Night-Blooming Cereus (昙花一现)

by ZoeRubyJackson

She died in an explosion, which was a pretty sketchy situation itself even if she wasn't the one who planted the bomb. So when she opened her eyes again, clearer than ever, she wondered, what the hell does fate want with her. Punishment, atonement, second chance... She has no idea, and she might never find out. Reincarnation!OC, Uchiha!OC

78. Chapter 78 - 回生 (Return to Life)

Chapter 78 - 回生 (Return to Life)

Nothing ever lasted in the desert except for the sand itself. Gaara wondered if the one who built their home in this never-ending land of sand dunes knew that from the start.

The Capital of Wind Country migrated countless times in the last few centuries, from the depth of the desert to its edges, seeking lands more prosperous, more convenient, and more forgiving for its people, almost like a ship fleeing the entrapment of spiralling waves - the special kind that existed only on land known as quicksand.

But Sunagakure remained where they were, rooted in the flowing sand that washed away everything it touched with wind, erosion, and most of all, time.

So, Gaara concluded, that everyone must have known the impermanence of anything established in the desert, but they were too stubborn to admit it.

"Gaara." He heard his sister's voice, calling out to him from below. Gaara looked down from his platform of sand, seeing Temari standing on top of the Sunagakure Tower, dressed in battle attire with the war fan folded behind her back. Kankurō was beside her, his hand clutched on his scrolls of puppets so tight that his vein might pop out.

Gaara opened his mouth, but after a moment of thought, he lowered the platform of sand supporting his weight until he was standing over the solid surface - until he was standing right in front of his siblings.

A few years ago, Temari and Kankurō would have averted their eyes in fear and flinched to avoid him. But now, Temari smiled at him as she welcomed him down from the sand pedestal. Even Kankurō's hand seemed to relax a little, as if Gaara's presence comforted him from the anxiety of the war, rather than aggravating it.

"Third Eyes have not sensed anything," Gaara said after much debate. What did one say in such a situation - stuck in the calm before the storm, as if every word to be spoken was the last, but not quite - other than war logistics?

"Neither does the Sensory Corps or the Puppet Brigade," Temari answered, going with the flow. But she always had an idea of her own out of the three of them, so she discarded the veil of uneasiness surrounding them, pulling Kankurō along as she crushed the three of them into a suffocating hug.

"We're Suna's soldiers, the children of Sabaku, so I know that we will all give everything we can to protect our village," Temari whispered. Her voice was so quiet, but it felt like it was vibrating around Gaara, filling his eardrum, making him unable to hear anything but her words.

"I'm so proud of you, always." Temari bit down on the word 'you', but her grips loosened, turning the hug more gentle. For a second, Gaara was reminded of something that he thought he had long forgotten.

Buried deep within his memory, was the sensation of being hugged by Yashamaru, before the rage from Gaara, from Shukaku, and from Suna, all swirled together and covered everything.

"But … take care of yourself, and take care of each other." There seemed to be a pause as Temari released the two of them and let out a burst of laughter. "Well, as much as I want to say that, it'll probably be Gaara who'll be doing most of the work."

"Hey! I'm … as useful as I can be!" Kankurō shouted in protest as he waved the scrolls in his hand. Then, he turned to Gaara and said, "Don't take on everything by yourself, Gaara. We're all going to do the best we can."

'I know you're probably tired of hearing this, but let's do the best we can, Gaara, as a Jinchuuriki and as a shinobi.'

The boy from Konoha always wrote in his letter, repeating the same words like a broken machine. It was irritating at first as if he was just mocking his life, where Jinchuuriki was a synonym for 'monster' and shinobi, a euphemism for 'weapon'.

But soon, it had become the longest-lasting thing in his life - words that would come every two weeks, sometimes delayed due to weather or torn by the rough delivery, but they would always arrive.

With it, he also felt the fleeting glances from his sibling change into something more permanent. It wasn't after a long time before he realized that he was starting to believe that his siblings were there to stay, that the encouragement and faith he had received from the boy in a village halfway across the continent was there to stay.

"I know," Gaara said, to Kankurō, to Temari, to himself. "I'll do my best too."

"You're going to be a great Kazekage," Temari said, swiping her hand over Gaara's head and rubbing his hair in endearment. When Gaara gave her a look that was bordering on murder, all she did was shrug, saying, "come on, I've always wanted to do that."

That look would have sent his siblings squirming before. Too bad it didn't work anymore.

Temari and Kankurō returned to their post afterward, leaving Gaara to step on the floating platform of sand once more as it elevated him into the sky, giving him better surveillance of the desert.

'Kazekage Candidate', that was what Gaara was right now, elected by the Suna Council after their evaluation of his recent behaviours. Elder Ebizō even wanted him to ascend to the Kage seat before the battle, but Gaara declined.

Akatsuki was coming for him.

There were so many routes that could end in his death and Suna didn't need another Kazekage that was dead.

"Gaara, are you seriously going to risk OUR life for this village of losers?" Shukaku growled in his mind, clearly displeased at the way Gaara was spreading his sand thinly into the village, making sure he had surveillance on every Suna shinobi preparing for battle.

"As if you would run and hide, Shukaku," Gaara replied, not surprised at the indignant curses that followed.

"If your stupid decision lands me being captured, Gaara, I will haunt you for eternity!" Shukaku threatened, and Gaara furrowed his brows in confusion.

"But you said you won't die, so how will you be able to haunt me after I die?" If Shukaku were to be extracted from Gaara, they were going to different places, were they not? Clearly, the tanuki was not expecting to get called out on his logical flaws, for he gagged in his words and turned to incomprehensible growls instead.

Suddenly, Gaara felt one of his Third Eyes being destroyed in the desert. This sensation … He gazed into the distance as sand swirled around him in anticipation and distress.

A carpet of gold sand slammed towards the village, shimmering under the afternoon sunlight, but the beauty was merely a facade for the destruction underneath. Quickly, Gaara let the sand rise from around the village, bracing itself as a shield against the sea of gold that could bury everything it touched.

The entire village seemed to shake when the gold sand crashed into the barrier, but Gaara was determined not to let anything through.

He struggled to smooth the sand over the cracks when spears of gold drilled into his defence. Father's gold sand had always been piercing, cutting into Shukaku's shield - cutting into Gaara's shield - without any mercy.

Even until his father's demise, Gaara's sand had never once held against the golden spears, designed to quell the demon known as One-Tail - the same creature that defined Gaara's life. It would always pierce through the tanuki made of sand, dragging him out into the reality that he hated so much.

But this time, Gaara couldn't fail.

Letting out a yell, Gaara forced even more sand to gather, from his gourd, from the desert, from the land that he called home. Crushing his palm together, he let Shukaku's chakra wash over the sand, strengthening them until they broke the spears and swallowed the shimmers of gold in whole.

Quickly, Gaara flew to the edge of the village, facing the direction of the attack at its forefront. The remnants of the previous attack faded, revealing the person that came back from the dead.

His father walked in the sand, the Kazekage robe was still hanging on his body, cracked like broken ceramics. Alarms sounded in the background as another one of Gaara's Third Eyes got destroyed as well.

Gaara turned around, catching the hordes of puppets storming the village, while Elder Chiyo directed the Puppet Brigade to defend. Sasori, Gaara realized, wanting to shift his sand towards the newest danger, but before he could, another wave of gold sand attacked him, forcing him to defend himself and the village behind him.

"Gaara, you …" Gaara could hear the whispers in the howling wind and the shifting sand. What are you going to say, Father? Gaara thought in unease, for he never understood what his father thought of him.

"You finally found something you're willing to protect." His father might have even let out a smile in the distance before his face was covered by another sandstorm.

Gaara didn't have time to process anything in his mind as his hands moved on their own. Sand rose up from below him, twisting into chains as he placed the seals - shipped from Konoha with utmost care - inside the moving sand, before sending them towards his father.

Chains of gold sliced across chains of sand and Gaara was careful in retrieving the seals - they were limited, the Konoha shinobi warned - and forming new ones without any stop. Gold sand was known for its piercing power, but Shukaku's sand was known for its vastness.

Just then, unease sent a shiver down Gaara's spine as chaos erupted in Sunagakure. Gaara could feel his sand stirring, lashing out at every corner where a 'Suna-nin' had turned on their own comrade for no reason.

Without thinking, Gaara siphoned his chakra into the sand turrets he had set up around the village, forcing them to sense better and be faster in restraining sudden attacks from the Zetsu clones, giving Suna-nin a chance to strike back.

But even then, Gaara couldn't catch every ambush, couldn't save everyone. After all, they couldn't act until the clones had exposed themselves so everything Gaara tried was always a beat behind.

"You're stretching yourself too thin!" Shukaku warned, biting his teeth to supply Gaara with even more chakra.

"I have to make it work!" Gaara shouted back when his sand wrapped him in a ball just before a tendril of gold sand slapped him to the side. The sand platform under his feet cracked as he crashed onto the desert floor.

It wasn't over, for the sand was blown open to reveal a pool that shimmered in black. Gaara could feel the way the black 'liquid' crawled over his own shield of sand, compressing the shell and preventing his sand from lashing out.

"It's the Iron Sand, that bastard Sandaime is here!" Shukaku yelled in rage, clearly remembering his days of being restrained by the Sandaime Kazekage. "Don't fight the magnetism, escape between the forces!"

Gaara heeded Shukaku's words, letting sand push him into the sky, slipping out of the coat of iron sand before the mini-magnets snapped together. But as soon as he was back into the sky again, chains of gold and black rushed towards him.

Shukaku pulled all the sand he could, shielding Gaara and slapping the opposing chains away. Gaara could hear the growing chaos behind him, the sensory eyes he left behind telling him that the Suna shinobi were struggling against Sasori's puppets and the Edo-Tensei shinobi, especially when clones of their fallen comrades were striking from the shadow.

He could 'see' Temari facing against Baki, forcing the wind to slice against her former teacher, who had taught her wind ninjutsu from when she was just a little girl, who had sacrificed his life to protect them from Akatsuki.

"Hold it together, Young One!" It was a foreign voice that warned Gaara of the impending danger, allowing him to dodge at the last second before a web of black sand could catch Gaara and trap him in a field of magnetism. The voice … came from Sandaime Kazekage.

"Do you have any idea how disgusting it is to fight on the same side of Sasori? My own murderer?" The black-haired man said. "Shukaku and the young Jinchuuriki, send me back to the afterworld."

"Do not order me around, you bastard! Serve you right, getting made into a puppet by a shinobi of your own village!" Shukaku shouted back and Gaara sure as hell wasn't going to relay that sentiment.

Still, Gaara knew that the situation was less than ideal. One of Gaara's Third Eyes reported from the distance that the Tsuchikage was being delayed by their dead predecessor and was trying to force the reincarnated Dust Release user away from Suna. They lacked a more efficient way of dealing with Zetsu's substitution and Gaara was facing off against two Kazekage of Suna who had decades of experience suppressing One-Tail.

But as his father had noted, Gaara had finally found something for his sand to protect, something other than his fragile heart that he wanted to keep from hurting.

I can't give up. It's too early to give up yet, Gaara reminded himself over and over again as he dispersed all the sensory eyes and re-funnelled the chakra into the sand turrets in the village.

"You really don't listen, do you!" Shukaku yelled in anger when he realized that Gaara was prioritizing the village over the imminent danger in front of them. But with a look at the pools of black and gold that had suppressed him over the last half a century as well as the men controlling them, he shouted, "Whatever, let's give these bastards what they asked for. I can do that with only a finger!"

Somehow, Gaara doubted that, but it wouldn't be Shukaku if his words were not bigger than what he could swallow. Sand cradled around Gaara as they glowed a menacing red and the whole desert shook in response to the call.

At least Gaara and Shukaku were finally on the same page.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

Kakashi could feel the searing burn across his thigh, a mark left when a chain of flame dragged through his skin.

Quickly, Kakashi brought his fingers to his mouth, blowing out a serpent of water, twisting and turning as it rammed through the fireball that followed, carving out a path of safety amidst the heat.

Without stopping, Kakashi charged in again, twirling the kunai in his hand before slicing it through Obito's arm. He had long stopped counting how many times his blade had slashed nothing but thin air.

The lack of feedback would usually numb one's sensation, making the strikes weaker and more prone to inaccuracy. Thus, every time, he had to remind himself to treat it as if this one - this one for sure - would hit.

"What do you think you can achieve by throwing away your chakra and stamina, Kakashi?" Obito questioned, all but abandoned the cheerful persona of Tobi as his sharingan reflected back in Kakashi's, like a mirror that somehow captured their trajectories over the last two decades.

"What do you think you can change by stalling me here?" Obito turned his body, letting the kunai phase out of his arm, before aiming a hard kick towards Kakashi's stomach. Kakashi caught it with his handguard, only for the intangibility to kick in, making him stumbled in balance.

The gunbai flew across his vision and he bent his back just in time to avoid having his trachea sliced open by the edge of the fan. "Destruction is happening everywhere. Here, inside Konoha, at Suna, Kiri … You can't stop a revolution, Kakashi."

"Is it really a revolution that you want, Obito, or just an escape from reality?" Kakashi said, letting chains of electricity stretch between his fingers before he slapped the ground. Lightning shot out from the earth, piercing through Obito's body from various directions.

As expected, Obito walked out of the prison of lightning without breaking even a sweat. But, Kakashi noted, he was getting annoyed.

"Reality, huh. I can see sorrow and guilt soaking in every cell of your body. Do you still feel suffocated by guilt and regret over Rin's death, over what I had become?" With every step, Obito's voice seemed to get louder; with every word, the invisible thorn that got stuck in Kakashi's chest got pounded in a little deeper.

"Of course, you are, Kakashi. I know what kind of person you are." Obito didn't even need Kakashi's answer, because he was as readable as an open book.

"Reality is hurting you, Kakashi, but with all the promises chaining you down, all the glamorous hopes blinding you …" Obito seemed to take a pause as he glanced to his left, where Maiko had just slashed towards a missile with … something extending from her Susanoo, exploding it in the sky, before bringing it down and slammed Number 4 into a pile of mush.

The victory was short-lived, for Number 1 pulled Number 3 back, forcing Maiko to step back and avoid the human cannonball if she didn't want a hole in her Susanoo.

Obito brought his attention back and finished his sentence "... with the constant pain already numbing you, you're stuck in it, Kakashi, and I'm trying to pull you out."

"You can't decide that for me, Obito," Kakashi said as he charged in again, attacking like a machine that knew no disappointment, no fatigue, and no losses. "Nobody gets to decide that for anyone, except for the people themselves."

Obito shook his head at him when Kakashi's kunai stabbed into where his chest was supposed to be as if Kakashi was being unreasonable. "And you live in a world with Kage making the rules, do you hear the irony?"

Kakashi did, but his mind was elsewhere.

" … Suna … They made it to Suna …" The words were starting to get cut out as Kakashi pushed Obito to the edge of the battlefield. But nevertheless, Kakashi got the key points and realized that it was the moment.

A vine seemed to curl around Obito's ear, and Kakashi was just fast enough to catch that slight pause in his movement with his Sharingan.

When Kakashi pulled his hand back, branches followed his movement, sprouting from the right side of Obito's body. The sharp tips pierced forward, more aggressive than Obito had been before, digging deeper into Kakashi's vest, into his skin, and finally, into his flesh.

But Kakashi was ready, grabbing onto the branches with his left hand as he formed a hand seal with his right. Narukami raced down from the sky, rumbling like a lion's roar as it drilled towards Obito from above.

At the last moment, Obito breathed out a compressed stream of air, but it wasn't to push Kakashi back, but rather, to push himself back using the recoil. Narukami severed the branches connecting Obito and Kakashi before creating a screen of rocks between them as it blew the earth apart.

Obito was done playing with him, it seemed, as Kamui swirled from his right eye, distorting his body as it sucked him in. Kakashi had no doubt that if everything continued on its course, then he wouldn't make it past the flying rubbles in time. He would lose Obito once again, just like he did, all those years ago.

But time stopped in its tracks. From all the way across the field, A flower petal got ignited when it seemed as if nobody was watching.

Everything was for this moment. Kakashi didn't just attack Obito relentlessly to prevent him from aiding Pein with his teleportation, it also served to irritate Obito and make him impatient. It was as if Kakashi was putting a lock on something that came so naturally to him. Every single time, just a bit out of reach.

The news from Suna was the trigger, and Kakashi was waiting for Obito to fire the shot, and so was the owner of that time prison.

Kakashi flickered past the debris as he pulled the branches out from his chest. Specks of blood splashed onto the ground, but all Kakashi could see was the spiralling portal in front of him, paused in motion just before it could close.

Suddenly, he felt a piece of paper latching onto the back of his neck. Konan, his body tensed up in alert, but he couldn't stop moving, for he couldn't waste one of Maiko's Kannon Bosatsu, couldn't waste the only chance they might have for Kakashi's plan to work.

Kakashi grabbed onto Obito's shoulder at the last moment, before the time prison expired. The swirling force pulled his body, and he felt the world turning upside down, even more violently than when Number 1 flung them around like toys.

At least the paper didn't explode and take off my head, Kakashi thought when the image of Konoha, in smoke and flames, got cut off by the closing portal.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

"Uchiha." Ryuu glanced up in the direction of the voice. At the same time but from across the street, Sasuke looked up too.

Their commanding officer was suddenly being locked by two pairs of gazes before he realized his mistake. Bear - or Yamato-san, as he was called now - was just trying to be polite, but still, to say it was awkward was an understatement.

"Just Ryuu is fine." "Call me Sasuke." Again, both of them spoke up at the same time before they muted their voice. Ryuu glanced at Sasuke, and Sasuke looked back at him, none of them spoke up again because they couldn't figure out what the other wanted.

It was rare for him to be called 'Uchiha Ryuu', even if Maiko-senpai had legally changed his name and added him to her Clan Registry. Those who knew him at work called him 'Raven'; those who knew him in life called him 'Ryuu'.

The last time, Ryuu remembered, that someone had called him Uchiha in front of Sasuke was when he had to pick up Sasuke from the hospital after the Chunin Exam. At that time, Maiko-senpai was in a coma, and Itachi-san was not fit to appear in public, so Ryuu, despite being the least qualified person, was called in as the 'guardian'.

"Uchiha-san," the nurse had addressed him before pointing him towards Sasuke who was in detention for fighting in the hospital. Needless to say, Sasuke looked like he wanted to burn the whole room into dust and erase this entire day from everyone's memory, including Ryuu's.

Taking a deep breath, Yamato tried again. "Ryuu, go with Mikaze to be stationed near the sensory unit. Sasuke, you stay here and cover for Ryuu's old post."

Both of them nodded as they rushed to their newest post. At least they got it sorted out, otherwise, it could cause some serious confusion in battle.

The battle arrived soon enough, in the form of a shattering barrier dome. Ryuu could feel the flickering chakra that fell from the sky, dusting over his body before fading out of existence. The second missile never came down, but something else did.

Ryuu slashed his sword across the lion's stomach - at least, it looks like a lion? - before dodging the sharp metallic claws that swooped down as he rolled under the creature and pushed himself up again.

Without a pause, Ryuu formed the hand seals and sliced his left hand down in a vertical line. Wind blades flew out from the edge of his hand, slicing through the demonic lion, before drilling into the giant centipede crawling behind, pinning it into the side of a building.

The shinobi on Ryuu's right clapped his hands together and made a crushing motion with his fists. Immediately, the building caved in as earth spikes protruded out of the wall and stabbed into the centipede.

Ryuu didn't have time to see the centipede's demise - a very temporary demise, as he would later find out - because more creatures were coming, rushing towards the Sensory Unit without any stop.

It was like a stampede, and the Sensory Unit was the mystical plant, attracting every animal with an irresistible scent, making their mouths water and their sanity disappear.

Something felt strange when Ryuu killed the eighth beast that charged at them. He pulled his blade out of the bird's chest while its broken wings twitched in one last effort. Despite the grotesque scene around them, the shinobi around the Sensory Unit seemed to have things handled.

Yes, the vanguard led by their Hokage had kept the majority of Pein's bodies occupied, therefore absorbing the worst of the destruction - not a single missile of mass destruction had reached the sky above Konoha since the barrier went down. What was left here, then, was more quantity over quality.

Still, Ryuu felt like he was drowning in static water, for nothing seemed to change except for the repetition of his actions. Maiko-senpai had once told him that for shinobi - particular those trained in assassination like them - dynamism was life and stagnation was demise.

Senses dulled when nothing changed - when it started to get used to what it knew. Good assassins preyed on those moments of placidness, but great assassins dragged their prey into the dead water without the prey ever knowing it.

Ryuu needed to check if he was the prey. He needed to initiate a change, so he slowed his own chakra, just a little, enough for a wave of discomfort to wash over his body, before snapping the flow back to normal.

Such a simple motion, but Ryuu could feel the veil over his mind being lifted a little as the thin fabric rushed to catch up to the sudden change.

With a burst of chakra, the genjutsu shattered, and Ryuu turned around just in time to catch the kunai grazing the back of his neck, as the shinobi struggled to get rid of the slug that jumped on its face.

"Quickly! It's fake!" the little Katsuyu squealed just as the shinobi crushed her and threw her to the ground. But Ryuu didn't hesitate as he sliced his blade forward, cutting deep into the shinobi's neck.

He remembered that face. It was a chunin who was critically injured earlier. By the look of it, he didn't survive, so something else took advantage of his identity.

The sound of flesh being punctured tickled Ryuu's ears as a feeling of dread filled his chest. A wind blade rushed out of his finger, slicing off the hand of another clone that was digging its kunai into his comrade's chest.

"Here, here!" Little Katsuyu crawled all over the fake clones, pointing them out to Ryuu - not that it wasn't obvious, given the various weapons they aimed at his fellow shinobi in their moment of weakness.

The numerous little Katsuyu that were shed around the village were not just there as an extension of Tsunade-sama's healing. They were also the most silent observers, remembering every one of Konoha's shinobi that had died in battle, warning the rest when the skin of one of their own had been taken over by something else.

It wasn't a perfect system, and it took away the resources that could be used for healing. But it was already the best system they had before they could find a way to identify the Zetsu clones without waiting for signs of ambush.

Ryuu flickered to them quickly, discarding the clones before they could get away, not forgetting to touch the skin of those trapped in genjutsu, helping them break out of the illusion by purposely messing with their chakra.

Even in that process, Ryuu could feel veils of genjutsu trying to latch onto him, but his Kekkei Genkai allowed him to slow the chakra of those he touched only if he slowed his own chakra to an equal degree and let it resonate with those in contact. This meant that over the years, he had gotten pretty good at manipulating his chakra flow.

These genjutsu were good, but they were far less intimidating than that of Itachi-san.

It was then that a giant fireball crashed towards him, lightning up a path of destruction on its way. Ryuu could feel the heat waves brushing against his face as he dragged the dazed shinobi along with him and flickered out of the way.

The fireball slammed into the barrier around the Sensory Unit. Ryuu raised his weapon just in time to parry away the shower of shuriken, before finally, a figure dropped down above, forcing Ryuu to take a step back before their metallic weapon clashed with a loud noise.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryuu heard the man asking, but his breath was caught when he saw the flashes of red that lit up his opponent's irides. The instinct that got beaten into his body kicked in, forcing him to lower his gaze to hide from the one and only sharingan.

"I don't remember an Uchiha that looked like you," the man commented when Ryuu twisted his blade and kicked him in the midriff, pushing his attacker back while he retreated to a safer distance.

Body as cracked as paper mache, sclera as dark as charcoal, and irides as red as blood. It was the worst combination, and an even crueller joke, Ryuu realized. Although, not nearly as cruel to him, as to the boy that arrived to provide much-needed reinforcement.

"Avoid looking into their eyes! They have the sharingan!" Ryuu yelled, making sure that the shinobi arriving at the scene of chaos - not many that were stationed near the Sensory Unit remained standing after the earlier ambush - could prepare for the worst.

That warning applied to everyone, except one.

Sasuke stared at the masses in front of him, his face as pale as a sheet of bleached paper.

"Sasuke, is that you?" the reanimated Uchiha asked as he observed Sasuke with surprise.

Sasuke opened his mouth and Ryuu could hear the shaky breath leaking out of his windpipe. "Uncle Inabi." Eventually, Sasuke found the name he was looking for.

"Sasuke, be careful!" Sakura yelled from some distance away as she punched the centipede - newly revived - back into the building before a beast made of ink snapped its jaw close and bit the centipede in half.

Ryuu moved on the beat, lodging his blade into the metal antler of a Rinnegan-eyed moose that wanted to skewer the young Uchiha. Just then, Sasuke snapped out of his daze and drove a blade of lightning into the moose's body, allowing Ryuu to fling it to the side, right into a sea of fire aimed at the barrier around the Sensory Unit, designed to incinerate everything that stood in the way.

"Ten … fifteen … no, twenty-two. Gods, there are so many of them!" Karin exclaimed in a shaky breath as she tried to total the number of reanimated Uchiha, no doubt sensing the chakra to be of similar nature to that of Sasuke. "Wait, there's one more coming from …"

Oh gods, Ryuu wanted to scream, for the worst thing scenario had just materialized.

Itachi flickered into the enemy crowd, his blade was already at one of the Uchiha's necks when all of their Sharingan moved to catch him. But no one moved fast enough to stop Itachi when sliced his kunai - taped with the yin-chakra seal on its flat side - into the man's neck.

The yin-chakra flowed out to cover the kunai, searing the flesh that got peeled open like fire. The head plopped down some distance away as Itachi-san escaped the hell of ninja wire and projectiles that followed.

"Itachi! How dare you!" Uchiha Inabi screamed when he realized the identity of their attacker. "How dare you even be alive! After everything you've done!"

"I knew it! You were consorting with Konoha! How dare you betray your own clan, Itachi! How could you!" Another Uchiha yelled, and Ryuu heard Sasuke whispering "Uncle Yashiro" under his breath.

Three days ago, the shinobi force was told about Itachi's identity as a spy for Konoha. The Hokage reassured his allegiance so that no one would panic when the S-rank missing-nin showed up on the battlefield.

However, she omitted the details on the Uchiha Massacre, neither confirming if Itachi had committed the deeds nor giving an explanation of why the Uchiha was slaughtered. It would eventually come out, as Maiko-senpai and Itachi noted, but not now.

Sakura, Karin, Sai … none of the other shinobi could say anything at the scene in front of them. None of them asked anything, despite the very exposing words that were told in public. Because this … reunion was not designed for them.

"Traitor!" "How dare you!" "How could you!" Cries resonated in the air as pairs of red eyes, returned from the dead, placed their judgment on the one who had once condemned them.

At that moment, Ryuu thought that if there was a concept of hell, then what they were seeing now, must be one that was personally fitted for Itachi and Sasuke. It would have been a personal hell for Maiko-senpai too if she was here.

"How?" Sasuke asked, amidst the fire, the smoke, and the condemnation of the dead. There were a lot of things he could be asking, but Itachi managed to find the correct one.

"Orochimaru," Itachi replied, pasting another seal onto his kunai. "Tobi and Kabuto must have gotten hold of his storage of pillaged Sharingan for research,"

"Sasuke, are you siding with him? After knowing how he destroyed the Uchiha Clan?" Uchiha Inabi said, turning his attention to the younger boy as the latter readied his sword. The answer was obvious, and Inabi looked even more furious.

"Tekka is not regenerating!" Someone yelled, drawing their attention to the reanimated body that had been cut down by Itachi. Sure enough, the body splayed on the ground and remained motionless, while the surface over his severed neck looked like it was seared by flame.

Still, Ryuu could see small pieces of paper being drawn to the wound, slowly, but surely, attaching themselves as flesh. The regeneration was slowed, but it wasn't stopped.

"Ryuu, like we've practiced." Itachi didn't give them time to figure things out, already bringing his hand in front of his chest for a seal. Ryuu followed suit as he made the hand seals that were embedded in his memory.

The air turned humid as mist took over their vision, thickening into an opaque curtain as both Ryuu and Itachi supplied the jutsu with their chakra.

Ryuu still remembered the day that Itachi-san taught him how to cast the Hiding in the Mist jutsu, telling him that it was one of the most effective tools against the Sharingan.

Ryuu wondered why he would do such a thing, teaching someone else a skill that could be detrimental to him, to Maiko-senpai, and to Sasuke. After all, not even three months ago, Ryuu tried to assassinate the very person that saved him, the very person that later took him in as a family. He never voiced his confusion, but Itachi saw through it nevertheless.

"Maiko would want you to learn it too," he said, knowing exactly what to say to placate his mind. "Hiding in the Mist is very useful, especially for someone of your specialization. So, learn everything you can, Ryuu-kun, so that you can better protect yourself and …"

There was a pause as the older shinobi examined him with a smile, before finishing the sentence, "and better protect the ones you love."

"I'm making a selfish request, but please retreat from the area," Itachi said in a calm voice, making sure that his words reached everyone in the vicinity.

The commanding officer didn't argue, handing out orders and telling everyone to focus on the summoning animals and the Zetsu clones - now forgoing the cloaks of familiar faces and started multiplying like crazy. There was never a lack of things to protect the Sensory Unit against, it was unfortunate that Edo Tensei was merely one of them.

"Ryuu, you can …" Itachi started his sentence, but struggled to finish it. Ryuu understood, nonetheless. Itachi wanted to tell him that he didn't have to subject himself to the reincarnated Uchiha, but he also didn't want to sound like he was excluding Ryuu as a part of the family.

But Ryuu also understood that Itachi was hurting. For the second time in his life, he had to slay his clansmen and this time, not just in front of his little brother, but dragging Sasuke along with him as well.

Ryuu couldn't make it stop hurting, but at the very least, he didn't want Itachi and Sasuke to walk into the purgatory alone.

"I can help. I've trained against the best Sharingan users, after all," Ryuu told Itachi just as a wave of fire lit up in the fog, burning away the water vapour while forcing the three of them to dodge the heat waves.

"Stall them. Don't let them get close to the barrier," Itachi ordered without a pause as the three of them flickered into the mist.

Ryuu calmed his breathing, all the while summoning up more mist to replace the ones that had been lost. Normally, he would be out of his mind to use water ninjutsu against so many Fire Release experts, but it just so happened that the Naka River flowed violently next to the Sensory Unit, giving him an endless source of water to draw upon.

Ryuu let his presence fade with the mist, aided by the fact that the reincarnated Uchiha were desperately looking for the last two of their remaining relatives. Ryuu was unremarkable in comparison.

Ryuu snuck up on an Uchiha who planned to use an expanding fireball to clear the path. The fire lit up his surroundings, reassuring him the fact that nothing around him could be hidden.

But in the mist, one had to be careful of things one couldn't see.

Ryuu's chakra flow was so slow that it would stop emitting a living signal in a Sharingan's vision. With a single touch, the Uchiha stumbled in both his jutsu and balance, shocked by the sudden way his chakra froze.

In a fluid motion, Ryuu wiped a kunai across his neck, letting the seal pasted on the blade release its stored energy. The Uchiha's neck hung open and Ryuu retreated before he could be burned to a crisp by the others that started converging.

Ryuu felt the rapid expansion of energy from some distance away. He had seen Maiko-senpai's Susanoo plenty of times in the past, but this was the first time he had seen the orange-red giant that guarded Itachi's body.

The giant had a gourd in one of its hands and with the other hand, it pulled out a sword made of liquid. The sword dropped down on the fallen Uchiha that Ryuu had left behind, driving away those that gathered with the sheer power it emitted.

The man moved his mouth, and Ryuu could barely make out the silent words directed to Itachi before the Uchiha's soul seemed to be drawn out by the blade, leaving behind a pile of paper dust covering the body of an unknown Otogakure shinobi.

He voiced, 'Go to hell. You won't be forgiven.'

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

Sasuke used to dream of having his family returned to him, despite knowing that nothing could truly revive the dead. He wished that he could feel the embraces of his parents again, could see his clansmen laughing and waving at him from the streets when he ran to the training ground with eagerness.

Now, what a nightmare this was.

A shuriken tied to ninja wire circled around his sword and tightened. Immediately, Sasuke funnelled a stream of electricity to his blade, letting it travel through the metallic wire. Lightning bounced between the web around him, forcing the balls of fire to explode before they could even reach the target.

Sasuke jumped over the smoke, narrowly avoiding the waves of shuriken shrouded in the blaze that rained down on him. He curled his fingers in front of his mouth as he flew in the air, breathing out chains of fire dragons and making them dive down with fury.

The mist occluded the visual acuity of Sharingan and dampened their fire, and it worked both ways. However, Sasuke heard the fumbling of footsteps as his target moved to dodge the chains of fire. His hands moved on their own, calling down a Narukami from above and letting it pierce through the mist.

There was a heavy thud as his target got slammed into the building wall. The mist only cleared up for a second by the fire, allowing Sasuke to identify the woman - and her to see Sasuke - before the fog thickened again.

Nanao-san was Uncle Inabi's wife. They live in the Southern sections of the Compound, facing the training ground. Nanao-san used to get Sasuke packets of sweets when she saw him lying on the training ground in exhaustion, praising him as a diligent boy.

Sasuke thought she would be cursing at him, calling him and Itachi traitors and kinslayers, just like Uncle Inabi. After all, this whole mist was filled with hatred and curses.

But what Sasuke saw in Nanao's eyes was nothing but despair. Bodies conjured by Edo Tensei didn't have blood, nor did they have tears, but Sasuke was certain that Nanao was crying.

"We're just tools, aren't we?" Nanao asked - cried out - as Sasuke charged forward, holding onto the seal between his fingers. Nanao breathed out a giant fireball as a measure of defence, letting it grow to a size that shadowed Sasuke.

"We're brought back because they have our eyes! Because they need our eyes! Everything is about our eyes!" Nanao screamed with overwhelming desperation in her voice. Sasuke flipped to the side, letting the fireball graze past his sleeve, leaving a searing mark on his skin.

"Konoha used our eyes, they made us fight in their wars too. But when they didn't need our power anymore, they discarded us!" The fireball sailed straight towards the barrier, drilling into the invisible wall with an ugly sound. The orders given to Sasuke's clansmen were always to destroy the barrier around the Sensory Unit.

Without the network of sensors, the forces in the village couldn't communicate with efficiency, news from other battlegrounds couldn't be delivered as quickly, and the location of Pein's real body would take much longer to be identified. Everything Maiko-nee and the Hokage were doing outside the village walls would be stuck in an endless loop, unable to locate the origin of the nightmare.

"And now, it's the same–" Her voice got caught in her throat when Sasuke pierced his hand into her chest. Lightning rushed through her body as the yin-chakra from the seal did the final blow, searing the wound into a scar.

"Inabi, Yashiro, Tekka … they want revenge, but that was just an act of charity spared by whoever forced us out of death. Even our hate … everything, every bit of us is being used …" Nanao finished her last sentence as Sasuke dropped her immobilized body to the ground. The Sword of Totsuka was already raised above them, forcing Sasuke to step to the side as the blade dropped down.

Nanao looked up, waiting for the sword made of glowing red liquid to pierce through her undying body. She didn't curse Itachi, didn't give him a look of hatred. Instead, with eyes that won't tear up and a soul that was already as dead as a corpse, she muttered, "We only ever just want to be freed."

Sasuke rushed to the edge of the mist, catching up to the Uchiha that had made their way towards the Sensory Barrier. Itachi warned the shinobi force to stay out of the area so that they wouldn't be hurt by the Susanoo and the Sword of Totsuka. But even with Ryuu and Sasuke's help, there were still ones that got away.

"Karin, duck!" Sasuke yelled as he slapped his hand to the ground, letting rumbling electricity travel through the earth before springing up as a web, blocking the flurry of projectiles being thrown at the red-haired girl.

"Why are you so close to the mist!" Sasuke asked as he arrived in front of Karin, pushing away the Uchiha - emitting the same air of desperation as Nanao - using a succession of quick Narukami.

"I need to get closer to make sure, but I can feel it. There's a common source of chakra connected to them!" Karin answered quickly, as she sliced her kunai down, stabbing a Zetsu clone that had grown from under their feet before Sasuke burned it to dust.

Kabuto, Sasuke remembered. This hell was happening because of Kabuto. Itachi, Sasuke, and most of all, those Uchiha like Nanao … were all forced to experience hell because of that man.

Uchiha Kazumi - Sasuke remembered Father patting the young shinobi on his shoulder, congratulating him for becoming a Jonin, merely days before the Massacre - brought his right arm to his mouth while his other arm was in the process of regeneration, torn to pieces by Sasuke's lightning. He refused to look at Sasuke or Itachi, only keeping his eyes on the Sensory Unit, as if he was nothing more than a tool brought back for his master's bidding.

It didn't matter if he wanted to curse Itachi for slaughtering him, it didn't matter if he still wanted to destroy Konoha in a rebellion. It didn't matter what he wanted, nothing mattered because the body that his soul was trapped in never belonged to him.

Perhaps it would make it easier to convince yourself that you were just a dead corpse moving - which was nothing but the truth - so that you didn't have to be conscious of the pain from having your own will stripped, a pain even worse than death for a prideful Uchiha.

Roaring fire dragons sailed above Sasuke and Karin before he could move to block it. Sasuke didn't know what the strength of the barrier was around the Sensory Unit, but it no doubt had a limit. He didn't want to test it, and neither did Itachi.

A skeletal hand grabbed onto the fire dragons, smothering the flames in its palm as the creatures writhed between the bony fingers.

Blood flowed down Itachi's face and pooled on his clothes as he was forced to seal the Uchiha one by one using the Sword of Totsuka. Once again, he pushed Kazumi to the ground and stabbed the liquid sword through his body, pulling the soul out of its old prison and into another.

Susanoo flickered with instability, and Sasuke was reminded of the fact that his brother was exerting himself more than he should.

Just then, Sasuke finally realized what Nanao meant when she said that every bit of them was being used. It wasn't just their hatred towards Konoha making them more destructive; it wasn't just the psychological pressure they put on Itachi and Sasuke.

They weren't just here to destroy Konoha, they were also sent here to trap Itachi.

The Sword of Totsuka was meant to be a last resort. Itachi was only supposed to use it to seal enemies that couldn't be immobilized by the yin-chakra seal, simply because he knew how taxing it was for his body and his Mangekyou.

Yet, Itachi had already used it seven - now eight - times now, to release the reincarnated Uchiha from the control of Edo Tensei. He couldn't help himself, not when the guilt he had towards them and the guilt he carried for them towards Konoha all melted together and spiralled into the abyss, and especially not when those like Nanao and Kazumi were still suffering.

Itachi was trapped here, burning away his Mangekyou and chakra, simply because they were Uchiha.

"Can you trace the chakra back to the summoner?" Sasuke asked Karin, kneeing the lizard that pounced at them from the left, before cutting it down with his lightning-charged blade.

"Yes," Karin said with determination. Upon hearing that, Sasuke grabbed her arm and ran towards Itachi.

He passed through Itachi's Susanoo unhindered because it always opened for him.

"Stop it, Itachi-nii. Don't waste your time here." Sasuke said, words as sharp as razor, cutting to the point without any euphemism. "Karin can back-trace Kabuto's location. You need to go and end things at the root."

His brother was silent. Sasuke figured he knew everything - what Kabuto and Tobi wanted to achieve by reincarnating the Uchiha, despite knowing that Itachi had the power to deal with all of them by himself, seeing that more of their clansmen had fallen by his blade in one night. It was just that much price had to be paid.

But Itachi just couldn't walk away. After all, the existence of their Mangekyou was proof of their undying obsession.

"We can handle it here. Ryuu, myself, and Konoha's shinobi, we will handle it here," Sasuke said. "You promised me and Maiko-nee that you will take care of yourself and treasure your life. Even if there seems to be no other way, you promised to try nonetheless."

What better way to battle one obsession than using the power of another.

Susanoo faded around Itachi, along with the mythical sword in its hand. "I'm counting on you, Karin." With that, Sasuke let out a breath.

But anger still boiled in Sasuke's chest and he knew that it raged in Itachi's too. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke told Itachi just before he and Karin left, "Itachi-nii, give him hell. He asked for it."

"We need to keep tabs on all of the remaining Uchiha." Sasuke converged with Ryuu, who just discarded another Uchiha with a kunai wrapped in the yin-chakra seal, unfortunately, at the cost of a second-degree burn to one of his hands.

Genjutsu thrived in chaos and they got nothing but chaos here. A moment of vertigo was enough for a shinobi to miss a critical hit, and a second of confusion was enough for the retaliation to be fatal.

Eight of the revived Uchiha were sealed by Itachi, and nine more were incapacitated by a critical hit infused with yin-chakra, forcing them to return to a state of a corpse before the regeneration could finally overcome the searing yin-chakra. That left them with five more mixed in with the Rinnegan-enhanced animals and the multiplying white masses.

A small Katsuyu crawled onto Ryuu's hand, trying to heal the burns using its small body. But as soon as she had healed the worst, Ryuu took her off and placed the slug on an injured shinobi with a claw mark on his stomach. There were so many injured near the barrier because of the sudden attacks of genjutsu that it was starting to overwhelm the army of Katsuyu.

The death count was rising, exposing the barrier to the ruthless assault of their enemies. Veins of energy started to flash on the surface of the barrier, reminiscent of what everyone saw before the barrier dome over the village went down.

Sasuke swung his blade with force as the electricity gathered on the sword, before flying off in the shape of multiple shuriken. The batch of lightning shuriken stabbed into the firebird, destroying the construct of fire flying towards the barrier as the heatwave from the explosion brushed against Sasuke's skin.

Yamato-san brought his hands together and a wall of water rose up from the side before crashing down onto the two Uchiha behind the fire jutsu. In the blink of an eye, Ryuu flickered in and jammed a kunai in the back of his target's neck before the man could recover.

The reincarnated Uchiha let out a scream of rage before the yin-chakra was released from the seal and destroyed the regeneration of what would be his brainstem. Ryuu didn't stay, ducking out before the other one could slice his gut open, moving on to finding the last revived Uchiha causing trouble near the barrier, knowing that Sasuke got this one marked.

But before Sasuke could charge in and take the other Uchiha away, the ground rumbled from below. Sasuke barely held on to his balance as a giant mass of white sprouted from below. Gaping faces of Zetsu stitched up together as the mass grew to the size of a tree, forcing Sasuke to jump away if he didn't want to get caught by the white branches that seemed to swallow every bit of debris in.

Fire chakra gathered in Sasuke's throat, ready to incinerate the tree-like mass that hugged the side of the barrier. But then, he caught something sticking out of the white body, just barely with the sharingan.

It was the rim of a sealing paper, like the tip of an iceberg, spelling out the worst of the worst.

"Don't attack it!" Sasuke heard someone yelling - it sounded like Hyūga Neji, made sense, seeing that the Byakugan could probably see the bagful of explosive tags a lot better than him. Forcibly, he reversed the flow of his chakra even though it hurt as if every cell in his throat was being burned.

We need something to contain it … water dome or something similar, to minimize the impact of the explosion … Sasuke's mind was racing, but it wasn't fast enough to realize that not everyone listened to Neji's warning.

A fireball zoomed across the air, originating from the Uchiha that Sasuke had yet to dispatch. A water dragon lashed out by Yamato's command, biting into the runaway flame before it could touch the tree of white.

But it wasn't fast enough, for a spark of fire landed on the aggregated mass of Zetsu. The explosion that came next made everything turn white.

Sasuke's ear rang and rang until he felt like his guts were being rearranged. The slimy sensation around his body reminded him that he was only alive because a copy of Katsuyu - or maybe a few copies - had covered him and absorbed the impact for him.

But the barrier? The barrier was gone, along with much of the Sensory Unit, for that matter.

Sasuke could see the cracked building and the giant crystal orb that glistened through the broken walls and ceilings. Maybe it was because of the explosion, or maybe it was because of the fallen debris, but a giant crack ran down the crystal orb and more lines wouldn't stop appearing.

Despite the destruction, none of the sensors moved. Blood flowed down Yamanaka Inoichi's nose, dripping onto the floor as the man closed his eyes in concentration. The crystal orb was the amplifier, Sasuke remembered. The sensors here were determined to make every second count before the amplifier could break, even if that meant they had to discard all forms of defence.

"Protect the sensors!" Yamato yelled in a raspy breath with half of his body covered in blood, to whoever could still listen. Sasuke's body sprung into action, despite feeling like every bone was falling apart.

Sasuke caught a fleeting sight of the Konoha green jacket running past him, a kunai ready in the shinobi's hand as he rushed towards the moose that was charging at Director Yamanaka.

But before his body could relax, horror rushed to his mind. That shinobi had a face belonging to a Konoha-nin who had already died in the earlier confrontation.

Sasuke turned, forcing his body to move faster than he had ever moved. Maybe he didn't die, Maybe Katsuyu-sama saved him in time. Maybe … That was when Sasuke still had an inkling of hope. When the kunai was raised towards Inoichi-san, Sasuke's hope ran out.

The crystal orb shattered in the background, muffling the noise of a blade digging into human flesh. Blood splashed onto the floor as Ryuu stood in front of Yamanaka Inoichi. He barely caught the Zetsu clone in the arm as he sliced down with his hand, cutting off the fake shinobi's head with a wind blade.

Then, he moved his body - slowed by injury and rooted in place by the kunai piercing his abdomen - until he was right in front of the moose's antler.

Sasuke heard a deafening scream - it was his, he later realized - as he forced a bolt of Narukami to fall down from the sky and cut into the moose. The animal was charred beyond recognition, but not enough destruction in the world could stop the antler from ramming into Ryuu's chest as the older boy used himself as a shield in front of Director Yamanaka.

That was the position of the heart. Not even Katsuyu - if some were still left in the area after the explosion - could heal fast enough when the heart was torn apart.

You never know the true depth of love until you lose it.

Sasuke finally learned the weight of the Mangekyou. The joy of knowing that he was loved, the realization that he returned that love, more than he would admit, and the pain of having that blessing taken away … all those melted together, burned and burned until something was seared in Sasuke's sharingan.

Ryuu was family. He was someone that Sasuke loved enough for the Mangekyou to open.

Sasuke thought that he might be lost in the swirl of emotions that came with the transformation. But someone grabbed his hand with a tight hold, forcing him to take his eyes away from Ryuu's body and remember the fact that he was still in the war.

It wasn't an enemy that grabbed him. The Yamanaka Clan Head held him steady as he made the hand seals of the Mind-Body jutsu, forcing their eyes to meet despite the foreign and menacing pattern in Sasuke's gaze.

Suddenly, Sasuke was overwhelmed by a rush of knowledge. The map extended from Konoha until a pin dropped, marking out a location that was etched into Sasuke's mind.

We found him. Pein's real body is hiding there, Inoichi-san told him. Someone needs to go there and take him out.

Looking at the state of the Sensory Unit. It would take some time for the communication network to be set up again and for the news to reach the Hokage.

"I'm going to where Pein is hiding," Sasuke declared, to Inoichi-san who was facing the backlash of the shattered sensory orb and to his commanding officer who sucked in a breath when he saw the six-pointed star in Sasuke's eyes.

All of the reincarnated Uchiha were already dispatched and immobilized by the yin-chakra seal. Konoha wasn't dumb enough that they couldn't figure out how to contain them before the regeneration was complete. Sasuke had another purpose to complete.

"You can't go alone," Yamato replied, making quick work of the fused monstrosity of Zetsu that tried to swallow him. Sasuke saw the flash of sadness in his eyes as a layer of wood wrapped around Ryuu's fallen body, protecting his remains from being shredded in the crossfire.

"We'll go with him," someone yelled from the side and they turned to see Sakura and Sai rushing over. They had their fair share of injuries - Sai more so than Sakura - but who didn't, at this point.

It only took Yamato a second to evaluate, before realizing they were probably some of the better choices left around here, especially since he himself couldn't go because the battle here was far from contained.

"Go. But once Hokage-sama hears of the news from the Sensory Unit, you will follow her order of deployment with no objection, understand?"

All three of them nodded. Sasuke didn't waste any time nor any words as he ran in the direction Inoichi-san marked for him. The silence was probably for the best because Sasuke didn't think he could contain the anger, the guilt, and every emotion with or without a name that were manifesting in the form of a Mangekyou he couldn't quite close.

The warmth in his body was being quenched by the chilling breeze and he could finally feel the cold, wet liquid that stained the side of his stomach. There was probably a deep cut there, seeing that Sasuke could feel the tearing pain every time he moved.

He also felt the paper seal stuck to the inside of his uniform, sticky and itchy because it was soaked in his blood. Unlike last time, nothing was glowing and no one popped out in a puff of smoke.

It was for the best, Sasuke thought. Just … let it stay this way.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

The first time I got injured, was when I maintained Kannon Bosatsu for Kakashi to hitch a ride into the Kamui dimension.

They were fighting so far into the edge of the field that I felt like if I just blinked at the wrong time, I wouldn't be able to keep my promise.

I caught the moment, and a petal ignited in my eyes, burning away as the time prison settled in around Tobi. The earth was humming beneath my feet, vibrating ever so slightly, like a premonition of what was to come. I had trained with Zansetsu enough to know that it was not him to whom the trembling earth was answering.

But I couldn't move my gaze away. Kannon Bosatsu was akin to a miracle. For that, it was fragile and fleeting.

Spikes sprouted out from the earth just as I let the time prison dissolve. Everything was set back to its original path. Kakashi disappeared into another world along with Tobi. My chakra flowed with precision as they rushed to the tips of my limbs, tingling in electricity.

Spears of earth converged, aiming to pierce and crush whatever was caught in the middle. But they returned empty-handed, catching nothing but a spark of lightning before they clashed and crumbled.

I landed a few meters away, pausing just long enough for blood to splash on the ground from my ankle, before I dashed out again, escaping a repelling force that pulsed out towards where I was standing.

The second time was when I heard through the muffled static of Inoichi-san's Mind-Body Transmission, that the ones Kabuto had chosen to reanimate through Edo Tensei, were none other than my dead clansmen.

It didn't help when I saw Itachi's Susanoo, just a peak in the distance, over the village walls.

"Maiko, focus!" Tsunade-sama yelled at me as she rammed Number 4 into the ground, snapping my attention back to the present. However, Number 4 still managed to fire a handful of missiles at Konoha, flying towards the village at the speed of lightning. Shit.

Surely, I wasn't the only one who wanted to race back to the village and see what in the hell was spawning. But If we couldn't hold things at bay here, the situation would only get much worse.

Without wasting any more time than I already did, I ran in front of the projectiles while Susanoo expanded around my body. The giant rose until its upper body stood erect. Musculature smoothed over the skeleton before armours clothed it in full. Finally, a stick-like object materialized in the silver giant's right hand.

If I were to be completely honest, I had no idea what it was supposed to be, not when its outline remained a flowing, fuzzy mass of silver. One thing that was certain was that I wasn't an expert in using weapons that resembled bō staff.

Please don't let it be a bō staff. Regardless of what I thought, I willed the Susanoo to twirl the stick in front of me with a speed that managed to catch the wave of projectiles like a spinning fan. The missiles exploded upon the impact, pushing me backwards with a force that could be evenly matched with one of Number 1's repelling pushes.

I coughed a little as I stumbled to regain my balance. The smoke from the bombs occluded my vision and I could barely make out the silhouettes of Tsunade-sama and Gai being thrown back by Shinra Tensei.

Wait, if Number 1 used it on them instead, then …

As if answering my question, Number 3 rose up from the ground, its left arm was still broken from when Gai smashed him with a nunchucks earlier. However, none of the injuries seemed to affect him as he rushed through the silver giant and cracked it open like tearing apart a sheet of plastic.

I barely had the time to step to the right as the metallic rod grazed my shoulder, leaving a deep cut where its sharp tip dragged across my skin.

I could feel my chakra being disturbed and invaded the moment the metal touched my skin. Pushing down the discomfort in my chakra circuit, I twisted my tantō and slid it between myself and Number 3. With an upward tilt, I pushed his arm aside, careful not to let him touch me.

The ninjatō arrived soon enough, slashing across his torso, forcing him to take a step back before the earth opened up to swallow him. I didn't want to let him go, but before I could lunge forward, half a dozen homing projectiles zoomed towards me, courtesy of none other than the newly revived Number 4.

I got out of there in a flash, right before the place where I was standing ended up as a crater.

Compared to the last time Fuu and I fought Pein outside of Takigakure, it was clear that he was acting with more caution and paying much more attention to teamwork between his puppets.

This time, he wasn't in a rush to subdue Fuu. Instead, he had the opportunity to wait for us to make mistakes and exhaust our chakra - while, mostly mine, seeing that I didn't have the crazy chakra store of Tsunade-sama even though most of my destructive capabilities required said chakra.

The third time … well, that happened just now.

Jiraiya-sama and Gamabunta bound the giant summoning animals using their tongue and oil-based jutsu. After some preparation time, the Toad Sennin finally lived up to the name and entered the Sage Mode.

He wanted to corner Number 2, to deactivate all of his summonings and gave the village some breathing room - even if all Pein needed to do was to pull Number 2's body back using an Earth Release for the hell to resume. However, even that proved to be a difficult task, given the upgrade of both the strength and number of Number 2's summoning creatures since the last time I met Pein.

Catching the moment when Tsunade-sama wreak havoc near the cluster of Pein's bodies, bashing Number 6 apart with her fist, even forcing Number 1 to use Shinra Tensei to push her away, Gai managed to hook Number 3's leg with the chains of his nunchucks and threw him away from the main clique. Zansetsu jumped out of the earth at that moment, biting onto Number 3 and dragging him further away.

It was quite bold of me to just dash into the fray like that, inserting myself among Number 1, 4, and 5. Jinrai was child's play under their Rinnegan and I was reminded of that fact when the bodies locked their gaze on me the moment I arrived. Number 4 raised his hand, aiming his flying fist at me while moving his body to block for Number 5. I could see the tips of black rods manifesting in front of Number 1, and by the looks of it, he planned to put more than a dozen holes in me before I could unleash any attacks.

Just then, my Mangekyou pulsed. A petal disintegrated in my left iris as the time prison expanded to cover all of Pein's bodies littered across the battlefield, spreading wider than I had ever used it before.

My chakra struggled to maintain the technique. Every cell in my body screamed and complained of the pain. Still, I tightened my fingers around the sword and raised it towards Number 5.

Of course, Number 3 broke out of it the moment my veil of time touched him. I was afraid of Number 3's immunity, seeing that the last time I used Kannon Bosatsu in this area of effect version, he was already dead. Therefore, I deliberately chose this moment, when Number 3 was some distance away, thanks to Gai and Zansetsu.

Number 3 didn't make it in time - just half an arm short - but something else did. I only caught a shadow diving down from the sky. Instinct forced me to take a step to the right as pain erupted in my left ear and left arm. If I didn't move, then my left eye would have been gone right there.

Kannon Bosatsu expired before I could process what just happened. My mind moved on autopilot as I forced the flow of the chakra to twist and change, rising up as a skeleton of silver around my body.

Black rods clashed into the ribcage, making a cacophonous sound as if bones were being shaved. I took the momentum of the hit and let myself be pushed back, escaping the death clutch of Number 3 and retreating from the combined fire of both Number 1 and Number 4.

Blood dripped down from my ear onto my neck, the stinging pain told me that my left ear got sliced open. My left arm, on the other hand, was bleeding from a hole, as if something pierced straight through the muscle, taking out a chunk of my flesh in the process.

"Useful, aren't they?" Number 1 said to me with something flying in his hand. It looked like some sort of hummingbird, with the same brand of Rinnegan as eyes and a thin metallic beak made out of the same material as those black rods.

"I made them, especially for you." Electricity crackled on their vibrating wings, providing me with an answer for their fast movement. Pein must have had them hovering in the sky above, outside of the range of Kannon Bosatsu, so they could be controlled for attacks whenever my Mangekyou was used.

"Shall we see if your range is bigger, or their speed is faster?" That was a challenge that Number 1 was determined to win. He knew now that if I were to put my chakra into Kannon Bosatsu to extend the area of effect, I would leave myself vulnerable to attacks.

After all, all he needed to do was to stall me for a second, and the petal would be wasted. After getting the Eternal Mangekyou, the regeneration time for a petal was shortened from a month to only thirty minutes. But that was still thirty minutes.

I only had one more charge left, until the first petal could be regenerated in ten minutes.

How can I overcome this? Those are still creatures summoned by Number 2, so what if we get rid of Number 2 first? No, that would take away the forces here and make it difficult for us to find an opening when the rest of them are already working so well as a team. What if … that won't work. What about … no …

I thought that I was about to go crazy. Funny enough, it took some acts of mass destruction from our enemy to calm me down. What followed a failure in our attempt was always retribution that became more violent and devastating each time.

With the amount of chakra lightning up in my vision, I knew that Pein was not holding back this time. The silver giant rose in an instant, grabbing Gai, Zansetsu, and Tsunade-sama, before throwing them into the protective barrier.

Then, the entire ground looked like it got ripped apart as Pein released the almighty push. I made the Susanoo dig the staff into the earth while pieces of the landscape smashed into its body. Even with my resistance, the Susanoo still skidded back as the bō staff made a giant crack along the ground. If the repelling force continued for a second longer, the giant would have lost its traction and got toppled over.

In the corner of my eyes, I could see Number 3 charging in with his hands that could negate all chakra. Number 4 was readying his ammunition, raising his arms to aim right at Konoha. I can't let that happen.

I moved my arms, only for a rush of pain to remind me that I still had a through-and-through wound on my left arm as I let out a hiss of annoyance. Fine, not the left arm.

Just then, a hand hovered over my bloodied arm, trying to heal the wound and replenish my lost chakra. I could feel Tsunade-sama's silent encouragement through the warm medical chakra, telling me that I was far from having my options exhausted.

Taking a deep breath, I imagined how the bō staff would work in my hands. With a tilt of my hand, the silver giant pulled the stick out of the ground. The staff spun in a circle in the air before I brought it down - not at Number 3, but at the patch of clearing next to him - and sent a curtain of rubbles towards him, stopping him in his tracks.

It was nice timing for Jiraiya to arrive with his attack. Oil bombs sailed from across the distance, passing by Number 3 narrowly, who took a small step to the side, before hitting Number 4 with precision, clogging his machinery temporarily.

I swung the stick upwards into the sky, drawing the shape of a crescent moon, blocking the stray missiles that had already left Number 4's body, turning them into fireworks in mid-air.

"That's some nice bōjutsu you've got there!" I heard Gai exclaiming. I must be doing something right, even if I was learning stuff on the fly.

"Thanks. I've never used a bō staff before, so any tips would be appreciated," I said and Gai's mouth fell open, unsure if he should look amazed or offended.

Nevertheless, he replied with enthusiasm, "Remember to use the full length of it! The strength of bō lies in its flexibility."

That was very helpful advice, but my mind was focused on somewhere else - the fact that Number 3 took a step to dodge Jiraiya's attack instead of absorbing it for Number 4. Number 3 loved to be the human shield, absorbing all kinds of chakra-based attacks just because he could.

Yet, it was different that time. What was different then? Jiraiya-sama was still in Sage Mode, meaning that his attack was … based on Senjutsu.

Quickly, I placed my hand on Zansetsu's neck, pressing my finger into his skin and wrote, as discreetly as possible, the character for 'Sage' and the number 3. Just like that, the wolf knew what his job was as he dived back into the earth.

I was stupid to drive myself into a loop. I shouldn't be looking to compensate for my disadvantage against Pein with half-assed attempts. I should be thinking of how to make my advantage - the thing that I was best at - work better.

"Tsunade-sama … We've cracked the code on how the frequency of Pein's chakra is changing … We can find—" It was supposed to be good news, except the next second, the entire communication network snapped. The barrier around the Sensory Unit must be destroyed.

"One more try, Tsunade-sama, Gai-san. I just need one more chance like before," I told them while looking up at the sky. Sure enough, I could see the dots of chakra hovering in the air. Stretching Kannon Bosatsu that far might be possible, but that didn't make it less stupid.

Neither Tsunade-sama nor Gai expressed any doubt, even if my earlier attempt clearly ended in epic failure and I had yet to offer a different strategy.

Slapping my hand on the ground, electricity roamed across the field, but it wasn't directed at the clique of immortal bodies in front of us. Instead, the lightning travelled backwards until spears of icy-blue lightning pierced through the ground, stabbing towards Number 2, who was driven by Jiraiya-sama back to the main party.

Pein's next move, then, should be …

A giant earthworm rose from the ground and encircled Number 2 protectively, slapping Zansetsu and Gamabunta to the side with its stone-pleated body, shielding Number 2 from the electrical spears as they pierced into its hide.

A slight vibration in the ground told me that Number 2 was travelling through the earth, trying to regroup with the main clique, as expected. After all, Number 2's life was tied to the continual existence of those pesky hummingbirds used to keep my Kannon Bosatsu in check.

I moved the bō staff, planning to slam the ground and drive the summoner out, but Number 3 stepped in and reached with his hands. Immediately, the end of the staff unravelled as if a section was merely erased. It didn't help that Number 4 opened his mouth and raised his head, sending projectiles of mass destruction right towards Konoha.

Quickly, I retracted the stick and spun it around, slashing the end that didn't get absorbed towards the missiles in the sky, exploding them before they could ever reach Konoha. I was starting to see the appeal, really. The good thing about a weapon that had no pointy end was that both ends could be used as the pointy end.

In the end, I couldn't stop Number 2 from regrouping with the rest and placing himself within the comfy protection of others. His giant summoning animals rushed towards us as vanguards. Despite that, Tsunade-sama and Gai already left the protection of my Susanoo and charged in without fear.

Number 3 negated all sorts of chakra-related techniques with a mere touch of his hand and not even Tsunade-sama's chakra-enhanced punch could survive that. Even Gai, being a master of Taijutsu and martial art weapons like the nunchucks, had a hard time damaging Number 3's body the old-fashioned way.

I could tell that Pein reinforced the bodies of his puppets since the last time we fought, to prevent the outcome of our previous encounter from occurring again - the part where I beheaded Number 3, not the part where he slammed Fuu and me to the brink of death.

Like many times before, Tsunade-sama broke through the line of defence like a cannonball, punching the panda in the stomach while blocking a hit for Gai using her own body. Ignoring the gaping hole in her stomach, she slammed her leg into the ground and send the broken rocks towards Number 3.

At the same time, I brought my hands together and stretched the palms apart. Clusters of yin-chakra fire shimmered with a ruby-red glow, growing and expanding until they were the shape of arrow-like quills. Without a pause, I send them forwards, forcing them to fly through the sky, piercing through the stocky black bull, the galloping antelope, and towards the gang of Rinnegan-users.

Number 1 faced me with calmness. Many times we attacked with everything we could, but many times, all it took for him was a simple shake of the hand and the command of 'push' to invalidate everything. An irresistible force pulsed out from his body, washing over the quills of flames and slamming into Tsunade-sama and Gai, pushing them away from Number 3.

However, this time, Gai managed to wrap the nunchucks around Number 3's neck. Veins popped in his arm as he grabbed onto Number 3 with every ounce of his muscle. Number 3 touched Gai's arm, hoping to weaken the man by absorbing his chakra, but chakra enhancement was probably the least important part of Gai's tenacity.

Number 1's repelling push knocked Gai back and the Jonin did everything he could to drag Number 3 with him. With a clatter, the nunchucks broke under the force and Gai got thrown into the distance. But Number 3 was nevertheless pulled along with the momentum, separated from the rest of the group by a few meters.

Everything seemed to repeat itself as the silver giant around me shimmered out of existence. With a crack of lightning, I flashed towards the cluster of Pein's bodies. Their eyes locked on me with horrifying synchronicity. Number 1 knew what I was going to do when he saw the swirling petal in my left eye - the last one.

He gave me a challenge, and I accepted it.

Time stopped around me, pulling everything within a range into a deadland where progression was nonexistent. This time, I could hear it, the sound of the hummingbirds swooping down from the above, their wings slicing through the air as they zoomed towards me with a suicide mission.

I didn't extend the range to include them. In fact, this time, I marked my range based on someone else.

Number 3 stepped out of the veil of Kannon Bosatsu, probably already absorbing the chakra underlying the technique the moment it touched him. Black rods were already in his hand as he aimed them toward me.

The suicidal birds drilled down from above, drawing a line of blood on my arm as I moved back. Number 3's movement might even have relaxed for a bit, knowing that this attempt of assassination would also end in failure the moment I prioritized my life over the frozen bodies in front of me.

But then, a stream of oil shot across the field, slamming into Number 3 with precision. Number 3's hands moved on instinct, holding out to absorb the attack, only for his arm to start turning into stone. He wasn't affected by the prison of time, but he was frozen nonetheless.

I set the range of Kannon Bosatsu to be exactly at the edge in front of Jiraiya-sama. By driving Number 2 back to the main group, all of his summoning creatures were gathered to protect them, allowing me to envelop them within the range of my jutsu.

At that particular moment, Pein's consciousness only reached Number 3, who was unaffected by ninjutsu-based techniques, and the hummingbirds that he left in the sky as the last resort. It just so happened that all of their eyes were on me.

The time prison shattered as I let the black rods sail past me. Lightning coursed through my veins as I narrowly dodged the retribution that followed. So much seemed to happen in that one second when a part of the world was cut off from the rest.

My feet touched the ground and I held my body steady. Susanoo erupted around me in the blink of an eye. With Number 3 turned to a cracked statue, everything else - Number 2, Number 4, 5, 6 … whatever, they really made no difference to me.

Kannon Bosatsu had another purpose - to manually add to the cooldown of Number 1's Shinra Tensei. One second never felt like enough when I was trying to barge my way past Pein's defence, but now, it should be plenty.

The staff materialized in the Susanoo's arm. A wave of silver flowed over the stick, smoothing it out, before finally solidifying its shape to that of a Shakujō. It wasn't quite the bō, but it was far from the weapons that I had experience wielding. At least, I noted, it had a pointy end.

I pointed my finger to the ground and the silver giant followed suit. The rings on the Shakujō made a crystal clear sound as its tip touched the ground. Chakra rushed out my body, flowing to the giant, to the Sounding Staff, and finally, into the ground, tumbling and building up at every step of the path.

I was brought to fight Pein for my skill in mass destruction. And you bet that I was good at it.

A field of lotus bloomed where Pein's bodies were standing, covering them with an ocean of red within a ten-meter radius. The stems seared through their flesh; the petals incinerated their bodies. Number 1 only had the time to raise his hand before the sea of karmic fire engulfed everything it touched.

I was counting. His cooldown wasn't ready for another half a second. By then, my flame already cleansed Number 5 and everything else around him.

The fire raged as Tsunade-sama walked to me. Much of her clothes were destroyed by the repetitive fatal wounds that she kept regenerating from. Gai was slumped over her shoulder, saved by Gamabunta at the last second, but still suffered a lot of concussive wounds.

The markings of Sage Mode faded around Jiraiya's eyes as exhaustion weighed on his body. Finally, Zansetsu stood by my side, his eyes locked on the sea of flame, burning the machine-like existence that took away Fuyuki many moons before.

When the scene of destruction cleared up, the only thing left amidst the dust was 'Yahiko', missing an arm and a giant chunk of his left shoulder. He must have used Shinra Tensei to drive the fire away from him before it could consume his body in full. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for the rest of his Rinnegan fleet.

Disbelief, hatred, rage … everything flashed in his ring-patterned eyes. In response to that burning desire to destroy, the silver Shakujō was lifted in Susanoo's hand, making another clatter of bell-like sound as I raised it towards the lone soldier left standing.

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A/N: So, the titles from the last two chapters add together as an idiom '起死回生', with the literal meaning of 'return from the dead to the realm of living', which I think describes the whole mess quite well. The idiom also comes with a figurative meaning of 'to come out of a desperate situation and turn the tide', which is not really obvious until this chapter. Shakujō is also known as 'khakkhara' or 'sounding staff'. It's often used by monks and can also serve as a weapon and I read that it hurts to get smacked by them.

Tobi and Kabuto's deployment choices were deliberate. While the eventual outcome of their strategy is left to be debated as the story progresses, Tobi knows exactly what kind of enemies would hurt, in more ways than one. In the end, everyone needs a hug : (