Konoha Hospital rose from its little green oasis, in the landscape of brick, stone and asphalt that was the very heart of the village. It was a place that Jiraiya had been more successful at avoiding than most. But it was still far too familiar.

One wing, distinctive for its lower profile and barred windows, seemed to have heamorrhaged half its contents through a missing section at its rear. But amongst the debris, Gai's trail was bright and unmistakable. For once Jiraiya was glad of the man's extravagant chakra signature, and clearly Gai was doing nothing at all to hide it. He tracked it out towards the village boundary, and to a breach in the towering perimeter wall.

A huge breach in the wall. Gai must really be going all out. That thing had more protective wards on it than a jounin's youngest daughter on her first date.

As he prepared to follow the trail through the gaping hole, he turned to look back at the village. To see the sky dominated by a crimson cloud, like a sickeningly unnatural thunderhead, thickening and swirling over the Uchiha district. This did not look good. He'd better hurry.

He raced for the cover of the trees, and was shocked to discover how many ninja's were still in the forest. He'd assumed they would all have moved in for the attack on the village by now. But Gai was definitely here too, and so was Naruto, the flows of energy where they had passed fairly sang out to him from the myriad of other chakra trails.

What to do? He rubbed his hands over his face, smearing the lines of paint into his perspiration. He was a cunning old fox but strategy had never been one of his strengths, and he knew that he couldn't outrun Gai. And if Naruto was being influenced by the blood mist, well, then no one could stand against him and hope to survive. At least not with all their body parts intact. Unfortunately Naruto knew him well enough to know exactly which body parts to aim for too.

While he was still considering, he felt, more than saw, a sudden change in energy from the direction of Konoha. It was like a release of tension, the calm after a storm.

So the first battle had been lost and won, but who was the winner? This called for drastic measures.

"Underworld swamp!"

The forest floor bubbled and oozed, so that the more those trapped in it moved, the tighter they were trapped. An extravagant show of force, but it seemed to have worked. He counted fifty-two ninjas stuck in the mud, fifty-one of them from Konoha. Useful to have them out of the equation, but there were only two ninja's that he really cared about right now. And, as he sharpened his focus, it became painfully clear that they were not there.

Shit. If the Akatsuki had Naruto the kid was as good as dead. It wouldn't matter who had won the battle for Konoha. And the kyuubi in their hands, would become an even more evil force than it had been on its own.

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Fortunately Kakashi was too weak to put up much resistance, or even much of an argument, as Iruka and Sampo half dragged, half carried him into the hospital. Shizune was waiting and led them to a bright tidy room. She stood frowning at him as his companions stripped him, dressed him in a skimpy hospital gown, and eased him into the bed.

"You're lucky. One of my patients just vacated this room. Otherwise you'd be on the floor."

He forced himself up onto his elbows. "Well if you need the space, my bed at home is nice and comfy. Iruka-sensei will take good care of me."

She used the flat of her hand to push his head back into the pillow. "You need the space. One day of observation and a good night's rest. Minimum." She nodded towards the others. They can come back in a little while. I'm not a fool, I understand what we're up against and I know you still have a lot to discuss."

Kakashi wilted into the bed's embrace. It wasn't comfy, but it would do. And no, Shizune was not a fool, he might be thinking of her as many things right now but a fool wasn't one of them.

She took two steps back. "But talk only, and you're to stay in bed." Breaking eye contact for a moment, she shot Iruka a piercing look. "Alone."

Iruka stared at the floor, his cheeks glowing red. "That time… We… we were only kissing."

Kakashi didn't bother to suppress the mischief flirting in his blue eye. The red one was too dulled to join in anyway. "Surely I'm allowed one kiss."

Shizune didn't miss the tell-tale sign of chakra depletion. And as Iruka leaned over the bed and brushed his lips against Kakashi's cheek, he caught the full force of her scowl. He pulled away and almost ran to join Sampo by the door.

Kakashi, his moment of fun over, turned his attention back to her. "So where did you put the old wolf sennin?"

"Two rooms down. Temari and Shikamaru are guarding him until we can get some ANBU back on their feet.

Temari? He'd have to ask about that later. "Sam, will you be leaving now?"

"I can stay if you want me too, the shrine's survived this long it can go a few more days."

Kakashi nodded his appreciation. "And Ruka, I'll see you in a few hours?"

"Yeah. I'll deal with the kids then come right back."

"Good, do that. And don't be afraid to wake me. This isn't over yet."

Once he was alone Kakashi swallowed, then nipped the side of his thumb with his teeth, drawing a bead of blood. "Go to Jiraiya."

Now he could give in to his exhaustion. He slid the rest of the bag of soldier pills he'd scored from Iruka's pocket under his pillow, snuggled under the cover and closed his eyes.

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By the time Sakura reached the academy gymnasium it was almost empty.

She's woken up, weak, starving and feeling decidedly out of the loop, just a few hours earlier. Naturally she'd been beyond aghast to learn that Shizune, with a staff of less than ten, had been taking care of the entire overflowing hospital population. But now that the blood mist had lifted, nurses and medics had come drifting back to resume their duties at a fairly steady trickle.

That's why, when word had reached her that the children were on their way back to the academy, after fighting off the enemy… Children! Fighting! She had insisted on going over to help.

She found her friends and fellow chuunins hanging out there with about a dozen assorted kids.

"Ugh, this place is a mess." Her foot scuffed against a half empty container of rice and plums. She picked it up, then seeing nowhere better to put it, dropped it back onto the floor."

"Should have seen it half an hour ago." Chouji commented, finding an unopened box of fried rice balls and tucking into it. "Parents everywhere. Crying, screaming, threatening. They didn't even stop to thank us for saving them and their 'little darlings' while they were all 'under the influence' and off their heads."

"Under the influence?"

"Yeah, this weird jutsu. It had the whole damn town screwed up. You missed all the fun Sakura-chan."

"No she didn't." Neiji was staring at a high window, watching a small flock of pigeons circling around for the third time. "It's not over."

His words fell amongst them like lead weights, no one had really believed otherwise.

Surprisingly Hinata, Konoha's quietest ninja, was the first to speak. She took her younger sister by the hand.

"I'm going to go home now. Come on Neiji. We'll take all these other children with us too. They can stay at the main house for now."

Tenten lay a strong but soft hand on her friend's narrow shoulder. Hinata seemed too small and too fragile to take on so much responsibility. "Your parents didn't come for Hanabi?"

Hinata jumped as if she'd been taken by surprise, she tapped her fingers together nervously and shook her head. "Most of these children have jounin parents. I expect they're all still…you know. But the servants can help take care of them until everyone is well again, and we've found all the people who are missing…."

She hadn't intended those last words to sound so much like a plea. She gulped and watched Neiji still watching the birds. "I…I don't want to leave them here for Iruka-sensei to deal with. He'll have other things on his mind."

'Oh you mean him and… Ow!" Kiba glared at Ino, rubbing his leg where she'd kicked it.

Ino was glaring back just as hard but she still kicked him again, just to make her warning crystal clear. "I think we should all go home. I just hope my Mum and Dad know who I am by now."

Sakura stepped outside, letting her eyes sweep over the damaged academy building and the hole in the skyline where the Hokage Tower had been. When everyone else was gone, Lee came and stood beside her. He didn't say anything, didn't prance or posture, he simply slipped his hand into hers.

They stood side by side. In the place where they had both set out on the path to become the ninjas they now were. Somehow it seemed as if it had all been inevitable. As if everything they had done so far had been in preparation for this. This week, this day, this defining moment in the history of Konoha.

After what seemed a long time, Sakura kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Lee. Will you call in at my house on your way home? Let them know… I want to wait here for Iruka-sensei."

Lee's eyebrows rose so high they threatened to disappear into his hairline. He took a deep breath, barely brushed his lips against her, then vanished into the streets at lightening speed.

Iruka arrived to find Sakura sitting on the lone wooden swing in the academy play-yard. He hovered nearby, not sure if he should intrude, but she beckoned him over.

"How's Kakashi-sensei?"

"As weak as water, but he'll be fine as long as he doesn't irritate Shizune-san into strangling him."

They smiled at each other sadly. No words were needed, but Iruka knelt down to her level and hugged her anyway.

"Don't worry, Jiraiya-sama will bring him back."

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Maito Gai's vision slowly came into focus. He was in a tree, with someone draped over his shoulder. So what was he rescuing Lee from this time? But wasn't he on his way to rescue Kakashi? His rival must have had a very difficult time, he'd lost a lot of weight.

Gai pulled the limp body onto his lap.

Naruto? What was he doing in the forest with Naruto, the youthful pride of his rival's team? He noticed that the bold teen's orange sweatshirt was hiked up, revealing a second seal taped over the kyuubi seal around his navel. He peeled it off, carefully.

Naruto's fist hit him square in the jaw.

Gai pulled himself to his feet from where he'd fallen, with entirely the wrong kind of sparkles buzzing around his head. He worked his manly mandible… wow, but wow! Since when did Kakashi's kids punch like that?

Naruto was standing, fuming with rage and righteous indignation, a few yards away.

"Keep your hands off me you creep? Is Iruka-sensei the only one around here who's not a damn pervert?"

Now Maito Gai was not flighty and shadowy like most of the shinobi he knew. In fact he prided himself on being steady and sensible, but there was no sense at all in any of this.

"Why am I here? With you? I was, or thought I was, on the border of Wave Country, seeking Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. Er, you haven't seen them have you?"

The nice guy pose just sort of happened by itself.

Naruto stared at him. At least that was something he recognised. Gai-sensei was still… Gai-sensei, which was good, or at least no more disturbing than it ever was.

"Yaknow, I think it's, er, starting to come back. There was this big-assed explosion, in the records room. I was there with Sakura… Sakura!" He sucked in a lungful of air as if he was about to scream, but he didn't. He grabbed Gai's arm and tugged on it, like a demanding child. "We've gotta make sure she's okay."

A dazzling white flash gleamed from dazzling white teeth. "I think going back to Konoha is a very good idea."

Jiraiya had just abandoned his victims, like flies on flypaper, to continue his search. And as luck would have it he saw his target walking straight towards him, an unmistakable figure, distinguished by his height and the breadth of his shoulders as much as his tight green clothing. And as he feared, he was not alone. Someone was with him, someone smaller, releasing short jagged bursts of chakra. And unlike the mist, this was an evil power that he recognised only too well.

He'd take out the big guy first, then deal with Naruto. A low-level rasengan should do it.

Of course… had Jirauya stopped and thought, he would probably have noticed how different this sparkly and normal (well normal for Gai) Gai was, to the silent skulking presence that he'd been aware of in Konoha's forests for the past week or so. But stopping and thinking wasn't one of the great toad sennin's great strengths either.

Gai was still quite giddy and disoriented, so the chakra blast caught him completely unaware, flooring him far more soundly and decisively than Naruto's angry punch. He crashed to the ground like a toppled tree.

Naruto took a few moments to process what he'd just seen.

"Ero-sennin? Is that you?"

Jiraira appeared from behind a tree. "Naruto? Are you… normal?"

"What kind of dumbass question is that?"

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of a little dog. He collapsed at Jiraiya's feet, wheezing and gasping for breath,

"For an old geezer you move pretty fast. Looks like I caught up just a bit too late."

"Pakkun?"

"Master sent me to tell you that the blood jutsu's broken."

There seemed to be a glow of something, joy, no… pride, in the pug's dark eyes. He sat on the cold dirt staring up at them, tail twitching.

"That's right, Kakashi defeated it. Hot damn, I wish I'd seen it up close, the snotty little brat grew up to be quite something didn't he Jijii?"

"So you mean Gai's okay now… that I just…" Jiraiya looked at the impressive hunk of muscle splayed at his feet. "How do I get him back to the village?"

"Don't look at me old man. Master's already flat on his back, if I hang around much longer he'll be in a coma."

And the dog was gone.

Naruto stared at the spot where Pakkun had been sitting. His brow furrowed in deep thought. "Ero-sennin, can I ask you something?"

So here it came. How the hell was he going to explain all this in terms Naruto would understand? The blood mist, the bombs, the battle for the survival of Konoha, his unprovoked attack on Gai… He didn't understand most of it himself.

"Are Kakashi-sensei's dogs wearing masks as part of their uniforms now?"

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Kakashi did not want to spend the night alone in the hospital. And he knew that if he could get home, and into his own bed, Iruka would not have the heart to drag him back. Of course Iruka would be angry, but that was nothing he hadn't dealt with before. But he had to be off the premises before anyone noticed. Otherwise he was stuck here until morning.

He had just started to scour the room for his clothes when Iruka walked in.

"Kakashi, why are you out of bed? How are you out of bed? I thought you'd sleep for at least a few more hours, if not until tomorrow."

Shit. Maybe he could sweet talk him. No, not a chance, not Iruka, he was stuck until morning.

He let out a long resigned sigh, whilst trying not to look or sound the least bit guilty. "Oh, I took a couple of pills, just to boost up my chakra a bit."

Iruka felt for his pocket, and stopped mid-pat, as everything became clear "Kakashi? Just how many soldier pills have you taken?"

"Um…six?

Iruka took a deep breath, he'd already started to colour. "Six? Don't you know that anything more than three is very dangerous?

Kakashi watched him with proffessional ninja detatchment. For some reason whenever Iruka lost his temper some strands of hair came loose, trailing like threads of black silk over his temples and cheekbones. He found the effect quite adorable. "You know you're really cute when you're angry.

Iruka's eyes narrowed to slits of menace. "Then get ready to die from cute. Six! What on earth were you thinking?"

He hadn't been kidding, Iruka was sexy as hell when he was this angry. If it wasn't for the risk of Shizune catching him he jump his sensei right there. "But I was starting from a much lower chakra level than most people ever have. Okay, so maybe eight. Look I wasn't counting."

Iruka seemed to tower over him, face flushed, teeth bared. "Give me the bag. Now! Where did you hide it."

They both dived for the pillow at the same time. He might have recently been in the fight of his life, and used every scrap of energy his body could muster, but Sharingan Kakashi was still Sharingan Kakashi. He held the bag in triumph over his head, out of reach.

Sampo walked in to see Iruka pressed against Kakashi, one hand on his shoulder, the other reaching for the bag. Kakashi's free hand, meanwhile was inching it's way below the waistband of Iruka's pants. The fact that he was wearing nothing but a flimsy gown, flapping open to offer a naked rear view didn't make the situation look any more appropriate either.

"Oh, excuse me, If you're, er, busy… I can come back later."

Kakshi lowered the bag "No. My dear husband is just being over protective." He stole a quick kiss. "Iruka, I've got to do what I've got to do, you know that. It's not a coincidence that I ended up facing off with Itachi. He didn't just come here for Naruto."

Iruka stopped spluttering long enough to gape at him, anger, confusion and slow understanding struggling for control of his features. "So that's why you went to the Uchiha district."

"The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. "

Sampo sat on the edge of the bed, radiating a pool of calm in the atmosphere of prickly anxiety and chemically induced unstable chakra. "This man, this itachi. He committed great crimes didn't he?"

Kakashi sat next to him, not bothering to hide the grimness he felt inside. "Yes. More than you can imagine. He slaughtered his family and his whole clan. All except his little brother."

"And he tried to steal your soul."

"That's what it felt like."

Iruka resisted the urge to wedge himself between the two other men. Instead he pulled up a chair from the far side of the room. "Why would a human need a human soul?"

"Because he couldn't or wouldn't use his own? You must admit there are lean pickings where he is now."

Kakashi, looked at Sampo hard. Trying to imagine how he would look if he hadn't become a monk, in rich clothes, maybe even with hair… "You grandfather, he was a civilian member on the council, wasn't he Sam?"

"Yes, for quite a long time. He was very popular."

"So you might have met Uchiha Itachi… when you were boys?"

"I met quite a few of them, on formal occasions. Uchihas aren't easy to forget."

"And you might have told him the wolf legend."

Sampo raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "I might? Is there any one I didn't tell?"

Iruka snorted, true, he had a point. "So, Itachi knew of the wolf legend, and how the wolf had tried to steal the monk's soul, through sex."

"But we weren't having sex, we were trying to kill each other."

Death and sex. The two sides of life's circle.

Death had given Itachi the ultimate sharingan attack. And how many times at the culmination of a perfect orgasm had he felt Iruka's soul to be part of his, and all of his to be Iruka's. The union now cemented by a sacred promise. Was there someone with whom Itachi had felt the same perfect fulfillment of love? Could it have been him? With his memory wiped after the fact?

Iruka's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Itachi did know the wolf legend, or he thought he did. He was on Ookami island, I saw him there. But he had a different version. He said that the she wolf was alone because she'd killed her pack herself. And that she abandoned the monk to go back into the mountains, because it was her home."

They both looked at Sampo, and were surprised to see him smiling.

"There are lots of versions of these old legends. All of them true, more or less."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. Killed her whole pack? That sounded very familiar.

"Perhaps that's what Itachi really wanted, to come home. With his choice of Hokage he could. Perhaps there's something he still hopes to find here."

Something he had to leave behind. Chiyo-baasama's jutsu exchanged a living soul for a dead one. Were there other jusu's that did the same, was there a sharingan jutsu he didn't know of?

It was Kakashi's turn to snort. "If he wants a pure and innocent soul I don't know why he'd come after mine."

Sampo looked at him hard. Kakashi knew that his old friend could see way more than he was happy to reveal. "You said he was able to reach it through the sharingan. It's the sharingan that's the key."

"So you're suggesting that Itachi spared Sasuske so that he'd have use of an innocent soul when he wanted it." Kakashi's face darkened. "But Sasuske is hardly innocent. Not now."

"Exactly, you're all he has left Kaka-kun."

Kakshi's eye curved into a smile. Right, leftovers. A poor second choice with a dead man's eye.

Iruka wasn't fooled for a moment. He looked at Sampo apologetically, then sat on the bed next to his new husband and folded his arms around him in a protective embrace. "You said this wasn't over. He'll come back for you, he won't give up Kakashi. He's an Uchiha."

Kakashi's smile widened into a grin. "Yeah. They are tenacious bastards."

Iruka was right. He would, but this time Itachi's attack wouldn't be through a medium. It would be in person, full force, head on. Unimaginably more dangerous.

Kakashi realised that he was the only one laughing. "Come on you two. Have a little faith. Do you really think he can take me so easily?"

And if they did, then that made three.