Chapter Twenty-Six

The Beginning and the End

The sun did not crest the horizon that morning. Pale, ominous light that appeared indigo in color, stretched across the cloud-choked sky that seemed as vast and threatening as the depth of the ocean. The scents of the wet earth were ever present; strong enough that Sakura could almost taste the bitter bark of the surrounding trees on the back of her tongue. She pressed her back against the trunk of an old oak and peered around its side through the low-hanging branches.

The whistle of the first arrow was inaudible as it soared through the rain with deadly precision. The bolt struck the first patrolman squarely in the eye, lodging deep within his brain, and rendering him dead before Sai could re-notch his bow. The patrolman wore the colors of the Kiri clansmen, and Sakura was glad Sai had not had to put one of their Kumoga brethren to rest. The time would come, Sakura knew, but she rather hoped the Kumoga would surrender if presented with an opportunity to do so.

The warriors of the Black Army and Kumoga spread through the woods, awaiting Kakashi's signal to advance. Sai, Omoi, and Samui were experts with bows, and the three of them dispersed through the forest to put the guardsmen to death by arrows. Sasuke and Itachi helped, expertly taking down their enemies before any of them knew what had hit them.

Sakura gripped her father's sword in her hands as rain trickled down the neck of her armor vest and soaked her clothing. The rain, though cold and aggravating, also had its advantages. It muffled the sound of their footfall as well as the whistle of their arrows. She watched, as one-by-one, their enemies fell until the entirety of the Kiri patrolmen had been taken out without giving their positions away.

Sai gave her a nod, his black hair plastered to his forehead from the rain. She had seen that look in his eye countless times in battle – let it wash through her and pull notes of determination up from her core. Sai and Sakura had a language of their own, and it was one that did not call for verbal words. They had grown up perfecting it, using the other as an extension of weapons. She clenched her jaw, giving him a nod of affirmation as the two turned away from their hiding places and led their army through the forest – to the tents that were nestled within the valley.

Sakura holstered her sword, pulling the jewel-crested dagger from her belt that Sasuke still had yet to win back from her, and slipped soundlessly into an enemy tent. Thunder caromed above their heads as rain fell openly from the sky like angry tears, pelting the tent roof. Kakashi took the Kiri warrior on the left while Sakura took the one on the right, both using their daggers to cut open their enemies' throats. They slipped back out into the predawn world of rain and mud, silent as wraiths as they snuck into the next tent and repeated the killings.

Sakura could not think about the kills – about the lives the Kiri clansmen lead before she stole the breath from their lungs and ended the beating of their hearts. This was the part she hated the most; for it both sickened and called to her, giving her purpose as a bringer of justice. Kakashi did not revel in his kills either, but he could not deny that this was his path.

A cry rang out somewhere in the camp; shrill and mournful, and marking its owner as a woman.

"That'll have woken the whole army," Kakashi said, holstering his bloody dagger as he unsheathed his sword and axe.

Sakura did the same, gripping her father's heavy sword in her hands as she followed Kakashi out into the rain. Kiri warriors were stumbling from their tents, half-dressed and bleary-eyed. A big man with loose waves of red hair appeared from the side of a tent, thrusting his sword at Sakura. She slid to her knees in record time to avoid the blow, hurling her axe with a battle cry as it lodged in the thick meat of the man's shoulder. He growled in pain, reaching back in an attempt to grab the handle of Sakura's axe, but the man could not reach. Kakashi came at him from the side, driving his sword through the man's throat. He dropped to his knees, choking on blood as Sakura hefted her axe from his shoulder.

Their next opponent came running at them with his axe raised. Kakashi turned his axe end over end, gripping the handle in preparation to swing, but an arrow came soaring in from their left and hit their attacker through the ear and lodged into his brain. He dropped to the forest floor like a sack of potatoes in Ayumi's kitchen.

"Sai," Sakura said, regaining sight of her old battle companion.

"We have a problem," he told her. A rush of Kiri warriors met them head on before Sai could finish his sentence. The sound of steel rang out through the rain as the three of them parried off the strikes of their attackers.

Sakura brought her sword down in an arc above her attacker's head, feeling the spray of his warm blood pepper the side of her face when she buried her sword in his neck. She lifted her foot, kicking the man in the abdomen as she tore her sword free from his flesh. "What problem?"

"There are no Kumoga here," Sai told her, sliding his dagger across his attacker's throat as Kakashi jabbed his sword into another man's stomach. "Danzo must have the men separated. He's using the Kiri to weaken us so he can strike last."

"That is such a Danzo thing to do," Sakura answered, driving her blade upwards to parry off another attack. The clash of steel vibrated the bones in her forearm. She was faster than her opponent, twisting to the side as he drove her backwards. She ducked below his arm and drove her dagger into the back of his neck. He dropped to his knees as blood bubbled up and spilled from his mouth. Sakura ended his suffering quickly and let him drop to his death at her feet.

"Danzo knows we want to draw him out into the open," Sai said, pulling his bow into place to shoot a Kiri warrior off in the distance that was making a run for Sasuke.

"He must have retreated towards the mountain. Tsunade is leading her men to attack him from there," Kakashi said.

"Only he will meet them head on," Sai said. "We need to move."

Kakashi nodded. He spotted the blur that was Naruto through the trees up ahead and jogged in his direction. Sasuke and Itachi were not far off, all three of them were locked in battle with a half-dozen of Kiri warriors.

"Now you join the party," Naruto teased as he drove his blade into his opponent's chest. Sakura couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw firelight blazing behind his irises; his pupils slitting to take the shape of an animals.

"We need to get to the mountain," Kakashi told him, taking on the extra opponents.

"Tsunade said we're to draw the warriors to the river crossing," Itachi said.

"Danzo isn't here," Sakura said next. "And neither are his Kumoga followers."

Sasuke clenched his jaw, kicking his attacker in the back and sent him sprawling face first into the mud. He hefted his axe, burying the blade into the warrior's spine and severing his nerves. Sasuke's eyes were the familiar black obsidian that Sakura remembered meeting on the winter battlefield when he drove his dagger into her side and left her for dead. Even now that look caused the hair on the back of her neck to raise. Sasuke was the darkest parts of a warrior, relishing in his kills because it gave him a sense of power that no one else could take from him. Sakura understood that now.

"Then we go to the mountain," Itachi said.

"Shikamaru and his men will finish up here and follow our trail," Kakashi said. Samui and Omoi were running up to meet them as Sai quickly filled them in on the latest development.

Sakura laid her hand on Sasuke's forearm, causing that black obsidian gaze to snap down to her calmer, serenity-driven eyes. "End his life, Sasuke," she pleaded. Sakura did not believe in the suffering.

Sasuke's nostrils flared as he strode over to his attacker and wrenched his axe blade from his spine. The sickening sound of bones crunching filled the air as Sasuke brought his blade down on the man's neck, ending his life. He shot Sakura a peculiar look as he placed his axe back into the holder on his back, drawing his sword out instead. She could not read that look in its entirety, but she hoped it was something of an understanding.

"To the mountain," Kakashi said, leading their group through the forest.

~oOo~

Sakura's breaths were steady as they ran through the forest. The momentum was constant, the ache in her muscles a familiar burn. It centered her, pulling her warrior self to the foreground. Adrenaline coursed through her veins like fire kindling, driving her towards a single goal: Find Danzo. Find Danzo and end it for once and all.

Her gaze cut to Kakashi up ahead, as he was leading the seven of them through the mountainside. They ran hard and fast, using the rocky surfaces of the mountain terrain for traction as they bounded down uneven paths. They ran for what felt a lifetime before Kakashi ushered them into a dark, cave-like opening within the mountain. The smell of earth and stone burned Sakura's nostrils as she sucked in a lungful of air. Kakashi walked straight to Sai, laying his hand on his shoulder.

"Call on your falcon," Kakashi said. "Danzo won't be among the troops. I want to find him before he finds us."

Sai nodded and turned his face towards the rain-washed colorless sky – a milky sheen expanded from the corners of his eyes to cover his dark irises.

Minutes passed in total silence as the group waited for Sai to give them information. Omoi and Samui waited near the opening, staring out into the rain for any sign of their lurking enemies. The Uchiha brothers stood perfectly relaxed, weapons dangling in their hands as if they were holding mundane eating utensils instead of deadly swords and axes. Naruto paced in the cave, as if he were brimming with restless energy. Kakashi remained statuesque and poised; his gaze fixed on the warrior with pink hair.

"There are hundreds of men in the valley to the west," Sai said. "Tsunade and her warriors are minutes away from entering enemy territory. The Kiri warriors are ready for them."

"What about the Kumoga?" Sakura dared to ask.

Sai swallowed and his Adam's apple jogged in his throat. "The Kumoga, too."

"Are we outnumbered?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes," Sai answered.

Behind her, Naruto growled and pounded his fists against the cave wall. "I need to get down there!"

"Relax, Jinchuriki," Sasuke said. "You'll get to release the power of the nine tails and save the day."

"What about Danzo?" Kakashi asked. "Do you see him among the men?"

A thin line creased Sai's forehead as he concentrated. "No," Sai answered. "He's not in the valley."

"We don't have time for this," Naruto said. "Every second we waste trying to find Danzo is a second we're not on the move to help Tsunade."

Kakashi rolled his hands into fists at his sides, jaw clenching. "Go to the valley. I'll stay behind with Sai until we find Danzo."

"You mean to take him down yourself," Naruto said, lifting his chin.

"I'll stay too," Sakura said as she looked at her friend the Mage. She made a promise to him – that he would not have to be the one to take down Danzo, and she meant to keep that promise. Kakashi might need the backup, and she had no intention of leaving him to fight Danzo alone.

"I'll meet you all in the valley when it's done," Kakashi said, "now go!"

The warriors rushed out of the cave, and in the dim lighting, Sakura swore she saw Naruto's eyes change shape and color as he began to take on the persona of the fox god. Samui touched her arm before dashing out of the cave, bidding her good luck as she and Omoi followed the Black Army warriors to the battleground in the valley.

"You don't have to stay," Kakashi said softly, his gaze focused on her.

"I'm not leaving either of you," she said adamantly.

Kakashi worked his jaw, but he did not say another word. He wanted to keep her stashed inside the cave – away from the battle where she would be safe, but he could not deny her the fight any more than he could stay away. They were one in the same – both here for the very same reasons. The gods had chosen them both and they were here to serve and carry out justice for the greater good. In a way, Kakashi was grateful that she had chosen to stay… He did not want to face the end without her by his side. However selfish that made him.

"Think of our training," Sakura said, speaking to Sai. "Danzo rarely participated. He always liked to observe."

Sai nodded. Beyond the cloudlike sheen of his eyes, his falcon dove through the rain; ducking in and out of the branches to avoid being spotted by the enemy. Sai borrowed his conscious to spy until – there… on the far side of the valley, atop a hill, lay a ruin of an old stone fortress. The river cut through to the valley, and Danzo and one other Sai did not recognize, stood watching from the shadows.

"I found him," Sai breathed. "There's another warrior with him but… he's wearing the colors of the Black Army."

Sakura frowned. "That's how he knew…" she said breathlessly. "Tsunade suspected there was a traitor in our midst from the first attack on the Black Army." She looked up at Kakashi. "Someone has been helping him from the inside this whole time."

Rage boiled in Kakashi's chest. "Can you lead us there without being seen?" he said through clenched teeth.

The milky sheen dissipated until Sai was looking at them with his piercing dark eyes. "Yes," he said, "but we will need to move fast."

~oOo~

Rain whipped down through the heavens as the storm and battle raged on in the valley. From the mountain, Sakura could hear steel ringing out with the strangled battle cries of their warrior brethren. She longed to join the fighting – to run to their aid, but she was on a different, much more personal mission.

Sai led the way, expertly maneuvering through the forest like his falcon with Sakura and Kakashi in tow. They ran with a singular focus, hands clenched tightly around their weapons. They kept to the shadows, slipping around the battleground like slithering snakes in the darkness. In the distance, Sakura could just make out the hilltop and the pile of rubble that had once been a stronghold. They would have to climb to reach Danzo and the Black Army traitor – a near impossible feat to do undetected.

On the outskirts near the river, Kakashi ducked low in the muddy grass, peering up at the stone ruin. "We need to split up," he said. "We'll have a better chance of catching him off guard if we approach from different sides."

A pit formed in the center of Sakura's stomach. "What if there are more people up there? They could have been hiding in the ruins."

"It's a risk we'll have to take if we want to end this," Sai said. "The fight with Danzo is ours, Sakura."

"Take the east wall," Kakashi told them. "I'll come in from the north, over the precipice."

Sakura looked out at the ruins, at the jagged stone slab that jutted out over the hillside above the river – nearly fifty meters in height. "That way is too dangerous," she said, shaking her head.

"Exactly," Kakashi said. "Danzo won't be expecting an attack from there."

"Kakashi – no," Sakura said again.

But her request was futile. Kakashi reached over and gripped the back of her hand. "Take the east wall. I will meet you in the north." His steadfast gaze was fixed on her, willing her to trust him.

"Come on Sakura," Sai said, pulling her to her feet. "We need to move."

Reluctantly, Sakura followed Sai out of the forest and prayed the gods would grant them cover as they approached the hillside. "He picked this place on purpose," Sakura said as her foot found the first step in the hillside. "He knows we're here."

"Of course he does," Sai answered, reaching up to grab a branch for leverage.

Sakura reached for his shoulder, forcing him to face her. "I meant what I said." Her gaze flickered back and forth between his eyes. "I will not let you kill him."

"And I will not let any harm come to you, Sakura. If I have to kill him to protect you – then so be it." Sai shrugged her hand from his shoulder and continued his ascent. Sakura rolled her eyes at his stubbornness and followed him; her father's sword hanging from her belt so she could climb.

The hill was steep, and their boots slipped in the mud as they climbed. Sai pulled himself up onto a ledge, rolling on his belly to extend his hand to pull Sakura up beside him when a figure blotted out the light above. At first, all Sakura could see was an arm and something round and dark in his hand. "Sai!" she shouted, eyes widening as the figure slammed a rock into the side of Sai's temple. Air whooshed from his chest as he slumped to the ground, and a heavy current of blood began pooling from his injured head. His eyes were closed, and Sai lay motionless on the pile of rubble. "Sai, no!"

Sakura blinked up at the warrior, his ruined features coming into view… Both sides of his jaw were still covered in old bruises and scars from where Kakashi had nearly beat him to death.

Kabuto.

"You," Sakura said, her back teeth grating together as anger blossomed and filled her core with a fiery rage.

"Surprised to see me?" He lifted his chin, chucking the rock he'd used to smash Sai's temple to the side.

"Traitor," Sakura breathed. "Coward!"

Kabuto laughed, but his smile was warped now – his jaw had not healed properly, and his bones were fused together all wrong. He looked like some feral, wild thing. A creature that belonged to the shadows of the deep forest. "I've been waiting for you, Sakura… Danzo knew you would find the Mage, that the two of you would come looking for him. He said all I had to do was wait for the right moment."

Sakura's stomach tightened with disgust as Kabuto smiled down at her. Her gaze slipped to Sai – at the blood pooling down his face and collecting on the ruins of the temple floor.

"Oh, he's not dead… Danzo had strict orders to leave the Mage alive," Kabuto said, reading her expression.

"Why did you do it Kabuto? Why did you help him?"

Kabuto grinned wider, the left side of his face splitting at an unnatural angle. "Power," he answered. "Tsunade was never going to let me rise in the ranks… not after what I did to you." He touched his face, swiping his thumb across his lower lip. "She's the real traitor… She chose to protect you over one of her own. That makes her weak and unfit to lead a nation as great as the Black Army. Danzo is the rightful ruler."

Sakura straightened her shoulders, tightening her grip around the hilt of her sword. "I am Konoha."

A brief swell of amusement flickered across Kabuto's brow. "You will never be one of us. I don't care what blood runs through your veins. You will always be Kumoga scum. And for that, you will pay." Kabuto jumped down to Sakura's ledge as she pulled herself up to higher ground and rolled to her feet. She gripped her sword with both hands, sinking down into the fighter's stance that Kakashi had shown her as Kabuto pulled himself back up onto the ledge.

"Clever," he remarked, pulling his sword from its sheath. "Let's see how you fair without the Hersir here to protect you."

Sakura swung first, and the sound of steel rang out into the storm, vibrating the bones in her arm as she parried off Kabuto's counterstrike. They danced around the fallen stronghold, Sakura on the defense, studying his movements in the falling rain. She used her surroundings, bounding and leaping off bits of rubble as she fought him in the narrow confines. He was a strong opponent; skilled with the sword, but Kabuto was getting tired and Sakura used his exhaustion as an opening. She struck his face, splitting his cheek open from the tip of his ear to the corner of his mouth. "That is for trying to kill me the first time," she told him.

Kabuto paused, touching his face and coming away with bloodstained fingertips. "You bitch!" he growled. "You will regret doing that!" Kabuto lunged but Sakura was much too quick. She jumped from the boulder as he swung, her feet clearing the length of the sword as she landed on the ground beside him. She twisted, pulling her dagger from her belt and plunging it deep into Kabuto's abdomen.

"That is for thinking that you could best me," Sakura whispered in his ear, yanking his head back by the roots of his hair so that he was forced to look her in the eye. She pulled the dagger from his stomach and held the blade tightly against the column of this throat. "And this is for your betrayal to Konoha and the Black Army." She dragged the blade across his throat and listened to him sputter. She released him from her grip, watching him drop to his knees as he looked up at her with momentary confusion. "May the gods take pity on your soul." She kicked him hard. Kabuto fell to the rubble with a thud, and he did not rise again.

As thunder shook the hilltop, a figure stood clapping, ever so slowly, as if to emphasize his boredom.

Danzo.

"I'm very impressed," Danzo said mockingly, the sound of his deep baritone voice causing a shiver to run the length of her spine. Where was Kakashi? "I daresay you did not learn those moves from me, Yotsuki Sakura… Or is it, Haruno now?"

"It is both," she spat at him, her fingertips coiling around the hilt of her sword. "I suppose I have you to thank for that."

The corner of Danzo's mouth twitched. "Why is that, my girl?"

"Because if you had not stolen me from my home all those years ago, I would have never learned the truth of my heritage. You had hoped to use the precious demi-god children in your war against the Black Army, but fate has beat you at your own game. The gods are smiling down in our favor now." Sakura grinned, and for the first time since she woke that morning, a sense of calm strength gripped her bones like a second skin of armor. She was seeing Danzo in a new light - all those years she spent fearing him as a Hersir, believing that she would never make him proud... But now she saw him for what he truly was: a snake of a man without any real power of his own.

Danzo returned her smile, though he did not show his teeth. "The Black Army is falling at the hands of the Kiri and your old Kumoga clansmen. I thought I told you there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip."

Sakura snickered. "Say as you will," Sakura said, raising her sword, "but I am not afraid of you or your age-old epithets." Sakura would not let fear rule her. Sai lay unconscious on the other side of the ruins and Kakashi was nowhere to be found. She would not allow herself to believe that something had happened to him. For she was a warrior, and a warrior must keep pressing on until the job was done.

"Ah, but you should be." Danzo pulled his sword from its sheath, raising it before his face. He struck first, surprising her with a sidestep that momentarily caught her off guard, but Sakura was quick on her feet and met his blade with hers. "Tell me," Danzo said, "how did Tsunade awaken your Healing powers?"

Sakura gripped his wrist, bringing up her knee in a powerful blow to his groin. "Patience," Sakura retorted. "Something that you never seemed to have in store for me."

"You reminded me of someone," Danzo admitted, deflecting her next blow. "It wasn't that I didn't see your potential Sakura, it was that I couldn't bear to be reminded of what I had lost."

"Save your plight for someone who cares." Sakura swung high, aiming for Danzo's neck. He met her blade and swung his around until her sword was pointing towards the ground.

They parried for some time, and Danzo was surprised by how much the warrior with pink hair had grown. She was incredibly gifted with the blade - more so than he had ever given her credit for. She moved just like his former student. "You've been training with Kakashi," Danzo stated, effortlessly sweeping her blade away. "He was always so spirited. The brightest student I ever trained."

"He's better than you will ever be," Sakura said.

"You need not die today, Sakura. Join me. Join me and I shall give you a high place among the Black Army where you rightfully belong."

"I would rather die than serve you," Sakura spat. "My whole life was a lie because of you!"

"And where would you be elsewise?" Danzo pushed into her blade and kicked Sakura in the side of the knee. Pain exploded down her leg as she stumbled. She gritted her teeth, pulling her dagger from her belt as Danzo took her by the back of the neck. She jammed the blade deep into his thigh, and he released her at once. She dropped to the floor, catching herself by the palms of her hands as Danzo kicked her in the ribs and sent her sprawling to the rubble.

Sakura rolled away from him as stars blotted out her vision. Pain radiated in her side, and she knew that Danzo had re-broken one or two of her injured ribs.

"I don't want to kill you," Danzo said, his boots coming into her line of vision. "But I had rather hoped you'd join me willingly. Think of all the things we could accomp–" Danzo's words we cut short. His body was wrenched from Sakura's sight, but she heard it slamming against what was left of a fortress wall. Sakura folded her arm protectively around her middle as she lifted her head, blinking through the rain as Kakashi's form came into view.

Relief like a flowing river washed through her chest – but that was until she saw all the blood… She spotted a deep gash on his shoulder and another on his forehead. It was hard to tell what other injuries he may have been concealing beneath his armor and mask.

For his part, Danzo looked surprised. "I should have known," the man grated out between clenched teeth. His mouth was bleeding now from where Kakashi must have struck him. Danzo spit a glob of blood out onto the floor, grinning as he looked at his former student. "You're the Hersir now," Danzo said. "I always knew it would be you who took my place."

"Stop talking," Kakashi said. Sakura had not seen it before now, but Kakashi had Danzo pinned against the wall, the sharp edge of his dagger held tightly against the skin of his throat. Danzo's sword lay abandoned at his feet.

"You were always my favorite," Danzo continued, ignoring his request. "I never told you that."

"I said… stop talking." A thin line of scarlet drew across Danzo's throat. "You betrayed all of us. You and everything you stand for is poison."

Danzo laughed, and Sakura saw that the crevasses of his teeth were caked with dark blood. "You mean to kill me… Do it, Kakashi. There is symmetry in my death at your hand." Danzo chuckled. "I can think of no other way I would rather die."

The whistle of a bolt whirled through the air, surprising them all as the arrow struck Danzo in the temple. Sakura watched the light fading from Danzo's eyes; the smile slowly receding from his face. Kakashi stumbled back, letting Danzo's lifeless body drop to the ground before him.

Danzo's last thoughts were of the girl he'd stolen from her home all those years ago... how her green eyes seemed to glow with the light from the heavens... the work of the infernal gods...

Sakura twisted her gaze until she found Sai. He was sitting with the bow in his hands as if he were still aiming, the breath still heaving from his chest. "Sai…" Sakura breathed his name.

"I could not let him have what he wanted," Sai told her. "Not even in death." He dropped the bow and tried to sit up, but his injury would not allow it.

"Hold still," Sakura said. She pulled herself from the ground, clenching her teeth against the pain in her side as she walked to her best friend and lowered herself to the ground beside him. Sakura lifted her hand to the side of his face, calling on her Healing powers. "Kakashi was going to take care of it, Sai," she said, smoothing his damp hair back from his face when she finished healing him.

"Danzo was always mine to kill," Sai said. "I know that now." Gently, he pushed Sakura's hand away and pulled himself to his feet to face the warrior with moonlit silver hair. The Hersir. The man that Sakura had given her heart to. Sai had seen the look in Kakashi's eye when he held the dagger to Danzo's throat – all the memories of his youth clouding his mind. Sai understood the pain Kakashi was feeling as if it were his own – because in a way – it was.

Kakashi placed his hand on Sai's shoulder, looking him squarely in the eye. "Thank you, brother."

Sai nodded once, returning the gesture. "We should get to the battlefield," Sai said.

Kakashi was shaking his head. "The battle is done. Naruto released the power of the nine tails and ended it all. That's why I was delayed. I was ambushed before I could make it over the precipice."

"Sakura held the fort down for us," Sai said. "Apparently I was unconscious the whole time."

Kakashi turned to the warrior girl with pink hair, gently pulling her into his arms. She folded into his chest, pressing her face against his armor as his arms circled her back. Kakashi rested his cheek against the top of her head, feeling the warmth of her body as he cradled her.

"Is it really over?" she breathed against his shoulder.

"It is done," Kakashi said, his hand caressing the back of her head. "We can go home now."

Home, Sakura thought, what a strange and peculiar word… for home to her was both Kumoga and Konoha. The past and the future, and a road of peace that joined the two together. Home was the place her friends would be kept safe. Home was the place that lived inside the warrior's heart; the thing they fought hardest to protect and defend. Home… was the man holding her in his arms.

Yes, she thought. "Let's go home."

O
O

Holy guacamole - this chapter was well over 5,000 words!

I feel like I'm probably going to catch some flak for not showing you guys Naruto's badass skills on the battlefield - BUT before you complain, please understand that this scene was always meant to be about Sakura and the fight between those who Danzo betrayed the most. The battle was going to happen regardless, but it was never my main focal point. The real focus was always about Sakura and her growth and all the things she had to overcome. Danzo had influenced Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura in different ways, and it was always my intention to have the final battle scene between the four of them. (And also for Kabuto to pay for his past transgressions.)

For Backstory purposes: The power of the nine-tails was a gift from the gods and something Naruto could control (unlike the cannon version of his powers.) I briefly touched on the details of this in Chapter 10 if anyone needs a reference.

I still have one more chapter left in the story, but I wanted to thank you guys (PandorasBox014 and Leafshadow2) for leaving me comments on the last chapter.

Thank you ever so much for reading,
~Sparrow