For the Oto and Suna nin inside the Conference Room, the sudden apparition of Konoha's black ops was precluded by an omen of devastation. At first, they had only sensed a curious trembling in the floor, then the ceiling… up to the point where even Orochimaru had become distracted by it. As such, the sannin had momentarily stopped exerting control of his reanimation jutsu. Hiruzen, Hashirama and Minato had paused their fight to stare quizzically at the ceiling. The nidaime, who had remained on the sidelines till that point, suddenly became the focus of the sannin's attention.

"What is the meaning of this, nidaime?" Orochimaru had hissed. "What is going on?"

"It seems to me that the ceiling is trembling," Tobirama had retorted tartly, not without shooting Orochimaru a look of utmost distaste.

"Someone is here," Orochimaru had snapped. "And you knew this!"

"So I did."

The sannin's jaw had ticked. "For how long?"

"A good ten to fifteen minutes perhaps."

"Tell me who!"

"I wouldn't know. None of their chakra signatures are familiar."

"Tell me how many, and how strong," Orochimaru had rephrased angrily.

At this point the nidaime had no longer been able to keep playing it ignorant, but whatever he may have answered was drowned out by the sudden roaring of crumbling stone, and then the sight of the entire building beginning to fall upon their heads. Every occupant of the Conference Room watched, stupefied, as the large barrier encasing them flickered, once, then again more obviously. Then it began to dim at times, to glitch erratically at others – followed by nothing. For an instant, it had seemed like the attack had been repelled – but a second later, with a loud explosion, the entire construct crumbled into itself.

They witnessed ANBU streaming in from all sides whilst debris fell from the ceiling, landing with mighty thumps, the unraveling tower creaking and rumbling over their heads like a ravine. Tendrils of shadow began to surge forth in the agents' wake, elevating from the ground like mighty pillars of obsidian, proceeding to catch the tower, stopping its descent in its tracks, effectively keeping the entire structure from crumbling upon all their heads.

Impossibly, the barrier was down. The ANBU were inside.

Someone shouted: "dynamic entrance!" and pandemonium broke out.

What followed next was pure, unadulterated chaos. Suna and Oto jonin leapt forth to try to stop the incoming threat, Orochimaru screamed futilely at the nidaime to make another barrier, who informed him with a smirk that this was not possible, Hashirama did a cheerleader gig from the sidelines, shouting encouragements at the 'animal warriors', Minato was staring fixedly at one grey-haired ANBU in particular, the clan heads were, for the most part, yelling at the ANBU to break them out so that they could join the fight, though of course no one could hear them–

–and the ANBU were kicking ass.

If the Suna and Oto jonin had taken their time to regroup and calm down, they might have noticed that there were only fourteen of them, however strong they appeared. Alas, they did not, and many of them began to panic. By contrast, what the Konoha forces were quick to realize was that not all of the Suna and Oto jonin were, in fact, jonin. There had been over fifty at the beginning – a daunting number, yes – but realistically quite impossible. It would mean that barely any invading jonin were left to take over the rest of Konoha… which made no sense. In other words, out of the circa fifty Suna and Oto jonin Orochimaru had brought along, around thirty were actually chunin, ten were real jonin and approximately another ten were ANBU level. All in all, still terrible odds, but not as bad as if there had been fifty jonin total.

"LET US DANCE, MY FELLOWS!" Gai cried loudly, leaping toward a group of startled-looking Suna shinobi. The rest of ANBU were more silent but no less decisive in their actions as they began to hack away at the enemy forces. Many of the chunin almost single-handedly revealed themselves by metaphorically shitting their pants.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity fuck!" someone screamed shrilly.

"That's the Copy Nin! The Copy Nin!" yelled another.

"What's with the freaky shadows?"

"They broke through the barrier! How?!"

"They're monsters!"

Monsters or no, the ANBU and Root agents had taken good advantage of their surprise element and were managing to make a large dent in the enemy numbers (by taking out many of the panicking chunin) whilst the jonin attempted to calm them down, to little effect.

Kakashi had taken advantage of the chaos to inject Gemma with the antidote first thing and move him to a secure location. Next, he decided to have a closer look at the barrier the clan heads were trapped in. If they could break them out, then they would have an additional ten or so jonin-level fighters. Its design appeared simpler than the nidaime's had been, but he couldn't be sure as the tags were hidden underground in this case – he could see their chakra trace with the sharingan. Their placement underground made sense, as it would be the perfect way to conceal the trap, but logistically it meant that he would now have to dig them up one by one – he couldn't actually see the tags, just their chakra, which in other words meant he didn't know which ones were the most important in the array and thus needed to be eliminated first – and digging them all out would take time. Time they didn't have.

Wait. Río's summons…

He signaled her across the room and quickly explained the problem once she'd flash-stepped over to him.

"It's no good," she said, panting. "My mole-beavers can dig through loose earth and wood, and even compact earth if the soil has a large chakra concentration, like your prison jutsu did… but stone? Without chakra in it?" She shook her head. "Not a chance."

Damn.

Just then, Orochimaru's eyes landed on them from across the room.

"It's them!" he shouted, face dawning in comprehension. "Don't let those two get close to the barrier!"

Oh boy.

On cue, a dozen jonin launched themselves upon them from across the room and any plans to dig the tags out had to be put on hold as they were both forced to engage in open combat. The sannin turned toward the three resurrected kage, his face now tense. "All of you, kill sensei. Now."

Hiruzen was sent scrambling back as the three launched a joint attack, though this time the ANBU were there to aid him. It was clear to Hiruzen that the resurrected versions of the kage couldn't hold a candle to their original selves, especially in regards to their chakra capacity, but this didn't make them easy opponents by any means. One mistake was all it would take.

From beyond Orochimaru's barrier, the clan heads had listened to the exchange between Kakashi and the other ANBU with interest. The tags were buried… Inoichi's eyes specifically lingered on the other agent's blond braid, and he and Shikaku exchanged meaningful looks.

"We've gotta get out of here," Inoichi said. "Now that we know where the tags are, all we've got to do is find them and destroy them."

"It's not that simple," Shikaku countered. "But yes… it seems that brute force can weaken the protections around them sometimes… if anything, we should try."

Inoichi's eyes narrowed, noticing the tense expression on his friend's face. He could easily guess what it was owed to. "Shikaku… that jutsu," his eyes flitted to the shadow pillars briefly. "Isn't that…?"

Shikaku nodded, expression hard to read. They both glanced at one of the ANBU, a scrawny-looking guy who for all intents and purposes seemed to be the one controlling the shadow pillars, even though he looked nothing like a Nara. "I don't recognize that boy… but if I didn't know better, I would say it was… that shadow jutsu… it's likehis."

"It can't be another repeat of Akiha, right?" Inoichi asked nervously.

Shikaku was silent as the grave. "I… I don't know. I hope to god this is something else, but… those mannerisms, the feel of his shadows… the resemblance to him is – uncanny.""

Meanwhile, Kakashi and Río were trying to no avail to finish off the barrage of attackers keeping them away from the barrier. They both had to take on many opponents at a time, most of them jonin, which were hard odds even for ANBU-level shinobi.

We need to get the clan heads out of there, Kakashi thought, glancing at the barrier again. But how? They won't let us…

'Kakashi, I have an idea,' Río's voice inside his head momentarily surprised him.

'What?'

'Given enough time, I can probably wiggle my water chakra underground to destroy the tags… same way as, er, before… but it'd be much quicker if you were to make a crater or something. Actually that would be needed…'

'It won't work,' Kakashi cut in as he kicked a jonin across the room and copied another's earth jutsu. 'These guys won't settle for a long chat like I did… you won't be able to concentrate.'

'Not if I'm dead.'

He froze. 'What?'

'Hey, calm down, I'm just going to pretend someone has mortally injured me in order to buy me some time to destroy the tags in peace' Rio thought. 'Isn't that ingeniously genius? They'll never see it coming!'

'Genius?' Kakashi repeated. 'More like suicidal! Don't do that!'

'Well, you could cover for me and make sure I don't get trampled on or used as a meat shield or something. I was thinking of using a shadow clone, but if it pops my cover will be blown.'

Great. More work for him. He sighed. 'I'll do it.' But… did she really trust him that much? Kakashi hesitated. 'Are you sure though? You won't be able to see what's going on around you.'

'I can get a picture from people's surface thoughts…' Río hedged, though not very convincingly.

'And you'll be able to read people's thoughts enough to know if you're being targeted by any one of a dozen and destroy the tags at the same time?'

'Well… maybe?'

'That's it. I am not participating in this.'

'Hey, no. We need to get them out,' Río insisted. 'You know what? If I'm in trouble just think… um… something really loud and weird to catch my attention as a warning in case I'm about to be killed. That should work.'

'Like what?' Kakashi asked skeptically. What even was considered weird, by his standards?

'Um… just think "chocolate muffin", okay?'

Kakashi frowned dubiously. 'You sure this will work?'

'…'

'Río!'

'How much time can you buy me?'

'Three minutes?'

She gave herself a mental shake. 'Great, let's do this!'

'Why do I feel like this will end badly.'

Kakashi mentally shook his head at her. He had almost forgotten how insane her teammate's ideas tended to be, back when they'd been teammates. It was what had made Yugao strong even then, but the crazy schemes had tended to give him heart palpitations every two missions or so. If there had been any doubt in his mind whether Río was really her, his Yugao, then her actions just now had dissipated it. She was the real deal. Unfortunately for his frayed nerves.

They ended up going with her crazy plan, somehow (Kakashi still was of the opinion that this was a Bad Idea) but he didn't have any better ones himself, so he reluctantly created a large crack in the stone floor with an overpowered earth jutsu. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Río use the distraction to plant a henged clone among the mass of attackers. Smart girl. Once the dust had settled a minute later, an 'Oto jonin' pierced her with a 'blade' through the heart and she crumbled dramatically to the ground. Kakashi would have snorted at the terrible acting if not for the fact that their enemies seemed to buy it. Next second he found himself razing to the other side of the room in order to put some distance between the attacking nin, which had followed him, and the 'corpse', making sure to keep an eye on her while he was at it. The plan was on.

"Inoue!" Inoichi watched his daughter crumble to the ground desperately. "Inoue!"

"Inoichi," Shikaku said nervously. The other clan heads were all staring. "Inoichi– calm down." He didn't know what else to say. Losing his daughter just after realizing that she wasn't actually dead… it had to be a hard blow. "We need to focus on getting out of here," Shikaku continued. "You need to compartmentalize right now."

"What I need is to get to her! Maybe she's not dead yet!" Inoichi whirled toward Ibiki, who was still inside of a hole. "How much longer!? We need to get out of here!"

Ibiki's head emerged a second later. "I got good news and bad news. Which one do you wanna hear first?"

"The bad news," Shikaku replied, placing a calming hand upon Inoichi's shoulder. Calming and warning.

"Bad news is the tags are protected so that they can't be accessed from the inside of the barrier… so we aren't getting out without help."

"Fuck!" Inoichi exclaimed.

"What's the good news?" Shikaku interrupted.

"The good news is… the tags are just kind of… melting? Or getting wet or something? Completely on their own. We're not doing anything, but… at this pace, we should be free in a few minutes."

The clan heads exchanged excited glances.

"How is this possible?" Hiashi inquired. "Who is doing this?"

Inoichi's eyes suddenly widened and he shot toward the side of the barrier, where his supposedly dead daughter lay. "Hiashi! Hiashi get your ass over here!"

There was a reason why the Yamanaka clan and the Hyuga had such ill relations. Many years ago, when Hiashi had still been a teenager learning the ropes of the ninja trade, he'd had a very close call in a solo mission. He'd been too confident due to his recent jonin promotion and had underestimated the difficulty his escort mission to Tea Country might present – paying the price with his client's life and almost his own. He'd managed to finish off the enemy nin and drag himself away from the scene of the battle, across rice paddies and into a small forest to hide from the sweltering sun. By the point he'd reached the shade he could hardly stand anymore and he'd let himself fall to the forest floor, bleeding out slowly as he watched the canopy, guts held them in place by blood-stained, trembling hands. His only hope was that a retrieval squad would be sent after him, but he knew they wouldn't make it in time. He'd been saying his goodbyes, cursing himself for his folly – when he had met her.

Her name was Chihiro and she'd worked the fields like so many others, non stop, day in and out. He'd known immediately that she was special though – from the way she had noticed his presence, had somehow perceived the genjutsu he'd cast over his injured body, to the way she hadn't complained at all as she'd hauled his half-delirious ass back to her small house, where she'd proceeded to methodically clean out his injuries and stitch his guts back into place without flinching.

She hadn't wanted anything in exchange for her help. Just a thank you, she'd told him simply. That's enough for me. Now sleep.

Chihiro had lived in a run-down house. From what he'd been able to tell, she spent her days alternating between working the fields non-stop and helping her mother with her pottery trade. The middle-aged woman – Aya had been her name – had heavily chastised her daughter for allowing 'the likes of him' into their living space. Thankfully for Hiashi, Chihiro had been a stubborn girl through and through and hadn't listened a bit. She'd hid him in the shed when Aya wasn't looking.

As his condition had improved, Hiashi had begun accompanying Chihiro to the fields, helping where he could without jostling his injury. He had quickly learned in those trips that the civilian who had saved his life was unique in ways he hadn't previously noticed. She was quiet but well liked among the other workers, her silences in no way an indication of boredom or disinterested as he'd first thought.

Despite her unassuming nature, he discovered quickly that she was very passionate also. When he had asked one of the older workers, as a way to make small talk, about the odd terrace-like structures that their field presented, the old man's countenance had instantly brightened. He had proudly narrated how 'little Chihiro' had come up with this method when she was only twelve and how the new, terrace-based irrigation system had made caring for the fields so much easier for them all. Hiashi, aged fifteen at the time, had been incredulous – he'd have expected Chihiro to have mentioned coming up with something like that… If she hadn't told him it must be because the invention wasn't really hers. The man must have misunderstood, Chihiro had likely copied the system from elsewhere – after all, the people of her village barely had much of an education and, though she spoke eloquently enough, if you could ignore the accent, Hiashi had doubted someone like her could have come up with such a thing. As a test, he had asked her about her creation one morning.

The way her eyes had brightened up as she began to explain how it worked had taken him aback. They'd discussed the topic for hours and at length, him mostly listening, not having much to contribute, her working the fields even as she gesticulated, explaining her thought process to him at length under the sweltering summer heat, only stopping to have a drink because her throat was parched from all the talking. She'd even told Hiashi all about her plans to design these tube-like conduits to redirect some of the river into them, presenting a further upgrade, this one much more substantial if she could get everything right. It was like a complex, agriculture-repurposed plumbing system, Hiashi had thought, of which there were none in the countryside. Konoha's plumbing, created by the nidaime himself, was the most advanced in current existence, to the point where the fire daimiyo himself had demanded to get a piece of it as well. All other cities and villages both within Fire Country and outside had been lagging behind at the time of their meeting. That she should have come up with such a thing on her own…

Hiashi had told her all about Konoha's plumbing system then, glad to have something to add. Chihiro had listened intently, asking questions which had never occurred to him before. From his answers alone she'd guessed how many of its oddities worked, all of this with little to nothing to go off on, each new discovery giving her new ideas for her own project. She was radiant.

Hiashi had concluded with amazement that she had indeed been the one to come up with the terrace structure idea. It was clear that she had given her projects to improve agriculture much thought, probably for many years. She'd explained that she thought best whilst working the field – that she liked to keep her hands busy whilst thinking – and when he'd eventually asked her why she hadn't implemented her new irrigation system idea already, as it was clear that she knew each step by heart, she'd explained that she could barely spare the time to work on it with all of the time she spent out on the fields or on her mother's pottery, and that the materials she'd need for the tubes were hard to get in the deep reaches of tea country, not to mention expensive. He had always thought that ninja had it the hardest, that they deserved all the credit for everything, but Chihiro changed his mind.

She had been so very bright, resourceful and perceptive and Hiashi, despite his high birth and noble up-bringing and all of his father's lectures on how they were superior to civilian-borns, never mind civilians, never mind the peasants working the fields – had found himself falling in love for the first time.

His injury, much to his dismay, had finished healing just as the retrieval squad had found him. He had known that he needed to go back, but he'd left her all of his money on the small table in her room, along with a note to use it for her tubes. Lying to his father about the money upon his return to the village had been unpleasant but worth it. Tea Country was still lauded to this day for their groundbreaking irrigation system, the one that had given Chihiro's home village the name of 'River's Breath'.

After that, he and Chihiro had exchanged letters for many years. Hiashi had kept trying to postpone his marriage (he had been engaged to a distant cousin since he was five), instead taking missions to Tea Country whenever one became available. He'd never let Chihiro know how he felt nor shown it in any of his actions or words. In fact, his fear of breaching the topic of romance had been so great that he hadn't even been sure whether she had any kind of suitor or dalliances at all. Even so, he had toyed with the thought of marrying her often, if only in daydreams which he knew would never come to pass, or of his boring cousin waking up one day and developing a sudden interest in irrigation systems, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

Then, around the time he finally became clan head at age twenty-one, Chihiro's mother fell ill. She had sent him a desperate letter narrating the details of the lung infection and her own futile attempts to ease the woman's pain, and at once Hiashi had written back to tell her that Konoha's doors would be open to her, that they had a healthcare system which could likely cure her. Chihiro had never replied to that letter.

Fearing the worst, he had left on the first mission in the area he could find. However, by the time he'd made it to River's Breath, she'd been long gone and no one had known where to. It was only upon his return to Konoha that he'd heard the news: a young woman of nineteen had come through the gates the other day, sweat-soaked but triumphant, carrying an older woman upon her shoulders – a very ill older woman. Rumor had it that the girl had carried her mother all the way from Tea Country like that and had still made the trip in only four day's time, any more and the meager rations she had brought would have run out. As it was, Chihiro had arrived starved to death. She was amazing.

If he had been in the village, he would have gladly helped her convince the immigration office to allow her passage into the village. There would have been no need to cajole a banker into lending her enough money to pay for her mother's treatment because he could have done so himself… and she subsequently wouldn't have striven to find work in order to repay the debt… work at which she'd met Yamanaka Inoichi.

Inoichi, the bastard, had been faster and surer. Where Hiashi had hesitated, Inoichi had pounced. Where Hiashi had thought he'd be doing Chihiro an immense favor for agreeing to go out with a low-born civilian like her, Inoichi had told Chihiro that she'd be doing him a favor for 'putting up with his clan's old fogies'. Before Hiashi could even begin to register the new threat, the blonde had already snatched Chihiro's heart away, all to himself.

Hiashi had been forced to watch the couple give their all to stay together, forced to watch them defy the Yamanaka elders in a way he'd never have dreamed possible. Chihiro had even gone as far as graduating from the Academy to gain their approval and when not even that had been enough, she'd thrown herself head-first into the chunin exam prep-work. Hiashi had prayed that she would fail in this endeavor, that the elders would give her the no, but when Chihiro had asked him for help with preparing for her chunin exam he hadn't been able to say no to her. She was special, after all. With or without his help, Hiashi had known that she would have passed.

At that point, asking to court her or even telling her his feelings would have just distanced them. For all her natural talent for building irrigation systems, the woman was quite oblivious in the matters of the heart – very unlike keen Inoichi, who had always treated Hiashi like the competition he'd known him to be. Hiashi had realized then that where it truly counted he had been a coward.

Inoichi and Chihiro had gotten married soon afterward (Inoichi no doubt rushing things as much as possible so that Hiashi couldn't get any ideas) and had had a child a few months later. Hiashi had gotten married to his cousin too after that, with Chihiro fussing ecstatically during the short minutes before the ceremony, adjusting his haori and cooing over 'how handsome he looked'. If he closed his eyes, he could almost picture her as his bride. His father had raised him to be an honorable man, however, and in that moment, with everything he'd wanted so far and yet so close, he had realized that his pining was hopeless. He needed to stop. What he was doing and feeling was unfair to his new wife, and so what he must do was to cut contact with the newly minted Yamanaka matriarch, no matter how much it pained him. And so he did.

Chihiro hadn't understood the sudden 'cold shoulder', as she had called it, but he'd rather it be that way. He had avoided her as much as possible from then on, hearing about her life only from others. He had been unable to follow the same policy in regards to Inoichi however. Inoichi, in his mind, had been stupid and impulsive, getting Chihiro pregnant when he'd been much too young (and in the middle of a war) and it would be his fault when misfortune inevitably found them. Even so, he'd see their happiness, their beautiful, mischievous child, all three of them out on the street enjoying the sun on a normal grocery run – and the sight would consume him with envy.

Their baby girl had looked extremely similar to her mother, with Chihiro's mischievous eyes and the stubborn set to her jaw. Just seeing her once in passing had been a hard blow.

He remembered hearing from a younger cousin that the little girl, Inoue, was a simpleton, that she was struggling with learning to read and write at the Academy. If he had been her father, the girl would have had no issues, he was sure. Her education would have been excellent. Hiashi hadn't been able to keep himself from venting to some of his friends, and in doing so had accidentally spread rumors about the little girl. This was all it had taken to earn Inoichi's eternal wrath and Chihiro's coldest disdain for himself – former friend or not. He was lucky to have gotten an invite to Ino's party even now, as the old wound had festered when Inoue had gotten kidnapped shortly after, never to be seen again. This is why Hiashi had been understandably floored when Inoichi had suddenly begun shouting that name out of nowhere in the middle of the Conference Room: Inoue.

What did it mean?

The ANBU agent Inoichi had been staring at had been wearing a mask so he couldn't see their face, but the long, pale blonde hair, which had been pulled into a high braid, spoke of Yamanaka descent. The style wasn't quite the head family's traditional ponytail but could almost be seen as a nod toward it… could it be?

Inoichi's thunderstruck expression when the ANBU had fallen certainly seemed to point toward Hiashi's new theory. Himself and the blonde had never seen eye to eye, but in this moment, the head of the Hyuga clan found himself truly feeling for him, for Chihiro especially, and he resolved to lend the Yamanaka clan his political backing should they need it concerning the matter of Inoue, should the fallen agent truly be who he thought she was. If she'd been taken against her will and made to fight for Root, as it looked like… Hiashi's jaw gritted, imagining Hinata in the same position. This could very well have been his daughter. She, too, had been kidnapped at a young age, though the attempt had not succeeded, if almost. But what if it had? Hiashi swallowed. He could truly commiserate with Inoichi in that moment. Yes, he decided. He would help his old-time enemy to rally against Danzo himself if that's what it took. The blonde need only say the word. Hiashi turned toward Inoichi, who had just called out to him, a new gleam of reconciliation in his eye. It was time for the old wounds between them to close at last.

In hindsight, calling the uppity Hyuga by his given name to then tell him to 'get his ass over here' had not been one of Inoichi's brightest moments. However, he was too shaken right then to care, and thankfully the Hyuga actually didn't complain. "What is it, Yamanaka?" the man questioned as he walked briskly toward him.

"Can you check whether that ANBU has chakra?" Inoichi shot back urgently.

Hyuga Hiashi nodded seriously and turned to do just that. Needless to say, Inoichi was more than a little surprised at the lack of complaints from him – they had all seen Kakashi's companion get stabbed in the heart, meaning the agent's chakra should be rapidly disappearing – but Hiashi did not seem to be questioning Inoichi's request at all. Without further ado, the man activated his byakugan and took a close look at the corpse Inoichi knew to be his daughter. To his dread, the normally stoic man's eyes widened as he regarded the body.

"What? What is it?" Inoichi pressed anxiously.

"That… that woman is as alive as they get," Hiashi muttered, eyes were wide. That woman… possibly Inoue… members of the Yamanaka clan had a much greater volume of chakra pathways within their brains than the norm, but this one… this woman who was very clearly a Yamanaka – one he had never seen before… well, let's just say Hiashi would have remembered if he'd seen someone like this sheer amount of chakra pathways, all of them carrying so much chakra inside was something he wouldn't have thought physically possible if he weren't seeing it just then. He knew from experience that such a chakra density would not only result in an extremely painful migraine for the woman but also present a great risk to her life. If one of those pathways burst…

"Wait? Woman?" Tsume interrupted his train of thought. "You're telling me blondie over there's a woman?"

Of course she was. Hiashi had not only heard Inoichi scream his daughter's name whilst staring at her – he also had his byakugan, which allowed him to see that yes, this person in fact had breasts, despite the unisex armor. He relayed as much to Tsume in crisp tones, who seemed elated and got started on some kind of feminist bullshit rant which Hiashi tuned out. He was fed up with that tripe.

"Not the time!" Inoichi shouted, steamrolling over Tsume's speechas well, in order to stare at Hiashi. "You mean to tell me she's alive?! Really?"

"Hey listen now! Is feminism a joke to you, you blonde bas–"

Inoichi gritted his teeth. He didn't give a toss about anything at the moment but his daughter's life. He didn't care if Tsume gave him the cold shoulder after this, he didn't even bother to mince his words. "Just shut up Tsume. Well, Hyuga?"

Hiashi, who hadn't so much as glanced at Tsume and was still staring at the his daughter's head for some reason, nodded.

"Yes, she is alive, Yamanaka." Air swooshed out of his lungs in one big heave, but he quickly sucked in another breath once Hiashi continued talking: "Though… her chakra is doing something very odd…" He paused for a moment. "I believe she is the one destroying the seals of our prison."

Inoichi's eyes widened. Again, he was relieved his baby girl (woman?) wasn't actually in danger but – Inoue was… destroying the seals? He almost hadn't wanted to believe it, but… all evidence seemed to point towards it. Inoue was helping them. Helping him. She cared? Well, she could just be trying to break them free because it was the logical thing to do, but his father heart preferred believing that she cared… that she was taking this incredible risk for him. Even if a treacherous part of his mind whispered that he was deluding himself.

Unfortunately, though the clan head's conversation couldn't be heard, they could still be seen, and a Suna jonin had noticed all of them staring intently at a certain corpse and a blonde man grinning… The jonin put two and two together and leapt toward the corpse, intending to stab it again just to be sure. Kakashi, in turn, noticed him noticing and panicked. He was on the other side of the room!

'Yu – Río! Río, get out of there!' he thought frantically. She didn't react. He felt himself tensing as the guy approached, trying in vain to finish off his current opponent. What did she say again? 'Strawberry cake…? No, chocolate muffin! Río, chocolate muffin! Get out of there!'

At last this somehow seemed to do the trick and Rio's body promptly sprang up, just in time to dodge the incoming attack. Half a dozen jonin watched, stupefied, as a corpse got up and promptly began to twirl out of the way of a downright avalanche of attacks, looking fresh as a lettuce.

"What the…?"

"That fucker was acting!"

"Kill that guy!"

Soon, the situation had reverted to what it previously was, with Kakashi and Río being kept from the seals.

'How many left?" Kakashi questioned. Río didn't answer. He had no clue how her telepathy thing worked but apparently it had its limits, or maybe his thoughts just weren't very loud… he still wasn't sure what she'd meant by that. Since he had no clue how to think loudly, Kakashi made an effort to catch her eye while fighting and when she finally glanced at him, he tapped his head with his finger a few times. Behind him, one of the jonin growled murderously, no doubt having interpreted the gesture as him calling them all crazy, though thankfully Río finally seemed to get the message.

'Yes, Kakashi?'

'How many tags are left?' he asked quickly, dodging around the rampaging jonin.

'Only the one,' she confessed with irritation. 'I was almost done when that guy butted in.'

Damn… they'd been so close. He dodged another flying fan and kicked someone's spleen in. 'Río? Are you still there?'

Apparently she'd logged off again when a jonin tried to decapitate her with a wind jutsu. Why did she keep doing that? 'Río, are you there?' he tried again. Nope. No one was answering. It looked like she was busy with her fight. Resigned to doing this the normal way, Kakashi signaled Tenzo from across the room. Telepathy was a lot more practical now that he had experienced it, but oh well. Kakashi managed to make do with some signals, hoping the Suna and Oto guys wouldn't catch on to the meaning since they appeared to have spies in Konoha's ranks. The signals were ANBU standard for 'underground', 'attack' and the exact number of the row that the tile he wanted Tenzo to target. Thankfully, his kohai seemed to get the gist of his odd message and sent a mokuton attack down toward the floor, managing to uproot the last seal with a loud crash. Normally this strategy would have been suicidal, as it revealed their plan to the enemy, but this was the last seal. With one mighty water bullet shot across the room, Kakashi both destroyed and soaked the final tag for good measure. The kanji upon it flickered and a second later the barrier around the clan heads went down.

Outside, the world became reduced to the noise of screams and battle, to the balmy night air, to the sinister shapes of burning rooftops in the distance and moonlit bodies sprawled against gray cobblestone. Everywhere Ino looked, she could see people fighting, people screaming, people dying. Swallowing thickly, she glanced down at Shikamaru, whom she was heaving behind her with much effort. Even in the dark his skin shone, marble-like, white as a corpse. She had to restrain her urge to check whether he was alive yet again; he was: she could hear his uneven breathing – but he wouldn't stay that way much longer. Not unless she did something.

This was the plan she'd come up with: get Shikamaru to the Yamanaka greenhouse and… well. That was it. She didn't know how she was going to do it except that she had to. She would carry him princess style all the way if that's what it took. She had to give him the antidote.

Her only saving grace was the fact that the Nara lands were surrounded by a thick forest, which seemed mostly clear from enemies… More importantly, one of its edges was relatively close to the back of the Hyuga compound, which in turn was close to the Yamanaka greenhouses. Hopefully the Hyuga would have the place under strong security. They were all so obsessed with their clan pride and tradition and whatnot – Ino was certain they'd have a whole slew of guards there to protect their precious grounds – guards who could help her if things got tricky. Yes. This was what she'd do.

Without further preparation, she dragged her teammate into the deep canopy… and dragged him… and dragged him… It was not all that easy.

The truth of the matter was, Shikamaru happened to be a growing teenage boy, and growing teenage boys happen to be heavy. And Ino had rather neglected strength training. Yes, she had put in more of an effort after the team seven versus team ten spar, when Sakura had beaten her, but it still wasn't enough to give her the strength to effortlessly lift Shikamaru and carry him all the way across the forest and past the Hyuga compound till the greenhouses, or at least, not quickly enough. She was certain that at the pace she was going, she wouldn't make it in time to get him the antidote and Shikamaru would die. If he did, it would be her fault. Hers. What was risking her life worth if she couldn't even get to the greenhouses on time?

Ino felt tears of frustration prickling at her eyes and, since there was no one there to see, she simply gritted her teeth and concentrated on forging on rather than holding the tears back. She was in the middle of sobbing uncontrollably when she heard him:

"…some…"

She stopped, astounded, and turned to stare at Shikamaru. He was awake. Sort of.

"W-what?" Ino stuttered wetly.

"Troublesome," is what he muttered back incoherently. "G'back… Ino…"

She swiped at her eyes and set her jaw. "Now listen you! I'm not gonna do that! I'm taking you to get your antidote so…! So just hold on!"

"S'not gonna work…" he replied groggily.

"Yes it will!" Ino said hysterically. It had to. It had to. "I… just… just save your strength, please! And hold on, okay? Just hold on!" In that instant, something wet bumped against her hip and she jumped back, startled, clutching onto Shikamaru's limp form for dear life. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that it wasn't an enemy, but an animal. A stag, more precisely. A really big stag with huge antlers.

Ino stared at it for a moment, wide eyed, blinking rapidly to clear her sight. The stag bumped her hip with its head again and made a huffing noise, then brushed its head carefully over Shikamaru's arm. Once accomplished, it looked at Ino expectantly… and Ino understood. She did not come from a family of mind-readers for nothing.

"You… you'd carry Shikamaru?" She felt rather silly talking to a normal animal as if it could understand her, but the stag just looked at her steadily, in a patient way that gave her courage. It didn't answer, of course, but she took the docile behavior as encouragement. Slowly, she began transferring Shikamaru's weight on top of the stag, and when it still didn't huff or complain in any way, Ino hesitantly heaved Shikamaru's whole body over the stag's back. She still had to hold onto Shikamaru to make sure he didn't fall off, but this method made carrying him that much easier. Soon they'd reached the end of the treeline, the houses of the Hyuga compound visible a ways off. Ino was wondering how she was going to carry Shikamaru now, but to her surprise, the stag followed her even outside the forest.

Ino had never been gladder about anything in her life. This would be the hard part, she knew. Getting to the greenhouses from here on would mean crossing a veritable war zone, and the Hyuga compound was clearly not as safe as she'd first assumed. In fact, it didn't seem safe at all. The lights were turned off and she could barely even see anyone there. She had hoped to get a Hyuga to help her, what with being a clan heiress, or at least fight against the bad guys if they attacked whilst Ino was around. Getting them to be her 'protection detail' had been a long shot, since the bad blood between her daddy and the uppity Hyuga clan head was legendary – and in fact the reason she'd never befriended Hinata the way she had Sakura – but now she knew for sure she wouldn't get any help. No one was even there.

And yet – she'd come this far. She couldn't turn back now. What else could she do but forge on? There was no choice but to arm herself with courage and cross the streets up to the greenhouse as quickly as possible, no choice but to hope her luck wouldn't run out. She walked briskly ahead, clutching onto Shikamaru as she did, the stag moving its head uneasily from side to side.

Predictably, her luck did run out. Immediately. A bunch of Suna nin rounded the corner. They had clearly been destroying Hyuga houses, setting small gardens aflame and pilfering all objects of value they came across. Naturally, they just had to run into Ino whilst they were at it. The four creepy shits stopped in their tracks upon seeing her. They didn't talk, but they looked at each other and that seemed to be enough for the lot to communicate their intentions. Ino retreated, half terrified, half frozen, but she couldn't run or Shikamaru would fall off the stag, so she stood her ground. Her fingers flew to her shuriken holster she'd strapped beneath her Yukata, but she knew immediately that they would do her little good. Before the party she'd felt super adult-like, whilst strapping the hidden shuriken to her leg, though in hindsight, it had just been a vain attempt to copy all those prestigious kunoichi who were rumored to carry their weapons even into the bathroom. Never in a million years had Ino thought she'd actually use that holster for anything but maybe to one up Sakura – except now she was regretting not to have packed more weapons with every fiber of her being.

The Suna nin were all looking at her, intently, very intently. She was frozen. Everything she'd ever learned at the Academy seemed to have evaporated; she remembered nothing. All that existed within her were those four pairs of creepy ass eyes, and the fact that they were fixed on her, all four Suna nin advancing and she had nowhere to run–

The tallest guy, undoubtedly the leader of the lot, smiled at her. His teeth weren't yellow like in the books, nor pointy like a vampire's, in fact they were pearly-white and well-kept. The man looked so normal… and yet in that moment, with that smile, he was a monster.

Terrified beyond belief now, Ino grasped all the shuriken she could reach and chugged them in his general direction, but the man deflected each one easily. He was so silent. She almost wished he'd declare all the bad things he was about to do and start monologuing, if only so she'd know what to expect, if only so that the silence would stop. What didn't stop was his advance. He moved forward confidently, as though absolutely certain he would…

An awful, squelching noise cut off her train of thought. A second later, it was followed by the noise of a body hitting the floor – his. Ino stared at it blankly. No, it was not a trick. She tried kai but he did not get up. The sight of brain matter flowing out of his bashed in skull did not disappear. Brain matter. His body twitched once or twice before going still. His skull looked like a mauled soccer ball. A tile from a nearby roof was still impaled to the back of it. It must have fallen on top of his head and killed him, even though Ino hadn't heard or seen anything.

For a moment, all anyone did was stare at the body blankly.

Maybe I am rather lucky after all… Ino thought faintly.

The three Suna nin that were left looked around uneasily, but no possible assailants could be seen in the area. Wait. They were off their game now! Ino didn't think twice and took that chance to run. Adrenaline gave her wings and she whisked Shikamaru into her arms, never mind what the stag was doing, and took off toward the greenhouses, not daring to look back. From the noise of hooves pounding against the ground, she could tell that the stag was galloping behind her, but she was going so fast that it didn't catch up. Even so, her arms and legs were burning by the time she made it out of the Hyuga compound. She listened as hard as she could for footsteps that might have followed behind her but there were none. It was eerily quiet. She'd gotten lucky that a loose roof tile had fallen on top of the Suna nin's head – she supposed that all the explosions going off everywhere made that a very real possibility – but why was no one following her? Maybe the other Suna nin thought she was behind the roof tile thing and were afraid of attacking her? But that didn't make sense. Wouldn't they want revenge instead? Ino knew that her teal-colored yukata with the pink cherry blossom pattern was very cute and all – but it certainly wasn't very intimidating. It was covered in sweat, dust and leaves now, but still… there was no way those guys had been intimidated by her.

In any case, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. If those Suna nin had decided to leave her alone, for whatever reason, then perfect. She'd make good use of the opportunity. With these thoughts, she strutted right up to the closest greenhouse, intending to get Shikamaru the antidote once and for all, when suddenly, behind her someone spoke:

"Yamanaka Ino! Just what do you think you're doing?"

She turned, half-terrified it was one of the Suna nin again when–

Ino gaped. "Mom?!"

Yamanaka Chihiro was in fact standing before her, expression thunderous, her usually tightly-confined coif completely undone. Bits of brain matter were… dangling off it. Ino just gaped incredulously.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what, by the seven blazes, possessed you to come here on your own?!" Chihiro shouted.

Ino stared at her in mute wonder. And slight horror. Her mother was usually someone with so much self-control and poise that her sudden screaming almost had her believing the woman was an impostor. But no, it was her mother. Somehow.

Ino still couldn't believe it though. For kami's sake, family friends jokingly called Chihiro 'the ice queen' for a reason – and yet now she was everything but. This was the first time Ino ever saw her in such a state: panting, wild-eyed and… yeah. With brain matter in her hair.

"M-mom?"

Chihiro didn't answer whatsoever. She slanted a furious glance at Shikamaru, seeming completely unsurprised to see him there, and snatched him off Ino's arms briskly. Then she grabbed Ino's elbow and started tugging her back the way she'd come from, en route forest. Meanwhile, Ino was momentarily floored, but the stag apparently not so much because it immediately started to huff and puff dangerously and stepped into their path as if attempting to get them to turn back toward the greenhouses. It was only then, as they were passing the now four corpses of the Suna nin who had previously attacked her, that Ino snapped out of it.

"Mom, what are you–? We need to go back to help Shikamaru! Are you insane?! What are you doing?!" She planted her feet firmly into the ground, forcing Chihiro to either tear Ino's arm off its socket or stop walking.

Ino could literally see her mother's nostrils flaring.

"There are enemy ninja within the greenhouses," Chihiro snapped. "Jonin level. My chances against them are slim to none and I am not letting you anywhere near those brutes on my watch."

Ino stared at her wide-eyed.

"But – but mom! We need to save Shikamaru! And all the other people! And I'm a ninja now! I don't care if you don't want me anywhere near–"

Slap.

Ino reared back, shocked. Her mother had slapped her. She never did that. Chihiro's face was absolutely livid. "We are going home. End of discussion."

Her expression brooked absolutely no argument and Ino would have been crazy to try and talk back at her right then but–

"No! We are not going home! At least I am not! You can go back and – and carry on with your stupid interviews all you like but I…!" She took a deep, ragged breath, "I am staying here, with my teammate!"

"Ino, be reasonable–"

"No! I'm not moving no matter what you tell me! That's my ninja way! I'm not some coward for you to keep on overprotecting!"

She was not just being dramatic. Her parents were the textbook definition of helicopter parents. Especially her mother: Chihiro always seemed to know exactly where Ino was and what she was doing at any given time and never allowed her to step a single toe out of line, to stay up late, to go to the training ground alone, to meet with her friends after dark – whatever. No matter how hard Ino tried to fight for her independence, her mother never budged an inch. And fine, she was twelve – thirteen – but now she was a ninja and that trumped everything else. It meant she was an adult. A warrior. Not some little kid. Ino had tolerated her parent's mollycoddling all these years because she'd been a kid, and that's what kids do, but basta. She was now officially done with their crap. Her mother would not get in the way of her saving Shikamaru. She wouldn't.

"Ino. I am not telling you this again," Chihiro said threateningly. "Cease your asinine tantrum at once. We are in a war zone. I realize you care about your genin teammate but–"

"My genin teammate?!" Ino shrieked. "My genin teammate?! This is Shikamaru we're talking about! He's not just some genin teammate! He's my childhood friend! You know, your best friend's kid?! How can you not care what happens to him?!"

"You throwing your life away for him isn't going to solve anything," Chihiro gritted out. She was back to the controlled "appears-calm-but-really-isn't" brand of anger Ino was more used to. It was then that her mother took a deep breath.

"Listen Ino. We have never told you this – your father and I – because – well. It's a hard truth. We didn't want to scare you or place an unnecessary burden on you at such a young age, but since you insist – you have a sister that–"

"I already know about that!" Ino interrupted the rant before it could even start. "I already heard you guys whispering about how she eloped with a dango vendor or some crap like that! You thought I wouldn't notice all your secrecy? Well, I guess you don't care since you're always disregarding my opinion–"

Chihiro shushed her with her hand. "She was kidnapped, Ino!"

That shut her up. Kidnapped?

"She didn't leave, she was taken," Chihiro said softly. "At age six." Her expression hardened, jaw tight. "I pray you'll forgive me for trying to avoid a repeat performance."

"A – a – repeat performance?" Ino questioned. "What, is someone after me or something?"

"We… we don't know. But it doesn't matter. All that matters is getting you back to safety–"

Ino shook her head slowly. "I get it, mom. You care about me. I get it, and I'm glad. But I care about Shika and I'm not leaving here." She glanced at the Suna nin corpses which were still lying there, sprawled on the fancy tiling of the Hyuga compound. All of them had died the same way, with their skulls bashed open through blunt force.

"You killed them," she realized. "You killed them, didn't you, mom?"

It seemed impossible. Her mother was not a ninja. She worked for the clan's flower delivery business, for kami's sake – and yet who else could it have been? By all intents and purposes, it was her mother who had bashed the four nin's skulls in via throwing tiles at them… or something.

"Yes, that was me," Chihiro said regretfully. "I apologize for the gruesome sight, Ino. I worked with what little materials were available to me."

Silence.

Ino had always known, factually, that her mother had once been promoted to chunin. Chihiro had shown her the green vest that had been given to her, back when Ino had been little, and Ino had used it to play dress up… but the fact that her mother had actually been a ninja not just in name, but in mentality, that she was capable of such violence… it was only now starting to sink in. But that also meant…

"Mom. You used to be a ninja!" Ino exclaimed urgently.

Chihiro gave her a droll look. "Your point being?"

"You can help me take over the greenhouses. You have to."

"I will do no such thing."

"You have to," Ino insisted. "Shikamaru's life is riding on this! Not to mention all those other people who ate at my party! I-if you don't help me, I'll tell Yoshino-san that you were going to let Shika die even though you were right next to the greenhouses! And you still turned to go away!"

Chihiro crossed her arms, expression cold. "I could care less if Yoshino hates me after this," she snapped, the force of her voice betraying that this was a lie. "All I care is that you're safe, Ino. Now will you please–"

Ino tore herself free of her mother's grip and took off at a sprint toward the greenhouse. The stag, which had been glaring at them but not attacking, moved to intercept her mother, who was now hot in pursuit, as Ino ran past.

"INO!" Chihiro hissed angrily. "Stop right there! There's jonin up ahead and be glad they're not sensors!"

Ino continued running. Finally, her mother caught up, grabbing both of Ino's shoulders to turn her around. Her face was uncharacteristically serious. "Alright."

Ino blinked. "What?"

"Alright," Chihiro repeated. "I'll help you. But you have to promise me you'll do everything I tell you to. And if I tell you to run, you run."

Ino slowly came to a stop, glancing back at her mother.

"Alright… Then let's go." Ino swallowed nervously and tried to look like she wasn't freaking the hell out about what they were about to do. "Time to break into our own greenhouse and kick some ass!"

Phew. They'd done it! Kakashi heaved a sigh of relief as he watched Orochimaru's barrier crumble. Finally, the clan heads could join the fight. As such, he happily left the remaining two jonin which had survived his gentle mercies in the capable hands of Hyuga Hizashi (or was it Hiroshi?) and that Inuzuka woman.

His triumphant thoughts were halted, however, when Orochimaru once again changed tactics. Likely noticing how the tables had almost turned, the sannin hissed at Tobirama and Minato to take out as many of the Konoha shinobi as they could, whilst Hashirama was to remain by his side in order to fight Hiruzen. Glancing over, Kakashi noticed with dismay that out of the ANBU that had gone to aid the hokage, most if not all were gravely injured, two of the ones he hadn't known dead. Of the survivors, Raido was lying on the ground, a battered and signed Yugao attempting to stop the bleeding in his leg with unresponsive, trembling fingers… and Hiruzen himself was limping heavily, appearing chakra-exhausted.

Even this weakened Hashirama on his own would be too much.

Kakashi was unable to further follow that particular (and horrifying) new development when he realized that Minato-sensei and the nidaime had begun to attack their group at large. The two were way above ANBU level, even in their weakened forms, and now that the hokage wasn't there to keep them occupied… this was going to become a blood bath. He didn't even want to think about what might happen if all the clan heads died in one shot, killed by their own revived hokage no less. His own teammates, most of which had already been injured, were Kakashi's main concern however. They would feel responsible, they would want to spare the clan heads by fighting against the hokage themselves… but he couldn't lose them.

Minato needed to be contained. In fact, the blond man was flitting around the room with his hiraishin, leaving but a yellow flash he had been infamously named after in his wake. He noticed Tenzo and Gai, who had been helping fight some of the Suna and Oto ANBU looking at the former hokage grimly, both with identical expressions on their faces.

Kakashi's next actions weren't out of courage or some misguided sense of honor. No, they were purely out of selfishness. He knew Gai and Tenzo were some of the best the village had to offer, that their chances of survival if they were to fight the yellow flash were around the same as his, but they were also his two closest friends. If they died today, both at the same time, together with Genma… possibly Raido… it would be too much for him. Kakashi knew he would die with them.

This is why, though he was already tired and with little chakra left, had almost overused his sharingan – all of this whilst still slightly hungover from yesterday – he attacked Minato-sensei head on. Flashbacks of his arm ripping through Rin's chest kept threatening to cloud his mind; he had already had a close call for repeating history today with Yugao/Río but if he were to kill Minato-sensei now… even if he was technically dead already… this was still the man who had almost doubled as a father, the only one to be there for him always–

He's dead, he's not real. It's just a reanimation. I have no choice but to do this. I must. He's not real.

And yet Minato's stark blue eyes were just as kind as he remembered them, his movements bearing the same deadly grace he'd striven to imitate for most of his life. Revived or not, this was undoubtedly Namikaze Minato.

"Sensei… It's been a while," Kakashi said softly.

It was like a switch had been flipped. Upon hearing his words, the yondaime immediately halted his frantic flickering, going completely still.

"Kakashi!" the blond man exclaimed, though he looked shaken. "You… Look at you! You're tall now…"

That was the first thing he said? That? Kakashi glared at his sensei hardheartedly. Never mind. Of course it would be. Minato had always loved to tease him about his height… Kakashi had almost forgotten that.

"I'm taller than you now, sensei," he found himself replying, rather redundantly. How many times had he imagined what his first conversation with sensei would be like if the afterlife existed? This was definitely not it.

"Ah, well… I'm sorry we had to meet like this," Minato added awkwardly. "I… I can't control what I'm doing – Kakashi! I'm about to attack you! Watch out!"

Well… that was certainly novel. Getting warned by an opponent… a slight hit to his pride, if he was being honest with himself, though simultaneously not altogether unwelcome, considering sensei's skill. In the next few minutes, Kakashi found himself yet again plagued by an odd sense of dejá vu, of having fought this fight before, and yet it being completely different.

It was odd, he thought, that Minato was now shorter than him. In his memory, he always towered… maybe fighting against him would be easier now? Then he was forced to dodge a barrage of shuriken and three kicks strong enough to break cement by the skin of his teeth and forcibly changed his mind; sensei clearly hadn't lost his touch. Why did he have to be hangover again? He never got drunk! Never! And the one time he did, this happened!

I'm not touching sake again in my life, Kakashi swore, springing away from yet another explosive tag. Ever.

The moment the barrier encasing all of the clan heads gave away, Hyuga Hiashi sprang into action. Though he now trained much less than he had used to and had stopped going on missions, he was still the young Hyuga who'd been lauded as a genius back in the day for making jonin at fifteen. As such it was his place to fight the most dangerous opponents today. That was the responsibility that came with power.

When the fourth and second hokage had leapt toward them on Orochimaru's command, Hiashi was the one who stepped up to face them. Senju Tobirama ceased his assault to pause in front of him, watching Hiashi with narrowed eyes whilst Namikaze Minato continued on.

"Hyuga. You wish to fight me?" Nidaime-sama asked in a deep, imposing voice.

Not particularly, no. But what choice did he have?

"I will do it," Hiashi confirmed.

Tobirama-sama watched him for another moment, expression solemn. "So be it," he acquiesced – and in the next second jumped toward him. Hiashi parried the incoming punch with his own arm, but the force behind it still rattled him. He had expected the nidaime's strength, and yet it was still more than he'd prepared for. For all that Hashirama was much more widely known and talked about, Hiashi realized in that moment that his chances of winning this fight were minuscule… unless… he disabled Tobirama's tenketsu? Perhaps then Orochimaru's ritual would be canceled. Perhaps that was the key. Perhaps a few well-placed chakra hits would be the trick to breaking Orochimaru's reanimation jutsu.

This was easier said than done. Hiashi quickly discovered that, even dead, Tobirama was wicked fast, dodging his onslaught of the gentle fist with an ease and fluidity that should have been impossible. For the blows leveled toward the stomach, the nidaime didn't even bother with that much as his armor was made up of a strong material Hiashi's chakra couldn't get through. In fact, every important tenketsu on the man's body was covered by his armor, even the one located on the pelvis, which was typically Hiashi's go-to attack point for the rare armored opponent. His last resort was the large tenketsu located on the forehead, but he realized with distress that this one too was covered by the man's happuri, which spanned over a larger area than a normal forehead protector. Truly, just from his attire the nidaime would have been a hard opponent for him, never mind his actual skill.

"Hyuga," Tobirama-sama said, following his gaze. The man was watching him still with that keen gaze.

"My lord?"

"Leave me now. Your style is unsuited to my attire. Let someone else fight me."

Hiashi dodged another punch that would have likely concussed him had it hit and weaved around the man. Armour or no, that had been a blow to his pride. It seemed that the nidaime wasn't one to mince his words.

"No," Hiashi said. "With all respect for my peers, none of the other clan heads have enough skill for this type of match. If I let them fight you, you'd go through them very quickly. Even if I am unsuited to this battle, I intend to stall you for as long as possible."

The nidaime frowned. "Hyuga… I have always respected your people. Out of all the council members, your ancestor gave me the least grief. I would hate to kill his kin."

It was a warning. Hiashi swallowed. "Your words honor my clan, Senju-sama."

"You wish to continue." It was a question, though not phrased that way.

Hiashi flinched, thinking of Hinata even as he dodged yet another attack, thinking of Hanabi. He had to be strong, for them – but in this case, what was strength? Giving up or forging on?

He made his decision. He would not be a coward again. He was a man of honor. "Yes. Let us proceed."

The nidaime breathed out slowly, even though Hiashi had noted earlier that none of the reanimations required oxygen. "Very well then."

Hiashi lapsed into silence as he fought against Senju Tobirama with renewed fervor. He knew that he had to prevail in order to be there for his daughters, knew that losing was not an option, now less than ever before…

Even so, he was fighting a living legend and it was taking its toll on him. Not only was there the physical aspect of the nidaime's attacks to worry about but also the psychological one. His desire to do well made Hiashi hastier than he would like and less coordinated. His respect for the nidaime hokage made him falter and flinch back, if only mentally – but the thought of his two daughters gave him strength to push through, and so, with them in his mind he forged on, every second one in which he fought for his life.

Minutes passed. While Hiashi had run out of attack combos and special moves with which to surprise the late hokage, the nidaime kept using diverse skills and jutsu, some which he'd never heard of before.

Hiashi was certain the nidaime had switched between at least four entirely different taijutsu styles in the span of a few minutes, two of which had been lost to time, each of them patently intricate and complex in a different way. The sudden changes put him off his game and made him nervous. He couldn't get used to a style that was in constant movement, one which changed continuously, and he needed to know his opponent in order to predict and prepare for their attacks. That wasn't possible now.

Hiashi had once read a quote from a wise thinker, who had said "you can never jump into the same river twice". Tobirama-sama was that river. He never stayed the damn same. Needless to say, Hiashi had never liked rivers. His clan was one grounded in stable, infallible basics, solid and sure. Experiencing the hokage's ever-changing taijutsu felt like walking into a veritable nightmare.

"Can you not stick to one style?" he'd coughed out after a particularly close call.

"I apologize," said Tobirama slowly, "but this is my style."

His style was not having a style? Hiashi cursed every deity out there for the existence of such a shinobi. He'd only seen a few Uchiha who could learn as many taijutsu styles so effectively, two was already considered very much, as mastering even one fully was something only jonin achieved. Even the Uchiha, with their unfair advantage, had always blended the different techniques they piqued up into one way of battle. He'd never met anyone who could just up and choose to swap styles out of nowhere like that, like they were cassette recorders to be traded out after one got bored.

"I will use my hiraishin now," Tobirama stated suddenly. Without further warning, a kunai flew toward Hiashi with incredible speed. He only barely remembered that he needed to dive away – not deflect! – but by then the nidaime had already appeared in the place of the kunai and was lunging at him again. The yondaime's technique… shit!

He only managed to dodge by the skin of his teeth this time. Each close call was getting closer and closer… he did not like the pattern. Hiashi had almost forgotten that the jutsu which had helped the yondaime slaughter hundreds in a single evening wasn't originally Minato's. This man was its creator. This man.

To make matters worse, Tobirama Senju's pace of attacks increased with every passing minute – or perhaps that was just himself tiring – but the taijutsu wasn't even the worst of it. So far, Hiashi had had to deal with water bullets which sped toward him like airborne torpedoes, twice as fast as any kunai or shuriken, with two walls made entirely of water that had tried to crush him to death betwixt them, and with a large puddle of barely-noticeable water which had been able to move insidiously around the floor when Hiashi wasn't paying attention, to then reform into solid columns sharper than any metal at a moment's notice, stalactites surging up to skewer him like transparent pistons.

The worst part however was that fighting the nidaime was like getting his ears plugged. The odd feeling wasn't a genjutsu either – he had checked: the nidaime simply didn't make any noise, period. He didn't talk, he didn't pant, his heavy armor plates didn't clink against each other when he jumped, he would catch any kunai Hiashi threw soundlessly, his sandals didn't slap against the pavement. It was unnerving, like fighting against a ghost. Tobirama's white hair and pallid skin didn't help matters either. Added to the man's gleaming red eyes, he seemed more and more like something out of a tale to terrify misbehaving children with every passing second. Hiashi even glanced at Minato and Hashirama to check whether the nidaime's eerie appearance might be a byproduct of the reanimation, but the other two appeared like perfectly normal ninja (if one ignored the obvious), obligatory noises included.

It was irrational. Hiashi knew that Tobirama Senju bore zero ill will toward him, that the man didn't even want to kill him whatsoever, and yet just his appearance was simply terrifying, more so than the larger threat, Hashirama. The silence that followed him like a cloud, the relaxed but clear expression– they were simply unnerving. But the thing that made him the most like a ghost was that for all that Hiashi prided himself on his speed – he just couldn't touch him – at all. He truly felt like was battling a mirage, a figment of his mind, trying to grasp water between two fingers.

A moment later, things began to look up, thank kami, when Tobirama's quick hands flashed through handsigns yet again, bringing another jutsu into existence, this one… a technique he was familiar with. Finally. He had seen countless jonin use the same water hose-like jutsu – it could be fatal if one were to be hit, but the technique was easy to dodge. Yet then, once he'd successfully dodged the stream of water, Hiashi found to his dismay that it turned around like a living creature – and that the nidaime was still blasting water out of his mouth, increasing its size by the second.

He dodged once again, but the deviant water dragon – for that's what the pressurized stream looked like – turned on his heel and gave chase. Hiashi dodged again and again, but it's 'tail' was getting longer, the space becoming overcrowded with so much water until finally he wasn't quick enough to dodge and the spray hit him in the back as he was running.

Hiashi felt a blinding pain arcing up his spine, then a crunch, and then nothing, paired with the sensation of weightlessness. A second later, his body impacted against the floor, though he again felt no pain in his lower body, and then against something softer – a person – as he was pelted across the room, the force of the water stream unimaginable. Even whilst airborne, with the water surrounding every part of him, he couldn't open his eyes to see, couldn't hear anything but a roar, couldn't open his mouth to scream or even breathe – all he could do was feel the sensations of more and more shinobi being hit by his own limp body and finally, all of them being dragged forward like a ball of accumulating slime, then there was a strong impact, brusquer than any yet – and finally blessed nothingness, no motion. He felt something warm and sticky trickle down his nape, into his hair and neck. His body slid down and he hit the ground one with an empty thud. He did not get up after that.

Hiashi's last thought was for his two daughters, but especially little Hinata. Of the hope he'd held for her becoming more confident, of her smile, of the fact that he could have been better to her, a parent that made her smile instead of withdraw. He thought of the fact that he would never get to sit with her on their porch and talk calmly about life as he wished he could have, not as he had pictured earlier that day, without Hinata's uncertain stutter or the uneasiness in her posture. He realized now that the many clan and council meetings that had kept him busy all these years didn't matter to him whatsoever. All he longed for was for that one thing, his two daughters, smiling at him like they loved him, without the stiffness in their shoulders he was accustomed to. Now it was too late. He would never get the chance to sit with them in the porch happily. If only he had done something earlier… He regretted… so… m…

I literally get so much motivation from comments, dude. Especially you, Green Alba, talking to you here. You left me some very in depth reviews a while back and I'm so glad to hear your thoughts! It really made me super happy, I can't even say how much. Also, you asked some pretty interesting questions, so I will address them here, in case someone has the same ones:

" I'm not sure Kakashi had to be so wordy and into math nerd mode to simply explain they needed to collapse the tower considering that Gemna's life is on the line."

Haha, honestly, I was just trying to show how nervous the whole thing makes Kakashi. He is obviously aware that destroying the tower is HUGE so he's not exactly eager to tell his teammates. Basically, rather than math nerd mode, it's more 'Kakashi rambling because he has no idea how to suggest the equivalent of destroying the Eiffel tower' mode.

"Danzo that weasel. I hope his hiding behind a genjutsu gets discovered in front of everybody."

Wease, indeed! Honestly, that'd be grand, but karma unfortunately has a way of not hitting those who trully deserve it as often as it should... so we'll see... keep in mind that when it does hit, it's a big hit.

"Although wasn't Rio calling Kakashi by his last name before? It feels a bit odd to have this familiarity after just a one day mission together."

Yeah, she was calling him Hatake when he still had no idea who she was. In her mind, you can see that she obviously still calls him Kakashi (as seen when her inner monologue is shown) and after that she probably just felt like it was pointless calling him Hatake when the ruse was obviously up.

" I understand your frustration on your author's note when you query why 400 followers but 10/15 reviews per chapter. For all that effort, you'd want to hear more feedback from readers."

Um, actually on Ao3 I get about fifteen comments per chapter, and I have about 900 subscriptions. On this site I'm at 750 and can consider myself lucky if I get 10 in a chapter. Very lucky, actually. Your comments really made a huge difference this chapter around!

Also, here's a prediction a guest reviewer made about what will happen. I can tell you in advance some things have been guessed correctly but some haven't! Which ones are likely right?

"Slowly a theory of what will happen is running through my mind after Sakura's interaction with the Anbus. They might be interested in her abilities, or at least the great potential she presents, especially if that Nara boy she saved from the snake has something to say.
I believe that in the meantime Sakura would ask Kakashi about "Ita-kun", in that she would find out about the Uchiha massacre and all the supposed wickedness of Itachi. Hopefully she wouldn't fully believe her motives and would accept joining Anbu, this way she would unravel the truth about the massacre and many other events would unfold from there, with a lot of drama between her and Sasuke I feel.

I hope Ino doesn't make Shikamaru's situation worse, it's a risky move she's making.

The interaction between Minato and Kakashi will be filled with emotions, I don't think it could be otherwise. I can only imagine how melancholic and nostalgic it would be.

Naruto and Sasuke must be going through more, poor things.

Sorry for the long comment!

PS.: I'm using a translator, that is, there may be disconnected parts, I'm sorry.

PS 2.: Dying is not even an option."

Never apologize for long comments! They give me life! I literally wrote up the last scene that was missing today, after a 6 hour long car drive and subsequently gettin my vaccine (finally! Spain - and esp my province - is so behind other countries ugh) but anywaay yeah. You guys really motivated me into writing up the last scene...

On another note, I strongly encourage you to check out my other fic, The Sixth Shadow, mainly because... yeah. It's controversial. Some people like it, some people don't. Of course, I'm hoping you'll like it... not gonna lie to you, but yeah. If you don't that's cool too I guess. I'd just be happy if you guys checked it out and told me your thoughts. As for MTE, be patient. Sakura's part is coming but be patient, need to get a bit of other shit out of the way. It will all come together brilliantly... the grand finalle.

PS: not sure what you guys thought of this whole Hiashi part. Especially the flashback. Was it too long? Did you like it? I read it to my friend and she found it tragic, so... I needed to add that anti feminism comment or I'd end up making HIashi too nice lol.