A Lion's Roar

by swagmoney5

Being reincarnated is an interesting life story, when a child from our world is reborn as Hinata Hyuga, she decided to get off of her ass and give her shot at being a hero. When you have too much knowledge and too much time, the only option is to train and become stronger and to make those around her stronger as well. Survival of the fittest and she wants to help everyone survive.

28. War: There are no real winners

"Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Tenten Takahashi." Tsunade addressed each of us with her no-nonsense tone. All of us have never been called into her office for a mission at the same time, something big must be happening. Kurenai and Asuma were on their Honeymoon while Kakashi and Gai were out of the village on an S-ranked mission so we were left to our own devices. The village was short on Jounin and Chunin capable of leaving the village as of now, the borders were heavily protected and many ninja were off somewhere we didn't know.

"Here." We all chorused, standing to attention in the missions office. Iruka looked pale as he read over the scroll in his hands. There was a tense air between Iruka and Tsunade, they must have argued about something. Most likely doing with Naruto because his worried brown eyes kept looking over at his son.

"This has been kept under wraps for obvious reasons but for the past few years relations between Konohagakure and Kōrigakure have been tense and as of 3 months ago they have declared war on us and we have been engaged in battle since. We planned on finishing the war before it could become harmful but the tides of the war were changed to befitting Kōrigakure. if they advance out of their territory it is possible for them to ally with Iwagakure and Kumogakure which will start yet another great war, one that with the advancements of Kōrigakure, we would face heavy casualties. We have lost many good shinobi to this war and it is time to end it."

"Wait, we're at war? Why did none of us know of this?" Tenten questioned and most of us nodded in agreement. I knew there were small battles going on throughout the world but I had no Idea Konoha was at war with another village, especially such a small one. They must be strong if Tsunade is this worried. I feel so ignorant, it was such a naive thought that I wouldn't go to war until the 4th Great Shinobi War. In a world that thrives on the violence and bloodshed it was bound to happen and being faced with it now, it's terrifying.

"Tensions rein high between large and small villages alike, there are often smaller wars being fought that never escalate past a skirmish." Shikamaru drawled, god the genius knew everything. I guess in his training as the next Jounin Commander he was bound to learn all of the secrets none of us ninja were given until it was pertinent for us to know. It made sense though, it was kind of stupid to think that the only wars Konoha was involved in were large and grandiose. We probably didn't learn of the smaller ones in class because they were always taken out before the smaller villages could fight back.

"Shikamaru is right. To finish this war before it blows up further I am sending you out as the cavalry for those already fighting." We all nodded, the high from hanging out last night was gone and a somber aura took over all of us bar Suigetsu who looked itching to fight. "Team 7 and Team 8 you will be going together to backup Shizune's team who are fighting on the inner areas of Kōrigakure. Provide the necessary reinforcements and heal as many as you can. Crush their forces from the inside, Hinata you will take point." Iruka's disdain was crystal clear now, he was against sending us, his students the kids he still sees as children, to war.

Naruto was so kind, Iruka knows war will hurt him, it will be the factor to decide if Naruto will thrive and become Hokage or break from the hurt of the slaughter. This isn't Naruto fighting for the world against the Akatsuki, this is him being a regular (OP) ninja of Konoha where he kills people he doesn't know and kills those who fight for the same things we do, they just happen to be against our village. When Kuruma did a partial takeover and Naruto had his first kills, he was so distraught after, I don't know how this war will affect his psyche.

"Yes Master. We won't fail you." Honestly, I don't know how a war, a real non world ending war, will affect all of us.

"Team 9 and Team 10 you will be back up for the former Akatsuki duo's Hidan and Kakuzu as well as Sasori and Deidara who are fighting to keep the waves of ninja from making it out of their village. Make sure they stay loyal to our village and heal as many as you can. Let nobody escape, Shikamaru you will take point, Neji you are backup commander." Shikamaru's shoulders slumped, sighing at his position. He muttered a troublesome before straightening back up, his resolve solidified.

"Yes Lady Tsunade." Iruka handed Shikamaru and I each a scroll, his smile strained and his eyes sad. Neji looked over to me, he believed his job was to protect me and for us to go to the same war and being forced to separate was hard to swallow. I was still his baby sister, the main family member he was charged with protecting. No matter what, I have to live so they don't activate his seal for failing to save me.

"These scrolls have the details of your job and what you will be up against. Study it thoroughly, all of you. Do not be hasty or rash, their numbers will vastly outnumber yours so think, be smart, and use your strengths. Make plans but expect them to fail, just…make sure you don't die out there."

"We will travel together for the first 5 days until we reach here…about 86 kilometers from the border of the battlefield." Shikamaru placed a finger on a marked point on the map. "Then we'll split up, my squad will enter directly into the village, creating a racket too keep the attention off of Hinata's squad and to alert the Akatsuki of our arrival." His team nodded, Lee making a promise to arrive there and make the biggest show he was capable of. The lazy genius looked up to me and I turned to my squad making sure they were looking (well making sure Naruto and Kiba were paying attention at least). It was early as hell but we needed to leave as soon as the sun was risen over the horizon.

"We will be going around through to the back of the village…right about here." I pointed to a plane of icy hills that we were planning to sneak through. "And from there we will travel into the village and head straight for its heart. There is where we will hopefully meet up with Shizune's squad." Sasuke activated his Sharingan, easily engraving the map into his memory to make our movements that much easier. "We will go over what we are going to be up against when we set up camp tonight."

"Move out. Formation Beta." Shikamaru called out and we all got into position, shooting off at a relatively quick pace from the village. We traveled through the southwest area of the land of fire until we were reaching the edge. After over a full day's travel, there was less than 40 kilometers between us and the border of The Land of Fire and we bunkered down to rest. Naruto set up barrier seals and we cooked fish, needing to replenish our energy for another long stretch of travel.

I had my sleeping bag set up and was sandwiched between Neji and Kiba who blocked off anyone else from sleeping beside me…both going into big brother and protective best friend mode. No boys allowed. None of us missed the closeness between Lee and Tenten's bags and the lack of her smacking him for being overzealous…they're cute. I opened the scroll to assess what we were up against. Honestly I couldn't believe what I was reading.

"Team Hinata, take a look and tell me what you think." My team read over the scroll and varying stages of disbelief took everyone's features.

"Shit man, is this for real?" Kiba's slitted eyes met with mine, he was just as shocked as I was. There was that spark of feral excitement though, he was slightly excited to test his skills against our…interesting opponents.

"No, we were given a scroll with fake information to go to war with." Shino spoke so dry, he had no intonation but the sarcasm dripping off of him was amusing. I could always count on him to keep Kiba, and his massive mouth, in check. The description of the battleground was something I didn't expect in the slightest. Basically, the area Tsunade is sending us is filled with Kōrigakure's specialist: mechanic shinobi.

If the details are accurate, we are going to be fighting against, not only a mass of shinobi and robot people, we are going up against a more technological sound village with giant chakra powered…Transformer's? I don't know any other way to describe the things.

They have technological warfare on their side and that, pared with all of their ninja joining the fight, has been the main factors in creating such an issue for Konoha in the war. Not only that, they are pulling a Russia, letting us come to them and freeze our asses off in the frozen and barren climate. It's not called the Village Hidden in Ice for nothing. Everyone on our side looked slightly relieved, with fighting against technology, most likely we will have to kill less than Shikamaru's squad will be required to do.

"We're going to kick robot ass 'ttebayo!" Naruto grinned, his eyes blazing with a furious determination to end this war. Kiba held his hand up and they slapped hands, making it echo slightly.

"Hell yeah we are, right Akamaru?" He gave a fanged grin to the pup, getting a yip and lick of assurance in return. I rubbed behind Akamaru's ears, the soft pleased growl and fluffiness of his fur was calming.

"Hn. What's the plan, if their advancements are true, going undetected will be relatively impossible?" Sasuke's dark eyes were calculating as he thought over the battle. He was thinking over something, stuck on trying to find a solution to a problem he hasn't even vocalized. Whatever it is, it's going to be conducive to our success.

"Then we fight. Our plan is to find our allies as soon as possible but now we need to go in with the expectation of being seen. We will fight streamlined, break through a single path straight to where Shizune said her location was stationed last. As for taking down the metal beasts, It says hard enough force will crush them, find the weak points of them and they will be useless. Naru, can you alter some of your paper bombs to make the seal more like a compression?"

"Eh? Compression seals?" Sasuke shot him an exasperated look, leave it to Naruto to not know what compression was.

"It would be like the force of your gravity seal but amplified. Ok put it this way, if you squeeze a can hard enough what happens?"

"It crushes in on itself….Wait, that's genius 'ttebayo! If I mix the force of a paper bomb with the inverse affects of gravity seal it'll crush them!" He was grinning widely, his mind whirring with the possibilities.

"Apply that to the joints and they go down." Naruto opened a scroll and lay out a pile of seals, getting to work on re-formulating to try and create the compression seals. "Kiba, you and Akamaru have enough spin force to bust through almost anything, using that you should be able to total some of the larger weapons. Just make sure they don't catch you in a predictable attack pattern, I'm guessing these robots can process faster than most human minds and if they find you moving in a pattern they will stop you."

"Got it! Those bastards won't catch us." His fangs were sharp and ready to rip an opponent to shreds, Kiba was wild but that was to his benefit for opponents like we're going to face.

"Sasuke, you're stupid fast and those ground troops seem to have insane speed as well. They are fast but I bet your eyes are faster so while they take down the big stuff, you are going to be taking down the little speed demons. They have overwhelming numbers but you have the largest arsenal of jutsu to take them out and with Naruto watching your back, you two will have the least chance of being overwhelmed."

"Hn." Sasuke was extremely pleased with my compliment. Naruto and I were both worried that after Danzo died Sasuke would feel like he had no point in life, his eyes still sometimes went blank and lifeless but he was still the same smug asshole Sasuke, just a bit less set on what his future goals were going to be.

"Shino, you and I are fighting against the living. Your Kikaichu are the best at eating through a persons chakra, take that away and the robots will no longer have someone to add more when it runs out. They are also not mindless robots and seem to definitely be strong but you're smart and sly. You stay more levelheaded and will have the least issue with doing what needs to be done. With us teaming up to defeat the brains behind the scrap-metal, we should be able to crush them completely."

"Of course, I do not like killing but it is necessary. I will not be defeated, why my Kikaichu will keep my chakra full and I will not lose another teammate of mine."

"Awe man, why'd you gotta go and bring that up?" Kiba whined, his eyes saddening slightly in remembrance of their fallen teammate. Shino hummed in response and Kiba seemed to understand what his thoughts were. A tanned, sharp clawed hand gripped around Shino's, they shared in their grief and determination together. They would not fail one another.

"I will fight with Shino and wherever else needed. I also have to make sure everyone is in fighting condition, I will heal who I can after we make it to the base camp. With the addition Shizune and whoever else is already fighting, we will have more allies to win this damned thing. This wont be easy, it will be bloody and we're all probably going to be fucked in the head when this is over but I believe in all of you, I believe in Shikamaru's team as well. We will win this and stop this war for good."

We spent a little while longer, until the sky was lit only with the glow of the moon, going over plans and re-assessing our skills to one another. Naruto and Sasuke both liked to talk themselves up but if their skills were even half of what they said, they are damn close to already making themselves the most powerful Shinobi in all of history.

For guard duty, we decided everyone would work in two person teams, each set needed a sensor keeping watch. Shino and Lee were taking the first shift, Neji and Tenten, and last was going to be Kiba and Sasuke. The next night Naruto and Choji were first, Shikamaru and I were slated for the graveyard shift. Ino would finish off the shift with whoever pulled the short straw. We would repeat this until it was time to split up and go off to battle.

Six days of travel, we were finally nearing the war-zone outside of the snow country. It was obvious by the drastic drop in temperature and the mountain landscape covered in white. Everyone was dressed in winter gear now. When Tsume found out about our leaving, she gave me her thickest coat, the fur lined jacket was insulated and kept me warmer than anything the Hyuga clan had. Plus it smelled like her and it was a good, comforting smell.

Anko, with her growing motherly instincts, gave me her old ANBU gear for when she would travel to areas like this, the gloves, hat, and leggings were chakra infused to keep my body warm. I looked like a marshmallow but felt warm against the frigid cold. Only my eyes, cheeks, and nose were exposed, the skin was flushed pink from the biting weather. Everyone else looked much the same, fighting in such bulky clothes should be harder, but with the lightweight thermal gear it was not as constricting and I believed it would be.

Night was the worst, being cold while sleeping was one thing but being close to hypothermia was another. Naruto, bless Kuruma inside of him, ran extremely hot so he was like our mini heater and we'd all take turns to curl around him at night for some of his body heat to keep us warm.

Tonight was our last night as a full group, tomorrow would be when we split up and finally enter the war, tensions were running high for all of us. Ino, Tenten, and I were together right now saying our farewells and just getting some much needed girl time before leaving.

"Just be safe ok, I love you and when this is over, we're going out for sure. Watch out for the boys, we all know that can't take care of themselves so that's on you guys. Ten, make sure Lee doesn't open his gates unless it is absolutely last resort and please don't let Neji-nii take on more than he can. You know his skills better than anyone else, don't let him overwork himself even if he thinks he can do more."

"Of course, I won't let them kill themselves." I curled into Tenten's side, she was patting my head as we talked. As the oldest, by a year, she was usually the most mature and was so warm and loving even if she was a badass weapons mistress. She always managed to make me feel more calm and I loved her dearly even when we haven't gotten to spend much time together in the last few years.

"Ino, I know you'll protect them, you are leader even if Shika makes all the plans so, just keep them safe. Don't let Choji's sweet heart be his downfall, it will be hard but at this point it's us or them. Same with Shika, if something goes awry, don't let him fall into blaming himself."

"Duh, who do you think I am?" Ino smiled wryly, it was tense but she was right, she wouldn't let them do something stupid. "Ok, enough of this sappy crap. Time to play a game before all hell breaks loose." Tenten and I exchanged wary glances, Ino's games were either great or horribly embarrassing, no in-between.

"What game?" Tenten asked, her chocolatey eyes narrowed in suspicion. I looked the exact same as we looked at the blonde.

"Fuck, Marry, or Kill." I huffed out a laugh, this would be interesting. Ino was pleased with my reaction, her ability to read a situation and her understanding of the psyche, she was perfect at getting people to feel what she needed them to. That made calming down a situation, or riling it up, that much easier for her.

"I've got one!" I grinned. "Izumo, Kotetsu, and Iruka-sensei."

"Fuck Izumo-kun, he's hot and seems like he'd be good in bed. Marry Iruka-sensei, that man is the most caring adult I've ever met and would be a great husband. Kill Kotetsu-kun, he's a bit too childish for my taste so he's gotta go." Ino needed no time to formulate her answers and spouted off her reasoning with ease. I agreed with her reasoning though, Iruka will be the best husband whenever he gets married. I laughed at the idea of her marrying her academy sensei, he raised us when we were such little shits.

"I'd switch Kotetsu-san with Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san is so exciting he seems like he'd have good stamina and make things super fast and fun." Tenten responded, a bit more reluctant with answering but deciding against caring either way. It's not like they would ever find out about this. We were all smiling after a few rounds this was the perfect way to get our minds off of tomorrow.

"Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and Asuma-sensei." Tenten looked very pleased at her choices for us.

"Fuck Kakashi-sensei, he's got a nice ass and is always reading porn so he's gotta be good. Marry Asuma-sensei, the way he is with Kurneai-sensei and his unborn child means he's going to be a good husband and father. Kill Gai-sensei, the dude wears green spandex…for fun."

"Ino it sounds like you have a thing with wanting to marry one of your sensei's." Tenten snickered and Ino looked away to where the boys were sitting. Her face softened to a lovestruck smile.

"Nope, I'm going to marry Choji-kun." her blue eyes shifted to me. "Your turn." I laughed at the thought of my choices.

"Fuck Gai-sensei. There is no way he doesn't have insane stamina and he seems like the type to cherish you the whole time." Tenten paled, her mind going to her sensei in that way and she shivered. Though, she seemed happy I still thought so highly of her awesome teacher. "Marry Kakashi-sensei. He's a loner but he is so hot and he has puppies, I love his dogs and they love me. He's also pretty caring in an awkward way so I think he wouldn't be the worst husband. Kill Asuma-sensei, I couldn't think of marrying him when he has Kurneai-sensei, not even in fantasy."

"You're a freak Hinata. You chose Gai, the man would probably start crying as soon as you started." Ino deadpanned at me, my choice of Gai and reasoning made her re-think my sanity. I mean, he's nice. A lot dorky, but Gai is awesome.

"Probably." I shrugged uncaring and we all busted into fits of giggles.

"Ok ok, how about… Lady Tsunade, Anko, and Fū-san." Tenten and I both 'oohed' at Ino's choices, this was a hard one. I thought about it for a second before breaking out into the biggest shit-eating grin.

"Fuck Anko, her sensei was Orochimaru and she's with Zabuza-sempai, she's gotta be a freak. Marry Lady Tsunade, her boobs could smother me and would make great pillows to sleep on every night. Kill Fū, she's drop dead gorgeous but I don't know her well enough yet."

"You are such a freak, my god. Why are we even friends?" Ino was hiding a smile as her eyes stared at me like I was insane.

"You love me Ino." I blew her a kiss and Tenten and I laughed as she waved it away like I was going to give her germs.

"I guess I'd do it with Fū-san, her hair is pretty and she seems like it would be fun. I'd marry Lady Tsunade, she's the coolest and yeah, she'd make a great sleeping buddy each night. Kill Anko-san because she's scary and she uses snakes. That's a big no." Ino nodded in agreement with Tenten, neither of them were fond of snakes. I shouldn't be but they are still cute little creatures even if they had a bad summoner for a while.

We played for a bit longer, getting more personal with people we knew but by the end, we were all crying laughing at our reasoning and responses for everything. We settled down into our sleeping bags when it was too cold to even try to do anything more. Shikamaru took one side of me and Ino took the other, we were all pressed together trying to conserve body heat with the inability to light a fire and give away our location.

The morning was tough, we packed everything up and went over our plans one more time before readying ourselves to split up and depart.

"Bye Neji-nii." I smiled at him and he placed a hand on my head, holding me to him. "Be safe focus all your energy onto winning and surviving, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." The war Neji was in, he died. That wasn't going to happen again, hopefully without me being there he will be fine and can put all of his focus on himself and not me. I can't even let myself think he'd meet the same fate in canon, this is not the same war so he'll be fine. He has to be fine, he's Neji the prodigy of our clan.

"Goodbye Hinata-hime, be safe. You are strong, I do not believe it will be your fate to die in this war. I will be there as soon as this is over to take you home." Him and his fate stuff, even toned down, it is still there. Maybe Zabuza needs to insult it out of him again. Neji placed a kiss to the crown of my head and left to go be with Lee and Tenten.

"Hinata." Shikamaru's deep drawl was so unmistakably him and I turned at the call. He was standing there, face bored but eyes sharper than ever. He pulled one hand out of his pocket and I ran into his arms, burying my face into him. "This is going to be a drag…You ready?" He mumbled and I nodded. "Do what you need to do to win, don't play hero, and don't die. It'll be too troublesome if we lose you because then I'd have to get revenge, Ino would cry, and my mom would be so sad so don't be stupid." I rolled my eyes and let out a hoarse laugh.

"I'm sorry that my death would be so troublesome for you." He sighed in response. "You too, don't die out there, I'd cry. You can't die ok? You're smart and you have a lot of power on your side so survive and make sure nobody else dies. You are a good leader, I believe in you." We pulled away and I was instantly colder. My face hardened and I commanded my team into position, us waving one more time before rushing away from one another.

We could hear the war before we could see it. Bombs and explosions were going off, the sound waves echoing to our position. I was stationed at the back of our platoon, my Byakugan constantly monitoring 360 around us. I finally saw the battlefield but from my position, there were hardly any chakra signatures in the vicinity.

We came in though the back, reaching a half day after Shikamaru's platoon did. That meant a lot of the action going on in this area was refocused to that area, giving us at least a bit more time to push to the center of the village before getting noticed. The houses in this area were abandoned, evacuated. There were a few dead, Konoha shinobi. They were frozen over from the cold. They weren't dressed in attire suited for this climate. Sasuke burned them and we never looked back.

"Naruto, Kiba clear a path! Sasuke, Shino make sure nobody can hit us from the sides! Save your chakra, they are only assessing our skills!" I screamed out orders, our group of 5 moving like a well oiled machine as we made our way to where Shizune's bunker was held. We were noticed about a kilometer into entering the village. Small, humanoid robots descended on our position and we were fighting through them.

They were the weaker level, just used to gage our strength. The were like Sasori's puppets had a love child with i-robot. They were not able to break us off path and we continued moving straight towards Shizune. I slammed my fist into the icy tundra floor, releasing my chakra on impact. The ground being frozen gave me an advantage because there was less absorption when I cratered the earth. The ground shook and splintered out before collapsing and eroding, sending the bots off balance and taking them out. It also made so that it would be that much harder to come at us from behind.

A bot sliced a Tantō down in my direction, I brought my own to counter and forced my chakra into it's weak point. My Byakugan could see the chakra flow so finding the point where the chakra was strongest was easy. That point was where it's controls were located, different on each, and when that busted the whole thing shut down.

A burst of chakra to my left, Naruto activated a seal and bots were sucked into it, disappearing into nothingness. Shino swarmed the bots with his bugs, they entered through all the openings and ruined the bots from the inside out. Sasuke plunged his Katana into a bot, lightning running through the blade so it cut through the metal like butter. Akamaru would pounce, his size pinning a bot while Kiba shredded through them with his claws.

Within an hour, we were close to the real battlefield. Kiba gagged, Akamaru whined, Naruto covered his nose. There were bodies strewn around us, some from Konoha, some robotic limbs and ninja dressed in the Kōri, ninja attire. There was blood frozen to the ground, weapons and holes littering the floor. It looked like an ambush, Konoha had the upper hand but something went wrong, there were craters like that of the ground just disappearing, scorch marks around the holes. The more inward we moved, the stronger the stench of death became, the stronger the chakra surrounding me was, the more we were attacked, the more buildings popped up.

"Sasuke, where are we?" My eyes burned, I shut them off for a bit to make sure I would be able to use them when we reached the real battles. The ground shook in the distance, we were close. The attacks on us were harsher now, larger weapons, stronger robots, some even had access to Justu. They were all under the control of their masters chakra but they didn't need to be with them, it was impressive and terrifying on how much more advanced they became. Like waves of a video game.

"Change direction to 3:00." We shifted our course slightly and pushed forward, my lungs were tight, my legs were screaming, we all were breathing heavier now. Naruto slammed his fist into a bot, the brass knuckles denting the skull and making it stumble just long enough for his other hand to grab it, pulling the head clean off.

My senses burned, a different chakra entered and it was inhuman, something I'd never felt before. Sasuke shot his head the direction I felt if from.

"Fuck, move!" he commanded, and moved forward faster than before. We all followed suit, augmenting chakra into my muscles to propel me forward. Right after that, a bright light, infused with chakra hit where we were once standing. The ground was gone, where the beam hit, scorch marks marring the now thawed tundra surrounding the hit. A blast of heat hit my face and my gut clenched. They have lasers activated with chakra. What the fuck.

I activated my Byakugan once more, looking the direction the beam came from. There was a smaller version of an AT-AT like thing, building up chakra that matched the last laser beam. There was a chakra inside the machine, its handler. The reports weren't kidding with this village being the most technologically advanced.

"We take this out first." I moved, heading right towards the thing. The uneven, rocky terrain made it so it was impossible to see until we made it over the peak. Just behind the vehicle, the war was raging. There were Konoha shinobi fighting against waves of robots and Kōri shinobi. it was horrific to see, there were comrades and enemies alike being struck down, others already dead. I'd never seen something so horrible.

I imagined it to be everyone together at the same area but with a quick scope, there were people scattered throughout the lands, one small group fighting against the larger numbers of Kōri weaponry. It wasn't all people together, fighting against one another one side versus the other, war was everywhere, surrounding everything. There was no clear left versus right, just one person battling what seemed like 50 others, everyone split and spread.

The screams were audible, a sound I'd never be able to forget. I could see and hear the sound of metal again metal, everywhere felt unsafe, dangerous. The Kōri Shinobi were pale, fitting the chill of their land. They fought violently, attacking with high tech, chakra weapons I had never seen. We didn't have much time to take in the scene, to accept that this was war, to make a plan, we just had to go. The laser was aiming for us once more, getting closer to firing.

"Shino, plug up the laser, Kiba I'll take it off balance and you drill it to the ground." Shino's bugs moved in a swarm, surrounding the laser and filling the cannon hole, eating away at the chakra as fast as it was being produced. I jumped from the top of the hill, aiming downward at the ground surrounding the weapon. I swung my heel down in an axe kick, slamming it on top of a shinobi who was fighting.

He went down, his body crushed beneath my force, the ground following suit, chunks of ground ebbing away and smashing around me. Kiba followed right behind the attack, right as the Laser weapon swayed to the left from my impact, he and Akamaru drilled into it, it went down, the insides being shredded with the Fang Over Fang technique.

"Fry the bastard inside!" Sasuke released a large electric field, covering the conductive metal in its entirety. The man inside screamed, his chakra flared in pain before it was gone. An arrow entered the field of vision behind me, I turned and caught it, the tip slightly slicing my finger but nothing more. The man looked stunned, he was aiming for what would normally be a blind spot. I was on him in an instant, stabbing the arrow into his chest, he spluttered, blood foaming past his lips. A set of mid-ranged robots went down, their chakra provider was dead and so were they.

Sasuke made quick work of those who went down before another could activate them. My platoon stayed within the range of one another but fought our own opponents and to protect our outnumbered comrades. Blonde clones were everywhere, placing tags or acting as a shield to protect someone from death by kunai. Kōri nin were yelling about taking out the blonde, there was so many of him doing so much damage.

There were 8 surrounding me as I rushed to find the dwindling chakra of a Konoha chunin. He was clutching his leg, or what used to be one. It was shredded and burned, blood flowing out of the wound. It was Yato, a boy a few years my senior.

"I'm going to cut the rest of this off and seal the skin, then you'll get on my back and direct me towards the barracks." I spoke calm, trying to keep the crying man—boy calm. His friend, Hanatara who was in Neji's class at the academy, was lying beside him, eyes glazed over and frozen open even after death. I surrounded my hand with chakra, cutting his leftover flesh off with a chakra scalpel was easier than a kunai.

"No, no please. Just let me die. Please, let me go with Hanatara!" He gripped my shoulders, pleading with his eyes. They were dark and dull, lifeless.

"Let me heal you, find a reason to live." Another clone popped behind me, I laid him back, ready to work but had to stop when a wave of kunai entered my chakra field. Before they could reach, a clone sent a Great Breakthrough and the kunai clattered uselessly to the side. The clone popped and I sent a small Water Bullet to the robot, crushing through his core.

A fireball shot beside me, burning into a shinobi who screamed and wailed until he went down. I turned back to Yato, he did it, but my heart dropped. He had plunged a kunai into his heart, he took one out with him but decided to die either way. Is this what war reduces people to?

I scrambled back to stand up after the force of an earth pillar jutsu slammed into my side, sending me sprawling to the ground. Another one followed, this one with spikes. I dodged, flexibly contorting my body to avoid the array of spikes and pillars aiming for my head. One tore through the cloth and netting of my calf, slicing into the skin. It wasn't too deep but it hurt like a bitch, I could feel the hot blood oozing from my calf.

"Die like your comrades, Konoha filth." The woman spat at me, gesturing to Yato. He was pierced with one of her pillars, hanging limply in the air. He was dead and she still stabbed him through like he was nothing. I attacked her, she was fast but I was faster. Her leg aimed high at my temple, I ducked, having to roll as she twisted to bring a Kunai where I had ducked.

Each Tenketsu on her body seemed to glow brighter than before. I shifted my balance, lowered my stance and attacked. Her arm pressed to the ground so she could spin and aim another kick, I stalked forward, jabbing, forcing my chakra into her body to stop the flow of chakra to her leg.

She growled in pain, cursing at me, readying another earth justu. It was obvious in the dirty coolness of her chakra what she was going. I moved before she completed her sequence, striking her arms, rendering them useless. Her cry brought another to fight, he had a long curved blade and swung, I shoved her into the line of fire, her blood sprayed in an arc as the sword cleaved her body in half.

"Kayama!" He shouted for her. I wasted no time, I picked her lower half up, throwing it so he'd move. That left him open and my palm slammed into his chest, Instead of blocking the coils here, I forced more chakra than he could handle to flow into the Tenketsu. The coils around his heart burst, and his heart ruptured.

Shino was beside me again, his trench coat had blood on it, his hair was matted as well. There was a rip in the arm of his coat but no blood, there were no wounds on him and his chakra was full. Flowing through him steadily as the Kikaichu buzzed beneath his skin. I probably looked the same. We pushed forward, no time to think about what we were doing, no time to regret anything.

The bug user fought in a way that nobody noticed him until it was too late. The best part of him being seemingly invisible was he was written off or forgotten and that made it so he could have set his bugs on them before they knew he was there. Shino was cool and collected the entire time, any cut or taunt was ignored as he took out people one by one. His bugs were like a cloud of death, sucking the chakra from the surroundings without a way to neutralize them.

Shino was good, he was scary good at what he did. He could be beside a person and kill them without the person realizing it, he killed with ease, not from not caring but from his practice and training as an Aburame. His temperament was so calm it was scary to those he was against, it was a deadly calm, one that comes from him knowing he was going to win.

Off in the distance, Naruto was moving away, being driven back by a mass of weaponized metal. There were so many of them, large and small attacking him. A shout, the numbers were evened out with clones. It was a blonde hurricane. He placed a seal tag on one of the Robots that continuously spewed out fire. It glowed with the blue of his chakra before the metal collapsed in on itself, crushed from the seal.

Another seal placed by a clone launched a mass of ground and robot into the sky. Naruto attacked with a variant of the Wind Cutter jutsu, it was more violent, stronger and shredded everything being forced to hover in the sky. Clones attacked with Rasengan, some landing their mark and others being destroyed before they even had a chance.

Even when something or someone came close to him, he was ready to fight. Naruto was a brawler. He was strong his movements unpredictable. He never seemed to tire, he was an abundance of stamina that close or far away he was better than who he fought. He had cuts here and there but that stopped nothing. He was fiercely amazing, his determination to protect his comrades after seeing so many died made him that much more dangerous. Naruto was a force, an army all on his own.

Sasuke had his sword drawn, cutting through those made of weaker alloy and using variants of chidori to destroy those that were stronger. Fire flew from his mouth sometimes, blazing the ground and burning what stood in his path. His eyes were glowing red, each attack against him consisted of waves of fast foot soldiers, all of which he was able to assess and avoid accordingly. He slashed with deadly grace, Zabuza's ferocious strength with a sword was obvious in Sasuke, but he had his own style.

Sasuke attacked with Kunai and Shuriken, tying ninja wire to the weapons and electrifying it to make them slice through stronger metal. There were scratches to his skin, the numbers of the enemy allowed them to get hits in but none were fatal or hindered Sasuke from working. A sword impaled into his shoulder and Sasuke cauterized the wound by burning it closed, not even taking a glance to the injury.

Sasuke used his snakes as well, they slithered and constricted around whatever they could find, crushing the enemies until they were scrap metal. He was deadly, graceful, beautiful, and ferocious as he fought. Nothing slipped his sights, he was Sasuke, a warrior; An Uchiha, a Shinobi and he was not going to lose.

Kiba and Akamaru were different than Naruto and Sasuke, they weren't slated to be the strongest and didn't have the reserves to do it but they were a force, a game changer all on their own. Together Kiba and Akamaru fought with a perfect, feral synchronistic, attacking and defending one another from all angles. Their insane sense of smell gave them an advantage. A large stationary Tank shot off a gas that blocked all light. The enemies they were facing didn't have eyes, only fought with chakra but that did nothing.

Kiba could smell them and together he and Akamaru shredded them to pieces before the smoke was even fully cleared. Akamaru was hit, punched by one of the large bots and let out a whimper. That set Kiba off, he moved fast, feral, animalistic as he struck the thing down. They combined and a few of the large weaponized catapults were destroyed by a singe attack from Kiba and Akamaru. They drilled into large metal, shredding through it in a way that should have been impossible. They were strong and wild and hard to track even for robots.

We were death walking, we were the cavalry and none of us were going to lose this war.

Warning: Some gore I guess? It's a war people bleed

Shikamaru knew what to expect of a war before actually going to one. His father had made him go over document after document relating to previous wars. He had to pick and choose strategies for the best outcome. War was violent, emotional, sometimes people lost sight of why they were fighting, people die.

He knew all of that but what he didn't know was how the air would reek of blood and ash, the screams that echoed every so often, the chaotic mess that would be war. Knowing about war was not the same as experiencing that, it was sobering. He turned to his team, all looking over the battlefield like he did.

He positioned them just outside the range of the best sensor so that they could make their entrance. It had to be big, bold and draw attention to them. It was to draw the attention of the enemies to hopefully keep them away from when my team would enter the village. It was also to alert the allies of their arrival, so they could group together, strength in numbers and all that jazz.

"They said make an entrance right? Might as well do some damage in the process." His lips curled into a smirk, it wasn't a happy one but it was there. He handed each person on his squad an explosive tag, it was one Naruto and he had worked on for weeks. The explosions were massive, bigger than a regular tag but not only that, the fire and smoke the explosions let off were colored brightly. Perfect for doing damage and drawing attention to themselves.

A tag like this was cocky, it was meant to anger the enemies making whoever uses it seem like they think so little of their proponents they would set off a location marker. It was pompous and effective against the fragile ego of Shinobi, especially those who feel like they have to fight to prove their worth.

"Yosh, let the skies light up in a youthful array of color!" Spaced far enough apart, each member of his platoon threw the kunai with their tag out into the open. The explosions went off, lighting up the frigid air with heat and color, destroying the ground in loud bang. Not a minute later, ninja of all caliber descended on their position.

They moved like Zombies, snarling at the arrival of more Konoha ninja, shouting that they were bastards and the like. With one nod, both teams went off fighting the ninja who never seemed to keep coming. Like the enemies came, their comrades in arms came as well.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji fought together, working like the perfectly suited team they were. Choji had his first official kill almost too soon in the war. Ino had moved to heal one of their allies when she was attacked, Choji defended her, killing the man with his brute strength. The kindhearted boy puked, his heart clenching at taking a life.

It didn't matter, he had no time to grieve because he had to keep fighting. Shikamaru wanted to say something but he couldn't, not yet. He had to compartmentalize, push away the feeling of dread with each life taken. He was a ninja, he was trained to kill.

Neji and lee were like oil and water, one used the strong fist and the other the gentle fist and yet they were perfect to fight together. Combining their close combat with the skill and agility of Tenten, they took down enemies close and far. Lee shook when he killed but his resolve, his reason for fighting for his village outweighed his guilt.

Tenten attacked with a fierce strength, anytime a weapon was sent to her or her comrades, she had the perfect counter. This was her specialty, her excellence. She used any and every weapon perfectly and made the others using their weapons, especially the projectile kind, useless.

These ninja were fast, good but they were nothing compared to Gai-sensei. They had their numbers going for them. The only way to win was overwhelming Neji's team with sheer numbers and forcing them to run out of chakra, nothing else would make it possible.

Everyone was dead tired, bleeding from superficial wounds, fighting to survive and push through, following Shikamaru's orders perfectly. It was becoming too much, no matter what they didn't have the reserves of someone like Naruto. Even with the chakra pills, the number of shinobi throwing weapons and jutsu, skilled and not were becoming too much.

They had all seen people die during their battle, heard the cries of men and women being struck down and they were prepared to fight until their last breath. Shikamaru unleased a torrent of water from a seal, bringing it to life with a lightning seal not a second later. It fried all it touched but was not enough. He was ready to go down when the air seemed to shift.

A kunai was heading for Ino's head, one she'd be too slow to dodge and Choji was too far away to deflect it. She closed her eyes, only to open them when instead of death a groan greeted her.

"Jashin fuckin' dammit, that hurt like a bitch ya know? What kind of heathen are you, thinking you can stab me in the chest." Hidan was crass, kind of scary, the way he was dripping in blood yet seeming to love it was repugnant but Ino had never been more glad to see him. The kunai pierced his chest, it should have been fatal but he pulled it out with nothing more than a wince.

A woman's head exploded near them, others following soon after. A loud laugh screaming about art echoed from above. Deidara was there too. Sasori and Kakuzu also made it to them, fighting with a vicious brutality and love for battle that none of them could understand, they used jutsu that amazed and scared everyone equally. They fought like monsters, like demons. Hidan cackling all the way through. It was vile but at the moment Shikamaru's platoon appreciated it more than words could express.

The tides for his team changed, the Akatsuki were not bullshitting when they said they were strong, maybe strength equalled insanity but nobody dared to care at this point. Even if Hidan and Neji wanted to stab one another, the Jashinist took a blow meant for the Hyuga.

"Couldn't let the Hot Bitch cry if her Neji-nii died. Gotta get those brownie points for saving your girly ass."

With the newfound courage—and soldier pills— the ex-criminals brought, they were able to continue fighting as well as get in some rest. Ino fought and healed as many as she could, guarded by everyone around her to keep their allies alive. She was invaluable in her ability to mentally contact everyone for plans as well as her healing.

Our battle was a chaotic hurricane of destruction. We had all found one another again, looking worse for wear but still alive. There were a few Chunin and Jounin who joined our movement, they were directing us to the barracks that had been set up. We all took soldier pills and guarded as each of us got a fill of water, a necessity to survival. I wasn't sure about how long we'd been fighting, it could have been an hour or a few days. Like Alaska, during certain seasons the sun never set in Kōri so night might have passed and I'd never know.

"Kiba-kun?" Shino questioned his unusually solemn mate. Kiba had blood covering his hands, and smears over the already bright red of his cheeks. I was ready to heal him when he pushed me away.

"I'm fine." He grimaced. "It's not my blood." Oh. I healed the cuts and bruises on everyone as we moved, Naruto had clones stationed to make sure I'd have time to help each person and not get stabbed. I was exhausted, we were all exhausted but had to press on. On our way to help, we had a few hours to sleep.

It was difficult, My sleep was shallow at best. Even in sleep my senses were on high alert, my chakra was always scanning and rolling ready to fight if it came up. It was like how sensitive I felt when Orochimaru came to the Chunin exams but amplified. Everyone was feeling the same, those out to war longer than us were even more anxious.

I let myself relax, even if just slightly when we moved forward. There were signs of Shizune's battle here, we were getting closer. Men and women lay dead, plunged with senbon the poison used by Shizune alone was frozen to them. Their veins were black and their skin blistering, definitely her fast acting venom she was able to spew out of her mouth and into the air.

There were enemies everywhere, we were still fighting our way thorough this place. They kept getting stronger the more we advanced.

Konoha ninja fought around us, fighting with strength and heart encompassing the will of fire. No chakra I knew well enough had entered my field of vision until a giant wave of water crashed down.

That chakra, that overwhelmingly powerful chakra was one I knew well. I darted off towards the wave that crushed enemies beneath its force, running atop the surface of the water easily. There. I found Kisame swinging Samehada, the skin was unleashed as it shredded through the chakra infused metal. Suigetsu was not too much further away, lightning running through his blades and attacking those around him with vigor.

The air was so cold Suigetsu was forced to dodge a lot more often than normal. If he shifted into water too often he would freeze from the below freezing temperature. I was attacked on all sides, ice formed under my feet, one of the weapons was able to shoot out ice apparently, and I wasn't ready to stick to the surface with my chakra so I slid, my momentum pushing me backwards.

A robot descended on me and slammed he hard into the ground. The breath was pushed from my lungs. Its face heated up and I slammed my fist into its head, the heat of the chakra being converted into something hot burned through the glove and skin of my right hand.

"Fuck off you shitty Ultron knockoff." Kisame hefted me back to a standing position, grinning down at me. My knees were shaky but I managed. We were finally in the heart of the battle if the size and skill of what we were facing had anything to say. I had felt outmatched before, overwhelmed by numbers sure, but this, this was different.

Everyone was fighting for something, fighting with a passionate fury that made them that much more dangerous. Combining that with the weaponry I didn't even know existed, a misstep was deadly. I was tired, but so was everyone here, I had to pretend like I was better and fight like I had just gotten here.

"I was wondering when you would join the party little Orokamono." He took note of my expression and calmed slightly even when sending three enemies back with one powerful swing of his sword. "First war?"

"Yes. I just—how do people do this—why." I didn't even know how to explain the feeling that was overwhelming me.

"It doesn't get better 'specially not for a softie like you, just think of it as good training." I rolled my eyes, I didn't have that luxury. I was team leader so they were on me, I had to make sure nobody died and I had to bring aid to Shizune and help heal whoever else was in the barracks.

"I'm not soft." He snorted and went back on the prowl to fight, the cuts and bruises not even bothering him in the slightest. I joined up with Suigetsu, using my smaller size and speed to help him take down the giant, angry man who wielded a high powered crossbow, one that shot arrows that wherever it hit turned to ice. I unsealed a water bottle from the seals painted onto my med pack and tossed it to Suigetsu. He downed the entire thing in a single gulp, his face already looking less pale.

" Man, I love you sometimes." He grinned, his body thrumming from the adrenaline of battle and the new water imposed into his system.

"I know." Suigetsu had the bottom of his pant's leg burned off, there was obvious blistering on his shin all the way up to his knee. He kept his weight more on his right leg to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on the burned limb. The crossbow man, in his dying breath pulsed his chakra, flaring it to surround the area.

The ground shook as a giant version of a shinobi came out of the freaking ground along with many soldiers on his flank. Their killer intent was palpable and they outnumbered us 8 to 1. The giant batted away attacks easily, it needed something equally as big to take it to the ground. Naruto's Rasengan barely dented the surface. It had five chakra's inside of it, each person had to take out one if we wanted to not die.

"There are 5 chakra's, one person per limb. Each of us take one, Suigetsu you keep it occupied. Sasuke, you take on the Kōri-nin."

"Hn." He shot off, Susanoo flaring to life in all of its purple glory as he attacked. It flickered, still no a complete shell yet but it was enough. Jutsu's bounced off of the purple casing and Sasuke shot arrows into the crowd of people, stumbling only when the Susanoo was cracked with the force of the Earth Jutsu's slamming against him.

"Man, how the hell am I supposed to do that, it's MASSIVE!"

"Naru, still got a fire tag?" I shouted across, chakra on my vocal chords making my voice echo in loudness.

"Yeah!"

"Keep Suigetsu warm when I say." He gave me a thumbs up. I focused on the air around me, drawing out the moisture from the ice, from the leftover water Kisame had used, from the moisture in my body. I condensed it into my chest, breathing it in and forcing the water molecules to fuse with my chakra, expanding, making it stronger, larger. I concentrated, as I dodged an attack I made my chakra liquify, take the composition of water.

Exploding Water Shockwave! My chakra drained quickly as water burst from my mouth, creating enough water to fill a small lake. It was easier this time with all the ice around me, Kisame had made me practice this until I didn't black out doing it once. I directed all the water towards Suigetsu and as soon as it touched his skin, I could feel his chakra lacing into the water, absorbing it into his body.

"Hell yeah, now we're talking. Let's see how you can compare to the might of an elite robot freak."

His upper body grew in size, and his lower half took up that of water. He was just barely smaller than that of the giant, his swords raised and ready as he charged the bot, drawing its attention so we would all have a shot at taking out one of the people charging this monstrosity.

"Naruto, keep Suigetsu warm, he can't freeze in this state or we're screwed. Let's take this fucker down." Naruto had his clones place seals on either side of Suigetsu, both sparking to life giant pillars of fire that warmed up the entire area as they burned out, warm enough to keep the water from freezing.

We attacked from behind. Suigetsu used his blades to strike fast and often, the monster forced into defense with each strike. Kiba took the head, drilling into it with impressive speed. Naruto took the left shoulder, Shino the right. Kisame and I took a leg. I spun, slamming my foot into the metal. I could feel the shockwave reverberate through the metal and my body. It was dented but not even close to broken through.

I attacked the alloy with a barrage of kicks and hits until finally it was thin enough to break through. My hand slammed into the metal, coming out the other side of the dented wall, blood dripping from the cuts the metal caused by shredding into my skin. I peeled the metal hole open, making enough room to drag the user out.

He swung a hand and hit my wrist, his chakra burned as it touched my skin. It had that same property of the laser beams from some of the other weapons. It was a kekkei genkai, one that is terrifying if it was in the wrong hand. A blast ht right above my hip, I hissed in pain, biting my tongue to not let out a cry, I'd have to heal it at some point. The guy was probably 13, young. It didn't matter, it couldn't matter. I struck his chest, my gentle fist blocking the points around his heart. He sagged, gurgling blood. I slit his throat.

A strike with lightning charged swords did the job, the ninja were dead and Suigetsu crushed the bot. We all took off once more, fighting for our lives.

There were screams, blood was sprayed, I didn't even realize when I kept making their numbers smaller. Even then, they still outnumbered us, we were in their village and that gave them an advantage. My chakra sensory was on high alert, anyone and everyone that came within a short distance of me I could feel them. I wasn't going to die, nobody was going to die if I had a say in it.

My chakra was becoming low, too low to do any real jutsu without dropping from exhaustion. This was a bad place to be. Most of us were pushing our limits, good or bad. I stumbled as my vision went blurry for a second, my eyes were burning, I could feel the blood pulsing in my eyes as I strained to keep them working. I missed a dodge, my body too slow to react and I received a kunai to the forearm.

Samehada sliced down my opponent and Kisame scooped me into his grasp. He was holding me around the waist and my body was limp, I looked like a sack of potatoes.

"Time to retreat for the night, you need some rest." He dodged an attack, biting into the neck of an opponent and ripping the skin off. Blood oozed from the wound as the man choked in his own blood. It was disgustingly cool.

"I can still fight." I pushed against him and he tightened his hold, using the pressure of his chakra to force me into submission.

"Stand down." He commanded, no hint of the playfulness he usually spoke with. I listened, going lax in his grip once more. Suigetsu was chilling on Kisame's broad shoulder, drinking water and looking ready to drop dead. Kiba and Shino were both in the same state, being carried on Akamaru's back. Sasuke had an arm around Naruto, limping.

Wherever we were, Shizune's squad wasn't here. There were barely any supplies here at all. Konoha Shinobi were nursing wounds or savoring what was left of the ration bars. I slept for a few hours, dreamless thankfully. Somebody wrapped my hands and cleaned the wounds.I ate a ration bar and let my chakra manually regenerate until I needed to go back, when that was, I'd finish the process with a food pill.

Naruto unsealed one of our supply packs, the morbid mood lifted slightly with the rations and replenished resources. Anxiety was still running high, my platoon had heard of war of course, but the toll that it takes is something we never learned. To top it all off, we still hadn't found Shizune's team. They needed us for something and we needed to get to them soon, it's apparently been almost a week already.

I tended to the injured, any superficial injuries that wouldn't have an affect on the person I cleaned and bandaged. A few of the deeper cuts I healed until they were shallow enough to bandage. The lucky break was how anybody who was struck with the lower level lasers, the wound cauterized on its own from the heat of the blast and I just had to treat the burn not the blood loss from it.

There were two amputations, I closed the skin by burning it closed. I didn't have enough chakra to do much else. They were done in the war, there was nothing they could do that wouldn't result in their death. Men died under my hand, I couldn't save them. I'd never been in a situation like this, even saving Itachi was different. Each death hurt, I had no time to mourn, neither did those who lived. I had to be numb, a soldier not a person. Seeing the death toll, it wasn't massive in the scheme of Konoha but it wasn't small either. Maybe about 4% of the total population, about 73% of those who were sent to this war.

My chakra was a little over half and I took a soldier pill to double it, I needed the unnatural boost to keep going and not get stabbed like last night. I dreaded going back out, we all did but we had to fight for our country and for our friends. Sasuke was the one who encouraged us the most, surprisingly, in his Sasuke way of things.

When he riled Naruto up to go back out and fight, that boosted the morale of everyone else.

The icy snow was whipping around everywhere, chilling me to the bone. It stung my face and burned as it whipped into my eyes. I really, really hate snow and this ice version of it is that much worse. Vision was more limited with the weather and moving was harder but nobody let that stop them.

I could feel each person/thing getting closer from their chakra, I could feel the outlines of my team's chakra, hear the taunts of Suigetsu, feel Kisame's chakra launching attack after attack. There was no chakra right in front of me until there was. The chakra had just appeared, it was gone and then there was someone there. I turned to strike but my hand was caught.

"Quick reflexes kid, calm down." Genma, no wonder. He could use a toned down version of the thunder god from when he was taught by Minato as a Hokage guard, never thought I'd get to see it used by him. He looked worse for wear. There was blood covering his large coat and rips littered throughout the thing. His eye was bruised pretty nastily and a cut was on his cheek. "Time to get you to Shizune-chan, things are pretty bad over there." My chakra fluctuated and I wheezed as we were pulled to a different area of the battlefield.

"What the fuck." Was all I managed, looking at the fucking giant ass robot that had cannons for arms. Cannons that shot bright balls of chakra condensed and hot enough to melt through whatever it hit.

"What the fuck indeed." It ran on chakra differently than the last giant, this one couldn't move it's legs. It was rooted to the ground and drew chakra from the ground, from the life around it. It needed to be hit with something big to crush it completely.

"Is this the reason we came? To stop this monster." Another blast of that burning, laser chakra shot from the cannon. It was off to the distance but the cries were real. This thing needed to be stopped. I didn't have a giant Suigetso or Susano sized Sasuke right now and nobody had chakra so I had to make do.

"Yes." It didn't smell like blood here, it was so much worse. It smelled like burning flesh, there were bodies burned to the muscle and bone. This was the main base, it was overrun and being attacked. Our ninja fought back valiantly, even those covered in bandages were attacking and destroying what they could.

This was war pushing its end. It was the fighting of men who had nothing to lose, both sides were fighting like caged animals, to win, to survive. If we had to fight another day, even with the new provisions, it wouldn't matter. Chakra was low here, morale was obviously low, the loss would be too great to have any chance of winning if that thing wasn't gone. People were already planning to die.

Both sides had massive casualties and today would be the deciding factor. Either we crush them, breaking their weapons and their spirit or they kill us all and make it to the border, starting another great war. Genma was underselling how shitty it really was here. At some point my squad would catch up, but for now this falls on those of us in this area…those who are still able enough to fight.

I swiped the blood dripping from my lip, my hands running quickly through the seals I needed. I slammed my palm flat to the ground and expelled as much Chakra as I could dare, I had to keep my reserves full enough to fight and heal whoever Shizune needed me to. I was not a frontline fighter and combat medic for nothing.

The world spun with the massive flux of chakra, instead of the freezing sleet burning my cheeks and eyes, I was enveloped in a soft warmth. Muramasa's soft paw was pressed right beside me, guarding me and Genma from the cold weather. Ninja of all caliber stopped, turning to look at the giant Lion who had his fangs bared in a menacing growl.

"Had to be Ice huh kit?" His low voice purred, dripping with a disdain for the cold weather. "What do you need? I expect payment sooner or later." His tone turned sharp, menacing as he turned a predatory gaze to the war around him.

"I promise I will bring you whatever you want later. See that giant metal thingie?" His claws sprang from behind his paws, each larger than me and each looking menacingly sharp, shining like steel.

"The one taking chakra from what is living around it?" I nodded.

"Consider it a new toy, It has laser canons and those need to stop killing our soldiers. Destroy it." His head lowered and he licked up my body. I was his kit, part of his pride. We stuck together.

"Be safe kit." I nuzzled his nose with my own. Nobody dared to come near us yet, they knew he would kill them before they could try to land a shot.

"You too Muramasa-sama." The muscles in his body tensed and contracted, I could feel the deadly power emanating from him as he pounced at the bot, claws digging into the giant. The arms flowed with chakra, glowing brightly even to the naked eye and when the ball left the canon, Muramasa let out an ear splitting roar, the force of it pushing the laser right back at its creator. It slammed into the metal giant and the sound echoed for miles.

"Damn kid, Kakashi-kun really does have a team of monsters." Genma let out an impressed whistle as he readied himself to fight once more.

"Where is Shizune?" We ran, I followed a half step behind Genma as he directed me. Finally, I could see her, feel the familiar comfort of her deadly chakra. Shizune's chakra was getting low. She was spouting out poisoned Senbon and her hands were on Aoba's back, healing the dripping wound slashed across his chest.

Her dark eyes looked up as soon as we were in her line of vision and she smiled. It was as if the whole world slowed down in that second, right as she smiled at me and her worry melted into relief, chakra flared, light flashed. Shizune stumbled back and I moved on autopilot, my mind shut off completely.

Someone was screaming, it was full of guilt, pain, grief, anger. It was horrible to hear, it was the only thing I could hear. My mouth was open, I… I am the one screaming. Shizune had a hole straight through her chest. It was not clean, her insides were shredded and blood quickly pooled around her. I caught her before she even hit the ground. My hands were green as I tried to heal the wound. This was not supposed to happen.

Genma reacted in the same instance I did. The blast came from a man who had been difficult to kill this whole time, his chakra converted into beams of light hot enough to burn through flesh. As soon as Genma saw Shizune stumble, he was on the man, a white hot fury flowing through his very being. The man was dead before he had any time to scream, Genma mutilated the body and those around him before coming to my side.

"No no no no no. Dammit, no no. Come on Shizune. This-this wasn't… it's…my fault." I choked out, muttering incomprehensibly as I forced more and more chakra into her. Aoba was on guard, Raido also retreating to our side to guard us as I tried to heal her. Blood pooled from her lips and she breathed in choked, raspy breaths. Skin was hanging, some organs visible, I knew them, I could name each one but that did nothing. I…This is my fault.

I couldn't feel the snow against my face, the tears freezing as fast as they were coming, I couldn't hear the roars of Muramasa or the angered attacks of Genma. Everything was muffled, there was only Shizune, the gaping wound in her chest, and the overwhelming guilt flooding me. This was my fault, if I wasn't here, if it wasn't me she wouldn't be hurt like this.

No healing I was doing was making a difference, I prepared my chakra to break the seal, I'd most likely pass out after I use it but it was the only option. I readied myself and Shizune caught my hands before I could do any more. Both of her hands were wrapped around mine tightly, they were bloody, mine were bloody too, coated in a deep crimson of her life force fading.

She smiled, how could she smile at a time like this. It was that same smile she always gave me when we trained, though her eyes were different. They were accepting death, no no no she cant. Often Tsunade didn't have time to train me so when I was still learning to use mystic palm, Shizune was the one helping me.

She brought me lunch and praised me when I succeeded at something. She was so nice, strict but kind. She kept Tsunade grounded, she can't…NO. The seal might not heal something like this on another person but I have to try.

"You can't-You can't no."

"Hinata. Stop." She coaxed, her voice breathy. "Don't use the seal. Not for me, please."

"I have to."

"Don't. I wont forgive you. Don't trade your life span for mine."

"But I-" I was sobbing and she was still smiling. Why was she smiling. She was asking for me to let her die. Each pump of her heart blood gushed from the gaping, mutilated hole where her stomach used to be. Ino, I had to tell her. Her teacher, when she wasn't doing her apprenticeship with T&I she trained with Shizune. I..no.

"You grew up to such an amazing girl. I know you can lead them to victory. Tell Tsunade I-" She coughed up blood, her eyes shedding tears full of resigned acceptance. "Tell her I love her and make sure she d-doesn't drink too much. Tell Ino she… was a g-good student, the best." This is all my fault. She shouldn't have to say goodbye right now. What good is my power, what good was changing the future if people who were supposed to live die? Was this what I caused by playing god, one life saved so another one is gone?

Genma put a hand on my shoulder. Shizune looked up at him, her eyes seemed to glow with unsaid words, with regret, acceptance, love. They were so big, so loving. No, she-they.

"Stop, don't disrespect her like this." He eased me away and took my spot cradling her in his arms. He was crying, I don't think he knew he was crying. "I love you so much. All these years, you're still the one for me. We might not have a wedding but you are my eternity." Genma wasn't one for words, he liked action but these, these were so personal. Shizune looked radiant even covered in blood.

"Forever, I'll love you. Don't die here. Not you too." She whispered back, struggling to get any more out. He brushed her hair from her face and kissed her, the blood didn't matter to him. None of it. They kissed until she ran out of breath, until she died. He closed her eyes and lay her down, the air shifting into one so sinister it felt like death itself.

Genma, Raido, Aoba, even Ebisu was here and they were all exuding such intense KI. I think I was too but I'm not sure. All I know is her blood is what is staining my hands, my gloves were dripping with my failure. They are all going to die. This war is over, I don't deserve anything but I have to make it home, I will fulfill her dying wishes and end this.

A cold clarity entered me, I was angry at myself, at this war, at everyone in this damned village of ice. I had only felt so merciless when fighting Orochimaru, but that was a blind rage. I don't remember fighting or killing him or anyone else. This was different, I could see everything, feel everything.

I would never forget this moment, this entire goddamned war. I knew each face, could remember each person I crushed under my fist, each jutsu I used to suffocate for break a person. The water needles that turned machine's into pin cushions. They were no match, I couldn't feel any hit, any cut to my skin, any bruise. They were nothing to any of us, they were gone, their once proud army was being crippled.

I don't know when Naruto met up with us, he was the only one. Everyone else stayed back to fight with Kisame. I didn't see him, I didn't know Naruto was there until I could feel him. He saw her, he saw Shizune. The raging killer intent stopped and was replaced with a fury that made my chakra writhe, it was so deadly and ferocious, filled with such anger, my skin itched from the pressure.

Everything was red, the sleet no longer froze, the ground shook and burned with chakra. Muramasa picked me up by the hood of my coat and shielded me. Naruto screamed it was pure anguish. Genma's chakra disappeared as soon as it came the first time, others followed, it wasn't the chakra retreat of those who died, it was just gone in a flash. People cried, begged, they were scared, there were rumbles, chakra burned my senses and I had to close my strained eyes. Then… silence.

Muramasa let me down, licked the blood from my skin and clothing the best he could, grooming me like I was one of his babies. It was gross but I didn't move. When he was done I stumbled to Naruto, Muramasa standing guard for if anyone else showed up.

Naruto was laying flat in the ground, the chakra retreating from around him. It was over. His skin was gone in some areas, burned by chakra. I couldn't do much for his chakra wounds but I mended the skin as much as possible. He was out cold but his eyes puffy, he cried.

I don't know how long I sat there with Naruto, looking at his wounds slowly mend. Everything was slowly beginning to hurt, exhaustion was creeping in. I was tired of everything. Kisame showed up sometime later. Shigetsu, Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru in tow.

"It's over." We won, the cost was high but it was over. Nobody really looked excited or relieved, everyone was somber and still tense, ready for another wave of attack. A quick glance to Shizune and the battlefield and they pieced together what happened. Sasuke raised me to my feet and I slumped into his hold, Kisame took me from the Uchiha telling him to carry Naruto since nobody else could.

He was limping and dead on his feet but he still dragged the blonde, following behind Kisame.

We went to the base I was supposed to be at earlier, maybe if I was faster. No, I had to peace myself back together so we can go home, only then can I break. Tsunade can punish me for my failure.

I retied my hair back, it was brittle with blood and grime. My hands were bleached clean and I had a white lab coat on. I healed who I could, moving silently on my feet. I was tired, sleepwalking but they needed to be healed enough to travel home. The sooner we can leave the better.

Genma, Kisame, Raido, Aoba. All were healed enough to do whatever I directed them to do. We wrapped wounds, gave food and water, packed up supplies. Genma volunteered to seal away all the bodies and burn those not from Konohagakure. He left with a few others and they did the job none us wanted to.

My team was asleep, none of them were at peace though. I could see it in the furrow of their brows even during rest. This war opened our eyes to the life of a shinobi, the good the bad and the ugly of what we really were.

"I need the list of the dead." A field nurse, Shin, gave me the list. Most names were people I didn't know personally, their blood was still on my hands. Izumo, Kotetsu. They were on the list of the dead. My fault. They weren't going to be there to greet us or make stupid jokes and make it difficult for Kakashi to enter the village anymore. My fault. At the bottom. Shizune. My fault. I put the names of those we missed. My fault.

This village was a hidden village but unlike one of the larger ones, there were no true civilians. There were retired shinobi and children too young to fight yet but no civilians. The last directive we were given, the one that I hated the most. We had to burn this village to the ground. Children and all. Kisame was the one who offered, he and some of the ANBU went to their evacuation area and finished the job. When Shikamaru meets up with us, Deidara was going to flatten the area.

I fell asleep to the sight of Shizune's blood, the smile she gave even when bleeding out, the pain and anguish, the countless deaths. The only comfort I had in the Ice-land, even though I didn't deserve it, was with my team. It didn't matter, everything hurt, so bad it was numb. My fault.

I buried into Sasuke's side, squeezing the life out of him. He didn't care, returning the gesture with equal force. Naruto was on my other side, his body sore and bandaged but he still held me, deep in sleep. Suigetsu slept above me, his sleeping bag perpendicular to my head. War, even for someone who craved battle like him was rough. Kiba slept with Shino at my feet, Akamaru being cuddled between the two.

Kisame didn't sleep even when we told him to. He just left to go bring Shikamaru's squad and the Akatsuki to us. That worried me, what if they didn't make it too. My Fault.

Shikamaru's squad, the Akatsuki, and the other survivors came to meet us at our base, following tiredly behind Kisame. They looked as shitty as we did, everyone dragging their feet and some people were being carried. Everyone went to greet their friends, though none of us really were in the mood to say anything. We hugged, glad to see one another alive but nobody had a spark of life in their eyes like normal. They were tense, on edge, and looking traumatized all in one.

Dried blood was crusted on everyone, and wrappings done by Ino covered injuries that couldn't be fully healed without more supplies. Shika's head was wrapped thickly in bandages and his chakra was almost nonexistent. Choji was skinnier than I'd ever seen and was dead on his feet. Ino was bruised and slow but relatively fine. Lee had a nasty black eye and he was limping, being held up by Neji who was hunched over with a wound on his stomach. Tenten had her cheek covered in gauze and her left arm was in a sling.

Deidara was covered in ash , his foot was in a bloody cast, and he was barely awake on Sasori's Hiruko shell. Hidan was unhurt of course but his clothes were basically ripped to shreds and the signs of Kakuzu's stitching were obvious. Kakuzu's mask was gone and his skin looked paler than normal.

I cringed when I saw Ino, all I could think of was Shizune. She marched up to me and grabbed my arm. I yanked it back out of reflex. The adrenaline was wearing gone, the numbness was fading and I had been trying to ignore the pain I was in…at least until Ino decided to make it obvious.

At some point I had crushed the knuckles of my third and fourth fingers and my wrist was most definitely broken. I didn't notice the pain and swelling until recently, didn't matter. I deserved the pain and everyone else needed more help than I did. I can travel with my hand hurting. Ino disagreed, she dragged me to one of the cots and forced me to sit down.

"You idiot. What the hell are you doing not setting your bones yet." She gripped my wrist and with a painful snap, pushed the bone that was split into two back into alignment. It hurt, I didn't even flinch. I had to tell her.

"Ino, Shizune-" She cut me off, still talking but her blue eyes shone with acceptance. She already knew, she had to of known. She didn't sense Shizune when she came to camp, she looked around and didn't see her. She already knew and I still had to tell her. She needed to know it was my fault, she could put the blame on me.

"You look like shit Hinata. How did you even do this to yourself? I didn't think I'd have to look after you too." Her hands glowed green and her chakra forced it's away into my wrist, healing the cuts and mending the shell of the bones enough that they would heal properly. Not much else could be done for bones.

"Ino…" She casted my wrist and my fingers, not meeting my eye. My arm was strapped to my chest, my right hand laying just above my heart.

"Don't say it. I…I know already. I just…I can't right now." Her voice cracked and she pulled the straps keeping my hand bound to my body that much tighter.

"But it's my-" Ino stood up and walked away. Choji wrapped and arm around her and she shook slightly as he held her. Everything was packed away finally and all of us ate before beginning the trek back home. Deidara leveled the village as we left, passing out completely after the large array of explosions.

The trek back home was long and quiet. Everyone was dealing with their own demons, their own grief, their own anxieties and it was hard to talk about anything. Even Hidan was quiet, muttering his prayers until we finally passed over the ocean and the threshold of the freezing climate to the better temperament of the area right outside the land of fire.

We slept as a group, everyone still tense and battle ready. Even the slightest ruffle of a plant had at least 10 kunai drawn for attack. Once within the countries borders, we stopped and stripped of the extra clothing. There was a river and I had never been more glad to see water. It finally gave all of us to clean ourselves, to wash away the reminders of the lives we had taken, the lives we had lost.

I struggled, I couldn't get in the water to clean myself. Cleaning my clothes with one hand was just as hard. I couldn't get the blood out of Tsume's jacket, I couldn't get Shizune's blood out of Tsume's jacket. It was there, dark and mocking, a deep stain showing how it was because of me. Blood was skill caked onto my skin, I couldn't get it off. Reminding me of my failure, how it was my fault, how her blood was on my hands.

Neji placed his hands over my own, stopping my movements. He was cleaned, his hair still dripping from the water. He had a bucket of water placed next to me and carefully pried the cloth from my hand.

"Let me do it, I will always be here to help you." Neji submerged the coat in water and placed a stone over it so it couldn't float away. He pulled the sopping towel from the bucket and cleaned my arms, my neck, my face. He was carefully wiping away all the blood and grime layered on my skin. The white towel turned a brownish red. He dipped it back into the bucket and did one more round of scrubbing my skin. When my skin was clear of all the blood, he pulled my hair free of the braid it had been stuck in for who knows how long.

He began to pour the water over my head, the once clear water began to run red with the blood coming from my hair. He filled the bucket and did it once more, his fingers helping to brush through the tangles, making it easier for the blood to come out. He did it until my hair was totally clean, free of any traces of the battle that we had fought in.

He cleaned Tsume's jacket. Using soap and a stone to rid the fabric of the blood. There were holes I'd patch later but at least now I could give her the jacket back. Even cleaned, I could still see Shizune's blood on my hands. Izumo and Kotetsu's blood was there too. Even cleaned, it was still there if I stared too hard at my free hand. When I closed my eyes I could see it. I held the sopping wet jacket in my hands and cried. It was just me and Neji, he said nothing, he didn't need to. His presence was enough. He just continued washing the rest of my gear and weapons as I sobbed.

When we returned to the village, everyone turned in their mission reports and went home. I was the only one left in her office. Tsunade knew already, Shizune wasn't here and she knew why. Tsunade brought out a bottle of Sake and took a large swig straight from the bottle.

"What happened?" She let out a weary sigh, blinking slowly as she prepared herself to hear everything. I slumped to my knees, gripping my fist closed tightly as I spoke.

"I'm sorry. It was my fault…I..I should have been there sooner…" I spilled all I could remember from Shizune's death, Tsunade stayed quiet the entire time. She blamed me as much as I did. "It's my fault..If I…If I wasn't born here..if I didn't change anything…she'd be here. She'd be with Genma…alive…my fault…it's my…my fault."

"Did you know?" She cut in, her fingers rubbing into her temples to relieve the ache in her mind. There was no anger but there should have been.

"No…I thought if I could save everyone who had died…I thought…everything would work out…how could I have been so stupid! I traded their lives for others…First Sakura now them…I…I killed them all." Tsunade cut me off, brought me back to the present with slapping me across the cheek. It burned and brought tears to my eyes from the force.

"Stop, brat. Do not blame yourself for something you have no control over. Sure, you changed things, people died who didn't originally but that also means people lived. People who deserved second chances now can have them, Shizune wouldn't ever want her life to be saved if it meant those who are living now to die. People die all the time, but she gave her life for something she believed in. Do not disrespect her death like that. You didn't know, you can't know everything, it is in no way your fault. Things change and that is not all because of you. How vain do you have to be to think everything revolves around your actions. You are not god, you cannot save everyone. You can grieve, but you cannot blame yourself for what you have no control over."

"But…" She shut me up with a glance. She was angry with me, not at me. I couldn't understand, she should be blaming me.

"If you really are so weak willed and cannot take the repercussions of your actions, the good and the bad that comes from you being here then stop. Stop trying to change anything, let those who are going to die, die and hopefully nobody else does. That's what you want right? This is life, not some kind of movie, things are good but things also end badly, you have to be the one to keep fighting through that, to keep trying or your life here really will be worthless. If you do nothing, if you had done nothing just because you were afraid of what would change and let people die without even trying, then their blood will be on your hands."

I was stunned into silence, left to ponder over her words. She…she was right. This was real life, I was not god, I was not the main character. People died and it was out of my control, I changed things for the better for many people and giving up now, I…I would be shitting on those who died and be the reason for those to die if the future ends up the same. If I never tried, it would be worse than knowing and doing nothing. The future is different, I know nothing of what it to come but I have to fight.

"You…you are right." She scoffed like that was the most obvious thing in the world. I guess, it might have been.

"Of course I'm right brat." Tsunade placed a hand on my shoulder and used her free hand to point right at my heart. "You are Hinata, Hinata is you, this is your life so you damn well are gonna act like it. You didn't kill her, you didn't take something that wasn't yours. You are you, forget the future if you need to, just live. Fight for what you believe in, don't start to make your second chance at life worthless."

"Ok." For so long I had thought of it as fake, then I accepted it as real but still felt like I was taking something that didn't belong to me..but Hinata is me. I don't remember being anyone else, I don't want to be anyone else. I love my family, my family, my friends, my life, everything I have worked for. Finally accepting that I'm Hinata, hearing that someone else believes I am Hinata and she is me, that I wasn't taking someone else's life, that I had so little control over how real life works eased a weight from my shoulders I didn't even know I was holding.

"You need it, you look like shit." Tsunade handed be a cup of Sake, I downed the fiery liquid in a single gulp, lips pursing at the burn.
"Ino said as much." I smiled, it was broken and filled with sorrow but no longer the self loathing guilt that had been pressing on my soul for who knows how long. Tsunade returned the look, and we both took a drink in membrane of Shizune, and another for all the other lives lost.

"Go home." I left, feeling Jiraiya's chakra enter through the window as Tsunade cried. The walk home I was on edge, ready to fight on every corner. Everyone was home getting comfort for what we had just gone through and I wanted nothing more than to go hold Hanabi and have dad sit me in his lap like when I was small.

With or without my guilt, the war changed something in me, in all of us. It was scary, possibly the scariest thing I had ever been through. I could feel every chakra around me and my muscles were coiled to fight even back home. I was fight or flight, I could see the blood and smell the death, something I didn't think was going to change any time soon.

I got home and went to find Hanabi right away. Her chakra was easy to sense, always trying to sense what was around me during the war heightened my skills. I could sense chakra without even trying now, not a far area but far enough. She was doing her nightly training with dad, her movements perfectly graceful and powerful. She was strong, so freaking strong.

The both stopped when I entered the room. My clothes were ripped, I was in a cast, I looked like shit. Hanabi came when I opened my arm, and I pulled her to my chest, burying my face into her hair.

"I was so worried! You were gone for so long." She held onto my waist tightly and I blinked back the tears.

"I know. I know." I mumbled into her hair, forcing myself to forget the kids who killed mercilessly, the ones we slaughtered that were her age. It was Hanabi, I had to focus only on her presence, on her being here. On father, his comforting chakra. Being hime, not frozen, not killing, not watching people die.

"Does that mean Kakuzu-sama is here too?" She was excited, her big eyes hopeful for his return.

"Yep, I'm sure he'd love a visit." She muttered how excited she was to see him. Her fingers traced the cast on my hand, a soft frown on her face. I told her I was ok and it would heal soon enough.

"I am glad you are home safe." Hiashi's voice was a quiet rumble and as poised as always. I looked up at him, feeling small again.

"Papa. It was…" I had no words to describe everything but he understood. He had seen it before. He took a look at my face, the look I was giving him and he adhered to my want. I was training to be clan head, Shinobi didn't show emotions but he didn't reprimand me.

"I understand." He scooped Hanabi and I into his arms and headed to his office. He sat at his desk where he wrote out mission reports and handled the clan duties. I sat in his lap, still much smaller than him. My back pressed against his chest and he placed his chin on my head, looking over his work. Hanabi was in my lap, smiling happily at our family time. He had his arms around us as he worked dutifully.

Rukia came in at one point asking if we needed anything and he had her prepare us dinner. He even had her make pork Gyoza which was one of my favorite's and we rarely had it because my father didn't consider it healthy enough.

Hanabi was the first one to fall asleep and then he asked me about what I could tell him. I told him everything we did and he gave me advice on how to cope. Telling me it was hard but as Hyuga and a shinobi it was my job to endure and grow stronger. I watched him work and asked questions about some of what he was doing. Soon enough, the explanations and comforting rumble of his chest eased me into an exhausted sleep, one where I was finally less on edge.

Hiashi carried Hanabi and I back to our rooms and when he attempted to leave me alone, I clung to him even in my sleep. He stayed with me for a while longer until I released him and he was able to go sleep in his own bed. I didn't like sleeping alone, I was afraid of being alone. That was when the demons came out, all my issues, my fears and having someone there kept them at bay.

My dreams were plagued with blood and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't wake up until a chakra revealed itself. I shot up in a panic, attacking the chakra that appeared. It was too fast and I was crushed under a weight that more than doubled my own. It was only when the wet, slimy tongue licked my face that I stopped thrashing.

Bull was lying right over my stomach…I was in my room, in my bed, not freezing. He was heavy but he avoided putting any weight on my broken hand, the sweet dog he was.

"Nightmare?" I nodded and breathed in deeply as my racing pulse calmed down. "Alpha has those too." He rolled off of me and nuzzled my injured hand softly. Licking the cast as a get well soon. The big scary boy was such a sweetie. He moved behind me so I could use him as a pillow.

"Did Kakashi-sensei send you?" I held my hand out and Bull licked it. He opened his mouth and playfully munched on it.

"Yes, Naruto has Pakkun and Sasuke has Akino. He got home a few hours ago, very unhappy." It was sweet, Kakashi was terrible with emotions and human interaction but him sending us all one of his Ninken to keep us company was heart warming.

"Why?" I hoped nothing happened on his mission to piss him off, a genuinely angry Kakashi was not a fun one to be around.

"You went to war without him. You are all Kakashi's pack and he could not protect you." No wonder, with the way his first war went when Minato wasn't around, it's not a surprise he's pissed. He knows how fucked up it is and is trying to make up for his absence, trying to help us in the most Kakashi way possible.

"So this is his way of comforting us?" I smiled lightly, letting the warmth of Bull and the thought of Kakashi trying to figure out how to help his students without seeming like he cares too much warm my soul. I scratched behind his ears and kissed his black fur, telling him how much I loved him. Bull basked in the praise…I definitely spoil his dogs too much.

"Yes, war is hard. He believed we would be better than him coming himself." I rolled my eyes, leave it to Kakashi to be like that. It was still sweet to send us companions, even that was slightly surprising. It showed he really cared, as much as he probably wished he didn't.

"He's a loser." Bull snickered with me, very much in agreement with my assessment of his emotionally constipated master. It was still early morning but I was too awake to go back to sleep. I got up and stretched, letting out a pleased groan as my bones cracked. "Mmm, are you mine all day?" I slowly got to my feet, wincing at the throb of my broken fingers.

"Yes." Perfect, I was hungry and Bull would eat anything I fed him. I started stripping out of my clothes from the day before, they were gross and I smelled like garbage. The shirt was ruined so I just cut the whole thing off.

"Food?" He was up, his tail wagging excited for breakfast. I got to the bathroom and did my best to clean with a wash cloth, at least now I had better smelling soap. Once I was clean, thanks to Bulls assistance, I dressed in a loose shirt and some shorts, my arm still tucked to my chest. In a few days I can undo the bindings and after a week or so the cast can come off, if only I had super-healing like Naruto. My eyes were red and puffy from mourning but they were better than yesterday.

I wanted comfort food and the first thing that came to mind was pancakes. My getting the ingredients out was loud enough to wake Hanabi, her room was closest to the kitchen and for such a light sleeper, it was enough to wake her. She padded into the kitchen and looked between Bull and I in confusion, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Wha'ru doing." She questioned, coming to stand beside the dog who dwarfed her in size. He nudged her and she scratched behind his ears.

"Making breakfast. Wanna help?" She nodded and washed her hands. She tied her apron on and I began explaining what to do. We had to create maple syrup from scratch but it was a fun challenge, one I'm very glad she helped me with because Hanabi was way better at cooking than me.

I flung flower in her face and she retorted by cracking an egg on my head. Nobody else was awake so they couldn't tell us how to act, we just got to have fun and bot worry about being good heiress's. Hanabi was giggling as our food fight began and when I flung a spoonful of butter at her, she moved and it hit Bull. He licked it off and then joined in. We covered the kitchen in ingredients, as well as one another. It was a beautiful mess.

"What are you doing?" Neji came in to check on me, he was still on leave to heal like the rest of us. Hanabi and I exchanged glances and charged. With his slow reaction due to his injuries, Bull easily pinned him while Hanabi and I dumped all the flour we had left onto his face. He sneezed and flour went everywhere. "Was that necessary?" He wasn't angry, just confused and slightly annoyed at getting flour in his hair.

"Yes." We all chorused. I pulled him to his feet and he joined us in making breakfast, making enough rice and eggs to feed a village. When we were finished, there were hundreds of small pancakes, a pot of syrup, pounds of eggs, and an entire bag of rice. We scarfed down the food, we even got health nut Neji to eat a pancake and he liked them as much as we did.

With the help of Rukia and Hiashi, we washed up and carried the rest of the food to feed everyone else since they were getting up soon. We fed Lee first, him proclaiming it was the food perfect for re-igniting his flames of youth. Tenten was just as excited for the sweet and savory breakfast, agreeing that it was perfect comfort food. Hidan and Deidara burned through their food in seconds, Kakuzu more refined but he liked it as well. Hanabi was so excited to give him his food, putting extra care into making his look perfect.

Kiba wolfed down his food and almost choked, Shino gratefully ate it, his Kikaichu liking the sweetness of the maple syrup. Ino moaned as she ate, she was no longer on her diet kick and the pancakes were a godsend, perfect food to eat when sad. Choji loved them and I explained how to make them, his mom would love to create their own versions someday and I gladly volunteered to try them.

Shikamaru was somber but when I forced him to eat, he looked a bit less dead to the world. Sasuke being the sweets hater he is, I turned all of his food into a burrito and used a pancake as a shell. It wasn't too sweet and he ate it with little distaste. Naruto ate it, saying ramen is better but ours was still pretty dang good. I even brought Tsunade some, her using the carbs from the pancakes to lessen her hangover. She informed me a funeral for those lost would be held a week from now.

All in all, with the time all of us had for the last month or so, food wasn't much to ease the grief and anxiety of battle but it still was something, a way of showing we were still there for one another.

Piece by piece, day by day, I was slowly healing from the self-loathing, the guilt, the traumatizing memories of war. It was slow and would take time but I wanted to do it.

I was riding on Bulls back to the training grounds. Kakashi had called a team meeting, I wasn't cleared to train yet, neither was Sasuke. My hand was still in a cast set to come off in a few days and Sasuke still had a concussion. We all arrived at around the same time, dogs trailing behind both boys of team 7. Both were amused at my arrival.

"Yo." He had an excuse ready but none of us even reacted to his lateness. When Kakashi arrived, he took one look at us and looked ready to bolt. His stormy eye looking around for an exit before his shoulders slumped almost unnoticeably. He instantly regretted being forced to call a team meeting. The festering emotions flowing through all of his students, it was horrible. He didn't handle his own emotions so thinking he could handle ours was out of the question. When he realized that he couldn't leave and we were waiting for his guidance, he sighed and sat down in front of us.

To him we all looked like little puppies again, waiting to be told what to do. He wanted to run. All of his ninken were highly amused at his reaction. He ran his hands through his hair and decided to just get on with it, at least none of us were crying…though all of us had a sharp yet melancholy look that only came with war. He didn't know what was worse.

"Maa, want to talk about why all of my cute students look so gloomy?" We all looked at Kakashi like he was an idiot. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, well…tell me… what the hardest thing is." So this was like team therapy…led by Kakashi? Naruto's eyes were far away, he was thinking deeply about something.

"I have nightmares…I can still see Shizune's blood on my hands. I can see everyone I killed each night when I sleep. Sometimes they kill me, sometimes I kill them, sometimes they kill who I love." His slate gray eye flinched slightly, looking away from me before Bull nudged him. Mine hit a little close to home.

"Maa maa, there's not much to fix the nightmares but know that her death, their deaths aren't your fault. You fight and kill for a reason just like they did, there is no better honor in their death than to die for what they were fighting for. As much as you feel guilty, know that they died for what they believed in and try to forgive yourself." He placed a gloved hand on my head and ruffled my hair messily. His eye was curved into a smile, it wasn't real and he still looked flighty but he was here and that's all that mattered to any of us.

"Hn…we leveled an entire village, we murdered families." Sasuke was distraught at killing so many destroying entire families. He was guilty, he felt conflicted at what to feel. Kakashi didn't even look phased at Sasuke's statement, there was no shock only acceptance. He paused for a second, thinking of the best response to give.

"Terrible yes…but what would have happened if they made it to Konoha?" Kakashi asked, easing back to rest on his palms as Sasuke worked through everything.

"They…they would have killed all of our families." Kakashi gave an easy smile, he didn't know much but he at least wanted to help us figure out things before we ended up like he did.

"It's not right but that is the life of a ninja. We protect our families, our village even if it sometimes means doing things we don't want to." Sasuke nodded and it seemed like his shoulders relaxed just slightly.

It was quiet for a minute before Naruto abruptly shot up, Pakkun tumbling from his lap. His cerulean eyes were brighter than they had been in weeks and the blazing fire of determination was back. He clenched his tanned hands into fists and held one out in front of him.

"I can't accept that 'ttebayo. We killed people fighting for the same reason as us. I hated it, we shouldn't be killing one another when all of us strive for the same thing. It's not fair, I can't accept that. I don't want more people to die, not anymore. I, Naruto Uzumaki am going to end war for good. I'm going to break the cycle of hatred. I'm going to end the distrust between the villages and bring peace to the Shinobi world no matter what it takes 'ttebayo."

The sun seemed to emit from his body, surrounding him in a cloak of light. The three of us looked at him and his grin was infectious.

"I'm sure you will Naruto-kun. If anyone can it's you." Kakashi shined with pride of his student, he really was Minato's kid.

"Hn, I'll be right there with you dobe." Sasuke smirked, if Naruto would do it, Sasuke planned on helping. He believed in Naruto's goal, all of us did.

"I believe in you Naru, I'll back you up no matter what." I held my fist out and he pushed his against mine. This was the hero, the one I fought to stand beside and change the world.