A/N: The longest chapter I've ever written, and if the title doesn't tell you what's going on then you haven't been paying very close attention. It may start slow, but trust by the end at least some of you will be saying "did he really just write that?" Anyway by the next chapter (not this one) it should be fairly obvious but I have decided to work Madara into the story. And no, this will not conflict with Tobi's previous activities in my fic. I'm that good.

Reviews:

Animegirl: someone may die. But times up. I might take your suggestion of another Sasusaku lemon, if they survive that is.

Rasengan: Of course you do.

Zeek: Foreplay: They just went for it, that's pretty much all these couples ever do in my story. Typo thing: you said my chapters were "10 words long" in one of your reviews. Tucker: Go watch Red Vs. Blue if you want to find out, it's a hilarious Halo machinima. 300: Never saw it, but I'm going to try and focus in on smaller fights after this chapter. Itachi: I promise you this, he will be fighting Sasuke. Pein: Yes very badass. Madara: see above. The End?: Yes. But not before a few epilogue chapters. I will be giving it a good ending. Please do not automatically equate good to happy though. I think I covered everything.

Dragonman: Unfortunately the vice-versa happens to be true.


Chapter 55: The Beginning of the End

Two weeks later.


The ANBU was hidden in a tree, watching the forest and observing every tiny movement around him. Then he saw the big movement that he dreaded. Ninja, at least 8 of them, moving right at him. The ANBU wasted no time turning to run back to the village to sound the alarms. As he ran and jumped across the trees he felt something was wrong. With a display of amazing reflexes he narrowly dodged the swing of an arm right in front of him. The ninja that had swung was a sound nin. Despite his dodge there was little hope for surviving this encounter. There were already four more ninja surrounding him. He had been trained for this situation, but he did not enjoy the prospect. Before any of the enemies could make a move he threw a kunai straight up, through the trees. The sound ninja attacked.


The explosion was visible from the village gates. The protocol had been enacted. A single kunai equipped with an exploding note and red powder to give it color. Within moments the alarm was raised. Any and all Ninja near the wall headed there immediately to repel invaders, while detachments began herding the citizens to the Hokage monument.

From the wall there was still no sign of movement. But they were all tense.


"Hokage-sama! The alarm along the wall has been raised, we are already leading civilians to the shelters."

Tsunade lifted her head off her desk and rubbed her eyes. As she listened to him her eyes bulged. "Right, I want every Jonin and Chunin on the move now. I grant full authority to break into their homes to get them up. MOVE IT!" The ANBU rushed away. Tsunade cracked her neck and knuckles.


The ANBU that weren't positioned at the wall began spreading the word, though it didn't take long for the priority to become obvious. Anyone could see the civilians moving through the streets, and it could mean only one thing. Sakura and Sasuke saw this very thing and came to that conclusion. Sakura could see it just from the side of his face. There was a seething rage just barely contained by his cold demeanor.


Hiashi was awake already and could hear the commotion in the village. An ANBU landed in front of him. "Hiashi-sama, the alarm is being raised."

Hiashi nodded. "I see, I shall inform the clan."

The ANBU didn't leave immediately. "Sir, there is one more issue the Hokage instructed me to bring up with you. There are special instructions regarding Naruto Uzumaki. He is to report directly to the Hokage. Should he resist, then he must be taken there by force."

Hiashi nodded. With that the ANBU vanished. Hiashi walked through the estate telling everyone he came across to spread the word about the alarm. The path he took led him straight to his daughter's home. He knocked on the door and was met by his daughter moments later. "Hinata, the battle has begun." Though this was not the message the ANBU had delivered he knew it was more accurate, having seen that sound Ninja had begun attacking with his Byakugan. "Tell Naruto to come speak with me. Now."

Hinata stepped back away from her father. She turned and ran to the bedroom where Naruto was getting dressed. "Naruto, its stared. Father wants to speak with you."

Naruto zipped up his jacket. "Alright then."

The two of them walked back into Hiashi's view. "Naruto, I will accompany you to the Hokage's office. She has special instructions for you there. If you will not go peacefully I will force you."

Naruto smiled. "No need for that Hiashi-sama, I'll go hear what Tsunade-baa-chan has to say."

Hiashi stopped him as he was walking out of the house. "Byakugan." He searched the entire house for any clones but there were none. "Very well then. Hinata, As a Chunin you should go to the shelters to protect the civilians should anyone breach that far through our defenses."

She nodded and moved past her father to go to her position.

Naruto and Hiashi began moving at high speed toward the Hokage's office.


Kuchina wasn't at home, she must have already left for the shelters. Chouji took off toward them following the path she would have taken. This area of Konoha was already deserted so there was no one to get in his way.


Shikamaru was counting the people that were making it into the shelters, and collecting the reports on which areas had been evacuated. Iruka ran up to him. "Report?"

Iruka panted for a second. "We've cleared out all the gate border areas. Everyone's on their way now, so we can start the counter offensive. You want to inform the guests?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah I guess I can. Take over my position here." He saw someone else running up. "Ino! What do you have to report?"

Ino reached him. "I couldn't find Chouji and his girlfriend was still at her home. I evacuated the area."

"Did you see him on your way here?"

Ino shook her head. "I can go back and look for him though. He'll probably still be there."

Shikamaru looked into the crowd of people moving. "Alright do that and then both of you move toward the wall."

Ino and Iruka looked confused. Iruka addressed Shikamaru. "I thought it didn't matter how far into the village they got? Isn't that the whole point of moving the people to the shelters?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Normally yes, but akatsuki complicates things. They are our primary targets and we need to identify them as soon as possible. That's why we're fighting at the gate. Eventually the s-class ninja of Akatsuki will become disappointed with the slow progress and they will intervene, when we know where they are our own highly skilled Jonin can take them down."

They nodded in understanding. And Ino took off. Shikamaru handed Iruka his chart and leapt away to the top of the monument. There were several people waiting for him.


Tsunade was standing in her office behind her desk when Naruto walked in. Hiashi was soon to follow but she held up her hand. "Thank you Hiashi. You can go to your post now." Hiashi left without question. "Naruto, You stay right here."

Naruto Stood very still. "I thought you would do something like this. No."

Tsunade glared at him. "They are coming for you Naruto, we need to protect you. Part of being a good ninja is following orders."

"So you're ordering me to sit here and hide while my friends go out and die for me? That's an order I would never follow. This is my fight and I'm gonna fight it."

"Oh? And how are you going to get out of this room?" Jiraiya had slipped into the room at some point and was standing behind Naruto.

Naruto smiled wide. "I could fight my way past both of you."

Tsunade's face grew stricter. "Stop joking around Naruto. This is serious. You're life is on the line."

Naruto's face got serious too. "I KNOW THAT!!! BUT I DON'T CARE. The way I see it if I fight them all and I lose then they won't have any reason left to harm anyone in this village."

Jiraiya walked in front of Naruto. "They won't think that way, given the power of the Kyuubi those monsters wouldn't even hesitate to destroy this entire village. We won't risk you Naruto."

Naruto shook his head. "Thank you for trying to protect me. But I have to fight. I'm sorry. Bye." Naruto disappeared. Tsunade spun around looking out her window. And saw that he had reappeared on a nearby rooftop. From here she could barely see him holding onto a kunai.

Jiraiya also stopped and began to open the window to pursue, but Tsunade stopped him. "He's made his point clear. We just have to hope he's as strong as he thinks he is."

Jiraiya nodded. "I guess that we should look for our enemy then." Tsunade nodded in agreement, and they both left through the window.


"And we're in!!!" One particularly exuberant sound nin was cheering out after they had cleared the main defense at the wall.

A pale sound nin looked at his excited partner. "Shut up before you reveal our position."

A rather large member of their group looked around. "We don't seem to have any trailers. Could we take these off?"

One of the other sound nin had several piercings in is face. "I suppose we can drop the cover. Naruto would likely be more motivated to attack us in our true forms."

The twelve of them became surrounded by smoke. When it cleared the eight members of Akatsuki and four sound nin stood ready. Pein, now shown for what he was, looked at their surroundings again. "Find the Kyuubi's Jinchiuriki."

Orochimaru smiled. "That boy will undoubtedly run right to the battlefield. All we have to do is wait for him."

Pein shook his head. "I want to find him now. Spread out and search."


"Chouji!" Ino finally found him. She got his attention and stopped near him. "Don't worry. Kuchina is fine. She's in the shelters." He calmed down and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Listen up, we've got orders to report to the area near the gate where the fighting is happening. Let's get going."

Chouji nodded and they took off.


Sakura had her position at the gate, but didn't even have to do anything. Sasuke had disappeared and the ninja that were attacking didn't really try to advance. In fact it looked more like they were just trying to hold them there at the gate. Sakura realized sickly that she could be right with this assumption. If the attackers were only trying to keep the counterattack here at the gate then it meant that there was already a team inside the village trying to achieve the primary objective. "Naruto!"

Sakura ran towards the Hokage's office. Even if Naruto had run away from Tsunade's protection this was the path he would take. She had to find him.


The sound nin woke up to find himself hanging upside down from a tree, suspended by wires. Not a part of his body could move, and he reasoned that calling for help was pointless. Instead he looked around until he saw something. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke was standing in front of the sound nin, though his prisoner kept spinning around making his relative position temporary. "I see you remember my name. Then you should have some idea of what I can do to you if I don't get the answers I want. So I'll ask you once. Where is Itachi Uchiha?"

The prisoner squirmed. "I don't know anyone by that name. Everyone Orochimaru-sama sought council with were called Akatsuki."

"Then tell me your orders. Be very specific."

"We're just attacking the village AHHHHHHHNNNN!" Sasuke drove a Kunai into his leg. With the nw handle for leverage he spun the prisoner until he was facing Sasuke. "Alright we were supposed to force you to concentrate your forces at the border of the village. Something about performing the ritual right in the middle of Konoha. But that's all I know I swear."

"Not good enough. If they were going to infiltrate the village where would they do it?"

"I don't know. Please I don't know!"

Sasuke sighed. He pulled his kunai loose and walked away. "They are already in the village, and they are looking for Naruto. I know what to look for too."


"Sakura?"

"Naruto! It's a good thing I found you. They're coming, now!" Sakura reached Naruto and grabbed his shoulder. "The fighting is just a decoy they're coming here for you."

Naruto nodded. "I know. And I'm gonna beat them all to hell."

"Let's see it then." Sakura and Naruto turned to the side to see the third person. He was an average looking man with brown hair and piercings through his nose, ears, and lower lip. He wore the Akatsuki robe and an Amegakure headband. "Jinchiuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Naruto Uzumaki." He was approaching them slowly. "Don't fight against me. We would like to accomplish this as peacefully as possible. Your friend here doesn't have to die. Unless you would like to kill yourself for betraying your postion so easily."

Sakura cursed herself mentally, what he said was completely true. But Naruto would not go peacefully, both of them would help with that. Sakura ran forward, aiming a chakra infused fist right for the enemy's face. He pushed her arm away and moved himself to her side, so Sakura threw her leg into an arc to hit him. He moved out of range of her kick and rushed back in close to her ready to strike. He was intercepted by Naruto who grabbed his arm.

Pein ripped his arm away from Naruto and got away before Sakura could hit him. He was now a good 5 feet away and looking at his adversaries. "I aim to capture you quickly Naruto, to that end I will need to enlist some help." Pein suddenly dropped to his knees and slammed his hands into the roof they were standing on. Naruto and Sakura braced for an attack. None came. Instead Pein stood up as if nothing had happened. "I have never lost a fight, and this is the secret to that strength." The ceiling began to bulge and warp. "Though neither of you have seen this jutsu with your own eyes you've heard a description of it." The bulges grew larger and taller. "I booby trapped one of our bases with a copy of it." The bulges took the shape of humans and within moments looked like pure copies of Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura and Naruto readied themselves for combat. Sakura looked over the clones. "So, this is what he hit team Guy with."

Naruto smiled. "They could defeat their clones, I'm sure we can beat ours."

Pein laughed. "Normally yes. These clones perfectly match your skills, style, and even your chakra level. What they lack is the ingenuity and resourcefulness that makes someone human, so they will always lose in a one on one fight with the person they are based on. However, you didn't take into account that you still have to fight me."

Naruto tensed up, fully understanding how tough things could get.


Hinata was moving toward the wall. She went to the shelters and explicitly requested permission to be on the front lines. After a little pleading and arguing, the finally agreed to let her go. Now she needed to prove that she could fight. That all of her efforts had finally paid off. "Byakugan!" She scanned the gates and saw the battle as it was going on. The ANBU and other Chunin seemed to be fending well, but there seemed to be no end to the enemy in that area. Then she caught something. There was some fighting going on in the village. It looked like Naruto was fighting his own clones, but why would he be training now? Sakura was also there, also fighting a clone of herself. And then there was someone else, a man in a black robe. "Akatsuki is in the village?! I have to warn someone!"

Hinata looked around for someone who could do something. She inadvertently found three more people moving around in the same black robes. One of them was close to her position, but the other two were moving towards Naruto. She couldn't wait for help. Naruto and Sakura would be overwhelmed by that many enemies. She had to help them now.


Naruto's clones dissipated at the same time as his clone's clones. He had never planned to fight himself, and what he hated was that he seemed to be the best person for getting through his own defenses. His clone could match him clone for clone with the mass shadow clone jutsu. To make things worse, they could use each other's formulas for the leaping thunder god jutsu, which practically negated the ability. He was losing chakra just pounding away at a mirror image of his on movements.

Sakura wasn't doing much better. Her clone could dispel genjutsu jus as rapidly as she could. It could match her chakra enhanced strength point for point. There was no way to get around how evenly matched they were. The worst part of it all was knowing that at any moment the Akatsuki would attack them when their guard was down. He could choose to do it at any time, but he didn't. He was toying with them. A sudden attack from the clone sent her flying toward Naruto. She could tell from his face that he was the real one. She stood next to him, back to back. "Naruto we've only got one chance, we have to take him out, that should get rid of his jutsu."

Naruto nodded. "Right. We have to move quickly. NOW!!!" Both of them dodged their respective clones and lunged straight for the Akatsuki. They were running at him very fast, but both of them could see him smiling. They saw the bird flying at them only once it was too late. It blew up in their faces and sent them flying back. Their clones and the shadow clones of the Naruto clone caught and captured them.

Deidara jumped next to Pein with a wide grin on his face. "I know you didn't need the help, but I couldn't resist. Tobi! Knock out the boy. Kill the girl."

Tobi was standing in between the immobilized Naruto and Sakura. "Senpai! I don't want to kill her! That's too cruel."

Deidara displayed his impatience. "Then do whatever you want with her just get rid of her."

Tobi brought his hand to his head and saluted Deidara. "As you wish Deidara-senpai." He proceeded to grab Naruto's face and lean in close to whisper. "You die for us all kid. Trust me, it's better this way." Before Naruto could react a surge of chakra bore into his skull until he blacked out.

Sakura had her head turned to the side and was trying as hard as she could to get free, but it was her own clone that was holding her down for the most part and she couldn't overcome it's strength. Tobi walked up to her. "But I thought..." Sakura's eyes bulged as he grabbed the sides of her head and knocked her out as well. When the Sakura clone dropped her he picked her up and sent her flying over the edge roof.

Hinata saw Sakura being thrown off and launched herself forward just fast enough to catch her and break her fall. She laid Sakura down gently and looked up at the roof she had come off of. "Byakugan!" She saw the three Akatsuki she had seen earlier. And she saw the two Narutos, one of whom was holding the other's limp form. She knew, without knowing, that the real Naruto was the unconscious one. It filled her with rage to see him in that condition. She leapt up to the roof.

Her appearance was sudden, the others did not see it coming. She was able to jump forward and stab the Naruto clone in the back, using a chakra blade to sever it's spinal column. It fell limp to the ground, dropping the real Naruto in it's fall. Now she had to move quickly. The Sakura clone was coming for her, as was the nearest Akatsuki. They would both reach her at the same time. She took the stance. "KAITEN!" She spun around, creating a spinning dome of chakra around her body.

Pein watched as the young woman sent Tobi and the Sakura clone flying away. The grounded Naruto clone was useless to him, so he dispelled it, and it morphed back into the ground. Then he turned his attention back to the girl. "A Hyuga. Very rare, very powerful. The Hakkesho Kaiten is an effective defense. We don't have time for this. Deidara, get rid of her."

Deidara slipped his hands into his pouches and when he brought them out he prepared two clay caterpillars. He threw them at Hinata and they enlarged into long clay monsters.

Hinata realized that the Hakkesho Kaiten would be useless as the long caterpillars would coil around the spinning shield rather then being knocked away by it. She also remembered from the stories she'd heard that those monsters would explode even if they were chopped up. Hinata would just have to be fast enough to get by them and get in close against him. The caterpillars lunged and so did she. She ran by them, she had to be quick. "KATSU!!" They detonated just as she was about to clear their tails. The explosions slammed into her body from both sides and her back. They sent her forward, but her body was paralyzed by pain.

The Hyuga collapsed before Pein. She attempted to pick herself up but could not manage before he kicked her in the face and sent her flying all the way to an adjacent roof top. When Hinata landed she was unconscious.

The explosions were loud enough to act as a beacon for the other Akatsuki to come, and within moments they were all there. Pein looked at everyone. "Orochimaru, have your men get to work, you will not be the only people who heard those explosions."

Orochimaru signaled to his four men, and they spread into a large square, one at each corner of the building they were standing on. The sound nin threw their hands out and a large purple barrier surrounded the entire building. Orochimau turned to Pein. "Your turn."

Pein turned to the center of the large building. "All the other tailed beasts have been collected, the idol will be at full strength." Within moments the area within the barrier was enveloped in an earthquake. Moments after that the building began to heave and bulge. The roof was torn asunder by the rising statue. Its head fist breaking most and then it's chained hands poking through. Amazingly the building stood even after all this damage, held together by the barrier which surrounded it. With the statue summoned the Akatsuki took their positions on it's fingers.

Naruto lay knocked out between it's wrists. The Akatsuki made their hand signs. The statue's mouth opened and blue chakra dragons poured out, falling down onto Naruto.


The explosions had drawn a crowd. Sasuke was watching, his eyes locked on the man standing on the statue's right ring finger. Kiba and Shino had arrived and were trying to wake up Hinata. Chouji and Ino found Sakura and carried her up to the roof tops, propping her against an incline. Tsunade and Jiraiya stood together looking on like everyone else. Even Shikamaru could see the purple barrier from atop the Hokage monument. With him were the village's reinforcements from Suna and Kumo.

All of these people looked on. All of them were filled with despair. All of them felt the deep pangs of a failure like none they had ever felt before.


A/N: …