Merry Christmas!

I apologize for taking so long to put this chapter out. It wanted to go a different direction than I intended, and combined with a bunch of stuff going on in real life, it took this long to complete.

This chapter and the small story arc that will be happening after it will be a bit less darker and intense than my normal arcs. It's serving as a breath of fresh air before things pick up again with the story arcs following this one.

Without any more delay, here is the next chapter. Chapter 46: Reverberations

There was strange duality to the dark, ever present shadows in the Sound bases, Sasuke mused. He felt at home in the darkness but felt disgusted with himself whenever he remembered the sun. Naruto Uzumaki. Perhaps he was meant for the darkness, the dark words had crawled in his skull so many times. But, each time he had thought about giving in, Sasuke harshly reminded himself of what had happened, what he had done the last time he had given in.

Naruto must hate him now, the Uchiha figured that much. However, Naruto - prior to Sasuke shoving his hand through his chest - had believed in him, and offered a hand in friendship. "And I ignored it." It was Sasuke's greatest regret. Having tried his best to let go of the singular emotion of hate since that day, he had found that in it's place was soul-crushing loneliness. And having quite literally attempted to murder his only friend, there was no one left that he could trust or rely on.

"Perhaps it is better this way." His voice was soft, but still echoed in the spartan concrete room, "There is only one path for me." It was those words that he often repeated to himself when the shadows closed in and he felt like he couldn't go on, "I have to keep going until Itachi dies. Nothing else matters." Closing his eyes, Sasuke visualized Itachi standing over the bodies of their parents. Hate and anger flickered through him, and he breathed in, sucking in the air, along with the hate, anger, and the pain of remembering the tragedy. He drew the emotions inwards until he felt like he was going to shatter into a thousand shards.

He breathed out, attempting to let the hate, anger, and pain go. The vice of emotions eased up slowly. He breathed in. And out. Slowly, but surely, the tightness in his heart eased, and Sasuke stood up. Shoving open the heavy stone door with a slight grunt of exertion, he stepped into the torchlit hallway.

Now that his mind was clear, Sasuke began to plan as he moved towards the training ground. "Given that I have little over six months until Orochimaru tries to possess my body and take it as his own, I should strike at five and a half months. He should be bedridden by then, since his old body will be breaking down by that point." Idly wondering who was feeding him information, the raven haired Uchiha shrugged after a moment's contemplation. "It doesn't matter who is sending the information."

"From the research notes I found in one of the information packages, Orochimaru uses a powerful genjutsu to paralyze the target, keeping them still while he takes over their body." Sasuke fought the urge to smirk, "He's in for an unpleasant surprise." About a month after he first awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, the Uchiha had discovered that it allowed him to see through any genjutsu, no matter how powerful. "Orochimaru won't know what hit him." Despite his bravado, the Uchiha knew that this would be the toughest fight of his life, and failure would mean a fate worse than death.

Having studied Orochimaru's movements each time they had sparred, Sasuke felt fairly confident that he could take the Snake Sannin if he pulled out all of the stops, especially if Orochimaru was partially incapacitated. Still, there was room for improvement, and he didn't have a mission for at least another week. In addition, Sasuke was still working to master an A-Rank fire technique. Unlike before, Sasuke didn't content himself with simply learning the handsigns for a new jutsu. After being unable to heal Naruto, the Uchiha had vowed to master every jutsu he copied with his Sharingan. The first one he had mastered was the one he had failed with, nearly dooming Naruto in the process. Permitting himself a moment to wonder how Karin was doing, Sasuke hoped that she was doing well inside the Uzumaki compound.

"The last information I received stated that Karin was accepted into Konoha and had joined the Uzumaki as a full fledged member of the clan. Naruto should be able to train her to defend herself, and she shouldn't need anyone's protection once she has learned from him."

Arriving at the underground training field, Sasuke felt lightning chakra crackle along his arms as he banished any thoughts besides the ones related to training to become stronger. Raising his hand, he sent a crackling bolt of electricity at the lone torch that was illuminating the room. It exploded in fire and sparks, plunging the room into darkness. He had one goal, and he would see it though.

"Fucking Hell." Tayuya muttered to herself as she walked along the dusty street with Karin, "Don't these assholes have something better to do than glare at us?" The pair was gathering the necessary supplies for Fu's birthday celebration. Despite herself, Tayuya found herself enjoying the preparation for the party, given that normally Haku was the one who prepared the birthday parties. However, not all of the supplies for the party were available in the Uzumaki friendly section of Konoha. As such, she and Karin had headed into the southern section of the village to pick up the few supplies needed. The only issue was that they needed to pass through the Humanitarian section of the village in order to reach the supply store.

"Keep your voice down." Karin glanced over at her red haired companion, "We don't need any trouble." She had already sent out a sensing pulse of chakra, and had almost instantly discovered that hate stained their chakra. Every living thing had at least some chakra, granted animals, plants, and civilians only had a miniscule amount, but it was enough to feel the seething hatred they felt for Naruto Uzumaki, and by proxy, Tayuya and herself. Fully aware that she wasn't anywhere close to Tayuya's level of combat expertise, Karin felt that discretion was the best solution.

"Fuck that." Tayuya gave a one fingered salute to a particularly glaring old woman, "You're an Uzumaki. We don't back down from anything, no matter what." It was something the redhead had learned during her time with Naruto, "We protect each other." It was one of the reasons that she had gone along with Karin to the store, "And who gives a shit if anyone doesn't like us."

Karin felt a small smile crease her lips at Tayuya's words, and the worry she was feeling faded as she remembered that she wasn't alone. "Thanks." She shot a grateful look over, "I needed that."

"Don't go spreading it around." Tayuya commanded, but her voice was softer than she intended, "I just didn't want to see your worried face." Spinning around to point at a sneering man, the red haired kunoichi snapped out, "I saw that look. Don't think I didn't." The man blanched and looked away. "I fuckin thought so." Tayuya muttered before turning back to Karin. "Let's go get the stuff."

"Right." Karin pushed her glasses up, "Let's go." The two Uzumakis headed off.

"We need to do something." One of the Loyalist Council members pointed out, "Almost every day we lose a Loyalist to the other factions." The retired ninja heaved a sigh, "Were all of our sacrifices for nothing?"

"But you are ignoring that the other factions are still a part of the village." Another pointed out, "And the Uzumaki Faction is assisting the Leaf." Several heads turned in his direction, "The Uzumaki Faction has donated large sums of money to the orphanages in the village, and has insured that those future citizens of Leaf are cared for. They have donated time and money to help rebuild after the Sand and Sound attack."

"You sound like one of them." One of the other Council members scowled, "The Uzumaki Faction isn't directly tied to Konoha and they could leave at any time. When the businesses that are associated with them also leave, it could severely impact trade with other nations, since many of the other village leaders respect Naruto Uzumaki."

"No." The council member shook his head, "I don't support the Uzumaki Faction. I am just willing to realize that we can't succeed if we close our eyes and demonize the other factions. That's why we keep losing people. They open their eyes and see that beyond loyalty, we don't have anything to offer."

"They shouldn't need anything else." The leader argued, "Anything less than complete and unquestioning loyalty to Konoha is traitorous." Several other heads nodded in acceptance, "Since Konoha began, we served, sacrificed, and died for our village. It is a privilege to lay down our lives so that the mighty Leaf can live on." Murmurs of agreement echoed in the room.

One member sighed and resisted the urge to bang his head against the table. "See this is why we are losing members." More than a few members frowned at his words, "No. You all need to listen. People aren't machines. They need something more than just blind loyalty."

"And what if they have to choose between this...blind loyalty and something else?" Leaf-San, who had been quiet up until this point, inquired, "Can we trust that they will just understand that the village is more important than them or their families? Can we trust that they will put the mission first over their teammates?" A long pregnant pause. "Your silence is answer enough."

The remaining part of the meeting turned to various suggestions on how to retain the remaining 'patriotic' ninja, and how to combat the other factions words and political actions. One member stayed silent, quietly wondering if he was seeing the start of the end for his faction.

Tsunade felt a headache starting to brew behind her temples as she stared at the latest form on her desk. Having spent a majority of her time trying to figure out a way to bring peace between the three factions, but like all of the days for the past four months, the opportunities for peace seemed to grow smaller with each passing week. Ever since Hinata, Sakura, and Haku had attacked each other, tensions had been slowly increasing. It had ebbed slightly after Jiraiya had brought back the ones who had attacked - despite their reactions, the three girls had been under the influence of a mind technique - Sakura, Haku, and Hinata, but the pressure was building once again.

There was murmurs that the proof Jiraiya had against those who attacked the kunoichi had been manufactured, and the Hokage was blatantly assisting one faction at the expense of another. Jiraiya hadn't been able to pinpoint the source of the rumor, not that it mattered much anymore. As far as the Spymaster could tell, it was being repeated on enough lips that it was growing into a sentiment. Thankfully the Loyalists and the Uzumaki Factions were working hard to refute those claims, but the number of Loyalists grew smaller each week, the polarizing stances of the Humanitarian and Uzumaki Faction not allowing for much middle ground.

Things had already gotten to the point that most factions only shopped at establishments run by someone within their faction. The Uzumaki faction shopped mostly at the Loyalist businesses, given that many faction members were part of shinobi clans and most of the non-clan members were active ninjas or retired shinobi. By contrast, the Humanitarians were not part of large clans, being mostly made up of civilians, retired ninja, and low profile active shinobi. The Humanitarians held the lion's share of the shops in Konoha, and that was yet another reason why she couldn't simply act against them. The potential economic fallout would be tremendous if the Humanitarians decided to close up their businesses.

The Fifth Hokage let out a heavy sigh as she attempted to re read the latest piece of paperwork she had with tired, slightly blurred vision. It was another request for more funding for the housing department, the fourth one they had made in the last two months. Attempting to clear the sleepy fog from her mind, Tsunade tried to remember if there was any wiggle room in next month's budget. Making a mental reminder to check with the treasurer to see why the budget had kept getting so tight, she placed the request on the small pile of paperwork she needed to follow up on in the morning. Picking up the report that was next on the pile of paperwork she hadn't gotten to yet, the sound of the office door opening dimly registered.

"Lady Tsunade." Shizune pushed open the door, "You haven't gone home yet?" The brown haired woman frowned as she surveyed the room. There were piles of paperwork resting on almost every piece of furniture, and Tsunade was still sitting in the same spot she had been in several hours earlier. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Ummm…" Tsunade blinked several times as she forced herself to fully wake up, "...Sorry. I guess I forgot."

"Lady Tsunade." Shizune crossed her arms under her breasts, "This is the third time this week you have forgotten to eat a meal." Worry flashed across her face, her posture softening. "How can I help you my Lady?"

"Eh…" Tsunade waved her hand at her apprentice, "It's no big deal. I should be done with this stuff in an hour, two at the most."

Seeing that her mentor was growing stubborn again, Shizune tried a different tactic. "Why are you trying so hard to keep everything together by yourself?"

"Because I failed." Tsunade's voice was quiet and filled with guilt. "I failed Naruto all those years ago." Bitter tears began to form at the edge of her eyes. "I could just pass the blame and say that I was Jiraiya's responsibility, but…" She chuckled bitterly, "I've been blaming others for my mistakes for far too long." Tsunade's brown eyes hardened with her inner determination, "No more. I'm not lying to myself. I failed Naruto."

"If I had only thought of someone other than myself all those years ago, I could have saved him so much pain, so much anguish." Tsunade met Shizune's eyes, "But I didn't. Instead, I took you and I ran. I kept running for over thirteen years." Naruto's godmother shook her head, "But I'm not running anymore. I will protect Naruto and those he cares about. And right now," She gestured to the piles of paperwork, "This is the best way I have to protect him."

"Oh." Shizune wasn't sure what to say. What could she say? "In that case, how can I help?" Shizune put her hands on her hips and evenly met the Fifth's gaze. "I'm helping." Tsunade shook her head stubbornly, the blonde haired woman unsure of why exactly she was being stubborn,"Let me help my Lady." Shizune dropped her hands and crossed the distance to stand in front of the desk, "Please Lady Tsunade. Let me help."

After several moments, Tsunade sighed and looked away, feeling foolish for denying her assistant. "Alright." Grabbing half the stack of paperwork she hadn't gone over yet, Tsunade passed them over to Shizune who gratefully accepted them.

"Thank-you my Lady."

"Sure." Tsunade nodded before returning her attention to the current report. The two worked quietly for some time before the Fifth started on a report concerning observed movements by Sound in Iwa. "Wait." Suddenly awake, the blonde Hokage sat up straight and read the report in more detail. "This might be it."

"What is it my Lady?" Shizune glanced up from her paperwork, "Can I help?"

"I...think I might have figured out how to bring the village back together, for at least a little while." Tsunade's mind raced, "What if we attack all of the Sound bases simultaneously?" At Shizune's confused look, the Fifth elaborated. "It would take everyone's minds off of what's going on at home, promote cross faction communication and cooperation, and finally give a use for all of the information on Sound we have been collecting."

"That's a good idea." Shizune agreed after a moment's consideration, "But perhaps we should speak with Jiraiya-Sama in the morning? He might have additional ideas."

"That pervert?" Tsunade mumbled without any real rancor, "He's probably still peaking at young women in Wave." Although she wouldn't have ever admitted it, even under the pain of torture, some small part of her missed her old teammate. Without her realizing it, he had become an important part of her life, and it felt strange to not see him every day. "If he was here, he would be staring at my chest." Sighing, Tsunade hoped that wherever he was, he was safe.

There was a sudden knock on the window, and Tsunade and Shizune mechanically turned towards the window. Jiraiya waved, not taking his eyes off of Tsunade's chest. A moment later his gaze slowly met theirs. He nodded in approval. Tsunade forgot about being tired. She hadn't missed him at all. Storming over to the window, the furious woman threw it open.

"Was someone talking about Tsunade-Hime's boobs?" Jiraiya shot past Tsunade before she could react, "Because I've been watching them for a little while and I gotta say…" The white haired man giggled, "...They are quite...mesmerizing."

"YOU….PERVERT!" Tsunade swung her fist in an arc that would have broken Jiraiya's jaw had he not ducked, "Stand still and take it like a man."

"But how can I peep if my face is broken?" Jiraiya dodged an uppercut, "Out of random curiosity, if the village was going to attack all of the Sound bases we know about, would you be informing the Council about the attack?"

"Wait. You heard us?" Tsunade pause in the middle of her attack, "I thought there were privacy seals keeping all of the sounds in this room from being heard outside."

"There are." The sealmaster nodded, "But you have to activate them."

Tsunade tried to remember if she had activated the seals when she had arrived early that morning, but she couldn't recall. "I thought I did." She blinked, slowly coming down from the temporary energy spike caused by Jiraiya's actions, "I didn't, did I?"

"It's alright." Jiraiya waved his hand dismissively, "I put them up before you started talking about Sound."

"Oh." Tsunade wasn't sure what to feel, "Thank-you."

"You're welcome. I'm not sure if you know this, but I've been gathering data, and I'm fairly confident that there is at least one traitor on the Council, if not more than one." Jiraiya abruptly shifted to a more serious tone, "I believe that they are working for Orochimaru."

"Thus," Jiraiya walked over to one of the numerous filing cabinets and pulled it open after letting it sample his chakra, "I propose that we just tell the Council that we are attacking two or three bases." He pulled out the folder that contained their latest intel on the location of the Sound bases, "Perhaps…these?" He tapped his fingers on three of the entries, "I'll watch the Council members after you tell them the news. I should be able to catch the traitor as they are trying to contact Sound."

The Spy Master closed the folder and placed it back in the filing cabinet, subtlety placing an additional sealing array as he did so. "But that can wait until morning. For now, you need to get some beauty sleep." He didn't hide his gaze as he looked at Tsunade, "We don't want you falling asleep in the hot spring now do we?"

Before Tsunade could reply, a heavy yawn escaped, large enough to bring momentary tears to her eyes. Shizune promptly gave her a knowing look. "Fine." Tsunade conceded, "I'll beat him up in the morning." She turned to Shizune, "Let's go before he gets any more ideas."

"Of course my Lady." Shizune hid her pleased smile, "I'll bring your dinner to your room."

"Yes Mother." Tsunade smiled at her apprentice, thankful for her presence. The pair headed out, leaving the room. As they left the office, Shizune spied one of the ANBU guards send her a grateful nod, having been forced to watch Tsunade push herself too far day after day. Shizune returned the nod, thankful that her mentor had caring bodyguards.

Tomorrow would be a busy day, Shizune knew, but tonight, she would make sure that Lady Tsunade got a good night's rest.

"We must be seen doing something." The leader of the Humanitarian's delivered his speech from the head of the long oaken table, "Jiraiya the Sannin has manufactured evidence against them, saying that they used their mind techniques to force Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga, and Haku the Uzumaki Servant into attacking each other." He raised a furious finger, gazing out into the other gathered members of the room, "But we know the truth. We are the only ones who will admit the truth: Those girls have been infected by the Fox Demon's power, and nearly destroyed the village with that infernal power!"

The other members nodded at his words. They remembered the choking fear they had been paralyzed with when they felt that terrible chakra. But, unlike fifteen years ago, they hadn't let the fear stop them. They had brought their families close and moved them to the shelters, determined to protect them from the monsters and demons outside.

"But they didn't." One of the quieter members spoke up, "Fu-San stopped them from attacking, and the situation was resolved. And if the official reports are to believed, the three kunoichi would have never lost control if it wasn't for those damn Yamanaka." She heaved a deep sigh, "Can anyone here remember a single instance that Naruto Uzumaki attacked without provocation?" She glanced from member to member. "Anyone?"

Several of the council members looked down as they soaked in her words. Her words edged at their secret fear that they were mistaken, and that they had attacked a small child all those years ago. And if he was innocent, who was the real monster? How could they face their own children if they had beaten another child because of hate?

"That's why we need to strike first." The leader declared, "They won't expect it and we can make a decisive first blow."

"You are talking about starting a civil war."

"We must do what we have to in order to protect our families. They should not have to face the pain and terror we did when the Kyubi attacked. We can protect them from that."

As the Humanitarian Council devolved into bitter arguments between those who wanted to leave the Uzumaki Faction alone and those who wanted to preemptively strike, Human-San quietly watched the proceedings with well hidden pleasure behind his mask. They are well on their way to starting a civil war, but they still needed another push. Orochimaru was getting impatient, and he didn't want to disappoint his employer. "Now how can I push them?"

"Damn it." Kin Tsuchi drummed her fingers against the table as she tried to figure out how to reduce the amount of paralyzing poison injected by the specially bred insects that she had carefully bred over the last few months. The problem wasn't creating the paralyzing poison, it was figuring out how to limit the amount injected by the bugs. The latest batch she tested was still producing too much poison. She theorized that it was enough to cause complete respiratory failure within ten minutes. Which was good if they wanted the target to be dead, but bad if they wanted the target alive.

She had been working on this project for several months now, and with the increasing signs of an impending civil war, Kin was pushing herself to develop a way Shino and others in his clan could easily, and more importantly, quickly incapacitate other combatants.

Ever since Shino had, for lack of a better term, rescued her, Kin had been trying to find a way to pay him and his clan back. "Shino-Kun hadn't made it easy. He keeps being so nice and helping me; showing me new things and techniques." It still was baffling to her that he would spend so much time with her, given that as far as she knew, she wasn't anything special. Orochimaru had sent her to die, and so obviously she wasn't special enough to save. When she was certain that she was going to die in that dirty alleyway, Shino had shown up, carrying her away from her terrible past.

He had protected her and shown her how breed insects; informing her of their uses and how they functioned. Kin pushed herself everyday to try to repay him and his clan - even if they didn't seem to believe they needed to be repaid - , but with each act of kindness, her debt to him increased. And perhaps most damning of all, Kin found herself enjoying the quiet times with Shino, standing side by side with him as they worked on their projects.

During her time in the village, Kin had tried to find any girls who were both interested in Shino, and ones who would be strong enough to stand beside him. The former was a very select group, and adding the latter brought the count to almost zero. No girl was perfect, but Kin still had high standards for Shino. He was, after all, her best friend and she would not see him tied down to someone who didn't see how fantastic he was.

"Shino-Kun should be back soon from the date with Shina Nara. She had been quite interested in him, despite the fact that her hobbies mostly consist of caring for the Nara clan deer and training with her clan techniques." As a worried friend, Kin had made it a point to investigate any girl interested in Shino before she suggested that he ask them out. Strangely enough, Shino's mother, Mieko, had given her an amused look each time Shino had gone out on a date. Kin couldn't help but feel that Mieko knew something that she didn't.

"Kin-San." Shino's monotone voice sounded out from behind her, pulling Kin away from her thoughts. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great." Despite having just seen Shino a few hours prior, she couldn't stop the happy smile at seeing her best friend again, "How did the date go?"

"Well." Shino's posture didn't give anything away, "Her skill with handling her clan's deer is adequate, and she is skilled with her clan's techniques."

Kin frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "And what did you think of Shina as a person?"

Shino, having worked with Kin for almost three years, had grown to better understand the meaning behind phrases and sentences. "She was pretty?" He tried, unsure of what exactly to say, "She understood a small portion of what our clan does, and she seems to have a strong work ethic." Kin's expression didn't change, clearly wanting more information. "She understood a small portion of what you and I work on. I didn't disclose any specifics."

"You talked about me?" For some unfathomable reason, the thought was pleasing.

"Of course." There was an underlying baffled tone coloring Shino's words, "You are my best friend." He tilted his head slightly, "Did I make a social mistake again?"

"No no." Kin hurried to reassure him, "It's just that normally a guy doesn't talk about his female friends while on a date." She had read up on dating tips and tricks to assist him, "It can be sometimes off putting for the other person."

"Oh." Shino was still confused, "But you are an important part of my life. Does it not make logical sense to inform a prospective mate about such things?"

"Ummm…" Kin wasn't sure how to answer that one, nor was she sure of how she felt about it,"I honestly don't know."

"Understood." Shino accepted her answer and moved onto more important topics, "Have you made any progress?"

"Yes and no." Kin waved her hand towards the table, inviting him to take a look at the data. "I was able to decrease the output of the poison by nearly forty-three percent, but it's still above the lethal dose." She lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Shino blinked behind his sunglasses, "You have successfully bred eight different species of insects to create a specialized poison. You then carefully managed their growth to reduce poison injection dose by a total of sixty-four percent." Pride laced through his tone, "You have accomplished more than many in our clan has, and you have been here for only three years."

"I-It's not that big of a deal," Kin felt herself flush as she brushed a strand of her jet-black hair behind her ear, "You could have done better."

"Perhaps." Shino nodded, "But I have been working with insects since I was first bonded to a Queen and her hive when I was a child. You are rapidly catching up, and you have been here three years."

Kin felt her face flush even more. "R-Really?'

Shino nodded. After observing her face for a moment, he decided to take a page from Naruto's book. "Would it be appropriate to offer a hug?"

"Yes." Kin stepped into the hug, "You're getting the hang of this." Allowing herself to enjoy the comforting warmth radiating from Shino's body, she eventually shifted her shoulders so she could look up at him. "I'll find a girl that is right for you, don't you worry."

"Alright." Shino nodded, still confused why Kin was so insistent on finding him a mate, "I'm sure you will find the correct one." The pair stayed quietly in the embrace, enjoying the closeness for some time before parting. "Shall we see if we can refine your breeding queens?" The two headed off, oblivious to the fact that they had an audience.

"See? See?" Mieko Aburame pointed out quietly to her husband, her hand excitedly tapping his arm as she peered out from the corner of the house along with her husband, "Did you see it?"

"They hugged each other after speaking about Shino-Kun's meeting with his prospective mate." Shibi confirmed, unsure of why exactly his wife was so excited, "They are now going to work on Kin-San's project." Mieko made a face, signalling that he was missing something. Shibi ran the encounter he had just seen over in his mind, but he wasn't finding any new information. "I am being oblivious again, aren't I?"

"Yes." Mieko grinned at her love, finding his bafflement adorable, "Come on," She stood up and began pulling Shibi towards their house, "I'll explain in our room."

"Our room?" Shibi blinked, "There is other places that have adequate sound proofing."

Mieko let out a fond sigh as she pulled her confused husband along, "Come on you big weirdo. Some things are best discussed in private."

Shibi blinked, then blinked again. Ohhhh.

"Let us go discuss things in our room. Because it is private." He nodded to himself, pleased that he had figured out his wife's hidden meaning. "Yes."

"Dork." Mieko grinned happily as they entered the house, "Don't let me forget to explain what's going on once we are done."

"I shall do so."

It was shortly after midnight when the most of the civilian council met at their secret location. They met here every so often after summoned by a small note. They received orders from Orochimaru's lackey, Atsushi, and had been told that their families would be killed if they did not obey every order they were given.

"Good." Atsushi scanned over the assembled group, "You all are here." The Sound agent began pacing in front of the crowd. "The orders for this month are a bit different than past months. You all are going to start checking for structural weaknesses in buildings within a specific area." He pointed to the pile of scrolls on the ground. "Each of these scrolls have a section of Konoha mapped out. There is blank spaces for you to fill in the information required. Each scroll also has a list of information we require on the buildings in that section."

"This is preposterous." One of the members burst out, taking a step forward, "We'll be caught for sure." Several of the other members murmured angrily in agreement. "What are you thinking?"

"Ah." Atsushi chuckled for a moment before his eyes hardened."Tell me: How is your son Lelthan?" The council members froze. "Does he still like a little bit of honey with his bedtime tea?" The room was silent as a grave. "But do tell me about how my request is unreasonable." There was a cruel glint in his eyes, "Anyone?" He scanned the room, but none of the members would meet his eyes. "No?" He abruptly took a step back, "Then shut up and follow orders."

The man who had spoken up earlier ducked his head and made his way forward, stooping down slowly. He picked up a scroll. Atsuschi smirked as he watched each gathered member pick up a scroll one by one and then slowly leave the room.

"Men are so easily cowed." He chuckled to himself. It brought him no small joy that he wasn't a ninja, and couldn't channel any chakra, but they still feared him like he was an S-Class shinobi. His lack of combat prowess mattered little when the hearts and minds of those around him were so weak.

Iruka Umino let out a faint sigh as he watched the last child leave his classroom, the eight year olds happily chatting with each other. Despite the fact that he loved teaching, he couldn't help but feel guilty that he was teaching them skills necessary to kill others. None of them realized it yet, but they were already being molded to be soldiers of the Leaf. After he had finally understood what Naruto had meant about child soldiers, Iruka had nearly become physically ill from the thought that he was perpetuating the cycle. He had been on the way to the Hokage's office to quit when a even worse thought had struck him.

What if the instructor that replaced him didn't care about the students, only caring that the Leaf got a steady stream of soldiers? The thought paralyzed him. With his resolve reignited, Iruka had turned around and spent the weekend revamping his course material, subtly changing the context of many of his lessons from loyalty lessons to lessens in defense and how to protect those you cared about.

Today was a rare weekend in the fact that Iruka didn't have any tests or quizzes to grade, and he was able to accept Anko's weekly invitation to join her, Kakashi, Yugao, Hayate, Kurenai, and Asuma in their weekly casual dining meetings. With all that had been going on, it had been almost two years since he had done anything besides work, go home to continue to work, sleep, wake up, go to work, and grabbing food at some point during the day.

After cleaning up and locking the classroom door - yet another thing he didn't have to do in past years -, Iruka headed to the teachers' locker room. Shoving open the old door with a heave, he passed the first row of double-wide slate grey lockers. Turning down the second row, the brown haired instructor spied splashes of shiny red paint on his locker.

"Here we go again." Iruka shoulders slumped as he sighed, "I wonder what they defaced my locker with this time." Moving closer, he read the message that had been messily scrawled on both doors of the locker. 'Go To Hell Demon Lover! HUMANS FIRST!'

"Ah, it was the blunt one this time." Iruka quickly checked the doors for traps before opening them. "At least the other person who paints on my locker has clever messages and better handwriting." Pulling out a sealing scroll from his now open locker, he unsealed a paint can and brush. Prying open the paint can lid, Iruka quickly began painting over the words with quick, efficient strokes.

This wasn't the first time someone had defaced his locker, and it probably wouldn't be the last. The first time it had happened, he had reported it to the authorities, but no suspects had been found. Since then, Iruka had grown used to the issue, figuring it was better for the person or persons to take their anger out on his locker rather than on himself or others.

"Iru-Kun," Anko raised her hand to wave enthusiastically in his direction, "We're over here." Watching the brown haired instructor making his way over in her direction, she did her best to hide her smirk. Iruka had been rather stressed lately, and what better way to de-stress than to get smashed? "Actually," She shot a glance over at Kakashi who was in a deep discussion with Hayate about the properties of some sword, "There is better ways, but Iruka is a bachelor, so….getting him smashed it is." A genuine grin threatened to split her face as she remembered the news Kurenai and Asuma had.

"Iruka." Asuma looked over from his quiet discussion with Kurenai, "It's good to see you."

Iruka returned the greeting and sat down at the large round table. Asuma and Kurenai were sitting directly opposite him, with Anko and Kakashi to their right, and Yugao and Hayate on their left. After exchanging greetings and ordering their food, the group settled in to wait. Quizzically glancing over at Anko who was practically vibrating in her seat, Iruka figured he didn't have to wait long.

He didn't. "Kure-Chan has something to tell you." Anko burst out, unable to keep herself quiet any longer. "Go on." She waved an encouraging hand at her friend, "Show 'im."

Kurenai colored slightly from how everyone's attention focused on her, but she was still far too happy to truly care. Unlinking her hand from Asuma's she raised it above the table and placed it on the table. A modest ring gleamed in the light of the restaurant. "Kure-Chan is getting hitched." Anko supplied helpfully, "It happened just over two weeks ago."

"Congratulations." Iruka smiled at Kurenai and Asuma, truly meaning his words. It was too late for him, but he was happy that his friends finally took the final step. "I'm happy for you both."

"Thank-you." Asuma grinned, unable to maintain his stoic facade any longer. "Would you like to hear how I proposed?"

"Sure." Iruka settled in to hear the story, interested to hear how Asuma had done it, "How did it happen?"

The group of friends ate their food, swapping stories and memories as they slowly worked their way through the opportunity to catch up and hang out with each other. The upcoming days would be difficult, they all knew that, but right now, they could relax among friends.

"It has come to this." The windows were darkened, and the shadows in the room flickered in the torchlight. "All other plans have failed." The shrouded speaker's voice was solemn. "We have exhausted all other options." There was a moment of silence as the the six men in the room bowed their heads, reflecting on their failure.

"And so, we are forced to begin Operation Directive." The speaker had the room occupants' attention. "We all planned for this moment, but each of us hoped it would never come." The speaker glanced down gathering his thoughts. "But we swore an oath. We swore to protect our homes and our families from demons and monsters." His head slowly rose, fervor burning bright in his eyes, "We do not betray our race. We do not cower. We do not cling to a vision of a long dead society." His voice rose with every word. "We are the sons of humankind."

"We must do whatever it takes to stop the Kyubi before it destroys us, our families, and our homes." There was a energy building in the air, amping up those hearing his words. "They may take our lives, but they will never take our convictions! They may hurt us, but they will never break us."

There was a long, pregnant pause. Then, he spoke.

"Let's go save the world."

They were of one mind, and they would sacrifice everything to save the place they called home. It was, after all, what heroes did.

Mebuki Haruno let out a tired, but content sigh as she opened the front door to her home. Ever since the factions had slowly but surely split Konoha, there was steady work at the hospital, but she had been able to work her normal shift without having to work overtime. It was also nice to not have to worry if her coworkers would attempt to harm Naruto or Sakura. Kizashi, her husband, had recently gotten a job working the forge with Ken Kajiya. Kizashi had met Ken during the Chunin exams when Ken had cheered on his adopted daughter, Tenten.

Kizashi and Ken had bonded over their shared parental pride in their daughters, and promised to keep in touch. Several months later, they had started meeting up every few weekends to have 'guy time', that mostly involved Ken showing Kizashi how to forge weapons.

Shortly after Sakura, Naruto, Haku, and Hinata had left on their vacation, Kizashi had officially joined Ken's shop as a full time employee, given that Tenten was spending more and more time away from the shop, completing shinobi missions.

Seeing how much he enjoyed working at the shop, Mebuki didn't have the heart to request him to stop. Not wanting to spend a large amount of time in an empty home, Mebuki had returned to working full time at the Konoha First Hospital. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed nursing. "Kizashi should be arriving home soon." Hanging up her coat, the dirty blonde haired nurse moved towards the kitchen to start supper when she noticed a letter resting innocently on the dining room table.

Blinking, she noticed that the envelope had clinical handwriting that was distinctively Sakura's handwriting, and it was addressed to 'Mom and Dad'. Mebuki had received several other letters from Sakura the same way, each time showing up on the table. However, she had been warned to always check for traps before opening any mysterious letters or packages. Carefully studying the area around the letter for any traps or seals, she didn't see any of the signs that would indicate something malicious, she picked up the letter.

The letter crinkled as she picked it up, the dry sound echoing in the room. Her bright green eyes darted around the latter, turning it around to see if there was any seals on the envelope. Not seeing any, Mebuki tugged on the envelope's top, opening it. Carefully pulling the letter out the envelope with a rustle of paper, she checked the letter itself for one any seals. Not finding any, she flipped the paper over and began to read.

Dear Dad and Mom,

I'm sorry for not writing recently. It's been a hectic few weeks. While I can't go into any details, I can tell you that we heading back to Mist to finish up a few things. We met a few people we would like to see again before we leave. On a side note, I'm going to pick up a few new cookie recipes while I'm here.

While I can't, for obvious reasons, tell you our exact route, I can tell you that we will be taking a different route back. Naruto-Kun wants to go through the Land of Demons on the way back. Apparently the have some special ramen he wishes to try out. In addition, one of the Uzumaki scrolls he has been reading mentions that there is some kind of Uzumaki artifact buried there. Once we finish there, we are going to be finishing the trip via the sea, sailing directly to Wave.

I'm keeping this short since we only have a bit of time before we start moving for the day.

I miss you two, and will always love you.

Love,

Sakura.

Blinking away the happy tears that misted across her vision, Mebuki couldn't help but feel the swell of pride at her daughter's maturity. She had watched Sakura grow up, turning from an inquisitive baby to a rambunctious toddler. "Speaking of which, I need to show Naruto-Kun Sakura-Chan's baby pictures." Slowly making her way to the kitchen, letter still firmly in her grasp, Mebuki took in each picture that hung on the wall, each picture capturing Sakura as she grew older.

Sakura had grown up from the toddler to an adorable child, then to a feisty pre-teen. Giggling as she passed a picture that captured Sakura mid-lecture, Mebuki remembered the incident that had been taking place before the picture. Naruto had slipped on the recently washed kitchen floor, smacking his head against the table. Rather than tell anyone - like any other child would have - Naruto had simply stood back up, waited until his vision cleared, and then moved on. Sakura had found out shortly after that, and then had spent the next half hour lecturing her best friend on reasons why head injuries were problematic.

As Sakura gained friends and skill as a kunoichi, she blossomed into a intelligent teenager, hints of future beauty and strength showing even back then. Soon she grew into a mature and capable young woman. Arriving at the kitchen, Mebuki turned the oven on, put on the apron Kizashi had gotten her, and busied herself with gathering ingredients for supper. As she was grabbing a few dry ingredients from the pantry, Mebuki couldn't help but smile as she spotted the wooden sticks used as holders for rock candy.

After Fu had run out of the candy Jiraiya had brought for her, the mint haired girl had run into Mebuki one day as they had both been visiting the market district. After realizing that Fu was the one Sakura had been talking about, Mebuki had struck up a conversation with the young woman. As they talked, Fu had figured out that Mebuki cooked sweets as well as healthy food.

Inquiring with her normal exuberance, Fu had gotten Mebuki to agree to make some sugar cookies for her. From then on, Fu would stop in every few days to talk, listen to Mebuki's and Kizashi's stories, and to eat any sugary food that was available. Mebuki still didn't know where all of the food went.

Making a mental note to make a batch of rock candy for when Fu came over within the next few days, Mebuki grabbed the flour, salt, sugar, and a few other dry ingredients. Busing herself with making the baked snack, she missed the sound of the front door opening. She did not, however, miss the sound of her husband's voice.

"I'm home."

"I'm in the kitchen." She called back, twisting slightly to direct her voice out into the living room.

"Hey." Kizashi snagged an apron off of the hanger on the wall as he entered the kitchen, "What can I do to help?"

Not looking up from where she was mixing the ingredients, Mebuki pointed to the left towards a small pile of chicken. "Could you wash and cut the chicken? I realized that we don't have any cookies for Fu when she comes over next."

Chuckling to himself at his wife's insistence of always giving Fu to come visit, Kizashi finished tying the apron strings and pulled the kitchen knife out of the block. As he started on the chicken, he cast a glance over at Mebuki who was diligently measuring out the salt. Despite being immensely proud of their daughter, it was hard to know she was in danger. Sakura hadn't told them any details of their missions, but they could read between the lines. The occasional thin scar that hadn't been there before; the way her eyes swept the room before she relaxed - and she wasn't even aware she was doing it -; the times she had half formed a chakra scalpel when she was surprised, and countless other things.

Sakura had become an kunoichi, a powerful and graceful one. But the path of a shinobi was not something they could follow her on. Kizashi and Mebuki had accepted that truth, pushing their daughter to strive for her dreams. But that did not mean that it hurt to watch her leave. And that was before all of the confusion and worry that came after they had been attacked by the Yamanaka rebels.

Slicing into the chicken breast with a meaty thwack, Kizashi imagined that it was one of the men who forced Sakura to hurt her friends. "If I could get my hands on them…" Blinking at the violent direction his thoughts had taken him, Kizashi refocused. Given that Sakura couldn't, for understandable reasons, tell them exactly what was happening after they went the semi-forced 'vacation', Kizashi and Mebuki had worried for her, Hinata, Haku, and Naruto - each one had become an important part of their lives -, but there was nothing they could do about that worry. Then Mebuki had met Fu in the market.

The mint haired young woman had brought some much needed joy and hope back into their lives. Fu's innocent and almost childlike happiness was like a soothing balm, and soon both Kizashi and Mebuki looked forward to Fu's visits. The guest room, only dusted if guests were planned, was cleaned from top to bottom each week, and rather than simply sticking with what she knew, Mebuki had started experimenting with cooking, rediscovering her love for the culinary arts.

Turning off the faucet, Kizashi laid the final piece of cut chicken on the paper towel. Turning to face his wife, he couldn't help but grin at the look on her face. For some unfathomable reason, she found the sight of him in a apron rather stunning. Most of the time there wasn't much of an outward sign, but at times when she was caught off guard, it was rather obvious. "Like mother like daughter." Kizashi mused inwardly. He had seen Sakura get the same look on rare occasions when she was looking at Naruto. "I wonder what would happen if I got him an apron?" Mentally filing that thought away for later, Kizashi slowly approached his wife.

"What are you doing?" Mebuki also had a tendency to get flustered on occasion, "The cookies still need finished and then put into the oven and the chicken need seasoning and…" A light blush dusted her cheeks as she desperately tried to remain calm and in control. But Kizashi looked...amazing in the apron, and he was stepping nearer and nearer. "We…" She felt herself flush, "...Really need to finish the food."

Kizashi was almost within arm's reach.

"We..uhhh…" Warm heat crept up her spin, "Need to do cooking...things."

Kizashi stepped next to her.

"C-Cooking." What was she talking about again?

Kizashi's head lowered, moving towards hers.

Mebuki's lips drifted open and her eyelids fluttered shut.

Warm breath ghosted over her lips...then it was gone.

Her eyelids snapped open. "Wha?"

"Sorry about that." Kizashi held up the spice shaker, "I had to grab the spices for the chicken." Tilting his head as he assessed her, he couldn't help but ask, "Is something wrong?"

"N-No." Mebuki shook her head, feeling her bangs swish from side to side, "Nothing's wrong." Spinning to fully face the cookies and to hide her flushed cheeks, she missed Kizashi fight to hold a grin back.

"Sometimes it's good to be me."

So what did you think? Drop a review and let me know.

On Sasuke: Sasuke is torn between the belief that he has to avenge his clan by killing his brother, and nothing else but that matters (Represented by the darkness) and the hope that he could have a life outside of his vengeance (Represented by the light). In the end though, he steps into the light, only to turn out the lights of the training room (Choosing vengeance).

On the Sons of Humankind: The sons of humankind firmly believe that they are heroes, and that they have to save the world from monsters (such as the Kyubi). They are essentially well-intentioned extremists. They believe that any action is justified as long as it fits their goals (stopping the Kyubi from destroying the world).

To my reviewer's direct questions:

Bearmauls: I wanted to show that the Hiraishin was different than summoning, as well as establish that summoning has a specific conditions to use them (A certain amount of chakra and blood is needed). Given that tons of people use summons, I wanted the Hiraishin to 'feel' fundamentally different than summoning.

SuperKamiGuuru: One of the things I'm hoping to fix when I go back and remaster chapters (especially my older ones) is to remove some of the extra exclamation points and italics.

Djberneman: Essentially, the Minato and Kushina didn't have any land to speak of. And as far as the techniques, the village hasn't really found any specific techniques that are exclusive to the Uzumaki/Namikaze. They are somewhere, but they haven't discovered them yet. There should have been more consequences, but there was no real way to enforce said consequences without pushing the village to civil war, and that's not something they wanted at the time.

Djberneman:While I don't want to spoil anything, I will say that my mention and hints of Uzu aren't just for fluff.

Majin-kun: You'd be surprised how far people will go if they hate something/someone enough. Given that this is a more cynical approach to Naruto, I felt that it wouldn't feel out of place. And most of the Shinobi are, but they can also convince themselves that they aren't betraying the village by attacking Konoha.

Dragon Man 180: Sadly I will be sticking only to characters in Naruto. It would have been fun to include character's from other series, but given that this is a "What if" AU, they wouldn't have fit in the story's internal logic. While I don't want to spoil anything, I can confirm that Isaribi will be staying in Mist.

sattu05: Cynically speaking, people who are are the type of people who beat a small child due to misplaced hatred would ignore any logic that doesn't fit their worldview. Even in real life that happens often. And people believe that Naruto is the Kyubi itself, rather than it's container. As such, they are deliberately ignoring any evidence that counters their belief. People who are lashing out often don't use logic to drive their actions.

FicWader: Hiruzen's internal logic isn't perhaps the most sound, due to the fact that he is torn between his job as the leader of the village, and his own promise to take care of Naruto. Given that most of the village hates Naruto, and at the point of chapter 4, Hinata still isn't being acknowledged by her Father, Hiruzen can't guarantee that Team 8 would be successful politically speaking. The important thing to note is that Hiruzen wanted a team that functioned well as a political team, and he didn't want to take a risk on Team 8 (that decision majorly backfired, but he couldn't have known that at the time). Still, I understand where you are coming from. I'm hoping that when I go back and remaster the older chapters, I'll be able to make it a bit clearer.

FicWader: I hate to burst your bubble, but Konoha would risk their soldiers like that. Konoha creates child soldiers, deliberately so. And given that Team 8 has proven that they are stronger than the average genin, they would have sent them to take out a group like that. Kurenai is there as the Genin's teacher, not as their protector. Weak soldiers don't benefit Konoha. And you are right, looking back, it shouldn't have taken that long for the two children and their teacher to kill 50 people. At the time I was still learning how to write fight scenes and timing, and miscalculated a bit.

Nin-Guest: I just read Sepheroes96's post on "Naruto Ending Was A Major Disappointment" and I have to say that I agree with most of his/her's points. I agree with your assessment of the state of the early chapters of HotE, and I'm hoping within the next few weeks to start to start to go back and remaster the early chapters, mainly focusing on reducing the grammer issues, clearing up/fixing unfinished sections, and clarifying things that seem to hang up new readers.