Blood Ties

by Igornerd

It wasn't enough to have to deal with the Thalmor, the Falmer, and all his other enemies. Now he had to deal with the antics of a blond boy, too.

14. In Which Shinobi Meet The Dragonborn

A\N: I do not own neither Naruto or The Elder Scrolls series… too bad.

Beta-readers: PyrothTenka, Monster Cat Music Girl, GwendolynStacy, Jerenda the Wizard, To Mockingbird, Duesal Bladesinger and InfamousStorm.

---

As he walked closer to the edge, he could clearly hear the chaos the city was spiraling into. War cries, screams, and the clash of weapons filled the air. An explosion went off in the distance and from his vantage point, Conrad tried to figure out where the enemy may have placed their siege engines.

Then he realized that shinobi didn't need siege engines, not when they could move at such absurd speeds and use magic, jutsu or whatever they wanted to call it.

Conrad had to get to the arena as fast as possible, and he knew there was only one way.

"Dur Neh Viir!" he shouted, the power of the words tearing a rift in reality's veil. No reason to hold back.

A dark purple portal sang itself into existence with an otherworldly hum. Within seconds it dispersed, leaving behind a massive creature standing before its summoner on the mountaintop.

His students and the guards shouted in a panic, cowering at the sight of the great dragon. Well, his students were cowering and looking in awe. The guards were still doing their best to look stoic, although they were brandishing their weapons.

He tried not to gag when the stench finally hit him. It was like someone had suddenly dropped a warehouse of rotten meat in the middle of a mass grave, and the odor instantly turned the gawking looks that his students had been sporting into grimaces of disgust. Even the guards seemed to be taken aback, perhaps even more than the ancient dragon looming by the Nord's side.

"Since when do dragons stink?!" Beta exclaimed in her mother tongue as she pinched her nose.

"Nevermind that," Sven quickly said as he tried to steady himself, looking right at his teacher. "You can summon dragons?!"

"A couple," Conrad answered with a grimace. "But normally I don't call for this one."

"Because it stinks?" Beta asked.

"How can you even—"

"Qahnaarin," Durnehviir rumbled after taking in his surroundings, his head slowly looking over the magelings and the assembled guards. "Are these the ones we must kill?"

The sight of the panicked expressions caused by the dragon's sudden attention would've been amusing in any other circumstances. Sadly, he wasn't able to see the guards' faces because of those cursed expressionless masks of theirs.

"No," Conrad said as he mustered the courage to do what he had to. Suppressing a sigh and trying hold back the nausea, he started to climb over the rotting dragon's neck.

"Dovahkiin, what is the meaning of this? I am not Odahviing, I have no intention to be used as a—"

"See that?" Conrad interrupted once he got properly seated, gesturing to the city below. "There's a war going on. City under siege, plenty of enemies to destroy and a lost kin to find before he gets killed."

For a short moment the dragon looked upon the ongoing battle before making a satisfied growl.

"You could have just said that." The Nord couldn't see it from his scaly seat, but he was sure that the warmongering dragon was smiling.

As the mighty dragon spread his wings, Conrad turned towards the masked guards that were frantically gesticulating among themselves for some reason. "Keep kids safe," he ordered in his mangled Akavirian, glancing at his mount.

---

The ANBU stood in silence for several seconds as they watched the dragon fly away. The magelings were clearly in awe. The girl whispered something in her native language, as he stared at their teacher's summon. The cat-boy nodded in agreement, his tail twitching.

"... Sir?" Squirrel said hesitantly. "Did we just… let the prisoner go?"

"You heard the Hokage. These people are our guests, not our prisoners," Owl explained, his arms crossed. "Besides, we didn't let him go. He just left."

"... Yes, sir."

"But captain, it seems as if he's going straight where the fighting is more intense," Badger pointed out, her tone possibly tainted by a trace of amusement.

"That won't do. We can't let a civilian under our watch wander around a combat zone."

"Didn't said civilian just summon a mythological creature?"

"That may be, but he still counts as a civilian," Owl pointed out.

"Yes, sir."

"Half of you will stay with Hawk here and protect the children," the captain ordered.

"Hey! We're not children! I am—uh... six-ten years old!" Sven objected, fumbling with his Akavirian numbers.

"The rest of you come with me," he went on, ignoring the young wizard. "We will track down and protect the… civilian. Move out."

As soon as the instructions were given, half of the team moved as one, doing their best to catch up with the faster dragon.

"If they wanted to protect their home, they could've just said so," Beta said, which prompted a nod from her fellow Tamrelians.

---

"Kai!" Sasuke exclaimed, focusing to break the genjutsu that almost made him fall asleep. He had not expected Gaara to be a genjutsu user since he had always seen him rely only on his sand, but if the Suna genin thought that an Uchiha would be so easily defeated by an illusion, he was wrong.

Gaara took advantage of his moment of distraction and, with a raised arm, sent a wave of sand rushing towards Sasuke. The Uchiha was saved from a premature demise only because his Sharingan registered the incoming attack as soon as Sasuke opened his eyes again, and his reflexes honed during training with Kakashi took over.

An instant after dodging the deadly sand he was across the field, whirling a foot into his opponent's face. Sasuke saw Gaara's eyes actually widen a little before impact. A satisfying crack was heard as the sand covering Gaara's cheek fractured.

He escaped just before the sand-user's so-called perfect defence could catch up with him and crush him to a pulp. He couldn't help but grin at the knowledge that he was too fast for his opponent.

An explosion in the audience distracted him from his thoughts. Before Sasuke could react, there were shinobi fighting all over the stadium. Even the proctor had an assailant engaged with him in the arena itself.

Gaara didn't seem to be surprised by this turn of events, though, and as Sasuke looked around, stunned at the battle surrounding them, the Suna genin sent yet another wave of sand to envelope him. This time, however, Sasuke wasn't going to be able to dodge it.

His eyes widened in the half second before he was grabbed around the waist. Much to his surprise and briefly-lived confusion, though, he wasn't squished to a pulp. He was being pulled away, and a quick look revealed that a man—an ANBU, given the mask he was wearing—had snatched him away from the match.

As he found himself being dragged over the stadium walls at shinobi speed, he gave a last look at the building that was descending into chaos. Then he did his best to wriggle free.

"Hey, let me go!" he yelled when the shinobi holding him refused to loosen his grip. "I need to defeat him!"

"The tournament is over, Sasuke," the ANBU said as he landed on a nearby rooftop. His voice sounded strangely familiar, for some reason.

"Over?" Sasuke asked, jerking free from the ANBU's hands. The man didn't make any attempt to stop him.

"Konoha is being invaded," the masked shinobi continued. "Suna has betrayed you."

"What do you mean, 'you'?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the other shinobi suspiciously. "Aren't you ANBU?"

"Not quite, Sasuke," the man said in an amused tone, removing his mask to reveal a known spectacled face.

"Kabuto?" the young genin asked, slightly confused. "What's going on here? You're a Konoha genin."

"I'm no genin," Kabuto said calmly, his demeanor completely different from what Sasuke remembered. "And Sarutobi Hiruzen is not my Kage."

Sasuke's eyes quickly widened in realization as he took a step back. "You're a spy."

"Correct," Kabuto said, throwing away the mask. "You see, Sasuke, my master has a special interest in you. But you should know that already by now, am I right?"

Sasuke hands instinctively went to the cursed mark on his neck.

"That's right," Kabuto nodded with a hint of amusement. "Orochimaru-sama sent me to give you an... invitation, of sorts."

"An invitation?" he asked, trying to ignore the sounds of battle in the distance. If the village was being invaded, there was no way help would arrive any time soon. He was on his own.

"Indeed. He is giving you an offer to join Otogakure. He will train you, and give you the power to accomplish your goal."

Sasuke froze as his mind drifted to that man. He felt the curse mark flare for a second, even with the seal Kakashi had placed around it. "And what would he want from me in exchange?" he found himself asking. Was he really thinking about it? Leaving Konoha, betraying his village to reach his goal?

"Your loyalty," Kabuto stated as if it was obvious. "And in a few years, your body."

"My body?" Sasuke asked, taken aback by such request. Had it not been for the fact that he was standing in front of a self-declared enemy shinobi, he would've felt sick. Or at least, sicker than he was feeling all of sudden.

"Orochimaru-sama's reincarnation technique is not perfect, sadly," Kabuto explained, in a way that didn't sound like he was saddened at all. "He requires a new host every three years, and he is really interested in your doujutsu."

Oh, so that was what he had meant. It didn't make Sasuke feel any better, though.

"I don't think that would be a good deal for me, then," he said, stalling for time as he dropped one hand to his side in an attempt to look casual. His hand was now much closer to the shuriken in his pouch. "After killing my brother, I must restore my clan."

"Mmh, yes," Kabuto nodded, tipping his chin in a pensive manner. "You may need your body for that."

"Yes. So... please tell Orochimaru that I'm not interested," Sasuke said, waiting for the facade to drop.

"But you see, Sasuke... Orochimaru-sama doesn't like being told no. This farce was just to see if you would come on your own, or—"

Sasuke moved, throwing three shuriken as a distraction while drawing a kunai from the holster. As Kabuto swiftly dodged the throwing stars, Sasuke jumped at him, aiming to stab him in the neck.

His charge came to a halt as Kabuto's hand closed on his wrist, and the traitor used Sasuke's own momentum to slam him to the roof.

"I told you, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said with a mocking smirk, producing a syringe from nowhere. "I'm no mere genin."

"Let him go," a voice said all of sudden, causing both of them to freeze. "He is mine."

Sasuke didn't move his eyes from Kabuto and his syringe until he saw a few grain of sands floating by. Daring to look away, he saw Sabaku no Gaara literally rising from the roof's edge, his sand keeping him aloft while simultaneously billowing out into an ominous brown cloud.

For a moment, Sasuke met Gaara's crazed eyes.

"What are you doing here, jinchuuriki?" Kabuto asked, almost disdainfully. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder what jinchuuriki meant, but he had more pressing matters. He tried to reach for his weapon pouch, but Kabuto put a foot on his free hand. Dammit. "You were instructed on what to do, you're supposed to be wrecking as much of this place as you can."

"Let Uchiha Sasuke go," Gaara repeated, his voice sounding very different from before. Almost more feral. "He must prove my existence!"

And with that, all the sand around them rushed toward Kabuto, whose eyes widened in utter shock. "Oh, fu—"

Sasuke interrupted the spy's rude choice of words by kicking him with all his strength, rolling away as the sand passed over where he had been lying. Getting to his feet, he watched the sand envelope his almost kidnapper. Then, it collapsed on itself.

There was a sickening crunch and the Kabuto cried out in pain before being thrown from the roof like so much garbage.

Sasuke was now alone on the rooftop with Gaara. Something brushed against his foot, and looking down he almost panicked at seeing streams of sand snaking between his legs. But the sand just kept going towards Gaara, flowing all around Sasuke's feet and not harming him in any way.

Was Gaara being fair because their match had been interrupted? No, that couldn't be. He was just playing with him, like a cat with the mouse.

He couldn't help but feel creeped out, really creeped out by the way Gaara was looking at him. It wasn't at all like in the arena. Gone was the cold and expressionless face that Sasuke was used to; but after all, this wasn't a tournament match anymore.

Concentrating on his chakra, Sasuke started forming his Chidori. Gaara threw himself at him like a sandstorm.

---

Ishina hadn't seen it coming. That wasn't good, because shinobi that got surprised tended to quickly become dead shinobi in such scenarios.

The stadium was in a state of chaos. Civilians had all been caught in a massive genjutsu, and an explosion from the balcony reserved for the two Kage had immediately followed.

It didn't take much time before shinobi from both sides had arrived on the scene, and small skirmishes were escalating in a large battles all over the stadium between the seats of sleeping people.

Konoha was being invaded, and Ishina and her team were trapped in the middle of it.

Worse, right in front of her stood one of the elite jonin of this forsaken village, who was silently staring at her with his only visible eye as if he was wondering whether she was involved in this.

She was distracted from wondering how she could survive against such an opponent by the sound of metal and an alarmed cry—a cry from a familiar voice.

She snapped her head back and saw Kurotsuchi deflecting a barrage of kunai. Ishina's eyes instantly tracked the kunai's flight path back to a ninja who was running towards her student, already forming hand signs for a jutsu.

Her fingers blurred through a jutsu of her own, but much to her dread it became clear that she wouldn't be able to finish in time. The shinobi leaped towards Kurotsuchi, the single note symbol in his hitai-ate perfectly visible now as he drew his head back as if to take a deep breath.

And then the Yondaime's student was there, barrelling into him like a loose boulder and sliding a kunai into his jugular.

The Sound nin dropped to the ground as the Konoha jonin took a defensive position. Two other ninja engaged him, eager to avenge their fallen comrade.

Ishina quickly finished her sequence of handsigns and unleashed the technique.

The concrete wasn't the best to work with, but the bleachers broke apart all the same, forming a crown of hardened spikes around Kurotsuchi and the Konoha-nin that had just saved her. The two men were impaled on the spot.

Kakashi of the Sharingan stared idly at the still-twitching corpses for a couple of seconds before turning towards her.

"I take it that Iwa is not involved in this?"

Annoyed, Ishina almost replied, but the whizzing sound of shuriken announced the arrival of more shinobi—from Suna this time—and they were thrust again into battle.

A Suna nin jumped over the spikes, diving directly for Ishina. Before she could react, something scathingly hot soared right over her head, crashing into the shinobi's torso. His screams were short-lived as the lava burned through his uniform, then his body burst into flames. Ishina dodged the flaming corpse falling towards her, turning around to see Kurotsuchi right before her, hands still held together.

"You know, that's really impressive for a genin," the jonin remarked, a spark of suspicion in his gaze.

"We train them well in Iwa," Ishina replied, hoping that the explanation would be enough in the middle of battle. There was no way it would pass more thorough questioning. As soon as she was able, she was going to have to pull her team out of the village. "I need to find my other two students."

"Your other students? If they're skilled as this one, I'm sure they'll be fine."

Ishina didn't reply to that. Not because she didn't want to, or because the battle around them made her unable to come up with a suitable rebuttal to a nosy Konoha shinobi. It was the giant purple barrier appearing on the top of a nearby roof that distracted her from that. Even Hatake Kakashi, notorious for being as laid back as he was lethal, seemed to blink in surprise at that for a moment.

"How unyouthful," someone declared loudly. "Hokage-sama is trapped in there."

Said voice belonged to a tall, muscular man dressed in green unitard that left little to imagination. To make it worse, he had the worst haircut Ishina had ever seen. Somehow, the the monstrous eyebrows were the closest thing to normal on his person. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was standing right in front of Konoha's Green Beast.

"Oh, Gai. You're here," Kakashi said in greeting.

"Yosh!" the horrifically green shinobi exclaimed as he punched an enemy with the back of his fist without even looking back. "My eternal rival, it appears that our allies have turned against us during this most youthful exam," the man ranted without even bothering to lower his voice. "And who would these lovely kunoichi be?"

"Oh, they're two foreign guests that got caught in our own invasion."

"Oooh, I see. Quickly, my rival! We must escort our honorable guests to safety!"

"Ah," Kakashi intoned in agreement. "Her two other genin as well."

Ishina weighed her options. She could try to find the rest of her team by herself and then attempt to run away and possibly be killed, either 'accidentally' from the defenders or by one of the invaders. On the other hand, if she stayed with the two jonin—who were strange, but had not attacked her yet—she could keep her team safe, but there was no way she would be let go once the crisis was over.

As she realized that her chances of completing her mission were long gone, a loud roar echoed from the sky, forcing her to look up.

What she saw was straight out of legend.

---

Dragon and rider circled slowly above the arena, and for a moment the battle seemed to grow quiet as the beast growled at the fighters below. Conrad ignored it as much as he could and scanned their surroundings, yelling at Durnehviir to get closer.

The purple barrier that had appeared during the brief flight was intriguing. It could've been some sort of protective ritual, but why concentrate it on the roof instead of a larger area?

It didn't really matter to him. He guessed that whatever kind of magic the ninja were trying to use to protect their home was their business. Knowing that they would handle it, he kept scanning the arena.

Aside from the shape, the arena didn't resemble the ones Conrad had seen in his travels through the Empire, but the purpose was clear all the same.

Unlike the Empire, though, it seemed that Akavir enjoyed the idea of children taking part in a blood sport. He was planning to have a little talk about this with the Sandaime.

Either that or just take the boy and get out of the city.

As Conrad shifted his gaze over to the area reserved for spectators, Durnehviir stopped his glide, flapping his wings to hover in place. Everywhere he looked, he could see bodies scattered across the arena's terraces. He tried to not think about the chance that Naruto was among them.

The shinobi, having overcome the surprise of seeing a dragon soaring above their heads, resumed fighting and killing each other.

He could feel the dragon's impatience through its muscular neck, but for now it seemed that Durnehviir was content with merely observing the battle.

Flickering his fingers, he called to a small ounce of his power to distractedly fuel his spell. A pale blue light left his hand and flew over the arena, never escaping Conrad's eyes. After a brief flight, it disappeared right at the other side of the arena, close to the edge.

The Nord stretched a bit out from the dragon's neck, as if it would help him see better, squinting his eyes in that direction. There seemed to be a small group of people along the top rows, made up of adults and children. The adults were obviously trying to keep them safe from the battle, but that wasn't what had caught Conrad's interest.

Orange. He wasn't imagining it, one of the smaller figures on the bleachers was wearing orange clothes.

Yes, that was the boy. Thank the gods, he had had enough common sense to stay away from the lower stands where the fighting was more fierce.

Without any warning, the massive skeletal form beneath him ceased hovering and lurched forward with a few mighty flaps of his wings. The Nord managed to grip the big spinal scales for dear life, while yelling protests to the dragon at the top of his lungs.

"Durnehviir!" Conrad shouted, all too aware of the growing distance between him and Naruto. "Turn back! We're going the wrong way!"

"Behold, Qahnaarin," Durnehviir rumbled as he inhaled deeply, tasting the air. "A great challenge waits ahead of us! A worthy foe indeed!"

A worthy foe? What on earth was the overgrown lizard—

He heard it before he saw it. He turned his head as the outer city walls burst inward, wood and stone splintering like twigs as a large form appeared from the dust.

Conrad blinked. It was a giant snake. A giant, three-headed snake.

The thing was massive, dwarfing entire streets as it slithered into the city proper, contemptuously wrecking the buildings around it with every move. It seemed that when it came to monsters, Akavir compensated for the lack of quantity with quality.

Strangeness, too.

With his luck, the damn thing probably breathed fire. Or lightning. Or acid. Or all three, one from each head.

Conrad could surely understand why the ancient dragon had rushed in the walls' direction. He himself could feel his draconic soul rear its ugly head, enticed by the idea of fighting such an exotic, and more importantly, bigger creature.

A low growl escaped his bared teeth, but before it could escalate in a full-fledged roar he noticed the tiny specks darting around the snake. Shinobi, he bet, invading the city through the breach that had just opened up.

Taking a deep breath, he did his best to keep his instincts at bay, forcing himself to remain calm and logical.

Right. Logic. He was a wizard, more or less, and wizards used logic.

The city was under attack. Actually, the city's enemies were already inside its walls. Which meant two things for Conrad.

First, that Konoha's defences were so ineffective that they had fallen within less than a day of siege, something which he would ridicule them over for as long as he lived. Secondly, that each second he spent on the back of the most smelly flying creature that had ever soared Tamriel and Akavir's skies was a second more that Naruto was left on his own in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.

Clearly, there was only one logical thing to do.

"Good hunting," Conrad said, patting the dragon's scales before leaning to the side and letting gravity take hold of him.

Forcing himself to not look down, he started to weave spells as quickly as he could and tried to not think about what would happen in just a few seconds if he stopped.

Slowing down the fall was an obvious priority, so he focused on that first. A half-assed levitation variant on the fly worked splendidly for that purpose, but much to his annoyance the drain was a bit more than he had anticipated. After all, levitation was just applied telekinesis and that kind of magic tended to suck magicka like a vampire sucked blood, no matter how skilled the user was.

He concentrated just enough on the spell until he was what seemed like a survivable length above a house, then released the spell and hastily began casting another one. Magicka burned across his skin, hardening it just before he crashed through the roof.

It hurt more than he had expected, but it was only when he finally stopped against a floor, reducing it to a heap of rubble, that he really felt pain.

His skin ached. His muscles ached. His bones ached. Yet he was still alive.

After staring at the almost man-shaped hole above him for a moment, he tried to get up with a groan, ignoring his body's protests.

As he stumbled into a mostly erect position, Conrad started rummaging through his pouch, only to pause as he felt cold liquid smearing his hands. Dread filled him as he fumbled blindly around the bag's interior. His fingers brushed against sharp edges that would have sliced his hand open if not for his hardened skin, and fearfully, he pulled the objects out.

Broken, shattered, empty vials.

Kneeling down, Conrad turned the bag inside out, letting the contents spill onto the ground. Quickly sorting the broken glass from the still intact phials, Conrad groaned as he realized how many he had lost in the impact. How had jumping looked like a good idea, mere moments ago?

Uncorking one of the few healing potions left, he gulped it down in one go. The taste was beyond terrible, and he pressed a hand to his mouth as he forced himself to not retch. It was probably one of Sven's. How could a promising chef be so terrible when it came to alchemy? It was pretty much the same thing!

As Conrad thought about one of his apprentices' future career choices, he could feel a warm, soothing sensation passing through his body. The aching stopped and the pain subsided as the potion's magic repaired injuries, which he helped further with a simple healing spell.

He took a few breaths before putting the remaining potions back in the bag. It was time to go.

He had a nephew to save, after all.

The street was clear when he left the house he had landed in. Most of the citizens had probably gone to watch the tournament, or fled as the giant snake was sighted. He could hear the fighting in the distance and could see Durnehviir challenging the three headed snake by the wall.

It would have been an interesting battle to watch, but he had more important things to do. Focusing, he recalled the image of Naruto and cast a clairvoyance spell. The familiar blue light left his palm, and he started to follow after it.

Then the road broke in a massive wave of earth and he was slammed against a building.

---

"Got one!" Masumi exclaimed as he felt a sense of satisfaction at seeing his victim impact against the wall.

"Sure, you got a civilian," Jun sneered at him. "That doesn't count."

"Is that envy, Jun?" Masumi asked, mocking his comrade from his missing-nin days. Even if it was just a civilian, he was the one that had drawn first blood out of his teammates. Just the first of many, since Orochimaru-sama had ordered them to cause as much damage as possible. Ninja, civilians or visitors, it didn't matter.

Today was the day Konoha would be painted in blood.

"Cut it out you two," Hisoka, their chunin team leader called. She quickly signaled to advance, and the four-man cell moved as one, jumping above the wrecked street and starting to speed across the rooftops, their eyes scanning for any threats.

The roar of thunder came from behind them, unexpected. Masumi's eyes widened as they scattered out of reflex just as a bolt of electricity passed through the middle of their formation. Jun wasn't able to dodge as quickly as the others and cried in pain as the jutsu hit his left arm. As the team landed, Masumi forced himself to not rush to check on his friend's condition, looking instead in the direction from where the attack had come.

In the middle of the street stood the man Masumi had attacked just moments earlier, who was now calmly dusting off his odd clothes.

Masumi could feel sweat forming on his brow. The man didn't look like a shinobi, hell, he wasn't even moving like one. Yet he had thrown a raiton jutsu at them, one they had barely dodged.

They all stared at each other for a few seconds, before the stranger opened his mouth, as if to speak. It seemed that he changed his mind very quickly though, since he just closed it and raised one of his arms.

There was no warning for what came next, save for the sudden light around their opponent's hand. No handsigns, no calling of chakra, nothing. Just a strong stream of fire that erupted from the extended hand into their direction.

Masumi jumped away, guided by honed instincts. His mind, though, was screaming about what he was seeing. An elemental jutsu being cast without handsigns at all wasn't possible: it went against the way ninjutsu worked. Jun may have been thinking the same thing, or being distracted by the wound on his arm, because he was enveloped by the jet of flames.

The scream echoed through the street even after he'd stopped moving.

Masumi tried to ignore it as much as he could. The mission came before everything. Still, he couldn't help but feel something inside of him breaking at seeing Jun's horrible fate. No one deserved a death like that, not even a former missing-nin.

Gritting his teeth, Masumi unsheathed two kunai from his holster. A quick shunshin, and he was charging right up to the blond man, slashing at his face and throat. The man's head jerked aside, and Masumi felt a sense of satisfaction at the idea of having avenged his comrade.

It was short-lived though, as instead of the satisfying sound of metal searing through flesh, the Sound shinobi felt like he had just scraped his weapons against stone.

The man turned his head, glaring at him. Much to Masumi's shock, instead of the gaping wounds he was expecting, there were barely two scratches on the stranger's skin.

Then the man shouted one word that didn't make any sense. "Fus—"

The stranger said something else, but Masumi didn't catch it as he was thrown by an unseen force into a wall. Pain shot through his body at the impact, nearly blinding him.

There were flashes of light in his peripheral vision, but he was in so much agony that he

couldn't focus on the fight. Maybe he had broken a rib or two, he reasoned. Putting an arm to the ground, he tried to get up. His team needed him.

His legs refused to move. With a growing horror, he realized that he could not feel his feet anymore. This… was a problem. He tried to pull himself to a standing position, but quickly realized that it was a terrible idea as pain roared through his upper body. He blinked back tears of agony. Something was broken. Likely his back.

He heard a scream, and his head snapped around, praying to whatever gods there were that it was from the bastard who did this to him.

The blond man had used another raiton jutsu with Hisoka as the target. The woman's body collapsed, twitching even after death. Her murderer just walked over her corpse, uncaring and already sizing up his next target.

The last of his teammates—Ippei, he thought—threw a barrage of shuriken at the enemy, before using a quick substitution to appear right behind the man, a kunai in his hand. He made a movement as if to stab the opponent in the lungs, but it was about as effective as Masumi's earlier strikes.

The stranger turned into a blur, a purple flash briefly appearing around his right hand. The next moment, the blond man was holding a weird black axe in his hand, its head buried deeply into Ippei's chest. As the Oto shinobi fell to his knees, gurgling his last breath, the man put a foot on his torso and pulled his weapon free.

He turned to Masumi, annoyance written across his face. That was when Masumi realized that he was going to die there.

He lowered his gaze, resigning himself to his fate as his soon-to-be killer started walking up to him. Walking. What kind of shinobi walked during a fight, he wondered.

As the man was just a few steps away from him, though, a sudden jet of water slammed into the blond, knocking him flat on the ground several feet away.

Looking up, Masumi saw several figures on the rooftops. Shinobi, part of the invasion force, most proudly wearing the symbol of Otogakure, but there were a few Suna nin as well.

Backup had arrived, probably attracted by the sound of the fight. Masumi felt a wave of relief wash over him and a hint of satisfaction at the idea of seeing the bastard that crippled him die.

Masumi saw something move in the corner of his eyes and turned just to see the enemy get up from a pile of freshly-formed mud, glaring in the reinforcement's direction.

A shinobi quickly flashed through a series of hand signs which resulted in an explosion of fire being thrown in the blond man's direction.

Widening his eyes, the man raised his hand, as if to shield himself from the incoming flames.

Much to Masumi and everyone else's surprise, it worked. The flames stopped right before the stranger's hand as if they had hit an invisible wall. As the fire subsided, Musumi noticed a shimmering blur around the man's hand. What kind of jutsu was that?

The other shinobi hesitated, but it was just for the blink of an eye. Soon, more jutsu started crashing against the strange barrier. A water bullet, a earth spike, a flurry of wind blades, everything seemed to be stopped or deflected by the man's defensive technique. Strangely enough, kunai and shuriken didn't seem to be affected by it, but they still bounced off without leaving any substantial damage in that stupidly thick skin.

The stranger started to stumble backwards under the onslaught, arm still raised. The shinobi around him smirked as he retreated toward a nearby house, but much to Masumi's confusion, the enemy produced a flask containing a blue liquid from his pouch and drank it right before disappearing into the building.

Poison, maybe? Could it be that the blond man wanted to die on his own terms instead of being overwhelmed? If that was the case, Masumi wondered bitterly why he hadn't done it before breaking his back.

Whatever that liquid was, the stranger had backed himself into a corner, and there was no way he'd be able to escape now. Masumi observed as the other shinobi advanced, warily getting closer to the house.

There was a purple flash from the inside, making them hesitate and step back as it turned into a red, glowing light. Then a woman on fire lunged from the doorway, throwing fire jutsu at the closest person she saw.

One ninja was cut down by the flames, and Masumi was able to look at her more clearly for just an instant. It wasn't a woman on fire. It was made of fire. She was like an angry, aggressive living flame, contained in a strange black shell making the rest of her body. To top it off, her feet weren't even touching the ground, rather, she was floating just a few inches from the street.

Whatever that thing was, it was not, and probably never had been, human. It was one of the most twisted summons that Masumi had ever seen, and he had seen Orochimaru-sama feed his snakes once.

The other shinobi quickly reacted to such a strange appearance, focusing their attacks on the summoned creature. There was a flash of steel as someone Masumi didn't know unsheathed her ninjato and slashed it at the fire monster's head. The sword struck true, cutting deeply into the creature's neck, from which a rain of embers fell.

The next thing Masumi knew, the thing exploded in a burst of flames, causing him to shield his eyes from the bright light.

What remained of the shinobi that had engaged the summon in melee was now scattered around by the blast, the fire from the explosion quickly covering the whole area in smoke.

Masumi's ears were still ringing when the stranger emerged again from the doorway, stepping over the body of his own summon, which was quickly disintegrating for some reason. The blond warrior was again wielding an axe, but this time it was much longer and larger, as tall as a man.

He seemed to yell something in… whatever language he—or it—spoke. Masumi wasn't able to hear it well, but thanks to years of training, he could still read the man's lips.

Hun Kaal Zor.

---

Danzo stood in an underground chamber, looking down at a map of the village spread flat over the surface of a large table. On either side of the table sat two shinobi, each operating a radio and reporting the events unfolding around the village to their leader.

"Second team in position, Danzo-sama," one said. "Waiting for orders."

"Tell them that their previous orders stand," Danzo replied, his only visible eye moving briefly to the spot where the team in question was located on the map. "Flank the enemy's reinforcements, prioritize taking down team leaders."

The radio operator made an acknowledging reply and relayed his instructions. Danzo took a moment to observe the situation. The enemy had already been inside their walls when the attack had begun, and more were currently converging on the village from outside. Forces of both Suna and Oto had been spotted moving through the forests around Konoha, meaning that they had managed to set up staging positions around the village without their patrols noticing.

Someone, he swore, was going to be held accountable for this failure once the invasion was repelled.

Meanwhile, Sarutobi was trapped inside a barrier jutsu above the stadium and locked in a fight against Orochimaru himself. To make things worse, it seemed that Orochimaru had summoned the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage with a forbidden technique to assist him.

The barrier rendered any attempts to help Sarutobi a moot point for now, and Danzo couldn't help but wonder how long his old comrade would be able to hold against three formidable opponents. Had it been just Orochimaru, Hiruzen may have even been able to come out victorious, if he managed to find the will to kill his former pupil and the will to follow through with it.

If the barrier didn't go down soon, though, Konoha might find itself in need of a new Hokage by the end of the day.

"Any updates on Jiraiya's position?" he asked.

"He was seen moving towards the breach in the walls, Danzo-sama, but there have been no further sightings yet," one of the operators replied. Danzo nodded in a barely noticeable way and went back to study the map. Jiraiya probably wanted to face the invaders' summon with one of his own to limit the damage to the village.

"We're getting an update from the first team: mission successful, minimal casualties," the radio operator continued.

"Order them to relocate on the western outskirts of the village and begin using hit-and-run tactics on the Suna forces coming from that direction until further notice."

"Danzo-sama," the shinobi on the other side of the table called all of sudden. "We have confirmation on the foreigner's position. He is currently engaging the invaders in the eastern residential district."

"On his own?" Danzo found himself asking, a part of him genuinely curious about this unexpected turn of events.

"Yes, Danzo-sama," the ROOT shinobi nodded. "He is showing some unorthodox abilities but it seems that he is faring well, for now."

"How did he get there?" he asked with a frown. "The foreigners are supposed to be in custody."

"Our observer reported that he summoned some sort of creature and used it to fly over the village. The ANBU in charge of him let him go."

Danzo's grip on his cane tightened for a moment. What kind of fools had Sarutobi put on that guard detail? Even if that man happened to be related to both the Yondaime Hokage and Konoha's jinchuuriki, it didn't mean it was a sensible decision letting him to run amok unchecked. Especially during an invasion. He wasn't from the village, he wasn't a shinobi sworn to protect Konohagakure and the only place he should've spent the duration of his stay was a high-security cell.

But Sarutobi's judgement had once again been clouded by his emotions and the attachment to the jinchuuriki.

"What's the situation around the Hokage Mountain?" Danzo finally asked.

"The ANBU team in charge of the prisoners has split. Half of them are tailing the foreigner's summon as we speak, while the other half is keeping watch on the others."

"Danzo-sama, the first team reports a… please repeat, first team?" The second radio operator said, pausing as he listened intently to his headset, the faintest trace of disbelief in his voice. "A dragon," the shinobi said with a neutral tone, before looking up at him. "Danzo-sama, the first team reports sighting a dragon fighting with the snake that breached the southern wall."

"A dragon?" Danzo asked.

"Yes, Danzo-sama. A dragon," the ROOT shinobi confirmed.

Danzo remained silent for a long moment, pondering the implications of the foreigner being able to summon creatures straight out of legend of old. He was attacking the invaders, for now at least. But nothing was stopping him from turning on the Leaf at a moment's notice.

"Is the third team still getting in position?" he asked.

"Yes, Danzo-sama. They should be—"

"Tell them to pull back. I have a new objective for them," Danzo said somberly. It was time for Konoha to gain some leverage on this foreigner warrior.

---

"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!" someone was saying, shaking his shoulder for some reason.

"Mmmh, five more minutes, Uncle," he muttered, trying to roll over and get back to sleep.

"What are you—Nevermind that, just wake up!" The shaking grew harder to the point that he felt like his shoulder was about to break. He reluctantly opened his eyes.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto said, confused. The last thing he remembered was watching Sasuke fight against Gaara. Then feathers had fallen, and sleep overtook him. He sat up and looked around him. They were in a dark cave-like place: the only light streamed in from a small hole at the top. "What's wrong?"

"We're under attack, that's what's wrong. You were caught by a genjutsu."

"Wait, where are we?" Naruto asked getting a look around them. He could see some of his classmates, along with two people he didn't recognize who were arguing either with each other or with someone that sounded like Kiba.

"We're still in the stadium bleachers," Sakura told him.

"But, it's so dark—"

"That guy over there made the walls," she pointed at the bigger stranger in the corner. "And the ceiling."

"Let us out, you moron!" Kiba half-yelled, half-growled all of sudden.

"Like hell I am! The two of us are Iwa shinobi in the middle of Konoha during an invasion," the bigger guy pointed to himself and his teammate. "Our life expectancy out of these walls I made is lower than a snowflake's in a volcano!"

"I still believe that we could've just made our way to safety using explosive tags," the other Iwa nin muttered, crossing his arms. "Lots and lots of explosive tags..."

"Good idea, Yano. That's a great plan," the big guy said mockingly. "It would only cause the fourth shinobi world war, but that's no big deal, right?"

"Oh as if this bunker you made is going to withstand the fighting outside, Mizu."

"Hey!" Kiba shouted, concern written across his face. "My teammate is wounded, she needs to see a medic. You can't keep us here!"

"Wait, who's wounded?" Naruto asks, getting up.

"Hinata," Sakura explained, and Naruto noticed the prone figures of the young Hyuuga heiress and Shikamaru, both closely guarded by Shino. "We think her wounds reopened."

"What?"

"The wounds from her fight with Neji haven't completely healed," Sakura explained.

"Oh," Naruto said. He hoped she was going to be okay. "Was Shikamaru wounded, too?"

"No, he was just put to sleep, like you."

"To be honest, I didn't plan on including you in my bunker jutsu," Mizu volunteered in a meek tone. "It was an unfortunate accident."

"Then release us!" Kiba yelled, growling in an almost feral way. Although that may have been Akamaru from his jacket. It was hard to tell sometimes.

"Yeah! Let us go, you... you rock-eater!" Naruto said, catching everyone's attention.

"Rock-eater? Seriously?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, that was the best I could come up with," he muttered.

"Look, I'm not keeping you here or anything, alright?" the bigger ninja, Mizu, said, raising his arms in a placating matter. "But I am asking you guys to ensure our safety."

"Safety? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, tilting his head.

"Are you for real, kid?" Yano asked, pointing to the rocks on his forehead protector. "We might as well be wearing targets on our backs right now."

"Actually, we're wearing them on our heads," Mizu pointed out.

"Shut up, Mizu."

"Uh, right..." Naruto scrunched his face up in thought. "Well, we could just tell people you're not bad Iwa-nin?"

"Bad Iwa-nin?" they chorused in outrage, clearly insulted.

"I mean… you know… not bad people?" he tried to explain, not really helping his case, given the way they glared at him.

Before Naruto could try to clarify what he meant though, they all heard the sound of something metallic being banged against the concrete-made walls

"Mizu? Yano?" a muffled voice called. "Are you in there?"

"Kuro—Yuki-chan?!" Yano called loudly, saying the last part of the name in a hurried way for some reason. "Is that you?"

"No, it's the Yellow Flash," the voice called back in an annoyed tone. "Open up!"

"Fine, fine," Mizu grumbled, starting to form hand seals. Once he was finished one of the walls parted away, revealing Kakashi-sensei, Bushybrows-sensei, and a woman and a young girl with Iwa headbands.

"Sensei!" Naruto and Sakura cried out in relief.

"Yo," Kakashi said as a greeting while Gai dispatched an optimistic enemy that had tried to attack the group from behind. "Have you been making friends?"

"Sensei, what's going on?" Sakura asked anxiously. "There was a genjutsu, and then the Iwa genin raised a rock wall around us, and—"

"And Hinata is hurt!" Kiba exclaimed, moving closer to his teammate. "She needs a medic."

"We're under attack. But I'm sure you've already figured that out," Kakashi said as he entered the small alcove, glancing at the three members of Team Eight. "Kiba, Shino, we have a mission for you. You must escort your teammate to the hospital."

"Yosh! Don't you worry for your teammate, the hospital should still be safe," Gai exclaimed, before switching to a more serious tone. "But keep a low profile on the way there. Your goal is to take young Hinata to safety, not to put her in danger."

Kiba and Shino nodded, and without wasting time, started to pick up Hinata as carefully as they could.

"Ishina-sensei, Yuki-chan, are you alright?" Mizu asked in a carefully neutral tone, as Yano tensed beside him.

"I thought her name was Kuroyuki?" Naruto couldn't help but ask. At that, the Iwa woman sent a glare in his direction, but Naruto couldn't tell if it was directed at him, her students or both.

"Please stop looking that way at my students," Kakashi said calmly. "As for you two—and I mean Naruto and Sakura—you should go find Sasuke. He may be in trouble."

"In trouble?" Naruto asked..

"Last time I saw him, he was being chased by Gaara," Kakashi continued, "You too, Shikamaru. I know you're not asleep."

"Troublesome," said Nara muttered, slowly getting up.

"Wait, you weren't caught in the genjutsu?" Yano asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought no one would notice," Shikamaru explained as he dusted off his pants. "So I could just wait until the end of the invasion."

"Wow. You're either lazy or a coward," Kuroyuki said, not having spoken since the walls had been opened.

"Hey! Shikamaru is no coward!" Naruto yelled. "He's just lazy!"

"If he's unwilling to protect his village, then he should be called what he deserves," the young kunoichi said coldly, looking Naruto straight in the eyes.

"Meanwhile, Kakashi and I will stay here to protect our honorable guests from Iwa," Gai proclaimed, ignoring the genin's antics and, more importantly, speaking before anyone said something that could potentially end in bloodshed. "No harm shall fall on them—"

"Hey, who says that we need protection?" Yano challenged, crossing his arms.

"The fact that we're on our own in the middle of a warzone," Ishina pointed out. "In a Hidden Village that is not on friendly terms with ours."

"She has a point, guys," Kuroyuki said, a bit downcast.

"You three should hurry, you know," Kakashi said, looking at his students and Shikamaru.

"But, Sensei, how can we find Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Naruto was about to ask the same thing, honestly.

"Oh, right," Kakashi hummed as if he just remembered something. Then he crouched down, quickly formed a series of hand seals. As he slammed his palm on the ground, a sizeable burst of smoke appeared out of nowhere, revealing a small pug inside of it. "Hello, Pakkun."

---

Jiraiya sat on the top of a roof in a half-crouched position, looking at the battle ensuing just a short distance away.

He had been ready to summon some of his toads to deal with the giant three-headed snake that had crashed through the village's wall, surely Orochimaru's doing. Before the beast could rampage through Konoha, though, a dragon had appeared and engaged the other scaly beast.

He couldn't help but gawk at the creature in awe as he watched it giving no quarter to the much bigger reptile. Sure, it was a bit thin and sickly-looking for some reason, but it was a dragon. A real dragon! Fighting a huge summon with three heads as war raged around the two beasts. Yet it wasn't a genjutsu. He had checked.

He was so going to put this in one of his books, somehow.

But as much as he would've liked to stay and see which beast would come out victorious, the village was under attack and there were better ways to use his time than just spectating. Turning around, he saw the purple barrier looming by the stadium in the distance.

For some reason, he had a hunch that that was Orochimaru's doing, too.

After one final glance to the battling beasts to commit the scene to memory, and he was off, making a beeline for the stadium.

---

"Yes, I repeat! We need backup!" a shinobi yelled for no apparent reason. Conrad didn't waste time wondering why the man had done such a thing and introduced the man's torso to the battleaxe he had conjured.

He had always preferred conjured weapons over bound ones. It just didn't feel right to fight with a weightless weapon. A shame that it was illegal summoning them, but thankfully, this wasn't Tamriel. So the chances of being spotted by one of the Vigilants of Stendarr were very low.

The corpse fell to the ground as he jerked the daedric weapon away.

A rustle of movement was all the warning he got before a shinobi lunged at him, weapons raised. Conrad took a quick step back and struck at the woman with the axe's handle, knocking her off-balance. She quickly got back on her feet, and charged again at the Nord. Conrad waved his hand and inscribed a rune in the ground between them. The ninja ran straight into it, either unable to stop her own dash or just not caring.

A wave of cold washed over Conrad as the ice rune exploded beneath the woman's feet, turning her in a macabre ice sculpture.

Conrad raised the battleaxe and let it fall straight on her head. The impact shattered most of it, along with part of her upper body. After what had happened the last time he had put a shinobi under ice, he had to be sure.

A yell from behind him made him turn, and he saw that another Nord was sharing his culture with the locals. This Nord had the unfair advantage of being a conjured ghost from Sovngarde though, so he didn't have to care about such petty things like injuries or death. And he was freaking out the shinobi for some reason.

Conrad moved closer to Hakon One-Eye, standing back-to-ethereal-back as the shinobi tried to reorganize themselves. He could see shapes running along the rooftops, which meant that someone had heard the cry for help from before, somehow.

The prospect of having more people to fight didn't scare Conrad. On the contrary, his blood was boiling in anticipation. After weeks of being cooped up in either a cell or a small shack and being forced to play the part of the nice and reasonable prisoner, the thrill of battle was as welcome as a barrel of honey mead after a long day's work.

Sadly, he couldn't afford to waste time. He had to finish this quickly and find his nephew. Nothing else mattered.

The idiots that were attacking him didn't seem to grasp that, though. One of them jumped high in the air all of sudden, easily reaching two stories of height like it was nothing. The airborne ninja threw a cluster of throwing stars at him. Conrad covered his eyes with his arm, grimacing. His skin may have been hardened by his spell, but his eyes were not.

He felt them slashing at his skin, scratching his arms and shoulders and landing behind him. As soon as the stars stopped buzzing around him, he heard some louder thumps around his feet.

Conrad opened his eyes to take a peek, and spotted four of those puny knife-like weapons planted in the ground, having missed his feet by a long margin. He was about to insult the ninja's aim when he heard a low hissing sound. Looking down, it seemed that it came from each of the small scrolls attached to the weapons' handle. Why would a scroll hiss?

A closer inspection, though, made him understand that the hissing didn't come from the scrolls themselves, but from what was scribbled on them. Interestingly, it almost reminded him of runes—

His eyes widening, Conrad immediately started running away from the scrolls. That's what saved his life in the end. He had not even got past Hakon, who was looking at him with a curious expression, before the runes detonated. The legendary hero absorbed the brunt of the explosion and was sent back to the halls of Sovngarde. Conrad got hit by the debris, flames and blastwave that sent him flying to the other side of the street.

As he landed with all the grace of a sack of onions thrown in a cart, he lost his grip on the daedric axe, which disappeared in a purple blur. He tried to get up as fast as he could, which given that he had just been caught in a small explosion, may as well have been a snail's pace.

Groaning, he managed to push himself to his knees before being struck from behind. Pain flashed through his back as his attacker came at him again and again, trying to slash at him with a sword. Each time, Conrad yelped in pain. It may not have wounded him because of his spell, but it still hurt like being struck with a mace. A sharp mace.

Conrad growled as he quickly became fed up with the hammering, grasping the dirt with his hands before channelling his Voice.

"Zun Haal Viik!" he roared as he turned around, and the sword went flying from the man's grasp. The ninja gaped at his empty hand for a brief moment, and Conrad threw the dirt he had in his fist, aiming for the ninja's face.

The shinobi saw it coming, though, and raised his arm to shield himself. Conrad rushed him as he got up, slamming the palm of his hands in the man's chest and shooting an electrical discharge at point blank.

The man opened his mouth in a silent cry, losing consciousness as his heart ceased functioning. Conrad gave him a little push and he fell down, spasming like a fish out of water as the energies from Conrad's spell ravaged his nervous system. The man was either dead or would probably die soon, but Conrad didn't care. He had other things to deal with.

He looked at the shinobi observing him from the rooftops, either readying their weapons or preparing some of their spells that required entirely too many complicated gestures to function.

"Spineless sons of a motherless skeever-scat—" Conrad had had enough. "MUL QAH DIIV!"

---

Sarutobi stopped his attack at the last instant, jumping back in a more guarded stance. Orochimaru did the same, and the two resurrected Senju stopped as well, having sensed a lull in the fight even if they had been reduced to nothing but soulless puppets.

Both master and former pupil never took their eyes off each other, as they both felt the sudden appearance of a powerful, menacing presence washing over the village. For a brief moment, it seemed like the fighting throughout the whole village subsided, as shinobi of both sides felt the same. Just as quickly as it had appeared, though, it faded. It didn't disappear, since Sarutobi was able to detect it in the distance, but it was now significantly less intense than when it had first manifested.

The battle around the village resumed.

"What was that?" Sarutobi couldn't help but ask loudly.

"That would be my question," Orochimaru said coolly. Even the traitor's minions, who were keeping the barrier up, seemed perplexed. "I was wondering when you would reveal your trump card, old man. But I wasn't expecting something like that."

"What are you talking about?" Hiruzen asked, skeptically.

"You know well what I'm talking about," Orochimaru sneered, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I don't have time for your mind games, my old student," Sarutobi said, preparing to spin Enma's adamantine form at his opponents.

"I know that you created a clone of Namikaze, sensei."

At this, Sarutobi almost dropped the staff, but he was able to catch himself just in time to not look like an old fool. "What," he said, flatly. He briefly wondered if he had just gone senile all of a sudden.

"I saw the blood test," Orochimaru offered as the only explanation. "I'm surprised that you would do that. A bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"You're the last person that should be lecturing me on hypocrisy," Sarutobi said dismissively. He had his own share of sin, but he had never sunk as low as Orochimaru. "I didn't allow such experiments, and I didn't clone—"

The Hokage's voice died in his throat as comprehension creeped subtly into his mind. Minato's twin. Orochimaru had probably planted at least one spy, maybe more, and one of them had stumbled upon the blood test he had ordered after Harissen-san's capture.

Not having the whole picture, Orochimaru had jumped to the most logical explanation. At least, logical for someone like him. Sarutobi wasn't sure which was more preposterous between a clone and a long-lost twin showing up out of nowhere, though.

He couldn't help but smirk at the idea.

"What's so funny, old man?" Orochimaru asked, annoyance crossing his face.

"Nothing," Hiruzen said with a small smile. "I just know something you don't." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, visibly annoyed.

Before the Snake Sannin could say anything, though, Jiraiya landed on the roof just outside of the barrier. The Toad Sannin gave a cold look at his former comrade, who reciprocated the look twofold. Then his attention moved to the wall of purple light with an interested look, feigning disinterested in his former comrade.

"Hello Jiraiya. So kind of you to join us," Sarutobi said as if he was greeting a genin showing up late.

"Too bad Tsunade-hime isn't here, sensei. It would've been a great reunion," Jiraiya said, rubbing his chin as he surveyed the barrier. "Hmn. This one is going to be tricky."

"You may want to hurry," he told his former student, as his other former student opened his mouth wide. With a disgusting sound, the hilt of Orochimaru's trademark sword started to emerge from his throat. Sarutobi spun the staff in a low arc to stop him from unsheathing Kusanagi. Before he could make contact, a tree exploded from the roof they were standing on. Enma crashed against the tree, scraping away bark and wood alike but not even coming close to his intended target.

The Nidaime moved behind Sarutobi, hands so fast that he could barely follow them. Sarutobi substituted himself with one of the still intact shingles and evaded a powerful water jutsu that would've surely thrown him against the barrier, if not outright killed him on the spot.

"Don't rush me, old man," Jiraiya calmly said as he produced ink, scrolls, and other sealing materials.

The two former Kage rushed forward, and Sarutobi was thrust into battle once again, hoping that his student would bring down the barrier in time.

---

Raw power was flowing through him. It felt like being on fire and being submerged in an icy river at the same time, yet it wasn't unpleasant in the slightest.

All the doubts and reservations about using it were gone, like snow in the summer sun.

Power was meant to be exercised, especially over such inferior beings that dared to stand against him. He grinned at them, and the fiery shape surrounding him did the same.

"J-jinchuuriki," one of the mortals stuttered, sounding almost hysterical. "Jinchuuri—"

With a simple gesture, a lightning bolt struck the mere man in the face. Looking at the way the panic spread among the ninja ranks, the Dovahkiin briefly pondered if 'Jinchuuriki' meant 'Run'. But it was quickly drowned by the satisfaction he felt at seeing most of his enemies turn tail and flee.

That was the proper way to react to a dragon's wrath.

Some brave or foolish souls chose otherwise, though. One of the females rushed at him, trying to chop his head off with a strange weapon that reminded him of a straight sickle. Her aim was true and on mark, but the blade was stopped by his protective aura.

Before she could realize what had happened, the Dragonborn tore the veil between Oblivion and Nirn with a simple spell. With a purple flash, an ice atronach manifested itself in the street. Without hesitation, the daedra struck at the closest person that was threatening its master.

The female shinobi, though, was quick on her feet and managed to jump away in time. The atronach, having lost its target, threw itself at the other shinobi. Uncaring of what his servant was doing, the Dovahkiin looked around, searching for a new quarry.

He spotted a few of the shinobi running in terror at the end of the street. A crazed smile curved his mouth. They should've taken the rooftops. Not that it would've helped much.

"Wuld Nah Kest!" The power of his Thu'um threw him forward, faster than a sabre cat's pounce. In the blink of an eye he had moved to the middle of the group of Akaviri warriors.

As he spun around, one of the shinobi managed, probably from sheer desperation, to stab him in the shoulder. He just grabbed the ninja's hand with his own, so that he couldn't flee, and slashed the man's throat with one of his claws, ripping away a good chunk of meat and blood. The man fell, clutching at the gaping wound.

The others backed off, retreating as they threw everything they had at the Dovahkiin. He just kept walking, not even bothering to defend himself. There was no need. A shinobi stood his ground and took a large breath, before shooting fire from his mouth. That actually caught his interest, and for a moment let the flames engulf him. The fire caressed him, but his dragon soul protected him from most of the harm.

The shinobi's expression when he emerged by the inferno created by his spell was the most satisfying sight he had seen all day.

"Ven—" the Dragonborn intoned, "Gaar Nos!"

A gust of wind exploded from his maw, hitting the fire-using shinobi and knocking him off his feet. Then the wind quickly picked up, turning into a cyclone that devastated everything in his path. The Dragonborn's enemies were scattered everywhere, slamming against buildings and each other before being thrown out onto the street. Before dispersing, the small tornado slammed into a house, ripping most of the roof from its frame.

He observed it for just a moment and then shrugged at the collateral damage. Roofs could be rebuilt.

His attention went back to the shinobi, now looking much worse for the wear. Raising his hands, he started to conjure a sphere of flames with slow, powerful motions.

Power was strength, and might made right. That was the dragons' way, sculpted forever in every dragon's soul. He knew that he was stronger than every living dragon, he had proven so in the past.

And that power would be unleashed against those who dared to oppose him.

It was with great satisfaction that he let loose the storm of fire down the street.

---

"I hope Shikamaru will be alright," Naruto muttered as he leaped from the rooftop.

"I hope so too," Sakura said as they landed, before taking another leap. Shikamaru had told them to go on as he remained behind to distract a group of enemies, but it still didn't feel right to the young Uzumaki. They should've beat the crap out of them after Shikamaru had caught them with that shadow-grabby-thing he did.

"He knows what he's doing," Pakkun, the little dog that sensei put in charge of them, said. "Focus on the mission."

"Do you still have Sasuke's scent?" Sakura asked worriedly, as the trio jumped from yet another roof.

"Not much further. We're gaining on them," the dog said as he continued sniffing the air without even slowing down. They were almost in the southern outskirts of Konoha now. It seemed that this part of the village had been spared by the ferocious fights that still raged in the distance, but if they kept going, they would end up in the forest that surrounded the village.

As they scaled a tall apartment building, a glimpse of movement on a relatively distant rooftop caught Naruto's attention. As he quickly turned in that direction, he immediately spotted Sasuke's distinctive duck-butt hair.

"There he is!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger excitedly. Sasuke was standing on top of a roof, apparently not having noticed their presence.

"Thank goodness he's okay," Sakura exclaimed with a sigh of relief. Naruto felt a twinge of jealousy at that but decided to ignore it. He had been worried for the bastard, too. Then he realized that something was off about the whole situation.

"Wait, where's that Gaara guy?" he asked to no one in particular as he started looking around. It wasn't possible that the guy had just let Sasuke go, given how bloodthirsty he was.

"He's there," Pakkun half-growled, settling into a more aggressive stance. Naruto didn't realize what the pug meant until he took a better look at Sasuke's surroundings. The Uchiha was standing in front of a large sphere that he had dismissed as some weird-looking piece of architecture. Was that made of… sand?

He guessed that that was where Gaara had hidden, but why? Surely not to get away from Sasuke. The more he looked at it, the more he had a bad feeling about the whole situation. Something stirred inside of his stomach, and it sure wasn't his lunch.

Whatever Gaara was doing inside of his sphere of sand had somehow caught the Kyuubi's attention.

---

No one was left on the entire street.

He was surrounded by scorch marks, craters, and scattered or broken weapons. At the very end of the street he could see his ice atronach running away, probably chasing someone. There were corpses everywhere and at least one of the buildings was on fire. And it was spreading. He wasn't really sure how that had happened.

Conrad took a deep breath, still covered by the ethereal cloak of his dragon soul. It was done, time to lock the dragon, along with its power, back into the dark hole it had come from.. He closed his eyes, concentrated on his soul and, not surprisingly, was met with a sense of resistance and refusal.

The dragon didn't want to slumber. It was awake and it wanted to hunt for more prey. It longed for battle and bloodshed, to show to these puny mortals that inhabited this aedra and daedra-forsaken country who was in charge.

Conrad shook his head, reminding himself that he was a mortal. He wasn't a dragon; he just happened to be born with the soul of one. He was better than all the bloodthirsty monsters he had put down during the years, be they dragons or other immortal beings.

He stood for a good minute or two there, inwardly struggling with his soul's most basic instincts. Conrad wondered what philosophers and priests would say about that. It'd probably depend on what they had felt about Skyrim's Civil War, he thought, and his role in ending it.

He scoffed. Who cared about what people thought? Certainly not him. He was the Dragonborn, and he was in charge, not his soul. With that last thought, he felt the dragon-shaped mantle disappear, and his mind became clearer.

Dusting himself a little, he felt a sting from his shoulder. Right, he had been stabbed. He picked one of the vials from his pouch and chugged it down. The pain subsided, and the wound—along with all the other scratches over his body—started itching as the flesh mended itself.

As he threw away the empty vial, he heard a whimper of pain close by. Spinning around, he called on his magicka and his hands were covered by lightning, ready to be thrown. One of the men he had just fought was lying against the wall, clearly alive but unmoving. After a moment Conrad recognized him as one of the first ones that had attacked him. Terror was written across his features, and the awkward angle he was lying at pointed to a broken back.

Conrad lowered his hands, letting the spell die before being cast. Instead, he picked one of the discarded weapons from the ground. It was a short sword that reminded him of the ones Delphine had insisted he become at least comfortable enough with, even if he preferred axes. It would do.

As he walked closer, the crippled man's face tensed, and desperation creeped in as he realized Conrad's intent. Looking at him, the man opened his mouth a few times, as if he wanted to say something.

Conrad just drove the blade straight into his heart with both of his hands, making it as quick as he could. The look of shock on the man's face quickly faded, as did the light in his eyes.

Now it was really done.

"Harissen-san?" someone called from his left. Conrad spun around, startled by the sudden voice, yanking the sword from the corpse and preparing for another fight. Then he saw the pair of white masks, and stopped just before taking a swing.

"By Talos, don't do that!" Conrad protested, lowering the sword.

The masked shinobi cocked his head a bit, confused by the unfamiliar word. From what Conrad remembered, he was their leader or something akin to an officer. "Apologies. We merely wanted to ensure that you were not injured."

"What are you doing here?" Conrad asked as he cleaned the blade off on the corpse's clothes.

"We came here to protect you," the other shinobi said neutrally, as he looked around at the corpses. And the burning building.

"Protection?" Conrad questioned with a puzzled and skeptical look.

"You're a non-combatant, at least as far as our ranks are concerned," the leading shinobi explained. "And a guest."

"A what?" he asked in confusion, not recognizing some of the words. Damn language barrier!

"A guest," the shinobi repeated.

"I understood that," Conrad said, annoyed. If what had happened to him was the treatment for guests, he didn't want to know what ninja did to their enemies. "The other word, what that?"

"A non-combatant. A civilian." At that, the Nord could only raise his eyebrow in utter bewilderment. "Only shinobi fight for the village."

"City," Conrad corrected automatically. One day he would finally make the shinobi realize the error of their chosen terminology. "You just wanted excuse to protect home, yes?"

Before the shinobi officer could answer, though, more people appeared on the rooftops, jumping from one side of the street to the other. Conrad almost started shooting fireballs everywhere, but quickly noticed that the two masked guards didn't seem concerned.

It was Konoha's own forces, finally showing up to save the day. Most of them just jumped from one building to the next—something that Conrad was still finding breath-taking, and he was a wizard—without stopping. But some slowed and jumped down to street level.

Conrad recognized one of the trio, and he couldn't help but smirk at the face the man made when he finally noticed him.

"Inoichi," Conrad greeted the other blond. "What you doing here?"

Inoichi stared at him in mute shock, probably thinking that the world itself was crashing on him, so Conrad checked his two companions. One was a big, hefty man with a huge mane for hair and, strangely enough, was wearing what seemed to be armour. Conrad had almost started to believe that shinobi were forbidden from wearing armour, or just didn't know what it was.

He was also looking at Conrad with a stunned expression, jaw half-dropped.

The other one instead had black spiky hair pulled in the most gravity-defying hairstyle Conrad had ever seen, a goatee and battle scars on his face. The way he looked at him, though, was difficult to read. He silently stared at him for a long moment, expressionless, before his gaze moved to the carnage on the street. Without saying a word, he turned towards Inoichi, as if to silently ask for an explanation.

This seemed to shake the other blond man out of his daze, since he suddenly remembered how to speak. "We were told that there were a lot of enemies in this area, and then there was a huge spike of killing intent…" he started, trying to ignore the looks he was receiving from his comrades. "Was that you?"

"Me?" Conrad asked, wondering what 'killing intent' meant. There had been a lot of killing, so it was probably a question about that. "Yes, I kill them."

"That's not what I meant—"

"Inoichi," the large man called all of sudden. Even the spiky-haired one seemed surprised by the forcefully neutral tone in his voice. "You knew that Minato was alive, and you told us nothing?"

Oh. Oh.

Right. He didn't have his beard anymore. Something for which he would still be mourning if wasn't a warraging right now. He looked like Minato...

"No time," Conrad said, rolling his eyes. With a flicker of his fingers, he cast a clairvoyance spell. The blue light trailed past the ninja trio, and he just followed. As he passed close by, the spiky-haired man kept looking at him, rubbing his chin.

"Wait, where are you going?" Inoichi asked.

"Yeah, come on Minato. You can't just—"

"Naruto is that way. You deal with this." Conrad called as he sped up his pace. Seeing that he was leaving, the guards started following him.

"Naruto? As in, Uzumaki Naruto, Chouji's former classmate?" the fat man asked to no one in particular, before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, shit."

The silent, spiky-haired man just turned towards Inoichi as if waiting for an explanation. Inoichi groaned loudly in frustration, already wondering how the Hokage was going to take the news.

---

As battles to the death between pre-pubescent teens went, it had gone well until everything went wrong.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as the arm-thing full of claws destroyed the balcony he had been standing on mere seconds ago.

Sakura dodged the inhumanly oversized appendage as well, while the figure it was attached to focused most of his attention back on Sasuke.

"It's Gaara, that arm is made up of his sand!" she exclaimed. "But... his face... it's like part of his body was warped. What kind of jutsu can do that?"

"I don't think it's a jutsu," Naruto said pensively, placing a hand over his gut. It was probably caused by whatever that guy had inside of him. Like what had happened to him on Tazuna's bridge, but this was worse. Much worse.

"What?" Sakura asked absently. Before Naruto could answer, Gaara's deformed face turned towards him though, and he could fully appreciate the sight of the twisted mouth full of fangs and the inhuman eye that was looking straight at him.

"You... you are the one from the hospital..." Gaara growled, as drool dripped from of the inhuman part of his face. Naruto remembered that encounter very well, even if he hadn't thought much about it since he had met his uncle immediately after it. Naruto hoped that he was alright, since his uncle wasn't a ninja.

Sasuke suddenly jumped at Gaara from behind, his left hand coated in lightning and emitting a high-pitched chirping. The half-transformed ninja spun around to face the threat, swinging at the Uchiha with his monstrous arm. The Chidori cut straight through the sand like it was paper, splitting the transformed appendage in half, and Gaara cried out in pain.

A cry of pain that quickly morphed into a deranged laugh.

"Yes. YES! This is what I've been looking for!" Gaara exclaimed, suddenly excited. "Fighting someone this strong… it will prove my existence for sure!"

"Is this guy completely crazy?" Sakura asked, a twinge of fear in her voice.

"No," Naruto replied grimly as he quickly extracted two kunai from his holster. "They made him that way."

She looked at him with a puzzled expression, but Naruto didn't elaborate further. As he started running towards the roof's edge, he threw the two kunai at Gaara. The sand-covered boy turned, raising the sand arm in an almost lazy way to stop the two weapons.

Naruto leaped leaped up to join the fight as Sasuke took advantage of the opening he had created. As Gaara's attention was on Naruto, the Uchiha threw a hail of shuriken in the blink of an eye, aiming for the sand-user's face. Even if caught by surprise, Gaara only had to move his massive claw-hand in front of him to stop them.

Then Naruto landed with both of his feet against Gaara's ugly drooling mug, kicking with all of his strength. The impact managed to knock the Suna genin off balance, pushing him back off the roof.

"What are you doing, idiot?!" Sasuke asked as Naruto landed besides him.

"Helping your sorry ass!" he replied, crossing his fingers and creating a dozen of clones, knowing that he would need them soon. As a matter of fact, a huge sand arm appeared from the edge of a nearby roof, and Gaara started climbing up like a demon from the pits of hell.

"Can't you help somehow?" Sakura asked, glancing toward Kakashi's dog summon.

"I'm not much of a fighter, sorry," Pakkun quickly answered, completely unapologetic.

"Seriously?!" she exclaimed in an annoyed tone. She started rummaging through the equipment in her pouch while her teammates were busy with not dying.

Gaara gleefully ravaged through wave after wave of shadow clones, crushing, tearing or slamming then against the buildings with such strength to make them pop out of existence and leave serious dents in the walls, as well as shattered windows.

"Sasuke, follow my lead!" Naruto called as he ran towards Gaara.

"What?" Sasuke asked, confused by either the blond's overconfidence or by the fact that Naruto had just tried to give him an order.

"Just do it!" he said as he jumped towards the enemy, creating even more clones.

Sasuke followed, muttering to himself about suicidally confident blondes.

As Naruto landed, Gaara grabbed the clone right beside him and tore it apart, the sand claws ripping its left arm off and causing it to disperse before it could even yell in panic. Naruto kept moving around the crazed genin, swapping place with his clones or just creating more, so that Gaara was distracted trying to catch him, becoming more frustrated and enraged at the sight of puffs of smoke instead of fountains of blood.

Seeing Gaara so distracted, Sasuke sprinted, raising a punch to strike. Then, Gaara turned, and seeing his so-yearned-for target stopped caring about Naruto and his clones.

"UCHIHA SASUKE!" he yelled, his sand-arm racing towards Sasuke in a way similar to a spear. Seeing Sasuke about to be skewered, Naruto started making hand seals, hoping to not screw it up.

Tiger. Boar. Ox. Dog… Snake? Yes it was Snake!

There was a short-lived blast of smoke and then, a clone had taken Sasuke's place. The clone actually sent a betrayed look at the original Naruto as the sand claws destroyed it. If Sasuke had been confused by his sudden displacing, he didn't show it. Instead, he took advantage of his new position to deliver a devastating flying kick aimed at the back of Gaara's head. There was a crunching sound as Gaara's sand armour broke around Sasuke's foot.

Naruto followed his teammate's example by rushing inside Gaara's lowered guard and delivering an uppercut punch to the Suna genin's chin. He saw cracks forming on Gaara's face, and his clones charged as one to deliver a nice beating on the outnumbered enemy.

Gaara blindly spun his arm around with a frustrated growl, thrashing wildly and yelling nonsense. Naruto felt a flash of pain as the trunk-like sand construct slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling away.

Seeing the edge of the roof getting dangerously close, he quickly grabbed a kunai and planted it into the flat roof. The tile broke, but he was slowed just enough to avoid falling off. One of his clones wasn't so quick-thinking though and fell with a panicked yell.

Getting to his feet, he noticed that Gaara was having trouble standing up, clutching his head with his human arm while the monstrous one kept swinging around and causing minor property damage. Naruto guessed that sand armour or not, a kick to the head was a kick to the head. Then, realizing that he was inwardly complementing Sasuke, he reminded himself that he had punched Gaara, too.

He saw Sasuke standing a short distance from him, having managed to not be thrown off the roof himself.

"Can't you use Kakashi-sensei's jutsu again?" he asked, seeing the relatively vulnerable state Gaara was in.

"I've already reached the limit," Sasuke explained as he retrieved more shuriken and kunai from his weapon pouch. "It's a jutsu that uses too much chakra."

Hearing their voices, Gaara stopped thrashing and slowly got back on his feet. He tilted his head, and his inhuman eye burned like molten gold, staring right at Naruto.

"Dammit," Naruto growled, creating more shadow clones as Gaara leaped at them both in a way that reminded Naruto of a predator pouncing on their prey. While the monstrous genin was still in mid-flight, though, two kunai pierced into the side morphed by the sand and almost immediately exploded, sending Gaara off-course and causing him to crash onto a nearby balcony.

"Did you do that?" Naruto asked Sasuke as his clones kept staring with an array of confused expressions.

"No," the Uchina said briefly, looking past the blond. Naruto turned around and saw Sakura standing on a roof on the other side of the street, quickly wrapping an explosive tag around a kunai handle.

"Don't just stand there!" she yelled, throwing the newly-prepped explosive kunai at Gaara. The kunai embedded itself in the balcony's railing and the tag started hissing. Before the Suna genin could shake off the previous explosion, it went off, causing him to fall down to the alley below.

"Come on guys! Let's go!" one of the clones shouted before rushing down the building with what may have passed as a decent war cry. All the other clones followed in a similar fashion, to buy the genin team more time.

Naruto and Sasuke took the opportunity to regroup with Sakura and Pakkun while Gaara was besieged by Naruto's clones in a dirty backstreet. Looking down, they saw some villagers running away, scared out of their mind by the battle raging nearby.

"We can't fight him here," Sakura said. "There are too many civilians around."

"Then we lure him away from the village," Sasuke told them, determined.

"How?" Naruto asked. "We could use some clones as bait—"

"He wants to kill me," the Uchiha interrupted him. "So, I'll be the bait."

"Wrong," the Sand nin's voice said. But what had climbed on the rooftop didn't resemble Gaara anymore. It was a bestial thing, with little or no human features left. His right arm had turned into a long and clawed appendage as well, his face was completely transformed and Naruto could've sworn he saw a tail swinging from the genin's back with deceptive laziness. Gaara was nothing short of a monster now. "I want to kill all of you."

Naruto, and his teammates as well, stared at the terrible apparition with a mixture of horror and awe. Then Gaara moved. Naruto snapped back to reality and made the hand seal for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, pumping as much chakra as he could into it.

A veritable sea of orange appeared between them and Gaara. The clones, true to the original's nature, charged with reckless abandon, momentarily stopping Gaara's advance with their sheer numbers. It didn't matter that they poofed out of existence with the slightest blow. They never stopped and there were always more.

"Run, you two!" Naruto yelled at his two shocked teammates, who didn't need to be told twice. The trio started make a beeline for the village's walls as Gaara's bestial roars echoed behind them. Naruto didn't dare turn around. "Run, run, run!"

"How did you even make so many clones?" Sasuke asked as they kept moving. They heard a louder roar from behind them.

"I don't think now is the time for that!"

"You get him out of the village, I'll go get help!" Pakkun told them before jumping away from the group. "Don't die!"

---

Sarutobi was getting tired.

Had he been more vain, he could've justified it by telling himself that his opponents were three of the most dangerous and powerful shinobi that had ever lived. The simple truth was that he was old. Much older than any shinobi had the right to be.

What had kept him alive so far was the sheer experience he had accumulated in his decades as a ninja and the vast repertoire of jutsu at his disposal. That and the fact that the Shodaime and Nidaime weren't able to fight at the peak of their power, the only silver lining in seeing his predecessors turned into simple-minded automatons.

He didn't dare look at what was going on outside of the barrier, because even a simple glance away from his opponents would be inviting death. He was aware that Jiraiya was preparing something and that there were more shinobi around the barrier. Hiruzen just hoped that his former student had thought about a way to stop the two mindless Kage, because Hiruzen could only think about one way to do so. Even if it would cost him his life and soul.

Attempting to gain some time before having to resort to that, Hiruzen summoned his lagging chakra and released a stream of fire from his mouth, aiming straight for Orochimaru.

The flames were promptly stopped by a wooden barrier created by the Shodaime's Mokuton, while the Nidaime extinguished any flames before they could spread with an suiton jutsu of his own. The impact of water and fire generated a thick cloud of steam that almost obscured the two opponents from Sarutobi's sight.

Without warning, the thinning mist exploded as Orochimaru emerged from it, Kusanagi ready to strike. Sarutobi raised his own adamantine staff, and metal clashed against metal. Then Kusanagi left a small scratch Sarutobi's weapon, which yelled in pain.

Sarutobi held fast, sending a silent apology to Enma as he did so. But even if Enma was pretty much unbreakable in his adamantine form, Sarutobi certainly wasn't. He felt his bones creaking as he was pushed back, ignoring the ache in his joints as much as he could.

With a great push, he shoved Orochimaru away, their weapons scraping as they parted. Hiruzen found himself panting, trying to catch his breath.

"Getting tired, sensei?" Orochimaru asked mockingly as the two resurrected Kage silently emerged from what remained of the steam. "At your age, you may want to consider retirement."

"I did retire once, did you forget that?" Sarutobi rebutted, leaning against the staff for just a moment. It seemed that he had no other options left. He put his hands together, ready to make the series of seals that would end his final battle, one way or another. Before he could even start channeling chakra, though, he heard a sharp sound, like a cacophony of breaking glass.

All around him in the air were purple shards of the former barrier, now falling without purpose and dissolving before they could reach the roof they were all standing on.

Jiraiya had actually done it.

Sarutobi felt a faint smile forming as the Toad Sannin appeared by his side, accompanied by two of his summons, armed to the teeth.

"Took you long enough," he said without looking in his direction.

"You should know to not rush an artist, sensei," Jiraiya said.

Hiruzen dared to take a brief look around, and saw that more shinobi had shown, either on the roof itself or on the buildings around it. Reinforcements had come.

Looking back at Orochimaru, he could see that his former pupil was absolutely livid. Even his four servants that had held the barrier together didn't seem to eager to get close to their master right now.

"Orochimaru—" Hiruzen began, unsure of what he wanted to say. Perhaps it would've been one last attempt to reach that young and brilliant boy he had met all those years ago. He would never know though, because hearing his name seemed to be the last straw for Orochimaru. With a snarl, the Snake Sannin swung his sword, its blade extending to bridge the gap between former master and student.

One of Jiraiya's toads deflected the attack with both of its own blades, cleaving the weapons in half.

Chaos exploded on the rooftop, as both sides rushed at each other. Sarutobi saw some chunin and ANBU jump in to face Orochimaru's followers, while Jiraiya's summons were trying to keep Senju Tobirama occupied. That left himself and Jiraiya against Orochimaru and Hashirama.

Wood spikes were sent against them, forcing them to move out of the way or be impaled. Orochimaru swung Kusanagi again, trying to cut them down in mid-air. Sarutobi quickly spun Enma between his hands, pushing the elongated blade out of the way.

"That jutsu," Jiraiya said as they landed, his eyes locked on the Shodaime. "It's the Nidaime's forbidden technique, right? Orochimaru managed to reproduce it?"

"Yes. As far as I know the only conventional way to stop it is to kill the summoner," Sarutobi explained. "But my predecessors may do too much damage to the village before that."

"I have an idea," Jiraiya said, producing a bundle of sealing papers from the inside of his kimono. "I'll need you to keep Orochimaru busy, though."

"I think I can manage that," Hiruzen said grimly, resting the end of Enma's staff form on the roof. In less time than it took to blink, Hiruzen threw two kunai with explosive tags at Orochimaru's feet. His student jumped away to avoid the explosion, landing on the branches of the tree that had been created during the fight.

Sarutobi rushed towards him, running over the stalks that had almost impaled him before. Orochimaru started moving towards him as well, with long and fast strides to meet him midway.

Hashirama appeared in Hiruzen's vision, ready to block Hiruzen to protect Orochimaru. Sarutobi swung Enma with all his remaining strength without slowing the adamantine staff striking the Shodaime's cheek. Part of the ancient shinobi's face exploded in a small cloud of ash as he was thrown off the tree by the impact.

The Sandaime was aware that Hashirama had landed perfectly at the base of the tree, no worse for wear than before. He was also aware that Jiraiya was charging at the Shodaime even before the latter had landed. All his attention, though, was focused on his own opponent.

With eerie flexibility, Orochimaru dodged the staff, Orochimaru's blade whistling with each slash he took. Once again staff and legendary sword clashed as Sarutobi deflected or parried the attacks he couldn't evade. Sarutobi decided to remain on the defensive, since he just had to gain some time to allow Jiraiya to accomplish his plan. He prayed it would be enough to stop the two Senju brothers.

Orochimaru made to swing again from his left, and Sarutobi followed with his staff. At the last moment though, Orochimaru spun the other way, and he realized that it had been a feint. Orochimaru's free hand shot towards him, and a snake sprang from his sleeve, its fangs aiming for Hiruzen's neck.

Hiruzen swatted the snake away with one of his hands as he jumped back to gain some distance from the venomous reptile. That was when Orochimaru swung Kusanagi again, extending the blade.

Sharp, furious pain like he had never felt before exploded in Sarutobi's right leg, and he found himself unable to stand. He was falling, having lost his chakra grip on the tree bark.

He landed on what remained of the roof before he could redirect his fall, and found himself on his side, suddenly feeling very tired.

The sound of fighting caught his attention, and he turned just enough to have a look. Senju Hashirama was standing mere meters from him, most of his torso and left arm covered by papers with various seals inscribed on them. Jiraiya was dancing, for the lack of a better term, around his opponent, and Hiruzen noticed that the Shodaime seemed to be unable to move his left arm or rotate his chest. The Toad Sage applied two more paper tags to his opponent's body, and it seemed to slow the resurrected Kage a bit more. Not bad, for an improvised plan.

He could see the toads and most of the other Konoha shinobi trying to keep the Nidaime at bay, but he knew they wouldn't be able to handle him for long. Especially with Orochimaru still on the battlefield. Planting his arms on the roof, he pushed, trying to get up.

And promptly fell down on his right side, which made him feel another rush of pain. He also felt colder all of sudden, for some reason.

Looking down at his leg to inspect the wound, he found himself staring at nothing. His right leg wasn't in the place to which it belonged. He struggled to get a better look, and saw that his limb ended in a bloody stump right below the knee. A large pool of blood was forming, which slowly poured down the roof following its inclination.

His mind fought the tiredness that was overtaking him, and he realized that he was going into shock from the loss of his leg and from the consequential blood loss. He felt hands closing around his right knee, and he had to suppress a yell of pain. Turning around, he saw that Enma, now back in his real form, was packing his stump with his bare hands, while an ANBU was opening a field first-aid kit.

He tried to warn them about Orochimaru, since it was just a matter of seconds before he would come to finish him, but he was calmly told to not overexert himself. Or at least that was what he thought Enma had said to him, he could barely hear their words.

Looking up at the tree, he searched for any sign of Orochimaru, but the Snake Sannin was nowhere to be seen.

---

The room was mostly in the dark. Not because it was night, but because the shack had no windows and their guards had ordered them to stay inside with the door closed. So their only source of light were the magical spheres floating above the three of them which, while doing their job perfectly, gave a bit of an eerie atmosphere to the place.

Still better than being locked in the city's dungeon, though.

"Ta'Sava is bored," the Khajiit yawned, showing an impressive set of jaws. "Do you know any jokes?"

"Be serious. There's a war out there, people are dying," Beta admonished with no malice in her voice. This caused Ta'Sava to look ashamed all the same, though. At least for a few minutes.

"Ta'Sava is still bored," he repeated.

"You know, since we're alone we could take a peek Master Conrad's journal," Sven said, looking at their teacher's sleeping spot and the few items sprawled upon it, among which said journal stood out.

"Oooh, Ta'Sava likes that idea," the cat boy said, swiftly getting up to pick up the item that promised to break his boredom.

"Good luck. I think it's written in Nedic," Beta deadpanned, which caused her fellow apprentices to turn to look at her.

"How does Beta know that?" Ta'Sava asked, book still closed in his hands.

Beta valiantly withstood her peers' curiosity for a brief moment before blushing a little and looking away, muttering something about genuine curiosity and trouble getting to sleep. Maybe. Her voice kinda trailed off during that last part of that.

Ta'Sava opened his mouth to say something, probably to tease the poor girl, but stopped as his left ear started twitching. "Someone just arrived outside," he half-whispered. "They're talking with the guards."

He had not even finished saying that when his two friends scrambled towards the door to hear what was being said since they didn't have hearing as good as his.

"What are they saying?" Beta whispered, pressing her ear against the door. "Is Master Conrad back?"

"Hush, I'm trying to listen," Sven muttered. "I think that another group of guards arrived. They're saying… something about us?"

"They said… wait, Ta'Sava thinks that the word is 'move'?" Ta'Sava wondered for a brief moment. "Yes, they said something about moving the prisoners."

"And here I thought we were guests," Sven snarked, emphasizing the last word.

"Maybe their enemies are moving this way and they want to take us somewhere safe?" Beta suggested.

"That doesn't justify treating us like criminals."

"Strange. Ta'Sava thinks that the guards that remained here are not agreeing with—" A sound from outside interrupted the Khajiit. A sound that they would've been able to hear even without eavesdropping.

The sound of two blades meeting each other.

"Oh, no," Beta whispered, her face even paler than what it should've been because of the cold magical lights.

"I-I don't understand," Sven said, a tinge of fear in his voice as the sound of fighting from outside escalated. "What's going on out there?"

"Don't worry, there's no windows and the door is closed," Ta'Sava said, attempting to reassure the others. "They can't get in."

Sadly, his words didn't seem to reassure Sven at all, who started to slowly back away from the entrance. "That door doesn't have a lock."

Similar expressions of horror appeared on Ta'Sava and Beta's faces. It was true, the door didn't have a lock. Master Conrad had said that a golden cage didn't need a lock, or something along those lines. That, and he had believed that they were afraid that he would take Inoichi as a hostage and lock the door.

Suddenly, the door started moving, opening inwards.

Beta was the first to react, throwing herself against the door and slamming it shut, pressing herself against it to keep it in place. That seemed to snap the other two back to reality. Ta'Sava started pushing the table, and Beta moved just enough to allow the tall Khajiit to push it against the door. It was a light table, but it was better than nothing.

Sven channelled his magicka instead, half-whispering arcane words to help himself focus and not panic in a reasonably scary situation. In a matter of seconds the spell was cast and a clear blue rune appeared on the door frame. If anyone managed to get inside, they would be enveloped by an electrical discharge.

Ta'Sava and Beta started to cast some spells as well, either on the door or on themselves. It wasn't going to be enough though. Sven started waving his arms, trying to cast a spell he had learned sneaking around the Arcanaeum, even if he knew he had barely the reserves or expertise to pull it off.

But they needed help, so he was going to summon some.

---

Conrad closed his eyes to focus again on the boy, releasing the clairvoyance spell so that it would show him the way to reach his nephew. He kept following the blue light at a hurried pace, pleased to see that Naruto had moved far away from the worst of the battle. Actually, the street he was walking through reminded him of a ghost town. It was like the people had run away from the battle as well, leaving half-eaten food on counters or groceries on market stands. Which raised his hopes to find the boy safe and sound.

"Harissen-san, please—" one of the guards that had decided to follow him as if they were lost ducklings pleaded once again.

"No," he said before the masked man could finish.

"But we would be much faster if—"

"I am not piece of furniture to be moved around," Conrad exclaimed turning around, doing his best to not snap at them. "I am a man! I will walk!"

The guards suddenly looked startled by his declaration of self-sufficient locomotion. Scared, even, much to Conrad's confusion. He briefly wondered if his words had sounded harsher in Akaviri, after all it seemed to be a language with way too formalities and honorifics.

Then there was an incredibly loud roar.

Conrad turned as the roar echoed all across the city, and for a moment, he couldn't believe what he was staring at. In the forest outside of the city, a brief distance from its walls, a small weirdly-shaped mountain had appeared. Or at least he thought it was a mountain until he noticed the massive limbs and the giant tail wobbling behind it. Before he could voice his confusion with a brief but concise—not to mention vile—exclamation, there was a huge explosion of smoke in the forest that tore down some trees and another massive creature appeared. This one looked like a giant dark red toad, only with appropriately-sized clothes and, as if the situation wasn't already weird enough, it was smoking from a pipe as big as a chimney.

The two beasts faced each other before the toad produced a sword roughly the size of a watchtower from somewhere. Conrad was utterly convinced that Akavir's compensation for the quantity of monsters with the quality of said monsters had now reached new, unregistered levels of ridiculousness. If this is what roamed around these lands, he was actually surprised there was human civilization at all.

The monsters had begun their fight, but as much as he would've liked to see two gargantuan beings like these tear each other apart, since it wasn't something you saw every day, he had more important things to do.

He took exactly one step before being filled with a new-found sense of dread. He looked back at the colossal duel in the distance, and, without daring to look away, cast the spell once again, concentrating as much as he could on the mental picture of Naruto.

The tracking spell did its job, and as much as he had wished otherwise, the pale blue light darted towards the forest outside, where the two monsters were fighting in a way that was reshaping the landscape.

Conrad didn't even realize that he had started running, just that he wasn't fast enough. The guards were easily keeping pace with him, and one called to him, saying something, probably asking if he wanted to be picked up now. He ignored them, attempting to recall how a spell he hadn't used in years worked. It took him way too long for his taste.

There was a purple flash as he unleashed it, and a skeletal equine with a cold, flaming mane appeared in front of him. Conrad kept moving and vaulted on Arvak's back, kicking the undead horse so that it would launch itself into a gallop.

Doing his best to not be thrown off the saddle, he took a look at the battle to see if anything had changed. Just as he caught a glimpse of the two monsters, the giant toad turned into a giant… fox-bunny thing with human-like hands and nine tails?

Conrad just stared dumbly at it for a few seconds before deciding that it didn't matter whatever those monsters were turning into. Or the lack of logic behind it.

He would fight both if he had to in order to reach Naruto.

---

Naruto swat away a little blue light as if it was a pestering mosquito. He remembered seeing something like this when coming back to the village after their mission in Wave, but they had never bothered him specifically. But since the start of the invasion he had been dealing with one of them every few minutes.

"Naruto... why did you transform the giant toad in the Kyuubi?" Sakura asked very slowly, looking in awe at the veritable sea of bright orange fur the three of them were standing on. Or lying, in Sasuke's case.

"Uuuh... it was the first badass beast I could think of?" Naruto half-asked, nervously. In hindsight, he should've picked something different.

"Nevermind why," Sasuke muttered, ignoring the pain caused by the cursed seal ravaging his body. Trying to use it to fuel a third Chidori had backfired spectacularly. "How did you transform the toad at all?!"

"I have lots of chakra?" he offered.

"That's barely an explanation," Sakura deadpanned.

"Hey, brats!" the transformed Gamabunta yelled at them. "This is not the right time to be chatting between yourselves."

The three genin glanced up, suddenly silent as they looked over the figure of Shukaku, the thing that lived inside Gaara and was now able to roam free as long as its host was asleep.

"Prepare yourself. We may have only one chance at this," the henged boss toad told them as he grasped the ground, preparing to sprint.

"I'm out of explosives," Sakura said with a tired voice, unable to look away from the monster they were about to charge in an all-in gamble.

"Here, take mine," Sasuke groaned, handing her a stack of tags.

"Yeah, mine too," Naruto agreed, throwing his whole equipment pouch at her. He turned to face Shukaku, his eyes filled with determination. "Let's do this!"

"Hold tight!" Gamabunta yelled as he rushed forward. The kids had to grab the fur on his head to avoid being thrown off the toad-turned-fox's back.

The two beasts collided, claws clashing in a terrible battle for dominance. Gamabunta used his new claws to grab Shukaku and bit him in the neck with his massive jaw, trying to hold the giant tanuki still. Naruto used the momentum of the charge to leap onto Shukaku's hardened, sandy shoulders. He started running towards the head, his mind set on reaching Gaara.

Sand tendrils formed on the tanuki's surface, trying to snatch the blond genin as he advanced. He dodged as many as he could, and everytime it seemed that one of the sandy tentacles was about to catch him, a kunai struck its base, detonating on impact. Thankfully, Sakura had a better aim than he did. He might have ended up with a few mouthfuls of sand but nothing was going to stop him.

Finally reaching the top of the head, he caught sight of Gaara's sleeping form, half-embedded in sand. Naruto rushed closer to the Suna genin, grabbed him by the collar and punched him with all of his strength. The impact echoed loudly in Naruto's ears, even more than the tanuki's roars.

The sand under his feet suddenly crumbled and Naruto found himself in free-fall, reflexively tightening his grip on Gaara's collar. The sand user, now awake, struggled to get free or gain some control over the sand cascading around them—Naruto wasn't sure. He just continued to punch Gaara to keep him from gaining the upper hand.

They slammed into something, and as the leaves and branches whipped around him, Naruto realized that they were falling through the canopy of the forest. Naruto felt like he had cracked or broken a few bones from the impact but did what he could to shield his head and face as they kept breaking tree limbs in a twin symphony of snapping wood.

Naruto glimpsed down and, seeing that the ground was getting dangerously close, tried to brace himself to soften the landing. He hit the ground with a small yelp as something in his right leg twingedsnapped, causing him to collapse in a leaf-covered bundle of pain.

Groaning, he tried to roll over onto his stomach, only to stop when he heard some other pained sounds. Raising his head from the grass, he saw Gaara a brief distance away, trying his best to wobble back to his feet. Naruto planted his hands on the ground and pushed, trying to get up. As he managed to get on all fours, Gaara's head snapped in his direction.

Naruto's first impression was that Gaara looked… different, somehow. Bruised, with small cuts caused by the fall through the tree and blood dripping from them. More importantly, he looked tired and worried for the first time since Naruto had met him.

Yet he stood up, barely, a resolute expression settling on his face. Then, the sand user took a slow step towards him. Naruto somehow managed to get up, even if it took him a moment, and stumbled towards Gaara, trying his best to not put weight on his wounded leg.

None of them said anything as they got closer to each other. There was probably no need to. Gaara raised a fist, a perfectly normal looking hand, and tried to punch Naruto. Naruto was faster.

He felt the impact of his knuckles against the other boy's face as he sent Gaara slumping to the he was sure that the Suna genin wasn't going to get up again, Naruto let himself fall as well, unable to keep himself upright anymore.

Naruto stared at the sky, barely visible from under the canopy. He wondered where the Boss Toad, Sakura and Sasuke had ended up.

"My existence…" Gaara muttered besides him, before being interrupted by a cough fit.

"Huh?" Naruto asked as he turned towards his enemy, feeling a bit dazed. Maybe it was because his body was catching up to all the stress he had just been put through.

"I won't let my existence end like this! I refuse to!" Gaara shouted all of sudden, his face a mask of panic. Naruto wondered when was the last time Gaara had felt fear.

With a grunt, he tried to roll over to look Gaara straight in the eyes, but it was a sluggish effort made even more difficult by the fits of pain that he felt with every movement.

"Stay… stay away!" Gaara yelled, trying to get away from Naruto. But all his efforts were in vain, for it seemed that the fall had been much worse for Gaara than for him. "I'll kill you!"

"Can you stop that?" Naruto said tiredly. "I don't want to hurt you... you've suffered enough."

Gaara fell silent, looking at him in silent confusion. Naruto couldn't help but notice how vulnerable he looked, unable to defend himself.

"Your pain... I felt it too. I feel it every day," he said slowly. "But I met people that cared for me and I will stop you if you try to hurt them."

"Why...?" Gaara asked, eyes wide. "Why do you care for others?"

"They saved me... from becoming the monster everyone thought I was," he explained before being forced to take a brief pause. Talking was becoming a bit difficult, and something ached every time he tried to.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked again, confused.

"We're the same..." he started explaining. "Both of our dads, they sealed monsters inside of us. But, I think they did it for different reasons."

At that, Gaara eyes widened even more, comprehension dawning on his face. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what would've happened had their lives been slightly different.

"Had it not been for the people that were kind to me—"

Two figures landed beside Gaara before Naruto could finish. Temari and Kankuro, Gaara's siblings, were now standing protectively over their younger brother. Before Naruto could say anything, he felt two presences behind him, and slightly turned to see Sakura and Sasuke, cursed seal active but standing, doing the same for him.

Naruto would truly have been moved by the fact that his teammates were willing to protect him had it not been for the tension filling the forest and the uncomfortable knowledge that he and Gaara would be completely unable to defend themselves if things went badly.

"Enough, you two," Gaara said, sounding very tired. "It's over…" His siblings stared at him in surprise for a moment, before glancing at Naruto and his team. Cautiously, without lowering their guard, the two Suna genin bent down and scooped up their younger brother, holding him up by his arms.

"Gaara… remember what I said," Naruto told them before they left. "Give them a chance."

At this, not just the Suna shinobi but even his own teammates gave Naruto a strange look. Then, the trio of siblings leaped away, disappearing into the forest. His teammates stood there for a long moment before they realized that, yes, it was over and they could lower their guard.

Sasuke sat silently, crossing his legs, while Sakura produced a first-aid kit from her pouch and knelt beside Naruto.

"We just let them go," Sasuke said while reaching for the seal on his neck, which was obviously still hurting him. "Isn't that treason?"

"Do you really think we could have captured them?" Sakura asked, eyes downcast as she looked for some gauze.

"We could've captured Gaara if they hadn't shown up," Sasuke insisted. Naruto wondered if Konoha would've been able to contain Gaara had they kept him as a prisoner. Probably not.

"We drove an enemy team from the village, fought a… whatever that was, and we are all still alive," Sakura countered, turning towards the Uchiha. "I think it's more than we could've hoped for."

"Hn."

"Say, Naruto..." she said, starting to treat Naruto's wounds, for which the blond was grateful even if he had to suppress a hiss. "What did you mean when you said that both of your fathers sealed monsters inside of you and Gaara?"

Ah, crap.

Thankfully, Naruto was saved from having to give an explanation by the sensation of slowly losing consciousness. He supposed he had overdone it a bit in that fight.

He heard Sakura and, surprisingly, Sasuke's voices calling for him, almost as if he was dying. He would've liked to tell them that he wasn't dying, he was just resting his eyes. Or at least he would've liked to, had it not been for the sound of hooves coming closer.

Wait. Hooves?

Naruto heard the sound of hooves approaching, followed by the sound of bushes and undergrowth being disturbed by something large passing through them. He heard a horse neigh very loudly, stopping near them. Sasuke and Sakura started yelling in a panic for some reason, and there was the sound of weapons being prepared.

He heard heavy steps running towards him—clearly not a shinobi—and Sakura and Sasuke's indignant squawks as they were pushed aside. He felt two strong hands slowly lift his head, and he did his best to open his eyes.

It was his uncle, wide-eyed and panicked. He was saying something, but Naruto couldn't quite piece together what it was. He was too exhausted, and he was half-certain that his uncle wasn't even speaking the right language.

"Un...?" Naruto tried to say something, but he ended up groaning instead as his tongue refused to work.

The panic left his uncle's eyes in an instant, and they took on a hard and focused quality. A moment later something red was shoved into Naruto's face. He didn't understand what it was at first, but then he felt some kind of liquid touching his lips

"Drink, boy! Drink!" his uncle urged him, and Naruto complied. He was a bit thirsty because of all the sand that had gotten in his mouth anyway.

"Hey!" Sasuke yelled. "What do you think you're—"

"Don't worry, Uchiha-san," someone else said. Just how many people had arrived? "Your teammate is in no danger."

Naruto felt the liquid go down his throat, but as as he tasted its foul flavor he almost spit it out by reflex. Only his uncle's hands stopped him, and he was forced to swallow. The pain faded as his body started to itch everywhere for some reason. Even the leg wasn't hurting as much.

His uncle pressed a hand on his chest, and for a brief moment it was surrounded by a pale white light. Once he was done, Naruto felt that breathing had become much, much easier, and he tried to sit up. He had the time to catch just a glimpse of his two teammates being held back by two ANBU guys before feeling two arms wrapping around him.

Naruto stiffened, shocked by the unexpected hug. As the surprise passed, he relaxed into his uncle's embrace. It was warm, and... wet? He was feeling something dripping onto his shoulder, dampening his jacket. He felt the body of his uncle tremble slightly, and realized that he was crying.

"Uncle, why are you crying?" Naruto asked, even as he fought back tears of his own. "We won."

"Uncle?!" Sakura and Sasuke exclaimed in utter confusion.

Ah, crap.

---

A\N: Writing this one wasn't easy, mostly because I went through a bad case of writer's block. Thankfully all my friends kept supporting me. Especially MonsterCatMusicGirl, who kept whipping me until I started writing again.

That said, what do you think? A lot of things happened in this chapter, and I can't wait to be able to show you the ripples caused by them.

---

Omake: What if Conrad was the Champion of Cyrodiil?

He had greatly enjoyed his unplanned vacation thus far. And that was the understatement of the century.

Shinobi were just so entertaining, with their incredibly rampant paranoia that had become completely justified because of what ninja could do, and would eagerly do, to make their hometown stronger. It was really rather interesting, because their entire culture had shaped itself, generation after generation, in a way that seemed designed to make people snap under the pressure sooner or later.

Oh, they had been so worried when he'd just shown up out of the blue. He had allowed them to keep him in a small cell for a few weeks, trying to interrogate him, just to see their reactions as he laughed at their feeble attempts.

Then he got bored and left to take a stroll around their fine city. It was only when he had turned their fifth wave of guards into chickens that they learned to listen.

He had been able to have a nice talk with their leader, the Hokage, who declined the tea he had conjured for the both of them, for some reason. How rude.

The discovery that he had a nephew, a child, to boot, had been a really unexpected surprise. A rather pleasant one, though, given that a part of his… condition, he was unable to reproduce anymore.

Or was he? He hadn't really tried… as in, put any effort into it. He decided to try and ask Sanguine about it the next time he happened to cross paths with the prince of hedonism. If there was someone that knew if such a thing was possible, it would be him.

He wasn't sure what to make of the boy, though. Naruto was loud, brash and seemed to be obsessed by the idea of getting a desk job as soon as possible. And the boy had called his clothes weird!

He guessed that he could just figure out the whole nephew-and-reality-bending-entity-uncle thing later, after all he had lots of time. Not too long though, since mortals didn't live for more than a few decades. He had already started to forget that…

Moving on. Today's entertainment was provided by an invasion that had caught the whole city by surprise. Something about a local necromancer going power-hungry and invading his former hometown to fight his master, yadda yadda, been there done that when he had been mortal. But watching it from the top of the sculpted head of his brother, conjuring whatever beverage or snack he wanted, was surely more interesting than living through it.

He then realized something, though. This was a ninja invasion and Naruto was a ninja. Because apparently these people were mad enough to think that a twelve-year-old was soldier material, and actually managed to pull it off.

Truly, madness. And he knew madness.

But still, the boy was out there, in the middle of a warzone, and there was the remote chance of him getting hurt or killed. That wouldn't do. He had not found a living relative just to lose them because some pale snake-obsessed guy had not been made the ruler of his hometown a decade and something ago.

How to fix it though?

"But of course!" he exclaimed all of sudden, getting up and striking a decently dramatic pose. "Cheese for everyone!"

And then every invader was turned into cheese.