Parallax

by Oceanbreeze7

Sequel to Celestial Bodies. At a given instant, the Moon appears among different stars for observers at widely separated locations. These subtle changes in position are called its parallax. Sasuke will do anything to save his brother.

7. Chapter 7

This story is already finished on Ao3. That's how bad I am at remembering to post on this platform.

Thanks to the reviewer who said they wished I'd update soon, which made me very confused considering I had already finished this. Yep, there's 9 full chapters. Enjoy this- I'll be updating the rest of the story and finishing it here in the next few days.

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Konan stood calm under the sun of Konoha, and in another life and circumstance, Shisui would have described her as beautiful. She draped herself with an ethereal cloak, existing outside reality by half a step without the presence of too alien or too dangerous be considered.

She wore a flower in her hair, gentle and feminine despite her presumed fighting. It was Shisui's first signal that her ability verged on something else.

"Be careful," Shikamaru warned Shishui unnecessarily. The younger stood behind Shisui, light on the tips of his feet in preparation to run. "She likely was the recruiter for the rest of the Akatsuki."

Shisui knew how to identify a dangerous nin on sight. Shisui said, a bit dryly and entirely honest, "considering how much you all are afraid of this Akatsuki, I haven't actually heard anything about them."

Konan blinked her orange eyes slowly, catlike. She said, "I'm sorry our recruitment posters did not reach your area, Uchiha-san."

'Oh great, she has a sense of humour,' Shisui thought with a cry of frustration. He allowed himself to smile wryly, holding his borrowed sword a little tighter. "It looks more like you hoarded all the paper."

Konan smiled in return, shifting her piercing the slightest bit. A sheaf of paper peeled away from her upper arm, transforming itself into ornate origami with no hand signs- a beautifully crafted butterfly fluttered around, landing on her outstretched finger daintily.

Shisui immediately increased his mental evaluation of her abilities to off-the-charts. The kind of nin where he would be hesitant to attack even with Hatake on his side. Of course, now he had to fight her with an unknown Nara throwing out idiot calls in the heat of battle. This would be very difficult, but Shisui would be damned to die again before seeing Itachi's scrawny ass.

"I was once under the impression Itachi Uchiha killed all his kin," Konan said curiously, which was something Shisui was quickly growing tired of hearing. She watched her butterfly lift itself from her hand, fluttering skywards on invisible drafts of air. "Had I known you were there, I would have extended the offer of safety to you."

"Excuse me, are you throwing me a recruitment pitch?" Shisui asked, too filled with tension to be properly gobsmacked. "While you're invading my home?"

"If Itachi Uchiha spared you, then there is some merit to your abilities," she reasoned logically. "Or perhaps he was too... attached to kill you. Like the other."

'Sasuke,' Shisui corrected without betraying anything with his expression. The woman eyed his sword as well, a tad curious and unconcerned.

"Or…" the woman paused, contemplating her words and thoughts at the moment. "Or perhaps Itachi Uchiha was never as apathetic as he claimed. How curious, a traitor to his clan, his village, and us. Was he a traitor to you, as well?"

Shisui wanted to laugh at the idea of that, primarily because the idea of Itachi being apathetic in any setting was laughable. Itachi wore a blank expression but portrayed his thoughts and feelings throughout his body and his words. He mumbled or growled or threw his kunai a bit too hard, then hogged the bed until Shisui could poke the problem out of him.

This woman may have been his teammate for a terrorist group (and wasn't that a thought), but clearly, she hadn't known Itachi in any way.

"Sounds to me like your little group had some trust issues," Shisui said instead of answering her question.

Konan laughed and it was a beautiful sound. Her butterfly shifted, spreading wings into a small songbird that flapped its wings silently and spread its paper feathers. She looked at Shisui and the knowledge that she was enjoying the conversation struck him violently. "I suppose that's true. A few were prone to homicidal tendencies. Or...inexplicable immortality. Or both."

Shisui asked, a little warily, "Was there one who was a religious zealot?"

Konan smiled, the corners of her eyes lifting slightly. A flutter of her collar peeled away, reminding Shisui that she somehow was entirely cloaked in paper. She said, a tad warmly, "we never did find what happened to that one."

'Sasuke happened,' Shisui knew but didn't dare mention it.

Konan stepped aside, her long cloak brushing the street of Konoha in a soft rustle. She lifted her hand higher, the movement peeling aside more tags that similarly grew wings and fluttered into a flock of white silent birds. They danced about beautifully with deceptively sharp edges. "You don't know the Akatsuki, do you Uchiha? Shall I tell you our ideals?"

"Well, I love hearing a lovely woman talk," Shisui agreed. She smiled again, beckoning the birds to twirl and circle her shoulders.

"The world is built of pain and suffering," she said gently to him, encouraging him to hear her words. "It is the equalizer across this world, that pain breeds suffering and vengeance and hate. The cycle continues, forever tied in chains of revenge and despair. Through pain, we are the same, and through pain, we will know peace."

Shisui tasted something sour on his tongue. She preached the antithesis to all of Itachi's fears, claiming only through hurt could peace be achieved. She looked at him with bright eyes and a kind smile, and Shisui wondered if she too was the type to view genocide as mercy.

"And all the Akatsuki wanted this?" Shisui asked.

"They see the value of our great leader's vision," Konan said. "He who has been blessed with heavenly eyes shows our true path forward. All shall know pain."

"Because you think then, everyone will know peace," Shisui rationalized. Konan nodded politely, folding her arms back into her sleeves to eye him with open curiosity. Shisui presumed most nin would have already attacked, so his strange resistance suggested a willingness to her ideas.

"I follow a different religion, sorry," Shisui said.

"It is of no conflict," she assured him. "Religion, ideology, resources, land, spite, love, or just because. No matter your reasoning, it is enough to start a war and fuel the cycle."

"Alright," Shisui agreed cautiously, "then who is this God of yours? Because I at least have a name for mine, well, more a target for when I'm cursing him out."

Konan ignored him and said, "pain is eternal."

Pain, which sounded a lot like the name Pein, who had been invading Konoha prior. Pein, who had multiple bodies capable of devastating power.

"In my personal experience," Shisui said slowly, "gods don't normally have physical bodies. They just do jerk things to you from afar."

Konan nodded politely, humouring him. Shisui thought there was more to it, because her appearance came in accompaniment to that of the multiple Peins, asserting their abilities against Konoha openly. It felt a lot more like a cult than it did an actual religious deity.

"What is your ideal, Uchiha-san?" she asked him.

He hadn't expected her interest, but if she truly was aiming to recruit him, it made sense to manipulate his spiritual values. It was a shame that Shisui had damning evidence that Susanoo truly was real and hard-pressed to have him help stop terrorism.

"Well," Shisui said, a little lost for how to be both honest but borderline manipulative. "I...I mean, my clan worships the three siblings. Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, and Amaterasu."

Konan looked at him with something else, a tad sharper or a tad more invested. Under her keen focus, Shisui could nearly feel the shift of the conversation into a potential altercation. "Fascinating. And they are of equal ability and significance?"

"Susanoo is the patron of the sea and sword," Shisui elaborated carefully. "Tsukuyomi is the patron of the moon and mask. Amaterasu is the patron of the sun and soul or jutsu."

Konan's smile slid away, and although her face now became blank, it was obvious something bothered her about his words. She asked him, soft and unprovoking, "pardon my curiosity...of moon and mask?"

"Illusions may be a better word," Shisui clarified carefully. "She's the sister, the moon goddess who uh, you offer your gifts or blessings to aid in illusion or genjutsu."

"Interesting," Konan said, although tension had turned her to something else, "do other clans follow this sect of worship?"

"No, as far as I'm aware it's more an Uchiha thing."

Konan's birds fluttered around her- each feather serrated and vicious between seconds of flight. They coalesced on her shoulders, combining between slots of paper into a dozen small fluttering feathers along the back of her shoulders. She sighed quietly, looking downwards on the cobblestone of Konoha where blood and rubble polluted the ground.

She was troubled by him, concerned by something unrelated to the conversation. She sighed, turning her eyes skywards to the cloudless sky.

"This land is so strange," she mused quietly, "it hardly rains here, does it?"

Shisui felt with a heavy heart that the discussion was over, and he failed to settle it peacefully. He held the sword at the ready, cycling his chakra a bit faster through his body. Konan's small feathers elongated into distinct sharp spikes protruding from her back.

"There's no chance you'll give up peacefully?" Shisui asked tiredly.

She looked at him, smiling sadly. "I am afraid not, I would have enjoyed our conversations, Shinobi-san."

Shisui twisted his wrist, warming it up as the blade spun through the air, preparing to fight. Shikamaru readied himself behind him, balancing on the tips of his toes.

"Know pain," she said simply.

"Susanoo, please don't murder me," Shisui muttered under his breath and leapt forward.

He avoided using his body flicker, keeping to raw speed. Her paper feathers collected on her back, peeling apart in great pages before she sprouted large swan-limbs that lifted her. Shisui nearly stumbled at such a beautiful sight.

He chased her, ascending on the nearest walls and slashing the closest feather apart. The sheaves of paper split, two fragments fluttering to the ground as the remaining thousand pages coalesced once again as if he did no damage at all.

'Aw, crap,' Shisui thought as a dozen pages split apart into pointed throwing stars that arced towards him with unparalleled precision.

His sword shifted, slicing apart each page cleanly on impact. Konan looked at him and with no gesture or movement, sending a dozen new stars in his direction.

Shisui knew each paper weapon would cut as sharp as any metal could. Konan at least had the decency to not flaunt or taunt him, attempting to execute him swiftly and with speed. Shisui twirled his sword, slicing two stars in one movement.

"You're very fast," Konan noted outright, one orange eye watching his movements. "Have we met before?"

"Only in your dreams, angel," Shisui crooned back, a keen eye watching for any flustered movements or jolt.

She betrayed nothing but smiled a bit at the playfulness. A shame, sometimes unexpected flattery could change the tides of a fight immediately.

"You are very unlike Itachi Uchiha," Konan said, landing on the rooftop of the building adjacent to their first encounter.

Shisui nodded, holding the sword at the ready. He would have to get close- her body had to be somewhere under the paper, or at least active when she didn't decide to peel it apart. Surprise attack to pierce her true body, wonderful.

"You have loss in your eyes," she sang to him heartbroken, offering one hand to him. "Would you like to come with me? I can show you something new."

"Sorry, I really don't feel like destroying my home," Shisui apologized.

"You can have a new home," Konan offered.

Shisui shook his head, watching her. It was his careful observation that noticed the stiffening of her body, the locked posture and frozen exhale in her body. Shisui had worked alongside Nara's before and knew their clan skills. He lunged forward in a flash and rammed his sword directly through her chest.

She breathed a soft exhale like the winter wind, eyes open and staring over his shoulder. She said, softly for only him, "are you the heartbreak in Itachi Uchiha's eyes? The cause of his hurt? The weight he carries?"

Shisui tried to withdraw his sword, struggling to yank it backwards. He bared his teeth more like a snarl, muscles straining. "Sorry. You're not getting close to 'Tachi again."

"'Tachi?" she repeated, eyelashes fluttering slightly. She looked almost happy in a sad way, exhaling a soft sigh. "I always wondered…how cruel this world is."

"Itachi isn't dead," Shisui hissed between his teeth, releasing the sword itself to spring back out of such close quarters.

The sword protruded from her chest and cloak like a painting. Her broad rings rose around her, ornate in their design. Shikamaru whispered something behind him, releasing her from his binds.

Immediately, Konan's body disintegrated into thousands of pages, each twirling in the wind to gather in her image, complete and unharmed beside the sword. She looked at it, prodding it with one sandaled foot. The tattered hole in her cloak mended itself, and she stood unharmed.

"He is not dead?" she asked Shisui curiously, "how strange. I saw his corpse, or I imagined it was his deathbed. Strewn across the ground below the weeping skies of Ame, disembowelled."

Shisui heard the injury had been bad from Sasuke, but he hadn't exactly grasped how bad it was.

Konan lifted one hand and from her back, her wings gathered and broke into not one or two dozen, but a collection of shuriken capable of downing an entire squadron of jounin. Shikamaru said something too quiet for Shisui to hear.

Shisui lowered into a crouch, his Sharingan bright and active. She had yet to attack his blind side, although he knew eventually she would.

The stars flew but Shisui was no longer in the same place. His body flicker placed him across the roof, each origami weapon missing him. Then, in an orchestrated symphony, each paper weapon twirled upwards to chase towards him again, Konan watched him silently.

Each paper could be cut and disarmed, but how long until they were made from exploding tags? How long until she filled the skies with paper that would kill him like a million Senbon?

Shisui felt the adrenaline course through his body and bring about that pesky secondary sweat. He leaped, springing off the nearest obstacles to best avoid the direct hits and clear Shikamaru of damage. The paper nicked across the outer layer of his clothes, thankfully failing to penetrate past the old worn ANBU armour Sasuke had lugged around.

'This should be far enough,' Shisui thought, double-checking both Shikamaru's position relative to the paper swarm and Konan. Shisui twisted in the air, fingers flashing through old clan hand signals as he forced Chakra into his lungs, 'paper burns, and so do people.'

He pushed up through his throat and mouth, releasing chakra in an enormous ball of flame. Or, he tried.

It caught, spluttering and refusing to part his mouth. The excess chakra made his jaw ache and saliva pool- drooling and ultimately choking him.

He floundered, actively stumbling back and dispelling the chakra the best he could. His eyes watered, and spit lodged itself in his lungs as he hacked at it viciously between body flickers.

Shisui hadn't messed up the great fireball technique since he was a kid. He had never messed it up on a mission before.

The Nara evidently noticed something was wrong and decided to act on it. Thin needlepoint shadows pierced outwards with impressive velocity, harpooning flying paper and retracting back into the ground or walls like a viper. Konan turned to him, her eyelids lowering a tad as individual throwing stars peeled open and contorted into scarily accurate giant hornets.

"Nara, move!" Shisui shouted, hands moving through another sequence as he slammed one palm to the ground. Chakra surged, shifted- and collapsed once more.

Shisui grit his teeth as dread welled somewhere deep inside. He hadn't actively practiced any techniques or nature releases since his active resurrection- but he had started campfires earlier on the path. What changed? Why was Shisui struggling to use a simple earth jutsu he mastered as a Chuunin?

'Something is wrong with me,' Shisui deducted, feeling both terrified now in wake of learning this fact in an active battle, whilst trying to save the life of an unknown. 'At least my body flicker works. Genjutsu works with my crows, so yin and yang release aren't damaged. Are nature releases out?'

That limited a fair number of Shisui's techniques. All of his fire releases or manipulations, and he had a bad feeling that basic genjutsu wouldn't be that effective if Konan had been teammates with Itachi.

Nara shifted, and Konan stepped to the side as a large spire of physical shadows pierced upwards directly where she had been. She stepped closer to his sword, still on the ground, careful to keep Shisui far away from the blade. It was a wise tactic since Shisui was floundering badly with making a candle light up.

Konan's paper wasn't infinite but her arsenal was on a scale far outside Shisui's imagination. He knew there were tags in there, potentially exploding or sealing scrolls that could activate and kill Shikamaru in a blink. The reason Shikamaru lived was her healthy caution to Shisui's abilities and the speed of his body flicker.

Nara, judging by the grimace and scowl on his face, clearly knew this as well.

Shisui stepped forward, surging with chakra to lacerate a paper hornet with one of his few Kunai, holding the blade aloft in a protective stance. Shikamaru twitched, inhaling sharply as Shisui seemingly teleported in front of him, obscuring Konan's field of view.

"Not to be a drag," Shikamaru said, hissing his words as stress bled through, "but what is wrong with you?"

"I'm having some performance issues," Shisui said, equally frustrated. His chakra bubbled violently but refused to leave his coils.

Shikamaru accepted that with a muttered curse, turning Shisui's personal shadow into an aggressive porcupine that prevented a flank attack. "That is bothersome, you couldn't have told me before?"

"I didn't exactly know," Shisui growled back, stealing Shikamaru's bag of kunai with one hand. He had Senbon, but the tiny needles weren't his preferred weapon. Nine kunai could last him, but unless he got that sword back or managed to get his jutsu, he wasn't sure how to end this fight.

"Genjutsu doesn't work?" Shikamaru asked him, audibly worried.

"That's fine," Shisui said, "but she'll look through it."

Nara said nothing.

Konan pulled the assault of paper back, twirling it behind her as they took the shape of enormous wings once more. They rippled, pages turning softly like Sharingan scales to bloom large ink designs- exploding tags and symbols for lightning and what looked to Shisui like an advanced chakra negation seal. What Konan lacked in pure physical attack, she clearly compensated for with preparation and terrifying strategy.

"Shit," Shikamaru said eloquently.

She ghosted over the rooftop, not staying grounded any longer than necessary. The wings drifted, enormous and fluttering across each page in an innate mesmerizing display. Shisui briefly wondered if his Susanoo would work with only one eye- but knew it wouldn't.

Konan tilted her head, watching with keen eyes and open interest. The swan wings flapped once and moulted a swarm of explosives.

"Get down!" Shisui barked to Shikamaru, lashing one arm behind to shove the younger aside towards the edge of the roof. Shikamaru stumbled, falling onto his backside whilst configuring his hands into a new clan jutsu. A dark dome of shadows leapt upwards in a haphazard protective shell against the imminent chain reaction.

Shisui looked at the haze of paper, steeled himself and thought, 'let's see if that practice paid off, Itachi.'

Normally, the body flicker worked to transport an individual from one location to another through the anchor and shifting of chakra. The further the distance, the more chakra was necessary as well as focus. The trick to Shisui's body flicker, modified through his personal experimentation and Itachi's unwavering patience, was instead of shifting all chakra at once he moved in surging rounds. Undulating stepping stones across locations- flickering between four minor steps instead of a single leap to a destination.

Through that, his afterimages remained because for the smallest whisper of a second, he was there, but no longer.

Konan flinched as her bombs ignited under the swipe of kunai, already detonating from her other side. Shisui constructed an invisible barrier of his movements, never staying in the aftershocks where heat and injury lay. His chakra struggled, sluggish and jolting from the forced surging. He never figured out how to use jutsu in this state- which is why he used his sword.

Konan shouted out, lifting one arm to shield her face as the explosions overwhelmed her, burning her left wing in thick pungent smoke. Her cloak as well caught fire, searing away the left side to expose her shinobi garments and side.

She swiped her arm down, shearing off the cloak to flutter to the ground. Shisui lunged towards the sword, knowing this was his chance to finish it.

"No!" Konan shouted, perhaps finally recognizing that Shisui's speed would be impossible to stop once combined with a weapon capable of actually hurting her. The remaining wing swung forward, transforming into serrated edges.

Shisui reached out with an open hand towards his abandoned sword. It lay on the ground, blade facing him and pale steel reflecting the sun.

Then, Shisui bellowed an unstoppable shriek of pain as the blade rammed itself through his torso, lodging itself slightly askew somewhere near his spleen.

Konan gasped, her wing verging off to split apart into a web of harmless paper. Shisui inhaled sharply, chest muscles seizing and hitching as he gasped shakily small inhales. A tad in shock, he gaped down at the unassuming pommel and hilt peeking out of him below his lowest rib.

'What?' Shisui thought dumbly. 'But, but she wasn't anywhere close to it?'

There was a sword lo+dged clean through him in a weird lopsided angle. Like the blasted thing had a mind of its own and shot forward to ram Shisui through.

'Oh, I got stabbed,' Shisui realized. It was a lethal blow, would be considered a successful assassination for ANBU.

"Fuck," Shisui breathed, choking a bit and gritting his teeth as his torso jerked at the movement. One leg gave out as the numb wave of shock stole feeling in him. His hands felt numb, pinprick feeling only as he dropped his Kunai.

"Konan," his attacker said, the Pein who nearly slaughtered Kakashi. He stood there with one hand outstretched, directly across from them. Nara was nowhere in sight, likely hiding in the shadows and taking inventory of the scene. A fat lot of good that would do, since Shisui knew this was it.

Shisui was petty, but he was more furious that Pein managed to hit him with an unknown propulsion jutsu with his own sword in his blind spot from his missing eye. Shisui had been through a lot, and he felt vindicated that his death would come from something so stupid.

"Pein," Konan breathed, her voice winded from exhaustion and the adrenaline of coming so close to loss. "You are here? But...what about the Nine-Tails?"

"It is not here," Pein said, dismissing Shisui on the ground openly. He strode forward, eying Konan's loss of her cloak with blank observation. Shisui thought the asshole had a face worth punching.

"I am sorry for my delay," Konan said, bowing her head apologetically. Shisui was pleased to note, whilst choking on something salty in his mouth (damn internal bleeding) that Konan's hair had burned along her left side. Her beauty had been damaged, the paper flower in her hair wilting with ash edges.

"It is of no significance," Pein said flat and bored. Shisui gritted his teeth, refusing to look at Pein's face. "The Nine-Tails is not here, so I will provide incentive."

"Of course," Konan said, wincing the slightest bit on her left. She strode forward, intending to brush past Shisui.

Shisui coughed wetly and balked at the clear water that splashed onto the rooftop.

'Where's the blood?' Shisui wondered, eyes fluttering towards the agonizing entry point of the sword through his torso. 'Why is the blade blue?'

It wasn't a blessed blade, it was stolen off a chuunin or jounin on the way here. Shisui's personal blade had been blue, but that one burned ages ago.

The one in his chest bore obvious marks of blue patina, hazing over the pommel and hilt with tear-trails. The bit of blade, having fallen out of the entry wound ever so slight, glimmered sapphire in the sun.

'There's no blood,' Shisui realized, adrenaline making his hands cold and shaky. 'There's no blood. Oh, oh Susanoo you absolute rat-bastard!'

Shisui grit his teeth, knowing it was going to hurt beyond words. He had half a mind to try the genjutsu Itachi mastered, cutting off his pain receptors and perception, but he didn't know how much chakra he'd need. Plus, his Mangekyo always took a lot out of him.

Shisui closed his eye, held his breath, and clutched the wet handle with one hand. Once he got out of this, he was going to throw a dead opossum into Susanoo's waters.

Konan strode towards him, one hand outstretched for Pein to take daintily and polite. Shisui stood, drawing his sword from the sheath he called his entrails to thrust forward faster than any prediction could carry. Pein gasped involuntarily as the blade sunk into his stomach, and Shisui whirled to face Konan. Kotoamatsukami.

Konan choked on a sob, face paling as Shisui told her, convinced her, and reshaped her; protect Konoha.

Pein stumbled back, hands ghosting to his chest where the blade protruded. It felt a bit ironic how quickly Shisui turned the tides, leaking saltwater from an open wound that turned metal into gemstones.

"What?" Pein whispered, looking at the sword with open surprise. They ghosted a hand over it, placing pressure over the injury. Shisui was loath to notice it wasn't a killing blow, but a deeply incapacitating one.

Konan shuddered, her body falling limp under a heavy sigh. Too much for her mind to handle, she collapsed unconscious on the ground.

Shisui felt like death, deeply exhausted and in acute agony. Pein's face shifted into emotions startlingly human, and then he turned away from Shisui and walked with hitching strides off the roof. Shisui, too exhausted to follow, allowed himself to drop onto the rooftop.

It was only a few moments before one of his crows landed beside him, croaking loud and worriedly. He stroked its head and feathers, dripping a bit from his shaky hands. Another row landed on his shoulder, nosing at his curls.

"I'm alright," Shisui told them, squeezing his eye shut. It throbbed agonizingly, stabbing deep with every pulse of his heart. "Apparently I'm like a jellyfish or something. I don't even know."

They squawked nervously, hopping around. They had the mind to stay away from the smouldering remains of roofing shingles, and Konan's still flaming cloak.

It couldn't have been long before the cavalry arrived in the shape of Shikamaru and the pink-haired girl from before. They rushed towards him, throwing skeptic eyes to Konan's unconscious body.

"She's out," Shisui croaked wetly, a crow offering a loud cr-aawk! "ANBU cells. Really...really fucking deep under. Maybe a couple of locks."

"Oh, I can promise you that," Shikamaru agreed. He waved one hand at the birds, trying to shoo them away. A crow threatened to bite his finger.

"Where are you hurt?" the pink-haired girl demanded, eyes noticing the blood trail leading off the roof. "What is all of this from?"

"Not me," Shisui said. "I'm fine. Really in pain, like. A lot."

"Move," the woman, a field medic Shisui recalled, growled at Shikamaru. The Nara obliged, slinking over to Konan to initiate some sort of prisoner sealing. Shisui didn't know, that wasn't his area. More Hatake's or Genma's.

"What?" the woman muttered, her eyebrows scrunching. Her hands glowed as she transferred her chakra into him, careful to avoid mixing lest catastrophe occurs. "I don't understand...Your body has clear signs of injury but you're not bleeding…"

Shisui shrugged one shoulder, then immediately flinched as it pulled on his wound. "I'm not understanding it either. I got stabbed by a sword, clean through. I'm guessing it hit spleen."

"It did," she confirmed, pressing her palms harder against his sternum. Her face scrunched, lip curling in an expression of disgust. "What did you do? You...you feel like a fish."

Then, she looked at him sheepishly apologetic. "Sorry, I practiced chakra control on some koi, and you're...your chakra system is really odd."

Shisui grunted under an intrusive sliming prod somewhere near his spine. Shikamaru returned, kneeling alongside Shisui while avoiding the blood trail. "What can I do?"

"I don't know," she barked out, forcing Shikamaru to flinch back. "You're bleeding from small cuts, likely paper slashes. But the actual puncture isn't anything like that, it's almost like...like Katsguyu!"

Shisui twitched once more and finally, the woman pulled her hands away to throw them straight into the air in disbelief. Shisui winced, placing his hand over the open injury absent of any blood. "Looks like Susanoo turned me into a goddamn salmon."

"Ah," Shikamaru said with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Do you think you're going to get worse if we move you?"

"No, I'm fine," Shisui said, gritting his teeth once again. "I'm just...really pissed off. Give me a second, I'll get up in a moment."

The woman's eyebrows hiked higher. "You're in extreme agony, you can't just walk out of here."

"Genjutsu," Shisui said, waving one hand dismissively. He wasn't nearly as good at it as Itachi, but he could cut off sensation well enough to walk. A couple of hand signs removed all sensation to his legs and the injury site, "there. I can walk now."

"Wow," the woman said unimpressed. "You're an idiot if you think you can actually go around like that."

"You're not the first to tell me that, sweetheart," Shisui crooned, accepting Shikamaru's hand to hoist him shakily to his feet.

The woman crossed her arms. She puffed a bit of air, torn between a scowl or a laugh. "Don't you know better than to flirt with strange ladies?"

"Konan didn't object," Shisui muttered, throwing an arm across Shikamaru's shoulders. "'Sides, a bit of sweet talk softens up all the medics."

"Yeah?" she asked him sweetly. "How about you tell me poetry with my fist down your throat?"

"Kinky," Shisui wheezed, struggling to take a step. She took his other arm, throwing it across her shoulder as well. Shisui recognized that she carried more of his weight than Nara, which was objectively hilarious.

"You're a handful, aren't you?" she muttered under her breath. "I don't think we were formally introduced. I was busy trying to stop Kakashi-sensei from killing himself. I'm Sakura Haruno or the medic that is going to rip your intestines out if you try to grope me."

"What, no threats of castration?"

"Did it once," she said dismissively, "wasn't near enough gore."

Shisui laughed, a tad in disbelief but mostly in honest humour. He could see Hatake all over this one, particularly in the bloodthirsty impulses. "Damn, you're a fun one. Don't worry, I'm spoken for."

"You are?" Shikamaru asked, shoulders twitching under the shift of his diaphragm.

"Stop chatting, ladies," Sakura barked, wrapping her arm around Shisui's hips to grab him like a filled sack of rice. "We're going across the building on three. Shikamaru, I'll take him. Lady Tsunade has been moved to the Eastern fort for strategy, all of the village was evacuated so we've relocated."

"You heard the woman," Shisui said, winking his one eye (although the two couldn't tell it was more than a normal blink), "let her take me away. Sweep me up and take my breath away."

"You…" Shikamaru's face shifted through a strange collection of emotions. The Nara looked at Shisui with a weird level of nostalgia, and fondness. He chuckled quietly, smiling awkwardly. "You're just like everyone said."

Shisui didn't know what to say. Sakura ignored the sudden awkwardness, lifting Shisui upright as she jumped hard enough to crack stone.

They returned to the new base of operations, waving past two ANBU coated in concrete powder and bandages. Sakura openly kicked the front door down, fracturing the hinges with one blow. The ANBU nearest shrunk back.

"I'm back!" Sakura shouted, carefully helping Shisui over the chaotic stack of emergency supplies and injured shinobi. "Konan is out of the fight!"

"You killed her?" Hatake asked, sweeping into their personal space with no warning or sound. Any other person would have screamed or jumped, Shisui knew Hatake's antics and the pink-haired maniac had been trained to ignore it.

"Nah," Shisui said tiredly, "Genjutsu got her."

"Ah," Hatake said, nursing one arm in a bastardized sling made from a pillowcase. A bandage wrapped around his eye, making his hair protrude at odd angles like a succulent. "You're injured."

"Actually, no," Shisui said with mutual humour, "apparently I don't have blood and I'm oozing seawater everywhere. It's an Uchiha problem."

"Ah," Hatake said, nodding knowingly as if he weren't also full of shit.

"You two are horrible," Sakura growled, pointing an accusatory finger at Hatake, "and you! What are you doing up? If you waste that damn transfer, I will find chains and tie you to a bed, or so kami help me!"

Hatake's jaw shifted as he opened his mouth to say the 'ooh, kinky,' like Shisui knew he would- and Sakura hissed, "and if you say 'oh, kinky,' I'll find Gai-Sensei and tell him to do it."

Hatake shut his mouth so quick, his clan canines clicked together in a quiet cck!

"I like her," Shisui said cheerily, "why didn't you take a Genin team earlier? They're fun."

"He kept failing them with a stupid bell test," Sakura growled, forcefully depositing Shisui on the nearest open medical bed. Hatake followed around, clearly interested in Shisui's saltwater guts and lacking anything else to do.

"Bell test?" Shisui parroted, batting away Sakura's hand when she prodded his open wound again. She ignored his batting by pinning his fist with one of her hands with an objectively terrifying amount of strength. "Oh, you maniac."

"Teamwork is very important, Uchiha-san," Hatake scolded him, emphasizing the fact with his one free hand. "I couldn't let a cute group of students go thinking it was alright to abandon a teammate."

"Oh, that reminds me," Shisui said, "has my otoutosan shown up yet?"

"Maa, not yet," Hatake said casually. "Is there anything I should look for? Raining rabbits? A horrible case of hiccups?"

"Eh, maybe an enormous ball of fire," Shisui said.

Sakura inhaled loudly and sighed with enough volume to make Shisui chuckle. "You two are...ugh. So, I can heal the wound itself, but without there being any blood to conduct my healing, it'll hurt pretty badly. I'd rather Lady Tsunade did this, but she's busy with the village. To heal you, I'll need you to stop the genjutsu you're doing that's redirecting your chakra."

"A genjutsu?" Hatake parroted, eyesight sharpening as he scrutinized Shisui. "This...would this happen to be obscuring your sense of pain?"

"You know the one," Shisui said with a grimace.

Hatake said, "oh dear."

Shikamaru returned lugging Konan in a collection of inky black restraints. She hadn't awoken, even with the loud sacrilegious screaming Shisui used to rupture eardrums.

"I feel compelled to burn a lovely looking brisket," Hatake said with his single functioning pinky wriggling in one of his ears. "Maa, would that compensate for the death threats?"

Shikamaru tilted his head, wincing as Shisui descended into elaborate threats against Susanoo's dignity and honour with the presence of a rotting possum.

Shikamaru passed Konan to the T&I agents. He said, deeply exhausted, "at this rate, I'll need to cut off all my hair."

Of course, then the seals and tags began to alarm a piercing noise. A horrible wail that suggested imminent death or destruction. ANBU ran, jounin raced to move or meet at specific points. Shikamaru and Hatake both rushed to the nearest window, gazing outwards to see the problem.

"He's back already," Hatake said quietly, voice heavy. Shikamaru could scarcely believe it, but adrenaline made his mind work much quicker.

Pein had been injured, but not lethally. Although his companions had been defeated before, it didn't matter.

Konoha trembled under the force of a downwards blow. Buildings buckled, shifting and rising upwards from the epicentre as the ground itself buckled through ripples of power. Had Konoha still been populated with civilians, thousands would have died between breaths without the time to scream.

Shikamaru couldn't breathe, horror freezing his muscles as entire livelihoods vanished in a mass of rubble. It was no larger than three training grounds in the heart of Konoha- but with that level of strength…

"He could have destroyed Konoha all along," Hatake said apathetically. He tilted his head to the side like a dog might when observing a bird. The dust and debris drifted through the sky above the epicentre of Konoha's destruction, a good quarter of the city gone in a heartbeat.

"Huh," Kakashi said dispassionately, sighing slightly through his nose.

It must be a horrible thought, to recognize your mortality and your previous fights as little more than play. Kakashi did not crumple inwards on himself, but there was little expression or feeling to be had.

"We can't win this fight," Shikamaru said numbly. The shinobi around them muttered quietly, all on the cusp of hysteria or overwhelming dread. "He just, he just destroyed a quarter of the village."

"It does look like that," Kakashi said underwhelmingly.

"Aw man," said someone else, a tired voice growing louder as they approached. Shisui waddled and nudged himself between the two, peering out at the ravine that once housed civilians. "Was Kusanagi in that? Sasuke would kill me if his sword is gone."

"Mm, no it should be fine," Hatake said, looking every bit dissociated from the situation. "The Hokage tower is still standing."

"Oh good," Shisui said, slumping in relief, "he would gut me if I let that sword break."

Shikamaru giggled incredulously, running his hands through his hair and yanking on the roots brutally. "Are you two not worried about the actual fact Konoha has been destroyed?"

"Not really," Shisui said just as Kakashi said, "maa, nope."

" Why?" Shikamaru asked, his voice high pitched and crackling.

"Well," Kakashi paused in thought, "Naruto isn't here. I know my cute little student, and he'll be a bit upset at this."

"I haven't met Naruto," Shisui said, lifting one shaking arm to point towards the stone faces of the Hokage, "but I think I found Sasuke."

---

Amaterasu lay on the ground, drenched in rain as they watched the horizon for a glimmer of sunrise that would never rise.

Sasuke had never dared to approach the beast and the molten black fire. Exhaustion had snuffed the source of the flame, exposing strange serrated places and vanes of odd mottled feathers and scales. The false god felt warm under Sasuke's hand, pulsing with a heartbeat and familiar chakra.

They gazed at the horizon with stolen eyes, each Mangekyo waiting pensively for the break in storm clouds and the relentless cold rain.

Sasuke knew he had caused the humidity and thunder. Once in a life he never lived, he used it to summon Kirin from the clouds and kill the only kin he had loved and lost. A lie he lived, and one of the greatest regrets he did not need to carry.

"Do you hate Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

The rain echoed, a warbling incessant noise that could drive a lesser man to madness. The dragon ignored it and ignored Sasuke. It said after a heavy moment of sombre reflection, "I did once."

"What happened?"

"What would you do, if you held the power to alter reality?" the dragon asked rhetorically. "What would you do, when you could punish and avenge every lie, betrayal, and hurt afflicted to you?"

Sasuke asked in turn, "what would you do if you never needed to do such a thing?"

"I don't know," the dragon said, "I am an avenger."

Sasuke shook his head, shedding water from his skin. He rested his palm against the meaty metallic scales of the dragon's shoulder, just above the gruesome stump of its foreleg. "Do you still hate Konoha?"

"Do you?" it asked.

Sasuke thought about it. The dragon rumbled through its breathing, the beat of its heart strong and heavy as the fires of Amaterasu lessened on the trees. The scream of thunder had quieted, the bloody trail across the roof and rubble had washed away.

"I lived there once, and I died there," the dragon confessed. Something cracked in the distance, crumbling under the strain of rocks and the Earth tearing itself apart. "Once, I was killed. I finished my task and defeated everyone who opposed me. I died, and I was content with my choices and my life."

"Did you have anyone left to miss you?" Sasuke asked.

"No," the dragon said. It was one of the most heartbreaking things Sasuke had ever heard.

"I came back," the dragon said quietly, a near whisper in the storm. "Because although I was content, Naruto was not. He was worried about who would be left, who would release the jutsu. He defied death to save those he cares about."

"And you didn't?"

"There was none who I cared about," the dragon said, "and only one who cared for me."

Sasuke swallowed thickly. The dragon had never been above that of love or compassion, despite always claiming such. It had a heart, and mind just as any other sentient creature did. It felt deeper than most humans did, forever crippled by regret and pain.

Sasuke turned away from the horizon to press both hands to the metal scales. They were cooling as lava did once exposed to the air, slowly losing its heat and passion until it turned to rock. He asked, "do you miss them? Those you left behind?"

"Every moment," the dragon whispered brokenly. "Every second, I miss them. I miss those I hurt, those I saved. I miss my family, and I miss those I left somewhere I cannot reach."

"You came here for a reason," Sasuke said with a horrible sense of dread and guilt and agonizing sorrow that was not his own. "Do you regret it?"

"...No," the dragon said with its Rinnegan eye and its missing leg, "I have spent too long with regret and hate."

"The Uchiha said that we were descendants of dragons," Sasuke said, "that we inherited their passion and fire, and care deeper than others."

"We are the children of the sun," the dragon said, "and we feel far more than others do."

Sasuke looked to the sky. It was lightening, washing away the deep ominous darkness of the eternal night and storm. The fires that burned hot and relentless for as long as Sasuke had known were beginning to wither, struggling against the lapse of hate and rage. The rain was slowing, the downpour hesitating until it became a drizzle.

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked the false-god, attempting to withhold the smile that twisted his mouth. There was joy now, strange and tentative. Not his, but maybe it could be. The rain ended, the long night ended.

The sun had risen, and the sunrise turned the sky to pink and orange as finally, the fires extinguished completely.

The dragon looked at him with familiar mismatched eyes and said what they both knew, "I'm you."

Sasuke withdrew his hand, holding it still as the dragon shifted and peered behind him. It froze, washing pale and hollow and empty as sunlight eroded and forced the beast to shed its armour.

Sasuke inhaled and exhaled, then he turned around to where Itachi's corpse lay broken and bloody in the storm.

"Hello," Sasuke said to himself, swallowing thickly.

He wasn't that much older in age, but experience twisted his features into something tired and cautious. He had no arm, only a scarred limb that ended too soon. He had a purple eye, but no foul burn of chakra like Kakashi who wore a memory of war.

"...hello," he said, with the same voice, only older. He shifted on his feet, uncomfortable and nervous and somehow so incredibly familiar.

'We're the same,' Sasuke knew, taking one step over the broken stone and rock. He outstretched one hand, vibrating from a nervous tremor. He asked, "will you help me save Konoha?"

Sasuke, impossible and older and weary asked, warily and hesitant, "why?"

'There was no person there to love you,' Sasuke knew. 'You died, and there was no person there to miss you.'

Sasuke said, "because Konoha is our home."

'Will they miss you?' his doppelganger asked with the haunted screaming in their mismatched eyes. 'Is there anyone to mourn your grave?'

Sasuke had Itachi. He had Shisui and Shikamaru. He had Kakashi and Yamato, Lady Tsunade and Sakura. He had friends and family, he had Naruto waiting for his return.

His doppelganger asked voice strained and wavering, "will they care?"

Sasuke touched his remaining hand, taking it carefully in his own. He said, "they're your family. Of course they will."

Sasuke didn't cry often, and although neither shed tears they could feel the deep wailing and years of anguish come free. One of them inhaled sharp and pained, but neither could tell who made the noise.

"Will you help me save Konoha?" one of them asked.

And the other, or together, they said, "of course."

---

'That is Pein,' Sasuke thought to himself, calculating the risk and benefit to each movement. 'His true form is somewhere else, but Naruto said he only found him through use of Sage mode.'

Nagato would be hiding, forcing his vessels to destroy enough territory to lure Naruto from Mount Mykokuzan. There, they could capture the only missing biju.

Sasuke felt his chakra thrum, surging violently in raw delight at the potential to destroy. Pein had destroyed Konoha, and although Sasuke once cared little for it, now the village was his home. Pein had killed Kakashi, and Sasuke hated the man for that enough.

He could feel his Mangekyo shift, the hazy perception of chakra and movement. He couldn't feel his Rinnegan, but it was alright. It would manifest eventually in synchrony to the other timeline, he had to hope his delaying had pushed ahead its appearance enough to stop Kaguya.

Pein broke the ground, carving a hollow where houses had once been. It was not as large as the destruction was before, this was only a quarter of the size before. Pein was upset, frustrated and angry at something or someone. Naruto was not here.

'That's fine,' Sasuke thought to himself. He stepped forward, parting from the treeline to descend onto the Hokage mountain, taking vantage from the head of Tsunade. 'Pein may have the Rinnegan, but he does not have the experience.'

Not like Sasuke, who defeated a goddess on the verge of chakra exhaustion. Not like Sasuke, who had lived his life battling with tooth and nail to survive. Not like Sasuke, who for once in his life felt complete and perfectly in sync with himself.

He flexed his left hand, then his right. He didn't have Kusanagi, but he didn't exactly need the sword. He didn't have his Rinnegan, but he had defeated Madara without it.

"Susanoo," Sasuke said calmly, pressing his chakra outwards. The purple web of chakra spread, manifesting bones and armour. Each scale spread longer, warping and distorting like the Hawk summons he no longer had.

Sasuke chuckled when he recognized the new shape of his chakra, combined in the enormous plated shell of a dragon.

"Amaterasu," he said and pressed forward. Obligingly, he caught flame.

Once, he would have struggled to maintain any expression of his Mangekyo's abilities for a sustained amount of time. The drain on his chakra would be enormous, but that had been when his coils were not touched by the Sage of Six Paths himself; that had been before his chakra had merged with what he would have into a terrifying amount of raw power and memories.

'Tch,' he thought with wild amusement, 'let's see how Madara fares against this now.'

Sasuke took one step forward off the stone cliff and spread his wings with the explosive roar of Amaterasu's fire.

Pein glanced upright from his spot in the epicentre of the canyon. Sasuke's Mangekyo captured every second and expression as Pein thought the equivalent of, 'Oh shit.'

From the bunker where medical tents and regrouped shinobi forces watched, they scarcely could comprehend the sight. It was obviously an attack of some kind, but not one familiar to Konoha or any allied villages. Sasuke Uchiha was too small to be discerned from the great distance, but the haze of chakra shifted the forehead of the Hokage's rock face with purple. The shift could be felt, as the hair on Shikamaru's arm stood on end. The purple shifted, distorting outwards with a long spike- which unfolded into a prehistoric approximate outline.

"Huh," Shisui said, his red Sharingan focused and unblinking. Similarly, Hatake watched with keen awareness. They out of all gathered shinobi were the only ones capable of actually seeing what happened.

Shisui said, "you know, I thought the dragon was a metaphor."

"Oh, no it was literal," Hatake said casually. His fingers tapped quickly against his forearm in a pattern Shikamaru didn't know- although a few lingering ANBU rapidly dispersed. "He didn't have that chakra when I last saw him."

"No, he didn't," Shisui confirmed with a strange lilt to his words. Both men failed to blink, watching the rock with no care towards the actual invader who had decimated the village. Apparently, Sasuke was more interesting.

"Oh," Shisui said first, exhaling in a soft surprised rush. Kakashi Hatake stiffened instead, looking torn between leaning forward and bolting.

The temperature didn't drop, but Shikamaru shivered. Something hideous had happened because both men were similarly frozen in disbelief.

The protrusions solidified into shape, the purple chakra expanded and turned black. Shisui chuckled as the air was punched from him, and Sasuke Uchiha turned into a damn dragon.

"That is the funkiest Susanoo I have ever seen," Shisui admitted, breathless and stunned. Hatake said nothing, entirely without words. Shikamaru twitched as the blur flapped its wings, the echoing crack! of air splitting from chakra made him shudder.

Sasuke collided with Pein like that of nightmares, with reverberations threatening to knock Shikamaru over. More shinobi drifted to Kakashi, leaving after a collection of unknown hand signs.

The kunoichi pushed her way through the waves of people, her pink hair in disarray with a suspicious splash of blood near her right eyebrow. She marched up to Hatake, grabbing his elbow with one tight grip. Despite her strength, she trembled slightly at the sight and feel of such ominous chakra.

"Sensei…" she trailed off, chewing one lip anxiously.

"I know," he said flatly. Rubble moved as Pein presumably forced a counterattack, only for the Susanoo-shell to return again. Hatake said, "how is the Hokage?"

"Fine," Sakura said quietly, "she's really tired. There was an incident with Ino's father- and we can't find any nin able to interrogate the captured Shinobi to better understand…"

"I can do it," Shisui said coolly. He looked at her, and for once she didn't argue. Shisui said, "keep me up to date on what the hell that mess out there is. And where in Kami's name is my other eye?"

"In Susanoo's pool," Shikamaru said.

Shisui looked at him with an expression of long-suffering. With a quiet curse, Shisui smacked his forehead with one palm. "Right, fantastic. Where the hell is Itachi?"

"I'll contact them," Kakashi said flatly, "work on the interrogation."

"You want a crow?" Shisui offered. Kakashi nodded his head ever so slightly, working of some sort of technique or routine that existed long ago. Both Sharingan eyes evaluated each other before Shisui clapped Hatake on his shoulder and limped past him.

"A crow?" Shikamaru asked.

"Communication technique," Hatake said in a monotone, "not my preferred, but it's an unusual circumstance. I don't want my pack running in this."

The ground rattled as the large dragon made of black fire slammed itself into the ground under the force of the enemy nin. It screamed like two mountains colliding, it recovered like a bijuu.

"Just to double-check," Shikamaru said numbly, "Sasuke...isn't a vessel, right?"

"No," Hatake said bluntly, "he's just an idiot."

---

Mount Mykokuzan existed in the far outer reaches of the world. Untouched by man, the toads lived in quiet existence. Rarely did events concern them, but when they did, it ended badly.

Jiraiya had never felt so calm.

He couldn't remember the last time he felt this level of content ambient being, frequently the chaos of life tore him from moments of quiet introspection. Training Naruto was one occasion where he truly enjoyed his life and the road but paired with the toads of Mount Mykokuzan, it felt almost like teaching Minato again.

Well, teaching Naruto didn't feel like teaching Minato, it was really Itachi who had proven to be every bit a genius and equal part idiot.

Jiraiya had years of fixing Minato's sealing-disasters, which on one occasion left the man in Kushina's body (and with a very angry fox). An afternoon of work always left Minato apologizing with a twisted sheepish grin.

Naruto's mistakes fell into two categories; he shouted at the wrong person, then made friends with that person (in that order), or he ate some sort of sacred food and had them evicted.

Itachi Uchiha, for all his genius, screwed up in preposterous ways. Like accidentally becoming a religious icon to a group of native exotic conures, then attempting to hide the fact eleven brightly coloured parrots were screaming random words they overheard from Naruto in attempts to gain the Uchiha's attention.

Naruto had mastered Sage mode and frequently spent his mornings meditating. Itachi had no qualms to hours of meditation, genuinely preferring to do so until he was dragged into eating food at a reasonable hour. Itachi, Jiraiya learned very quickly, would operate entirely on his own schedule unless forced to sleep or eat like a normal human.

Naruto was the inverse, eating absolutely everything he could that had fewer than four legs. Jiraiya was lucky he didn't have to pay for all the food the younger boy ate.

He was working on the next chapter for his Icha Icha when a toad messenger came screaming from the temple. Visibly out of breath, the large cheek bulges inflated and squished with each panting breath. They called out, "Jiraiya! Jiraiya!"

He set aside his papers, standing abruptly as the toad stumbled to a stop in front of him. The toad croaked with a deep bellow, "Jiraiya! There is an emergency for you!"

"Careful," Jiraiya steadied the toad with one hand, searching for any potential injuries, "what's wrong?"

"Konoha!" the toad shouted frantically, "there is a message from Konoha! An invasion!"

" What?" he gaped in shock.

"It's true!" the toad shouted, equally panicking, "there is an invasion! Konoha is under attack! The village is evacuated!"

"Akatsuki," Jiraiya said, gritting his teeth. "They should have called me at once! Quick, do you know where Naruto is?"

"Yes! I already sent for your companions- they're meeting at the seal pool!"

Jiraiya had never been more thankful for the one-way transportation directly to Konoha he created years ago. He raced along the path, avoiding the toads that watched from the mushroom forest, noticing the nervous energy.

Naruto was pacing frantically, running his hands through his hair until it stood upright entirely. Itachi looked much calmer, already geared with everything he brought with him.

Sometimes, it was far too easy to remember Itachi was once Akatsuki and knew how to evacuate or enter a battle at a moment's notice.

"Pervy-sage!" Naruto howled, throwing himself at Jiraiya immediately, "something's wrong, dattebayo! A weird purple toad came and said Konoha is being attacked! We gotta get over there and help!"

"Slow down there," Jiraiya said, pushing Naruto back. He eyed the boy carefully, frowning a bit at his anxious demeanour, "what's wrong with you? You look worse than usual."

Naruto fidgeted nervously, "it's fine! I'm just...just worried, ya know?"

Jiraiya looked to Itachi, who gave the subtle shake of his head. Somehow, Jiraiya felt even more uncomfortable with that.

"Naruto…" he paused, picking his words carefully, "before we go back, we should place the original seal-."

Naruto recoiled, his hands cradling his stomach protectively. He looked baffled, then offended and upset. He shook his head frantically and argued, "no! I gave my word that I wouldn't do that!"

"We don't have any guarantees that the Kyuubi will stay that way," Jiraiya warned. "We can't go to Konoha if it may break free."

Naruto huffed, then squeezed his eyes shut tightly. After a moment of concentration, his eyelids fluttered and his eyes snapped open. Naruto said, "he promised! So there!"

Jiraiya disliked how Naruto could talk to the creature so easily, especially after the pain and chaos it had brought poor Kushina. Jiraiya looked at Itachi, who pensively and pointedly was not intervening.

'Damn that pacifist,' Jiraiya thought tiredly. He said, "fine, we'll head to Konoha. But any sign of the Kyuubi…"

"I know I know!" Naruto said, bouncing on his toes. "Let's get going already!"

Itachi stepped towards the pool, which Jiraiya explained briefly once as a one-way portal made from sealwork. He glanced inwards, unable to see anything beyond the surface.

"Stay close, you two," Jiraiya said to the two younger individuals. Naruto pouted, and Itachi outright glared.

"Have you forgotten I was a member of Akatsuki?" Itachi asked entirely monotone. It would have been intimidating if Jiraiya didn't know Itachi liked to keep his hair in a high bun and hated the taste of ginger.

"Have you forgotten," Jiraiya said, "that I witnessed you trip on a rock the other day?"

Itachi's glare sharpened. "I will not be confined by your orders. I will do what I deem is necessary."

" No, you're going to do what I say," Jiraiya said sharply. "You're not going to leap into a situation without us as a backup. You're one of us, so you're going to work with us as a team."

Itachi glared, going so far as to activate his Sharingan. Admittedly, it was terrifying, but not nearly as scary as his night-vision cataracts.

"Let's go already!" Naruto shouted, and ridiculously jumped into the pool.

Jiraiya cursed but followed through, Itachi flanking. They emerged with a puff of smoke and the smell of old mushrooms on the forest line just outside the city. This close to the site, all could smell the reek of fire and smoke.

"Whoa," Naruto breathed, his nose wrinkling. "This...what's that smell?"

"Fire," Itachi said with an odd expression, "burning rock."

"That's impossible, rock can't burn," Jiraiya argued with a cautious expression.

Itachi stepped past them, looking skywards with an open frown. He lifted one hand skywards and without any further word, one of the many crows filling the sky broke apart from the murder to flap to his exposed arm.

"Cursed flame," Itachi said simply, stroking the crow's head with his free hand. Between blinks, Itachi lit his Sharingan and looked at the bird with a cold expression. It croaked to him, shuffling on his wrist with its long scaly talons. Itachi exhaled in a quiet noise, throwing his arm and the bird upwards.

Jiraiya looked at Itachi, who closed his eyes with an unreadable expression. The Uchiha said, "it is the leader of the Akatsuki leading the invasion. His name is Pein."

"Pein," Jiraiya repeated slowly. "I...I don't know much about him, beyond the obvious."

"He has the fabled Rinnegan," Itachi reported, "he has decimated a quarter of the city by my approximations. And it appears he is battling my brother."

" Sasuke?" Naruto whispered before his eyes widened and he looked in the direction of the city, "Sasuke? What are we doing! We gotta help him-."

"He has a handle on it," Itachi said devoid of emotion, "it is best to reconvene with the shinobi forces-."

"No!" Naruto shouted directly in Itachi's face, "just because you're willing to abandon Sasuke doesn't mean I am-."

"Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted, "that is enough!"

Naruto silenced himself, looking struck by Jiraiya's shouting. Itachi hadn't responded to the vicious insult, instead, he stared upwards at the crows silently.

Naruto flushed in shame, looking at the ground as he gritted his teeth. He squeezed his eyes shut, shakily exhaling. He said, "I'm sorry, I just...I'm worried, ya know? I...I've gotta bring Sasuke back and-."

"My brother is stronger than you'd think," Itachi said quietly, "and more durable than you can imagine. He is holding ground for now."

"Not enough to defeat him?" Jiraiya asked warily.

"No," Itachi said, lifting his hand upwards once more. A crow landed, smaller than the one before, and looked at him with a curious tilt of his head. Itachi's Sharingan spun slowly, rotating a quarter circle before the crow fluffed up comically, bobbing its head with a crackling cough.

"The crows are keeping an eye on the perimeter," Itachi said with a fluid efficiency, "the survivors and shinobi forces are gathered East. There is a rudimentary hierarchy in place for reporting to a white-hair shinobi, I'm presuming it to be Hatake."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, relaxing with visible movements. "He's alright?"

"Good," Jiraiya said with increased suspicion, "you haven't used crows in a while."

It wasn't a question. The lines on Itachi's face deepened as he frowned. The Uchiha said, "they had other interests."

"Your brother?" Jiraiya guessed seriously, "your form of communication doesn't work for other nin. Maybe a Yamanaka, but it wouldn't be nearly as efficient."

"It takes years to comprehend avian communication," Itachi said and offered no further information.

"Let's go already, Pervy Sage!" Naruto shouted, jumping up and down. "We need to find Kakashi-Sensei!"

"I'm going to lock Konoha down," Jiraiya warned with a dread-filled expression. He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. "Uchiha, can you cover me for twenty minutes when I activate the perimeter seals? No person will be able to enter or leave the barrier."

Itachi nodded ever so slightly.

'For all his shortcomings,' Jiraiya thought, 'that Uchiha brat would make an excellent spymaster.'

"What about me?" Naruto shouted, "I can't just sit here!"

"Actually, that's exactly what you need to do."

Naruto gaped, floundering a bit as he looked around anxiously. Jiraiya pointed towards the sun and said, "Naruto! Nature chakra here is harder to reach compared to the Toad Mountain! If you want any chance to join this battle, you need to focus."

"But…"

"For a short while," Itachi consoled him quietly, "I am watching the fight. Sasuke is holding his own."

Naruto bit his lip but nodded.

They ascended the wall of Konoha, still too far from the centre of the fight to see more than that of dust clouds and occasional rattling explosions. Jiraiya immediately settled on the ground, drawing large jars of sealing ink and a calligraphy brush tipped with sable fur. Itachi took point in a kneel just outside the broad sealing circle, occasionally providing beautifully fluid hand gestures that meant something in bird language. The murder of crows changed above them, swirling in an amorphous blob that alternated between a circle, an oval, and a lopsided star-pattern.

Naruto settled just beside the Uchiha, crossing his legs and pressing each knuckle together. Nature energy was harder to siphon- harder to focus on with the bright shifting noises of crows and burning plants.

"They're loud," Naruto muttered under his breath, relaxing into the rhythmic pull of the planet. "The birds."

"Crows," Itachi corrected quietly. In some ways, Itachi reminded Naruto greatly of Kakashi-Sensei. "Birds and animals will flee sites of disasters, but crows will gather nearby."

"They're called murders?"

"A group of crows are a murder," Itachi corrected quietly, "these groups are called staging areas, they communicate through the shape of their movements."

Naruto thought it was strangely beautiful. He was too aware of the Kyuubi's presence, snooping on his interactions to ever convey it.

Ever since they appeared in Konoha, something had been tugging at him wrong. A hangnail or blister starting to turn infected, or the change from a headache into a migraine. The Kyuubi had always been a heavy weight, less so when the seal was opened but now, it made Naruto horribly nauseated.

"Hold tight, kids," Jiraiya grunted, slamming his hand into the middle of his inkwork. The great wall of Konoha lit with red brushstrokes, spreading quickly across the grout and mortar until it stretched further than they could see. It sprouted upwards in fast organic tangles, a wall of red ivy pulsing into being like a fishnet made from plants and thorns.

"They've noticed," Itachi said a heartbeat after, eyes lazily glancing upwards at the birds. They looked no different to Naruto.

Naruto felt his stomach curl and the rising taste of bile on his tongue. He grimaced, clutching his stomach as subtly as he could outside of Jiraiya's view. The Kyuubi was restless, shifting or uncomfortable inside the open gate. Dread made sweat blossom on Naruto's skin, the urge to vomit rise with each second.

A bird pulled apart from the flock and dove down towards the village further away. After a moment, it ascended and detoured between tall buildings and broken rubble, snaking itself below the occasional bits of thrown rock. It flapped and twirled through aerial acrobatics, outstretched talons curving with hooked black claws.

Itachi caught the bird, one of the largest crows with a rumbling voice scarcely more than crunching gravel. Itachi spoke with it silently, expression tightening.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked from his seal-point, holding steady as the mesh net still grew nearly to its apex.

"It's Hatake," Itachi informed them quietly, "he's communicating through the crows. He's...this has taken point as tokushi, or…"

"Crows have positions," Jiraiya huffed under his breath, sounding delighted by that idea, "a special envoy, eh? A courier crow, what Tsunade would say about that…"

"That's it's name?" Naruto asked, eying the large bird nervously. The bird was as large as Kakashi's smallest dog, the size of a common cat. The thick curved beak looked capable of breaking open walnuts or biting a finger right off.

"The crows don't have names," Itachi said instantly, practiced in his response. Presumably, it was a common question.

"That's a bit sad, isn't it?" Naruto said, reaching out one hand tentatively. The bird looked at him with its black shiny eyes, its low growling sounding theatric. He touched its breast feathers, awed by the glossy sheen and strange texture.

"Crows don't use names, they are fluid in their identities and roles," Itachi corrected absentmindedly, looking into the distance with something unreadable on his face. "Currently, this one has accepted its role as tokushi, or personal envoy between myself and Hatake. This is one of my oldest."

The crow finally bobbed its head and spread its wings. It took flight with careful movements, talons long and broken from many years of difficult survival.

Itachi still looked bothered, but in the small subtle way he carried himself. The shape of his frown, and the tightness near the crease of his lower lip.

"Who is it?" Naruto asked quietly and sincerely. Itachi looked at the younger with silent curiosity, eternally void of expression.

"The person you're confused about," Naruto clarified quietly. "Sasuke has the same look. When he saw Kakashi-Sensei's eye, he got that same face, dattebayo. He wouldn't say it, ya know, but he was really upset by it."

Itachi said nothing for the longest while until the window of opportunity waned and fell apart. Naruto had accepted the silence when Itachi confessed quietly and audibly unsure, "the crow was...nostalgic, I assume. It was...reminiscing."

"Oh," Naruto said, "what was her name?"

"Shisui," Itachi said quickly- the same way Sasuke forced words and names out fast to try and forget the way they hurt to say. "He died long ago."

"I'm sorry," Naruto apologized quietly.

"It's fine," Itachi dismissed, and Naruto's heart throbbed at the sight. "It was long ago."

"That doesn't make it easier," Naruto said sincerely. Itachi pointedly turned away.

Jiraiya stood stiffly, stretching his back with a loud crack. He flexed his hands, looking upwards at the birds and then over his back. He asked, "Naruto, did you feel that strange chakra outside the village?"

"Eh, uh, yeah," Naruto said, snapping back to attention, "but I thought it was just like, a summon or something, ya know?"

"Maybe," Jiraiya agreed skeptically, "but it matches the signature inside the village too, doesn't it?"

"Eh?" Naruto gaped, then closed his eyes and forced his hands together. At once, he gasped and opened his eyes in surprise. "You're right! Pervy-Sage what is that?"

"I don't know, a long-distance communication jutsu maybe?" Jiraiya theorized but dismissed it immediately. "Naruto, between the two of us, you have the best chance to take down a threat attacking the village. I'm going to attempt to track the location outside the village, you stay inside the barrier."

"Eh? What's he gonna do then?" Naruto asked, gesturing one thumb towards Itachi.

"Play messenger," Jiraiya ordered firmly, "get in touch with Tsunade and tell me what in kami's name is going on here! If worst comes, you get your brother out of there, think you can do that?"

"Sasuke is currently a large dragon."

Jiraiya paused and wondered when his life turned into playing cleanup for Uchiha drama. "Whatever. Stay safe you too, I mean it."

Naruto paused, then lunged forward to wrap both arms around the Sage. Jiraiya grunted at the impact, then returned the hug tightly. Jiraiya looked at Itachi who looked bored at the sight of affection and offered one hand.

Naruto let go and stepped back. Awkwardly, Itachi accepted the hand- only to be yanked inwards for Jiraiya to wrap both arms around the slim Uchiha with a hearty pat to his back.

Itachi stiffened, freezing in place like the redwoods. His eyes widened, visible only to Naruto, and his face went slack in surprise at the touch.

"You too, kid," Jiraiya said, patting Itachi's thin shoulders with a broad palm. He squeezed slightly tighter until the Uchiha went boneless at the contact and he made the softest of noises low in his throat. Jiraiya squeezed once again and said, genuinely, "be safe kid. No self-sacrifice out there. Be careful."

Itachi floundered, looking thoroughly baffled and alarmed and the slightest bit frightened at how easily he succumbed to a minor hug. Jiraiya nodded, and let the younger go. With one wave, he leapt off the wall of Konoha further into the forest and out of sight.

Naruto, slinking to Itachi's side, said a little too knowingly, "yeah, the hugs took me a month to get used to."

Itachi tried to speak, still, a bit overwhelmed by the physical contact. He said: "hhng."

Naruto tried not to cackle like a maniac; it was challenging.

Itachi recovered at the sight of two shadow clones, each determinedly taking a seat to meditate. The city rumbled behind them as yet more debris collided, met with an upwards plume of black fire as a tornado of dust ignited.

"Man...that's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, bravado slipping away.

Itachi glanced upwards, ignoring the rhetorical question. The Uchiha flickered through hand signs, each faster than Naruto could ever hope to perform. The activation of a genjutsu was not nearly as obvious as a shadow clone; one moment Naruto was struggling to see the village, the next his vision was stained red and each detail felt magnified.

"Whoa," Naruto breathed, turning his head to the side although his vision didn't follow. It stayed fixed on a distant point, moving around carefully as spiderweb lines of chakra tangled through the air and fire.

"This is my vision," Itachi said quietly, focusing on a small detail slightly to the right where one building arched with faint blue lines, then imploded inwards for unknown reasons. "Pein is capable of attracting and repelling objects toward and away. The black fire is dangerous, do not-."

"Let it touch me," Naruto cut him off with a low serious voice. He gritted his teeth and said, "I remember it."

Itachi cut his genjutsu, letting Naruto's less clear eyesight return. It was odd to see through someone else's eyes, and although useful, he preferred his own eyesight.

Nausea made his stomach cramp, and distinctly he had the impression Kurama agreed.

Itachi lingered awkwardly, giving the impression he was horrible with parting words. Naruto spoke for him, offering a hand which the Uchiha accepted warily. Naruto, feeling merciful, didn't yank him into a hug. Two in one day would probably be bad for his health.

Itachi vanished with a body flicker, leaving Naruto and his two clones on the wall. Finally alone, the clone on his left asked him with an anxious voice, "boss...are you uh…"

"Feelin' that gross thing?" the other summarized with a grimace. "It's like two-week-old udon! Yuck!"

"Ignore it, we gotta focus!" Naruto told his clones. His stomach cramped, and his skin broke out in a sweat. He grimaced, clutching his gut with both hands. "Aw, come on Kyuubi, can't you calm down for one day? I didn't even do anything!"

The bijuu snapped at him, the distant sound of teeth clicking made Naruto grin ever so slightly. There was no venom behind it, just the annoying tease accompanied by a tired obliging agreement. The stomachache didn't fade entirely, just enough where it wasn't distracting.

"Good luck out there, boss," the left clone said, closing its eyes as the Sage mode markings began to manifest.

Naruto hadn't seen Sasuke in years. The last clear memory he had was corrupted- biased and warped with the false belief Itachi had somehow coerced Sasuke into betraying the leaf. Shikamaru had similarly thought as such- and Shikamaru was one of the most intelligent people Naruto knew.

Now, with the truth being that Sasuke fled on some weird dragon-messenger mission, it didn't soothe the open ache that was the simple fact Naruto failed. He failed to stop Sasuke from leaving, he failed to be strong enough to drag him back to Konoha. Naruto kept failing, struggling to keep up and get strong enough to bring Sasuke home.

Then, when everything had been revealed to him, he still failed to find Sasuke.

Guilt always came quickly when he thought of Sasuke- all the things Naruto should have done. He should have been more attentive, maybe nicer or slower to pick a fight. He should have helped Sasuke when he was freaked out about the dragon in his head instead of getting wrapped up in his own Kyuubi problems.

There were a lot of things he regretted, and too little time to ever make up for it. Now, Naruto had a chance and he was never going to let Sasuke go again!

Or, Naruto thought as much, until he stumbled to a stop over the awning to the flower shop Ino's mother ran and gaped at the monstrous fight.

"Hah!" the Kyuubi laughed inside Naruto's head, much louder now and much more aware of the external environment ever since the seal was unlocked. "Well, that Uchiha brat submitted after all…"

"What- what are you talking about?" Naruto asked it, one hand clutching his lower stomach. The monster, sentient and vicious screamed and slammed its massive claws against the broken ground. Naruto's head ached at the noise, ringing high pitched as his eardrums rattled.

"That creature is not of this plane," Kurama rumbled, inhaling with the quietest rasp as the creature metaphorically leaned forward to gaze at the fight. "Just as I am here, trapped inside your flimsy body."

"You mean that," Naruto gasped, pointing at the black fire mess of movement and a single red eye, "is the dragon in Teme's head? The actual one?"

The dragon without warning was thrown backwards with cataclysmic force. It smashed against the far wall of the canyon, maw opening in a silent screech at the impact. The ground shook, fracturing at the collision.

In synchrony, Naruto's head burned with piercing pain. His stomach cramped and twisted; Naruto keeled slightly with both arms tight around his stomach. He nearly retched at the feeling, choking it down until it subsided.

"What- what was that?" Naruto gasped, straightening up warily.

The Kyuubi rumbled, growling low until naruto's eyesight blurred from the vibrations. Naruto huffed and smacked his stomach through his clothes, ordering: "stop that! I gotta help Sasuke!"

It quieted, receding until only Naruto's thoughts and dull ringing in his ears remained. Exhaling with relief, he scrutinized the battle scene a little more carefully.

Sasuke (who Naruto still couldn't believe was a dragon ) thrashed back and screeched. A mere moment later, the ground itself ignited with plumes of black fire that (on further examination) three small figures were rapidly outrunning.

"There are multiples," Naruto realized quickly, "but...they all look the same?"

More than that, they felt the same. It took an effort to trigger Sage Mode and took more mental strength to avoid the backlash of sensory information. The three people below weren't only teammates, they were the same person, avoiding the black fire and returning attacks through a variety of means.

Naruto felt the waning echoes of chakra near the deepest gouges in the ground, where Sasuke had killed at least three. He had a moment of hurt stretching out, but no time to mourn nin he didn't know.

The creature pulled its head back, arching to survey the three nin like a hawk watching a mouse. It opened its mouth, barely visible through the plumes of smoke and fire. It spoke loud and distorted, but Naruto could never forget Sasuke's voice no matter how twisted and cruel it sounded.

Naruto's heart plummeted and dread reached a new crescendo. The dragon (it couldn't be Sasuke) laughed high and cruel, calling out maliciously, "you think you know hate? You think you know pain?"

Naruto swallowed thickly, horrified into silence as the behemoth faced the three nin and screamed louder than Gababunta, "you claim you know hate! You claim life is pain! What do you know of suffering? You claim war is necessary, but you are no more than a pathetic footsoldier!"

Naruto watched, dumbfounded, as the dragon ( not Sasuke, not Sasuke- ) pulled its wings back, and with a blurring movement, Naruto couldn't process, long spears of black chakra thrust forward to pierce the ground like Senbon.

'Arrows,' Naruto realized, horrorstruck, as the dragon continued to launch so many each of the nin struggled to survive. One ran through one of the nin, bald with metal piercings and rivets dotting his head- and then they screamed as their flesh cooked and they burned alive at the stake.

"You are pathetic!" the dragon roared, having the nerve to laugh. "You aren't worth my time!"

The headache sparked hard enough for Naruto to flinch, pressing one hand to his temple. "What...that can't be…"

"This chakra…" Kurama said, low and hesitant for reasons Naruto didn't know. The beast paused, undulating in its unsure movements- pacing of all things inside the seal.

"What's wrong with him?" Naruto asked quietly, flinching as more objects and debris broke away and flew with devastating force towards the dragon, only to be knocked away with one armoured leg (arm?).

The one nin had some form of ability that Naruto couldn't understand. It made them immune to the burning fire, somehow able to absorb it and return it with hot flashes that extinguished before reaching their target. Naruto could only presume the monster was capable of creating the fire and capable of ridding it from the field.

Sasuke couldn't do that. Naruto remembered the fire from years ago, and the way that one Akatsuki member screamed as he burned to death.

Finally, something changed. The ground uprooted and buildings lifted from their foundations. The dragon, for all its bright glory and strength, could not avoid the upward pull. Naruto yelped, forcing an asinine amount of chakra to his feet to secure his grip as steadily, a meteor grew.

The dragon shouted, thrashing about furiously as smaller bits of rock thrust themselves skyward to pin it to the increasing mass. More and more, the rock became a chrysalis as Sasuke cursed with a magnified voice, shouting death threat. He became a comet suspended in the air, turning rock to molten ore as he burned bright in the sky like a suspended sun.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted without any decision to do so. Panic surpassed any amount of disgust or fear, "Sasuke!"

The creature thrashed, and Naruto screamed, " Sasuke!"

Pein and his companion had dealt with Sasuke, but not until casualties of their own side. Two remained, each similar in appearance but heralding unique differences. They were focused on caging the monster above, each grim with determination.

The one that could absorb and return chakra crumpled under Naruto's fist, reinforced with Sage chakra, toad taijutsu, and pure spite. They gasped in surprise, moving with the inertia to slam into the far side of the gully with a loud crack!

The other turned their head with comedic slowness. Naruto had a moment to wonder where the nin was looking with a lack of noticeable iris or pupil, but he banished that thought. The nin's face remained flat as he spoke: "the Nine-tails."

"Yeah," Naruto said lowly, coiled and ready to attack. Sage mode turned everything into a mess of colour and sensation, already he knew this man had an overwhelming amount of strength.

"We waited for you, and you didn't come," the man said, void of emotion. "We killed and still, you did not arrive."

Naruto took a half step backwards. He knew realistically that there would be casualties, but…

"You did this, just to find me?" Naruto demanded, gesturing to the mess. His temper grew, bursting from him, "you hurt people just to- to find me?"

"I would kill others," they said, "and I will. I will destroy all you care about until all you know is pain."

Naruto's breathing froze in his chest, disgust and horror surged in a match to the overwhelming killing-intent the man released. It was enough to leave him petrified, until a low rumble emerged in the back of his mind and said, "this human does not know hate."

Naruto swallowed and readied himself. He said, "sorry, bastard. I'm not gonna give up like that! I don't care what you do, but I'm not gonna let you stand there and hurt the people I care about!"

Pein looked at him and said, "do you hate me?"

Kurama snarled, "you maggot, you know nothing about hate."

Naruto smiled. Pein took a step backwards, confused by the sudden shift. Naruto thrust one thumb against his chest, gesturing as he shouted, "sorry! You might think you know hate, but you know nothin' 'bout it! I got the world's angriest furball and he says you're trash, dattebayo!"

Naruto's fist slammed into Pein's face, accompanied by the loud laughter of a thoroughly bemused Kurama. Pein's neck snapped around, but he stayed standing. The meteor above them crackled ominously, forming large fault lines as it condensed harder, compressing with greater force.

"No, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, looking upright with horror. He made a movement to leap upwards, tapping into his nature energy- but Pein emerged with an open palm strike that hit five times harder than any Hyuuga.

Naruto flew, slamming against the ground with a piercing snap as his leg broke. He choked down on a cry. The Kyuubi's chakra leaked out, looping around the broken ends with molten energy as they repaired until whole.

Pein walked slowly until he tilted into a run. Naruto had a moment to think, 'he's fast!' before another strike slammed his body back against bedrock, shattering his spine.

"I expected more," Pein mused, tilting his head to the side. Naruto choked and spat a glob of red mucus, falling short of his target. Pein said, "I will kill your friend, the abomination. You will hear his dying screams."

Naruto's heart thundered in his chest, adrenaline bringing clarity- Pein wasn't joking. The orb of rock above them was compressing further and further until compression would crush every bone in Sasuke's body and pulverize him to dust.

Pein asked Naruto: "do you hate me?"

"Hate this, asshole!" Naruto screamed, and lunged upward to sucker punch Pein in the jaw.

Pein's neck snapped back, but otherwise, he looked unharmed. Naruto grit his teeth and swung his other arm, bashing his fist into Pein's face.

It should have broken his bones, but the nin endured the hit easily. He stood strong, unblinking, and sent Naruto flying once more into the rock.

"He's so strong," Naruto whispered to himself, hacking out blood from his mouth. "How...how is he doing this?"

Then, Naruto keeled over as his head erupted in a splitting migraine. His vision distorted, warping bright and hot as molten pokers rammed through his eyes. His stomach felt horrible, burning and rotting with a weird sense of utter wrongness. It wasn't the Kyuubi- not like when he lost control and felt sanity slip away.

Pein pressed the random advantage. He walked to Naruto with slow strides, reaching out with obvious movements. Naruto could do nothing to avoid it, not when so crippled by the sheer unknown agony. Pein grabbed Naruto by one shoulder, lifted him up, and shattered his spine with the other palm.

Naruto shouted, grit his teeth, and bit through his tongue. Blood drooled as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold back his shout. Pein hummed quietly, increasing the pressure on Naruto's shoulder until the socket ground together.

"Do you hate me?" Pein asked in the infuriating monotone. Naruto wanted to shout curses but wasn't trusting his voice.

"Naruto," Kurama said, but something was different. The cadence of the creature's voice, or the way it hesitated. There was a pause unfitting the normally furious bijuu- a second of uncharacteristic contemplation.

"Perhaps I will kill the others as well," Pein told him and it sounded like a promise. "The teammate of yours. The girl."

"Don't…" Naruto tried to argue but failed. The grip tightened and he grunted, arching the best he could as his legs refused to move. 'Don't hurt Sakura!'

"Or that man," Pein continued unblinking. "The one in the reports. The white dog, who barks before he bites."

Naruto choked on a scream when Pein dropped him, the ground an unhelpful surface that aggravated his injuries further. Above them, the miniature moon made from Konoha's foundation ground together, rumbling in preparation to slam to the ground, and bury Naruto with it.

"It is a shame," Pein contemplated, "you are his student as well, and have been abandoned as well. You and I are not so different, both ordinary men who are driven to seek vengeance in the name of justice."

Pein leant over, placing one foot on Naruto's chest, driving him harder into the ground until Naruto could do little more than wail. Pein said, impossibly calm, "and now, all call vengeance such a thing as justice. Justice only breeds further vengeance...and we are trapped, in a vicious eternal cycle of hatred, and pain."

"Naruto," Kurama said again. Naruto opened his eyes, struggling and failing to breathe as he gazed desperately into the white light- Kurama wrapped around him with each tail flickering just out of sight. The great bijuu looked upwards at the white horizon, where Naruto could not look under the horrible crushing pain.

"Naruto," the Kyuubi repeated as his lips receded and fangs displayed themselves, "this chakra...it does not belong here."

Naruto choked on his words, struggling to say something as easy as, 'Kurama!'

Naruto could not die here- he had people relying on him. He had friends, family. He had promised to protect Kurama.

"So this is the true nature of you," Kurama said, looking at Naruto with wide pupils and flattened ears. The creature puffed hot breath, and Naruto could barely breathe. "This is the true depth of your heart."

Pein asked Naruto: "do you know hatred?"

Naruto opened his eyes, burning hot with thin animal pupils. He smiled a broad toothy snarl and grabbed Pein by his neck with a long-clawed grip. He rose, unhindered by broken bones or torn muscles. Chakra burned hot and savage, not quite acidic or corrosive but pure and untainted through conduit or chakra coils. Pein's eyes widened at the unexpected movement, the man slammed one hand against Naruto's chest with enough force to shatter a mountain.

It broke Naruto's ribcage, lacerated organs, and the blonde stood with a twisted snarl. Kurama said, hoarse and hinging on laughter, "you humans always claim to know hate, but always fall a bit short."

Pein's arm broke under Kurama's grip like a thick branch cracked under a stag's foot. The skin stretched grotesquely, blood gathering under the skin in a colourful bruise. Pein's eyes finally conveyed something other than apathy, and Kurama was vindictively pleased to recognize it as fear.

"Shall I break you, human?" Kurama asked with Naruto's voice. "Should I show you the use of real power?"

"Kyuubi," Pein gasped through his crushed throat.

"No," the bijuu snarled while wearing a grin, "my name is Kurama."

Naruto gasped as he returned violently, finding himself standing tall while Pein struggled to rise from a pile of rubble. Disoriented, Naruto clutched his head and staggered.

"Stop wasting time," Kurama rumbled, unable to keep the viciously pleased chuckle out of his voice. "And pay attention."

"Eh?" Naruto jolted, he spluttered: "wha? Kurama? Did you…"

"His Jutsu interval is five seconds," the fox rumbled, adjusting to a leisure sprawl in the mindscape they shared. Closing its eyes, Kurama grinned toothily and reported, "those eyes would give more if he held its true strength. The true body is elsewhere."

"Got it," Naruto said, sinking into a crouch. He lifted his hands at the ready and shouted, "take me to the real Pein!"

Pein snapped his head around, glaring savagely. Along the left side, his arm was visibly broken and his cloak lacerated by what looked like claw marks. Naruto spotted the individual lines from sharp talons and Kurama gave a quiet bark of laughter.

"So you figured that out," Pein said slowly, drawing a long dark metal rod from somewhere unknown. "It's time to finish this."

"Shadow clone!"

Naruto mobbed forward on the attack. The moment Pein activated the push Naruto began to count and press forward again.

"Go go!" one clone shouted, grabbing onto the shoulders of the others to hold the line against another assault. "Take him down!"

Pein bared his teeth and jerked, finally releasing the monumental effort and focus necessary to maintain the stone prison. Chunks fell to the ground like shooting stars, flaming bright and molten as they collided and cracked the surface of the ground.

"Keep going!" one clone shouted, yanking a companion out of the path of a falling boulder, "watch the sky!"

They charged, utilizing the falling rock and rising dust as a screen to hide their assault. Pein had strength, but Naruto had numbers. They swarmed him, struggling to get close enough for any blow.

"Rasengan!" a group shouted, leaping forward as Pein spun and slammed the metal rod straight into their sides. The Jutsu faltered, prematurely detonating at the disturbance.

"Boss!" a clone gasped, rushing to Naruto's side, "Sasuke isn't in there!"

"What?" Naruto asked, craning his head to look skywards. There was no dragon, no lifeless body or form plummeting to the ground. "No, no he can't be!"

Pein roared, sending clones aside. Finally, the two shadow clones Naruto abandoned on the walls of Konoha dispersed and transferred the deep wells of nature energy they had gathered.

'It's time!' Naruto thought, forcing his companions to either increase their cover through dirt and smoke, or aid in forming a Rasengan. 'Wind nature transformation!'

The Rasengan grew, warping and vibrating as it arced into the dangerous and beautiful shuriken. This close, there was no way to avoid its massive strike.

"Go!" Naruto shouted, rushing forward.

Kurama, for reasons beyond Naruto's understanding, began to cackle loud and delighted. Pein spun, holding one hand outstretched as he gathered his force, attempting to stop the attack point-blank.

"Amaterasu!" someone shouted, and the Rasenshuriken exploded in a cycling swirl reminiscent of a nebula. It launched forward, somehow faster and stronger and a hundred times more dangerous than a Rasenshuriken on its own.

Pein dropped, and the shadow clones dispersed. Memories slowly filtered back, sorted by a dozen different angles and perceptions. Then, one clone who had been looking behind had the thought before they vanished, 'Sasuke?'

Naruto turned around.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to one side. A bit of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his hair looked stupid in Naruto's mind. He had weird clothes on, and looked exhausted and older but had the same face.

Sasuke said, trying to hold back a smile, "you finally caught up, dobe?"

---

"Why is the world so crazy now?" Shikamaru asked the world exhaustedly, "why is this happening? All I want in life is to serve a few more years, maybe serve the Hokage. Marry a nice lady, maybe have a few kids. Retire to play shoji and die of old age."

Kakashi nodded sympathetically, patting Shikamaru's shoulder awkwardly. "What about the uh, Suna girl?"

Shikamaru twitched a bit, "and have the Kazekage as my brother-in-law?"

Kakashi shuddered as well, sharing the sentiment. "Ah, maybe not then."

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his eyes with both hands tiredly. He wasn't particularly out of chakra, but his brain felt more on par with mashed potatoes. "This is the last time I'm working for the Hokage without any pay."

"I like to read books," Kakashi said a little too casually, "she doesn't call on me nearly as often."

Shikamaru laughed and looked at Kakashi with keen respect. Kakashi smiled with both eyes, unwilling to put his forehead protector on again, he kept one eye closed instead.

"You're not so bad, under that emotional trauma and social ineptness," Shikamaru teased with a weary sigh.

"Maa, It's my emotional support trauma," Kakashi said without any hesitation. "You're not so bad for a Nara. I'll let you borrow my books sometime."

"You're a god among men," Shikamaru said.

The murder above swirled around, dispersing out slightly more since the end of the fight. A rather...explosive end, which Kakashi narrated with literary prowess. The birds stretched out, other summons appeared to scout across the ruins of Konoha to help search for survivors. Corpses were dragged back, some in more gruesome states than others. Shinobi were healed where they could be- some medics transferred chakra to the more adept healers. Sakura at this point had gone through channeling the chakra stores of four other shinobi.

The crows flocked together and descended, twirling around one another in a linear dive that burst through a window and bowled over a screaming Chunin. The crows shrieked, combining and blurring on the periphery until Itachi Uchiha walked out with a confident stride that looked every bit like he was on a mission to murder someone right then and there.

The lingering ANBU froze, shinobi paled, Genin were yanked aside by nervous mentors as Itachi stormed through the window side of the bunker.

The tension grew. More than one nin were preparing to attack.

"Ah, I should fix that," Kakashi muttered quietly. He lifted the hand holding his book skywards, calling out an obvious, "yo!"

Everyone froze, except for Itachi who corrected his path to storm right over. Kakashi smiled and said, "how was the traffic? Maa, was the weather alright?"

"Hatake," Itachi thundered with a low dark voice. Shikamaru felt his hair stand upright, the killing intent making one Genin swoon.

Itachi said; "you only contacted me. After the attack began?"

"Well, you know," Kakashi said, shrugging a bit, "I forgot, then I tripped on a rock, oh and I almost died from a nail."

"A nail."

"It was not my best moment," Kakashi confessed sheepishly, "but you would not imagine my saviour. Why, quite a looker."

"I don't care," Itachi snapped a tad sharply. "Where is Sasuke?"

Very quickly, Kakashi and Shikamaru realized two things. Itachi Uchiha was very annoyed, and Itachi Uchiha had no idea Shisui was alive.

Shikamaru said, "troublesome."

Kakashi said, "maa, agreed."

Kakashi ducked his head behind his book and very casually flared his chakra four times in an odd pattern. Shikamaru stared at the man perplexed- but countless Shinobi snapped their heads around with an odd expression. Itachi looked at Kakashi with a similarly strange expression, looking very unimpressed. The Uchiha said, "why did you signal reinforcements imminent?"

"Oh did I?" Kakashi asked coyly, "silly me, I must have forgotten. Why, Uchiha-san, did you do something to your hair? It looks lovely?"

Shikamaru wheezed, disguising a burst of laughter behind a cough. Itachi's eyes flared red.

"Hey ah, Uchiha-san," Shikamaru started awkwardly, far too aware of the gobsmacked shinobi staring at Itachi in disbelief. "How was your vacation?"

Itachi looked at Shikamaru disappointed. He said, "you're stalling."

"Maybe we should take this behind doors?" Kakashi prompted, shuffling the two towards the more secure area, which coincidentally happened to include the interrogation cells. "Maa, did you find out that pesky bat problem?"

Itachi tucked his hands into his sleeves, looking frighteningly at ease beside Hatake as they walked down the hall. Itachi said, "yes, it will no longer be a difficulty."

"What was it?"

"An unwanted ability from a particular goddess."

Shikamaru stopped walking. Kakashi accepted it easily. Shikamaru asked, voice cracking slightly, "you...you got blessed by Tsukuyomi?"

Itachi gave the slightest nod, waiting for Shikamaru to continue walking. He didn't.

"Sasuke was blessed by Amaterasu," Shikamaru summarized with a strange tilt to his words, "you were blessed by Tsukuyomi."

"If only there was another Uchiha blessed by Susanoo," Kakashi said, dramatically tapping his chin. "That would be quite something."

Itachi glanced back between the two, skepticism oozing from every pore. Itachi said, "you're keeping something from me."

"Isn't everyone?" Kakashi mused, shrugging his shoulder. "We have one of your old teammates in interrogation, a wonderful lady with an affinity for paper."

" Konan?" Itachi said a tad breathlessly. He recovered admirably, looking thoroughly impressed and exhausted at the idea. "Any form of interrogation will be absolutely futile-."

"Actually, she's been wonderful cooperative,"

"Impossible," Itachi shot down immediately. "Konan would never abandon her ideals."

Shikamaru thought, 'oh Kami, this is going to go badly,' and said, "what if there was a certain unique genjutsu capable of convincing her?"

Itachi paused, thought something and immediately denied it. "No. I would struggle to-...no, it's not possible."

"Well," Kakashi said, adjusting on his feet, "I have a surprise for you then."

Itachi looked ready to murder someone. It was times like this, in face of Kakashi Hatake's unrelenting personality, Itachi Uchiha seemed every bit an annoyed kid.

"Uh oh," Kakashi muttered, dramatically spinning around while ducking his head behind his book. Shikamaru covered his eyes, waiting for the explosion.

"I swear to kami, Hatake if you brought me another hostage I'm gonna ram you with something pointy-."

Itachi choked and took four steps backward. Shisui, looking a bit bloodied, sweaty, and covered in dust, stared at the end of the hallway with a haunted expression.

Kakashi timidly poked his head above his book, eyes flickering between the two as the tension grew.

"H- hi," Shisui croaked, voice cracking hideously. "What- I...you look like, ah, like you saw a ghost!"

This time, Kakashi went so far as to turn his eyes skyward for strength.

"You're dead," Itachi said, his voice drifting about lazily and indistinct. "I made sure of it."

"Well, yeah uh, not anymore?" Shisui squeaked, flinching at his own words. He lifted both hands, then let them drop awkwardly. He swung them back and forth, blowing air out very quickly and suddenly very anxious.

Itachi said nothing, he stood petrified at the end of the hallway.

Shisui swallowed thickly and took a one-half step forward. He said, voice trembling just as much as he did, "I'm back. I- I don't know how, but...but your brother- okay wait we need to talk about how insane he is-."

"Get to the point," Shikamaru hissed under his breath.

"Right!" Shisui said, almost clapping nervously, "I- I came back. Your brother did uh, something and...and I'm back. I promise it's really me. That's how we got Konan- I took her down and wow that paper thing was objectively terrifying…"

"No," Itachi rejected, voice dead and monotonous. Shisui wilted, his entire body slumping under the cold nature of Itachi's response. "Shisui Uchiha is dead."

"I'm back, 'Tachi," Shisui said quietly and genuinely. He stepped forward, holding one hand out with palm open. "It's me, promise. And- and I'm sorry, really. It was a really stupid idea like, really stupid idea. I heard you turned into a terrorist and- and I heard about the rest-."

Itachi flinched, expression contorting so harshly it looked painful. Shisui stepped forward once again, halfway across the hallway.

"I'm not upset," Shisui promised with a small smile, "promise. I can't stay mad at you no matter how much I try, and a few times, wow, I was close."

"Say something," Itachi croaked low and pained, "only Shisui would know."

"You hate putting your hair in a tie on top of your head because you said it gives you a headache," Shisui blurted immediately. "I embroidered little crows on the inside of your jacket because you didn't want your father seeing them because he's an asshole."

Itachi's eyes were wide, his skin unhealthy pale as Shisui took one step closer. Shisui said: "you're an absolute maniac with genjutsu and we spent that one outdoor mission learning how to cut off pain receptors by shoving Senbon under our fingernails, but then one broke and we both freaked out and eventually one of the crows yanked it out because I was too afraid to do it."

Shisui scratched his neck, then snapped when inspiration struck. "I made you a necklace! You let me practice braiding your hair and I made you a necklace because it wouldn't be as noticeable as a ring and you never took it off. I went on that courier mission in Suna and got back early and found out you basically moved into my house and somehow brought in like, half of the cats of the district and kept feeding them your reject sashimi because your standards are ridiculous and you wanted to surprise me-."

Itachi choked once, and it wasn't a nice noise. He took one step forward, body trembling so fine it was almost invisible. Shisui jerked forward, catching Itachi and accepting the crushing hug.

"Hey there," Shisui said quietly, arching his head back to try and fit his chin on top of Itachi's hair, finely braided. "Hey, you're pretty cool, want to get dango sometimes?"

Itachi sniffed and said wetly, "you're horrible."

"And you're a mess," Shisui argued, rubbing his hands along Itachi's back with soothing motions. "Really, you're horribly bony. You could rupture something with those elbows, have you been eating enough?"

Itachi curled in tighter, tucking his head low until he nestled almost entirely against Shisui's sternum. Shisui babbled, "maybe terrorism doesn't pay that well. Damn, but what can I say, sometimes I dream of murdering government officials-."

"Danzo isn't dead," Itachi said between shaking hiccups, "he's below the Hokage tower in a prison cell."

"Oh," Shisui said, "have I mentioned I love you?"