I don't own Naruto and this IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER OF MY STORY. I WILL DO AN EPILOUGE but I must warn you, many will not like how this story ends…muahahhahahaha. There's a high chance of a lemon in the epilogue as well! Now onward…

Tsunade swiped a roll of sweat off the side of her cheek. She hated waiting unless she had sake with her, which would make waiting less painful.

Hours seem to slowly tick by as she anxiously awaited, but time only counted fifteen minutes in passing since she left the strong hold. She unconsciously tugged at her shirt and shifted a few inches to calm her nerves. Her fingers were twitching in anticipation.

Yup, after this is all over I will lock myself in my office and drink every damn bottle of sake in that room she decided as she struggled to find a different way to calm her nerves. She looked over towards the other group and saw them motionless and cursed under her breath toward Jiraiya.

Her attention was adverted to the huge gathering of Shadow shinobi who appeared in the middle of the clearing.

She came through afterall. She wanted to let out a sigh of relief but knew that wasn't the wisest action to do at the time. Scanning over them she began to assess the numbers and which ones that appeared to be the strongest.

"This is where Orochimaru-san told us to be ne Ryou?"

"Yes I got explicit orders to move half of the detachments here while the other group went into the village."

"But I don't see nor feel any signs of enemy nin here sir." A second one stated.

Tsunade counted one hundred and fifty two in all, enough for one of her men to every two of them. The odds weren't favorable, but this is where the last stand of the great village hidden in the leaves will take place.

She looked over towards Jiraiya speaking silent words of encouragement and an undying trust. Tsunade felt her muscles ease a bit before they both signaled for their groups to attack.

With great swiftness, the first shuriken was thrown signaling the start of a hellacious epic that would only become the stepping stool towards a greater battle yet to be waged.

This is it

She thought placidly as she continued to run. Easily she ducked a low handing tree branch while running closer towards her destination; the center of Konoha. Where her betrayal will be ultimately set, not only in stone, but in spilt blood as well. She still felt hesitant upon doing this, but knew it was far too late to turn now.

Despite the small feeling of hesitancy, she smiled mirthlessly as a comparison of her and the young Uchiha came to mind. How much alike they were in many complexities of life, yet different when going about handling them.

Her musings were cut short when she spotted and passed the remaining forces Konoha had to offer. Most of them are ignorant to her plan just moments away from finally unfolding…only then would the fate of the village be horrendously determined.

Until then, she decided, she would concentrate on the ever present threat at hand; a rather furious snake demon known as her father.

Sakura laid Sasuke on the broken cot. He was unconscious due to the immense amount of chakra he spent throughout the day. And as he lay there Sakura began to sort through her thoughts meticulously to see what she felt.

A part of her wanted nothing more than to slit his throat for ruining her perfect life she and Naruto were going to share with one another. Then the other part took a look at his peaceful face and saw what could be instead of what is. And for a moment she faltered with her right hand; twitching tentatively from reaching for her kunai in the pouch to restraint from pushing a few stray strands away from his face.

She didn't know what she felt for him anymore, but she wouldn't allow love to filter in her mind as a possibility. She couldn't; not after all he had done to hurt her in the past…especially after he killed Naruto.

A few tears shed from her sparkling emerald eyes as her hands clenched into fists. Her body began to shake with grief as she kept picturing him with his warm smile and big baby-blue eyes full of laughter and joy. The way that he caressed her hand when she was becoming stressed, the way he would always support her saying that he believed in her…that he loved her. And the way he'd hold her in his arms at night when looking up at the stars, whispering sweet nothings into her ear as she peacefully dozed off.

Why? Was all the coherence she could gather in her foggy mind.

Why was it when she was content with the way things were, everything would be ruined? And the one who always ruined her once happy and stable life was Sasuke.

Tightly she closed her eyes willing the last three days away; willing him away. She knew though, that when she opened her eyes, everything would be the same as it was before she closed them: the pain, sorrow, uncertainty, the feeling of becoming a failure to save others; it was all redundant in her mind-her soul, yet it was still there. And nothing seemed possible anymore. Life at Konoha was meaningless as it became nothing but rubble. Life in general, was not worth living if all there was left was a horrible emptiness, a void, which could never be repaired.

She reached for her pouch with her mind set at what she was about to do. She was going to die for acting like this, but at least she could be with Naruto again.

Tobias crouched down on a thatched rooftop of a house. His keen eyes scanned the area taking in the position of Suna's and his team of shinobi.

Good he thought. Everything was in place, now all they needed were a few precise moves and it would be checkmate. All he had to do is wait for the pawns to touch the opponent's end to deliver the hidden blow. A well known, but often over looked move, therefore; it being the perfect strategic plan against an enemy lacking the stamina to spot a blatant move carefully disguised as the pieces being no longer in usable standards to move; when in reality they lay in wait.

Purely genius.

So many years it took to craft this well formed plan and now in a manner of moments it will unfurl. It was bitter-sweet to think of the plan as such, but he knew that if he wanted to rid the world of such unworthy people, it would have to be done and executed to the fullest capabilities he had to offer. And for Kana, he would do anything to make her happy.

Kakashi strode through the empty halls of the Hokage tower, not at all perturbed by the lack of human presence. The meeting was highly confidential and he understood the necessary precautions need to be taken in order to ensure the utmost confidentiality.

He did not know the reason behind this or anything for the matter besides the time, date and location. He began calculating reasons, coming up with theories and doing anything to keep his sense of foreboding at bay and for the most part it worked.

Kakashi came to an abrupt halt at the end of the corridor; his foreboding taking an immediate spike as he twisted the pewter knob and walked in to see stern faces looking at him.

Quickly he scanned the people in the room. Tsunade and Jiraiya were situated in the center end of a table. On the sides were Shizune, several ANBU captains, a few shinobi from another village from which he couldn't quite place, Naruto and Aleia. He was confused by the diversity of the people within here but nonetheless, kept up his calm façade and walked to the only empty chair in the room near Aleia.

As he sat down he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers in hers silently asking what was going on. She only responded with a quick smile and a gentle squeeze of his hand stating he'd find out soon enough.

The uneasy silence was broken when Tsunade's voice calmly boomed over the room and it's occupants,

"We have been informed of a possible attack upon our village." Tsunade looked over towards Kakashi's direction which confused him even more. "I do not have the full details but the heir to the Shadow kingdom and Orochimaru's right hand man do, so allow them the necessary silence needed for them before asking questions."

Aleia released Kakashi's hand and stood up as did the person across from her. Silently they strode to the middle of the room giving one another acknowledging nods. Aleia pushed a few stray strands behind her ear before she spoke,

"First off I would like to inform you all that I am indeed the last remaining heir to the Shadow village. My real name is Kana and I am unfortunately the daughter of Orochimaru.

"Seven years ago I ran away from that village upon witnessing its slow declination into corruption lead upon by Orochimaru himself. I spent the first year trying to figure out what happened to my family, controlling my family traits and demonic powers. The demon residing in me is Cheveyo-zev the wolf demon perhaps stronger than the Kyuubi itself." Her gaze swept over everyone in the room before she continued,

"I am telling you this so you know who you're fighting with in this inevitable battle.

"Tobias, my most trusted friend has been with Orochimaru since my departure spying for me so I could exact my revenge for my family. But this is more than just revenge." She allowed a pause before continuing,

"Orochimaru has set his eyes for Konoha since his departure and has spent nine years training and gathering a fighting force of monstrous proportions. Tobais has witnessed the numbers and what they're truly capable of and it seems impossible for Konoha to win without outside help."

Tobias took it from there as his deep voice resounded off the walls, "that is why I have been building up a resistance of Shadow shinobi who dislike Orochimaru and what he did to overthrow the royals, but with these numbers it is still not enough. This is where Suna comes in. Though they've yet to sign a treaty and will be greatly hesitant on assisting you, we came up with a plan that would obligate them to fight"

Aleia then continued, "they failed to kill me when I was little. My mother had paid them in full for the shinobi to not stop until I was dead, but they never finished the job. Using this with evidence, I could persuade them to help in order to repent for their inabilities. Providing just enough nin to eradicate their forces."

"But we don't want a full-on assault, because despite evening the numbers, they have trained many years for this and their weakest genin fighter is as strong as an upper-class chunnin here." Tobias bored his eyes into Jiraiya's, "because of that we have formulated a plan. A simple plan which involves all of you and how good you can act."

An hour had passed as both Aleia and Tobias laid out their plan in full allowing room for debate and questions. Kakashi upon their last sentence spoke,

"what will we do with the inevitable deaths?"

Aleia smiled, "that is where my family trait comes in. My family is renowned throughout the area of their amazing forbidden jitsus all of them dark and deadly and very hard to control. In fact no one in my family has activated this trait since my great-great grandfather who could not control the darkness, ultimately leading it to control him; leaving the entire village in darkness and despair. I, though, have been able to control it. With this control comes the amazing ability to cheat death, not for myself but for others. This jitsu needs a little chakra per person and I believe I can keep everyone away from death, despite how they died. But in order to keep up appearances this is where Tobias comes in."

"Right" he nodded, "I'm an illusion master and I can create the taste, smell, feel and look of death everywhere fooling anyone who steps into Konoha."

"But what of the people supposedly dead?"

"A simple transportation jitsu would send them into the strong-hold basement where they would be told of what happened and why."

"Why not tell them?"

"Because we want to fool Orochimaru and his army and to do that we have to make this as real as possible.

"After telling them of the situation, they will be given placement orders and get into position to help deal the final blow where my forces of Shadow shinobi, Suna and yours will attack the remaining enemies."

Kakashi leaned back in the chair, "we all know what we're doing Aleia, but where would you be in all of this?"

"Finishing my revenge on Orochimaru, tricking him into thinking I'm weak and undecided of where my loyalties lye and ultimately lead him to my preferred battle ground and killing him."

"Who would lead the enemy Shadow shinobi into position?" Tsunade asked.

"I will" Tobais stated, "I am second next to Orochimaru, so they will listen to every order I give them."

"This is very well-thought out, but what of different scenarios popping up?" Naruto asked.

"That is why we allowed some lee-way into this plan, we're more than capable of adapting our plans and to keep everyone in touch, Aleia would send out her shadow souls to inform us."

"Well then" Tsunade stood, "we are in on this plan and I am giving you, Aliea, a year to persuade Suna for this. That is the estimated amount of time in which you said the Shadow village will not attack correct?"

Tobias nodded his head, "yes Hokage-sama."

A few minutes passes and Kakashi found himself walking in silence next to Aleia.

"After this is over will you go back to Shadow?"

"I don't know. It just depends if I have a reason to stay here or not."

Kakashi unconsciously fiddled with a small velvet box in his pants pocket. "What would be reasonable enough?"

She tore her gaze away from the stars to stare at Kakashi and ever slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. Their eyes locked and he lent down to her slowly. She tugged off his mask and kissed him softly on the mouth. Pulling away she smiled, "you."

He pulled her against him and put his head on her shoulder deeply inhaling her jasmine scent.

"I love you Aleia."

"I love you too Kakashi" she whispered back.

Kakashi gasped into the living world with a sheen of sweat covering his face. That memory of a year ago seemed so real. Her lips…He touched his own barely acknowledging the absence of his mask.

"Aleia" He hoarsely whispered.

Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out the little box that has been there for a year and three months. He opened it to make sure the ring was still there. The silver band glinted as the small diamond in the middle had an emerald on each side of it.

Just like her eyes he thought.

So feedback will be greatly appreciated and I hope this explained a few of your worries and that in fact, nothing was as it appeared to be.

Kakashi really seems to like Aleia and visa-versa, and it shows that despite times of turmoil and war, there will always be room for love. Aww, smut.

But the question remains, will the plan work flawlessly and go according to plan, thus ending the sadism I created or will darker times yet be unveiled? Is Naruto truly dead and what of Sakura? What did she mean that she would seeNaruto soon? And is Sasuke truly turning to the side of good or is it just a ploy? ;) Just a few questions that should leave you pondering.