I teleported into the village, tracking Hiruzen's Heart, and almost immediately noticed that Orochimaru's Heart wasn't present.

Anywhere.

And I could see why; Orochimaru's body was in 9 different pieces, each one scorched and smoking. Guy was now deader than a doornail.

Hiruzen was engaged in combat against several Jounin, wielding the Monkey King in his transformed form; the Adamantine Staff.

And despite the numbers advantage, he was pushing them back, using his staff to terrifying effect, keeping all the Jounin on their toes and ruthlessly punishing their mistakes.

One of them overstepped, and Hiruzen capitalized on it in an instant, his staff enlarging and slamming into the Jounin's chest, sending him into the wall and crushing his ribs.

I noted that he had an Iwa headband.

As did all the others, actually.

With one out the way, he pressed harder, quickly backing the remaining ones into a corner.

I let my hand rest against the wall, My Darkness beginning to flow into it.

I waited for the moment, waiting as Hiruzen pushed them closer and closer to the wall.

Finally, they got too close, Hiruzen keeping them from getting away and holding the majority of their attention.

Soundlessly, spikes of My Darkness exploded out of the wall, slow enough for them to dodge if they had been paying attention.

But they weren't.

They were too busy focusing on the greater threat to their lives.

My spikes pierced their backs, severing their spines in an instant, and kept going, exiting out of their chests before making a pair of sharp turns and coming back to strike the brains, just in case.

Their bodies slumped as my spikes exited the back of their heads, their Hearts and Souls exiting their bodies.

Satisfied, I let the spikes retract, reabsorbing them in an instant.

I greeted Hiruzen with a wave when he looked in my direction.

"Report."

"Ichibi's been neutralized, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura have his host."

"Good. Where's Shikaku?"

I checked. "Main gate, with Chouza and Inoichi. Want me to take you there?"

He nodded, I grabbed his shoulder, and teleported the both of us to the main gate.

We appeared nearby, on top of a building and slightly away from all the fighting.

Hiruzen jumped off, landing next to Shikaku and hitting three of the ninja that Shikaku had trapped with his Adamantine staff, killing all of them.

"How are we doing, Shikaku?"

"Fairly well, we've managed to hold the vast majority at the walls. Still, we're in for a long battle if they don't retreat any time soon."

I frowned, looking towards the east gate. Several dozen Hearts were moving away from the gate, going along the walls, which was... causing anger among the rest?

Not a planned action, then.

"Heads up everybody, we've got a group moving our way."

Said group appeared shortly, a number of Sunagakure shinobi, headed by... Baki?

"Shinobi of Suna!" Baki called, his voice enhanced with a Jutsu. "Stand down! Our Kazekage had been impersonated and we've been tricked!"

Oh.

Ooh.

"Spread the word!"

Baki, and the group with him, then proceeded to leap away, promptly followed by several more Suna Shinobi, while yet more Suna Shinobi began to retreat, falling back.

"Oddly convenient." Shikaku noted. He turned to me. "Where's Jiraiya?"

"Near the hospital, in combat with thre- two people."

And now one.

Guy worked fast.

I looked east again realising that I hadn't sensed any Hearts being released from that area in quite some time. Quite some time in a battle, anyway.

Unless everybody over there had managed to stave of death for over a minute when they were previously dying by the seconds, something was up.

And yep.

That entire force was retreating, groups running away from the gate, and towards the other groups of ninja.

"The ninja at the east gate are retreating."

"Retreating?"

"The main force has split into several smaller groups, with many individuals separate from all others. A significant fraction of those groups are currently running away from the village, in a variety of directions. A smaller, but still considerably large fraction, is making its way up towards the group currently assaulting us. On a similar note, Baki has reached the western part of the village, and several shinobi are beginning to retreat from there, too."

"With one of three parts of the alliance backing out, the other two are cautious to continue with their assault, especially considering that we were much more prepared than they believed we would be." Shikaku noted.

"And Suna makes up a more than a third of the invasion force." Hiruzen stated.

I... kind of wondered exactly how he knew that.

But I wasn't going to ask.

"Continuing, most of the forces arrayed at the eastern gate have dispersed, though the Konoha Shinobi are still standing guard in that area. Some of the forces arrayed at our own position are beginning to retreat, while the forces arrayed the western gate are currently in the middle of scattering. Again, the Konoha Shinobi in that area remain on guard."

"Good. Keep an eye out, I want to know the instant that they attempt anything."

I nodded.

Ah, the reality of war.

War fucking sucked.