Writing out a full-scale battle or even a war PERIOD requires big shoes to fill in, especially when you got other source material to aid. But this is the final chapter of the destruction of Konoha, and then we shall begin tying up loose ends.

Composition by Adrian von Ziegler.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Prison of the Soul

Taking the miniature Kurotori was his only option. He was going right up there, in his ride, and he would meet Madara face to face. He was going to make it fast and finish his former mentor off if that was the last thing he would do.

But before he went up there, he had to reload the Crow, and he got the heads up from his brother. "If you don't come back here alive and with Hanaru, I'll never forgive you, nii-san," Sasuke warned, "because I don't want to lose my brother for sure this time."

"And I won't forgive you for not bringing me back my sister," Naruto added, waving his finger, having returned back to his normal state, Gaara with. And he along with their friends joined in, concurring. That left Tsunade for last, Shizune beside her, and she had her wires around Tobi, keeping him in place, because the masked man-child knew what those things would do to him if he tried to break free. It made you wonder how on earth Madara had someone like him as his messenger, or whatever it was.

And of course the woman herself was next. "I agree with my grandson, but Itachi..." Tsunade paused to take a breath, face softening. And what she said was sensational that it awestruck not only Naruto and his friends, but also the Hyuuga family, Sasuke and Sakura, Shizune...but most of all, Itachi himself.

"Whatever the outcome is, between you and Hanaru, you both have my blessing."

Those words remained with him when he took flight, missiles ready to fire if anyone else would do the same to him, but if nothing, then he would take that as a sign Madara wanted no harm for his final game. All the while, as he checked the scans, his mind was occupied on her, for once agreeing with his heart, fully honest with himself.

Hanaru...I always kept my heart guarded after Asami and Izumi, even when I tried to protect my brother from this life. I've seen and done things that I have no reason to be proud of, I protected everyone deserving and made up for my loss of humanity by slaying my own kind, and I let myself be imprisoned by your grandmother who has surprised me by giving her blessing as long as I bring you back safely. No more wanting my head threats, no stake through the heart.

Please, wait for me, because I have something to tell you, even while he holds you against me. You are my beloved and always will be. Hopefully it will be the last time I ever have a soul mate in my bleak existence. I'm finished keeping you at a distance out of self-righteousness.

And when he had her away, while they would rebuild this town, he would do the one thing that he had no reason to fear any longer, but that choice would be hers.

"I'll have no more regrets," he swore out loud, softly to himself, and then he felt his face become wet with his own tears of blood, refusing to wipe them off - at the same time the communication channel started to beep - and it was the man himself. "Madara."

"I see you are on the way as planned. I look forward to our final reunion, Itachi. Though it is a shame that more than five hundred years of history between us will end this way."

"Five hundred years, one hundred years - what does it matter? It ends tonight before the coming dawn breaks," the younger Uchiha vampire said frostily before cutting off the link and then reaching up with one hand to swipe away the blood from beneath his eyes.

That great dome was before him, and beneath the bridge where his woman was held captive by his most hated nemesis. There had to be a way in...and then he caught something peculiar, but he wasn't interested in contacting that parasite to ask what he was planning, until the comm beeped again. Growling through his teeth, Itachi responded, snapping what he wanted. Madara chuckled. "Perhaps I can spare you the energy that aircraft has left, and we can take this to the ground so that I'll willingly let you in, rather than you breaking in like a stowaway."

And as he watched, the zeppelin was lowering down, in the process knocking over what was left of butchered towers, coming to a "smooth" landing to the southern end of the ghost town, away from the north where his group probably was. Pointing outward to where some trees were unharmed from the butcher...sakura blossom trees.

He could imagine their beauty being unrivaled as this town was being rebuilt from the decay and ashes.

He brought the Kurotori down to land, and the front opened for him - the landing lowered two times until completely touching the ground - to jump out and stand tall, making sure the Crow was still at its finest. It would be childish of him to bellow up to Madara that he was coming. He made way for the entrance in the rear end, and it opened just for him. Itachi threw himself forward, head on in, and landed upright on one knee, Crow raised and the smaller magnum on his belt.

The laughter was that of evil incarnate, hardened by thousands of years more than he, and cast his heart away for all of this. "Ah, the lapdog of Senju finally arrives."

"A lapdog of choosing, you bastard!"

Hanaru, you little fool!

There she was, beside Madara, but held by an unseen force. Itachi knew what it was: his invisible bindings keeping her in place. The strain was there on her face, but why? He frowned; no, he had to guess she tried to put up a fight regardless of her own common sense. Her weapon manufactured by him and Shizune was gone, having been lost when she was captured. That must mean that her Taser was a last resort despite knowing it was ineffective on the likes of Madara Uchiha. He suppressed clicking his tongue.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him, face softening, but the desperation was present. And to see her radiant hair all over the place, the blood and dust caking her fair skin - she had never looked so beautiful, and her scent sweet beneath that putrid stench. And here he was, Itachi Uchiha in his black clothes, bearing the Crow, and his ring blazing on the same level as his eyes. Full glory without wearing the samurai armor he donned centuries ago in his past life, not that he really needed it.

"Amusing, isn't she? A little spitfire just like her mother and her grandmother. I could almost have imagined that you would have taken her without hesitation as your intended - or did her dear grandmother's death threats prevent that?" Madara chuckled again. "Oh, soft you've become. Or perhaps it was something else."

"You're wrong," Itachi said, the walls coming around his heart to avoid the bullets. "I protected her both of my own will and because of her family. She's far more precious than you can comprehend, and I would sooner turn this gun in my hands around to fill my heart with mercury and silver than to condemn her like I was."

The figure arose from his chair and stayed there, stepping out only by one step to show his face. "You're still such an idealistic fool. You don't understand that you can't protect everyone, or did all your losses not get it through? Even serving the Senju family would never atone for anything; I see that good and well from these very old eyes of mine. You're just as much of a monster as I am, so what will you do now that it is the two of us..." Then his irises flickered over to his side where Hanaru was still secured, but she refused to look at him in case it would seal her fate.

"...kill the girl or allow me to do it? Do you regret...not making her your bride before tonight? Oh, yes, it wasn't just because of your self-righteousness, but you don't want what became of the last one to repeat itself."

How...dare you mention Izumi. "Curse you, Madara," he spat, unlocking the safety. "You haven't had a heart to feel unlike myself and my family." He stood up then on both feet, keeping his aim on the one who had now slithered close to the captive girl whose eyes were misted.

"My life ended that day the sun turned black and I was thrown into the river, hoping my brother was safe. When I came to, I loathed what I became, and I thought I'd seen a mentor and father figure in you; when I realized that Asami could have been the one, I was betrayed and blinded. But you..." He felt his lips pull back on either side, baring his extended fangs.

"...your life ends before the dawn of this new season."

Outside, the sky had become lighter, but the sun had not come up. Yet the morning approached.

Madara noticed this with him and then smiled sinisterly. He then disappeared into the smoke and then reformed behind Hanaru again, wrapping one arm around her, pulling her close to his body. "I don't think so. If you want to get me, you might have to go through her, my former pupil."

Itachi felt his eyes widened with horror coursing through his body which didn't waver in its place. This is it...

"It-Itachi," Hanaru cried, finally letting the tears streak down and shine her soft cheeks, leaving pale rivers through the soot and dried blood that wasn't her own. She wanted to talk, but as much as he wanted to hear, he had to do what he had to, and while Madara waited for his move - either way, he intended to turn Hanaru into HIS like that cockroach of a "priest" would have, or kill her and add to Itachi's long list of heartbreak - Itachi's Mangekyo sought out where the vulnerable, killing spot was for the Crow's target point. The Hyuuga's Byakugan would do that better in outlining the tiniest details but not recording, and the Sharingan assessed where the cold, slow beating in contrast to the heated, rapidly thundering rhythm was inches away...and he pinpointed the spot.

Her lung was located directly in line with the one place he was looking for in the vampire behind her: his heart.

"It'll be all right...my love."

He meant every word, the trigger pulled at the same time as he locked on the point, and the sound erupting in his ears. The course of history on this level would be changed forever, along with the real animal that the bullet was intended for, shooting through her lung and piercing the wicked heart behind her.

~o~

His soft words, calling her his love as well as reassuring her everything would be all right...that was before the sound of the bullet thundered in the air, and the horrible agony electrocuted that part of her body which was none other than her right lung.

He...Itachi...he shot me!

But she knew why: there was no other way around. And if she was right, her lung was located over Madara's heart. He aimed it there, and that was why he told her everything was going to be all right...but that also meant another, certain way to save her from death, since he knew she didn't want to die.

The numbing pain in her body upon hitting the floor was not compared to what was in her punctured lung, the material of the bullet severing vessels and soft muscles. Blood was gushing out of her and staining her uniform. She barely felt Naruto's necklace against herself, but faintly, there was buzzing on her skin, keeping her alive long enough but wouldn't last because only the amethyst - which Hinata Hyuuga had - would do the job. She was aware enough to look up and see Madara Uchiha standing there, the blessed bullet having gone through his heart and left a gaping hole there.

Hanaru had to say that was anticlimactic, since it happened so fast, but exchanging barbs with his former student was "satisfying" enough - and then she felt the sensation of ash ghost across her wet face, coughing it out as she started to feel blood trickle from the corner of her mouth.

"HANARU!" Itachi bellowed, dropping to her side, gathering her up and cradling her. He took her away from the site and near the door. "Hanaru, don't talk! I'm going to give you what you need. You're going to live."

The tears were still coming, clearing away the dead's remains on her skin again, and the bleeding in her body had stopped somehow because he put his hand there. Then something wet hit her cheek; looking up, Hanaru saw that Itachi was...he's crying blood.

Managing to raise an arm, she used that hand to cup his cheek affectionately. "Don't...cry," she croaked, sounding like a frog to her own ears. "Just do it..." She turned her face the other way, exposing her neck to his eyes which flared in the pupils. She felt the heat on her skin as he began to lean closer, and then a hiss sounded as he extended his fangs. She had to close her eyes since this was the part...

...and when his teeth sank into where her jugular vein was, she gasped and then cried out as the sweet throb erupted into something fiery and painful.

~o~

The fires finished their work, but the smell of ash remained in the air.

The dawn finally broke when the war was won, but the sun shone down to show devastation. It was the first day of spring, but nothing would come as Mother Nature would grant, for inhuman forces destroyed everything in its wake. Years were going to be in making to rebuild this town of leaves back to its former glory.

It was by this time the aircrafts buzzed and gracefully soared across the skies, coming to land and begin the sweeping of the dead from the streets, but sooner or later, the outside world would know of what happened. She listened to the message on her earpiece that the Prime Minister, with permission from his superior, was coming down for inspection first and then securing all areas. The rotten stench was in the nostrils, but the more exposure, it lessened to something like lead from the military bases, after the smoke fire ceased.

The Hyuuga had long since fled before the sunlight rose on the horizon, but Sasuke and Sakura were still here because of the Senju's invention for them, as well as the one they waited on, and he returned to them in no time at all. "About time, aniki," Sasuke called out dryly.

Itachi had transformed into his flock of crows and brought Hanaru in his arms to be before them all, and there he stood now amid the rising orb of silvery white against smoky charcoal and midnight, his jaw taut and his eyes dark, devoid of light, because of the limp but otherwise breathing figure in his arms, causing all of them to utter gasps of horror. Hanaru...

"Oh, God, nee-chan," Naruto rasped, sounding like he was thirsty for DAYS. "Itachi, what did you do to her?"

"What had to be done, since there was no choice. She wanted me to do it."

Unspoken was that while he killed his longtime nemesis, it meant killing the captive to get to him. But as he said, Hanaru wanted to live, even if it was a price be damned. Tsunade closed her eyes, not wanting to see the fallen expressions of the others who had no idea what to say, but then Temari, sounding deflated, thanked Itachi for saving her friend. The boys followed suit.

"You really did it now, Itachi," Sasuke said, then grunted when his wife swatted him on his back to behave.

Tsunade chose to speak, so she told him to get her and himself back to the estate so that the transformation could finish running its course. Hanaru didn't seem to be in a great deal of pain, unless he used genjutsu to put her into a deep sleep so that she didn't suffer like he, his brother and Sakura all had. She thanked him for that.

Shizune, who still had the wired masked Tobi down, asked her what they should do, and this was the order: let their allies take him into custody, and then they would go home - to what was left of it.

No need to ask after all of this, since you know what it will be. :D Or in case you don't know what I mean, it's lovely reviews.