I can't believe the story is coming to a close. It's been running almost three years! Anyway thanks so much for your kind reviews and PM's. Please enjoy!

Chapter 44: The Final Battle

Sasuke, imprisoned somewhere in the back of Madara's mind, watched as the sight was leached from his eyes. Just as Madara moaned over his blindness, a profound sense of relief washed over Sasuke. Itachi was here. He would end this war, and Sasuke would finally be released from all of his suffering.

Oddly enough, though, even though he was going blind, Sasuke could still see. It was the strangest thing. While the sparse scenery around them, the gnarled trees and smooth polished rocks, all become blurry and dim, he could still see all of the assembled spirits quite clearly. Their grave faces and sharingan eyes appeared to him in perfect relief. He saw the look of pale sorrow wash over Ryuu's face as he took back what had originally been his gift, and he stared in fascination as Yuki's returned to her body, and then somehow became Itachi.

Why couldn't Madara see them as well?

Itachi said something that Sasuke couldn't quite hear over Madara's howling cry, but he could feel Madara's fear: it made his blood run cold as ice. But from the perch inside of his own mind, Sasuke was happy. Itachi could finally return the favor and kill him. At last, he would be absolved of everything. He wouldn't have to suffer or make anyone else suffer because of him.

Do it, Niisan. Kill us. Make it quick, Sasuke thought. If he had had control of his body, he might have smiled.

But Sasuke's joy was short-lived, for at that moment he felt something blink in his arm. It took Sasuke a moment to understand what had just happened, as he watched in terror as the Spirit's chains dissolved and Madara became free of his constraints.

Sasuke reeled in surprise as he realized what had just happened: Madara had hidden sharingan in Sasuke's arms, and he had just used izangi to free himself.

"Uchiha Yuki!" Madara roared, "I WILL destroy you!" And with that, he drew back his sleeve, and he revealed an arm studded with at least a dozen sharingan. Sasuke's consciousness recoiled in revulsion. This couldn't be happening! Not when they had almost won. Please, he thought with urgency, as if his thoughts could be heard, please Itachi. Kill me.

Please!

But Sasuke could do nothing but watch in horror as Madara made the familiar hand-signs for susanoo. Sasuke wondered, uselessly, how Madara had had a mangekyo sharingan stitched into Sasuke's arm along with all the rest.

His body was possessed by Uchiha Madara, and in his arm was sewn the eyes of his long dead clan members. Sasuke felt sick. He was an aberration, a science experiment gone awry; a rabid beast begging for someone to put it out of its misery.

Itachi—please!

#

A blood-red moon rose over the hills of Konoha and dyed everything crimson, only adding Shikamaru's feeling that he was caught in some overdone horror movie production. Except that he wasn't; they were actually fighting zombies. It would be ridiculous if his comrades weren't falling all around him.

"What's the status of the front line?" he croaked into this walkie talkie, his voice long worn out with exhaustion and pain. He had taken a poisoned arrow to the side and could feel the toxins traveling through his system. Despite the antidote, he was alternatively sweating and wracked with chills, and his body ached all over. It was like the flu, only a hundred times worse.

"Kchhh. Shika. Honey. Stop calling me and tend to your wounds," was the tart reply on the other end.

"Damn it, Temari!" Shikamaru ground out, "What's going on out there?!"

"Kchhh. How can I kick zombie butt when you're always bothering me?" There was a muffled, shuffling sound, and suddenly, another voice came on the line. "Kchhh. This is Gaara. We're not losing, but we're not winning either."

Shikamaru grunted as he looked up at the full moon. He imagined he could see the moon grinning a caustic, bloody smile as it looked down on Shikamaru through the window of the medical tent. "Explain," Shikamaru asked curtly, his voice thin and reedy.

"Kchhh. We're holding our ground, but just barely. And the zombies keep coming. I don't know how long our troops can hold out, because while our ninja are tiring, their soldiers aren't."

"I see," was all Shikamaru said; he closed his eyes against the red glare of the moon and took a deep breath.

"Kchhh. Unless you can think of some genius plan," Gaara drawled, "get some rest. Over and out."

The walkie talkie fell out of Shikamaru's nerveless hand and onto his pallet. Think brain, think! But however hard he tried to think of a so-called genius plan, nothing came to mind. Instead, his brain felt cloudy and his body felt woozy from the effects of the partially neutralized poison.

Naruto. Where the hell are you! Shikamaru thought in frustration. Maybe it was the poison circulating in his brain that was making him think stupid thoughts, but at that moment, Shikamaru decided that if Naruto had really died on them, then he would kill the idiot himself when he got his hands on him. With a derisive snort at his own ridiculous thoughts, Shikamaru rolled over on his mat and faced away from the window, trying to coax a semi-intelligent thought from his brain and failing miserably.

#

"State your business," Shino said tersely to the strange ninja surrounding them.

A short woman with wild, curly hair came forward, her eyes shifting from whirling red to coal black. "We're not your enemies," she said, turning her palms up in a sign of good will.

"You're not our friends, either," Shino replied, trying his best to keep his voice calm. "If I'm correct in my assumptions, your group attacked our Hokage and abducted Uchiha Yuki."

The woman cocked her head to the side and looked at him askance. "Look," she managed with barely repressed annoyance, "right now your village is under attack by a legion of undead. Do you or do you not want me to transport you all there so your village doesn't get destroyed?"

The ANBU corps murmured behind him, but Shino ignored them. "Why should we trust you?" he retorted.

"We have a mutual enemy in The Slaughter," she began.

"The who?" Shino interrupted, thoroughly confused.

She exhaled sharply in exasperation. "We don't like to say his name...it's bad luck. You know, the guy who's currently hijacking Uchiha Sasuke's body and in general is making a muck of things?"

"You mean Madara?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Did I not just say that using his name is bad luck? Listen, Konoha nin, we'll take care of the situation here; if you don't want your village burned down and all your friends turned into zombies, let me transport you to Konoha. Please," she added, through partially clenched teeth.

"I'm under no duress to take orders from you."

The stranger looked like she was about to pull out her graying hair; but she managed to take a deep breath and steadied herself before replying, "We've just saved you from a crazed army of zombies. Clearly, we are not your enemies! To make a long story short, we've lost a lot of our own people to being zombie-ified, and we're not partial to the idea of having the whole world turned into undead, mindless hordes. Please let us help you. We can escort you to Konoha, and leave behind a fair number of our guard to help you."

Shino was about to formulate a retort, but Ino placed a hand on his arm to stall him. "Kunoichi," Ino stated in a clear, shrill voice, "is your name Aya?"

Aya blinked. "How did you know my name?" she asked, surprised. "I don't think I've stated it."

Ignoring her, Ino turned to Shino. "Let's trust her Shino—"

"What?!" he cried.

Ino ignored the interruption and continued, "She's the ninja who healed Yuki-chan. I know; I went through Yuki's memories...from the day when Ryuu died."

"Then that also means that she's the ninja who tried to abduct Yuki in the first place, and who likely succeeded the second time Yuki disappeared," Shino replied darkly, trying to reason with her.

Ino shook her head. "That's not how Yuki saw it. Aya helped her, and now Aya is trying to help us to keep Konoha from becoming a zombie apocalypse playground. Come on Shino. Trust me," she begged.

Shino looked between Ino and the petit, potentially dangerous Kunoichi named Aya. "I guess she did just save us from our untimely demise..." Shino agreed reluctantly.

"Yosh! Aya, we'll follow your plan! How do you propose to get us to Konoha?"

Aya gave Ino a grateful grin before forming a complicated series of hand-signs. The ground shook slightly, then a silver disk of light appeared in the middle of the air. It hummed with an otherworldly sound. "Hurry through the portal! This jutsu is difficult to maintain," Aya ordered.

Shino closed his eyes for a moment, not quite sure if he should really be doing this or not. "Ino!" he barked, "Stay here with Karin in case Hokage-sama needs medical assistance!"

Ino pouted. "Aw, I wanted to check out the portal thingie—"

"Ino!" Shino spat back, tired of being contradicted, "you will remain behind. Choji, you stay here and guard them." And with that, Shino ran through the opening in space and time and was gone, along with the rest of the ANBU forces and a handful of the strange ninja.

Ino looked up at Choji. "Where the hell is Karin anyway?"

Choji shrugged. "Probably being useless, hiding in a tree and concealing her chakra—"

"Oi! Tubby! Are you calling me a coward?" Karin sneered as she jumped down from said tree.

Choji just shook his head and whispered, "Told you so."

Aya looked at the remaining Konoha nin quizzically before she began barking orders to her own troops; finally, she regarded their group. "Listen," Aya murmured, "we can't have you interfering during the ceremony."

"Ceremony?" Karin screeched. "You make it sound more like a religious holiday than a war."
"Karin!" Ino barked as she jabbed her companion in the side, "Have some respect! These nin just saved our hides!"

"Oi! Bitch! That hurt!" Karin complained, massaging her side.

Choji placed himself in between the two woman and answered Aya placidly, "Right. Ceremony. What do you want us to do?"

Aya grinned and put a hand on the large man's arm. "Right. Here's the plan..."

A few moments later, Aya's team took out the zombie barrier and replaced it with one of their own, while Choji, Ino and Karin all agreed that they would wait until the "ceremony"—or whatever—was complete before entering the circle.

"Don't you think we should have insisted on entering the barrier?" Karin muttered to Ino.

Ino snorted. "Just trust me on this one. Yuki trusts Aya with her life, and I trust her too. I saw..." Ino closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing, "I saw what happened that day through Yuki's eyes. Aya saved Yuki...and she tried to save Ryuu, too." Her voice broke a bit when she said Ryuu's name, but steeling herself to be strong, she steadied her voice and look straight into Karin's crimson eyes. "It's going to be fine. Trust me."

Karin shrugged. "I wouldn't have jumped down from my tree if I had sensed any evil intent from Aya and her forces." The red-head pushed her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose and sighed. "It's just that I'm sensing some serious chakra inside the barrier…something wild is happening in there." Her red eyes reflected the light of the full, crimson moon, and Ino shivered.

Suddenly, a noise coming from the direction of the barrier made them start. Ino hissed to her compatriots, "Watch out! It might be more of those zombie freaks!"

Karin paled and considered hoping back up into her tree before she realized just who was coming their way.

#

Great, Yuki thought caustically from inside her body, which was now controlled by Itachi. The psycho has at least ten sharingan implanted in his arms, two of which have the mangekyo. Could this guy get any more over-powered?

Yuki-chan, Itachi's voice thought back at her, trying to concentrate here. Keep it down.

Yuki gave the mental equivalent of an "eeep" and struggled to still her thoughts. It was difficult though, because across from her, her father's body was practically foaming at the mouth, his expression foreign and unsettling while the susanoo formed itself around his body.

Her acquaintance with her long-dead uncle had been brief, and she was not fully certain of his abilities: would Itachi really be able to defeat an improbable, mentally unstable Madara? Because the fierce chakra of his susanoo was absolutely frightening: she had never seen so much malicious power gathered at once.

Watch and learn, little niece, Itachi thought at her as he forced her eyes to switch to the mangekyo. If Yuki had had control of her body, she would have been coloring at being called "little"; instead, she braced herself for whatever what inconceivable thing was going to happen next.

A fire bloomed behind her eyes, and for a moment, and all she could see was red. When her vision cleared, she saw that she was suspended inside a body of fire, glowing crimson and copper and crowned with a grinning skull.

This must be Itachi's susanoo, she thought grimly, noting the burning sensation running over her skin as the chakra roaring in her ears. The strangeness of the situation washed over her then, the almost incestuous fight that was about to begin: father verses daughter, uncle verses uncle, the four of them tangled up in each other's eyes and bodies and bloodlines. Was this the fate of the Uchiha? To wrestle for dominance within the clan even after death—an eternal battle of their genetics and jutsu?

What in Kami's name was the point of it all?

Hush now, child, Itachi's mind whispered to her, and then there was no more room for thought: the world became a whirl of dark fire, an exchange of electrified blows, and the howling from skeletal lips.

#

Sakura looked towards the clearing in horror: in the middle of the field rose two giant susanoo's, and, levitating in the center of each glowing demon was Sasuke on one side, and what looked like Itachi on the other. The genin clustered behind her, each with a silent, brave face which tried to hide a quaking heart. None of the children spoke as they regarded the susanoo's with terror.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried, "We have to get the children out of here! Those two are about to decimate the whole clearing!" She helped Naruto up, propping him with her shoulder. In truth, Naruto wasn't in any condition to move, but if they didn't, they were going to be crushed by the supernatural battle.

With Sakura supporting most of his weight, they hobbled their way to the barrier, the children clustered around them. Normally, the ideal person to break through a jutsu like this would have been Naruto, but there was no way that could happen right now. Sakura knew that it was up to her. Placing the groaning Hokage on the ground, she gathered chakra into her arms and hit the glinting barrier with all her might—

And recoiled in pain, her fist bloodied and aching. "Damn it!" Sakura ground out between clenched teeth.

"Okaasan!" Saki was at her side at once, funneling healing energy into her mother's fist. "Are you okay?"

Sakura bit off a curse and looked at the center of the field: huge explosions were rocking the earth, bursts of light that were so bright, they blotted out the light of the moon and stars. Even from this distance, Sakura could feel the tremors in the earth vibrating her whole body. Ignoring her daughter, Sakura barked, "Naruto! Is that really Itachi out there?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not sure. It looks like him—and the chakra is similar to his—but it's also different. But familiar. I can't tell—"

At that moment, the shimmering barrier with the strength of steel flickered and disappeared; Sakura simply gaped at its absence while Saki pulled on her sleeve. "Come on!" her daughter insisted.

There was no time to lose. Sakura gathered up Naruto as gently as she could, and they ran with all their might away from the battle while the earth trembled and shook under their hurried footfalls.

"Naruto-kun, how are you doing?" Sakura asked once they were a safe distance away, breathless from their flight.

He grunted. "Sakura," he mumbled, "I think we're being followed."

The worst possible scenario ran through her head: they were being surrounded by zombies, and Sakura, with a handful of genin, were going to have to save the Hokage from being eaten by reanimated corpses. Her heart stopped beating. Then familiar faces swam into view, and Sakura remembered to breathe.

"Ino...Ino-pig?" Sakura asked in a quavering voice, sagging with relief.

"Oh my gods! Hokage-sama!" Ino shouted.

Naruto managed a pained wave. "The barrier is up again," he noted blandly.

Ino nodded animatedly. "Yeah, Aya and her friends just put it up." When she noted her friends' looks of incredulity, she duly noted, "For the ceremony."

"Ino? Who the hell is Aya?" Sakura cried. "And what ceremony are you talking about? In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a war here—"

But Ino was completely ignoring her. "Cho? Cho? What the hell are you doing here?! Saki! Hoshiko! Hayato! What the—"

Naruto groaned, and Sakura quickly took charge of the situation. "Ino, never mind that for now! Help me with Naruto. He's been stabbed by Madara."

"Wait—Madara?" Ino's eyes were as wide as the full moon overhead, disbelief parting her mouth in an 'o' of surprise.

Sakura closed her eyes. How was she supposed to explain that Madara now controlled her husband's body and was currently battling the long-dead Uchiha Itachi in an epic susanoo contest? "Just forget it, Ino. It's under control. Sort of. Just—help me with Naruto! You too, Karin!"

Karin squeaked and kneeled down next to the Hokage. "Me? I'm not a medical ninja. What do you want me to do?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're a genius. Help us figure something out." Karin blushed at the praise while Sakura barked, "Kids! You stand guard!"

The genin arranged themselves in a circle around the adults with Choji taking charge of defense; Sakura felt a pang as she gazed at their young faces twisted in weariness and fear. Poor things, Sakura mused silently. But there was no time to waste: Naruto's condition had worsened with movement, and the three kunoichi commenced to heal him.

As she worked, Sakura resisted the temptation to look over her shoulder to see what was going on; instead, she called over her shoulder, "Hoshiko! Status report!"

"It looks like two giant glowing monsters are trying to kill each other!" she whispered fearfully. Then Hoshiko inhaled sharply. "Otousan? Where is Yuki?"

Naruto balled his hands into fists and whispered, "I don't know, Hoshiko-chan. I don't know."

Ino's head shot up. "Yuki's here too?! What the hell!"

Sakura sighed wearily. "Ino? Just...concentrate on Hokage-sama. Please?" Sakura pushed down her anxiety, pushed away the horrible thought that she might never see her husband or eldest daughter again, and tried to control her chakra.

Sakura bowed her head, Naruto's words echoing in her head:

I don't know...

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