape as a second swirl of sand appeared from which the real Gaara appeared and saw both his brother and sister trapped in the Sabaku Kyū (Sand Binding Coffin).

Glancing over its shoulder the Gaara clone saw the original standing a short distance away from it, a sinister looking grin before bring his hands into clenched fists. The moment that it did so the sand that bound the pair to contract, both if them crying out in agony before the sand filled their mouths and the sound of cracking and splintering bone filled the air.

From his position all Gaara could do was watch wide eyed and helpless as both Kankurō and Temari were engulfed by his clones Sabaku Sōsō (Sand Waterfall Funeral).

In that moment time seemed to stop and his surroundings melted away into nothingness. Gaara could do nothing but stand there, eyes wide and mouth agape, a look of horror on his face. The red haired mans eyes began to string as tears began to well up as memories of both his siblings began to flash before him.

From the fear and hate that they had felt for him during their childhood that morphed and changed over time to support and love. And now, in the blink of an eye they both gone and he had been powerless to save them.

Slowly a multitude of emotions began to well up with in the red haired Kazekage before turning his face skywards and letting out a loud cry, the sand beneath his feet beginning to shift and churn as raw chakra began to radiate off of him.

Gaara then shifted his attention back to his clone, a look of utter hatred on his face, hate that he had not felt since before meeting Naruto Uzumaki. Letting out a growl he then launched a barrage of sand based jutsu at his clone, their positions having changed from their first fight. Now it was Gaara who on the offense whilst the clone was now focused on defending itself.

More and more Gaara hammered away at his clone, anger pumping through him, but could not break through its defenses. His clones shields were just as formidable as his own were, something that only made him more and more frustrated.

More and more rage pulsed through Gaara's being, images of a bloody and dying Yashamaru lying on the ground flashing before him mixed with the last moments of his brother and sister, only serving to fuel the fire that burned within him.

In the mists of anger other emotions also welled up with in the red haired Kage's chest, sadness and grief. Sadness and grief for the woman whom he was responsible for the death of and the two siblings that he was unable to prevent their deaths.

More and more images of Temari and Kankurō flashed before his eyes, images of happier times. Images of them eating together. Temari chewing him out for reading Icha Icha novels along with being assigned her Genin team. Of sharing drinks with his brother, be it them hanging out to one of the local bars or Kankurō sneaking booze into his office for them to share.

Little by little Gaara began to feel his anger and sadness begin to subside a little, as it did so a he found that began to think more clearly. Somewhat free of his negative emotions it became clear to him that his barrage of offense was getting him nowhere; he needed to find a way to surpass the clone's defenses.

Using a Shunshin no Jutsu he put some distance between himself and his clone, taking a moment he began to consider his options. Despite being a creation of Orochimaru this copy had to have some weakness, there was no such thing as an undefeatable ninja as they all had some weakness; his fights against Sasuke and Naruto had proven this to him.

It was at that moment as he recalled Naruto an idea formed in the red haired mans head, he couldn't be sure if it would work or not however give that his previous effort had been less then effective he was willing to try it.

Focusing he his chakra spread out into the sand that covered the ground which he then launched at his clone is a series of waves, as before it used its shield to block the Kazekage's attack, however because of the wave it didn't seem to notice as Gaara began to dash forward.

"SUNA BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! Sand Clone Technique!" A pillar of sand rose up on other side of the Gaara clone, taking on a humanoid shape and latched onto the pale skinned clone. However unlike Gaara's regular clones that were duplicates of himself, these sand clones took on the form of Temari and Kankurō.

Gritting its teeth the Gaara clone struggled against the Temari and Kankurō replicas as the sand from their bodies spread across him, restraining him and leaving him unable to move. Moments later Gaara was face to face with the clone, placing his hand on the restrained duplicates chest, pumping more chakra into the sand and gained control over the sand that the clone had been using.

The sand around the Gaara clone continued to spread and grow denser by the second, lifting him up off of its feet and into the air, all the while it tried to futilely trash and squirm as it tried to break free until it was fully engulfed.

All the while Gaara looked on, a steely expression on his face as he watched as his duplicate was engulfed in the sand. However his eyes burned with a white-hot intensity, betraying the anger that still burned inside of him. "SABUKU KYŪ! Sand Binding Coffin!"

The sand then contracted around the Gaara clone, the air filled with the sound of breaking bone before falling into silence. Slowly Gaara retraced his hand from the pillar of sand, which quickly lost malleability and collapsed in on itself the moment his hand was free, the material spreading across the ground.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl and all was quiet as Gaara stared at the spot where the pillar of sand had stood, quickly he became aware of the streams of water falling from his eyes. The battle over he turned on his heel and began to walk away, still silently weeping for the loss of his family.

As Garra was walking away from his defeated clone elsewhere another battle was being fought. A fair distance away from where the rest of their team was engaged against the army of clones both Lee and Neji were engaged against Sasuke.

Off to one side Neji watched as his teammate engaged Sasuke, Lee seemed to have the Uchiha attention focus solely on him. Taking a deep breath he readied himself, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Lee was unleashing a barrage of powerful blows at the nuke nin, had his opponent been anyone else the bowel haired Taijutsu users strikes might have been enough to best them however Sasuke's Sharingan allowed him to avoid Lee's attack.

"Pathetic," the Uchiha muttered as he ducked out of the way of one of Lee's kicks, seemingly unfazed by his offense. "Your style of fighting, it's the same as it was back when we first met. It will never be good enough to beat me."

"And yet my Taijutsu almost beat you with it back at the Chunin exams all those years ago." Lee retorted. "I recall having you on the ropes and would have defeated you had Gai-sensei not stepped in."

"That encounter meant nothing." Sasuke retorted, sounding a little more aggressive. "Had I had access to the power that I have now then that meaningless scuffle we had back then would have had a very different outcome."

"What's that, I think I hear a note of hurt pride in your voice." Lee said, a glint in his eye. "Besides I'll have that know that you are not the only one who is different, I too have grown in strength our first meeting."

Lee once more launched himself at Sasuke, aiming a powerful punch at the dark haired ninja's head only for the Uchiha to duck out of the way of his strike. Unperturbed Lee didn't relent he kept up his assault at the dark haired Sharingan user who once again was able to keep appear of Lee's Taijutsu based offense.

So focused on Lee Sasuke didn't notice Neji, the Hyuuga's palm connecting with one of his shoulders knocking him off balance. "Pay attention Uchiha," He told the Uchiha, readying another strike. "Lee is not your only opponent."

Growling Sasuke lunged at Neji, swinging his Kusanagi at the Hyuuga, who ducked out of the way of the swing before knocking the hand holding weapon aside. Neji followed this up by going for another Juuken strike only to have Sasuke counter it by grabbing him by the wrist and attempted to pull his in close.

Not to be out done, Neji was quick to counter Sasuke's counter, slamming his foot into Sasuke's shin. This action was enough to break Sasuke's concentration and allow Neji to slip out of his grip, striking Uchiha in the chest Neji pushed him back and putting a small distance between the two of them.

Growling Sasuke began flipping through hand seals. "KATON: GŌKAKYŪ NO JUTSU! Great Fireball Technique!" Inhaling a great torrent of fire erupted from Sasuke's mouth, the burning mass heading towards the Hyuuga.

Seeing the red-hot flames coming towards him, utilizing every ounce of his chakra control he flushed his system with it. "HAKKESHŌ KAITEN! Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!" Neji began to spin as he expelled chakra from everyone of his tenketsu, forming a dome that intercepted the fire.

For several minutes both Ninja focused on their techniques, Sasuke trying to break through Neji's shield and Neji focused on blocking the fire. So focused on each other that neither of them noticed Lee until he leapt over Neji's chakra dome and launched himself at Sasuke and aimed a kick at him.

Seeing Lee come flying at him Sasuke creased his jutsu and switched his focus to defending himself from Lee, ducking out of the way of his and slashed at his with his blade.

Twisted in mid air Lee managed to kick off of the Uchiha's Kusanagi, sending himself flipping over Sasuke and landed on the ground where he slid across the ground several meters, his eyes never leaving Sasuke. As he readied himself to engage the rouge nin once more.

Sasuke glared at Lee, a look of anger and frustration on his face as slowly the eyelid of his right eye slid closed. "MANGEKYOU SHARINGAN: AMATERASU! Heavenly Illumination!" No sooner had he said these words Sasuke's eye blinked open and Lee was engulfed in the infernal black flames.

Nearby Sakura and the other members of the squad had their hands full of dealing with the clone troops that had attacked them, the pinkette had just finished putting down one of the remaining Titans when she took the opportunity to look over at the fight between Neji, Lee and her former teammate and in time to see Lee be engulfed by the hellish black flames.

"NO, LEE!" Sakura cried out as she watched as the bowel haired man's skin and muscle looked to be burning away.

Neji also looked on, a horrified look on his face as he watched as the hellish fire was incinerating his teammate.

"This…this is nothing," Lee managed to say, pain flooding his voice. "These flames, they cannot compare to my youthful spirit."

He then began to once more move towards the rogue Uchiha. "L…Lee…" Sakura gasped, shocked that he was still able to move despite the pain that he must be in.

"D…don't worry about me Sakura-chan…" Lee told her. "Even if my flame is extinguished here today I…I will take him with me."

As this was happening Sasuke looked on, blood oozing from his right eye, shocked that Lee was still standing. Scowling he focus Lightening chakra to flow from his hand and channel it along the blade of his weapon.

"CHIDORI EISOU! Thousand Birds Sharp Spear!" The blade of his sword began to glow and crackle with electrical energy before it began to extend outwards, the air filled with the sound of what sounded like chirping birds.

Letting out a low growl Sasuke lunged forward as Lee drew closer, the crackling spear piercing the burning man's chest, time seeming to freeze for a moment as they both stood there. Slowly Sasuke withdrew his glowing weapon from Lee's chest; to everyone's shock he remained standing.

"I…impossible…" Sasuke exclaimed, his left eye wide at the sight of Lee still standing.

Neji, just as shocked as Sasuke scanned Lee with his Byakugan, doing so he searched for any sigh of life within his teammate but only to find nothing. And yet as if by some force of will even in death Lee's body refused to fall.

Anger and sadness filled his being. Ever since they met Lee had been a source of great annoyance to him, seeing him as nothing more then a failure that would never get anywhere no matter how hard he tried. Who was he to defy the path that fate had assigned him. That was until his defeat at the Chunin exams courtesy of Naruto Uzumaki, his eyes had been opened to the possibility that one could make their own fate.

In that light his view of Lee had shifted, despite his loud, and at times obnoxious, personality he grew to appreciate Lee's determination to become strong, to push himself to greater heights. Lee had become the shining example of what one could achieve, to rise up beyond their meager beginnings and become something more then what they started as. And now he's never he able to tell him of that.

Gripping his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms, Neji felt chakra coursing through his body, channeling it and focusing it into his hands that began to emit small sparks of electricity. "Uchiha…"

Looking away from the burning corpse of Lee, Sasuke turned his attention to Neji, unfazed by the Raiton chakra that sparked off of the Hyuuga's hands. "I'll ask you one more time, where is Naruto?"

Neji glared at Sasuke, slipping back into his clans Juuken stance. "He's somewhere you can't get to him." He retorted firmly.

Before either of them could say anything else a shadow fell over Sasuke, both Neji and the Uchiha barely had a second to react when Sakura appeared out of the sky, her green eyes ablaze and her fist cocked which Sasuke barely was able to avoid as she slammed it into the ground.

From her position Sakura glared up at Sasuke. For a second she looked past him over at the body of Lee, the dead mans body finally collapsing into ash. She cursed herself, cursed herself for her weakness.

She recalled the talk she'd had with Kakashi only a day prior, of her conflicting emotions to him in regards to Sasuke and the uncertainty of possibly facing him again. He in turn had told her to figure out what she wanted; to do so before the rest of her life passed her by.

In that moment, seeing Lee first be engulfed in the black fire followed by Sasuke stabbing him in the chest, everything became clear to her with a terrible clarity. All the conflicting feeling and confusing thoughts were gone, she now had her answer. And all it cost was the life of one her friends.

Shifting her attention back to Sasuke she brought herself back up to her full height, her eyes burning with an intensity that the Uchiha never knew she has capable of. "This…this is for Lee…"

Meanwhile Kakashi, the silver haired Ninja was still engaged against his clone that like Gaara was also giving him trouble to deal with. It seemed regardless of what either of them tried to do they we just too evenly matched to gain an advantage over the other

'This is getting me nowhere,' Kakashi thought as he ducked under a haymaker that his pale skinned counterpart aimed at him. 'What am I missing, there has to be something that will allow me to defeat this thing…'

But that was the thing; along with every one of his techniques Kakashi was aware of ways to counter them. The clone too would more then likely also be aware of this as well. As observed the clone lacked a Sharingan eye, meaning it didn't have access to the Kamui.

However, given the toll it took on him, Kakashi was hesitant to using it, as doing so would leave him vulnerable, not a position that he wanted to be in in a warzone.

It was then, as if by some divine force, a thought began to form in Kakashi's mind, a possible strategy for this situation. He wasn't entirely sure if it would work but give his current situation he found himself in it could be his only chance to end this quickly.

Seeing his clone go for another haymaker Kakashi grabbed the pale skinned constructs arm and using its momentum tossed it over his shoulder where it flew through the air several meters befoe landing on its feet.

Not skipping a beat Kakashi quickly formed a familiar cross seal. "NINPO: KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! Shadow Clone Technique!" Seconds later several puffs of smoke appeared on either side of him, from them emerged half a dozen exact copies of Kakashi himself.

By some wordless command Kakashi sent his two copies charging at his clone whist he himself stayed where he was. As his duplicates engaged as the pale clone Kakashi flipped through another series of hand seals. "SUITON: KIRIGAKURE NO JUTSU! Hiding in Mist Technique!"

Taking a deep breath Kakashi exhaled and a thick mist spewed forth from his mouth, the substance spreading out and engulfing the area. Its targets now obscured the Kakashi clone quickly looked about, searching for any sign of its targets.

"RAITON: RAIKIRI! Lightning Edge!" the air was filled by the sound of crackling and moments later two Kakashi's emerged from the list, both rushing at the Kakashi clone with the intent of striking the Kakashi clone down with their crackling hands.

Seeing the two Kakashi's coming towards it, the pale skinned clone dodged out of the way of the first one before side stepping out of the way of the second, grabbing a hold of its wrist as it went past. Using the clone's momentum the Orochimaru creation tossed the second Kakashi clone at the first, both Kakashi's colliding with one another and vanished in a sizable puff of smoke.

The clone stared at the spot where moments before the two Kage Bunshins had vanished, moments later a wet sounding sound was heard and blood splattered across the ground. Looking down the clone saw a hand sticking out of its chest, the appendage crackling with electrical energy.

The mist began to dissipate, fading away to reveal Kakashi standing behind his clone, his hand sticking through its chest. The clone let out a few choking noises as the life drained from its eyes and its body fell limp.

Slowly Kakashi retracted his hand from the corpses chest, the body collapsing to the ground, a wave of fatigue washing over him from using several high chakra depleting jutsu back to back. Reaching into one of the pockets of his shinobi flack jacket and took out 2 soldiers pills and popped them into his mouth, swallowing them he felt a rush of energy to partially replace what he's used up whilst dealing with his clone.

The sound of slow clapping then caught Kakashi's attention, looking round he saw Oroachimaru slowly walk towards him. "Bravo Kakashi-kun, bravo." The Snake Sannien said to the silver haired Hokage. "I'll admit I had my doubts at first, but I have to say the way you defeated my clone was inspired."

Kakashi didn't say anything, his gaze still fixed upon the former Konoha Ninja he gathered himself as he drew himself back up to his full height. Reaching behind him he drew a kunai and readied himself to engage the man before him.

Far from the battlefield Madara strolled through a large garden connected to Orochimaru's base of operation, after his conquest of the country and its conversion into one large facility he was surprised that Orochimaru would have left this space alone let alone keep it so well maintained.

He found the idea that the Snake Sannien having a quiet space where he could retreat to highly amusing.

As he continued to amble through the garden when the longhaired Uchiha noticed something just in the corner of his vision. Turning his head he looked down and saw a large black feather lying on the ground.

The sight of feather brought a frown to Madara's face, he stared at it for several seconds before he shifted his gaze to look skyward where he was greeted by the sight a humanoid figure hovering above him, a single feathered wing protruding from his back.

The sight of this man seemed to deepened frown etched into the longhaired mans face. Decades of careful planning and it had been ruined by one man, the man responsible once more before him. "You"

From his position hovering above Genesis looked down at Madara, his rapier in one hand and his copy of Loveless lying open in the palm of the other.

My friend, do you fly away now?

To a world that abhors you and I?

All that awaits you is a somber morrow

No matter where the wind blows

My friend, your desire

Is the bringer of life, the gift of the Goddess

Even if the morrow is barren of promise

Nothing shall forestall my return

AN And with that another chapter is in the bag, consider it an early birthday present from me to everyone who reads and enjoys this story of mine.

Sooo yeah, the war has officially kicked off. Also a bunch of characters died and I'll probably get a bunch of comments all saying how I killed off readers favourite characters and telling me that I have no right to do so despite it being my story. Heck one of my favourite characters got killed off in this chapter.

Rock Lee is one of my favourite characters from the Naruto franchise, admittedly when he first showed up I thought he was stupid and annoying but over time his never give up attitude and drive of alway trying to improve won me over. Killing him wasn't an easy thing to do but I got to admit his death is my favourite part of this chapter, if was going die then I was going to give him the that was denied to Gain and die like a bad ass. Standing tall and refusing to fall down even after Sasuke killed him.

Shino's confirmed dead and Samui, Temari, Kankurō and Lee all died and I gotta warn you they won't be the last either. A major thing that really annoyed me about the canon version of the Fourth Shinobi War was the lack of any real casualties on the allies side, the only real named characters that died were Shikamaru and Ino's fathers and Neji. I can't imagine anyone was really broken up by Inochi and Shikaku dying and if you did feel something it more then likely because of Ino and Shikamaru's reaction to it.

Then there was Neji, a pretty popular character with the fandom, his death hit pretty hard and his final words about. That was until someone pointed out to me that the real purpose of Neji's death was just to push Naruto and Hinata together and thanks to this Neji's death scene has gone from "I have chosen my own fate" to "Hey Naruto, I just took that killing blow for you. So do me a solid and date my cousin. Kay dying now…"

Aside from that a lot of the characters who really should have died didn't. Like Gai for example, Gai really should have died. He opens all eight gates (y'know the thing that will kill you if you do so) and as he lies there dying after charging Madara, Naruto just pokes him and keep him from dying, thus cheapening his whole big sacrifice.

I could probably go on a whole rant about death in Naruto and how meaningless it is, especially since there's 2 different techniques that can bring back the death, and the only deaths that had any real weight to them were Sarutobi and Jiraiya (mostly Jiraiya as he was one of the few characters that died and didn't come back). Its basically the same with problem that Dragonball has when it comes to character death, it means basically nothing since death seemingly has no consequences.

Anywho moving on the Kakashi VS Kakashi fight, as short as it was, was actually the hardest part of this for me to write because Kakashi is meant to be this ridiculously powerful ninja that has access to hundreds of techniques plus his Sharingan, how does he fight and defeat himself (minus the Sharingan eye). Also I'm aware that Kakashi having the ability to use Kirigakure no Jutsu is a product of the the anime rather then the manga, it was just a convenient way to end that fight so he could move on to fighting Orochimaru next time.

And with that said I'm done for now. Please leave your feedback on this chapter, I alway enjoy seeing what you all think of my work.

Next time we've got Kakashi VS Orochumaru and Madara VS Genesis. And before anyone asks Naruto and Cloud will be showing up soon.

Till next time everyone, peace out y'all