Previous Translations: Yorokobi - Pleasure/Delight/Joy

Yokubo - Desire/Lust

Kajo - Excess

Shifuku no Kurushimi - Blissful Throes/Blissful Suffering

Tatakainouta - Song of Battle

Zeitakuna Kutsu - Luxurious Torment

Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art

Konton - Chaos

Kanzen - Perfect

Henka - Change

Harakainokeru - Dispel

Aka-en - Red Flame

Aoi-en - Blue Flame

Kiiro-en - Yellow Flame

Orenji-en - Orange Flame

Tankoshoku-en - Pink Flame

Maho - Magic

Chishiki - Knowledge

Unmei - Fate

Nozomu - Hope

Hoho no Chenja - honestly this one is a mess, but roughly means Changer of Ways

Ryuketsu - Bloodshed

Chikara - Strength

Meiyo - Honor

Budo - Martial Arts

Ikari - Rage

Jumon - Incantation

Himitsu no Sewanin - Secret Caretaker(Keeper of Secrets)

Sento - Combat

Same no On'na - Shark-Woman

Maebure - Harbinger

Shibari no Ashikase - Binding Fetters

Kanpeki - Perfection

Reikan - the closest English word would be Inspiration, but it specifically refers to 'a divine creative impulse'

Sekkyo-sha - Preacher

Aijin - Lover

Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator (Flamer of Tzeentch)

Himeiwoageru - Which Screams (Screamer of Tzeentch)

Shikkan - Disease

Ai - Love

Zetsubo - Despair

Mi Haito - Undivided/Not Divided

Shibo - Aspiring

Koki - Exalted

Chakra no Bato - Coruscating Chakra/Chakra of Coruscation

Gyokai - Industry

In case someone somehow doesn't know, Hi - Fire

Don'yoku - Greed/Avarice

Yokuatsu - Tyranny/Oppression

Yami no Chichi - Father of Darkness/Dark Father

Raimeiton - Thunder Release, what Naruto has decided to name his mix of wind and lightning chakra

Shuryoju - Hunting Beasts (same word for plural or singular), an alternate name for Fiends of Slaanesh, best word I could find for them

Konton no Omo - Lord of Chaos

Kemonojin - a very jank way of translating Beastmen into Japanese, basically would mean Animal-Human

Gyumao - Ox Demon King

Eiyu - Hero

Gyumahime - Ox Demon Princess

Kajomahime - Excessive Demon Princess

Renkinjutsu - Alchemy

Kakashi was feeling a little annoyed with Naruto, he hoped whatever the blonde had rushed off to deal with was worth leaving himself, Gai, and Gaara to basically protect Hinata, Sasuke, and Sakura. If the pink haired kunoichi hadn't come down with a fever it would be less of an issue, and Hinata was holding her own rather well considering she wasn't one of Kakashi's monstrous trio, although the Hatake supposed his blonde student had likely influenced the now four armed kunoichi greatly given she could use Rasengan.

However Hinata simply didn't have the chakra to spam Rasengan and Shifuku no Kurushimi like Naruto did, and without Naruto there Maemi was stuck with whatever chakra she could muster from Hinata, leaving the two helping Genkei defend the tent Sasuke was tending to Sakura in while the jonin and Gaara fought the enemies heavy hitters. Kakashi had already been forced to unveil his Sharingan, he couldn't risk fighting without it against the number of enemy jonin, he counted four A rank enemies and six B rank enemies until Gaara lured one of the particularly skilled chunin into attacking a suna bunshin, making it five B rank enemies.

The Konoha shinobi were glad Gaara was on their side this time, Hinata recalled the boy mentioning working on refining his sand and she saw what he meant. He was exerting himself more she could tell, but he was actually controlling the sand in a more refined manner, shaping the grains into weapons out of waves and he even spent more effort dodging than letting his sand protect him. The last part had been confusing until Hinata realized he was using most of his sand for offense and thus leaving himself more open to attacks.

For his part Gaara looked almost like he was emulating Naruto in a way, conducting his sand as he danced away from attacks, keeping plenty of sand near his feet to counter attack anyone who came at him with suna shuriken from a low angle to the gut. Even with his sand spread thin his automatic defense still worked against shuriken flying at him as he evaded the tanto of a chunin and waved a suna bunshin into existence to slug the man in the gut.

Hinata quickly realized Gaara was being even more efficient than she initially thought, some of his sand was turning the ground around him into more sand. She realized that he was only getting more dangerous as the fight wore on, and she was again reminded of how Naruto also tended to get more dangerous the longer a fight lasted. That was when Hinata realized whatever Shukaku was, it was a Chakra no Bakemono of similar power to the Kyubi, the thought scared the former heiress.

The enemy was starting to thin out when Hinata saw enemy reinforcements approaching, two of whom she recognized as the two powerful shinobi that had escaped them before, "Gai-sensei, that red armored man with the steam and the lava throwing man are approaching with enemy back up." she warned as her Byakugan saw them approaching, one of the Iwa shinobi, a jonin she assumed, was already performing hand signs for a ninjutsu.

Sasuke was not enjoying himself, he supposed most guys might enjoy being in a steamy tent with a naked girl but he was just uncomfortable. It was a sauna, the water provided by storage scrolls to cool Sakura practically boiled against her brass skin and steamed the tent until it was uncomfortably hot inside the tent for Sasuke as well. If the Uchiha still had teeth he would be grinding them, Naruto had chosen well he supposed since he was the only one Sakura would tolerate providing her this treatment and it was easy enough, but it was embarrassing and worst of all not helping.

Sasuke had taken off his mantle and shirt already, as well as his sandal as it was just making him sweatier than he needed to be. He was sorely tempted to remove more clothing but he was pretty sure being shirtless had already had a negative effect on Sakura's already high fever which was only making the space hotter. As it was he was setting up a wooden tub of water from storage fuin scrolls to give Sakura something cold to soak in for a moment while he got some fresh air and took his frustration out on the enemies he could hear were attacking.

Then he heard a sound, a cracking and rumbling sound. Sasuke swiftly activated the yellow flames that let him glimpse possible futures, for the power it granted it was barely more chakra intensive than his evolved golden Sharingan. He swiftly gestured towards the source of the incoming problem, "Harakainokeru." he intoned as he activated his Juin, although apparently that trick was slightly less effective with Bakuton no Jutsu as the ninjutsu detonated outside the tent and tore away the canvas.

Sakura groaned, "I can-" she tried to insist.

"Get in the water, I'll deal with this." Sasuke interrupted with an order, stepping out of the damaged hole in the side of the makeshift medical tent and sighing with relief at the cool morning air. Sakura pouted but obeyed, feeling too dizzy to do much else anyway and the cool water was a temporary relief.

An Iwa shinobi lunged Sasuke with a tanto thrust and the Uchiha hopped up as he ripped the skin of his left thumb with his beak, crescent kicked with his left leg to grip the right wrist of his opponent in his bird claw and then snap kicked the ball of his right foot into the man's throat as he weaved hand seals. Sasuke followed up by kicking the man in the face as he released the arm in the grip of his left leg claw and flapped, "Kuchiyose!" he declared as he thrust his right hand down and wiped the blood from his left thumb across the runic array on his right arm in the same motion.

Kakashi was worried about Sakura, but he was glad Sasuke was able to provide assistance as from the smoke those strange screaming sky-shark Daemons flew. He also saw some of those lesser flying reptilians Sakura had summoned a few times, Furies, one was apparently in the shield Genkei was holding although those called by Sasuke had very different coloration to the ones Sakura used. Most different was that two of the Himeiwogeru were harnessed to the Disc that Sasuke was standing on, but Kakashi could see the speed and maneuverability was higher than the Disc alone so he understood why immediately.

Kakashi wasn't expecting to see the Kaen Hosha-ki, one of the tubular fire spitting Daemons of Tzeentch, riding the Disc next to Sasuke, but he saw it release a gout of flames that Sasuke enhanced into a massive conflagration with a flap of his wings and was surprised at the amount of fire power the currently topless Uchiha was throwing around. Gai was impressed too, but he saw the enemy had mostly managed to dodge behind their own Doryuheki, the landscape swiftly changing under so many ninjutsu specialists fighting in one location.

Sasuke made use of the aerial superiority granted by his Daemonic allies, even with horns of his own now he was careful not to show any weakness despite how much he'd already drained himself. He had technically only performed one ninjutsu, but he'd used a lot of chakra to turn the numerical advantage to his side with it, plus just flapping his wings and using his Juin was a drain on his stamina so he singled out the targets that were the biggest threats.

"Roshi, don't make eye contact with either of those Sharingan users." Han warned as he dispelled Daemons flying at him with basic taijutsu, the lava spitting shinobi grunted at the reminder, weaving hand seals as he was covered.

"Unbelievable, both of us on the frontline and this place hasn't been crushed yet." Roshi grumbled before unleashing a wave of lava at the nearby tent, unaware it contained Sakura and annoyed that Sasuke somehow countered his lava with a wave of pure chakra that seemed to either eat or disintegrate his Yoton chakra.

"We're not to go all out until given the signal, you still can't control it so you're just supposed to back me up." Han retorted dryly as he countered a blast of fire from Sasuke's aerial chariot with a blast of steam, the clash between them releasing blasts of steam and searing hot air.

Kakashi resisted the urge to curse verbally as he was still fighting two A rank Iwa ninja, defending himself with a kunai against their kenjutsu assault. He spotted Gai similarly engaged in taijutsu against a pair of Iwa jonin, leaving Gaara as the one who moved his sand to assist Sasuke in defending the tent as Roshi used another ninjutsu to unleash a lava flow from the ground. The sand barely slowed it down and the grounded magma forced Sasuke to get closer to the ground in order to dispel it.

Roshi coated himself in Yoton chakra, a tail of it trailing behind him as he charged Gaara, Han leaped at Sasuke with steam enhanced speed as this happened. The Uchiha activated his Sharingan and Kiiro-en but still only managed to dodge the opening punch before Han's elbow cracked his beak and knocked him from his mount. Sasuke had not been expecting his opponent to be that fast, and the armored man had little difficulty dismantling the Daemons making up his chariot, although they proved sturdier than Han expected a summoned creature to be and one of the Himeiwogeru managed to cut his armor on the left side of his torso before he kicked it into smoke.

Gaara had never encountered an enemy who could use Yoton chakra, technically Sasuke had been the first time someone had thought to use Raiton chakra against his sand, but it turned out lava is plenty hot enough to melt his sand, "Uh oh." he muttered as he started to focus all of his sand back to deal with his new opponent. The auburn haired Suna genin narrowly managed to kawarimi with a nearby clump of sand before attacking with Suna Bunshin, but the cloak of Yoton chakra was more than enough to counter most of his attacks.

With Gaara's focus now occupied Hinata found herself on the verge of being overwhelmed, Maemi barely a distraction although Genkei proved some impressive combat ability for his size and lacking power. Her worries were alleviated when she saw they'd have back up of their own soon, Naruto's serpentine mount had caught up to and overtaken the joint Konoha and Suna rescue team, she saw them all approaching at high speed and focused on a defensive fight, using her four arms to her advantage to defend herself in taijutsu.

Han however proved a bit too much, as the girl's attempt to knock aside his punch ended up with a broken left arm as she tried to get away from him. Hinata tried not to panic as one of Sasuke's remaining Daemons dived down behind her to scoop up an Iwa kunoichi under the ribs, diving backwards through the newly created gap only to stop in mid air as Han grabbed her by the leg, "Brat like you probably shouldn't be on the battlefield, didn't know Hyuga bred with those onigumo things." he commented, muttering the last part mostly to himself.

Hinata took offense to that, her mother was not a spider monster, however her fear held her tongue as the man currently holding her by the leg was heavily armored and clearly outclassed her. She just needed to hold out until Naruto got there she was confident of that, and Sasuke could see it too, "Hey, Akabaka," the Uchiha called out, barely wincing at the pain from moving his cracked beak as he decided to nickname the Iwa shinobi 'red idiot', "you probably just want this job over and done with it sounds like." he pointed out.

Han raised as eyebrow since it sounded like the Uchiha was giving up, then he saw Haku and Naruto enter the encampment at high speed, the serpentine mount they rode slithering swiftly towards him, he moved to use Hinata as a hostage but found he was holding a puppet instead and the girl was next to Sasuke, she looked as confused as he did.

"Too bad, I'm full of tricks." Sasuke finished, clearly proud of himself as Naruto let Haku down to assist Kakashi and swung his tungsten nodachi right at Han. The armored shinobi blocked, withstanding the weight of the weapon a bit better than last time as he hopped up and kicked Naruto off his mount as the Serpent tried to strike him with its tongue. He followed up with an axe kick that dispelled the mount, earning an irritated glare from Naruto as the blonde got back to his hooves.

Sakura Haruno was not having a good time, there was a war going on and she couldn't even help. She could barely move, her limbs felt heavy and the cold bath she'd started with had quickly heated up with her in it. She hadn't had much time to contemplate, but she found that she didn't hate war so far, what she hated was not being able to fight. Sakura groaned as she wondered why her Kami wasn't just making her angry and strong enough to fight, this was supposed to be his domain.

In her delirious state she considered it, shinobi villages didn't tend to be overly religious, ninso were usually found in temples outside of shinobi villages. Hi no Ishi was the dominant faith in Konohagakure and that was more of an ideal than a religion, and Sakura was vaguely aware of Shinto deities but had never really prayed as there were few shrines and her parents had never bothered to take her to one, nor did any Konoha festivals or traditions encourage such behavior.

Sakura knew what a norito was though, so she supposed it was worth a try to pray to Khorne so she could fight. The issue was coming up with a verse that would work, but she was desperate enough to wing it as the water she was in started to actually boil, filling her with worry that she might actually be dying.

"Spirits of rage,
take this heat,
turn it to anger and flame,
that Khorne-sama may allow,
this one to fight again."

Sakura was breathless and not even sure if that counted as a proper prayer, and she didn't quite feel any different, but she could tell that she needed to get out of the boiling water. The pink haired girl managed to pull herself out of the tub and shakily stand, the cool breeze and sounds of violence beckoned her and she stumbled towards the blown open side of the tent she'd been occupying.

Sakura, Hinata, Han, and Naruto were all surprised to see the naked Sakura coming out of the tent with a sigh of relief, "Ah, cold earth." the girl muttered, sinking to the ground andattempting to rest her forehead to the ground. Steam still rose from her form and after a moment she lifted her head and smacked it into the ground, "It's still hot!" she snapped angrily as her horns dug up earth and her head damaged the densely packed dirt.

Han had no idea what was going on with the brass skinned kunoichi, but he assumed she was not fit to actually fight and moved to deal with one of the bigger threats, Naruto, forcing the blonde on the defensive with his high speed steam powered taijutsu. The blonde was alarmed, he was pretty sure he'd been able to fight more effectively against the same man the other day, but with the enemy going full offensive he couldn't get a chance to perform his fastest speed kenjutsu.

Sasuke tried to use the opportunity to help Sakura, and move her since that magma was still flowing over the ground and he didn't have to chakra to dispel it again. However Sakura screamed like a banshee, her brass thorns flying from her skin in bursts of steam, some of them catching the exhausted Sasuke with glancing blows as Hinata took cover. Genkei was rushing to help his master and Maemi noticed the enemy Iwa forces finally dwindling slightly.

Haku managed to assist Kakashi enough for the jonin to finish off his two opponents as their own reinforcements arrived, Kankuro sending Karasu ahead to launch poisoned senbon at Iwa shinobi forcing them to dodge. Temari unleashed Futon no Jutsu as Baki moved to assist Gaara with Roshi, Shizune was taken aback by the situation they came upon but Anko moved to help fend off the remaining Iwa shinobi.

Shizune recognized Han, not personally but she knew of his reputation, so she wondered why the younger ninjas were the ones fighting him. She was glad Naruto was able to hold his own against the older shinobi since she noticed that Sakura clearly needed her help more than anyone. She moved to go help, noticing Hinata was injured as well as Anko protected the heiress from a chunin, to both the older kunoichi's surprise however Hinata used her remaining three good arms to take down another chunin even as she cradled her broken limb close to her chest.

Sakura shakily dragged herself to her feet, surprising Sasuke by shoving him away as she did. Shizune could see the girl was delirious and breathless, she wondered what kind of illness had taken over her. Then the pink haired girl looked up and they saw her sclera were blood red, almost like they were bloodshot but far too intense. Shizune was concerned the blood vessels in her eyes had popped, then the Haruno leaped at Han and swung her left arm wildly with a feral expression.

The red armored man was not expecting to be assaulted by a naked young girl when he woke up that morning, and in another context he might have been pleased to hear it would happen, but as it was he used a burst of steam to slam his guard into place against the punch. The point of impact exploded, flames and steam clashing to create more and hotter steam. Naruto leaped back with a yelp of pain and surprise, the very air around the two steaming ninja was scalding.

Next Sakura crouched and slammed her right fist to the ground, cracks emerged from the point of impact and Shizune frowned, moving to help as she recognized the attempt at Tsunade's strength but assuming it had failed. Han however found his footed hard to keep as the ground beneath him shifted and Shizune stopped in surprise as magma bubbled up from the ground. Sakura threw her monstrous left fist at Han again, who dodged back to better analyze how the surprisingly dangerous young girl fought and a blast of fire took the vague shape of a dragon as it exploded towards him.

The dragon of flame was intercepted by a blast of steam, Haku was surprised to see two other Kekkei Genkai on the opposite temperature scale to his own, but was more surprised that Sakura somehow almost seemed to be mimicking them with raw fire and heat, especially surprising since Sakura's affinity was supposed to be Suiton. If the young kunoichi noticed what was happening she didn't show it, with a scream of frustration the naked brass girl stomped hard, sending a precise burst of chakra through her foot that destroyed the ground around her further, kicking up magma and even sending a chunk of molten rock at the red armored Iwa ninja.

Han was not expecting to be facing off against anyone who could use lava unless Roshi lost control, so he hopped back with a scrutinizing look in his eyes as he tried to figure out what Sakura's deal was. The pink haired girl scowled at the distance and crouched before springing at him, leaving deep impressions from her chakra enhanced leap. Sasuke wondered where Sakura had suddenly gotten so much chakra, he was pretty sure the moves she was doing should be strenuous on her stamina, body, and chakra, but the girl charged in like a berserker, swinging her left fist in a wide and projected hook.

Han easily blocked it, deflecting the resulting blast of flames off to the side with steam and noticed Sakura's eyes. He hadn't thought anything of it before, but he recalled they'd been flames when he saw her yesterday, and now he realized why he hadn't thought of that, her pupils were black flames. With a shout of wordless rage the kunoichi unleashed a Karyudan point blank into Han's chest without any hand seals, then followed up with a right straight that he barely deflected off his left forearm as he twisted away with another burst of steam.

The Suna shinobi tried to help Gaara with Roshi, but Karasu's weaponry melted on contract with the Yoton chakra cloak and Temari's Futon no Jutsu were simply shugged off. Gaara and Roshi were a poor match for each other, neither able to truly hurt the other and both doing more damage to the landscape than each other. Baki attempted a close range Futon no Jutsu, a chakra intensive ninjutsu that produced a blade of wind, but found it caught by the tail of the chakra cloak, then another tail emerged and smacked him in the ribs as he tried to leap backwards to evade it.

Baki's flak vest was damaged and the right side of his chest burnt, Gaara was trying to collect his sand into denser weapons to push back the lava cloaked shinobi but even borderline sandstone melted against the chakra cloak. They did at least hold the man back slightly so Gaara was trying to force the Iwa ninja to back off with a mass of sandstone weaponry formed from the sand, but all he could do was force a chakra intensive standstill.

Kakashi sighed, "Damn it, I thought I recognized that armor, these two are Iwa's most dangerous shinobi besides the Tsuchikage himself." he informed, he didn't know all the details but Han was known for his prowess during the last war and he'd heard a little bit about Roshi as well. Han proved this once he'd gotten used to Sakura's raging intensity and began clearly winning in their taijutsu battle. The young girl didn't flinch however, she continued to fight back with an enraged expression.

Naruto frowned since he couldn't get close to the fight due to the heat coming off the battle of steam versus flames, a fight as explosive and high temperature as that was dangerous just being near. Shizune pulled Hinata away from the action and started treating her wounds as the cat masked Anbu managed to catch up in time to witness Roshi unleash a third tail of lava chakra, then Kakashi finally realized what they were dealing with.

"Jinchuriki."

The muttered word caught Haku's attention, who frowned in concern, if both enemy Iwa shinobi remaining were Jinchuriki then they'd need to ignore the concept of challenges and actually work together but he couldn't think of anything he could actually do to assist. Gaara made the snake seal and the entire encampment rumbled, sand lifted itself out of the ground in waves to try and surround Roshi, the Suna genin trying to bury his opponent under sheer volume to simply overwhelm the Yoton chakra cloak.

Shizune noticed Sakura's style and taijutsu deteriorating as she took more head hits and became worried for the increasingly punch drunk kunoichi attempting to match her opponent. Han was impressed with the sturdiness of the brass skinned kunoichi, but he could see Roshi losing control against Gaara and sighed. With a stomp the armored Iwa ninja delivered a double palm thrust and two powerful blasts of steam that knocked Sakura back.

Han was surprised she could still stick to the ground with chakra in her state but he used a shunshin to get behind Roshi and their combined Futton and Yoton chakra to generate more steam as he grabbed his ally, "Come on, we need to report-" he began as he started to blast his ally away from Gaara's trap only to be intercepted by a blast of flame from Sasuke, narrowing evading the blue pillar that rose around them thanks to his Futton enhanced speed, "and get away from these guys." he finished with surprising calm.

Roshi reigned in his chakra cloak as the two made to escape, Naruto attempted to physically intercept, holding Han in place for long enough for Sakura to arrive again with a scream of rage and a left hook. Roshi attempted to block it but was startled to find himself concussed and flying backwards as a result of an explosion of heat. He was pretty sure he'd been engulfed in flames for a bit there but the force of Sakura's attack and his own Yoton chakra ensured he was more bludgeoned than burnt.

Han displayed downright preternatural speed with his Futton no Jutsu and soon Naruto was forced to back off again, his skin flushed from the heat of Sakura and Han's clashing chakra. The pink haired young girl lacked the skill or speed to truly match Han, but her strength surprised him and he was further startled when she displayed that she was not completely out of her mind and crouched slam her right fist into the ground while twisted a left straight into his armored stomach.

The blast intensified cracks that were already there as Han stumbled back and he was forced to dive aside as the girl physically lifted and tossed magma at him, seemingly unbothered by the heat of it. The naked brass kunoichi swung her left fist again with a scream and this time the flames that emerged startled Sasuke, they were black and they coated her Daemonic left arm before taking the shape of a Karyudan and launching at Han.

The heavily armored shinobi managed to evade the black fire by rolling off his shoulders and leaping back, Gai attempted to stop his escape but found he'd struck a mizu bunshin that burst into hot, steaming water instead. Sakura's left arm writhed, the red leathery skin of the Daemonic limb changing color as the pink haired girl finally slumped over, a black dragon coiling around her arm under the surface of the skin as if made of ink before settling like it was a mere tattoo.

Sasuke wasn't sure what to make of that but he was glad they'd won, the enemy was pushed back and they'd been reinforced at least. Kakashi was relieved as well, "Alright, we've held this position well, but we seriously need to pull back before Iwa sends heavier hitters to back those two up." he ordered, "After dealing them a defeat like these last two days I wouldn't be surprised if the Tsuchikage himself comes at us." he added.

Gai agreed with a nod, "We've definitely slowed their advance enough, I'm amazed we took out so many enemies, but if they retreat and regroup we can't hold here forever." he confirmed, pointing out the logistical disadvantage. Shizune was confused as to why they were still there to begin with, but she finished binding Hinata's mending arm and moved to check on Sakura instead of commenting.

Naruto frowned, "Shinobigashira-chan isn't back yet." he pointed out, confusing those who had arrived as back up.

Baki's eyes widened as he recalled the blonde mentioning something like that to the head of Kusa when they'd split groups and Kakashi groaned, "Kusagakure might have already fallen if Iwa dedicated this much resources to the opening of the war." he pointed out, "Their only saving grace might be that we kept those two that got away busy, since I'd guess they could take down Kusa alone if Iwa knew where it was."

Anko nodded, "Yeah, Kusa's forces are probably regrouping and hiding," she agreed, "hell if Iwa finds their actual village I wouldn't be surprised if they side with Iwa to save their own hides." she added derisively.

"They have sided with Iwa before..." Hinata recalled the history lessons in the academy, she didn't actually remember the true reasons for old alliances though.

Shizune found that Sakura was breathing steadily, she was hot to the touch but thankfully it seemed she wasn't too much hotter than normal and the iryonin could physically touch the brass skin of the younger kunoichi without burning herself, "Anko-san, can you help me move Sakura-chan to a tent?" she asked, unsure as to why the girl had been fighting in the nude, "Sorry, Kakashi-san, but I hope you don't mind me dressing your student before we leave." she added as the two older kunoichi moved to assist the unconscious girl.

Sasuke touched his tender beak, "That Akabaka sure hit like a train." he grumbled, annoyed that he'd been unable to keep up with the steam powered taijutsu. Then again even Naruto had only kept up on the defensive and Sakura had looked like she was taking a beating, although there didn't seem to be much bruising he had no idea what the damage would be to brass skin or what bruising would even look like on someone who had brass skin and molten blood.

Hinata nodded in agreement with that statement, "Kakashi-sensei, you mentioned you knew of them?" she asked, hoping for more information on the enemies.

"Han was the red armored one with the furnace strapped to his armor," Kakashi began simply.

"That was a furnace?" Naruto interrupted with a confused question.

"Yes, anyway he uses Futton no Jutsu to supplement his taijutsu, I'm impressed you kids were already able to hold him off." Kakashi answered as he glanced around, his Sharingan eye closed but his hitai-ate still up just in case, "we've been worn down too much to hold this position any longer." he added in a tired voice.

Naruto continued to frown, "Daemons can hold this encampment and my magnificent self has limitless chakra if it needs to be done solo." he spoke confidently, Gai was baffled at the arrogance and continued insistence.

"There is a time to hold a position and there is a time to retreat!" Kakashi snapped, "We need more information and we should have pulled back yesterday! The only reason we stayed is because we weren't sure if it was safe to move Sakura!" he ranted angrily, "We can't stick around because some pretty lady you made a promise to might show up!" he finished authoritatively.

Maemi became nervous, a confrontation with someone who had more authority than Naruto was not what she wanted right now, the blonde was developing independence and a confidence in his own decisions, then she remembered what Shikamaru had done, "You could leave Daemons behind to hold the position, with your chakra you could summon enough to actually keep a defensive position, Naruto-sama." she advised carefully.

Kakashi's open eye narrowed at the Imp as Naruto considered that, "Yeah, suppose that works y'know." the blonde decided, moving to the tent his stuff was in to get dressed properly. Gai sighed, glad that was over with.

Shizune and Anko came back out with Sakura before Naruto finished, "Why did you guys have a tub of boied water in there?" the tokujonin asked with a gesture of her thumb towards the makeshift medical tent.

Sasuke sighed, "Trying to keep Sakura's temperature down, her body temperature must have boiled it." he said, unsure why the girl was better, he didn't want to talk much because his beak still hurt so he moved to grab his stuff quickly.

"Sakura-chan had a fever, we're not certain why but Genkei seems to think hellfire was involved." Kakashi explained shortly.

Genkei nodded, "That black fire that the elder Uchiha used, her choker couldn't completely negate it for some reason but strangely she's done something to get it under control." he explained.

"What?" Shizune asked curiously.

"No idea, never seen anything like it." Genkei said proudly.

Soon enough Naruto emerged fully dressed with all his swords sheathed and strapped to him at roughly the same time as Sasuke who carried Sakura's axe for her, opening his right thumb up and weaving hand signs, "Oh yeah,my magnificent self will get Bakkus to help from the forest too." he decided before performing the Kuchiyose that called sixty-six Daemonettes, although one seemed to stand a head taller than the others, having horns of her own and a far larger claw for a right hand than those around her, "Be right back!" Naruto said as he picked up Maemi, leaping towards the lumber farm at the edge of what had once been a town.

Kakashi's eye twitched impatiently but they all heard the hunting horn and the blonde returned with Maemi with little delay, the two moving close to Hinata as the group got ready to set off, "We'll return to Sunagakure," Baki spoke up, "our village needs to know what's going on and we'll be in contact about where your Hokage decides our reinforcements are needed." he informed calmly before taking leaving with his cell, Gaara gave a nod to Naruto as he left.

The journey back to Konoha was mostly peaceful, Iwa's forces had clearly been concentrated on their last postion and would be busy with the occupying force Naruto had left behind with instructions to cede the territory only to 'Shinobigashira-chan', Maemi had silently helped get the point across with some Daemonic telepathy between Neverborn of Slaanesh. The Imp was glad she'd managed to stop her master getting into a full blown argument, but the fact the cocky young blonde had been reprimanded didn't bode well.

Once they were alone Maemi intended to give advice she deemed important, but for now she couldn't risk the blonde accidentally repeating a concept he didn't understand out loud in confusion. When they made it to Hi no Kuni the group made contact with a patrol of Konoha shinobi, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, and Ino. Naruto pouted at the flak vests, "You two already got promoted? But the exams were interrupted." he pointed out.

Shikamaru shrugged, "War time promotions I guess. Hokage-sama mentioned others would wait, and we're actually on patrol to keep an eye out for you guys returning, we expected you a couple hours ago, run into trouble?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Our trouble comes pre-packaged." Kakashi commented dryly, "We ended up holding a position to give some Kusa allies a chance at escaping, then Sakura-chan got a fever." he revealed, not wanting to reveal he'd given ground to Naruto on deciding to remain behind. Gai couldn't blame his rival, he hadn't considered it at the time, but the young blonde taking charge like that had been bizarre yet felt natural.

Ino nodded in understanding, "Well, good thing you all made it back in one piece." she commented.

"How about those Suna ninja?" Shikamaru asked, "They get away okay?" he clarified what he was asking just to be safe.

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, they should be fine, let's get home we can discuss details with Hokage-sama." he ordered, urging everyone towards Konohagakure no Sato.

Sakura had woken up by the time they returned, Shizune was just glad the horned kunoichi's eyes weren't red again. Her pupils seemed normal again, but Sasuke could tell they were just as much smoldering flames waiting to kcik up as before, maybe more so now that they were black flames. The tattoo on her left arm was strange too, no one knew what it actually was, even Aoki had no idea which told Sasuke it was something unique to Khorne or something Khorne had figured out thanks to Amaterasu interacting with the choker.

Sakura just seemed confused, "I honestly don't really remember anything after I walked out of the tent, I tried praying to Khorne-sama first but I just needed to cool down." she explained, surprised herself to hear she had launched black flames from her left fist.

Tsunade wasn't sure what to make of the mission report, there was a lot to unpack, "Itachi's bunshin escaped at one point and didn't return, strangely enough, perhaps he recieved another mission from his new boss?" she wondered out loud, "Perhaps he was watching from the shadows, curious anyone could survive hellfire, let alone extinguish it." she muttered. Maemi didn't think it was a good idea to speak up, but the Malice scoffed.

"Khorne-sama holds domain over hellfire." Genkei bragged proudly, Sasuke winced as Aoki insisted on correcting him.

The Uchiha tilted his head to the side, letting the Fearling manifest from the back of his neck, "Tzeentch-sama is the one who hold magical dominion over the true flames of heaven and hell!" the pink flesh growth insisted angrily, releasing a burst of flame with a raspberry for emphasis. At that childish display Sasuke forced the Imp back down with a swift tilt of his head to the right.

"No religious debates in my office!" Tsunade snapped as Sasuke rolled his shoulder, "In any case it's a miracle you all survived, and held a position like that for as long as you did." she commended.

"To be honest, Hokage-sama," Gai spoke up hesitantly, "I don't think we could have done it without Gaara." he revealed, surprised still that the boy who had once tried to murder his precious student had been such a reliable ally in a crisis.

Tsunade nodded, "Regardless, you all performed well." she praised again, noticing Kakashi's glance towards the blonde at that, "Now that you're back, promotions are in order for the genin." she announced, she'd hesitated on it for a moment once she'd heard Naruto had argued with a superior officer, but at the moment they needed more chunin leading reserve genin, "Naruto Uzumaki, while you're a headstrong fool, you've displayed leadership qualities and power fitting of a chunin." she decided, "Sasuke Uchiha, you've proven yourself a talented shinobi with a good mind for battle, befitting a chunin." she finished.

Hinata pouted slightly, not entirely sure why she wasn't being promoted too but not willing to argue. Sakura looked more annoyed than disappointed, "Because of my temper, right?" she guessed, Tsunade considered the question and the one who asked it carefully before she nodded.

"I'm sure you'll get promoted before the war is over if you keep up the meditation exercises." Kakashi offered as condolences, wanting to give his still genin student something to work towards.