AN: Another big one! One more chapter befor a small hiatus for this so I can try to wrap up some other stories.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At roughly two in the afternoon on Tuesday November fourteenth the Uchiha district was consumed by flames. As members of the ANBU and Military police force arrived on the scene they encountered thirty displaced civilians from the district. One hour later when the fire had been suppressed six other survivors were recovered. The accounts of two of them are provided below to explain the events that caused the fire.

Iruka Umino:

It was one of the last nice days before the winter was going to actually set it, so Iruka and Mizuki had been talked into having class outside. As he'd expected, this meant there was an hour of actual class and the rest of the day was used to just enjoy the weather. After the exam the previous day he'd decided the class had earned it. As two military police dropped into the class he double checked the schedule for a safety drill they might have forgotten about.

"Sorry, we must have missed today for the schedule" Iruka decided to just bite the bullet and admit this one. "What's the drill today?"

"No drill today, we're actually here to take one of the students" she pulled out some papers for him. "Standard procedure for incidents like this."

"Oh uh" Iruka tried to flip through the thirty pages he'd been handed. "Which student? Is everything alright?"

"Everythings fine for now, Naruto's mother reported some suspicious people outside their home and one of them was apprehended. Just to be safe we want to make sure Naruto is somewhere a bit more secure as well."

"Oh god" he'd given up on the papers and just stashed them in a pouch. "I'll go grab his things. Mizuki can help you both get him ready to go."

"Much appreciated" she and her partner headed over to Mizuki while he went back inside.

Given the few people he could think of that would be lurking after the Uzumaki family Iruka was fairly worried. He packed up Naruto's things and put in a flash tag, as well as instructions of its proper use, to feel a little better about everything. With everything together he rushed back outside to the officers and Naruto.

"I HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!" Naruto was clinging to a tree.

"Again, we are not here to arrest you!" the one officer had clearly expected this to be easier. "Just to escort you to safety."

"I HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY!" Rōzu had really engrained some questionable things into the boy.

"Naruto it's alright!" Iruka decided to speed this along. "They are just here to help out."

"Iruka, come a little closer please" Naruto shifted behind the tree so they had some privacy. "Mom has always said cops aren't to be trusted."

"Of course they have" this would be a talk for Rōzu later. "But they are here because Rōzu went to them for help and are just trying to make sure you're safe."

"Promise?" his gaze shifted between the officers and Iruka.

"Promise" he handed the bag over. "And in case something happens, I gave you a little gift, only to be used for emergencies!"

"Oh?" Naruto quickly opened the bag and saw the gift. "Deal. Take me away, coppers."

"Again, not why" she looked at his outstretched arms. "Sure, whatever, bag him and tag him."

"Right" the other officer cuffed him.

"Thanks for the help, it's a nice change of pace to have people cooperate."

"Anytime officers!" Iruka made sure to set a good example for all of the kids watching.

"Wow" Mizuki came over to him as the three left. "You sure can be a boot licker."

"What?"

"Just saying, you were awful chummy with those pigs."

"Mizuki, they are officers of the law, complying with their requests is not being chummy."

"Whatever you say man, I'm just saying this is not a good look on you. Nobody loves a boot licker."

"Whatever" Iruka decided to just ignore him and keep an eye on the other students, better safe than sorry.

Once he was sure they were all there and that no one was lurking in the shadows, he decided to read over the papers he'd been given. The first two pages were actual incident reports, the other twenty eight were just full of random jargon and nonsense to look like an actual report. He didn't think that was a good sign.

"Uh, Iruka" Mizuki sounded a little afraid as he called out. "I think someone is here to see you."

Expecting a very furious Rōzu after he'd just handed their son off, Iruka prepared for the worst. He did not prepare for a rather beaten up Itachi to limp his way out of the woods.

"Naruto."

"Uh?"

"Is he here?" Itachi was looking around, eyes red.

"No, some cops just took him away and gave me a fake incident report."

"Fuck" Itachi started off in the direction Iruka pointed. "Keep Sasuke here."

"What?" Iruka started following him. "Can you explain what's going on?"

"No."

"Mizuki get the kids inside!"

"On it! You heard him inside everyone!"

"You too" Itachi tried to wave him off.

"No I just sent Naruto off with some fake cops apparently so I'm going too."

"They aren't fake cops" he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "They came here to get Naruto as part of my father's orders. The village is about to become a very unsafe place and I need you to keep an eye on Sasuke."

"He's with Mizuki he'll be fine, if this is related to Naruto then I'm coming too" Iruka put an arm over Itachi's shoulder to help him walk faster.

"Fine."

Itachi brought them back to the Uchiha District, Iruka had only been here one other time but could tell things were off. The district housed too many people for them to be the only ones on the street. They stopped at the entrance to the Clan head's house.

"Things aren't going to be easy from here" Itachi took Iruka's arm off him and stretched his leg.

"We likely won't have any backup and will be greatly outnumbered."

"What is about to happen?" Iruka grabbed a kunai, even if Itachi hadn't warned him he could feel it in the air.

"The Uchiha clan is planning a coup, my father believes he can control the nine-tails and force the village to surrender. Almost every Uchiha ninja in the village will be between us and him."

"Oh" he almost would have preferred not hearing that. "Great."

"Don't look anyone in the eyes."

With that piece of advice the two crossed the threshold and were within Itachi's home. Just like outside it was eerily quiet. Itachi took the lead and checked around the corner. As he pressed against the wall to arms burst through it attempting to grab hold of him. As they connected he burst into a flock of crows.

"Behind you" reforming across the room Itachi blasted the wall with flames.

Heeding the warning Iruka spun around in time to block an incoming kunai. Two more Uchiha were now blocking the entrance. He could recognize the seals the one started as a fire jutsu and prepared his own counter attack.

"Water Release: Gunshot" borrowing this move from Rōzu, Iruka blasted the two of them out of the house.

"Come on" Itachi pulled him along past the smoking body in the wall. "They'll be down below in the meeting chamber, I have a secret way in."

Picking up the pace the two arrived in a small courtyard within the house. Itachi surveyed the area and nodded, producing a handful of explosive tags.

"Put these four over there" he thrust some into Iruka's hand and pointed.

"Is thi-"

"Do it."

"Right" following the instructions Iruka set the tags up.

Once they were set up Itachi hopped onto a rooftop. Iruka followed suit and braced for the impact. As Itachi set them off the entire building shook, smoke blocked his vision but Iruka assumed it worked from the sound. The smoke was cleared a moment later by a massive blast of wind. The few ninja who'd blasted the wind out then leapt up from the hole towards them.

"Stop" as Fugaku spoke up the four backed off. "Itachi."

"Father."

"Sasuke's teacher?"

"That's correct" Iruka wished he had a cool thing to say here instead of that.

"I take it you're not going to reconsider which side you're on?" Fugaku went back to addressing Itachi.

"This entire idea is insane, so no."

"Fine then" Fugaku leapt up onto the rooftop as well. "The rest of you handle this other guy."

"I'll handle him, find Naruto" Itachi gripped a kunai and stared down his father.

"Just me versus this small army of ninjas" Iruka steeled his resolve.

Leaping down, Iruka managed to evade an initial attack from the other four. Using the sound of his landing he scanned the room, Naruto wasn't here. Doding to the side he managed to avoid a direct hit from a fireball but was still thrown back by it's detonation. Landing on the far side of the room he could see the exit, just past the four ninja trying to kill him.

"Any chance you all could just let me get over there?" he figured it'd be worth a shot.

Instead of replying the four of them prepped another combined fire attack. Iruka grit his teeth, he had one option. Waiting until the flames blocked their sight of him, Iruka channeled his chakra and used the Hiding Like a Mole technique. He owed Kakashi one for this save, as he managed to sink into the earth only partially singed. As quickly as he could he moved forward, when he was sure he was behind the four he grabbed two flash tags and threw them up. Once they detonated he emerged as well and rushed out of the room, leaving the four blinded ninja lashing out after him.

"If I were a secret basement, where would I hide Naruto?" he sprinted down the hallway looking for any other rooms.

"This sucks!" the voice of one annoyed Naruto tipped him off. "I'm bored!"

"Tough" there was one other voice in the room.

As quietly as he could, Iruka approached the door. Listening against it he was pretty sure it was just the two of them in there. He really hoped whoever it was didn't have their sharingan on.

"I'm here for the boy" transformed to look like Fugaku, Iruka entered the room.

"What?" the sole guard, who thankfully didn't have red eyes, turned to face him. "Oh uh, sorry sir!"

"At ease" he hoped that was a thing that made sense to say. "We're moving locations, someone is compromised. I'll be taking Naruto myself."

"Are you sure sir? I thought it was my job to watch him?"

"It was yes, but plans have changed. I need you running distraction at the Hokage's office."

"Is that a good idea sir?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course sir!"

"Then get your ass over there double time!" Iruka hoped Fugake talked like this.

"Yes sir!" the guard sprinted out of the room, thankfully away from the rubble filled room.

"Oh thank god" Iruka shut the door and dropped the transformation.

"Iruka?"

"Yeah uh, so it turns out you can't trust cops. I'm here to rescue you."

"I knew it! And why?"

"That is a very long story" Iruke grabbed his hand. "For now, I need to sneak you past a lot of very dangerous people somehow."

"Hey wait a second" the guard came back into the room. "This is a test right?"

"You failed it" Iruka smashed his head hard on the wall, noting that cool line down for later, he grabbed Naruto and started to run.

The hallways looked identical and he had no idea where he was going. Even finding the meeting room wasn't an option now. He looked up at the ceiling to the hallway, he only had two explosive tags. Sticking them to the ceiling and pulled Naruto back to the last turn.

"Do not ever do this ok" Iruka did not want him blowing up buildings.

"Do what?"

The tags blew, blowing a hole to somewhere.

"That."

"No promises."

Hearing footsteps, Iruka threw Naruto up the hole before jumping through it himself. He looked at the now destroyed dining room and felt a little bad about it. Not bad enough to stop him from kicking down the door to get outside faster, but still kind of bad.

"Told you, if we just wait out here he'll show up" one of the four from before cut off their path.

"Shit" they were now surrounded by some people that were very angry with Iruka.

"Hey language!" one of them pointed at Naruto.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah man he's like six."

"Actually he's seven as of last month" Iruka stared at Rōzu, who was a little singed, but also here.

"Oh thanks" this man turned to face them.

"Yea no problem" they smashed a haymaker into his head, dropping him.

"Shit!" one the other three started the handseals for a fireball.

"LANGUAGE" before she could finish the seals Rōzu smashed a fist into her stomach. "I just told you he's seven!"

The other two moved in, forcing Rōzu to back off to where Iruka still was. They reached into his kunai pouch and took two.

"Really?"

"I don't have my own!"

"You really shouldn't talk this much in a fight you know" one of the men dashed at them.

"I'll talk as much as I-"

They were cut off as he fired off a point blank fireball on them. Iruka covered Naruto's eyes as he jumped back. The other woman tried to cut him off only to be knocked down by Rōzu. The smoke from the blast cleared to reveal a badly burnt log.

"Man, these guys are like really weak" they prodded his side. "I thought you were actually in danger, sorry I should've let you handle this."

"Uh" Iruka had assumed they were fairly strong, but had admittedly thought he was still the stronger of them both. "Yeah I just wanted to uh, you know, give them a chance."

"Man you really are a nice guy."

"I wanna see the fight!" Naruto pulled Iruka's hands away and pouted. "Dammit I missed it!"

"Forgetting someone?" the final guy clearly didn't like being overlooked.

"Hm, can't say I am?" they nonchalantly tossed a kunai through his one foot.

"FUCK!" he roared in pain, reflexively reaching down to his foot.

"How many times do I have to say this!" Rōzu took this chance to kick him in the face, very painfully ripping his foot free as he was thrown back. "Language!"

With this situation handled much faster than he expected, Iruka hoped they were home free. As Itachi was thrown over to them he swore, he always had to go and jinx it.

"I see you got my bird" he picked himself up and looked back to his father.

"Yeah it got the message across" they also looked at Fugaku. "I take it he's the reason my son was kidnapped?"

"More or less."

"Good enough for me."

"Well so much for a quick and harmless revolution" Fugaku looked down at them all from his rooftop vantage. "But I suppose there's really never been one of those before."

"Keep the kids down here" Rōzu gave Iruka this order and hopped onto the rooftop.

Rōzu Uzumaki:

It had been a very slow morning at the Hokage Tower, Rōzu had mostly spent it organizing the older files from before they'd started there. Thanks to the open window there was a little extra fun added to this from the occasional gust of wind that would throw loose papers around. It was also thanks to the window that they'd been able to get a visit from a little birdie.

"CAW" the crow got their attention as it best knew how to.

"HOLY FUCK" Rōzu in one quick action ruined a lot of the days work after being startled by the bird. "Well, this better be important bird."

The bird's reply was to lock one sharingan eye with one of theirs. It conveyed a message from Itachi about the current situation going on within the Uchiha clan. It also told them to meet him at the Uzumaki residence once he retrieved Naruto, as well as where to go if he wasn't there.

"Fuck!" they scrambled to the window as the bird hopped to the side to make room. "Bird! Stay here and organize these papers!"

"CAW!"

Getting back home was easy enough, Rōzu has forgone reapplying the limiters and thanks to Kakashi was back up to snuff. Seeing the door already opened they barreled through it startling the military police officer that was inside. Wasting no time, Rōzu tackled the officer and pinned him to the floor.

"Talk fast and I won't maim you, where's my son?"

"Go to hell!"

"Hm, not very helpful" they gripped his left bicep. "Is this your favorite arm?"

"Uh, no?"

"Oh ok" they grabbed his right bicep and with a quick application of force, snapped his humerus.

"FUCK! THAT WAS MY FAVORITE ARM!"

"START TALKING BEFORE I GET THE OTHER BONES IN IT THEN!" they grabbed his right forearm.

"OK OK!" he took some deep breaths. "I was supposed to wait here in case the academy team failed to get the nine-tails host. He's either still there or already at the compound."

"Wow, you broke shockingly fast" given Itachi's explanation of the situation, Rōzu had expected a bit more devout loyalty.

"In all honesty, I wasn't very sold on the whole revolution plan. I am less sold on it without my favorite arm."

"Well good on you man" they smashed his head into the ground to knock him out.

After tying him up they locked the place up. Confident that Iruka wouldn't just hand Naruto off to some random people without a fight they headed to the academy. Seeing no signs of a fight or any of the students they tried to get inside the building.

"FUCK!" the electrified door stopped that plan very quickly.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTIN" Mizuki kicked the door open and paused seeing the convulsing Rōzu on the floor. "Oh shit, you aren't here to kidnap any students right?"

"NO!" they managed to get that out through the convulsions.

After a few moments of convulsing and another few minutes of some minor healing jutsu from Mizuki they were back on their feet. He'd also filled them in on what'd gone down at the academy.

"He gave my son" Rōzu couldn't believe Iruka had done the one thing they'd expected him not to do. "To some random cops?"

"Yeah, I told him he was being a bootlicker for going along with them."

"God, I'm glad one of my son's teachers has a good head on his shoulders."

"I try" Mizuki made a note of them saying that.

"Ok, I'm gonna head over to the Uchiha district, good luck over here" they headed off.

"Thanks, and if you see Sasuke can you send him back here?" Mizuki calling out made them stop. "I'm pretty sure I heard Itachi mention keeping him safe and I am so afraid of that dude."

"You lost a kid?"

"No! He was here when I brought everyone inside and now he's kind of gone."

"So you lost him."

"LOOK! At least I didn't give him away to some cops."

"Tell that to Itachi" Now worried about two children, Rōzu headed over as fast as they could."

Getting to the Uchiha sector was fairly simple, it was a massive part of the village. Remembering the bird's information they headed for Itachi's house, hearing an explosion they abandoned any stealth and rushed there faster.

"Yeah man he's like six!" some random guy who was surrounding Iruka and Naruto said this.

"Actually" they wound up a haymaker over his head. "He's seven as of last month."

"Oh thanks" this man turned to face them.

"Yea no problem" they smashed their haymaker into his head, dropping him.

"Shit!" one the other ninja surrounding the two of them started doing some handseals.

"LANGUAGE" they dashed over and uppercut her stomach. "I just told you he's seven!"

The other two moved in, forcing Rōzu to back off to where Iruka still was. They reached into his kunai pouch and took two.

"Really?"

"I don't have my own!"

"You really shouldn't talk this much in a fight you know" one of the ninja dashed at them.

"I'll talk as much as I-" they could see a fireball begin to come out of his mouth, and used the Replacement Jutsu Iruka was always going on about to avoid it.

Seeing the last one move to cut off Iruka they leapt at her. Catching her head in the crook of their arm they slammed her onto the ground. They really hoped the bone breaking sound was just her jaw and not her neck. Ignoring that for now they headed over to Iruka.

"Man, these guys are like really weak" they prodded his side. "I thought you were actually in danger, sorry I should've let you handle this."

"Uh" Iruka seemed a little sheepish as they prodded him. "Yeah I just wanted to uh, you know, give them a chance."

"Man you really are a nice guy."

"I wanna see the fight!" Naruto pulled Iruka's hands away and pouted. "Dammit I missed it!"

"Forgetting someone?" the final guy clearly didn't like being overlooked.

"Hm, can't say I am?" they nonchalantly tossed a kunai through his one foot.

"FUCK!" he roared in pain, reflexively reaching down to his foot.

"How many times do I have to say this!" Rōzu took this chance to kick him in the face, very painfully ripping his foot free as he was thrown back. "Language!"

With those four taken care of, Rōzu looked around for Itachi or Sasuke. Luckily, one of them came flying down towards them.

"I see you got my bird" Itachi picked himself up and looked back to where he'd fallen from.

"Yeah it got the message across" they also looked up, seeing Fugaku. "I take it he's the reason my son was kidnapped?"

"More or less."

"Good enough for me" cracking their neck, Rōzu took a few steps forward.

"Well so much for a quick and harmless revolution" Fugaku looked down at them all from his rooftop vantage. "But I suppose there's really never been one of those before."

"Keep the kids down here" after giving Iruka this order they leapt up to the rooftop to face him.

"Don't look in his eyes!" Iruka shouted this after them.

"I know!" they weren't good at it, but Guy had shown them his anti-sharingan feet watching technique.

Thankfully it wasn't too hard to figure that he was approaching them. Up close it'd be harder to avoid his gaze giving him an advantage there. Hoping Itachi hadn't mentioned too much about them to his father, Rōzu advanced as well. Failing to read his movements entirely they got punched square in the face.

"Gotcha" as their torso went back with the punch their arm hand swung up towards his chest, followed by a strange sound.

"What the" Fugaku managed to avoid most of the attack thanks to his Sharingan, only a single bone bullet managed to clip him.

Using his moment of confusion Rōzu swung back, sprouting white blades from their arm. Even with the element of surprise they couldn't land a direct hit on him, only managing to deliver a single cut to his arm. To avoid becoming skewered on them, Fugaku leapt back.

"This certainly isn't something you see everyday" without the threat of sudden impalement he could inspect them. "Last I heard the Kaguya clan were all wiped out."

"That would explain the lack of family reunions" Rōzu swiped their hand at him again, firing another barrage of bones.

At range he was able to easily dodge the attack, but the constant barrage of them meant he had to keep moving. He created an earth wall and used it as shelter against the attacks. Rōzu knew they couldn't leave him alone behind it. With a grimace of pain they pulled a bone blade from their thigh and slashed through the wall.

"Well, he's not here."

"Phoenix Flower Jutsu" Rōzu leapt back as balls of fire blew through the roof they'd just been on.

"Oh shit" they started running back as the balls turned after them.

Without sight on Fugaku, they'd just have to launch a water jutsu to cancel out the fireballs. Forming the seal with their free hand they pivoted around and blasted the water at the balls filling the air with steam. Using this cover they created a water clone and hide as well.

"Ok so he's probably just hiding in here" Rōzu had snuck inside the building they'd been fighting on top of.

They'd climbed into what looked like Sasuke's bedroom, unless there was a third equally small Uchiha child who lived there. Silently sneaking out into the hallway they tried to listen for Fugaku. After a few moments they heard a sound behind one of the doors, pressed against the wall they slowly pulled it open.

"Great Fireball Jutsu" before they could fully open the door a fireball destroyed it, as well as a good chunk of the house.

"THIS IS YOUR HOUSE!" thanks to their caution in opening the door, Rōzu had managed to avoid being burnt to ash. "STOP BLOWING IT UP!"

"It is my house!" Fugaku crashed through a wall to deliver a kick to them. "And I will destroy it as I please!"

Sailing through the air Rōzu was at a loss for how to deal with him. He didn't care about collateral damage, they had to take extra care to avoid looking at his face, and to top it all off, he was strong as hell. Given all the facts, they decided to use one of their trump cards.

"Hey I bet you can't blow up your own kitchen!" they taunted him from within said kitchen.

As three kunai with explosive tags found their way into the room they figured he took the bait. Sprinting from the room and towards the closest bathroom they were pursued by the resulting fireball.

"Ok but like, I bet you can't destroy this bathroom too."

Diving through the bathroom window as it too was destroyed, Rōzu was now back out front of the ruined house. Thankfully Iruka had managed to keep the two children where they'd left them all.

"Do you need help?" Iruka was clearly worried by the rapidly collapsing house behind them.

"What no way, I've got him right where I want him."

"Is that roughly fifty feet above you preparing to shoot fire at you?" the way Itachi asked the question gave them some cause for concern.

"Is he rough-"

"Great Fireball jutsu" they were cut off by Fugaku blasting a fireball at them from forty-nine feet above them.

Luckily the water clone from before, which Fugaku had just completely ignored, managed to pull them out of it's path. With yet another explosion to destroy more of the building, everything was set for Rōzu's plan. As Fugaku landed on the ground they did their own handseals.

"Water Dragon Bullet jutsu" they finished the handseals and channeled the chakra, resulting in a lot of nothing.

"I see you forgot the water part of that jutsu" Fugaku folded his arms, probably to look cool and intimidating.

"Give it a moment" they held the final seal for it.

Fugaku decided to not give it a moment, and instead tried to attack them. While he closed the gap between them, he was not prepared for the water dragon that blasted out of the now exposed plumbing for his house. It grabbed him in it's watery jaw before ascending. Once it reached its full height it turned and crashed right into the ground. The now thoroughly washed Fugaku laid on the ground.

"Maybe next time cool it with the whole" Rōzu gestured to the destroyed home.

"Oh tough break big guy" they stopped as a newly appeared person threw an arm over their shoulder. "I'm just gonna cut that time I gave you short since you're looking pretty washed right now."

"Who the hell" Rōzu turned to the person, freezing in place as they saw the mask he wore.

"Hm?" the masked held a hand up to his ear at them.

"You're that masked guy!" Rōzu had managed to retain some information about Kushina's death.

"I am a masked guy, yes."

"I still have an hour" Fugaku had pulled himself up to his hands and knees. "I can finish this."

"I just told you, given your L here, times up."

"Dammit, Madara we had a deal!" Fugaku rose to his feet, pointing a finger at him.

"Shame" before the masked man, reality warped and in an instant Mikoto and Sasuke appeared in front of him.

"Sasuke" Itachi tried to move to reach him, but was cut off by another warp in reality.

"Ah ah ah" the masked man wagged a finger at him. "Fugaku, I hope you'll remember what happens when you fail me."

Feeling the impending danger, the now overlooked Rōzu let out a breath they didn't realize was held. For the first time, they locked eyes with Fugaku. With one look he conveyed everything they needed to know for what to do next. They took another breath, it was hard to recall memories from Kushina, but they managed to get enough for what to say next.

"What did you give up on killing parents so soon?" with their words his one eye turned to them. "Moving onto kids after only seven years seems like a real cowardly thing to do, especially from the bastard who took my sons mom and dad."

"Funny, I don't actually know who you are" his attention was fully on them now, and with it a level of fear they'd never known before.

"I'm Rōzu Uzu-"

"I didn't say I cared did I?" faster than they could react, he had them by the throat.

"MOM" Naruto strained against Iruka's grip, catching the masked man's attention.

"Oh, it's a rare chance to make one kid an orphan twice" his grip tightened as he let out a chuckle. "I'd be a fool to pass on it."

"You're" they could barely talk through his chokehold. "Already one."

He let out a single gasp as a bone blade sprouted from their leg and pierced his chest. Before any more could follow suit they fell out of his grip and his body became intangible. With a growl he looked down at them. Rōzu managed to flash a smirk at him while gasping for air. Hearing movement behind him, he turned in time to see Fugaku running Mikoto and Sasuke over to the others. In an instant he was on them.

"Oh no you don't" he grabbed Sasuke by the hair.

"GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OF MY FRIEND" Rōzu couldn't see what Naruto did as he yelled that, but a moment later there was a blinding flash that covered the lot of them.

"AH" as it cleared they could see him covering the eyehole.

Using this moment, Fugaku threw him back. Not wanting to be left out, Rōzu shot bone bullets at him as well. The bones went right through him unfortunately. Seeing this Fugaku attempted to back off, but was stopped by the man grabbing his vest.

"You're really aching to die huh" with his voice dripping with anger the man punched his arm through Fugaku's chest.

As he spat blood up Rōzu could see it in his face. He was about to do something that was a horrible idea. They dashed over to Naruto as Fugaku breathed out his final word.

"Amatersau" as both of his eyes bled a massive stream of the black flames covered the man, but it didn't stop there.

The flames spread all around, burning anything in its path. Fugaku and the masked man were entirely consumed by them. Rōzu held Naruto tightly, hoping to somehow shield him from the sea of black flames. Before the flames reached them all, a large red skeleton formed around them. It was somehow keeping the flames at bay.

"Everyone" Itachi pulled his mother and brother close to him. "Stay as close to me as possible, Susanoo can ward off the flames."

Following his instructions the five of them moved as close as they could to him. The skeleton of the Susanoo shrank as they moved in. It was the longest hour of Rōzu's life. They kept an eye on Itachi, he grew more and more visibly exhausted over the hour. Them, Iruka and Mikoto formed a ring around the three children as final precaution. It was an hour of waiting, would the flames die out or would Itachi collapse from exhaustion first. When the fires were finally put out Itachi collapsed.

"He's still breathing" Iruka had caught him and was quick to reassure everyone.

"Of all the people I expected to see here" an on the job Kakashi was the first to approach the group. "Three of you don't make the list."

"Aloof asshole later" Iruka dumped Itachi in his arms. "Help injured teenager now!"

"Aye aye" he took the uncious boy and left as other ANBU members came to help the others.

End of reports.

One Hiruzen Sarutobi finished reading the reports. While he now had an explanation for the bird that was filing papers in the archives, he also had a pre-headache for how much shit this was going to throw at the fan.

"Itachi is still unconscious, correct?" he looked at Kakashi who had brought him the reports.

"Correct, once he's up I'll get his report as well."

"Good, make sure to tell him and the other two to keep this very under wraps. I'll come up with something to give to the public."

"Got it" this wasn't Kakashi's first rodeo with confidential operations, and Hiruzen was sure it wouldn't be his last either..

"In the meantime, keep an eye on them all."

"Can do sir."

As Kakashi headed back to the hospital to do that, Hiruzen produced three pipes from his desk. He looked over the two reports while packing them all, knowing what would happen should they fall into a certain someone's hands he made a choice. As he lit the three pipes, as well as a small trash fire, he sighed. Meanwhile, in a certain hospital room, someone else was also sighing.

"I'm just saying, you didn't even fight anyone, do you really need a bed?" Rōzu had not dropped this since they'd all gotten rooms.

"I fought FOUR PEOPLE!" Iruka was admittedly fine, but was too deep in this to just give up.

"I BEAT ALL FOUR OF THEM FOR YOU!"

"I STILL FOUGHT THEM!"

"Mom can we really not get a different room?" Sasuke was, rightfully, pretty traumatized right now and didn't want to be there.

"I have asked all the nurses" Mikoto also didn't want to be there. "They are checking the rooms."

"He beat that one guy!" Naruto was also in this argument, acting for both sides. "When he pulled me out of the room."

"Thank you Naruto!" Iruka had forgotten about that in the heat of the yelling. "I did beat that one guy, thank you very much!"

"Oh boo hoo you beat one guy. I beat six guys."

"So the nurses told me to tell you all" Kakashi entered the room. "To stop calling them to just ask for different rooms. Also to keep it down."

"Yeah Iruka."

"I! You! Ugh!"

"Also also" Kakashi closed the blinds into the room. "Everyone in this room is going to have to keep a tight lid on what happened today."

"A whole village district is gone" Mikoto had a very good point.

"And the Hokage is working on a better sounding reason for that than the truth."

"Ok, now I know I normally neg on this side of you" Rōzu turned to Iruka. "But, if we can come up with a good conspiracy to pin this all on Jiraya, I think we should."

"You want to pin this on a very well respected village figure?"

"Yes."

Iruka did his best to tune them out for the time being, even if some of their spitball ideas were almost believable. He was sure this was their own, rather bad, way of processing the events of the day. He admittedly didn't have any good ways to process it either. It was all so ludicrous, and that's before the apparently still alive co-founder of the village got involved in it. Before he could spiral too deeply into it all, a reassuring squeeze of the hand from Kakashi gave him some quick grounding.