Neji fired again and Tenten dodged, yanking the fan out of the way as well. Obito was smart, not letting her get a chance to fire it, but it would only work for so long before Tenten got an opportunity. When she did, the Asura Path would be finished.

She saw Lee shoot past her, his foot connecting with Neji's fist. Neji batted him aside, keeping his focus on the fan. It seemed that he knew what the fan could do to him. It was going to be hard to catch him off guard.

To buy herself some time, she flung another scroll of kunai at him, along with a giant spiked metal ball. He fired back, deflecting all of them. Tenten gritted her teeth. This was getting nowhere.

Suddenly, Lee's foot smashed into Neji's face, sending him crashing into an abandoned house. Lee raced after him with a cry, Tenten and Yoshino following behind. Lee launched himself on Neji's fallen body, striking blow after blow onto any flesh that he could find.

Tenten slipped into the shadows, eyeing the pair carefully. Lee punched Neji's elbow, and Neji tried to grab Lee's leg. Lee kicked Neji's knee, and Neji buckled slightly. Tenten slowly swung the fan behind until it was ready to fire. Lee aimed a kick towards Neji's head and Neji brought both his hands up to block.

That was all Tenten needed. She swung the fan and felt the lightning crackle. It struck Neji before he even noticed it, electrocuting him completely. The metal in his body worked against him, conducting the lightning, frying all the inner mechanisms that the Asura Path had. Lee almost got caught in the blast, and only his quick reflexes saved him. He dodged backwards a second before the lightning got to him, landing beside Tenten, who was staring at the Asura Path remorselessly, and Yoshino, who was staring at it in wonder.

They stood in silence for a minute, watching the lightning fizzle out. Yoshino was the one to break the silence.

"Is it over?" she asked.

Lee grinned and opened his mouth, but Tenten interrupted him.

"No." she said calmly. "It's not over."

They looked around just as Neji pushed himself to his feet. The smile was gone from his face, replaced by a sad look of shock. Tenten grimly noted that some of his mechanisms still worked. She was running out of weapons, and Lee couldn't fight forever. Tenten gripped the fan, trying to measure her chakra levels. She knew that she didn't have enough for another blow.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and a smaller hand on her back. Each of the hands was pushing chakra into her, making her stronger. She turned around, and both Lee and Yoshino were staring back at her, hopeful and sad at the same time.

"Go on." Yoshino said "Finish it."

Tenten did just that. She raised the fan, and gave one last look at Neji, memorizing all the little details that Obito hadn't been able to disfigure. The way he stood tall, even when facing death, the quiet aura of dignity that radiated off him, unchanging despite all of Obito's efforts. As she gazed into his eyes, she brought the fan down in a whoosh. His eyes began to change again, going from Sharingan and Rinnegan into two Byakugan, a last attempt by Obito to weaken her resolve, to make her hesitate.

She didn't.

The fire shot out of the fan, engulfing Neji's body completely. Tenten wanted to keep her eyes on his, but her body was suddenly too heavy for her legs to support, and she found herself falling to the ground. Her upper body wouldn't work either, and her face met the floor. It should have been painful, but the horrible empty feeling and the awareness of her lack of chakra blocked it out. There was literally no more chakra left in her body. She could hear frantic voices from above her, but the world around her was going white, and she didn't think she could reply.

The white light surrounded her completely, and in a rush she was able to move her body again. The first thing she did was frown. Why was everything white? Shouldn't it be black? She had either fainted or died, and from previous experience, she knew that everything should be black.

The second thing she did was gasp, because someone was coming towards her, someone she recognized very well. Neji walked over to her, and for some reason he was standing above her. Tenten didn't know how that was possible, since there was nothing to stand on. In fact, was she standing or floating? Everything around her was light. Was this one of Obito's tricks?

She looked up, and Neji looked back. The corners of his mouth lifted upwards in a true Neji smile, where his eyes showed what he felt more than his mouth. Right now, his eyes were the special kind of gentle he had reserved only for her and Hinata (when she wasn't looking).

Tenten raked her eyes up and down him, taking everything in. He looked around seventeen, the same age he had been when he died. His hair framed his face, tied off at the end with a loose ponytail. He wore his white shirt and matching trousers, with the black shinobi sandals and his black apron tied around his waist. Looking down at herself, Tenten realised she too looked seventeen, wearing her old chunin gear.

This was all so confusing for her. Why was Neji here? She longed to reach up and touch his face, but part of her was scared that it would break the spell, and Neji would go away. Seeing him properly like this, all she wanted to do was grab him and never let go.

Neji bent over and reached his hand out towards her. Tenten stared at it for a few seconds, before slowly reaching up and taking it. When his hand gripped hers, something inside of her burst open. A longing she had long ago forbidden herself to have resurfaced, and now there was no reason not to ask for it. There was no war, no son, and no dead body. It was just her and a fully alive Neji.

She always tried not to remember the feeling of emptiness and confusion. The day the war started Neji had whispered into her ear that he loved her. A few weeks later he was dead. There was no apology, no goodbye and no explanation from Neji himself.

She felt a smile form on her face when she realised that now, she was finally going to get closure.

!

Now that the adrenaline was gone, and his anger dampened, Nawaki was horribly aware of things that he hadn't noticed before: The screams and crashed coming from the village, the dust clouds and explosions, the heat and worst of all, the crying and desperate shouts of civilians.

It was all his fault.

Nawaki sank to the ground as he realised completely what he had done. He had brought all this destruction on the village because he had been clouded by his own grief and anger. Shinobi died every day, leaving grieving families behind. What made him special enough that he could take his anger out like this?

He felt a single tear fall from his eye, followed by a second one. He roughly brushed them away. This wasn't the time for crying. This was the time for fixing this mess as best he could.

He looked up at Sasuke, who still hadn't replied to his question. To his surprise, Sasuke had a small genuine smile on his face. It was strange, how well this smile fit him. By all means, it shouldn't work that well on a man with the level of emotional baggage as Sasuke, but it did.

"Why are you smiling?" Nawaki asked desperately. "Look what I've done! Look what's happening to the village! There's nothing to smile about."

Sasuke still smiled.

"When I first found out who you were, I was worried." Sasuke said. "You were my son, and had spent nine months in the same body as the Ten-tails. For a long time, I only saw myself in you: Cruel, arrogant, vindictive and blinded to the reason of people who did not share your ideals. What chance did you have? When you showed up to kill me, I hated how much you reminded me of myself. Someone who would lash out at the world without a second thought for what other innocent people were going through, someone so centred on their own justice that eventually the entire world would have to say 'We've had enough'"

Nawaki listened quietly, having no desire to correct him.

"But watching you just now," Sasuke continued "You reminded me so much of your mother. You felt remorse, you cried, you felt the pain you had put others through and you were ashamed of what you had done, because despite what people think, you are a good person at heart. I'm not good with words, and I can't tell you exactly how I think of your mother or why this makes me smile. But it does and seeing her in you gives me hope. We can get through this."

There was silence after Sasuke finished, as Nawaki tried to process it all. Then suddenly, Tsunade burst out laughing.

"You… You have FEELINGS!" she gasped, poking Sasuke's cheek. "You have happy feelings!"

The smile vanished from Sasuke's face and he gave her his coldest death glare, the one which screamed 'I will Tsukuyomi you over and over again until you regret being born.'

"Do you mind?" he snapped "This is probably the only good speech I will ever give, and you're completely ruining it."

Tsunade continued to laugh, and Nawaki waited for Sasuke to try and kill her.

"I'm completely serious." Sasuke warned "There's a reason that Naruto does the emotional speeches. Do you remember when I gave that talk to the Academy students?"

"How can I forget?" Tsunade sputtered "Half of them quit the next day, and every single child in that class with a kekkei genkai had nightmares for three weeks!" She laughed harder, and Nawaki decided not to ask.

"Exactly." Sasuke said "Now here I am, trying to help my son who has been trying to kill me-which by the way, is very awkward. I give a good speech, and you start laughing. I have never laughed in your face when you were gave a speech. Not even when I was attacking Konoha and you were trying to stop your shinobi from wetting themselves at the sight of me. So now, let me have my moment."

This was… bizarre. The Sasuke from his mother's stories, heck, the Sasuke that Nawaki knew from three weeks ago, would never have acted like this. Sasuke had said that he judged Nawaki wrongly, had Nawaki done the same? Maybe Sasuke wasn't as stone-hearted as his mother believed. Or maybe he was just like this with Tsunade, who he seemed to treat like a batty old aunt. It was certainly a strange relationship, and not the one that Nawaki had imagined between the former Hokage and the former S-Rank criminal.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when he noticed that the squabbling had stopped. They were both staring at him, and there was a strangely relaxed atmosphere, so different to the one from just minutes before.

Sasuke stood up, and Nawaki noticed that Tsunade had managed to close over the wound. It still looked quite sore, but Sasuke seemed able to ignore it. He walked over to Nawaki and stuck out his hand. Hesitantly, Nawaki reached up and grabbed it.

Sasuke whipped out a pair of handcuffs and clicked them onto Nawaki's wrist.

"Other hand." he said briskly.

Numbly, Nawaki stuck out his left hand, and Sasuke clicked the other handcuff on. Immediately, Nawaki felt the chakra paths in his hands stop flowing. The pathways below his wrists were flowing fine, but without the use of the chakra in his hands it was impossible to make hand-seals, which made it impossible to do most jutsu.

"Nawaki Haru-Uchi-Hachi-whatever last name you go by, you are under arrest for attacking Konoha, destruction and vandalism, aiding in the murder of quite a few people and attempting to murder the chief of police. You have the right to remain silent, the right to hire a lawyer at your own expense, and the right for your village to be notified of your arrest. If you refuse to come quietly, I have the right to use force."

Sasuke pulled him onto his feet, and they began to walk towards the police station. Everything felt still and calm, and despite what Sasuke had just said, a smile crept onto Nawaki's face.

It was finally over.

!

Naruto charged straight at Obito, Rasengan forming as he ran. He got closer and closer, until Obito was only a metre away. Obito's smirk widened.

Just as the Rasengan was about to hit Obito, Naruto froze. His arms and legs wouldn't work. His rasengan slowly fizzled out, inches from Obito's head. He tried willing his arm to move, putting every inch of his strength behind it. It shook and strained, but didn't get any closer towards Obito.

"What… the… hell?" Naruto grunted.

Obito smiled, clearly amused.

"So that's how long it takes for the effects to set in." he murmured. "Fascinating, truly fascinating. It seems that Orochimaru and Kabuto were on to something with this."

"What did you do to him you bastard?" Hisa screamed.

Obito flung a kunai behind him. It sunk into the dirt, narrowly missing Hisa's head.

"Quiet child, the adults are talking. Now where was I? Ah yes, you see, after you and Sasuke destroyed Orochimaru once and for all, I was left with all their research. Most of it was horrifying, the stuff of nightmares really, but there were some things that were amazing. This is something that I've wanted to try for a while."

Naruto's fist moved an inch closer, but Obito didn't seem worried. If anything, his smile got bigger.

"It's a poison, but quite a special one. As long as it doesn't touch natural chakra it's perfectly harmless. I injected it straight from the vial to my body, and it didn't cause me any trouble. All I had to do was infect you with the first poison, and transfer this one into your body as well. You see, this poison has the ability to turn natural chakra rotten the minute it touches it. While it was in me, it was harmless. While it was in you, it was harmless, and therefore the Kyubi chakra didn't pick it up as a threat. But then you absorbed that Sage Mode clone of yours, and the poison began to work. Do you know why you can't move?"

Naruto tightened his fist and grunted, but didn't move.

"It's because your body is at war. Your Kyubi chakra is fighting your Sage Mode chakra. Of course, your Kyubi chakra will eventually win, but that won't happen for a while. Let's see…" he trailed off, a look of deep concentration on his face. Naruto saw Hisa climbing to her feet behind Obito. Obito stuck his hand backwards and whispered something too low for Naruto to hear. Hisa went flying backwards, crashing into a boulder. Naruto guessed that he had used an Almighty Push. He was distracted from his daughter's limp body when Obito snapped his fingers.

"I have it now. You would normally have around two minutes left in Sage Mode. That means that the Kyubi chakra should destroy the poison in roughly a minute. Plenty of time for Hisa and I to find somewhere to hide."

"Don't… you… touch…" Naruto was visibly sweating from all the energy he was using trying to move. Inside his head, he could hear Kurama snarling. It seemed Obito had been right about his chakra.

Obito walked forward, placing his hand on Naruto's face. Naruto focused all his energy into his jaw, willing it to open. It did. He leant forward and bit Obito's hand.

Obito frowned.

"Almighty Push."

Naruto felt himself shooting backwards, flipping head over heels. Dimly, through the wind howling around him, he could hear Hisa screaming his name. Then he slammed into a boulder, felt it crumble, and then all he could see was rocks.

!

Hisa heard Obito talking, heard him use his Almighty Push and heard herself scream. Then there was a crash, and silence. She wished she could see what was happening, but her chakra was too low for her to keep her sharingan open, and her Rinnegan's vision was blocked by rocks. She focused on trying to pick up any noises she could hear.

Footsteps. Coming towards her. Was it Obito or Naruto? As her Rinnegan met another, she felt dread swirling in her stomach. What had he done to Naruto?

Obito reached down and grabbed her arm. She raised her hand to push him away, but in a flash there was a kunai at her throat. Reluctantly, she let him pull her upwards until she was standing. She glanced quickly around, but couldn't see Naruto anywhere. There was a giant pile of rocks that hadn't been there before, so she guessed that he was buried somewhere under them.

Obito placed a hand on her shoulder, and for a few seconds, the world blurred. When it stopped rushing past her, she realised that she was in a completely different training ground. Obito's Body Flicker was very fast, she noted. At least as fast as an ANBU member. The world blurred again, and she was now standing in the middle of a street with the forest behind her. Again, and they were on a road that she recognized as being near the town centre. Again, and they were standing outside the Hokage Building. Obito led her past the entrance around to the side. They flickered again and suddenly they were outside a window on the second floor. She heard glass smash as the world blurred again. She opened her mouth to call for help, but the air was sucked out of her lungs before she could.

When the world stopped blurring and Obito finally released his grip on her shoulder, she found herself in a small, dark room. The only light came from a flickering lamp. In the dim light she could barely see Obito. But it was impossible to miss the gleam in his eye.

"Do you know where we are? Of course you don't, hardly anyone knows this place exists. This is a secret room that the Uchiha clan built into the foundation of the Hokage Building long ago. The walls of this room are thick enough to withstand most ninjutsu, and it also makes it nearly impossible to sense someone's chakra from outside the room. Hardly anyone is allowed come down here, so I doubt you've seen it before. I'm certain your father doesn't know about it."

If she wasn't busy recovering from all that flickering, Hisa would have told him that she had been here before actually. Naruto was a lot less strict about letting children explore the building than the previous Hokages, and she and Oki had discovered this room long ago during a game of Hide-and-Seek. She had never thought to mention it to Naruto, and she was regretting that now.

"Now then," said Obito, taking a step forward. "Shall we begin your training?"

Hisa took a step back and stuck out her hand. She was fully aware of how little space she had, and how Obito clearly had more chakra then her. She honestly couldn't see how she could beat him this time.

Just as Obito took another step forward, Hisa noticed the door clicking open. Obito spun around, clearly shocked that someone would be down here and bother unlocking the door, but it was too late. A sword rammed straight through the right side of Obito's chest. Hisa used the distraction to stick out her hand and send an Almighty Push at him. He flew across the room and crashed into the wall. Only then did Hisa turn see who had come to her aid.

In the flickering candle light, her eyes were pure black and her skin paler than Hisa had ever seen. She stared at Obito coldly, looking almost demonic, but Hisa felt nothing but relief.

Oki.