Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sorry about the long wait, I was busy practicing for a competition. Only one more chapter to go before the story ends.

"Pakkun! Bull! All of you!" Kakashi said to his ninken. "Go to Training Ground 10, tell everyone to evacuate immediately! Every genin and chunin are to carry as many people out of the village as they can, get all the children out first! Don't tell anyone about the explosive tags. Hurry!" His ninken nodded and raced away.

Kakashi turned to his students. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, you go help get everyone out too."

"What about you sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi looked at the explosive tag, his eyes narrowed. "I'm going to find a way to take these explosive tags off." He walked towards the tag and stopped in front of it. "Hurry, you three. We have no time to lose." Kakashi sensed his team leave, going towards the direction of Training Ground 10. He knew that every ninja of the leaf would try their hardest to take the civilians out of the village, but it wouldn't be enough. There simply wasn't enough time. The jonins could probably make three trips, five max, before the explosive tags went off. The genins and chunins would only have enough time to make one or two. Also, because it was night, they would not be able to travel as fast. More than half of the leaf village population would not make it out of the village.

Kakashi analyzed the writing on the explosive tag. He was the Hokage now, and it was his responsibility to ensure everyone's safety in the village. He had to find a way to dismantle the tags, and he would not give up, not until every member of the leaf was safe.

"Everyone start evacuating the village. If you are a ninja, carry as many people as you can out of the village. Children first! Hurry up!" Naruto shouted at the crowd. He looked at the clock nearby.

11:57

"3 minutes left!" Naruto grabbed the first 4 children he could see and started running as fast as he could towards the gates of Konoha. It broke his heart to see families begging the ninjas to take their children to safety, and saying good-byes like they would never see each other again. The only thing that offered him a bit of relief was that Hinata was already out of danger.

Naruto directed more chakra to his feet, going as fast as he dared. 'I have to hurry. Only 3 minutes left.' He dropped the children off at the designated spot that was far away enough from Konoha so the blast from the explosive tag wouldn't reach it. Naruto raced back, narrowly avoiding a tree branch. He skidded to a stop behind the line of civilians, and was about to carry more people out when he heard Pakkun shout his name.

"Pakkun, now's not the time!" Naruto said while picking up another group of civilians. Thankfully, all of the children had already been evacuated. Naruto saw Sasuke and Sakura nearby and nodded to them encouragingly. He was about to take off again when Pakkun said something that made him stop in his tracks.

"It's Kakashi, he's seriously hurt!"

Naruto quickly handed his group of civilians to another ninja and whirled around to stand in front of Pakkun. Sasuke and Sakura joined him a moment later, panic on their faces.

"What?"

"I can smell his scent, he seems to be in lots of pain!" Pakkun whimpered and whined anxiously. Naruto looked in the direction at where he had left his sensei, a sudden fear gripped his heart. 'Don't tell me he…' Naruto looked at his teammates, and he could tell that they had come to the same conclusion. Naruto started towards the direction of the explosive tag, but Sasuke held out his arm to stop him.

"What about the civilians? We don't have enough time to do both." Sasuke said. Naruto looked at the clock.

11:58

"I'll save everyone somehow." Naruto said. "You two can stay here, I'll go help sensei." Naruto channeled as much chakra as he dared into his feet and sprang off towards the explosive tag. He was surprised when Sasuke and Sakura joined him a moment later.

"We're part of team seven too. If you go, we go." Sakura said while Sasuke nodded agreement. Naruto smiled, then sobered when his thoughts turned to his sensei.

'Please be okay, sensei."

(Two minute earlier)

Kakashi gritted his teeth in frustration. He had tried everything he could think of. Clones didn't work, neither did dousing it with a water jutsu. Kakashi looked at the clock.

11:56

'Maybe this will work.' Kakashi quickly went through the many seals needed for the jutsu.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" (Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu) Kakashi made the dragon open its mouth and attempt to rip the tag off. However, the dragon's mouth just glanced off the tag. After a few more moments Kakashi was forced to release the jutsu before too much of his chakra was drained. Kakashi looked at the time.

11:57

'This is bad, only 3 more minutes left.' Kakashi jumped onto a nearby building. From his position he could see the line of civilians moving slowly, too slowly, towards the village gates. Kakashi noticed three of his ninken coming towards him and jumped down to greet them.

"Boss, one of the explosive tags is in Training Ground 8. Another is at the base of the Hokage mountain. The last one is on the memorial stone." The ninken with the sunglasses said.

'So Kabuto wasn't placing the explosive tags randomly. The one in Training Ground 8 was supposed to endanger all of the civilians at Training Ground 10. The one at the base of the Hokage Tower was to destroy the monuments of the Hokages. And the one on the memorial stone...is designed to rattle me.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"Thanks. Go help the civilians evacuate, do what you can. However, if the explosive tags go off, I want you to go home (wherever they go when they're not summoned). No arguing." Kakashi said when his ninkens tried to protest. They nodded reluctantly and sprang off. Kakashi glanced at the clock.

11:58

Kakashi stepped in front of the explosive tag. There was only one choice now. His life against almost half of the civilian population was no contest, his would always come second. About five years ago, Kakashi would have no regrets dying, since most of his loved ones were dead anyways, but was that really true? Kakashi thought of his friends, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, and most of all, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. The only regret he would have, was that he wouldn't be able to spend more time with them. Kakashi placed his hand on the explosive tag, and thought of his team.

'I'm sorry.' Kakashi said silently before taking a deep breath and held the tip of the explosive tag. Based on what he knew about Kabuto, his death would likely be a slow and painful one, though maybe he could use that to his advantage. 'If I can just hang on just long enough to take down all the tags, only one more person will have to die tonight.' Kakashi steeled himself, and before he could hesitate any longer, he ripped the tag off.

A few feet behind him, the clock flickered as the time changed.

11:59

One more minute.

Kabuto stood on top of the Sandaime's head. The crowd of civilians walking slowly towards the gate were like a line of ants from up here, running futilely away from their deaths. Every couple of seconds he could see figures darting in and out the crowd, the leaf ninjas trying their best to save what lives they could. However, despite their efforts, it was all in vain. After the leaf village gets destroyed, he would hunt the survivors down one by one, until no one was left.

'One more minute left, before Konoha explodes.' Kabuto thought giddily. He looked down at the sculpture of the Sandaime.

"Ha, Sandaime. All your efforts to protect the village, sacrificing your life in the process, and now it's going to get destroyed. After I'm done here, I'm going to blow up the rest of the hidden villages one by one, until no one is left to challenge me. And no one will be left to remember you. Soon, Konoha will fade into a distant memory."

Agony raced down his spine and spread throughout his body. It felt like his body was being burned, drowned, crushed, sliced, and ripped into pieces at the same time. Kakashi fell onto his knees and tasted blood in his mouth. He had never imagined one could feel this much pain. Even worse than the pain were the images flashing before his eyes. His father lying dead on the floor, Obito crushed under the rock, Rin dying with a Chidori through her heart, his sensei's dead body with a hole through his chest with Kushina lying next to him, all the worst memories of his life. Kakashi forgot about who he was, where he was, his resolve to take off all the explosive tags. Right now, all that mattered was finding a way to end this pain, this agony. For the first time in a long time, Kakashi wanted...to die.

Kakashi suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. A warm yellow chakra enveloped him, and though the pain didn't go away, Kakashi's mind felt a lot clearer. He looked up and saw a familiar mop of blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Giving up already, Kakashi?" Minato said. He looked ghost-like, almost invisible, and Kakashi could see the wall through him. There was no shadow beneath him, and Kakashi was pretty sure no one but him could see Minato.

"Sensei…"

"You're Hokage now, you have a village to protect, don't forget that. Though you don't have to do it alone, don't forget we're here to help you." Minato smiled and held his hands together for the seal of the teleportation jutsu. After the puff of smoke cleared, Kakashi was in front of the Hokage monument, with the explosive tag right before him. "Hurry up, only 40 seconds left. I can't stay for any longer. I'm counting on you." Minato said before disappearing. Kakashi struggled to his feet. 'I don't have much time left, but...I have to hang on and save my village, my comrades.' Seeing his teacher had cleared Kakashi's mind and gave him a clear objective. He gritted his teeth and took the explosive tag off in a single fluid motion.

Pain came again, but this time the agony was doubled, the hallucinations were also more frightening than before. Kakashi saw himself standing in a pool of blood, surrounded by the corpses of everyone he failed to save, every teammate of his that died. The blood rose higher and higher until Kakashi was drowning in it. All he could see was red, and his mouth was filled with the bitter taste of blood. Kakashi instinctively tried to inhale, but blood filled his throat. 'Is this...my punishment for failing everyone?' Kakashi thought as he saw himself kill Rin over and over. He tried to call out for his younger self to stop, for Rin to dodge, for anything that could stop Rin from dying, but nothing changed. 'I deserve this, don't I? For breaking my promise to you, Obito, for being a horrible teammate. You two were better off without me. If I died that day instead of you, Obito, you could have lived happily together with Rin. You wouldn't have been corrupted by Madara. Sensei and Kushina would still be alive, and lots of deaths would have been prevented. I'm such a piece of scum. Why did you save me, Obito? Why didn't you hate me after Obito died, Rin?'

"Kakashi…" Rin's voice sounded out again. Kakashi desperately tried to block out her voice, he didn't want to hear his teammates dying words over and over again.

"Kakashi…" Rin's voice came again. Was it just him or did her voice sound clearer than she did when she died?

"Kakashi!" Kakashi's vision cleared suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brown haired girl before lurching forward and coughing up blood, though it wasn't as much as it had seemed in the hallucination. Kakashi gasped for breath, it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. It felt like an invisible force was choking him, slowly increasing its grip.

A small hand suddenly closed around Kakashi's, sending a burst of warmth throughout his body. The pain disappeared, and Kakashi could finally breathe normally. He looked up.

"Rin..."

Rin gently pulled him to his feet. "Kakashi, you're our friend, and friends would sacrifice their life for each other. You have friends in the village that need you right now, so hurry up. Only 25 seconds left. Don't give up now."

She formed the teleportation jutsu hand sign like Minato did, and Kakashi appeared on Training Ground 8. The explosive tag was directly before him on a tree, and Kakashi knew that he had no time to waste. Rin had stopped the pain, but ripping off the tag again would cause the pain to be tripled. But he was the Hokage, and the lives of many depended on him. Kakashi took off the tag, and as expected, the pain came again, though it didn't make it any easier to bear.

Suddenly, Kakashi found himself in the middle of Konoha. No, he was in a battlefield. All around him ninjas fought. Konoha shinobi against ninjas from every other village. But that can't be right, they had an alliance.

As if answering his question, Naruto ran past him, screaming with rage.

"We trusted you! Why did you break the alliance?!"

An unknown cloud shinobi sneered, laughing while he spoke. "Did you really think we would honor the alliance. The villages have been war at each other since the beginning, do you think we would stop now? The other villages have all agreed to team up against Konoha first. Konoha has become too strong, too powerful. It needs to be destroyed."

Kakashi tried to move, to do something, but he couldn't move. He watched helplessly as Konoha shinobis fell one after another. He watched as Gai, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, Choji got killed one after another. He watched as civilians was massacred, trying to run away in vain. He watched as children were snatched from their beds and murdered in cold blood. He watched as Asuma and Kurenai died trying to protect their child, but another enemy shinobi killed her soon after. He watched as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura fought bravely against the enemy shinobis but were killed.

A dark and ominous presence suddenly came towards Kakashi.

"Madara." Kakashi said, his mouth dry.

"Kakashi Hatake. Obito has told me a lot about you, though he can't anymore. He's dead, like all of your precious comrades and village. How does it feel, knowing that you couldn't do anything to prevent it?"

Kakashi couldn't say anything, not that he had anything to say. Madara smiled coldly and took out a kunai.

"Die with your village, Rokudaime." After saying that, Madara thrust his arm forward.

Pain exploded in his stomach and he doubled over, falling onto the ground, the dying shrieks of the leaf shinobis and civilians in his ears. 'No, this can't be happening. This isn't real, this isn't real...this isn't real.'

"Bakashi! What are you doing? Get up, this isn't real idiot!"

"Obito?"

"Stand up! Stop wasting time, you don't have any to waste!"

A pair of feet appeared in Kakashi's vision and hands quickly pulled him up. Kakashi tried to catch his breath, he still felt as if a red hot poker was in his stomach and that a thousand needles were stabbing into every inch of his flesh.

"O...bi...to?" Kakashi wheezed, almost falling back down again.

"Yes, me, Obito, your friend. Come on, snap out of it. I would talk more, but there's no time to chat. There's still one more explosive tag. It's on the memorial stone, you can't let that snake Kabuto succeed. There's only 15 seconds left, are you going to give up and die in vain?"

Obito teleported them in front of the memorial stone. The explosive tag was covered most of the memorial stone, but Kakashi could still see the place where Obito's name was. Even though most of the village wanted Obito's name off the stone, Kakashi managed to convince them to keep it on.

"Come on Kakashi, hurry up! Only 10 seconds left!" Obito said. Kakashi tried to move forward, but fell as pain racked through his entire body.

"I can't Obito." Kakashi bit back a scream as another wave of pain wrenched through him. He recognized some of the injures too. His heart felt numb, like the Chidori he had thrust through Rin's heart. He also felt like something had stabbed through his stomach, like Minato's injury, which was caused the Kyuubi. Worst of all, Kakashi couldn't feel his right side, as if it was crushed, and his left eye felt like it was being ripped out of its socket.

"You can do it, Kakashi. I believe in you." Obito extended his hand, and Kakashi accepted it. A tidal wave of strength flowed from Obito into Kakashi, making Kakashi feel like he could take on anything, even Kaguya. Obito disappeared, but he left Kakashi feeling stronger than ever.

Kakashi got up and quickly stepped towards the explosive tag. Minato had given him focus, Rin had given him relief, and Obito had given him strength. He couldn't fail after all they had done to help him. He extended his hand.

3

Kakashi grabbed the tip.

2

Kakashi tensed as he prepared to rip it off.

1

Rrrrrippppp. Kakashi collapsed onto the ground as he stared at the fallen explosive tag, praying that he had made it in time. Nothing happened as the explosive tag crumbled to dust and disappeared. Kakashi smiled triumphantly, the village was safe. He prepared himself for the pain, but surprisingly, there was no pain, probably because he was losing feeling of his body.

'If this is death, then dying isn't so bad.' Kakashi thought to himself. He looked at the night sky one last time, then all he could see was darkness.

Kabuto hissed in fury. Why had the explosive tags not gone off? He was certain that the tags would not malfunction. He sprang off the Third Hokage's head and into the village below. If the explosive tags would not destroy the village, he would. By killing every single person in the most excruciating way possible.

Naruto stopped dead as his sensei's chakra faltered and disappeared. For the past minute he and his teammates had been trying to follow Kakashi's chakra, though it seemed to jump from place to place for some reason. Now, his chakra had disappeared, which could only mean one thing.

"Sensei's chakra disappeared, I can't sense it anymore." Naruto said, though he could hardly hear his voice. Sakura gasped and covered her mouth.

"It's midnight, the tags didn't go off." Sasuke said in a choked voice.

"Don't tell me, sensei…" Sakura broke off, swallowing her tears.

"He saved the village, but died in the process." Naruto finished. Sakura fell to her knees and started crying. Sasuke was still staring in shock at the direction that Kakashi's chakra was last sensed. Naruto retreated from Sage Mode, despair filling his heart.

'We were too late.'

At first all Kakashi could see was darkness, but a light appeared in the distance. It came closer and closer until Kakashi found himself in Konoha, standing next to the memorial stone. It was a bright and sunny morning, but Kakashi hardly noticed. The three people standing in front of him had all of his attention.

"Hello Kakashi." Minato said, smiling.

"Am I dead?"

"Unfortunately, you will, but not yet." Rin said.

"Not yet?"

"Don't you have some people to say goodbye to before you join us?" Obito questioned, though Kakashi knew he already knew the answer. Three people came to his mind.

"My students."

"I'm sure that Naruto would hate you forever if you don't say goodbye. Same with the other two." Minato said.

"You have to go say goodbye, Kakashi. Comfort them a little, you know how hard it is going to be for them." Rin said.

"Go say goodbye, you still owe them that." Obito punched him lightly on the arm. Before Kakashi could say anything else, they started to fade.

"We'll see you later, Kakashi. Your parents are still waiting for you."

Kakashi returned to consciousness slowly. Above him three people shouted worriedly, one of them was trying to use Medical Ninjutsu on him, though Kakashi knew it was going to be in vain.

"Sakura...it's no use, I'm going to die."

"Kakashi-sensei!" They all crouched over him, tears blurring their eyes.

"Is...the village okay?"

"The village is fine, everyone's safe." Sasuke said.

"Good…"

"What were you thinking, sensei?!" Naruto said. "Why did you sacrifice your life, I could have done it!"

"You need to be Hokage, Naruto. Besides, I'm the Hokage, it's my duty."

"But sensei...don't go." Sakura said, wiping away her tears.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay for much longer, I can feel myself...slipping away already." Kakashi could almost feel the despair and sadness from them. He smiled, though breathing was becoming harder and harder for him.

"Hey, don't be sad...it's going to be okay...you three...all have...a wonderful future in front of you...Naruto...you're going to be the Nanadaime...Sasuke, eventually you'll...rebuild your clan...Sakura...you will be...the greatest medic Konoha has ever seen...the only regret...I will have...is not seeing you three achieve those things."

"Sensei…" Naruto said.

"I'm...so proud of you all...I could never have...had any better students...take care of yourselves...protect the village...and always...treasure your comrades...that's...all I have to say."

"We'll do that." Sasuke said.

Black spots danced before his eyes, and Kakashi coughed violently. His students flinched at the noise and looked at him helplessly.

"I can't...hang on any longer…"

"No! You can't leave sensei!" Sakura shouted in frustration.

"Every person's journey ends sometime...and mine...ends here…" Kakashi looked at the three people alive that he treasure the most. He would regret leaving them behind, but he felt no fear in dying. Above them, he saw Obito, Rin, and Minato's faces staring down at them, and behind them, Kakashi could see a silver haired figure with a woman beside him. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's faces were getting foggier, but their faces were becoming clearer. His time had come at last.

"Farewell forever...Naruto...Sasuke...Sakura...I love you all…"

And with that Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja of the leaf, the Sixth Hokage, and the teacher of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno breathed his last.