Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 53: No Safe Place

Kakashi looked at the broken mask on the ground. It had been sliced in half. He had been lucky to survive the blow. He had control of his limbs but the poison's effects still lingered. Everything felt delayed from his comprehension to his reaction time. It felt like he was relaying instructions to someone standing on the other side of a wall and they tried to act out the movements to the best of their ability based on the jumbled mess of words.

His brain, his nerves, and his appendages were all delayed. It was maddening. It was going to cost him his life. It already cost him his eye. He looked at the bearded Uchiha, Yuuji. He saw him once or twice before. He owned the bar that burned down. Obito and he had drank at his bar once. It was not a particularly fond memory. Yuuji was an unfriendly fellow. He did not have the proper disposition for his job. Today did nothing to improve his impression of him.

Kakashi jumped out of the way to avoid a bolt of electricity. The bastard had lightning and fire release. He was half expecting him to pull out the wind release just for the fun of it. He compelled his uncooperating legs to push forward. His sword angled for The Uchiha's head.

The man did not look impressed. He spun and landed a kick in Kakashi's torso. He was thrown back painfully. His back landed against the trunk of the tree. He heard a sickening crack. He stared at the man from the ground. Water splashed as the Uchiha stepped closer to Kakashi.

"It's over." The Uchiha said with finality.

Kakashi felt the fabric of his mask become soaked through. He closed his eye and sent a silent apology to Naruto and Shizune.

"It is," Kakashi said without emotion as his finger uncurled.

The Uchiha's eyes widened. Both their hearts stopped at the same time as a jolt of electricity raced over the water. The Uchiha's body fell loudly to the ground not far from the Hatake's.

She pressed her finger to her lip. The fire in her palm gave her face a disconcerting glow. They nodded solemnly at her as she moved up the rungs of the ladder. She had three more steps to go when the only source of light was deliberately put out.

Choji grabbed his mother's hand tighter as the darkness surrounded them.

Yoshino let go of the ladder with both hands. She kept her feet securely in place with chakra as she tried to push the manhole cover upwards. It creaked but it did not let up. Her eyes widened. She tried again with both her palms pressed firmly against the cast iron. Yoshino gritted her teeth as she used all her strength. She felt it budge slightly before she had to let up.

She breathed heavily as her brain tried to think of something that would get them out of the situation they were in. The walk had been long. The kids could not turn back and exit from where they entered only to make the trek again.

She was not strong enough to do it on her own. The ladder was only wide enough for one person at a time. The women could not work together to try to open it. Something from the surface, the top was weighing down the cover. That much she knew.

"Okaasan?" Shikamaru's voice called out timidly.

Yoshino narrowed her eyes. There was light once more. She looked at the water at their feet.

"Everyone backway and get to the sides. As close as you can to the walls." She grabbed the first arm she could reach. She hauled Ino toward the sides of the sewer. The rest hurried to follow. The water sloshed as they moved.

"Good now turn and face the wall. Be as flat as you can, kids." She demonstrated.

"I'm scared," Choji admitted in a terrified voice.

"You're okay," Yoshino did not pay him much mind.

She looked at the women. "Stand in front of the kids and brace against them. I'm going to use the water to open the cover."

The Akimichi looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "We'll draw attention! The Uchihas will come running for us."

Yoshino spared her a sharp look. Choji was growing more frantic at the words of his mother. "It won't. No one in their right mind will run toward a sewer burst. They'll be too busy running away to notice us."

"No," the brunette with brown eyes shook her head adamantly. "It's a terrible plan."

The Yamanaka's blue eyes scanned the faces of the children. She looked at the Akimichi. "We have to try." She pleaded with her eyes for the woman to calm down. Yoshino grabbed both their wrists and dragged them away from the children, just out of their earshot.

"I'm not strong enough, none of us are. You have to trust me." Yoshino said in a hushed tone.

"What if it doesn't open? You would be effectively drowning us." The brunette stated.

"It will open. I can generate enough pressure with my jutsu," Yoshino told her testily.

"When was the last time you used a jutsu of this level?" Miyoko could not help but ask.

Yoshino's scowl grew. "Never mind that, it's like riding a bike." She assured them hastily.

The Akimichi and Yamanaka exchanged glances. They both knew that Yoshino did not know how to actually ride a bike.

"My son is here. Your kids are here. You have to know I would not be suggesting this if I did not believe it could work. I will work. It's our only option."

Yoshino waited with bated breath as the women mulled it over. She locked eyes with Shikamaru.

"I'm really scared," Choji was holding his head in his hands.

"It will be okay, Choji." Ino patted him on the back. "We'll get lots of chips after this when we get out."

"If we ever get out," Choji was quick to correct her.

Ino rolled her eyes. "We'll get out." She said firmly even though she felt her sureness wane. The moms looked worried. Yoshino-obachan was looking more stressed than usual.

"There's no food down here!" Choji lamented. "We could die in here!"

Ino looked at him in shock. It was as if the idea was occurring to her for the first time. She hugged her arms around herself.

"I want to see my Otosan again." Her blue eyes were beginning to fill with tears.

Choji was already crying. "I want to see mine too!" He sniffled.

Shikamaru looked at his friends. It was bad. "Ino, Choji," he looked at them both in the face with a stern expression. The two snapped their heads at him. "We are going to get out. We are not going to die in here. We will get all the chips you want, Choji, when this is over."

"How do you know?" Ino and Choji asked him in unison.

"The water will shoot up and open the cover. I could explain it in more detail if you want but it's like a water hose. It doesn't matter what you put in front of the end: a leaf, a paper, or a cap. If the water is fast enough it will shoot the thing right off." Shikamaru explained to them calmly.

Ino and Choji exchanged looks.

Ino blinked. "If you say so," she adjusted her hair clip. "I believe you, Shika." She said with conviction.

Choji rubbed his eyes. "Me too. I can't wait to get barbeque with everyone once this is over."

Shikamaru released the breath he was holding. His friends were grinning as they talked about what they would do first once this was all over. His skin pricked. He was surprised to see his mom looking at him with a particular look in her eyes.

Ino and Choji's moms looked at them.

"Okay, flat against the wall," Miyoko told them with calm authority.

The young Ino-Shika-Cho trio nodded at each other before they moved to comply. They stood there shoulder to shoulder as the women came to stand behind them.

"We're ready!" Miyoko called out in a clear voice.

Shikamaru closed his eyes.

The water around his feet sank until he was standing on dry ground. It was too dark to see anything. He felt Ino's pinky reach out towards his, he hooked his around hers just as she hooked the pinky of her right hand around Choji's.

Yoshino narrowed her eyes and focused her water cannon on the spot she knew the cover was. She let out a breath as she directed the water upwards. It hit the cast iron with great force. The cover rattled. She did not let up, she kept her jutsu in place. She clenched her teeth as the water started to rain down on her.

Yoshino closed her eyes and poured more chakra into the jutsu. The cover stopped rattling the water shot into the air high enough that she did not have to worry about it coming back down on their heads. She released the jutsu. The water drenched her to the bone. She ignored it. She let out a breath when she heard the cover land with a loud thud.

No one said anything and no one moved for two minutes. She counted the seconds. It took a couple of times to ignite her damp palms. She turned around and smiled at the women and kids.

"It worked."

Shikamaru walked to his mother. She gave him a strange look. He wrapped his arms around her legs not caring that she was soaked with sewer water.

"I'm really glad you're my Okaasan."

Yoshino's heart melted. The light in the space dimmed as she brought a hand to the back of Shikamaru's head.

"I'm really glad you're my son." She said firmly.

The moment could not last forever. "Let's keep it moving everyone." She called out sharply as she gently pushed Shikamaru away so that she could use both hands to illuminate the steps. She held up one of her arms.

Shikamaru smirked as he shook his head as she bossed the moms and the kids up the steps.

"Troublesome," he muttered under his breath fondly.

Obito's desperation grew with each passing second. He lost track of the samurai and the girls. The Uchiha he faced had been better than he had expected. There was sudden uneasiness he felt to his core. His mind immediately went to Rin. He calmed himself by reminding himself that she was not on the front lines. She was healing. She was surrounded. She was fine.

Naruto was probably in the evacuation center along with Sakura. They were fine. The periodic shockwaves that ripped through the village were an indication that Minato was very much alive. That only left Kakashi.

For all of Kakashi's talk about Rin not being there to patch him back together, Obito was the most worried about him. Kakashi was injury-prone. Kakashi was not nearly as indestructible as he liked to believe. To add to it, he had been working himself to the ground. But he supposed it was for good reason. They were in a massive mess. A mess that his clan had a hand in.

He pushed through the pain. The slug, Katsuyu, did not attach herself to any of the Uchiha. He was on his own. He supposed he understood. How could she possibly know which Uchiha was friend or foe? He was going in blind. His left arm was limp. He lost full range of motion in it a while back.

He needed to find Kakashi. He needed to see with his own eyes. He could not sense his signature anymore. It was troubling. But he knew that he was still in the village somewhere. He would find him. Obito continued to go in the direction he had felt a firefight not too long ago.

It was the last time he had definitively for a fact known that Kakashi was alive. He ignored the bodies that littered the ground. Uchiha and Konohan blood ran in the streets. The earth was saturated by their sacrifice.

Instinct was the only thing he could rely on right now. If he listened to his heart, he would be nothing more than a heap of devastation. If he listened to his head, he would fly off the handle and kill each and every last one of them. Instinct kept him. Instinct kept him focused on the task at hand.

He had to find his comrade. Any chances they had of surviving today were tied with him. He had to be okay.

His dark eyes scanned his surroundings. He was seeing everything but his brain was focused. It was not processing all the noise, the details. He was laser-focused on anything and everything Kakashi-related. He was close. Obito looked past the toppled-over wooden fence or the half-burnt home. He was about sixty yards from the tower. He was walking closer and closer to the motionless face of the First.

Kakashi must have doubled back after dropping off Naruto and Sakura. That would explain why he was in between the Tower and the catacombs. Obito hissed as a gust of wind hit the exposed ligaments of his arm. He would need to find a medic soon if he had any hopes of keeping it.

It was eerily quiet. The area must have been cleared of combatants. He was thankful. He was in no condition to survive another round. He was confident in his abilities to take one maybe even two down with him but he really did not want it to come to that. His soul would not find any peace or solace if he died before achieving his dream. He could not have people calling him a liar.

He fought back a groan as he continued to move with slow, deliberate steps. He stared at the destruction and devastation with flat eyes. He would mourn tomorrow. Today he still had a job to do. He still could not sense his chakra. He was growing more and more impatient as his concern grew.

He walked towards the side of the buildings. Towards the trees that would eventually open up to the training grounds. He could climb one and get a better vantage point. His eyes narrowed. He spotted silver. He stopped. Kakashi was face down on the ground. Not too far from him was another Uchiha also in a similar position.

"Kakashi!" He exclaimed loudly. He did not care if anyone heard. Maybe a medic would be nearby. Obito ran to him, barely noticing the pain caused by this arm jostling. He resisted the urge to turn him over. He remembered Rin telling him that was a huge no-no for spinal and head injuries. He brought his fingers to Kakashi's neck. He was still warm. But there was no pulse.

"Damn you, Kakashi!" Obito ground out through gritted teeth. He looked at the water puddle that Kakashi was in. His mind worked quickly. He grabbed the large Uchiha by an ankle and dragged him away until he was in no way touching the water. He was dead. He wanted him to stay that way.

Obito brought the index and middle fingers of his right hand together. "Here goes nothing." He muttered to himself. His special training might just save a life. He ensured that he was in no way touching the water. He pressed his fingers to Kakashi's back, right around where his heart was on the other side. There was a flash of light and a brief electrical hum. Kakashi's body convulsed.

Obito waited with bated breath. Nothing happened. Kakashi did not move. He checked his pulse. There was nothing. "You can't die this easily on me!" He shouted. He tried again only this time he pumped in more juice. Kakashi's body rose up before landing with a thud.

"No!" Tears streamed down his face. "Last chance, Bastard. Don't sleep on me now!" Electricity crackled through the length of his hand. Obito took a deep breath. He pressed his palm firmly on Kakashi's back. He set his face in a grimace. He could smell Kakashi's skin burning. He pulled back his hand.

His heart sank. That was all he had. Anything more and Kakashi would still be dead. He covered his eyes with his arm. He cried. He cried for the loss of his best friend. His shoulders shook as a sob ripped through his throat. He hung his head. He did not even acknowledge the sudden presence of two chakra signatures.

He flinched when he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. "He's dead," Obito said brokenly, not opening his eyes.

Rin took in a slow breath. She tucked her hair behind her ears. She set her jaw and squared her shoulders as her eyes narrowed slightly. Rin took two slow steps toward Kakashi. Her hand was steady. She brought it to his neck. She drowned out the sound of Obito's sobs. Just like how she drowned out the sounds of her own fear. She closed her eyes. She listened.

Itachi turned his head. They were too late. His hands curled into fists. Kakashi was dead. Obito's wails were ringing in his ears. First, it had been Shisui, and now Kakashi. The price for his failure was too much. He sat on the ground heavily. He pulled his knees to his chest. The tightness in it was making it hard to breathe. His thoughts consumed him.

"Rin? What are you doing Rin?" Obito asked through his tears.

The medic ignored him. She continued to pump her chakra into Kakashi. She healed his broken back. He had been lucky. It could have been so much worse. She fixed the punctured lung. She started to undo the damage that close-range electricity had done to his skin.

Obito got up unsteadily to his feet. He walked to her. The anger was palpable on his face. He reached to grab her wrist.

"He's dead." He said harshly. "Stop wasting your chakra." Someone had to stop her before she drained everything that was in her coils.

She looked at him with anger that could melt ice caps.

"Obito-baka, he's not dead." She said firmly. She turned her attention back to Kakashi.

"Rin," Obito's expression became one of anguish. "He's dead. I checked him for a pulse. I pumped him with enough electricity to fry a buffalo. He's gone."

She shook her head. "He is not." She said adamantly.

Itachi watched as they argued. The knot twisted even tighter. He breathed in raggedly.

"He's dead!" Obito snapped. He was on the verge of losing it.

"He's not dead!" Rin shouted back, matching his tone in every way.

They glared at each other. They were both not willing to let up. Rin's eyes blazed with conviction. Obito's chin was jutted out in defiance. He narrowed his eyes. All the anger he felt regarding the whole situation simmered to the surface.

"Rin, admit it!" Obito all but growled. "He's dead."

"He's not dead, Obito. I'm the medic. I should know!" She shot back at him matching his intensity. "He's not dead until I say so!" She said with as much ferocity as she could manage. Her brown eyes were bursting with fight.

"Do I get a vote?" A weak voice called out. It was raspy but they all heard it.

Obito's eyes widened. His mouth hung loose. Itachi got up to his feet. Both Uchiha walked closer to the corpse that spoke.

Rin looked beside herself in smugness.

"You saved his life, Obito." She admitted gruffly.

Kakashi blinked at the shell-shocked Uchiha. "I guess I owe you one."

"No shit you do," Obito said once he recovered from the shock. He helped Rin turn Kakashi onto his back.

Rin's expression pitched into concern. "Kakashi, your eye." She said in a sad voice.

"It's gone." He took a deep breath of the smoky air. The act of drawing breath no longer hurt.

"I can help with that." Itachi cleared his throat.

The trio looked at him in surprise. They had completely forgotten about him. Kakakshi looked at him through his good eye, the right one. He understood immediately what Itachi was saying.

"No," he said firmly. He would much rather have one good eye than two eyes where one came from a corpse. A corpse that did not give him permission.

"He would want you to have it," Itachi said tightly.

Rin looked between the Uchiha and the Hatake. "Whose is it?" She asked the question that she knew was on the rest of Team Minato's mind. It was not her place to ask before but now that involved Kakashi it very much was.

"Shisui's," Itachi answered in a tight voice.

Obito hung his head. His face became strained. "He was a good guy, Kakashi." His voice was so hollow.

Rin bit her lip. It would not be viable forever. "What do you say, Kakashi-kun?" She looked at him with sympathetic brown orbs. There were unshed tears in her eyes.

Kakashi stared at Itachi. They exchanged a long hard look. Kakashi looked at Rin and gave a short nod. She took the eye from Itachi in her hands carefully. She transplanted it into Kakashi's empty eye socket. The red Sharingan stared back at her.

"How's the feel?" She asked him softly as she pulled her hand back from his new eye.

He closed his right eye. He looked through the left. "Wrong." He answered the question.

Rin sighed. Kakashi pulled his hitaiate over his left eye.

Kakashi sat up. His head spun. He groaned.

"You're in no condition to be moving around." Rin chided him half-heartedly. She knew he would not listen. Her hands were already working to fix up Obito. He could feel his arm again.

"I need to find Naruto." Kakashi took Obito's newly healed arm to rise onto his feet.

"Naruto?" Obito asked him with a frown. Rin had a worried look on her face.

"Spider is after him." He ignored the look Obito gave him. He did not have time to fill them in on her abilities. "Stay away from her. Don't let her touch you."

"Naruto's safe." Itachi's voice cut the uneasy tension. They all turned to look at him.

"Where is he?" Kakashi asked him with a sense of urgency.

"Senju compound," Itachi answered quickly. "I need to find Shun." He left without another word.

"Are you going to go get him?" Obito asked Kakashi.

The Hatake shook his head. "He'll be safe there."

"So what now?" Rin asked her teammates.

"We help sensei?" Obito offered.

Kakashi shook his head once again. "None of us have summonings big enough to go against the Kyuubi. We will just be in the way."

"I need to get back to the healing station," Rin announced.

"I'll take you." Obito assigned himself to the task. "We'll see if anyone still needs to be evacuated."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll see if I can thin the numbers."

Obito looked at him sharply. "Rin-chan put a lot of work into patching you up. You better not die now, Bastard."

Kakashi nodded. "I don't plan on it." He looked at the two of them. "Thank you." He vanished.

Obito scoffed and crossed his arms. "Always has to be Mr. Cool Guy." He rubbed the back of his head. "Guess it's just you and me." Obito looked at her with a lopsided smile.

Rin narrowed her eyes. Obito's eyes widened with concern. "Obito, will you marry me?" She asked him with determined eyes. There was no doubt or hesitation in her demeanor.

The color drained from Obito's face. "Rin-chan?!" He shrieked. He looked like he was about to faint. "I had a whole thing planned!" He tugged at his short hair and stomped his foot.

"Yes or no, Obito." She asked him sharply.

He froze. He saw the unspoken promise on her face. He could not mess this up. He swallowed audibly. "Yes, Yes. Yes!" He took her into his arms and spun her around. "Yes, I'll marry you!" He threw his head back and shouted.

Rin giggled. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Good," she said after she kissed him.

He was grinning from ear to ear. She had never seen him so happy. "Let's go help the village, Rin-chan!" He took her by the hand and dragged her towards the healing area.

She let him. She did not fight the large smile on her face nor the relief in her heart. In this moment she was happy and the world was not falling apart on her. It was just this one moment. It was all she asked for.

Her left eye was closed shut. The laceration she suffered right under her brow was deep enough that it kept raining blood - and Kami knows what else - into it. She could only hope that the civilians made it to safety okay. She looked at the unmoving Uchiha corpse. She was getting really tired of this. She killed one and it felt like another two were there to take their place.

"One down, one to go." She said grimly. She looked at Kuromaru. His paw pads were a little toasty but he would live. He had been through worse. So had she.

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes at her. "You are a bug. I will crush you."

Tsume frowned. "Wrong clan there, broody." She turned her head to the side. His Sharingan did not look all that developed there was only one tomoe. He was the weakest of all the Uchiha she faced.

"Aren't you supposed to be showing me pretty pictures or something? I feel so ripped off right now."

The Uchiha grunted. He fisted his hands. He was shaking in anger. She had poked the right button. She held her side to her. There was a nasty cut. The slug was working on getting it patched up. It was shrinking in size. She felt marginally better.

She smelled the air. Her ninken's hackles raised. "Now what?" She said tersely. She fell into a defensive stance as two more Uchiha came out of the woodwork.

"Inuzuka-san," the woman, with beautiful long black hair styled in a high ponytail that was also tied at the end, looked over her shoulder at her. "Leave him to us. This is our responsibility to fix." She turned to glare at the Uchiha.

Tsume blinked. She did not look convinced. "How do I know this is not a trick?" For all, she knew they would kill her the minute she turned her back.

"No tricks," the man spoke. His voice was layered with grave disappointment. "Please go help evacuate more civilians."

She hesitated. She looked at Kuromaru. He nodded at her. She spared their backs a long hard look. She turned on her heel. She followed her nose. She smelled fear not too far from where she was. She ran towards the burning building. Kuromaru was right at her heels.

He let out a sigh of relief. They were finally here. He lowered the girls to the ground. They followed closely after him as he opened the doors. It took their eyes a couple of minutes to adjust to the lack of light. They looked at the hundreds of faces huddled together. They were all scared.

He turned back at the girls. They were looking back at him with similar expressions on their faces. He could not just leave them here on their own. But he also could not stay with them either. He felt conflict for the first time in his life of this magnitude. It was his needs versus theirs. He led them by their shoulders. There was not a single familiar face he saw in the crowd.

He sat down. The girls followed suit. Karin hung around him while Tukiko sat next to her. He was anxious but he imagined so were they. Maybe even more so than him. He circled his raised knees with his arms. This was the choice he was making. He hoped it was the one she would want him to make. The duality of his decision was not sitting right with him. It felt like no matter what he chose. It would not be the right choice. Maybe there was no such thing.

He did not get a chance to sit alone with his thoughts of conflicted feelings for very long. There were murmurs and muttering and years of his life taught him that was not a good thing. His shoulders tensed up in preparation for what was surely to come. He was mindful of where the girls were. They were not quite safe yet.

"Hey!" A man rose up. He pointed a finger at Tukiko. Joben held out an arm, his hand was stretched to its full capacity. He spared the man a harsh glance. It was a warning. He would be foolish to press ahead.

"It's an Uchiha!" The fool exclaimed. His finger pointed in accusation straight at Tukiko. The girl shrank as small as she could go against the hard rock wall.

"Lower your finger." He said in a low tone.

"He's right!" A shrill voice of a woman said. She was beside herself. "They let an Uchiha in here!"

"They're going to kill us all!" Another panicked voice call from the back.

Joben watched as a small crowd began to form around him. His eyes narrowed. "She is a child." He said in an even tone. He remained seated. He did not want to escalate the situation any more than it already was. It was the last thing the girls needed.

"She is a snake!" An old man shot up. "She is like the rest of them!"

"Look what they are doing to the village! They cannot be trusted." Another faceless voice called from the crowd.

The crowd was beginning to move in closer. Joben slowly got up to his feet. He kept himself between the masses and the cowering girls. His arm was still held out.

Karin grabbed her sister's hand. Tukiko was shaking. She put her hands over her ears. Joben's nostrils flared.

"She is a child. She has done nothing wrong. She is no different than any of you." He tried and failed to keep his voice down. "You should be ashamed of yourselves!" He leaned into the righteous anger he felt.

Some faces looked admonished. Others not so much.

A brown head of hair shot up. She clambered onto her feet. She began to make her way towards the commotion.

"She does not belong here. They will come looking for her. She's putting us all at risk!" The man to start it all got even more in his face. Voices of agreement called out in the crowd. More people rose to their feet. The situation was going from bad to worse. It was escalating.

Mako pushed through the crowd. She did not care who she had to shove to get to the front.

"Tukiko-chan! Karin-chan!" She called out in pure relief.

"Mako-chan?" Joben asked her as if he did not trust his eyes.

Mako barely registered Joben's disbelief as she ran to the girls. She hugged them to her. Karin was crying and Tukiko was shaking violently.

"You're going to be okay," she whispered as she pressed her hands against their foreheads. "Everything is going to be okay," she assured them gently while her eyes glared daggers at the crowd.

Joben turned his attention back to the angry and disgusted faces in front of him. He was at a loss for why this was happening.

"She's an outsider!" A woman quipped. "Just like you!" Now Joben had a finger pointed in his face.

There was a chorus of agreement. They moved closer. He held his ground.

"We want them gone." A voice shouted out.

"Close your eyes," Mako whispered to them as her arms tightened around their shoulders. Karin turned her head toward Mako's shoulder. Tukiko clenched her fists.

"You'll have to go through me first." Joben's fingers were itching for his katana. They were civilians, it was against the code to raise his hand against them but he had to protect the child. Her child.

The five men in the front of the crowd looked like they were ready to pounce. Joben slid into a defensive stance, his muscles were rippled with anticipation.

"Just what in the world is going on here?!" A sharp voice cut through the air.

The crowd parted like the sea. Joben scrunched his nose as Yoshino walked closer. She had her own mini-crowd with her. The faces in the bigger more hostile crowd gagged and covered their noses. They shot Yoshino and company dirty looks but she paid them no mind.

"Well?" She demanded. Her hands were on her hips. Shikamaru watched her with calculating eyes.

"There's an Uchiha in here!" The man, the instigator, pointed to Tukiko.

"So?" Yoshino asked him with a blank face.

The man sputtered. "They are risking everyone's safety. The Uchiha are the enemy." He could not believe it. "She even has a weapon."

Joben turned at this. She was still clinging to the kunai he gave her. Mako looked back at the scene unfolding with surprise.

"She's an excellent shot. Kami forbid someone gets through the doors, you'll be thankful she has it." Joben said as he crossed his arms.

Yoshino looked from the man to Joben. "I vouch for her. For all three of them." She said firmly.

"Nara-san you can't be serious?!" The man balked.

"Do I look like the type that jokes around?" She narrowed her eyes. Her voice went low. Shikamaru involuntarily shuddered.

The man paled. The crowd had gone silent. They watched as the two women, Yamanaka and Akimichi moved to stand behind Joben. They obscured the view of the Uchiha girl.

Some of the faces in the crowd had turned around and gone back to their spots. The show was over. There was no more fun to be had. The man still held firm.

"You're risking the safety of all of us here for one girl." He tried to reason with Yoshino.

"The only thing I'm risking is losing my patience with you, Fujita-san. And the only thing you're risking is losing business with the Naras." She threatened him casually. "You have reasonable prices for medication for the deer but there are other options. I would much rather prefer not to do business with someone with hateful and discriminatory views. As you're well aware I am very conscientious of how I spend my clan's money."

The words died in his throat. He all but slinked away without so much as another word. Joben looked at the Nara, impressed.

"You're scary," he complimented her.

Yoshino grinned. "That's what they tell me." She looked at the girls and Mako. "They'll be fine with us." She promised.

He nodded his head. "I need to go find Kushina." His jaw clenched.

Yoshino nodded. "Bring her back alive."

"I will," Joben promised her and himself. He felt his arm being pulled. He was surprised to see Tukiko. Her dark eyes bore into his. Her eyes said what her lost voice could not. Joben nodded his head. "I'll bring her back." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly before he turned on his heel.

Tukiko did not look away when Yoshino led her back to the group. She watched after him as long as she could. Tukiko's hand was starting to cramp but she kept the kunai clutched to her as she sat next to Karin and Mako. She found it reassuring.

Hiruzen closed his eyes as another roar flooded the air right before yet another shockwave. The windows rattled. It had been going on for a while. A lot longer than he expected. It was now an hour from sunrise, it was 6:38. He could not help but wonder how much longer any of this would carry on.

He took a long drag of his pipe. The windows were all closed. The smoke in the room was all from him. It had nothing to do with the fires that burned throughout the village. His eldest son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild had all already left for the evacuation safe zone behind the monument.

He had no idea where Asuma was, it had been in the early morning hours of Saturday when the attack started. Which meant it was right after a Friday night. He did know, however, that the jonin could take care of himself. He was more than capable. Biwako, his wife, refused to evacuate if he did not. She was still in the house. He could hear her footsteps in the room above him. She was not even trying to be subtle as she opened and closed drawers and doors and shuffled her feet.

The day had come. It was a number of years after it originally was supposed to be. It was different enough but in the end, it was all the same. The Kyuubi was a threat to the existence of Konoha. The Uchiha were plotting against the village. Nothing had actually changed. It was just delayed or accelerated depending on what end was taken into account. It left him feeling like maybe nothing would be different at all. Maybe certain things had to take place and the order in which they did was insignificant to the bigger picture.

His mind was consumed with thoughts, with memories of what she told him a decade ago. He had not thought of that conversation once since handing the reins over to the Yondaime. Why would he? It was no longer his problem. He was retired.

But now on the eve of the dawn of a new day, he was rooted in place. He was firmly lodged in those thoughts. Everything that he had learned from her. It spun around him like a vortex. If he took one step or lifted a hand, it would be catastrophic. He would get swept up in it all over again.

Maybe knowing what was to come was not enough to stop it. It was a special form of psychological torture. Knowing your demise was approaching and being powerless to stop it even if you were given time. All her struggles to avoid this and yet here they were once again.

Had it been worth it? Would it have been easier to swallow if she did nothing and let it happen? Surely it was better than her throwing her whole heart into it and having it not count for anything.

Initially, the loss was personal by proxy. She was trying to give Naruto a better childhood. The notion was noble but the cost was a steep one to pay. Now the loss was much more personal. Now instead of hitting close to home, the loss hit her in her home. And he for one could not say if they were better off now than what happened. But he supposed his opinion was irrelevant.

No one asked him. Not the Gods, not Minato, not Kushina, and not her. The Gods had a very clear objective and they delivered. So did she. The Gods got what they wanted - if that assumption could be made - so they were happy. They did not see the human side of things. They did not see the personal cost that one person had to endure to set the scales in balance once again.

He did not see a way out for her. She pulled herself together once before. He did not see her doing that again now. The cost was too much. She would be losing the two people she cared about most. She would lose her best friend who was more like a sister. She would also lose her husband who was her partner. And her son would be doomed to a cruel fate. It was too much.

Hiruzen let out a long breath. He saw the smoke ring before it dissipated. He heard Biwako's steps coming down the stairs. She walked into the room. She was holding something across her arms. She stared at him as he sat in his favorite forest green recliner with his feet up.

"It's time," Biwako stated firmly. She held out his battle uniform. "Get dressed." Her brow furrowed as silence blanketed them. Her husband made no move to get up.

"No." He said back. He matched her tone perfectly.

Biwako gawked at him as if he lost his mind. From where she stood it appeared to be the case.

"The village needs you. Konoha needs everyone she can get, Hiruzen."

"The best thing I can do for the village is stay alive." He cleared his throat. There was a tickle in it. It caused his eyes to water slightly.

She pursed her lips together. Her eyes commanded him to continue, to explain himself.

"If the Yondaime dies, the Sandaime needs to live to ensure the village does not fall into chaos. We cannot give our enemies any further opportunity to take advantage of what happened today. Konoha's needs come first." He said with a heavy heart. "I knew this day may come." He added gravely.

Biwako narrowed her eyes. Her shock did not last long.

"What a comfort that would be for the village to have their Sandaime step up after their beloved Yondaime is killed." Her tone was scathing. She all but threw his uniform on the sofa.

She turned on her heel. Her ponytail whipped her side. He noticed with a start that she was wearing the standard jonin uniform. Something he had not seen her don for decades now.

"Where are you going?" His voice called out to her.

"To help the village. There are never enough healers." She said through tight lips.

The door slammed closed. It rattled the picture frames on the wall.

Itachi opened his eyes. He kept an iron-tight grip on his emotions. The coin in his hand kept him grounded. It reminded him what this all cost.

It was time.

He stared into the eyes of his enemy. He had the same eyes now too. Shisui's right eye burned in its socket. It demanded revenge. He held onto his sanity. The coin bit into his skin.

"Took you long enough, Itachi," Shun smirked at him.

"You die today," Itachi vowed. He studied the older man.

"I won't hold back this time. I suggest you do the same." Shun disappeared.

Itachi exhaled.

A/N: Itachi Vs. Shun next chapter :O. Hello readers! We're getting really close to the end here. Updates might be more frequent now as we power through the last hanful or so chapters. Thank you for following along so far. And as always thanks to those who followed, favorited and with special thanks to those who reviewed. :) Until next time!