I caught up to Choukichi easily enough even with my extra "baggage." He was standing in the entryway of what appeared to be a very large room, the heart of the headquarters. It was cavernous, the floor was raised a good twelve feet above the surface of the water which circumference it. He was listening to the conversation above us. I stepped up next to him silently and Deidara dropped down as equally quiet, his hand remained on my shoulder for balance. Choukichi looked at the both of us; he glanced down at Deidara's leg for a second then directed his attention back to the floor.

"You should have splinted that before you moved at all."

"Yea whatever."

Choukichi looked back at us, "let's get up there then."

"Right," After Choukichi had jumped up I grabbed Deidara, took a step back for a little extra momentum, and jumped up. I caught on to the ledge and pulled us the rest of the way up. Suigetsu and Itachi had turned around to view our entrance. The look on Suigetsu's face was…it was like he wanted us gone. He was looking directly at me, complete eye contact, screaming in silence for me to leave.

I stood up, Deidara remained sitting on the ground, and Suigetsu remained staring at me in some sort of secretive-broken horror. Sasuke was standing about twenty feet or so from them, smiling like a psycho.

"Well then you all finally made it…or no, Kakashi and Kisame are missing, correct?"

Itachi turned back to him; Suigetsu remained looking at me for a moment longer then turned as well.

"Excellent, Tetsuya I would have honestly thought this would have taken less time." We all turned again, the male masked ninja had appeared just behind me…how had I not heard him? "Where is Yanagi?"

"She lead Kisame away…Well, I guess she is dead." A second later we heard running down the tunnel.

"Fine then, she was not of much use anyways."

"Yanagi?" Choukichi sounded astounded, "Ichibara Yanagi?"

"Ah yes, you are the ANBU Head Captain of Konoha, you would be familiar with my Yanagi."

Tetsuya moved past us, I tensed at being so close to an opponent and not striking him…the time would come, and stood beside Sasuke. A moment later Kisame leapt up on the floor. He paused to take in the people gathered then moved to stand beside me.

"It seems we have the numbers on our side."

"Yea…I am not sure how much good it will do in the end."

"Hm," Kisame looked again at everyone. "Kakashi is not here?"

Choukichi turned to him, "No, he has not contacted us."
"Kakashi is dead."

We all stared at Tetsuya; his words had frozen every one of us. Kakashi was dead? That formidable bastard was killed? I recognized this shinobi as being a true talent but I would have never expected him to take out the infamous copycat ninja, and recall it without the slightest inflection in his voice…as if it were not a feat in the slightest.

"Ah that is good to hear, I was not looking foreword to facing his tactics."

"Enough of this talking," Kisame snarled, "I want to rip you apart!"

"Kisame, leave him to us. You help them…Hidan is here too, you will have your hands full soon enough. We can take care of this." Itachi spoke without looking away from his brother.

"You heard him, Tetsuya. Take care of those four; let me play with these two for a bit."

"Yes, my Lord," Tetsuya stepped out and away from his master. He walked towards us, drawing his two swords nonchalantly.

Choukichi stepped back to stand in a line with Kisame and me. "I need to search for Naruto, he is not here."
"Right…so we take care of this and you sneak away."

"Exactly."

"As long as I get a real fight out of all this." Kisame adjusted the samehada in his hands eagerly.

"Don't expect you can get away."

"Captain, there is a passageway behind the waterfall."

"Right, Itachi, I will be sure to see to that."

Tetsuya charged at us faster than either of us were entirely ready for, his target was Choukichi. Kisame took the lead on the defense. Kisame is one of the most physically strong people I have every known, and while this shinobi was fast and devious but he could not hold well under Kisame's brute strength. Even holding his counter with both swords, two arms, Tetsuya buckled under the blow. I could hear the fight between Sasuke and Itachi and Suigetsu beginning, but I kept my focus on my own opponent. Choukichi took the time to make a dash for the waterfall. I blocked Tetsuya's attempt to stop him. He blocked be, made a strike of his own which I contested easy enough but then he moved around me. I turned to stop him but he was too fast, luckily Kisame came out of nowhere and gave Choukichi the time he needed to close the distance…nearly. In one movement Tetsuya had blocked Kisame, literally used him to jump from and landed a short distance from Choukichi. In a flash he had grabbed the captain by the shoulder of his vest and threw him back with a powerful step into a turn. The movement was the prelude to his high-speed attack which, luckily, Choukichi managed to get back on his feet to counter. This guy was trouble, and I knew that if Choukichi was even able to get away Kisame and I would not be able to hold such a force back for long.

I watched mostly Itachi and Suigetsu. I was surprised how well they worked together in fighting Sasuke. I would have expected that they would be stuck on the defensive for the most if not whole part of the fight but they made their own strike sooner than I had deemed them capable of. I glanced at Kisame and the others. They seemed to be struggling a bit more with their opponent. I wanted to help but I was near spent. Choukichi-sama wanted to get to Naruto but I do no think that they could get him there just doing what they were doing. IF I just helped out a little, made my bombs a little less potent then a may have enough chakra to be of use. Besides if I am aiming to distract rather than maim the opponent I shouldn't need more than a few creations that are little more than fireworks and even with my chakra as low as it is I can manage this.

I quickly began molding my clay. As I had reached into the pouch I noticed that the amount of clay was getting pretty low…I may just run out of material before I run out of energy. I looked back to Itachi and Suigetsu. While they were currently doing better than the others I had a feeling that Sasuke was holding back, just toying with them for the moment. I realized it may be more crucial to help them out when they inevitably end up needing it. But the "real" mission was to get back Naruto for Konoha, so I guess I should help Choukichi out some. I will just have to save some for when Itachi and Suigetsu need it.

The bomb I had was ready. I watched Zabuza, Choukichi, and Kisame struggle for another minute then sent it over. IT was lucky that the shinobi was distracted with Zabuza and Choukichi attacking him at once or he probably would have been able to dodge the bomb. I waited till Zabuza was stepping back to strike then it exploded near his face. The man was busy flinching out of the way from the explosion that he got hit in the ribs by Kisame's samehada. It was not planned out but it was lucky that Kisame was the one to hit him; his chakra-absorbing samehada would be more helpful in the long run. As he jumped back I could already see that Tetsuya had been slowed considerably by the blow. Zabuza wasted no time and moved in. Tetsuya was able to block him but just barely. He moved as fast as he could back in to a standing position. Instead of running, Choukichi took the chance to try and hit him from behind. It was a narrow escape yet again, followed by another as Zabuza tried again on the offense. By the time Kisame joined in the Sound ninja's stance was a lot less confident, it seemed like they were overwhelming him now.

I trusted they were doing well enough I now turned to my other comrades. They were causing a bit more commotion; it had been hard to not look to them even while helping Kisame and the others. Sasuke was more or less merely toying with them. It was clear that he had the upper hand here…Itachi had more-or-less said that he had one over on Sasuke, but it did not appear to be the case or if he did he was holding back. I could not imagine why waiting would help them out, both Itachi and Suigetsu had little stamina. If they needed it I would, of course, step in to help…"step in" being metaphorical…but I could feel that I was plenty drained

What I did not understand was that neither Suigetsu nor Itachi were making any real moves. Itachi kept to more rudimentary jutsus and Suigetsu did little more than parry any physical attacks from Sasuke. Again I had to ask myself why they would hold back. Were they waiting for him to wear down? Chances are they would run out of chakra before he would and without ever going on the offence.

I turned momentarily back to the fight between the others and the Sound ninja. They seemed to be fairing neither better nor worse than before. Tetsuya appeared to be rather alarmed at losing his previous foothold in the fight. Then, just as Tetsuya was caught up with Kisame and Zabuza, Choukichi made a dash for the tunnel again. It took but an instant for the enemy to notice his escape. He turned to run after him but this time Kisame was successful in blocking him. He once again landed a blow on the opponent, on his side this time. He backed up and Zabuza attacked. Tetsuya managed to parry the blow despite the fact that he was still reeling from his recent hit.

Suddenly Kisame leapt into the other fight. Itachi yelled to him to return to his own fight but words would not stop the Kirigakure native, his bloodlust was too great. He swung the samehada at Sasuke who, of course, dodged it easily. Itachi seemed to accept Kisame's hand in the fight and used the aftermath of his sudden attack to try to get at Sasuke himself. Sasuke was a little slower at dodging this time. Bombard him, that appeared to work for getting at his subordinate, perhaps they had a chance after all?

Then Suigetsu came in to strike. It appeared that he and Kisame were slowly moving Sasuke towards the water. It made sense that they would, they were both from the Water country after all, and it would be where they are most comfortable.

I turned back to see how well Zabuza was holding off Tetsuya all on his own. I was surprised to see him overwhelming the enemy without any help. In truth, Tetsuya looked a bit more panicky than before. Suddenly the Sound ninja took a leap back. Zabuza ran at him, his giant sword ready to rip through flesh and shatter bone.

It happened so fast I almost did not catch it.

Tetsuya, in one swift motion, rolled right between Zabuza's legs at the very last moment…just before Zabuza's sword would have ripped him apart. He shot out his blade and it sliced into the inner side of Zabuza's left leg. His knee buckled almost instantly. The second Tetsuya was clear he sprinted towards the tunnel.

"Shit," I turned and got up, ignoring my wound which was practically numb anyways, and ran towards the tunnel. My knee buckled again and I fell. I stared at the waterfall through which Tetsuya had followed Choukichi. I didn't have to follow we were only to hold him off as long as we could then assist Itachi and Suigetsu.

I looked down at my leg where blood was now pouring at an alarming rate. Arteries, of course, I should have realized why he targeted that particular area right away. I quickly tore a wide strip from my pants and tied it as tightly as I could above the wound. I then tore more off to cover the wound itself. When I was finished I looked up at the fight happening before me just in time to see Suigetsu move to attack Sasuke. Sasuke blocked him then struck Suigetsu on the side of the head with the butt of his sword. He fell off the ledge into the water. Although as he fell Suigetsu appeared to still be conscious, Itachi followed him. Kisame continued to attack Sasuke. Again and again he struck at him; I wondered if he should have been assisting them to begin with because he was doing a lot better than either Suigetsu or Itachi were.

After a minute both Suigetsu and Itachi reappeared. Itachi moved to continue fighting Sasuke and Suigetsu grabbed Kisame by the shoulder and pulled him aside. He had apparently convinced him to leave it to Kisame and they both headed towards me.

"What is Itachi thinking? I looked from one to the other, you guys should stay there and help…you were doing well when it was all three of you."
"He wants to end this himself that is all." Suigetsu spoke without looking at me; his eyes were on the fight.

I said no more. Fine, let that Uchiha brat make this all too personal. The goal is to kill Orochimaru so that he can do no more in this world, not get petty revenge. I am surprised that Suigetsu did not insist on remaining in the fight, from where I see it Orochimaru has done more harm to him than to Itachi.

I turned back to the fight. Itachi was doing pretty well actually. I guess he may have been saving himself the whole time for this moment. Sasuke still appeared to have the upper hand though, he was definitely faster than his brother though Itachi seemed to be far more experience with the sword. They both had their short swords out and were parrying, Sasuke may have been faster to strike but Itachi had much more advanced moves…moves I had never seen come out of Konoha. In fact, I recognized a few signature moves taught to swordsmen of the Mist. I guess during their partnership Kisame must have taught him a few things…which is good or Sasuke may have beaten him down by now. Itachi moved past a rather lazy strike by Sasuke and landed a hit. He sliced diagonally across Sasuke's chest, it was not a deep cut but it caused the shinobi to jump far back and hold off for a moment. He stared, either dumbfounded or frozen by rage, at the wound.

Itachi stood still…why didn't he strike? He could clear that distance and end this, but he didn't move a muscle. I saw Suigetsu and Kisame in my peripheral, and Deidara in the other, they were just like me…frozen in the moment, waiting anxiously for either of them to move.

One thousand birds.

The sound echoed in the vast hall, the shrill cry seemed to be the only thing I could hear as I watched the dazzling blue-white light dance on the walls. The instant before Sasuke ran seemed to move slower than any moment of my life. This was it…he was too fast…we lost. I doubt that any one person here could stand a chance against Sasuke. Deidara and I were injured, Kisame was good but he couldn't do it alone, and I know Suigetsu is worn nearly to his limit by now.

We lost.

Kisame jumped up, faster than I had ever seen him move, and started at the two but Suigetsu jumped up and stopped him. Itachi, in the split second before Sasuke reached him, looked toward us. He was not looking at Kisame though, he was looking at me. The already painfully slow moment screamed to a near standstill as he stared dead on into my eyes.

There was something wrong…something was not right but I could not place it-

THE SHARINGAN!
It was not there…what did he have to gain without using his trump card?

As Sasuke's hand tore through his chest, coming out the other side in a fountain of blood, it was all clear. Like leaves forced from a tree in a harsh wind, the guise of Itachi was gone, and at the same time the water clone that was holding on to Kisame's arm fell to a puddle on the floor.

Before everything had registered in my mind, the true Itachi appeared. He leapt up from the water where he had been hiding and rushed at his brother's back, sword drawn. He cleared the distance in a near inhuman time and plunged the blade through Sasuke's back and through his chest.

Everything froze.

Itachi's face was calm yet twisted with emotion, Suigetsu slumped forward, his whole body was limp, the only thing keeping him upright was the fact that he was skewered on Sasuke's arm. And Sasuke stood there, pinned between his brother and his lover in some sick, ironic turn of events. And it was Sasuke…his eyes were not the cold yellow there were moments before, they were the same dark eyes I remembered. Yet, unlike how I remembered them, they were not calculating and conceited…they were soft, wide, and in shock. He was stuck there staring into Suigetsu's lifeless face.

Suddenly the control of Orochimaru was back. Sasuke turned quickly, tearing his arm from Suigetsu who fell, first forward to slump on to Sasuke's shoulder then dropped to the ground where he remained. Sasuke grabbed his brother by the back of the neck, Suigetsu's blood dripping from his hand into Itachi's hair, and stared dead into his eyes. A sick smile spread across his alabaster face. Itachi hesitated for only a second then pushed the blade in to the hilt, turning it as he did so. Sasuke cried out, blood spewing from his open mouth along with what appeared to be a small white snake.

In an instant Itachi pulled the sword out then cast a jutsu upon the ghostly reptile. Black flames engulfed it; the snake writhed for a moment then was still. Sasuke remained standing for a short while, and then fell to his knees.

It was me. I could not feel him anywhere. For the first time in what felt like years I saw my own life unfolding…and now it is fading. Even these last thoughts are so foggy I doubt they are even completely registering…they barely exist.

I turned head slowly; my every muscle felt relaxed making my body heavy. Even through my failing vision I could tell it was him…Suigetsu. It hurt…I felt anger. I was mad at myself…at the world. How can life thrust something as beautiful as love and then give you the choice to rip it apart? How could that have been an option? How could I have taken that path willingly? As soon as you let your guard down, as soon as you fall in love, it should be the only thing that matters…there should not be any other choice.

I could ever so faintly hear someone to my left…Itachi. I did not want to turn and see my brother, I did not care to acknowledge him at all, I wanted to go out in peace. I no longer care that he won, it is finally over.

I stood my ground. I ignored the usual pain coursing through my body, we would soon obtain the antidote for that anyhow, and my head cleared as well. I was nothing and that is how I deal with these things, I am not there, I did nothing, I am merely a bystander in the events that could haunt me forever if I allowed them such a privilege.

Sasuke fell sideways, his head falling to rest against one of Suigetsu's legs. I continued to watch him, my brother…his breath had already ceased and his eyes had gone murky.

I swallowed, the small movement bringing my body and mind back to life. I inhaled slowly and deeply and allowed my sword to drop from my hand.

I walked past the two bodies and to Kisame. Kisame, like Zabuza and Deidara, was utterly still and surveying my every move.

"Kisame-san, would you go see if you can find Choukichi…as far as we know he may still be fighting his fight down here."

"Right," Kisame continued looking at me for another second then rushed off.

Zabuza stood a little unsteadily; he was favoring his left leg which was crudely bandaged and bloody. I looked to meet his eyes and found a mix of shock, anger, and confusion. I walked up to him…I suppose an explanation would be a good thing-

Abruptly, he reached out and grabbed the shoulder straps of my ANBU vest and pulled me up to stare him directly in the face. I didn't try to pull away; I made no motion whatsoever except for the occasional blinking of my eyes.

"Why…How could you be like this? Running over other people's lives for your own means?"

"That sounds a lot like you, Zabuza-san." There was silence, he knew I was right. As much as he has changed in recent years he can not deny the monster he had been. "Besides it was not like Suigetsu died unwillingly."
"Liar! He had spoken to me about going home after this, about seeing his mother and making things right in Kiri. You lying Uchiha bastard, He didn't know a thing did he?"

"It would make sense he didn't wasn't you to know about it, Suigetsu probably figured you would act exactly like this. Of course he knew every little detail of this, it was all his idea."

After a silent second Zabuza released me, I took a step back but did not remove my gaze from him.

"If it is any consolation, I made him wait till we had no other option to go through with this. I did not thing that Orochimaru would have gotten so much stronger fusing with my brother."

"I saw it…" he turned to walk into the tunnel. "When we thought it was you out there fighting, I knew it was wrong." He walked away, jumping through the water and into the tunnel.

I could feel Deidara staring at me but I waited till I was sure everyone was gone before I acknowledged him. I turned around and walked over to him. Deidara was sitting in the same spot, a half-annoyed and half-sympathetic look on his face with his injured leg extended out in front of him, slightly to the side, and the other pulled up with his arms resting on the knee. I dropped to my knees in front of him next to his injured leg. Neither of us spoke. I slowly leaned forward and pressed my forehead to his and closed my eyes. I brought up my hands to his face and ran my thumbs slowly over his cheeks.

It was over.

Orochimaru and Sasuke were both dead. There, of course, was still the issue of Madara but he was not as rash as Orochimaru…not nearly. He would bide his time before he made his big move.

So for now I can rest.

The pain of disease and remorse did not even register with me as I felt Deidara's breath on my lips. I still feel uncertain of whether or not I 'love' him, but this foolish brat loves me and that is enough to put me at ease.

For now I can rest.

I walked down the tunnel slowly. I hated the thought that despite all I had done for him Suigetsu would hide something like this from me. Did he really think I would step in? Did he not realize that in the end of all his problems I let him do what he wanted? I may have put in a few words with him but I would not have prevented him from doing this…

Or would I?

I hate change! I hate that I cannot just return to killing for a dime, to pretending I had a purpose instead of actually having one. I wanted Haku back and I wanted to not have to worry about whether or not I had treated him right. I wanted to burn into history with him by my side, not go out hiding in Konoha like some guilty dog. Not many years ago I would have not cared about owing anyone anything let alone paying them back. My chances were made for myself not by some half-ass leaf ninja with a soft spot.

In retrospect I wanted to return to being the emotionless, no-law-applies-to-me, world-loathing shinobi I once was.

But I cannot do that. Instead I will run back to Konoha with my tail between my legs.

My thoughts shifted as I heard people coming down the tunnel towards me. I let my guard back down as they came into view. Kisame, Choukichi, Naruto, and Sakura were walking towards me. The two kids stopped as soon as they recognized me. Choukichi walked up to me and Kisame continued past.

"Kisame told me what happened…"
"It's fine, it was all planned."

"So you knew of this and did not inform your captain?"
"No, Itachi had just informed me."
"Itachi, huh? I had though he may be a little bit of trouble."

"What does it matter, you only cared about getting the jinchuriki brat back."

"HEY I CAN HEAR YOU!"
"Shut up Naruto," I glanced at the two in time to see her smack Naruto on the back of the head.

"Hey, that hurts you know?"

I turned around and walked back, Choukichi and the others followed. When we got back into the chamber I walked over to the bodies. I stared down at the two of them for a moment, their faces frozen in the last minutes of life. I knelt down and closed Suigetsu's eyes. I paused for a moment then closed Sasuke's as well. I could feel someone behind me. I stood up and turned around. Sakura had walked silently over here and now stood staring down at Sasuke. Her eyes were glazed over with tears but she tried to keep herself from completely losing composure. Naruto stood a ways off, as if not coming over here would make it not true that is friend was dead. I walked away, back the way we came

I was done with all of this.

"So what are we going to do?"

"A lot…in good time."

"What the fuck does that mean?" I scowled at Madara; I hated his pompous way of speaking to me.

"We will gather an army to defeat Konoha…drive that mistake of a Village into the ground once and for all."

"Like I didn't see that coming," I looked away. This was all too boring and political for me. "Well I hope you know what you are getting into. Up till recently the world thought you were dead, it will take a while to convince anyone you are actually back and even longer to sway them to follow you into this. Especially now that Konoha has two jinchuriki fighting on their side."

"Twenty years, thirty years…I can wait, Hidan, it will make my vengeance all the sweeter."

"Heh…I never liked sweets."

Finally I had received word from Captain Choukichi…the mission was a success. Kakashi was dead as well as Suigetsu, Deidara and Zabuza had both been injured but neither was anything serious, Naruto was fine and Sakura was there with him, after scouring the base they located and destroyed all of Orochimaru's work excluding the antidote for Itachi. They should be back sometime tonight. I was relieved that the mission was a success…that that monster was finally dead…but I was counting on Kakashi coming back and taking over as Hokage for me.

No such luck.

There was a knock at the office door. I bid them to come it.

Sai walked silently in and closed the door behind him. "I heard that you had received an update from the mission. Was Naruto recovered?"

"Yes, he and Sakura are perfectly fine."

Sai attempted to look nonchalant but I could tell he was very glad to hear this. "That is good; Konoha will need Sakura more than ever now that we have lost Lady Tsunade."

"Yes."

"Will you appoint her to lead medic?"

"I suppose…yes that would be my job now." We were both silent for a while. "Sai is this transition hard for you?"
"Hm?"

"The generations have shifted. You and Sakura and Naruto will be on your own now, the squad is split up…Kakashi is dead. Change like this seems to flow so seamlessly from lower positions…but from way up here everything is leaps and bounds."
Sai was silent for a long time. When he finally spoke it was as if the fates themselves were speaking. "Is this not how things happen? People die and others take their places. Power gets passed on to the next generation…right now children are being born who will lead the world through wars and feigned peace over and over again…is that not how it is supposed to work?"

I folded the letter before me in half and pushed it aside. "Yes, this is how everything was meant to unfold."