A/N: Hey, how's everyone? Another week survived? I'm only half-dead! :')
"You mustn't wait until the day after tomorrow. Leave tomorrow night," Kakashi says quietly as he tucks the thick envelope Murakami had given him securely in his uniform. "And change your route. Tell your shinobi escorts that the Akatsuki know everything about your travel plans already."
Her mouth tilts unhappily, her eyes flickering to the courtyard where Hanyu is having a friendly spar with his father. A gust of stray wind from a Fuuton sends leaves skittering under the veranda and tumbling near the edge of the room. "Courtesy of you, no doubt."
"If they're any good," Kakashi continues stolidly, "they'll manage to avoid any ambushes. Prioritise security over speed. If you can, detour into Kaze and enter Kawa along the west."
"Alright," she agrees softly, her eyes still on Hanyu. A dog-sized salamander has barreled into the blonde boy's legs, knocking him over and crawling onto his stomach to sit proudly, her red-spotted head raised high. Breathless laughter shakes Hanyu's shoulders as he pats the summon's head and Hanzou's smiling too as he hauls the slimy amphibian off his son.
Kakashi bows and picks up the tea tray, his face unreadable. "I wish you all the best, Murakami-san." Her surprised gaze follows his retreat.
There's a constellation in the sky — a constellation of origami throwing stars, hailing down onto the compound only to burst into cyanic flames when they collide with the Paper Burning Barrier jutsu. The chakra barrier that arches over the residence used to be invisible; now, its boundaries are laid bare by the constant fireballs that explode along its curve and sizzle in the rain.
Everyone is in uproar. Hanzou's shinobi swarm the buildings, the courtyards and beyond, the sounds of battle a cacophony ringing through the night air. The largest of Hanzou's summons, Ibuse, is lumbering over the eastern wall with Hanzou on his head. Ally and enemy alike scatter to make way for the giant salamander, anxious to avoid being trampled on. At the sight of the curling wisps of purple poison mist escaping from the corners of Ibuse's wide mouth, those without rebreathers hurry to form hasty Fuutons.
Yahiko has hurried to Konan's side, Meiko to Hanzou's and Sugi has since left with Murakami and Hanyu a day ago. The Konoha ghosts run after Kakashi and Snake, who have slipped past the head housekeeper's efforts to hide everyone safely indoors. Their small forms dart through the moonless night, their chakra flaring and breaking through the chakra suppressing seals placed on them many months ago. Weaving through various flora and ducking past startled shinobi and their occasional attacks, they head straight for the western wall, hoping to avoid the heart of the confrontation between Hanzou and the Akatsuki.
They reach one of the anchor-statues sustaining the Paper Burning Barrier but don't stop to destroy it — if the barrier fails, everyone inside the compound will likely die under Akatsuki's onslaught. These people are the ones who have been their companions for the past months. If they cannot help them, they will not harm them unnecessarily either. That's what Sakumo reasons, anyway. Perhaps, its nothing so sentimental, just a matter discarded as unimportant in the rush to make their escape. They're here to take down ROOT, not to support the rebel faction.
With chakra-sticky hands and feet, Kakashi and Snake scale the low wall and vault through the Barrier, the tuck and roll of their landing smothering the stray sparks that had cascaded onto them from above. They're off and running immediately, mud splashing beneath their sandals. Only when they reach the far edges of the battle do they pause briefly only to loot a few kunai and a katana each from the bodies scattered about, and release their Henge to return to their original stature.
Ash and half-burnt shreds of paper fill the air, combining with Ibuse's poisoned plumes of mist to form a toxic rain of sludge that stains Kakashi's silver hair a dirty grey. It runs down his scar and seeps into the band of torn cloth that he has wrapped around the lower half of his face.
"This is definitely a skin irritant," Rin observes with narrowed eyes.
Hyaku shakes her head disapprovingly. "And an environmental hazard."
"Or something that might kill you," Sakumo offers dryly, grateful for his incorporealness.
"Don't get it into your eyes," Snake advises, tossing over a sakkat before turning to fend off a few Hanzou's Ame-nin who had broken away to pursue them. Several Akatuski members are hot on their heels in turn. Kakashi fits the hat over his head with a grimace and sends several lightning wolves to help Snake. One of Hanzou's smaller salamanders weaves into their midst with surprising nimbleness, leaping on an unsuspecting Akatsuki-nin and spewing a puff of opaque purple smoke into her face.
It's a nasty poison, one that paralyses all the muscles of the body and leaves the victim to suffocate in the absence of an antidote. Perhaps it's a kindness that the summon had delivered an overdose, one that kills the unfortunate kunoichi within seconds.
The moment the pair of Konoha-nin are able to break free, leaving Hanzou's shinobi and the Akatsuki to fight each other, Kakashi and Snake take off in a chakra-enhanced sprint. The electric blue salamander takes several scampering steps after them before stopping on her chubby feet, acknowledging that the pair of ANBU are much faster with a slow blink of her eyes. She turns back to the fighting behind her and begins breathing poison with vigour once more.
'What a practical spirit,' Sakumo muses with reluctant admiration as the ghosts follow Kakashi and Snake through winding alleyways, away from the chakra-saturated air of battle. 'But unfortunately not quite as endearing as dogs.'
A/N: You can probably tell that I didn't know how to end this chapter... haha.