There is some graphic violence in this chapter, reader discretion advised.

Chapter 27: Domestic Invasion.

"What if someone makes a bad decision, Nii-chan?" I asked quietly, noticing I had n reason to raise my voice above a whisper for him to hear me.

"Then you can do nothing but accept that's the path they've chosen for themselves; and that they will have to face the consequences eventually. Just make sure that when they do, you never enforce those consequences out of spite, hatred or vengeance, Akane. If someone has to atone for their sins, then let yourself be guided by your own sense of justice."

It had been a while since I'd first remembered that conversation with my brother, and I'd never expect it to haunt me ever since. Yet, here I was, four years later and I still woke up every morning with his words swimming around in my head. Ever since my meeting with Orochimaru-san, I understood life was terribly unfair.

It had taken me longer than expected to pull myself together since the Hokage had decided the best course of action was to put me back in ANBU permanently and leave Team 8 once again as soon as we returned from Kusa. I'd had to train my anger away, and had Kakashi not volunteered to partner up with me, It would probably had taken even longer.

I was angry, frustrated, drained of everything that once had driven me to become a shinobi. I felt betrayed, confused, and sad because the person we all looked up for guidance was an impostor in Kami's robes. My determination was low and my drive nonexistent, And then I remembered Shisui's words.

My first idea had been to expose Hiruzen, but quickly discarded the possibility because they could and would find a way to cover it all up like they had been doing all these years, and given enough time, people would forgive and forget. I could not have that. I would have him exposed after death, where there would be no way for him to deny anything. No, Hiruzen would have to die, even if it made him into a martyr.

]I would not be able to accomplish any of that on my own, and there was only so much Orochimaru could accomplish on his own as well, he needed a way into the village and to be able to bring reinforcements if he needed. The barrier surrounding Konoha would immediately detect a chakra signature it was not familiar with, even more so if it was as distinct as his. This would make it hard for him to even set foot in Konoha without triggering an alarm.

I had a lot of work to do, and I knew I couldn't do it on my own. So I trusted the only two people I knew would not question my motives or try to stop me. Doyun had long ago promised to support me in anything I decided to do, so when he agreed to become an intern within the barrier division I was very thankful, but not really surprised.

I was originally going to trust only Doyun with my plan, but I had two children I would be leaving behind if I ever got caught. Naruto would never be given in adoption, since they feared him being more loyal to a single person than the village as a whole. But that did not mean he would not need the care they had denied him for so long.

I had trusted Sasuke to the Inuzuka clan when I'd become unable to protect him myself as I'd been ordered into hiding and became Sumiko. From what he had told me over the years and those updates I got from Hana when my duties in ANBU prevented me from seeing him, I knew he was well taken care of and as happy as the situation allowed him to be.

That is why I told Hana everything as well. From why Shisui had killed himself, why Itachi had done what he did, to why Orochimaru had left the village. Even if she did try to conceal how angry and betrayed she felt, her killing intent leaked out and covered the entire training field we were sitting in. She agreed, of course and agreed to support me in any way she could, even if I'd only asked her to take care of two twelve year olds. Her loyalty baffled me, but I swore to myself that would be the only favor I ever asked of her. I would not be taking advantage of her willingness to help me anytime soon.

All of this, I did a year after our return from Kusa, and three years had passed since then. With Doyun making himself irreplaceable in the barrier division, Hana acquainting herself and Kiba better with Naruto, and me managing to become part of the Hokage guard; our plan had come together.

In his years as a rogue nin, Orochimaru-san had acquired very valuable information regarding other powerful figures around the world. Amongst which was the Kazekage, who had, as it turns out, experimented on children as well. So, with yet another target on our list, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and wait for the perfect opportunity, which came in the shape of Konohagakure's Chünin exams.

Orochimaru-san would kill and take the place of the Kazekage before and during the exams, giving him unrestricted entrance to Konoha with as many shinobi as he needed for support. All we needed then was a distraction big enough to get every shinobi in the area out of his way when he made contact with Hiruzen.

He had insisted he had it covered. I did not like being left in the dark in something as big as the assassination of a Kage, but I would have to trust him, since I was not powerful or smart enough to come up with something of such magnitude.

At this point I had no chaise but to follow him, I was in too deep to back out, and even if I did find the entire ordeal nerve wracking, I knew this was the right thing to do. I wanted Konoha cleansed of vermin and I wanted justice to be done, so one day Sasuke could live in a place where he didn't have to watch his back. I wanted Konoha to be a place that deserved her shinobi's loyalty, a place where no one had to go through what Shisui and Itachi had gone through. Not again.

So we proceeded as planned. Doyun exchanged the Kazekkage's chakra signature with Orochimaru's within the barrier data system. The Sannin did his part and Hana made sure to be a constant presence in Naruto's life. All we had to do was manage not to get caught until the last round of the exams, where the Hokage would make a public appearance at the Arena.

The plan was to put as many people under a genjutsu as possible to prevent casualties and then a decoy would be made to get the remaining shinobi away from the Hokage and away from the fight. I had made it abundantly clear to Orochimaru in my letters to him that I did not want Konoha casualties. I did not want to carry the weight of their deaths on my shoulders if there was any way to help it. In their eyes, they would have been defending their home, and I could not fault them for that. That and the fact that were there to be innocent casualties, I would not have been able to live with it.

Or so I thought.

We had taken every precaution; we plotted, planned, and plotted some more in order to avoid any unnecessary possible collateral damage. We had made sure to cover every hole in our plan as carefully as we could. But fate would not have it. Because after the first two instances went as smoothly as they would have any other time, on the last match of the finals, Sasuke's match, everything went to hell.

A genjutsu was put into place, but it was not us who cast it, and when only those who were skilled enough to remain awake were left, Suna attacked. As a part of the Hokage guard, I could do nothing but watch as Naruto and Sasuke sped off into battle. Every single shinobi around engaged the enemy but us. The Hokage was never to be without a guard. He, whom people called the God of Shinobi. Oh the irony burned underneath my skin and made me hate him so much more. We only left our station when the Kazekage's guard moved in on us, and then, everything that came afterwards would be up to Orochimaru. All it took to disperse us was an explosion, and then, the barrier went up.

The thing about battles is that you can never predict where they will take you, so when I ended up back-to-back with Tsume-san, I could not bring myself to be surprised. I'd fought with and against the Inuzuka frequently enough in the past, she didn't really need to peek behind the mask to know it was me. Which didn't particularly mean she was satisfied with knowing I wasn't dead on a ditch after disappearing for four years.

"Care to share where ya've been all this time, pup?" She said as she kicked a Suna chunin into Kuromaru's jaws. "I'd thought disappearing into the night had been enough the first time."

I ducked under my enemy's leg, severing his artery in the process before sticking the blade attached to my left arm through his neck. I took the kunai she had been holding and threw it at Tsume's waiting hand.

"You know I would not have done it if it hadn't been an order, Tsume-san." I sighed behind the tiger mask I wore and turner to my next opponent. "I wouldn't have missed Sunday dinners at your place for anything less."

We fought Chünin, special Jonin and Jonin of every gender, ethnicity and size as we tried to remain alive long enough to see the next sunrise. Kuromaru lost an ear, Tsume got a kunai to the arm, and I managed to get my cloak torn in enough places for it to become rags.

At some point, Kakashi and Gai joined us. They barely got to tell us that the Hokage was engaged in a fight with Orochimaru before they were forced to focus on the incoming attack. I punched, kicked, blocked, missed, slashed, cut, stabbed, and punched once again so many times I managed to lose count. I was careful not to use any fancy jutsu because of the sleeping spectators on the bleachers we were all fighting on. One very stupid Jonin decided to try and use an unconscious civilian as a meat shield. Kuromaru didn't approve, or so it seemed by the amount of force he used when he tore her arm from her body. She screamed so much, both from terror and pain, as she looked down on her missing limb, she didn't even hear Kuromaru's feral growl when he jumped at her throat to end her life.

One did not make Inuzuka dogs angry.

There was a moment nearing the end of the fight when the ground started to tremble beneath us. We all knew an earthquake when we felt one, and that was not it. It was too inconsistent; it came and went as if a battle between giants had been taking place. Little did I know, that was closer to the truth than I would have liked.

The battle was long, extremely bloody and something none of us had accounted for, and still, I felt responsible for it. I could tell no one, of course, but even if I'd been able to do so, I didn't think they'd be able to convince me otherwise. Thankfully, there had been very few Konoha casualties apart from Hiruzen, whom Orochimaru had managed to kill in the end at the expense of his arms.

Konoha was devastated, left without a Hokage and with her defense system very much weakened. Sasuke and Naruto had ended up in the hospital, but were still in pretty good shape considering they had fought a murderous jinchuriki. And if I was being honest, that was all I could have asked for. Team 8, Kakashi told me, had survived the incident without injury or casualties. Hana had given him a letter for me saying everyone was fine, I had nothing to worry about.

Until a few days later, Kakashi asked to see me. He had something important to tell me. So we met on the roof of the hospital after I visited two sleeping kids one afternoon.

"I have reason to believe Elder Shimura is interested in Sasuke," He said without much ado. "Tenzo used to belong in ROOT, he's been asked to gather Intel on him."

I felt my eyesight sharpen, and I knew the tomoe in my eyes had started spinning lazily. I sat in silence, waiting for him to continue and attempting to ignore how the sunlight was slightly uncomfortable on my extremely pale skin.

He sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Tenzou also has reason to believe it was him who staged the Suna attack. He believes he had a few operatives dress as delegates from Sunagakure. A war and the Hokage's death would give him a chance to be eligible for the Hat. Didn't think he'd involve Orochimaru though. Guess we better not make assumptions in the future…"

I felt the guilt eating me up inside, spreading through my body like acid. Kakashi trusted me implicitly, with his entire life, which was a hard thing to do as a shinobi. I felt dirty, unworthy of his friendship and trust. I'd hidden everything from him and called it concern, when all it had been was fear of rejection, fear of disappointing someone I looked up to and cherished.

"Kakashi," he didn't turn to look at me, but I knew he was listening, he always was. "I need to show you something."

He turned.

"Would you let me show you?" I said, taking off my mask in plain sight for the first time in four years.

Kakashi nodded, and my Sharingan spun.