The Temple Of Izanami: The Forest of Graves

The sun was setting, washing out the sky until it looked like one of the oil paintings in Tsunade's room. Tsunade stood rigid, hands behind her back, mouth pursed. She had just dispatched another ANBU nin after a status report had been made.

The sons of the toad Gamabunta had been sent for after word from Naruto to aid, but the giants, of course, were nowhere in sight. They would wait for a signal, a call to arms. The other Kages had been informed. ANBU stood alert. The battlefield was still invisible.

It was eerily quiet, and Tsunade's heart skittered in her chest. She thought of Dan, and wondered how much longer she'd have to go without seeing his face. Her fingers instinctively inched towards her neck, only to remember her necklace was gone. Had been for years.

Naruto-

Someone rapped at the door, breaking her train of thought. "Lady Hokage," an unwitting assistant called, and Tsunade looked to Shizune, pale in a corner.

She was at the Hokage's side in an instant. "We could go, flee. Send a team to escort you out safely." Her voice was choked. Tsunade shook her head.

"No. Our place is here. Our comrades will need us. I am no coward, Shizune, and I didn't take you for one, either." Shizune flinched at the sharp words.

Tsunade didn't look away from the sky. "A revolution is coming, Shizune. We must be here to kill it when it does."

She turned, headed for the door, and Shizune followed.

Temari was standing too close.

The hair on the back of Gaara's neck stood on end, and Temari didn't widen the gap between them. She was like a boulder, unmovable, stubborn. Just as strong. Ever since the incident with the caravan those short weeks ago, she was loathe to part from him. It was the maternal side of her he secretly appreciated.

He flicked thoughts of Suna away, along with hesitant, begrudging thoughts of Naruto Uzumaki. The feel of lips on lips, skin on skin, tight in the other's arms, a taste he never thought he'd experience. The back of his skull, right where he'd split it when the bombs went off, began to throb, and he winced. Three weeks. Three weeks of no word, three weeks of ignorance, of nothing. But the Hokage was adamant.

Naruto might as well be dead, given the silence. Gaara's jaw clenched, and he tried to focus on his brother ahead, on anything.

Kankuro walked a few paces ahead, dark eyes cut to slits. There was something predatory in the way he walked. It made unwitting bystanders socializing at the inn's gardens turn away, pretending they couldn't feel a chill.

They were passing through the gardens, out toward the wild of the mountain, to get to their destination, and still nothing happened. Gaara could feel particles of sand crisscrossing over his skin like a caress, practically quivering in anticipation. But all he heard were the throaty songs of frogs and the trickle of water from the fountains near the koi ponds.

The calm made the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Like a chill from the breath of Death was blowing on his neck. He remembered the scary stories. Of angels or phantoms dressed in bone that came for you when your life was up, back when he was small and untouchable, and the nightmares were the closest things to pain he could feel.

But it wasn't his own death he feared.

Leaf ANBU had informed the Kazekage of what was to take place. It had come to everyone's understanding that in a few short moments, the Fourth Great Ninja War was about to turn on its head unexpectedly. It wouldn't be only the nin and Hidden Villages who would stand up to fight and stake a claim. Soon, it wouldn't be just a Ninja War at all. Or maybe it hadn't been for a while now.

The Lords were intent on unveiling a new age.

It troubled Gaara greatly, but not nearly as much as the thought of the order for Naruto's assassination. His steps quickened, and Temari widened her stride to keep up.

It wouldn't happen. Not as long as Gaara stood alive to fight. Grim with determination, he noticed the gentle mountain slope that would lead to the shrine. Wide, open, dotted with rice paddies that looked silver in the oncoming gloom. They pressed on.

According to the leaked information, Gaara nor the Tsuchikage were meant to be killed (and he had to wonder if this was due to the Council believing him to be impressionable because of his age, which bothered him. He supposed the Tsuchikage was valued for other secrets probably more dear than the ones they were outlawing, but that could change), but as he dwelled over the reasoning behind the Council's decision, he was beginning to wonder if they would take the opportunity anyway.

It would give each Great Nation a reason to appoint a new Kage, a good and loyal puppet. Another extension that trailed back to a Great Lord.

He'd been a Jinchuuriki. He'd been exposed to secrets. He knew them. The Council was tumultuous. A decision one day would change "for the better" the next. He knew better than to believe his death wasn't already watching as he approached.

Earlier, Temari had said, "How do they intend to kill us? How? The Lords have exceptional Task Forces, but are they a decent match for a Kage?" She scoffed at the thought.

A mist was beginning to roll through the mountain side, and the Tsuchikage appeared in the distance with his escorts. He looked just as grim and gray, and he nodded solemnly to Gaara.

Gaara tried to nod back, but instead, he only blinked, and his neck jerked a little.

"You are young yet," the Tsuchikage had said earlier. "You still have a good heart. We need that now." For some reason, he thought of this, wondered if the Tsuchikage had meant anything by it (did he also view Gaara as too inexperienced or naive? The thought irritated him). The fog was thickening by the second, and Gaara looked up the sky, expecting to see heavy clouds.

He couldn't see anything at all.

Gaara caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and noticed a man hailing them with a lantern to ward off the fog. Kankuro and Temari visibly reacted to his appearance, but they quickly quelled their unease and kept a cool demeanor.

Everyone was a little jumpy.

"My Lords," the man said mildly. He was dressed in a formal blue yukata, and seemed unimposing enough, with his thin form and bespectacled, scholarly face. He bowed lowly, eyes flicking to the right before he could fully rise. He bowed lower. "My Lords," he said again, at the sight of Tsunade, Mei, and A, the Raikage. His hands were hidden in his sleeves as he bowed, where Gaara's eyes drifted.

Temari and Kankuro watched the man like panthers stalked an antelope.

If he was offended by the wary looks shared by the ninja, the little man did not show it. He only removed his hands with a tight smile, sweeping his arms in a wide arc.

"I am Arata. Secretary to the Fire Lord, who will be hosting this meeting. Shall we? I will escort you to the Sun Shrine." Arata turned on his heel curtly, leading the way, droning on about the mountain's history.

Gaara caught the eye of each Kage as they walked. He watched Tsunade the most and thought, she knows where Naruto is. Right this minute. She knows where he is. He knew, because her walk was too serene.

Tsunade already had a leg up. He frowned a little, and finally the fog became disorienting.

"Do not fret, My Lords," Arata said with a cluck of his tongue, "It is the rainy season, and the fogs are most terrible this part of the mountainside during the Spring. We'll arrive at the shrine shortly."

Gaara caught Tsunade's eye then, and they shared a knowing look. They were already in the mouth of the trap.

Beside him, Temari tensed, cursing softly under her breath. The seconds trickled by too slowly, and Gaara's sand began to harden across his skin, more of it whispering out of the lips of his gourd, swirling in little eddies around his head. Suddenly the fog became so thick that Arata disappeared.

The Kages stopped. Gaara stood poised and ready. Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Then it happened.

A blast to the left sent someone screeching, and Gaara instinctively shielded his party with a hard casing of sand. But whatever had gone off ate through it until his sand crumbled away into dust motes. His gut clenched in dread when he heard Tsunade yell,

"Don't stray from the path, it's acid!"

For a moment, the Mizukage seemed to wipe the mist away. The rice paddies around them began to surge, their surfaces exploding and shooting volcanic-hot jets of acid into the sky. The fog couldn't be quelled, and Mei cursed, battling with it.

With the fog, they might as well be trapped in a minefield. Someone was screaming, having probably been splashed, and Gaara's sand flew overhead. Another jet shot upward, but he encased them all, having to constantly render it.

He could feel beads of sweat trickling down his neck. He began to notice a rotten, sulfur-like smell.

A was cursing violently. "It's letting off a gas. The user of this jutsu can't be too far off, if we can find-"

"We can't just go and run off," Mei yelled, still trying to manipulate the fog. At that moment, unseen shuriken glinted a little too late, impaling some of the escorts.

"Shit!" Temari blasted away some of the fog cloud with a forceful wind from her fan, deflecting some of the deadly little stars at the same time.

Another paddy went off, and Gaara blocked off its spray, also using little tentacle-like strands of sand to block shuriken and fling them back. He heard a few satisfying grunts as they traveled back to their owners.

The Tsuchikage shot upwards, attempting to fly up past the mist and get a good look at where the opposing ninja might be. Gaara waited, watching Tsunade and A on the defensive, with Mei and Temari trying to give them a little leeway, but each time they cleared a little fog, they had mere seconds before it rushed back in.

Beneath the rotten stench, Gaara was beginning to smell burned flesh. The screams seemed to blend into one long wail.

"We can't do this for too long! The paddies are going off too quickly!" Temari shouted, coughing and staggering.

Another paddy exploded, and Gaara felt a chill when he heard his brother's cry. Short, and piercing. For a second, only a second, the sand wall protecting his back collapsed as he looked around wildly, the effects of the gas already taking hold, making him lightheaded and sluggish. The world seemed to slow, every movement amplified with his too-loud heartbeat.

He thought he heard Temari scream.

"Kankuro!" His shout was swallowed by a roar, as a rice paddy mere feet from him exploded, throwing him back with the blast, a shower of acid eating at the hem of his cloak, through the sand on his skin, and up. The world seemed to spin away, and he was burning, burning, burning.

He writhed, yelled, but he couldn't see beyond the fog. He thought he could hear someone calling his name. Through the blur, a figure shot out of the mist, and Gaara felt himself lifted, right at the moment another paddy exploded. Giant, mottled shapes appeared in the corner of his vision. They stood like shadows, like guards, and when another paddy went off, the acid was kept at bay.

Gaara closed his eyes wondered if Kankuro was alive.

This was all wrong, he thought. All of it. They weren't supposed to be pushed back like this. Trapped like rats where they couldn't see or hit their enemies. And the person Gaara wanted to see before it all ended, wasn't the person who had saved him from his own mistake. But it was, and through the haze, Gaara looked into the bright eyes of Naruto Uzumaki. The yellow hair popped against the fog, his tanned skin looking like it had never left the glare of the desert sun. Nothing about Naruto looked any different.

Gaara wondered if he was dead, and then he remembered he was burning. His eyes snapped open wider, and he gasped, chest heaving. Again he could hear the screams, the explosions. He could see the toads spitting jets into fountains of acid in the distance, turning them to pillars of fire instead of a spraying rain.

"Hey, Granny!" A husky voice yelled, and Gaara knew that voice so well.

"Naruto?" he croaked, and he was lowered, placed before Tsunade, who'd been working on A's burned arm. Gaara cried out as Tsunade worked on his side, and all around them the world burned, exploded, swallowed by clouds.

"My brother," he tried to say, but the words only formed a rock in his throat, and he choked on them.

The pain began to ebb away, just a little. He heard Tsunade say, "The acid works fast, he would have lost a leg if you had been a few seconds later." Her voice sounded too thin. Her fingers shook and fumbled

"- the fog is disorienting, and the gas makes it worse as it rises-" Gaara heard the Tsuchikage say tiredly.

His vision cleared, and Gaara looked up at Naruto, standing over him and sharing quick, heated words with those around him.

A clone? Gaara wondered, trying to regulate his breathing, and the ache in his chest.

"-Already have my guys picking some off in the trees. We haven't found the acid-user yet, but we'll get 'im-"

"-Can't keep this up forever," A was saying, "Fucking cowards! They know they're outmatched if they face us head-on. The technique's gotta wear off soon. This is eatin' up the user's chakra to keep it goin'-"

"We don't have time to wait for it to end!" Tsunade barked. "If we wait this gas will pick us off."

The Tsuchikage turned to the clone, who'd grown silent, eyes closed. "Naruto! You have more clones stationed around the area, out of the fog. Use the memories of those felled to make a path out of here. You're the least affected by the gas," the Tsuchikage coughed out.

The clone grinned, cracking open an eye. "Already ahead of ya, Gramps!"

At that moment, another clone appeared and said with a laugh, "Follow the leader!" Quickly, Gaara was yanked upright, the calloused hand of the clone pulling him to his feet, looping Gaara's arm over his shoulder. He could feel the clone looking at him, and he wondered what it could be thinking.

"Wait, Kankuro-"

"Is he good to go?" Naruto shouted, and Gaara's words went unheard. He groaned in pain.

"He should be fine," Tsunade interrupted, and the clone pulled away too quickly.

"Kankuro-" Gaara said again, but yet another paddy exploded. Someone started to assure him that everyone was accounted for, though Gaara couldn't see who said this. He tried to look for Temari, but couldn't find her in the haze. His heartbeat quickened, and he thought of her, gone with a rush of acid. In the fog he had no way of knowing if this was true.

Where was Temari? He didn't have time to look around before the group was on the move, and he was pulled forward, yanked, tugged. He didn't want to move. His left side burned in a way he'd never experienced. It was hotter than fire as it tried to heal, splitting his skin at the seams...

The paddies weren't going off as quickly. Now there were lulls between explosions, silences louder than a scream. The group twisted, turned, ran headlong through blinding fog, deflecting exploding tags, shuriken, and thrown kunai, a toad behind them. Each time, they came upon a new clone who'd been waiting for them.

The enemy was beginning to realize the Kages were coming through the fog, that the toads had split. Naruto's clones were zoned in on, but he was quick. The current clone they'd been following suddenly got a shuriken through the neck, and he popped out of existence.

Suddenly, the fog was gone. It cleared so quickly Gaara blinked, disoriented, as if coming out of a trance. Before them loomed the thick border of a forest, already blackened with evening shadows.

It was quiet.

Anger made Gaara's pulse beat through his skull. "They will keep attempting long ranged attacks," he observed in a rough voice.

Where were Temari and Kankuro?

"Why go through all this trouble when they could have just poisoned us at the meeting?" Mei wondered. Tsunade chuckled.

"Haven't met anyone yet who could get away with spiking my drink-"

"Argh!"

Another clone and a Sand nin to the left made a choked sound and fell, the sand nin's throat cleanly cut. A maelstrom of blades rained down on the party, but Gaara's sand and a toad's katana took the brunt of the attack. The other clones immediately went on the defensive, creating a Rasen Shuriken between them, blue eyes searching.

"Come 'ere!" They laughed as they lunged.

High in the canopy, hidden in shadow, the elite task force gathered by the Lords watched their prey will tactical cunning.

"They're still disoriented," observed one. "The gas has weakened their wits. Just enough."

A nin dressed in Leaf ANBU garb clucked like a disappointed mother hen through his frog mask. "It's almost pathetic to watch. But it's still amazing, isn't it? The type of men and women hidden for so long in the Council's task force? I'd have never guessed. All right. Keep herding them in. Looks like all we got for the Jinchuuriki is clones still, but there are at least ten left standing." He watched the remaining group of clones after the others had hard-hit some of the Task Force nin, killing at least half of the group herding them towards the trap.

What a treat the Jinchuuriki was.

"One might yet be him," Yuu said, mostly to himself, "given how many flocked here. Intel might have been correct. Still...Has the team headed to the Temple arrived yet?"

"Not yet," droned his companion.

Yuu hummed behind his mask. "In that case, we should hurry. How close is Arata to finishing the landscape?"

His partner checked, relaying a message and listening hard at the answer. "Done."

Yuu shifted his weight, anxious. "No need to stall any longer. Move them in."

He hummed a song as they sped through the trees. Some old tune he'd made up with his sister, when they were little and used to go splashing in the river on hot days, pretending they couldn't hear Mother calling. He'd promised her once when she dying and cold that he'd never actually forgotten it, and he'd sang to her when she died.

It was the first time he'd thought of home, or his dead sister, in months. He couldn't remember the words to the song now, only the tune, and it made him think as he watched the clones and the Kages make their way through the trees.

One day, he mused, they'd be gone just like those words. Someone would forget, and there'd be nothing left but bits and pieces and misplaced memories of saviors that would fade away to legend, heroes or villains that only existed in bedtime stories.

He wondered who, in this new future, would remember this war, and its soldiers, for what they were instead of just the half-truth fragments they would become.

Yuu almost hesitated.

Almost.

Gaara was saying something, but his words were lost, muffled against the clone's neck. His voice was so deep. Naruto could feel the murmurs vibrate against his skin. Suddenly, memories popped into the clone's mind. Pictures, bright and too fast and loaded with old feelings.

The loss of Sasuke. God, God, how much longer would he feel like this? Like he'd lost a limb or someone had scraped away half of his insides? He couldn't relive this feeling of losing someone dear to him, not again, not with Sasuke. Betrayal. The word made him sick, so sick he thought he was going to throw up. Had there truly been nothing redeemable about Sasuke Uchiha? Gaara's words. Gaara silent at his side. Gaara smiling. Friends, is that what they were? Good friends. A trusted friend. But Gaara was a liar. Gaara's mouth against his own. No, no, it was his doing, not Gaara's. Gaara sighing, gripping him tight. Trying to prove a point. Did he take it too far? Gaara wasn't Sasuke. Empty. Naruto felt empty. Then angry. He was so angry with Gaara, with everyone. Maybe, maybe, Gaara had never been the friend Naruto had thought he was. Maybe Sasuke had never been-

They were memories of the real Naruto and thoughts of the clones, blending into one dizzying picture. The clone shook it off, gripped the Kazekage tighter and pulled him more swiftly. He shot a quick glance at the toads, watching the pillars of fire erupt like a tongues of flame from a dragon's mouth.

"Leave this to us," Gamakichi had instructed. "You get to the Kages. We will aid you when we can. For now, we will keep the worst of the attacks at bay."

"Temari, Kankuro," Gaara said finally, and the clone grit his teeth. He could see it, so clearly, from the thoughts of one of the returned clones. Swallowed whole, burned alive. Not even a bone left to bury. Gone in an instant.

Kankuro was dead.

"Don't-don't-" someone had tried explaining to the clone before it had vanished, "Not yet. Get the Kazekage to safety. There will be time to mourn, but not yet."

There was more to the memory. Temari, going after an enemy nin in the trees, enraged. She was trailing behind them now, her fan streaked with blood. She'd fought with tears streaming down her cheeks, but had never once made a sound. Not seen, but alive. She wouldn't leave Gaara, not even to go after Kankuro's killers.

And then the memory ended, leaving the clone with all he needed.

"Soon," the clone said gruffly, feeling heavy and useless at his own words. Gaara seemed to think this ensured his siblings' lives, and grew quiet. The clone chanced a quick glance at the ruined side of the Kazekage. Granny had done her best, and she'd done a damned good job, but the flesh eating acid took longer to heal. From a rip in Gaara's clothing, the clone could still see how pink the skin was as it tried, repeatedly, to repair itself. There would be scars.

How much longer? How much longer would the Kazekage limp along like this? It made them slower. Much more of a target.

The clone's breath hitched, and he cursed. Another clone down. Now there were only nine. They picked up the pace. The plan was simple. Push the enemy out of the trees. Gain the upper hand, force their opponents into closer combat. Get the injured out of the way.

It was evening now. Pools of shadow and twilight ink gave the forest a sinister appearance. The way the trees bent and swayed, their branches could have been teeth, forming a vicious maw they were plunging right through. Every sound was the Guardians. The snap of a twig. A quick breath.

Closer, closer, closer. Don't die, don't die. Only nine of me left. He laughed at that thought, pulled Gaara up a little, and wondered about his real self.

Were they through the gate yet?

"Naruto," Gaara finally gasped out, and the clone stopped thinking.

"Almost there," he promised, zoning in the battle-bloodied thoughts of a brother cloneand Gaara shook his head against him.

"Where are you?"

The clone grimaced, getting the meaning. "Somewhere safe."

"All this time, I've been wondering...We could help you, Naruto. I could help you."

It was a tempting thought; Gaara, in all his sincerity. He could be true, real. Maybe even someone who'd stick to his word. Maybe they could all find a way out. Maybe, maybe even in the end, he'd still have Sasuke by his side. Not too far behind. Just a look over his shoulder away...

But it was a silly thought, a fantasy. There was no way out. There was no way to keep everyone together. No way to truly keep friends who'd never be satisfied with just that. There was no way to know what Sasuke would really do when the time came, because to Sasuke Uchiha, there was only Naruto, and the rest of the world.

To the clone, to Naruto, there was only Sasuke, the kid, and the end of Madara, for the rest of the world. It was jarring, to wonder if you were truly alone, but not as jarring for someone like Naruto Uzumaki, who had always been alone.

Except for Sasuke. The clone shoved the thought away.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you more help for that leg," he distracted himself by saying, and Gaara paused to look up at him, noticing how quickly the clone had brushed off his words.

"You could come with us, when this is over. I could protect you."

The clone shook his head. "No, I really can't. And I don't know if you could. Not in the way you think. But, Gaara?"

Gaara said nothing. Only waited.

"You've been a real friend, you know?" He realized his voice sounded rough as he said, "And I shouldn't have-"

Gaara cut him off. "Don't put this all upon yourself. I shouldn't have been so transparent, when I should have just been your friend. That was all you needed."

Night began to settle, and the group moved faster. It was quiet, and beyond them, they knew something was about to happen.

"If I don't see you again after this," Gaara suddenly said when they stopped, and he pulled himself away from the clone, standing tall, pushing away the clone's helping hand.

"If I don't see you again, I just want you to know that if it hadn't been for you, I would have never been able to see past what I thought I was, and I wouldn't be standing here now if it wasn't for that. Thank you. And I hope that one day, I can somehow repay you for everything you've done."

The clone bashfully shifted his weight. Geez, leave it up to impending death to squeeze the sissy out of everyone! He grinned though, touched the back of his neck shyly and slapped Gaara on the shoulder.

"I'll see ya again. Believe it." He grinned like he meant it, because he did. At that moment, a light shone out of the darkness, and the clone met Tsunade's eyes. She looked tired, worn, determined. Sad.

He should say something to her. Something meaningful like Gaara's thank you. He'd felt divided from her for so long, Been angry at her decisions, had not wanted to see the reasoning behind it, or believe that she could really still care after it all.

She was still his Hokage, who stood for his village, for his freedom, for the lives and ways of the ninja, and he would still die for that. She was his Hokage, who sometimes made him feel like he had someone who cared for him (kind of) like a violent mother,or maybe just a cranky old grandma. He could have told her this. Cleared the air a little. But all he could do was smile his war smile, and hope that she could see it on his face.

He thought she did, because she smiled back at him, and there was something of a silent agreement between them.

His thank you, despite everything, didn't go unheard. At that moment, while the group plotted, the clone felt a vast presence. He tensed, but it was for nothing. Out of the trees came the ANBU and other jounin, and the clone's grin split.

Among them was the Rookie Nine. Some of the others who'd been trailing Naruto in Suna had been called back to look after the Hokage. There was Sai, a little paler than usual but with a purpose in his step, and Sakura, who smiled at him like it wasn't a war they were about to fight, but a spar she was confident about. Something about her had changed slightly since he'd been gone, and she looked at Naruto like he wasn't someone she had lost, but a friend she'd always had.

Then came Shikamaru, Neji, Ino, and Hinata and Kiba. Choji behind them and TenTen. Even Kakashi sensei and Yamato. Everyone was here, the clone realized. Everyone save for….well, except for his real self and Sasuke. But standing here amongst his comrades, the people he called friends, made the clone feel like he was real.

He smiled at them all, greeted and hugged and fist bumped and high-fived, the other eight clones behind him. It made the others believe he was real, which is just what he wanted. The Kages didn't say a word.

The small light in the distance shone brighter. It bobbed as the owner of the lantern walked steadily closer. Temari appeared out of the dark and stood by Gaara, who instantly looked around for Kankuro.

The clone frowned. A thin, bespectacled man came forward, illuminated by his lantern. He was unarmed. Beside him, Gaara whispered, "Arata. He was our escort to the shrine."

"My Lords," Arata greeted in his reedy voice. "I come to deliver a message. It would be in your best interests, in your people's best interests, to stand down. How unseemly it is, to stand divided from your kings, from your countries, so selfishly when you know you can end this. Come peacefully, come quietly."

Tsunade scoffed. "Maybe it is your king who is the selfish one." The lamplight danced across her face, gave her a mean mask that made Naruto shiver in anticipation of the fight ahead.

The clone clenched his fists, fidgety, eager to say something. One of his brother clones gripped his wrist, keeping him from walking forward.

"Wait," it said, "let's see what he's gotta say."

Arata watched the group with a dispassionate eye. He held a bland expression, one of boredom and mild annoyance. He began to cross his arms, hiding his hands in his billowy sleeves.

He sighed. "I knew there was no way to do this quietly. Very well-"

"His hands, his hands! Dammit you dumbass, his hands!" one of the clone's brothers hissed, and they both lunged.

The clone shot forward to grab Arata's wrist so quickly, so tightly, the other man balked, paled, gasped out in pain. But Shikamaru had already entangled him in shadow binds.

"Don't do this," the clone growled through his teeth. "Maybe you don't realize what's at stake here."

The little man gasped again as the clone squeezed. Behind Arata, clones were standing at the ready, Akamaru and Kiba had their teeth bared, and Neji and Hinata were at the front, Byakugans activated. If Arata so much as scratched his nose, he'd be dead, and he knew it.

"So this is their acid user," A guessed from the back.

"There is a lot of concentrated chakra in his arms," Hinata answered, but Neji frowned, taking a step back and gently reaching out to Hinata to pull her away.

"Something isn't right-" he began, "Look at how it's building up-"

"You don't need to take innocent lives," the clone said, diverting his attention back to Arata. "This isn't a way to peace. It'll just lead to more suffering, more division. It's not the answer!"

Arata shook his head. "Ah, how I remember the days of my youth. I was young and optimistic once. But don't you see? With a new order, we'll take care of men like Madara, we'll have more of a handle on our people. Less war. Less death. Isn't that what you want?"

The clone was silent, but hadn't lessened his grip. "You tell your king he'll create nothing but a divided nation. He'll only bring more war. If that's what he wants, we'll give it right back to him."

"But your king is my king," said Arata quietly. "And it doesn't matter. Because we're all going to die."

"Naruto!" Neji shouted, and the clone released Arata like he'd been burned. Seconds passed like an eternity. Arata smiled weakly, even as his skin began to glow.

"I trust you remember the Leaf Elders had a most interesting suicide seal," he whispered, and the clone's eyes widened.

"Coupled with my nature manipulation, I'm sure you'll come to respect what I've done with it, in the seconds before you die. Unfortunately, my twin's technique was not enough...but we must do whatever we can to ensure that you, and your Kages, do not survive."

Tsunade activated her Yin seal, A's fists glowed blue, Gaara's sand shot up in a whirlwind, the clones made ready to charge, and the Tsuchikage attempted to conceal Arata in a cube before it was too late.

But it already was, and as the cube encased him, glowing white, Arata looked the clone in the eye and murmured, "Forest of Graves."

He convulsed, melting away as the Tsuchikage's technique began to eat at him, and then the earth rumbled and roared, and the clone knew the end was near. He reached for Gaara, for Tsunade, for his friends, called their names and threw an arm over his eyes as a bright light exploded.

The ground split, trees shrieked, and the landscape changed with each step. An impaling tree that imprisoned a nin with roots and constricted until he turned blue, jutting boulders, hills that rose and fell and cascaded and crushed, all with amazing speed as the very forest entombed itself.

Neji was thrown, chest impaled, Hinata screeched after him as the group attempted to run, run, run, because now it was all they could do. Run for the edge and hope. The toads scooped nin up in their mouths and leaped for the forest's edge. Sakura burst through trees and rock with incredible strength, Sai's ink creations spilled from blank parchment in a dark fountain, scooping up stragglers and hurrying to the edge. Tsunade's seal, Naruto noticed, was repeatedly healing others, even those caught in death traps, which made for an even worse end, over and over and over.

Chaos. It was chaos. And it only lasted moments. Seconds, really. Not more than a minute or two.

The Mizukage attempted to stall oncoming attacks using a lava technique, and the clone watched in horror as the ground unexpectedly, without any warning, split beneath her feet and sucked her down whole.

It was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

Gaara was yelling for Kankuro, and Temari was pulling him again, and the clone felt three more of his brothers disappear. Tree root through the head. Slipped down a crack in the earth. Crushed between two boulders.

He ushered Gaara, Temari, any others he could, towards the edge. Hills were rising, rocks were scaling, all to trap them inside for the final act. The Elders technique had erupted their area of attack in fire with an explosion, kept the area white hot to keep its prisoners inside.

Arata's version was taking a different turn.

The clone shouted, ran, grabbed, pushed the others to the toads, screamed as Tsunade paused to grab A, who's ankle had been caught, the trees rapidly constricting and imprisoning him with roots and sharp branches. A angrily waved her away, using his fist to try and break through. Ahead, the path became blocked as a tree snaked across the way, branches reaching like snakes. Gamakichi used a katana to hack and slash, as the others attempted water jets to cut through the rising forest.

"We're dead if we cannot break through!" the toad shouted, as the tree slowly formed into a knotted prison wall. A leapt at it with a hoarse cry, and the other nin flew at it, hitting the wall with whatever jutsu they could impact it with. Tsunade tore at it.

The ground rose and fell. The clone slashed and cried out and threw rasengans at the branches that kept reforming. Then the clone saw her, his Hokage, make a last minute decision as she looked at the small group of surviving nin, at the death around them, and finally, at him.

He wanted to call out to her. He couldn't tell what she was thinking.

She leapt forward with a guttural scream, fist slamming into the trunk so forcefully it sprayed into splinters. It gave them enough time to break through.

Not much longer, not much longer, so close, so close. Stay alive! The clone could see a break in the trees up ahead. A little evening sky painted pink.

Another tree broke free from the ground, rising and twisting with an ear-splitting shriek as its bark bended and moved. Seconds, the clone realized. They had seconds before another wall formed, maybe a minute before they were entombed. He began to form a rasen-shuriken in those seconds, but he felt himself shoved aside, and he grunted, confused, as he skidded over the ground, rolling to regain his footing. He looked up, mouth going slack.

"Tsunade!"

"Go! We'll clear a path! You're here. You must keep at least one clone alive." And she'd meant it, when the clone attempted to pry her away. A was attempting to rip the branches from her body. She was holding it, the tree, with nothing but her bare hands. Its bark was beginning to criss-cross over her, like filaments of silk forming a cocoon. Blood ran in little rivers down her arms from where its splinters had gouged her skin.

Her eyes were wild. "Get them out of here." Another tree erupted through the ground then behind her, sprayed the forest floor crimson with her blood as It formed an arch with the tree the Hokage had been holding.

The clone screamed.

She just looked at him, blinked, coughed. Her yin seal was still activated, and he noticed, amazingly, how the energy was aiding them all. She was rapidly aging before his eyes. Had been.

The worst had not happened. Another wall began to form, one red as the Hokage's blood.

In seconds, the forest began to petrify, and the forest of graves became a tomb. The clone was rooted to the ground. One. Two. Three. Four clones. Gone in an instant. A nin beside him tried to yell, but instantly turned to stone.

He turned his head, opened his mouth in an 'o' and counted. Just himself, and one more. HIs eyes bugged, wide and afraid, even though for him, there was no true death. And he wondered what real pain might feel like as his legs turned to stone. He watched as Gaara and a few others slipped through the edge with the toad's aid. The last remaining clone turned to look at him before it slipped away.

The clone turned his gaze to look at his fallen comrades. Nodded in a silent and respectful farewell as the Kages petrified.

"You can't kill us!" he shouted, thrashing one final time, as if someone might yet be listening. "Not like this!" He turned his gaze to the sky as his body turned to stone, and he vanished with a thought.

A/N and Previews: so you know it's actually there and coming (Izanami turned out to be...quite long). I'm still tweaking. There's 3 left, unless I split it up differently. I write them in Google docs and transfer them over here. Izanami and the rest is one giant document.

...

"I've only ever wanted to do the right thing. For everyone. You know? The world can't just be black and white. Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if I didn't grow up thinking like that. Sometimes I think, if that had happened, me and you would have been different. I wouldn't be here. Not with you."

Sasuke watched him closely.

"Do you think it would have been better that way?" Sasuke asked finally, lowly. Naruto chanced a glance at him, but Sasuke wasn't looking at him.

...

Sasuke eyed him like the animal he was. A starved predator out for blood as he whispered his name, "Kabuto." The Jinchuuriki's clone widened his stance, and on another night, Naruto and Sasuke might have looked formidable. Daunting, even.

But all Kabuto could see were the dead boys they both would become once the night was over.

A/N: That's that. Review if you have any thoughts. It's time for me to start updating again. I tweaked this and worked on it for quite a long time..my biggest concern was letting characters die in anticlimactic ways, or too easily. Hopefully it doesn't feel that way here, or as we continue on.