disclaimer: I Own nothing

Note: I am so sorry this is so late, I meant to have it out sooner, but, ah, life happened (for once) so that wasn't in the cards.

As they marched, there held in the air, an aura of tension, not born of anger of course, but of fear and there was almost a lingering from the sweat they procured hanging in the air as they trudged along. Which Naruto was not ashamed to admit disgusted him ever so slightly. That however, was the lesser of his worries.

The sun which he had so many fond memories, and which had kissed his skin into an almost radiant golden hue, was now bearing an invisible weight upon him. His father's armour burning under the light, such heat burning him even through his protective underclothing, and he knew without sight of it, that his skin had gone red around his waist, where the mental was closest to his skin. It stung painfully with every brush of the fabric against his flesh.

Beside him, Sakura gave a low grumble, twisting her shoulder back, the steel in her posture was less so than it had been when they had met, although he held no disbelief that it was more of exhaustion than anything else. He did remain impressed at her ability to keep up her march, fair better than he, perhaps it was pride?

Jiraiya, beside her, took a stuttering step, turning towards the pink haired woman, and heavily clapped her of the back. A testiment to their training that the girl didn't pinch forward. The taller Alpha did get a rather firm looking elbow to the gut for his actions of course was Jiraiya, so he only gave a grunt before a large grin stretched his cheeks.

"Hey, instead, think of an Omega worth fighting for!" He outstretched to her, and although he attempted to sidestep away from the conversation, he was brought rather forcefully onto Sakura's flank, Ino as well seemed to be caught within the strange embrace. He felt his cheeks alite with something far different than the heat of the baring sun, harboring no desire to speak of his own gender in a racy way, or indeed at all.

Which, he could conclude was where this particular conversation was heading. Ino, the farthest from him, seemed perplexed for a moment, her eyebrows arched downwards and her forehead wrinkled. Sakura however, tilted her body away from Jiraiya's, yet she held her hand to her chin, and the crinkle to the edges of her eyes, said quite enough about her agreement.

"Huh?" Naruto turned to his friend, who was gazing at him with her blank stare, although she was asking a question, he could not figure out what.

"That's what I said, an O', worth fighting for!" Then it seemed as if they had all finally overcome confusion as many of the warrior's broke into indulgent grins. Naruto found himself mentally battling over a feeling of 'oh the dam has broke,' and 'cursed is me.'

"I want them as busty as can be, with eyes that gleam like stars!" Honestly, the Omega found himself at an impasse of completely wanting to punch the man, or hide within the snow of the mountains. Well, at least it was of comfort that he was not within the given parameters.

"Ha! I say! Mine will marvel at my strength, adore my battle scars!" He was nye surprised by Sakura's outburst and contribution to the strange hymin the warriors had amassed. It did her judice after all.

"I could not care less what they wear, or how they look like, it all depends on what they love like. Rough? Sweet? Passionate? Mmm…" He did pause at Ino though, nearly had some of the other soldiers smack into him from behind as well. Did people (alpha's) commonly speak of coupling so loudly? He was very glad for the water that covered their unspeakables as Sakura draped her arm over his shoulder, a gust of wind bringing her sweat aided scent directly into his nose.

"Bet the local O's thought you were quite the charmer." He was not ashamed to admit he was very near nailing in her face with a sharp jab of his elbow, when she pulled away only just missing his violent retaliation. The shore weighing down their clothes as they left the river soaking into his cloth welcomely, yet also pulling as rubbing as his burns and armor.

"And I bet they just love us in armor!" There was a brief 'here, here!' from the Alpha's behind them, after Jiraiya shouted, and Naruto resigned himself to the torture he was now enduring. There at least was a lull in the hymen, most just humming out of tune for a long time, until of course they came across a group of handsome and slim Omega's harvesting from the fields. Sweaty clothes and trim slick bodies. Everyone, excluding himself seemed to share one brainwave for but a moment at that point. Staring very distracted from their path at the sight of lean Omega's.

"You can guess what we have missed the most since we went off to war!" Many of the workers heard, and Naruto was embarrassed for his own when he heard some giggle. It was not flattery! It was made all the worse when he heard the familiar tone of a whistle by his ear, and he knew it to be Kakashi within the cart. Worse was the fact that some soldiers followed what they presumed to be his lead and followed along. His turned his head so that the stares of his own would not be ingrained into his mind.

"My O' will think I have no faults." Said Sakura, out of tune.

"That I'm a major find." Ino chimed in, to the left Jiraiya gave him a grin, and he suddenly realized why they were all very close to him. He blushed crimson, but he knew not what to say.

"How about one who has a mind, whose always free to fly?" Well knew not what to say, but he was sure of himself that it wasn't that. Confirming this the three who he considered friends gave him a strange stare before all shaking their heads and continuing forward.

"My manly ways, and turn of phrase are sure to thrill em!" Jiraiya boasted, and Naruto was near sure he heard a squeak from another Alpha down the line.

"You think you're such a player!" Sakura guffawed, and slapped the tall man on his rear end so hard that he landed within the mud. Naruto laughed very loud at his mud covered hair.

Loud whistles and out humming continued as they got to the mountain and started climbing towards the valley betwixt the two peaks, Shanhai pass.

"Have someone at home unlike any other." A touch of shock passed through him as the adviser chimed into the noise. For such a stern set man, it was rather unusual. Ino seemed to agree, for see leaned into him, and said very loudly;

"Yet the only one to love him is his mother!" Naruto could not be certain, but, were he to bet money upon it, he would swear that he heard a chuckle from the high horse ahead. The snow docked mountains did offer a peaceful scenery, even amongst the calamity his comrades incited within themselves. Black and grey stone stood in towering peaks of rough edges and curves to steep for a man to climb in armor. The snow frozen to the ground stuck firmly, yet in places a film of ice lay overtop, and one would have to be observant not to fall from the sudden change.

"Yet, whence we come home in victory, they'll be lined up at the door!" Even while rolling his eyes in disdain, the joyful atmosphere was difficult to resist, and he found himself humming along ever so slightly for it.

"What do we want?!"

"An O' worth fighting for!" A sudden putrid sting hit his nose, charred, and fullbodied, the others seemed oblivious, but a slight ways ahead of him he saw the houses become uneasy, and their riders looked at each other briefly.

"Wish that I had!" The voices and chanting, merriment washed away as he kept pace in a state of walking waking understanding, he felt his legs itch to march quicker, and the fear that flooded his veins was very real, instinctive. Then he saw over the cleft of the hill, smolders, ashes of an archway and the flamed red sky the fire had lit. Darkened houses and buildings made to look like silhouettes when in trueness they were the bonafide remains of an entire town.

He nearby stopped himself from screaming in horror, the understanding borne on his shoulders threatened his will.

"An O' worth-" Suddenly all was silent, the breeze simply breathed through the valley, the remains of the town smoldering in their own deaths. Everything stood unspoken, and they all marched at a slower pace, each of all the warriors seeing the destruction of war for the first time. In his mind he felt the fear feaster, burning, as this town had. In his heart however, he felt the beat of a drum, and the remembrance of knowing his father had seen such a sight long before him, his father who donned the manners of an Omega, and many of their ideals, could see such a sight and remain firm.

Perhaps he, with the long hair of spun gold, and eyes of jewels, he who had sat upon a bamboo mat at home staring at the sunset balancing his eyes with the sight of beyond. The child from long ago watching his father battle invisible enemies at the back of the house. Perhaps even that part of himself could recognize this act of needless violence, and resiprocate not in fear, but in strength.

"Tranquil as a forest, but a fire within." He thought. That, he could admit was a wise way to consider his situation.

On the ground lay several possessions from the people of the town. A lone doll at within the remains, and he felt his resolve waver. How many children had died in this massacre? He closed himself from the thought, he could hardly fathom it. He drew his gaze away from the burnt doll his mind now closed from the sadness he felt. His eyes met with his Captain, and he questioned as best as he could without asking, his father had never told tales of dead children. The man only clenched his jaw, and dismounted, his hand fisted tightly.

"Children should not fall for the sake of their parents war." Madara spoke, his voice carried in the wind, and his eyes directly reflected what Naruto himself felt, understanding as he couldn't have fathomed within the obscene grey blackness of the man's iris's. Despite his own resolve, he felt a spark in his eye painfully throbbing, and he knew himself to be crying. He turned away from the gaze, he held pride as a warrior and could not face he who had taught him such courage.

"There is no shame in emotion." Madara spoke, and he gave the man nothing more than a smile in return, picking the doll from the wet ground, he clutched at the memory of a child running free, and prayed for those who could not have had the chance. He felt, rather then saw his Captain walk to his side. A solid and familiar presence, he held firm against the impulse to lean into the scent. That was until a large hand grasped onto the doll he held and another pressed onto his shoulder blade, where no armor resided. One well positioned whiff and the man would smell him far too closely.

"Captain!" Luck it seemed blessed him on this day. For both their heads turned towards Jiraiya, for once a solemn expression upon his visage. It was not a welcome change he found. "You need to see this." Madara moved before he, though apparently their hands were still clasped where the doll lay between them, so he was moved along as well, the large hand warmed his own and soothed the sunburn piercing his skin. It was grounding. In the chaos it was stabilizing to know that they were many, although the town had most likely thought the same thing.

However, his hope, the sensation of stability soon fled when he looked to where Jiraiya had taken them. The sight stewed in his minds eye. Slaughter, the field before them, had been the base for the army as they had waited for the hun. This was not reflectant, of what existed before there were no tents pitched, no fireplaces for food, there was remains. Everything was a shell, the tents were wooden and burnt sticks stuck upright, and the only thing cooking was the corpses of charred soldiers, the stink of the burning meat of humans themselves. Even then, the battle seemed to have hardly occurred. For there were arrows piercing both the ground and the chests and bodies of men and women. But all of the blood that might have been spilled was hidden or corrupted by the fire of which the bodies had been burnt in. The smell was repugnant.

He felt his insides turn, and he lost what little meal he had eaten that day, spilling green over the half melted snow, wrenching itself out as if it were some sort of rancid sacrifice for the warrior's unprecedented deaths. Somehow their enemy's had expected the ambush and saw fit to burn the waiting army rather than fighting honourably.

He was wretched to his feet by his elbow, his armor pulling him back to the ground, though it did not succeed in doing so. Madara's grasp held firm, and he was hauled onto the man's side, stumbling in his shock directly into the man. Wanting to move he found he could not, he could not manage his legs and feet as he should, and his vision was blurry for endless moments before clarity stuck him suddenly.

A glimpse of pink had him standing straight, and remembering himself to be a warrior, not some coddled Omega in need of comfort. He looked towards Sakura with his hand firmly grasped around the hilt of his blade. The woman held in her sunburnt hands spotted with peeling skin the helmet of the General, he had fallen with his men. She handed the gold embroidered protection to their Captain who looked upon the piece as if it were foreign, something unnamed in his hand. Though the set and painful looking clench of his jaw spoke otherwise.

He stared at the scene, the man in front of him so seemingly confused, unsure yet of just what he was doing seemed to match his own state well. Perhaps he too was in too deep shock for much else other than the visual without connection to register. Strong grip pulled on the fabric of his orange underclothes, an insistent tug that jarred him into action. However not to the pull that drew him away, but instead he forced his feet to work, and instead he himself held onto the wrists of another. Their Captain's arms shock violently, and whence Naruto gazed into his eyes they wavered not in panic or shock, but in fear. His angular jaw was stretched taught in determination to remain within stability, a battle that the Omega knew to be hard fought. Which made the understanding that he was losing all the more saddening.

Naruto did not pretend to understand the Captain's fear, nor his uncertainty, he didn't question the resolve in his jawline, nor the shaking his his hands, didn't think of the helmet so carefully held within the calloused hands, itched in gold and dawned with a golden feather of a golden eagle. He only stared into the man's face, and held the wavering stare with his own, combating another's demons, as he had always done with his own. He smiled, not largely, but well enough that the message of vigar to get on was conveyed, that challenges would be steep but the reward greater.

He was an Omega thrusted into a place not deemed suited for someone as he, combatting the odds, and taking his own steps to ensure victory, so waverence, ignorance, or shock would not deter him from his path. Even if he was to die for his treason, he had done this for his family. For his Father sipping tea under the petals of their finest trees, praying to the ancestors in the morning for a peaceful day, and blessed tides upon those who lives among them. For his Mother who sat in her private room, unsure of her own path forward, and basking within the warmth of the sun shining through her window in the late afternoon, naked as she had been whence she met Father, reveling in the moment. For Tsunade, living in remembrance, sharpening her battle blade, and cleaning her late brother's kimono very evening.

For the scared Omega running through the hills, and rolling in mud trying to accomplish what he thought impossible. Picking flowers in the evenings for his Father. Gazing in the early morning at the young Alpha's passing, and wishing that he could land his eyes on something more attractive than their muscles, attempting to see into who they were without even a word spoken between. Trying to envision himself in the life foretold for him and failing.

Nahito was not suited for warfare, but Naruto was.