Gaara crosses his arms and gazes at the battlefield thoughtfully. "I will fight the Second Mizukage," he says after a moment. "Hiashi, take your team and fight the moon princess. Baki sensei cover my father. Temari, Kankuro and Shukaku's Guards: you're with me."
Iruka reflects to himself that Gaara is a natural leader. Despite Gaara's youth, the Sand is in good hands.
"What should we do?" asks Nagato, speaking for Akatsuki.
"Fight the zetsus and the reanimations where ever your help is needed," says Gaara. "Rain will be back soon with more reinforcements."
Akatsuki charges the attacking zetsus, easily knocking them down with their various jutsu. Yahiko uses water jutsu, Konan uses her origami, Kabuto and Nono both use chakra scalpels, Kisame swings Samehada left and right with reckless abandon, Zabuza slices up all the white zetsus in his path, Suigetsu follows Zabuza's example, Haku throws needles and ice around, Deidara continues trying to blow up Sasori and Kakuzu simply hits the zetsus with his briefcase.
Gaara, his Guards and his siblings head over to where the Second Mizukage is standing with Might Dai, Sakumo Hatake and Iruka parents. "We are your opponents," says Gaara. His sand swirls up around him and forms into spikes.
The Second Mizukage grins. "Oooh, this is going to be fun," he says, and promptly vanishes.
Iruka turns his attention back to the four reanimations who have yet to enter the battle. Might Dai takes the stance Gai takes before opening the Eight Inner Gates and says, "Eight Inner Gates: Eighth Gate, Gate of Death, Open!"
"So that's why they reanimated you," says Kakashi, sadly. "Since you are dead, the Eight Inner Gates won't hurt you and are, therefore, limitless."
"Kisame!" says Kakuzu, absorbing his briefcase into his body. "We will take this one. I have heard of the Eight Inner Gates. With our virtually limitless stamina, we are the best ones to fight this reanimation."
Kisame ditches the group of zetsus trying to kill him and charges Dai. Dai kicks Samehada to stop Kisame's attack. Kakuzu attacks Dai with what looks like long, black ropes. Dai dodges out of the way, using Samehada as a springboard to launch himself out of the way. Dai moves so fast that Samehada collides with Kakuzu's black ropes, which seem to be coming out of his arms. Almost immediately, Dai kicks Kakuzu in the back, sending him flying into Kisame. Both Akatsuki are launched into the air. They fly several feet before Dai appears above them and kicks them into the ground. Kisame bursts, turning into water. Kakuzu crumbles into dirt. At some point, both must've substituted with clones. They can handle their fight.
Iruka looks over to the other three reanimations, the ones yet to pick a fight. Sakumo and Kakashi are staring at each other. Iruka's parents look as if they are desperately trying to break the jutsu caster's hold on them.
Kakashi straightens his shoulders and says, "Dad, I missed you."
Sakumo tears up a little and says, "How have you been? I mean, aside from your hair turning green."
"Well…" Kakashi scratches the back of his head.
"No, Kakashi you don't have time to tell him your whole life's story," says Minato, glancing up from the Sacred Scrolls. "Just tell him the most important points."
"Sorry," says Sakumo, drawing the sword his reanimator supplied him with. (Iruka wonders why everyone except Sasori got weapons to fight with.) "I am being forced to attack you."
"We can talk while we fight," says Kakashi, pulling out a kunai. "Let's see...Important points…"
Sakumo and Kakashi charge each other. Their blades meet the instant they are within range of each other. "Did you graduate the academy alright?" Sakumo asks. "How long was it before you made chunin and jounin?"
"Graduated age five, chunin at six -" Kakashi starts to say, but is interrupted.
"Five? There's no way you were five when we graduated," Rin interrupts. "That would make you four years younger than Obito and me. And it means you made jounin at nine!"
"Actually he was 11," says Minato, putting in his two cents worth. "He graduated just before he turned six, made chunin just before he turned seven and jounin just before he turned 12. I'm surprised you never realized he was so much younger than you."
"But...Kakashi was taller than Obito…" Rin looks absolutely gobsmacked.
"Obito was short and I was tall," says Kakashi. "Now we're both tall, and you're still short."
"Um…" Sakumo leaps back, a confused expression on his face.
"Oh, sorry," says Kakashi, throwing a paper bomb at Sakumo, who dodges. "Rin and Obito were my teammates and Minato over there was our jounin sensei. I have my own genin team now. There's the nerd Madoka, Sasuke (the girl in the wheelchair over there) and Naruto. He's Minato's kid."
"Oh, I see," says Sakumo, charging his sword up with lightning chakra and attacking Kakashi again. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"I'm married with two kids," says Kakashi, pulling out the most recent photo of his family. "See?" He shows it Sakumo, whose eyes go wide. "That's my wife Tenzo, my daughter Aki and my son Minoru."
"More fighting, less gloating," says Iruka, realizing that Kakashi is putting himself in serious danger by pulling out that photo. If the enemy realizes Kakashi drops everything to talk about his family, they will take advantage of that and kill him while he is cooing over his babies.
Kakashi sighs and puts the photo away. "Well, I guess that concludes all the important things," he says. "Back to fighting, I guess."
Iruka feels something hit his barrier. He turns to see what it is. He sees his mother punch the barrier a second time, a blank expression on her face. "That jutsu better be ready," says Iruka, feeling his hold on the barrier slip a little.
"Nearly," says Naruto. "I think I get it."
"I almost have it," says Sasuke, sounding a little unsure.
"So to recap everything you've learned," says Minato gravely. "Sasuke comes in from one side and Naruto comes in from the other."
"We've got to be all over the place like a frog on a sugar high," says Sasuke, sounding a little more confident. "And fast and slippery like a fish, so that he doesn't catch us."
Iruka's father stabs at the barrier with a kunai. He is on the opposite side to Iruka's mother, thus splitting Iruka's attention. Iruka struggles to keep both areas solid at the same time. He is tired. So tired. But the jutsu is not ready, so he must maintain the barrier.
"And when he's so confused that he doesn't know where to attack," says Naruto cheerfully. "We hit him from either side like a sandwich!" Naruto slaps his palms together triumphantly. "And we seal him away, 'tebayo!"
"Exactly!" says Minato. "And are you clear on how to operate your seperate parts of the jutsu?"
"I do the loud bit and Sasuke does the delicate bit, 'tebayo," says Naruto.
"Yeah," agrees Sasuke. "My part is hard and his is flashy."
Was it really that simple? Iruka wonders. Once the battle is over, he needs to learn Minato's teaching secrets. Another dual attack on the barrier by his parents knocks Iruka's chakra down to dangerously low levels.
"Almighty Pull," says Nagato, dragging Iruka's father away from the barrier. Iruka's father breaks away from that jutsu with a well-timed wind release seal. The two face off against each other cautiously. Iruka ignores them and turns his attention back to keeping the barrier up.
"Good," Minato is saying. "Show me the hand signs."
As Sasuke and Naruto demonstrate the hand signs for the seal.
Konan sends a volley of paper darts at Iruka's mother, who dodges. She leaps high in the air and lands, with a thud, on the flat top of the barrier. Konan flies up on paper wings to chase Iruka's mother off the barrier. The weight of his mother on top of the barrier sucks up what little chakra he has left.
The barrier does not just break, it shatters.
Iruka's mother falls to the ground with a thud. Naruto grabs Sasuke out of her wheelchair and flies up into the sky where both kids will be safe. Minato leaps to attack Iruka's mother, but he is stopped by Might Dai, who appears in an instant and punches Minato high into the air. The Second Mizukage appears behind Konan and attack her. She splits into a thousand paper butterflies.
Iruka staggers to his feet and pulls out a kunai. He turns to face his mother. His body shakes all over. He has no chakra left to fight with. If he had any less, he would die.
"I'm sorry," says Iruka's mother blankly. She charges forward and kicks him in the chest, sending him flying backwards.
Iruka hits some rubble from the stairs and comes to an abrupt stop. He is sure that he is bleeding somewhere life-threatening. Dimly, he can hear Naruto yelling his name. Iruka's vision starts to go fuzzy at the edges. He sees his mother activate the Wrath of Jashin seal in the air before her.
There are tears in his mother's eyes as she activates the seal.
The last thing Iruka sees before darkness takes him is fire.