Yay, so happy to finally update! Special thanks and kudos to guest reviewer kingsley for reading all 42 chapters in one go. You just made my day:)

She sees that which is beyond the eye,

above the pale moon, the floor of the sky;

traveling between heaven and earth,

unraveling the mysteries of death and birth.

~The Third Book of Akash, Verse Six

Chapter 43: Beyond the Veil

The blood drained from Sakura's face as she watched the demon's tongue closing in around Yuki, drawing her dangerously close to Madara. She let the healing chakra fade from her fingertips and readied herself to make the hand-signs to activate the death seal. She would wait until the last possible second, but she swore that she would not stand idly by while Sasuke allowed Madara to kill their eldest daughter. No. She was firm in her resolve. No more hesitation. No more weakness.

Madara's kunai drew near to Yuki's exposed throat. Sakura gritted her teeth. This is it! She ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, ignored the fact that she would kill her own husband in front of their children. Her hands formed the seals: Ram, Tiger, Ram, Snake—

Naruto gripped Sakura's wrists, and the thread of chakra was broken. Her lips parted is surprise.

"Sakura—wait."

"But—"

"Trust me," Naruto rasped, "just watch."

She gulped, closed her eyes, and watched through Hoshiko's vision. Her lips parted in a silent cry as Madara slit Yuki's neck. A line of blood arced across Yuki's pale skin. Dimly, she heard one of the genin beside her scream, but it was hard to hear it over the roar of blood in her ears. No!

Just as Sakura was about to make a mad dash for her daughter, Yuki's body disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto!" she hissed, trying to keep her voice quiet so that the genin wouldn't hear her, but unable to mask her fury. "Why didn't you tell me that was a shadow clone?!"

Naruto grimaced. "I didn't want the enemy to overhear us."

Sakura struggled to make her ragged breathing even, doing all she could to contain her shock. Focus on the task at hand, she told herself, forcing her hands to stop shaking. Everything is alright now. But was it alright? She could hear Saki nearby hiccuping with suppressed sobs, but she didn't have the heart to comfort the girl. Not after what Sakura had almost done…

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in a worried voice. Sakura just shook her head, unwilling to let her gaze meet his.

Before Naruto could say anything further, Sakura split her consciousness again between healing the Hokage and watching the scene between Madara and Yuki unfold through the lens of Hoshiko's byakugan. She ignored the leaden, twisting feeling in her stomach. Now was the time to focus on healing the Hokage, she told herself, willing herself to concentrate. She knew her guilt would descend upon her later, in the quiet aftermath of the war. She knew the nightmares would come, knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. Not after almost activating the death seal. Sakura pushed down the guilt, rising like the bile at the back of her throat, and concentrated on seeing what Hoshiko was seeing.

It seemed as though Yuki's true form materialized from thin air, right in the middle of the clearing, slamming two bloody hands down on the ground. The wind picked up, howling as it shook the trees and littered the ground with leaves. From Yuki's outstretched palms, black scrolling runes spread out over the earth, forming five concentric rings of ancient writing around her. Yuki's mouth parted, saying something that Sakura could not hear, before a blinding burst of light seared Sakura's vision. Hoshiko deactivated her byakugan with a cry, and Sakura was also forced to close her eyes in pain.

"What kind of jutsu was that, Naruto-kun?!" Sakura demanded, tears streaming down her face.

"I can't say for certain," he replied gravely, "but I think it was some kind of summoning jutsu."

#

Shino was panting heavily. Though his bugs had the ability to literally eat the chakra from the zombies, the unfortunate truth was that their chakra was so negatively charged, the bugs died soon afterwords. In other words, Shino was almost out of insects. The ANBU commander leapt up into the branches of a large tree and observed his troops from above, while ensconcing himself in a genjutsu.

Things were not looking good. His ANBU were obviously weary, and many had been hit with poison. Thankfully, they had the antidote to stave off death; but even with the antidote, the afflicted ANBU became incapacitated and had to be moved to safety quickly before they were dismembered by zombies.

Shino took a deep breath. Under the best of circumstances, the ANBU could hold only a few more minutes at the most. But this was decidedly not the best of circumstances. Their numbers were dwindling, and it seemed like they had hardly made a dent in the enemy's forces, which were currently still flanking them and closing in fast. There was one area in the enemy's ranks that was weaker than the rest, but it would still be difficult to break through…

There was nowhere to retreat: they were going to have to fight their way out of this or die trying. Or...there was one more possibility. It was the best possibility, really. But still, Shino hesitated. He knew it was unlikely that he would come out of this alive…

"Shino!" Ino hissed as she jumped up onto the branch beside him. "We're officially losing this battle."

"I was thinking the same thing," Shino whispered darkly. He took a deep, steadying breath. For every moment he hesitated, another one of his men would fall. He had to act now. "I have a plan" he said, hoping that Ino didn't notice the tremor in his voice. "I have just enough chakra to make about a dozen bug clones; enough to paralyze the front lines, in that area where their forces are the thinnest. I'll make an opening, and I want everyone else to run. Get everyone to carry an invalid comrade—"

"Shino! You idiot," Ino snapped, rounding on him, "that's suicide for you!"

Shino nodded grimly. "I'm perfectly aware—"

"Shino! No," Ino retorted in horror. "I'm not going to leave you!"

"As your commanding officer," Shino buzzed, "you will listen to me. Your skills as a medic are needed right now. I'm issuing the order to make a break for it. Use your mind-jutsu and tell everybody. Now," Shino added when Ino balked.

"Shino..." she replied tearfully, her eyes searching his.

"Do it, Ino."

She took a deep, shuddering breath, and looked away, swiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "Okay," she whispered.

But just as the ANBU assembled, and Shino created his clones, there was a noise: a whirling, a whooshing! though the air, the sound of metal slicing through wind and flesh and the cracking of bones. Stunned, Shino looked around and realized that every single zombie had just collapsed.

And now his company was surrounded by a large group of ninja who wore no forehead protectors. He felt his stomach drop as he realized that a large portion of the strangers had sharingan activated. Were they Uchiha? Or...?

Oh no, Shino thought with horror. Had they just traded in one kind of enemy for another?

Shino and his clones stepped forward on either side of his company. He would protect his comrades. No matter what.

#

It had gotten so desperate in Konoha that Tsunade had joined the ranks. Standing tall on the back of her slug summon, she fought with everything she had. She had already sent her slug clones to every single villager, injured or not. Desperately, she funneled chakra to the injured, but their wounds proved to be beyond Katsuyu's capabilities. And where, pray tell, was Saki—the only Uchiha still within their custody who was supposed to be in the village, and known to have cured the chakra virus?

She was in Akash, that's where! Tsunade swore she was about to have an apoplectic fit. She was too old for this, too old to be running around on the front lines on the back of a slug trying—and failing!—to heal people, while simultaneously fending off hordes of evil zombies.

"Shikamaru!" she roared over the intercom. "What the hell is going happening on your end?"

"Kchhh. Sorry lady Tsunade, this is Temari. Shikamaru has been injured."

Even through the walkie talkie, Tsunade could hear the tremor of fear in Temari's voice, though the younger kunoichi tried her best to hide it.

"Damn it," Tusnade muttered. Shikamaru was supposed to have left the front gates and retreated to further in to the city. Damn. Damn! DAMN. Tsunade forced herself to remain calm.

"Temari, I'm stationed just outside the village, by the western wall where the hordes have just busted through. Katsuyu is spitting oil all over the zombies. It's helping, but it's not enough. Status of the front gate?"

"Kchhhh. I've told everyone else to retreat. SWOOSH. I'm holding the gate on my own for now," Temari replied in a tremulous voice. And then, the line went dead.

"What?!" she roared. "Temari! Get out of there! TEMARI!" There was no response. With an agitated shout, Tsunade dismounted from Katsuyu and began to pummel the earth. She was too old for this! Thwack! She was retired, damn it! Thwack! Naruto couldn't be dead! Thwack! She couldn't be reinstated as the Hokage again, she just couldn't! Twack!

It couldn't be like the aftermath of the fox's attack, where the Fourth had died and the Third had to become Hokage again. It. Thwack! Just. Thwack! Couldn't. Thwack!

With every anxious thought, new seams burst up from her fists through the earth, toppling the zombies into the fresh canyons. But it was not enough; for every hundred of the enemy she knocked over, two hundred crawled out of the ground and took their place.

She was about to witness the annihilation of Konoha.

"NOOOOO!" she roared, as if in response to her own fatalistic thought. She began pounding the earth with newfound ferocity. Konoha would not fall, not while this old, wizened bag of bones could fight; not while she could still feel the Will of Fire burning in her.

But despite her efforts, her regiment was soon surrounded, and she was out of chakra. That's it, she thought sadly, tears of frustration flowing down her face. It's time for the captain to go down with the ship. But I won't go down without taking some zombie bastards with me! With a roar, she hit the earth again with the last of her chakra. It fractured weakly, but it was not enough to stop the invading army from getting closer, closer to the breach in the western wall.

The zombies closed in, moaning, grinning their skeletal grins. Tsunade closed her eyes, waiting for the dull groan of the undead to reach her. To crush Konoha at last.

But over the terrible sound of the enemy, the wind rustled, softly at first, then rushing in her face and gaining in intensity until it was a roar. Tsunade opened her eyes and saw that a wave of sand rose between her and the zombie hordes.

"Sand Burial," a harsh voice rasped from just behind her, while the zombies moaned in what she hoped was the anguish of a second death .

Tsunade whirled around. "Gaara! How did you...?" she trailed off, her mouth agape at his presence.

Gaara shrugged with his usual nonchalance. Though it was a three day journey between Konoha and Sand, Gaara had made it in just a few hours.

"I'm the Kazekage. I commanded the sand to carry us," he said simply. He stretched out his neck to the side, and the vertebrae made a popping sound.

"Us?" Tsunade asked incredulously.

"I had to leave behind a large regiment in Suna, but I did bring an expert sealing team." Gaara sighed as all the zombies he had just crushed in his signature sand burial jutsu reemerged from the ground. "Guess I need to focus on crushing just the hearts…" Gaara shook his head and commenced to squeezing the life out of the zombies.

Tsunade was stunned for a moment and merely stared at the young Kazekage for a moment before shouting, "Gaara! Temari is in danger! She's—"

"Kchhh," came the sound of Gaara's walkie-talkie, "Gaara-sama, we've secured the front gate."

"Kchhh. Hey baby brother, nice timing!" Temari's voice chimed over the intercom.

Tsunade slumped down onto her knees on the battle field, completely exhausted and bewildered, her summons looking worried behind her. "Gaara, I don't think I've ever told you how much I appreciate you."

Gaara shrugged. "I think you told me once or twice after the last war, when I bailed you guys out a couple hundred times. Don't worry about it, though."

As Tsunade climbed up onto Katsuyu's back, muttering under her breath about the lack of respect youngsters had for their elders, she looked up at the sky. She prayed that the same starry heavens was looking down at a live and well Naruto-kun.

#

"I summon the spirits of the ancestors!" Yuki wailed into the roaring wind. She felt as if she were standing by the ocean, the way the wind whipped her hair around her. She smelled the salt and the iron of her own blood seeping from her palms, felt the moist earth under her hands, wet with her own blood. The black runes roiled around her like waves when a bright light flashed, brighter than lightning, brighter than the noon-day sun. It contained all the colors of the world, colors not usually seen in this world and not easily described; they were blinding and terrifying, like an enraged phoenix bursting into flame.

That's when the boundaries between the worlds collapsed. Yuki felt it, as if the walls of reality were made of sheer fabric, folding into itself and collapsing like a poorly built house. There was no sun and no moon. The clearing was now lit by an eerie, sourceless light. It was neither day nor night, but an indescribable twilight. And from the deepest shadows, they came.

Shadowy figures quickly encircled Yuki and Madara, and Yuki knew that these were the souls she had called to the earthly plane. She could not make out any of their faces, and felt a thrill of terror run through her. The shadows stood in silence; the wind moaned and clattered in the branches of the trees. Then one figure glided forward, his feet hardly touching the earth as he regarded Madara.

"Izuna," Madara whispered, his mouth parting in shock.

Izuna was illuminated by the eerie light as he stepped forward, so that half of his face was cast in high relief. His smooth, pale face—which bore a striking resemblance to her father—was twisted with grief. The spirit sighed, and the wind moaned all around them. "Madara," the spirit whispered, his words echoing in the cold silence, "this is enough. It's time to come home..." Izuna held out his hand to his brother, as if in invitation.

Madara started laughing, a cold, cackling sound that reverberated throughout the clearing like ringing metal. He turned to Yuki, who shivered, even though she was covered in sweat and her hair was clinging damply to her back from exertion. She could feel her hands shaking slightly, still dripping blood. "This is quite the genjutsu, young lady," he said in a haughty voice. "I underestimated you."

Yuki shook her head. "This is not genjutsu," Both she and Izuna replied at the same time. Yuki's mouth opened in surprise at the coordinated response, unsure if he had spoken through her…or not.

Izuna smiled sadly at Yuki. "You explain, young one," he whispered.

"We're in a nexus now," she said to Madara, too exhausted to rise, "a space where all the worlds exist at once. That really is your younger brother—"

Madara crossed his arms and spat in disgust. "Ridiculous," he interjected. "I've traveled between the dimensions for longer than you've been alive, and I've never seen any spirits. There is nowhere that we go after death—no heaven or hell. Nothing but utter oblivion and nothingness. You," he pointed to his brother accusingly, "if you are real, where the hell have you been all these years?! While I was suffering," he hissed, his eyes glinting bloodily. "Where the hell were you?!"

Izuna shook his head, his hands outstretched, palms up, as if in surrender. "I was watching over you the whole time, older brother," he whispered.

"Like hell you were!" Madara roared before rounding on Yuki. "You'll die now, girl!" he screamed, his eyes darting wildly. "And your damned genjutsu can die with you!"

He rushed at her with killing intent so fierce, it practically burned her from five feet away. She flinched, but didn't move. She couldn't; she was still shaking from the effort of the jutsu. But she wasn't worried. Just as Madara approached her, the spirits swooped in like a flock of predatory birds and bound him in chains. When the spirits floated away from Madara, the eerie light fell on him, making the chains glow with a ghostly light.

She clenched her teeth and rose on shaky feet, preparing herself to perform the second set of Itachi's instructions, but there was a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned around slowly, looking up into a face that flickered between the features of Ryuu and Kaito.

"Sorry to crash an Uchiha party," Ryuu—or was it Kaito?—began in his iconic, humorous tone, "but mind if you summon me first?"

Yuki stared at him for a moment in disbelief. "Um..." She was about to argue with him—after all, this wasn't in Itachi's plan—but then, she shook her head, and took a deep, steadying breath. What could it hurt? Yuki thought with a pang. She was still shaking slightly, and wouldn't mind having a friend, right then. "I summon the spirit of Uzumaki Ryuu," she called, in a clear, ringing voice. "Come to me now!"

"Um, I'm right here..." Ryuu said, a grin flickering on his face.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Yuki rolled her eyes and suppressed a snort of laughter. Really, in death, Ryuu hadn't changed at all. Grinning wryly, she held out her bloodied palm to him. His hand touched hers, and she felt cold all over, as if a wintry breeze had just blown over her. Then, without any warning, his form wrapped around hers, coating her physical body. It felt a bit like wearing an extra set of heavy clothes. Yuki felt warm again, and happy at the familiar presence.

Dude! It's totally awesome to have tits! he thought at her.

Her happiness quickly turned to irritation, and she would have smacked herself in the face if she had had control of her own limbs. Can you just do what you need to do already? she thought at him furiously. She swore to Kami, if he grabbed her boobs while in her body, she would kick his ass all the way to the next world.

Right. Sorry! His sheepish reply rang out in her mind, and she could hear his laughter too, bright and sweet like the music of songbirds. Despite herself, she felt her irritation fade quickly, and she would have grinned, if she had had control of her body.

Ryuu took a step forward in Yuki's borrowed form. To Madara, it seemed that Yuki's form had been entirely subsumed by Ryuu's appearance, much like a sacrifice in the edo tensei would take on the appearance of the summoned soul, rather than the person who died for the jutsu. However, unlike the eco tensei, Ryuu's visage shimmered on the edges, as if the boundary between his body and Yuki's was electrified. Ryuu held out his hand, the contours of his flesh burnished with golden light. "I'll be taking my eyes back now, Madara-san," he said coldly.

A swirling vortex of light spun in his outstretched palm. As if called to him, a line of purple light flowed from Madara's face to Ryuu's hand, a beautiful, laser-like light. As it flowed, it leeched the indigo and crimson color from Madara's eyes, until they were bleached as white as bone.

Madara's body went limp in the ghostly chains, and he was panting heavily. "I'm blind," he gasped. "I'M BLIND!"

Ryuu-kun? I need my body back now.

Oh! Right. With that, Yuki felt a gentle rush of wind. It felt as if her face were being brushed with feathers, and with a sigh, she felt that her body was her own once more.

Yuki looked up, blinking rapidly as she realized that Ryuu was gone. She felt a pang at that, but had no time for further thought: now, hovering next to her stood Uchiha Itachi, a look of grim determination on his features.

Steadying her voice, she called, ""I call upon the spirit of Uchiha Itachi—come to me now!" And holding out her bloody palms to him, his spirit overtook her body, though this time, it felt more like being wrapped in thick velvet than in golden, feathery light. Looking out the windows of her eyes, she watched as Itachi formed the hand-signs for that jutsu.

If it was even possible without the control of her body, Yuki felt like she was holding her breath.

Thanks, as always, for reading, and for your lovely reviews. If you liked this chapter, please let me know! :)