Chapter 7

Sasuke and Satsumei

They got lucky. Naruto showed up just in time to stop a tail from swiping down at them from the giant sand tanuki that formed from Gaara. Naruto sliced straight through it using a MASSIVE wind blade elongated from Fujin. The amount of chakra that had to have gone into that must have been astounding but Naruto hardly seemed phased. Must have been using Kurama's chakra, Sasuke and Satsumei surmised.

He leaped around with Ryujin now unsealed as well peppering the tanuki with a combination of wind and lightning blasts. Neither seemed to do much other than annoy the beast. Go figure, a creature made of sand not really being DAMAGED by anything other than fire. Who would have thought? 'Come on Naruto, think!' he scolded himself inwardly. He was known as Konoha's most unpredictable for a reason and was constantly praised for his ability to think on the fly. Then it hit him like one of Satsumei's fists to the face. 'That's an idea! Let's use some basic physics. I'm so glad I didn't fall asleep during class that day!'

"Hey! I need a GIANT fire blast from the two of you!" they weren't sure what he was thinking but they got into position in front of the beast and blurred through hand signs taking deep breathes. "Fire Style: Flame Dragon jutsu/ Flame Bullet jutsu!" they exclaimed at the same time as a dragon of fire catapulted toward the beast while smaller blasts of fire shot out around it.

Before anything could make contact, they heard Naruto's Fujin humming rapidly and watched as he made one quick swipe of it with a ridiculously large amount of chakra pulsing from it. A giant cyclone well beyond what even Temari showed capable of shot out combining with the fire attacks forming a raging cyclone of flames that blasted through the one-tails leaving a giant hole and went right up to the heavens above.

Sasuke and Satsumei watched as a giant thunder cloud formed above them all covering the forest. It was now raining, a lot, and that meant the sand tanuki was getting wet. They weren't sure if this was part of the plan, but it may help regardless. Naruto stood to his full height, confidence radiating off him, and sealed Fujin up.

He took Ryujin into his right hand and pointed it to the sky. One quick pulse and lightning started striking all around them. NATURAL lightning, more powerful than the artificial lightning created by their chakra. The blade in his hand began acting like a lightning rod and started pulling down electrical charges from the atmosphere and the thundercloud creating a blade of lightning moving so fast it looked solid. It was HUGE, easily as large as the tanuki's reformed tail.

"Satsumei, Sasuke, I need you to find a safer spot nearby. Roughly thirty more feet should be enough," he said, and they obeyed, they did NOT want to be caught up in the fallout of THAT thing. Whatever the hell he did it was not going to be pretty when used. He waited for them to get far enough and allowed the beast to get one roar of defiance out before dashing forward.

"Now, let me remind you which jinchuuriki is the top of the food chain! This comes straight from Kurama!" he yelled as Kurama's chakra could be seen enveloping the blade in a bubbling red aura. Taking the blade in both hands he swung and yelled "Lightning Style: Lightning God's Dragon Strike!" he yelled, Kurama's voice overtaking his own toward the second half. The blade swiped straight through cleanly and then the lightning discharged firing at the beast and unfortunately as always Naruto was flung back. Luckily before he could collide with anything he was caught by Satsumei and brought to safety.

They looked out around the current battlefield. It was now a charred wasteland. Trees were all wrecked and the grass was burnt beyond recognition. This would take forever to correct the area but they had more important things to worry about.

They watched as the beast roared now missing half of its body. It mattered not, the rest of the body reformed somehow. Naruto then had a realization. He merely didn't have enough power to knock it out without killing it which could very well kill Gaara. He wasn't quite sure why he cared, probably because he was also in a position of being ostracized by a large population but still, he didn't think Gaara deserved to die. So he began thinking and finally it came to him.

"Alright, my plan is simple. I believe the damn raccoon can only come out if Gaara is asleep or unconscious. We wake Gaara up we stop the beast. Got it?" Naruto explained. "Got it," they nodded as they awaited the plan. "I would use my Susanoo but I don't plan on going blind early in life. So, one of us needs to get up there to Gaara and wake him up. I'll go. It's too dangerous for either of you two to be that close however I need your help. I need you both to provide cover. I'm going to scale him and try to get to Gaara, if the one-tails tries to hit me, stop it," he ordered, and they nodded. Normally this is where Sasuke would argue but now was not the time and he knew it.

He began running up the tanuki's body and just as he said it swung one of it's arms down at him but Satsumei launched herself at the arm and punched it with her full strength blowing it apart, temporarily. She knew it would reform momentarily. Sasuke used his Phoenix Flower jutsu to turn as much of the sand into glass as he could. Naruto kept running and tendrils of sand began launching at him but Sasuke was quick on the draw and changed targets launching another Phoenix Flower at the area around Naruto. It caused all the tendrils to turn to glass and stop their attack.

Naruto plunged his giant wind blade into the body and dragged it as he ran along. The way he saw it, the more it had to reform, the less it could focus on him. He'd managed to cut part of the arm off when the tanuki began blasting giant balls of compressed wind at Satsumei and Sasuke. Naruto propelled himself with wind chakra at them and intercepted the first with his Susanoo ribcage blocking it completely, his eye leaking blood.

"Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to get to Gaara!? Satsumei! Do you have any summons big enough to fly us there?" he asked clearly distressed. "Yes but if I summon him I'll be depleted of the majority of my chakra," she answered hesitantly, clearly she was not fond of the idea. "Sasuke, how many Dragon Flames do you got left?"

"I can use it one more time and then I'm done," he responded surprised that the Susanoo ribcage was still holding up against the current onslaught. The main thing he was worried about was the fact that Naruto's eye kept bleeding, and he was breathing harder the more he used the ability. "I need a ride and cover, I'll take the rest from there," Naruto commanded with a confidence that gave them total faith in him, he knew what he was doing. He could make multiple plans on the fly and even contingencies for each of those plans. It wasn't necessarily Nara level planning, but it was damn close. Satsumei ran through the summoning hand seals and drew out a scroll. She bit her thumb drawing blood and swiped it across the scroll and a very large cloud of smoke popped up.

When the smoke dissipated in its place was a VERY large eagle-like bird with mostly burnt orange feathers and a crown of dark red sticking up above its head, a dark orange beak, and green eyes. "Azmus! My teammate here needs to get to the top of that raccoon dog up there!" she yelled as it surveyed the current situation and gave a nod. Naruto summoned a small battalion of shadow clones to take point around Satsumei in case she was attacked. The phoenix allowed Naruto to jump on its back and took off in a trail of fire. It almost made it before it had to dodge around multiple tendrils of sand coming at it.

Elsewhere underneath Konoha

Hiruzen was in his battle gear, a black jumpsuit with a helmet similar to a shogun's and had his adamantine staff also known as the monkey king Enma's other form. Behind him was Mikoto Uchiha in her jonin mission gear. He had no idea she always kept it in a scroll with her. They happened to be in the same section of the stands when the invasion started, and he began walking away to end a certain individual's life when she stopped him. She was too damn smart for her own good and refused to let him go off and fight Danzo on his own. He relented as it's not like he could stop her and still have the energy to fight his old teammate. They were walking through the ROOT ANBU base of operations below the village and had already fought multiple groups of Danzo's men. Mikoto was still as deadly as he remembered her to be. She had one of the highest kill counts in the third war. No one could seem to come close to getting a decisive blow on her. She really had earned her moniker of 'The Crimson Mistress'.

She was the perfect backup for him. He decided to take lead and if he got injured badly enough on their way through, she would heal him. That was the requirement he laid down for her to accompany him and she readily agreed. He was like a father to her, so she wanted to keep him as safe as he wanted to keep her. She'd rather they have at least recruited Guy or Asuma but the old man was too damn stubborn to wait and said something about not wanting to take away any of the village's protection for a task such as this.

"So, how much farther do you think it is before we get to Danzo?" she asked hopeful for a quick ending to this whole fiasco. "If I know that old coot, he'll be all the way in the deepest corridors of the base. We're getting closer, you can tell because the resistance is getting heavier as we go," he answered not making her feel particularly better. "That's just great, no communication with anyone else and if we die down here no one will find us," she complained indignantly.

"It could be worse. Axel-boy is currently fighting both my mentors and both his brother and father. I barely caught a glimpse of the three Susanoos as we ran by. It was clearly the Edo Tensei Lord Second created. However, for some reason Minato-boy seemed to be at full power. Curious and worrying. Anyways we should be coming upon more enemies if the pattern is to continue," he explained as another small battalion of ROOT agents jumped down around them and they readied themselves.

Kushina and Kakashi

"Son of a bitch stay still!" she shouted as she rammed another gauntlet made from her chains into Orochimaru who backflipped away. They had gotten in several blows but couldn't seem to keep him down. That damn immortality jutsu of his was just too damn potent. Kakashi's Lightning Blade would be enough to kill the body but every time the snake would eject himself out of the newly made corpse as if the mouth was giving birth. Truth be told, Kakashi couldn't keep this up forever. The technique itself while deadly was still an A-Rank for a reason. Its chakra usage was enormous and couple it with the fact Kakashi HAD to use the Sharingan in order to cancel out the tunnel vision and it was a double whammy on his reserves. A constant drain and a huge nuke? Not many shinobi could keep them both up for long.

She was trying to come up with a plan but the constant explosions way behind them kept throwing her off. Those fucking monsters were probably going to tear apart the village themselves. Axel verses the previous Hokage as well as Madara, what kind of sick twisted joke was this? Luckily none of them were at full power, well… except Minato, which was fucked but still. He had SOME chance, right?

Axel is currently the most powerful living being in the nations, so if anyone could fight those four, its him. She had more important things to worry about. Like the fact whenever SHE was about to get a decisive blow, he would do that damn rubber body thing and twist around her and deliver a cheap shot. It wasn't anything crazy, her durability was even higher than Axel's but still, if he pulled out Kusanagi on them that would be another story.

"My, my, how desperate you both are to return to your master. Fret not, if you do kill me the Edo Tensei shall return to the afterlife. Though I don't see how either of you could kill me," Orochimaru mocked as he began laughing.

'I need to kill the bastard for Axel. Even he can't stand against all of THEM for long. But, how?' were the thoughts going through Kushina's head as both her and Kakashi dodged a horde of snakes flying at them. "Kakashi!"

"Yes ma'am!" he had to resist saluting. Even in combat she had a presence that made you want to show respect as the first lady. Axel never renounced her so technically she was the second in command of the village funny enough.

"You know jutsus of all elements, correct?" she asked dodging another slew of poisonous snakes and returning a barrage of chains that were dodged.

"Yes ma'am!" even in combat he would show her the proper respect. It was the least he could do for her considering she was the only mother figure he ever had in his life. He had no idea what she was cooking up, but he was most known for his versatility in combat not counting his Sharingan. He would adapt and help his surrogate mother.

"Good, we're gonna light up his world then," she said with a smirk that even sent shivers down Orochimaru's spine. She blurred through hand seals faster than even he could keep up with and took a deep breath. "Water Style: Torrent Blitz!" she expelled a ridiculously fast beam of water that rocketed towards Orochimaru but he slammed his palm into the ground summoning a gate that had red spikes on it's outer border and a demonic oni-like face in the center.

Kakashi saw what was happening and flew through hand signs. "Lightning Style: Great Thunder head jutsu!" he blasted down a giant arrow of lightning that crashed into the gate and combined with the torrent of water to create even more damage. It did no good as the shield held and Kushina let off the attack. ' Tch, I should have known that wouldn't have worked. Even worse I may have forced Kakashi to use precious chakra that he couldn't afford to.'

Axel

He was royally fucked, regardless of the power level that they were brought back in other than himself, these were the four most powerful ninja to ever grace the Elemental Nations with their presence and Minato seemed to have his full power. He was currently holding off Madara's Susanoo blade with one of his own while also holding back Minato's Susanoo's giant tri-pronged kunai. The damn thing was electric blue in color and by far the most annoying thing he'd ever fought. It could launch Yagatama Beads that it could then teleport to, and they kept going! Even worse was the fact that it could produce GIANT Rasengans. Like seriously, whatever fucking god was currently against him would eventually die by his hands. He would make sure of that.

The funny part was that he didn't even know Minato knew the Susanoo! No time to think about that now though. He'd blown up both Hashirama and Tobirama multiple times, but the Edo Tensei was meant to repeatedly keep reforming and regenerating those brought back. The question now was if there was a way to defeat them without having to kill the caster. Maybe a Contract Seal but he wasn't sure. He'd have to try it. If he could at least get Hashirama and Tobirama out of the way the battle would be much more manageable. With that thought he now had a plan to put into action.

Both Madara and Minato were surprised when suddenly Axel's Susanoo disappeared, and they both ended up colliding with each other creating a giant Shockwave. Axel had two targets right now, the Uchihas COULD wait. He needed to stop Hashirama before he could use that damn Thousand Hands statue.

The collision between his brother and father should give him the moment he needed. 'Kurama, we should be able to stack sage mode, right?'

'Hmmmmm… yes, we should but you'll have to be quick. Your body is already being put through large amounts of stress now. Your sage mode may counter the damage but better to air on the side of caution,' was the answer he received eliciting a wicked grin. Everyone across the village was then put on guard by the massive amount of chakra put out as Axel's body was then wreathed in ACTUAL flames that compounded the current aura he already had from his Kurama Chakra Mode.

He took off way too quick for Tobirama to keep up and placed a Contract Seal on him. He froze up, that was as good a sign as any for Axel to move onto the currently second most dangerous player on the field not counting himself. He rocketed towards the 'God of Shinobi' and was forced to dodge as several wood tendrils shot out at him.

"So, I heard you say you're the Hokage?" really, Hashirama wanted to make small talk now of all times? Well, he would indulge him, he'd have to make sure not to slip up though. If Axel got caught now, the Wood Style would drain Kurama's chakra from him, and he'd be put at a major disadvantage. "Yes, that's correct. I am the fifth Hokage right after my brother over there, the fourth. If you're wondering, other than the current invasion going on, the village is probably in the best condition it's ever been in. Some might say I rule with a heavy hand and an iron fist, but I run it the way it's supposed to be run, like a military dictatorship."

He was then forced to barely dodge a wooden dragon that flew past him and then turned around for another shot. Damn, the problem wasn't necessarily that Hashirama was too fast, it was that he could attack from too many angles at once and that Axel had to focus on dodging.

'Well, how about this? I have a technique that I believe is finally mastered and haven't gotten the chance to field test yet,' he thought with a shit eating grin. He raised his right hand with two fingers pointing to the sky and Hashirama noted how all around him what looked to be swords of fire formed. At first the older shinobi counted only ten but then they began rapidly multiplying until there were hundreds of them all around the battlefield. "Chew on this! Sage Art: Phoenix Blade Dance!"

The swords all began launching at everything that wasn't an ally. He even sent a few at Orochimaru though he couldn't be bothered to try and find out the results. Every single branch was burned near instantly as the swords exploded as if they were overcharged explosive tags. He even managed to lodge a few into Hashirama keeping him from moving and giving Axel the opportunity he needed. A Contract Seal was placed on him and Hashirama froze up like Tobirama.

"Well? Are we still enemies?" he asked.

"It would seem not. I'm surprised that worked though. It was brilliant of you," Hashirama acknowledged before Tobirama joined them. "I created the jutsu itself as a summoning. Therefore, it would stand to reason that the Contract Seal would be able to take away the summoner's control. We'll be dissipating soon without his control. Getting a Contract Seal on those two will be much more difficult. Your brother is much too fast and Madara's Mangekyou will allow him to adapt to your movements," Tobirama explained.

"Brother, we must aid young Axel here and hold those two off until the others can defeat Orochimaru," Hashirama more or less ordered. "Indeed. We'll need you in Sage Mode. Axel here should bait them into a close-range position together and you can use your Thousand Hands technique," the other two nodded and Axel took off unleashing his Susanoo again. He noted that he couldn't do this much longer. He was getting bits of blurriness that would come and go. He was sure he wasn't going blind however it was probably his eyes' way of telling him to take a break. He SO needed to master Kurama's chakra so he could just use bijuu mode for fighting giant constructs instead.

He clashed with Madara and barely overpowered and launched him away in time to block a Rasengan from behind by using his Susanoo's gunbai. This would be a long fight.

Naruto and team

"Alright, Azmus is your name?" Naruto asked from atop the phoenix's back. "Yes, that's correct," the firebird said in a deep gravelly voice. "Can you get me as high above him as possible? I want you to drop me directly on top of him," Naruto explained and received his answer by them surging directly up and over the beast. "Alright, this is where we part ways. Please return to Satsumei and get my teammates farther away. As soon as they see the one-tails recede have them rendezvous with me down on the ground," Naruto relayed to the phoenix before jumping off, not waiting for a reply and Azmus returned to Satsumei to give the message.

Naruto stopped himself in mid-air with wind chakra and waited for his teammates to evacuate before he initiated his plan, the tailed beast firing off compressed balls of wind all over the environment with reckless abandonment. The creature just wanted destruction. At least Kurama seemed to have a brain. 'I resent that you brat!'

'Yeah well, can you blame me for thinking that way? Look at this thing. He sure as hell doesn't act like you and I thought you two were brothers!'

'Shukaku was always the most immature of us all. Even when we were all still free, he loved causing destruction. Frankly, I'd say its better he was sealed up.'

'So, he has a name? I thought it may have been just you cuz your special,' Naruto added a teasing tone at the end and Kurama grumbled something about pesky brats before cutting their connection.

As soon as his teammates were far enough away, he put his plan into action. He charged both Fujin and Ryujin with their respective elemental chakras and threw them straight down like javelins. It looked like a tornado and a giant lightning bolt were heading straight down from the heavens to bring justice upon the now named Shukaku. The two swords barreled straight through his arms with little resistance and… disarmed him. Huh, that was a little more effective than Naruto had hoped for. Well, better not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Naruto released the wind chakra holding himself up and entered free fall. He took notice that Gaara's torso was just barely sticking out of Shukaku's forehead and used wind chakra to direct himself that way. He focused lightning chakra around his right fist, not enough to seriously injure, but just enough to give a shock.

He landed perfectly on the snout of Shukaku and had to dodge multiple tendrils of sand on his run up and before he could get hit by the close one he almost didn't notice he retrieved a tri-pronged kunai from his hidden pouch and threw it forward. When he flashed, he appeared in front of Gaara, grabbed the kunai out of the air and punched Gaara with as much force as he could muster. "WAKE UP!"

Gaara was rattled around and then slowly opened his eyes. "Naruto… Uchiha?"

"Yeah, the one and only. Look, we don't have time to talk. Now that your awake we're about to lose our only footing and I don't plan on being turned into a puddle of human goop on the ground. As soon as Shukaku disperses I'm going to guide us to the ground and send you as well as your siblings on ahead with my teammates. I have to return to my uncle," Naruto explained before the footing they were standing on began shaking and Shukaku seemed to be absorbed back into Gaara. Before Gaara could fall Naruto grabbed him and threw his kunai straight down and flashed at the lowest point before it hit the ground. They appeared safe and sound and the Uchiha siblings ran up to them. "So, what do we do with him and his siblings dobe?" guess who decided to open his mouth first.

"They will technically be classified as prisoners of war for now. I'm sending you all back to the village with them in prisoner scrolls and I want you to meet up with whichever jonin you find first," Naruto relayed.

"What do you mean by us? Aren't you coming too?" Satsumei asked concern filling her voice. "No, I have another battle I must join in on. I must aid Uncle Axel however I can. He won't like that I'm putting myself into the fray like I'm about to do but tough luck. I'm not letting him fight Orochimaru without getting my licks in," Naruto stated with total confidence. She was going to try and dissuade him but saw the fire in his eyes. She couldn't stop him; she was out of chakra and even if she wasn't she couldn't beat him. She did the only thing she could think of. She pulled him towards her and slammed her lips against his. THIS was the reward he wanted, not that peck on the cheeks. He almost got lost in her but remembered that they not only had an audience but that he was on a timer right now. He separated from her and gazed into those onyx eyes he loved so much. She was too damn distracting! "That's for good luck. There's more where that came from when your done and this is all over," she said with an almost dreamy gaze.

"Alright, I'll make sure to come back then. Now, head out team!" he ordered and didn't even wait before feeling out the kunai that he left with his uncle and flashing to it.

Hiruzen and Mikoto

"So, is there any particular reason you decided to enact this execution sentence while we're in the middle of an invasion?" she asked as they walked up to what looked almost like a gate. It was double doors that clearly lead to somewhere important. They had slain easily two hundred ROOT agents on their way here and were still raring to go. While the ROOT may be better than your average chunin, to a couple of Kage level shinobi they were nothing. Mikoto was actually on Hiruzen's list of potential candidates for the seat of Hokage. The main reason he picked Minato was because he picked Jiraiya first, but the toad sage had turned him down saying Minato was the better option.

"Well, you see, I've been keeping an eye on Danzo independently of Axel's investigation and I've finally collected evidence that Danzo has been working with Orochimaru. I found out they were more or less plotting a coup and realized I couldn't do anything until the invasion actually starts or it would set off alarms for Orochimaru," Hiruzen explained.

"I see, are you sure we can't turn back and get reinforcements?" he could tell she wasn't scared, no, fear wouldn't and couldn't describe it. She was worried about his health much like a child would worry about their sick mother or father. This must have been what Madara felt like during his last few years, having his children fret over him. He was flattered but his last act in this world would be removing a stain upon the village he should have gotten rid of long ago.

"He knows," she had no idea what he meant by that, he could tell by her blank face. "Who knows?" she asked obliviously. "I told Axel before he went to the matches that I would be dealing with Danzo. I made sure I passed on the evidence. We got into a screaming match. He was on the same side as you are right now. Worrying about my health and such. I finally convinced him, but I doubt even now he could send help. He said he'd call in Jiraiya and give him the location I was headed to, but I doubt my student will make it in time to help us."

"Axel approved?"

"I wouldn't say approved. He was seriously about to start fighting me over this. I'm pretty sure he was about to activate Sage Mode just to put me in the hospital so I couldn't do this but… he thought about it and decided this was for the best," Hiruzen explained in a tone that seemed as if he was reminiscing about the conversation with the current Hokage. "IF I die, I'm not saying I will, but IF I do. I want you to keep an eye on that boy. He has so much more to do in this life. He will be a person that shall change the world along with little Naruto. I also want you two to finally confess to each other. You ever heard of death do us part? Yeah, that applies to your situation. I'm well aware that you never lost your feelings for the man," he stated making her contemplate for a moment but before she could respond he continued.

"After you got married, he threw himself into meaningless one-night stands. I can't count how many times the two Namikaze brothers and myself got together late at night just for Axel to berate himself over never taking his shot with you. He said he would never do anything different though because you seemed happy with your children and your happiness was more important than his own," by now he could see the tears streaming down her face. It seemed she had no idea Axel felt this way. Even Hiruzen, an outsider on the conflict, would admit that Axel was probably the most selfless man he'd ever met. Even if he was a tyrant when it came to the village affairs, his shinobi and people ALWAYS came before his own needs. Hiruzen couldn't count the number of times he walked into the Hokage office just to see Axel slumped over the desk sleeping. He didn't have any more time to reminisce though. It was time to deal with a senile old fool that should have been executed during his own reign.

Hiruzen pushed open the double doors to reveal an almost arena like area. There was a desk in the middle, but Hiruzen assumed that was merely to imitate the Hokage office that Danzo would never get to inhabit. The third Hokage noticed that there were many more ROOT ANBU here than in any other area they had been in so far in this base of operations and he also noticed his target in the center. Danzo Shimura, his old teammate back in the shinobi wars. The man stood there as if he knew this was coming. Honestly, it seemed as if he didn't even care. It also seemed like he thought he couldn't be defeated. What confidence! The only LIVING man who should have such confidence should be Axel. Hiruzen didn't have much faith, but he attempted to give the man a quick death.

"Will you surrender Danzo? Will you let me just end you now so you won't have to suffer?" he asked without any hope. He knew what this man was all about. Regardless of how evil his actions may be, he would do anything 'for the good of the village'. How he got such a mentality Hiruzen never could or would understand but that's what happened with his old teammate. He would put the man to rest now before he could sully his own soul anymore.

"You know me too well to be asking such questions with obvious answers my old friend. I wish I could convince you of my goals however it seems you have taken the side of that lunatic on the throne," Danzo responded while removing the bandages on his right arm revealing a total of ten Sharingan making Mikoto gasp and shudder. How could this happen? They were under the impression that Axel had the clan compound locked down when he arrived the night of the massacre. Well, if Danzo was the one to give the order for Itachi to slaughter the Uchiha clan then maybe he was there to grab as many Sharingan as he could before Axel arrived.

"Very well my old friend. I'm afraid I must execute you here and now. If Axel had never come around then you may have got off doing all your shady dealings and practices however, I feel that he is a Kage that even I could have strived to be," Hiruzen retorted, "Mikoto, I want you to focus on keeping his soldiers from interfering with my fight. Can you do that?" it took a moment for her to recover but she did eventually answer.

"Yes, Lord Third. You shall not be interrupted by these vermin. However, I should mention that if it looks as if you are about to die, I shall step in to help," she answered with a blood thirsty grin. Her Uchiha blood was starting to kick in. She was getting antsy for some battle. There was a fire in her eyes, and he wouldn't dare attempt to put it out. It was good. She would kill everyone here other than Danzo. Hiruzen did not have to worry. And so Hiruzen launched himself at Danzo ready to swipe his head off while Mikoto began ruthlessly attacking the surrounding ROOT ANBU.

Kushina and Kakashi

They watched as a cluster of swords made of flames came down on Orochimaru and exploded. He somehow managed to slither his way out of the explosion. That was no doubt Axel, no one else could have used Fire manipulation on that scale. Whether it helped or not they had no idea, but it did give Kushina a chance to perform the summoning jutsu. She was now as high as a mountain. Under her appeared the boss of the thunderbird clan, Rikujo. He was a mountain sized hawk-like bird with beige feathers and lightning coursing across his body. He had a crown of lightning as well as an electric blue beak and electric blue eyes. "Lord Rikujo! I require your aid!" she hollered.

"Of course! You shall have the aid of the thunderbird clan as long as you may live Lady Kushina!" the bird roared in a deep voice that sounded like thunder booming. "I would like to initiate the thunder head attack my lord," she requested. "Very well, let us commence!" he yelled as they took to the skies and disappeared into the newly formed thunderclouds.

Kakashi was left standing alone against Orochimaru not knowing what the hell just happened and had to block Kusanagi with a kunai of his own. How he longed for a legendary blade of his own. Maybe he should just ask Axel? He seemed to have a knack for locating these things. He ended up using earth chakra to harden his kunai. He wasn't sure what was going through his surrogate mother's head, but he would put his absolute faith in her judgement. After all, she had been a shinobi longer than even he had.

Kakashi managed to push Orochimaru back and blasted through hand signs. "Fire Style: Fire Ball jutsu!" he exhaled the breath he took in and Orochimaru was forced to jump away. He had been getting low on chakra and now he wasn't even sure how much control he could keep on the Hokage he brought back. He had no idea about losing control of Hashirama and Tobirama as he had to focus on these two foes. Kakashi was surprisingly stronger than he remembered the boy to be when he was still in the village and Kushina was a fucking monster, of ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and nintaijutsu. Those chains of hers proved to be a crazy mixture when added to taijutsu. He barely avoided the worst of the onslaught when suddenly, she combined her chains in such a way as to create a spiked ball and chain. That damn thing would create craters everywhere it hit. Adamantine chains didn't begin to describe how solid they were.

Kakashi was forced to avoid and or block more swipes from the legendary sword before he heard a sound not unlike his own Lightning Blade. He looked to the sky to see an arrow of lightning that he could just barely make out the colors of Rikujo inside. The attack struck Orochimaru before the snake or himself could even react and Kushina jumped off before impact. The explosion of lightning and thunder was so powerful that it both blinded and deafened everyone in the vicinity for a few moments.

They didn't get lucky though. Orochimaru crawled out of his own skin yet again. They were about to go on the offensive yet again when they caught sight of a yellow flash that wasn't Minato. Naruto had entered the fray and he'd be pissed upon seeing what was happening.

Axel

He'd finally managed to get a blow in that seemed to have taken a moment for even the Edo Tensei to regenerate when suddenly Naruto appeared right in front of him. "D-Dad?" he asked before looking over towards the man currently regenerating. "G-Grandpa?" he was shocked, he couldn't understand what was happening. After all, Axel and Minato never taught him about the Edo Tensei.

"Naruto! Yes, that is your father and grandfather, but they aren't here to be friendly. Orochimaru somehow ripped your father out of my mindscape and now he's at his full power. Your grandfather doesn't need his full power to be a threat!" Axel damn near shouted at Naruto.

"But… so this isn't my actual grandpa?" he asked disappointed. "Well, even that's a hard question to answer," Axel responded. "I want you to go to Kushina and aid her against Orochimaru. I will handle both my brother and father," Axel ordered before turning his full attention back to his family who barely managed to hold themselves back against Orochimaru's influence. Naruto barely got away before the battle restarted in full intensity. "So, that's my grandson then huh?" Madara asked as he finally finished reforming. "Yes, and he's turning out to be an absolute monster of a shinobi. He's so much stronger than Minato and I were at that age. He even has his Mangekyou already. Acquired it a few weeks ago fighting Orochimaru, I had to stop him before he started rampaging with his Susanoo," Axel explained before having to cut through a chakra infused tree similar to Hashirama's jutsu flying at him.

"What the actual fuck? You didn't have Wood Style when we were kids!" Axel roared in frustration, this just got way more difficult. "Actually, I did, my chakra just wasn't strong enough to use it anymore in my old age. The only reason I could use my Mangekyou was because I had the Eternal Mangekyou," Madara corrected as he slammed his hands together in the snake sign. "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" he shouted as an immense amount of chakra exploded out of him and within seconds a large forest shot out of the ground at Axel. Axel was forced to release his Susanoo or be attacked on all sides, so he settled for Kurama's chakra cloak on top of Sage Mode. 'I hope you have a plan, Axel. If you come into contact with any of those trees, you'll be sapped of my chakra. Or do you plan on just winging it as always?' Kurama's voice cut in.

'Well, I could try and burn it all but that will just eat away my Sage Mode. First, we must deal with my father. I can't lose access to your chakra if I'll be fighting my brother with essentially endless chakra and stamina. We know the Edo Tensei recreated his Mangekyou but did it recreate his Rinnegan too? If so, then any plan I make at this point will be mostly null and void. Tobirama should be almost as fast as Minato, if I can get dad into a vulnerable position maybe he can move in and apply the Contract Seal. Where the hell is that thousand hands technique I was promised?' Kurama couldn't help but share in his frustration. The Rinnegan really would foil almost any plan. The question here is whether the Edo Tensei was even capable of recreating such a powerful dojutsu?

They watched as Madara's Susanoo came back to its full glory and Axel got ready to nuke the damn thing when Minato flashed behind him in an attempt to slam a sage powered Rasengan into him. Axel barely held it back with two arms made of Kurama's chakra. "I didn't know I could do that!" he exclaimed with a grin. "Your body must be adapting rapidly and acting on instinct Ax," was Minato's response before he pushed more power into the jutsu. Axel darted away in a burst of chakra and looked right at Minato, his right Mangekyou spinning. Minato was enveloped in blood red chains and his Sage Mode dissipated. "That should buy me just enough time to deal with dad."

'Why not use the Contract Seal now?' Kurama chimed in. 'My chakra chains will immediately cancel it. They are meant to cancel all chakra usage however the chakra drain is massive, that's why I haven't used it during this fight. I'm assuming you've noticed how I haven't been put under a genjutsu even once this whole fight?'

'I merely assumed you hadn't given them the opportunity, was there another explanation?' Kurama responded inquisitively. 'Indeed, the chains are called Amenotokotachi while my left eye's ability is called Kamimusubi. It gives absolute immunity to genjutsu. It will deflect all low level genjutsus back on the caster and high-level ones like the Bringer of Darkness or Tsukuyomi are simply blocked unless I let them through myself. Very helpful because all four of them attempted to put me in a genjutsu at some point in this fight. Moving on, the chains only last for one minute or break if the target can physically overpower them. It's time to take dad down.'

Axel rocketed up to where he could see the Susanoo and crashed into it. Spider web cracks spread from where his fist made impact. He could see the pride in Madara's eyes and as the Susanoo broke around his fist, he attempted blasting forward to place the Contract Seal however was blasted back by an unknown force and collided with the ground. "Fuck. That was the same thing Pain used on me. Dad's is stronger though. So, he does have his Rinnegan. Kurama, we might be fucked," he said aloud as he struggled to stand. That hurt, A LOT. He couldn't keep taking hits like that. Even with his current power ups whatever the hell that was does too much damage to get repeatedly hit by. He looked up into his father's eyes and felt a fragment of fear etch into his very being. Those eyes were… eerie to say the least. So much power that even the Mangekyou barely compares.

"Fear not Lord Fifth! We are here to help!" he heard from Hashirama as both Senju brothers appeared at his side. "Where the hell were you this whole time!? I could have used that damn technique of yours!" he shouted as Hashirama started healing his wounds. "We set something up. We just have to lead these two to it," Tobirama stated monotonously. It seemed to appease Axel's frustration a bit finding out they had a plan, but that meant they scrapped the previous plan.

"Where?" he asked. "Just outside the village gates. That's why we were absent for so long. It also took awhile to actually set up," Hashirama explained. "Great, so how are we going to get them there?"

"Leave Madara to me. Handle your brother," Hashirama commanded as he slammed his palms together eliciting an explosion of Senjutsu chakra. Black markings appeared along his face and around his eyes. "Sage Mode!? But you don't have a contract!"

"I learned how to use it without. We don't have time to discuss that though. You two lure Minato towards the trap and I'll deal with Madara," he said, and Axel did as told. He shot towards Minato's previous location and started barraging him with explosive fire attacks similar to when he fought Kurama.

Hashirama looked up at Madara and locked eyes with him. They seemed to have a battle of wills and then Hashirama performed the snake sign. "Sage Art: Wood Style: True Thousand Hands!" they would need a new Hokage Tower after this, Hashirama noted. He may have just destroyed what was left of it. The giant buddha statue made of wood that appeared truly was a menacing sight. It was easily larger than any tailed beast and had a thousand hands. The buddha's hands were in a praying position which made the whole technique ironic in a way. Madara had only seen this technique one other time and that's when Hashirama had finally defeated him at the Valley of the End. He doubted even with the Rinnegan he'd be able to hold the technique off, but that damn snake's control would force him to continue fighting and so the battle began anew. Him trying to defend against the thousand hands pummeling away at him and Hashirama trying to push him out of the village.

Naruto

He'd come upon both his mother and brother figure being pushed back by the snake sannin. He didn't think even Orochimaru could actually match both of them at the same time, but he supposed that he wasn't called a Sannin for no reason. This was the man that trained Anko so he had to be pretty powerful he supposed. They call him the strongest of the Sannin but he wondered if that was really true once Jiraiya's Sage Mode was activated. "Well, here goes nothing. I'm stronger than I was in the forest so let's see how it goes," he said to himself as he unsealed both Fujin and Ryujin and flung himself at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was doing fine even after having been nuked multiple times. Danzo had provided him a suitable body for an extended fight such as this but even his chakra was draining fast with how many times he used his regeneration. It wasn't just regeneration though; it was a type of substitution that he created. Its drain was enormous and had he not had such high reserves of chakra he would have been dead in this fight. That was his thought when suddenly he was hit by a combination of wind and lightning in the shape of a drill smashing him into the ground below and forming a crater.

Orochimaru struggled to his feet to see that damn jinchuuriki brat. "Did… did I just get hit by the same technique for the second time?" he was flabbergasted that this rookie was able to get the drop on him again. Especially with his gigantic chakra reserves as well as the fact that he was radiating the nine-tails chakra.

"What's wrong snake face? Did I just hurt your ego? You know, it's unbecoming of the great Orochimaru to let a genin get the drop on him twice," Naruto taunted taking a stance preparing for the onslaught. The Sannin rocketed toward him and started hammering at him with Kusanagi, MUCH harder than back in the forest. Seems he was holding back before. Naruto was just barely blocking every swing. He wasn't terribly worried about the poison of the sword, but it would make it rather difficult to fight. Kurama's chakra would filter it out, but he would be slowed down in the meantime. He just hoped that his mom and Kakashi would stay out of this. He was here to give them a breather and hopefully give them time to formulate a strategy.

Hiruzen and Mikoto

She was in charge of keeping all of the ROOT ANBU out of her surrogate father's fight. Danzo himself was considered one of the strongest shinobi in the village even in his old age but coupled with the number of Sharingan he had he was downright deadly. She had no idea why anyone would need that many, no scratch that. There was ONE technique, but it was taboo even among the clan and therefore it was exceedingly rare for those outside the clan to even know about it. IF he knew about it as well as how to use it, she may have to give up vision in at least one eye in order for them to win this fight.

All things considered Hiruzen was downright dominating the fight. He was simply better than Danzo, he was stronger, faster, his reflexes were better honed, he even had a much larger arsenal of jutsu. That was to be expected from 'The Professor', something just wasn't quite right though. Danzo didn't seem deterred in the least bit no matter how many times his strategies were foiled. Danzo is considered a master of wind jutsus to the point he could cut through solid steel with some of his techniques but even that was easily enough countered with some lightning jutsus, so why did he seem so damn calm?

Hiruzen performed the cross sign that Naruto was famous for using, summoning a shadow clone. "Fire Style: Fire Ball jutsu/Wind Style: Vacuum Bullet!" they shouted simultaneously and exhaled their respective attacks, Danzo tried to counter with Wind Style: Great Breakthrough but obviously the combination jutsu overpowered the defense and slammed into the bandaged man. Hiruzen watched as the body was charred to a crisp but then had to dodge as a kunai engulfed with wind chakra almost sliced his head off. He WATCHED his former teammate die and knew damn well that he wasn't under a genjutsu, so what the hell just happened?

He smashed his staff into Danzo and watched as he caved the man's body in from the side. He once again had to dodge as Danzo at the other side of the arena fired off a Wind Style: Vacuum Bullet at him. He SAW Danzo take a hit that should have killed him. So how did he survive as well as move so far away? This was the rhythm of the battle for a total of exactly sixty seconds. Hiruzen didn't notice the Sharingan that closed up but Mikoto darting past them taking out another foe did. "Lord Third! He's using a forbidden jutsu of the Uchihas! It's known as Izanagi! With it he can rewrite reality for a period of time! You'll have to keep killing him until all the Sharingan are used up!" she exclaimed before quite literally shoving her fist through her target and then kicking the body off.

'Easier said than done. My old body can't keep up like it once could. I see nine more on the arm. This is going to be a long fight,' Hiruzen inwardly complained with a groan. Damn Uchihas and their overpowered eyes. For just a moment he understood Tobirama's dislike of the clan but then tossed the thought away.

Satsumei and Sasuke

"We really shouldn't be going anywhere Sasuke! We've done enough and should leave the rest to the professionals," she was trying to hold him back but couldn't without severely hurting him. She had recovered enough chakra to use her enhanced strength, but it would only end up putting him in the hospital. He was dead set on joining Naruto as he didn't want to let him have all the glory of defeating a Sannin. "What about the dobe? Is he one of the professionals?"

"No, but he's with them. He's with the Hokage, Aunt Kushina and Kakashi so he's as safe as can be. They won't let him get hurt. We should just stick around here and make sure the civilians are protected. There's still Sand nin and Oto nin running around. We need to stay with Guy-sensei," Satsumei explained. The first jonin they had found when they came back from their fight with Gaara was Guy unfortunately, nothing against him as a person but they could not deal with much more of the 'Flames of Youth' talk. Luckily, they weren't alone. They found out that when Naruto ran off earlier, he had found the team from Kumo and recruited their help. So now they were protecting citizens fighting alongside the Kumo team. Still though, Sasuke was insistent on joining the fight against Orochimaru.

"Admit it Satsumei, your worried about him and want to make sure he's alright. We can go just to check on him if it makes you feel any better," Sasuke reasoned, and he had her wrapped around his finger at that point. He KNEW Naruto was her weakness and had absolutely no problem using him against her. She relented. "Fine, but we just go and check up on him. No fighting any Sannin Sasuke. I mean it," she stated with a look that sent shivers down his spine. There was the Shinigami again right behind her. He gulped and nodded and then they took off.

When they arrived, they didn't expect to see an unknown person with a scythe watching the fight. Tall, muscular but not too much. Long black hair kept in a spiky ponytail with two fang-like bangs framing his face. He wore a royal purple battle kimono with baggy pants and wooden sandals to finish up the look. He had onyx eyes and was watching the fight with complete interest to the point that it seemed as if he was oblivious to everything else around him. "You two, I recommend you get away from here. It's too dangerous for you," his voice was deep but smooth, almost soothing if it wasn't for the intensity in his tone.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked. "For now, an ally. Let's just say I'm only interested in the greater good," he never once took his eyes off Naruto holding back Orochimaru. Satsumei took a moment to look at his scythe. It had a skull that the blade came out of and lightning etchings along the three-foot blade. The shaft almost looked like an elongated spine. Needless to say, it was eerie as all hell. "Yeah, its a creepy weapon, I know but don't worry I don't plan on using it on anyone who lives in this village. I think that's my queue," he said as he stood up upon watching Naruto get hit in the stomach. It looked like Orochimaru's fingers were lit up with a purple flame. Before he could bring Kusanagi down on Naruto the unknown man threw his scythe deflecting the attack and catapulted forward surrounded in lightning punching straight through Orochimaru's stomach. The man kicked Naruto's body toward the siblings, and they barely caught him before he hit the ground. They were completely shocked at the display of speed.

"W-what?" was all Orochimaru could get out before he was then forcefully spartan kicked away. Orochimaru struggled to stand up but finally made it. He took a moment to think about what just happened. He didn't sense this new foe at all! He watched as the tossed scythe returned back to the man.

"You die today snake. I shall rid this world of your cursed existence," the man declared with utmost confidence. He launched towards Orochimaru and the Sannin barely had time to get Kusanagi up and block. It mattered not, the strength of this new adversary was too much and completely overpowered the snake. The scythe came down and embedded itself straight through Orochimaru's left shoulder coming all the way through the torso. The man charged it with lightning and began frying Orochimaru. Even his Orochimaru Style Substitution couldn't work against something that was constantly flowing through him.

Sasuke watched from the sidelines as the man effortlessly dispatched the Sannin. He found someone other than Axel and his own brother that he could look up to. If one looked close enough they would see stars in the boy's eyes. Satsumei was busy trying to nurse Naruto back to consciousness but to no avail. "Sasuke! Naruto won't wake up!" she screamed at him gaining his attention. He looked at Naruto and then back to the fight and no one was there, not a burnt corpse, not a mysterious man, no one. He decided Naruto was more important so he tried to wake him up along with Satsumei.

Axel

He'd gotten his younger brother to the area that Tobirama was leading him to and noticed a GIANT sealing circle. He pushed his brother into it and it froze the Yellow Flash. Madara came crashing down into the seal in front of him as well a moment later. "Well, hurry up! Place the Contract Seal on them! This sealing formation won't last long!" Hashirama commanded as he landed nearby. Axel did as ordered and watched as the seal all around disappeared. The 'God of Shinobi' wasn't kidding.

He watched as both reanimations stood up and tested their actions seemingly satisfied. "I sense that my summoner has been killed anyway. Us reanimations should all be disappearing soon," Madara declared, and Axel stepped closer. "Dad? I… I just want to say I love you and I miss you. I've been working so hard to forge this village into something you could be proud of. I screwed up with the clan, the majority of them are dead but still, I've kept the rest of the village safe from danger," Axel admitted with hesitancy. Madara stepped forward and embraced his son.

"I know my son. I couldn't be prouder of you. You did exactly as I told you and lived life to the best of your ability. I saw the love in your eyes when you gazed at young Naruto. You treat the boy like he's your own son. And the concern in your voice when you said Kushina's name. You've found purposes in life, and I couldn't be happier. You have found someone to call your own though, right?" Madara responded with pride and then curiosity. "I… might have someone but she was married up until the massacre. Clan politics and all."

"I see. Take the shot then. Your mother was a widow as well. Apparently he was a major dirtbag who was sent off to war by the ruling shogun at the time and she basically became a free woman through that single action," Madara stated almost reminiscing. He looked over at Minato with a glare that made the fourth Hokage wilt under his gaze.

"How did you die?" oh boy, he would not like the answer.

"So, you see, someone in the clan decided to unleash the Kyubi during Kushina's pregnancy and I sacrificed myself to seal it up into Naruto and Ax. Whoops," Minato explained with a sheepish grin.

"No, this won't do. My final act as a father will be to fix the mess of my ignorant clan," Madara declared as his Rinnegan seemed to exude a mass of chakra. The most powerful Uchiha slammed his hand into the ground, and everyone watched as what would later be identified as the King of Hell rose up from the ground. "Rinne Rebirth!" he called out as a soul seemed to come out of the mouth of the King of Hell and entered into Minato's body. The reanimation cracks around his face disappeared and he gained proper color. Madara's hair faded into white, and he seemed to become almost sickly. "My son, I want you to continue living and have a happy life along Kushina and Naruto. You should not have been taken from this world so soon," Madara stated before he faded away along with Hashirama and Tobirama.

Axel and Minato stared at each other for a few moments processing what just happened. Well, Minato tried to stare but his eyes seemed to be missing. It was creepy as hell. "Um… your eyes aren't there," Axel commented. "Yeah, I can't see right now."

"Hmmm… even if he brought you back it seems like new eyes can't just be remade. Such an interesting technique, that Edo Tensei. We can take the eyes from your original body. Wanna see your own corpse?" Axel stated with a grin.

"Not really. I'll probably be traumatized by it. Can we just get me somewhere where I don't have to move around while you get my damn eyes, please?" grumpy much, well Axel could kind of understand. After all, he loved having his eyes so if suddenly he lost them, he'd be pretty pissed too. "Yeah, let's go," he said before he noticed the new presence near them. "You're the man who showed up on the night of the massacre and gave me that intel."

Indeed, the man who had just killed Orochimaru was the one who more or less saved the current remaining Uchiha with his knowledge. "Yes, and I think introductions are in order. Also, I brought this for you."

Hiruzen and Mikoto

She'd finished off the rest of the ROOT and joined Hiruzen but he was on his last legs already. It took too damn long for him to get through the five eyes he did burn through. He was dangerously low on chakra and his stamina couldn't keep up anymore. Danzo seemed to refresh everytime Izanagi activated so he was fully fresh other than missing some Sharingan. "Lord Third! You can't keep this up!" she said while kneeling next to him. He was on both knees using his staff to prop himself up. "I have to keep going! Danzo must die for his crimes!" he shouted while struggling to stand. He made it but they hadn't noticed that Danzo charged forward with his wind engulfed kunai. He stabbed Hiruzen in the chest and pulled the kunai out and darted back. Hiruzen fell unceremoniously to the ground and Mikoto stared in shock. Danzo watched as she knelt down and checked the old man's wound. Nothing she could do. "Mikoto, please, end this. I know you have it in you. End this and live a happy life for this old man. I failed you and your clan but please find happiness," he begged as the light in his eyes faded and he slumped.

Danzo approached to take her eyes but before he could get within a foot's distance of her a bright yellow skeletal hand emerged from her body and grabbed him. "What? The Susanoo? How? You were never recorded as having the Mangekyou!" he denied before being crushed.

Mikoto expanded the newly awakened Susanoo to encompass her in a full ribcage before he could stab her from behind. "I'll fucking kill you. You WILL die today!" she roared as the arm grabbed him yet again and began slamming him into the ground repeatedly. Another Sharingan gone, he noted as he appeared elsewhere in the room. He made the mistake of looking directly in her eyes and Hiruzen seemed to have disappeared off the ground and popped up next to him taking a swing directly at him before he dispelled the genjutsu and was almost flattened by her Susanoo's fist. 'I'm going to enjoy this,' she thought as she stalked forward like a lioness after its prey.

Elsewhere in the base

Jiraiya had finally made it to Konoha and took stock of the invasion happening before taking off towards his destination. He had to help his sensei! He wasn't expecting to see the absolute carnage of hundreds upon hundreds of dead ROOT ANBU strewn about throughout the tunnels and hallways.

It took him a few minutes to navigate the base, but he finally found an open set of double doors and wasn't prepared for what he would see. His female student, the daughter he never had standing over Hiruzen's corpse with tears streaming down her eyes while holding Danzo's head in one of her hands.

"Mikoto?" he asked dumbly. He would have said something else, but he honestly didn't know what to say. "S-sensei?" she responded as if she didn't believe he was even there. She even activated her Mangekyou to make sure he was real. He had no idea she even had the Mangekyou! As soon as she was convinced, she dropped Danzo's head and tackle hugged him burying her head in his chest while bawling. He wasn't sure what was going on. "Mikoto, what happened? Why is sensei dead?" he asked.

"I tried to get him to wait for backup, I did! Hewouldn'tlistenandwecamedownheretoexecuteDanzoandeverythingseemedfineatfirstbutthenDanzohadtheIzanagiandgotthedroponLordThirdwhilehewasdownandandand!" that last part she said so fast that he couldn't understand so he did the only thing that was sensible. He gave a chop to the back of her neck knocking her unconscious catching her before she fell. Jiraiya placed her down on the ground gently before moving toward his sensei. He had a smile on his face. The man died doing what he loved, serving his village. Jiraiya would not spit on that fact by wishing things were different. He sealed Danzo's head in a scroll and then Hiruzen's body in a scroll, he walked over to Mikoto and picked her up bridal style and ran as fast as he could to leave this place. He had to get to his other living student. Boy would the toad sage be surprised when he got to the current Hokage!

Axel and Minato

"Alright, we're home. Stay here on the bed and just relax. I'll get Kushina and Kakashi to come keep an eye on you. I'll convince Mikoto to do the surgery to get your eyes back. As simple as it sounds to place eyes into a hole, it probably isn't?" he didn't sound too confident towards the end but Minato had full faith in him so he decided to do the only reasonable thing he could with his nonexistent eyesight. He took a nap!

Axel left the Namikaze compound and reentered his Sage Mode for its flight capabilities. 'I think I could use a nap soon Kurama, what do you think?' he projected to his partner.

'You'll need rest soon with how much stress you've put your body through in the past few hours. You've only just awakened the ability to use KCM and then went a step further by stacking Sage Mode onto it. Then you decided hey, why not add Susanoo to the mix, that sounds like a great idea,' Kurama had a point, there were too many points in that fight that he was simply pushing himself for the sake of pushing himself. There was more than likely a better way, but Axel wasn't always the smartest person out there. That's why he appointed Shikaku Nara as the jonin commander.

'You are of course correct. I need to stop being so reckless. I'm sorry,' he once again projected confusing the fox this time. 'For what exactly?'

'I endangered you with my recklessness. I know damn well if I died then you would die as well however I didn't seem to give that any thought. For that, I'm truly sorry,' it was earnest, and the fox could tell. If he was the hatred half that Naruto had, he wouldn't give a shit and even would have rejected the apology. However, he was much wiser than that version of himself, so he settled for comfortable silence. He refused to admit that he was touched by his jailor's concern for his wellbeing, however, he wouldn't be an asshole like his other half either. They both cut the connection simultaneously and Axel made it to what was left of the Hokage tower. It wasn't much but, there was at least a roof?

Kakashi and Kushina were there waiting for him. The mysterious man that slayed Orochimaru was there for him as well. He also was greeted by his entire shinobi army who was in working condition. "Shinobi of the Leaf Village! We have made it through an invasion of the sand! I however, have no reason to seek damages from the sand!" he shouted as he walked through the crowd of shinobi, receiving boos and shouts of dissent.

"Enough! I have made my decision! They were not the perpetrators of the attack! During the combat myself and my elite fought against Orochimaru! I believe he is completely the one responsible for this farce of an attack!"

"Yeah, and Danzo it would seem," he heard from his sensei as he walked up with Mikoto in his arms. Jiraiya handed the raven-haired beauty to Axel and walked to stand behind him. "We shall begin to reconstruct everything that has been destroyed within the week! I want you all to rest and merely help the civilians for now until you receive further instruction from me! All mission taking is placed on hold until further notice!" Axel commanded and then walked into what little structure was left of the Hokage Tower with his elite and the mysterious man following.

Jiraiya used an earth style jutsu to form a desk and chair for Axel and a small bed for Mikoto and the Hokage laid her down. He then took his place in his new desk and chair. "So? What happened with Danzo?" he asked.

"When I arrived sensei was dead and Mikoto was in shock. As soon as she realized I was there she clutched onto me for dear life. Axel, what happened while I was away?"

"Orochimaru. The bastard took over the sand and together with Danzo invaded the village. I should have seen this coming sooner!" he slammed his hand through the desk. As soon as his anger subsided Jiraiya created a new desk. "I should let you all know now, Mikoto awakened her Mangekyou against Danzo," Jiraiya stated.

"Sensei, I have someone I wish to show you. But first I must speak to our assistance. Alone," Axel's tone was dead serious and relayed that he wouldn't take no for an answer. Kushina, Kakashi, and Jiraiya all filed out leaving Axel and the mysterious man alone, well, plus the currently sleeping Mikoto. Axel didn't mind as her light breathing was music to his ears.

"So… I must give my thanks for you saving my godson," he started but the man held his hand up. "No need. I was only doing what I thought was right. I would like to properly introduce myself to you now that I've made an actual impact on the village."

"Very well, you already know but I'll introduce myself as well. Axel Uchiha-Namikaze," Axel responded with a hand outstretched. "Doomwraith, Doomwraith Otsutski," the stranger said while clasping the Hokage's hand and if it weren't for him holding his hand the Uchiha would have fallen on the ground as he promptly fainted upon hearing the man's last name.