The second the two Leaf teams were finished with dinner was the moment they spread out. Kakashi and Guy took position at the front gate, knowing their presence was likely most needed there. Sasuke and Sakura went with Tenten, who wanted a break from her team and their replacement teammate, to one side of the defensive walls. Dosu, Lee, and Kiba went to the other. Every so often, they shifted positions to make up for their lack of numbers to cover all of the walkway.
Onsen City was illuminated by lights from torches and lanterns. While there was still some tension among the populace, taking part in the festival relieved some. The normal guards being backed by the palace ones helped, but it made their defenses weaker by some degree. Minoru was supposed to make a public appearance, as was customary, but forwent it because of the threat. A few of them were tempted to take part except they had a job to do. What was likely about to happen made that a bad idea anyway.
"How long did it take you to learn genjutsu?" Tenten asked, looking to Sakura. "I've been trying to pick up more skills, but the only jutsu I can use beyond the basics is sealing, which just seals things."
"I just did it." She blinked at her scrunched face.
"What do you mean?"
Sakura tilted her head. "I made the hand seals, focused on what Kakashi-sensei told me to, and it happened."
"You didn't need to learn how to mold your chakra or anything?" Her innocent, albeit confused, nod almost made her scoff.
"...Now that I think about it, that really is odd."
"Kakashi knew you had excellent chakra control even before we went to Wave." Sasuke kept his Sharingan eyes on the streets and ground below. "You didn't need any practice to walk up trees." He hummed. "The imaginary element comes naturally to some people and some clans."
Tenten stroked her chin. "Like an affinity?"
"Maybe?" Sakura crossed her arms in thought. "It and the living element aren't anything like the five basic ones. Not like it shows up on chakra paper either."
"Guess you're just talen–"
An audible and visible chorus of explosions in the distance captured their attention. Screams set in the fraction of a second after. Like surprised ants, civilians scrambled about with no clear goal in their startled minds. Children latched on to their parents and vice versa, holding each other as close as they could. The panic they held back was finally let loose by the perfect trigger.
Sasuke's hands clenched into fists as his Sharingan darted from person to person. "I'll point out anyone who looks off! You keep your eyes on them!"
"Right!" The girls yelled through the screaming in unison.
"I can barely make out anything with all these people making noise," Dosu's said, voice as if he was directly by their ears. "Kaka–"
"On it." Kakashi ran up the wall to his position, lifted his forehead protector, and scanned the various civilians running about.
It wasn't immediately what they feared. The chances of their enemy setting up in the brief time they exchanged patrolling for fortification were minuscule. People far from the palace were pushed towards it but those already near weren't seeking shelter yet. From the sound and sight, it was just the outskirts of the city. And then another cascade of explosions erupted at the edges of the herded folk.
Sakura stared at a distant pool of blood, bone, and bodies the least wounded of those caught in the blast ran from. "Who would..."
Tenten shook her by the shoulder with one hand and unfurled a scroll with the other. "Not now!" She caught her brand-new dadao blades by their handles before they could fall an inch.
"Get ready!" Sasuke's eyes became a blur of red and black.
Even through the dozens upon dozens of approaching scents, Kiba could make out the carnage. "Just like with Gaara." He picked a whining Akamaru out of his sweater and set him down. "Funny how he could've killed us back then before saving all our asses." His hand fished for soldier pills and threw them into Akamaru's and his own mouth in a flash.
Dosu's head ached at the sheer amount of sound. "I know it sucked, but I feel like I missed out for some reason."
"We will not fail!" Lee stood tall. "Calm yourselves and hold your heads high, Steam Landers! This is what your enemy wants!"
"I'm right here, dude, and they can't fucking hear you!"
"My apologies," he whispered, ironically too silent for him to catch among the rest of the backdrop.
Kakashi's Sharingan darted as much as his student's before focusing on a gray-haired man in civilian's clothes among the approaching crowd. "I see a grown man with gray hair struggling to look scared." What he saw beyond his flesh made him confused more than anything else. "The hell is this chakra?"
Sasuke's stopped on the same person in a different herd. "I see a man with gray hair pretending to be terrified!" His face scrunched at the horrid lust for blood and death. "It's like I'm looking at a walking tumor." A questioning noise in his ears tempted him to do the same.
"You're looking at the same person?"
Their blood ran cold. Both were familiar with the jutsu that resulted in such a thing. A sub-variant was especially dangerous and would explain the explosions. While the gates would hold against people, the same couldn't be said of a concentrated blast. Only one method existed to get rid of them if they weren't the user.
"Dosu." Kakashi pressed the latch on one of his flack jacket's scroll pockets, unsealed a kunai scroll, and grabbed it in a single second. "Tell Sasuke to do it."
"Do what?"
"Just tell him."
He would've rolled his eye if it wouldn't take focus away from the situation. "Kakashi says to do it."
"What?!" Sasuke knew that was the only way, but it was still horrible.
"I'm missing some important context here, aren't I?"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and sighed. "They're dead anyway." He threw his kunai at its center mass, to the surprise of the three genin.
The image of a man snapped out of its facade the moment steel pierced its chest. It looked down and laughed. Looking up with a bloodthirsty grin, it jumped. Civilians were too absorbed by panic and too slow to react to it using their heads as stepping stones towards the palace walls. Another kunai from Kakashi pierced its forehead, but that didn't deter it either.
"Seriously?!" He attached himself to the wall with chakra and looked down to see it make the tiger sign. "Wha–" An explosion, besides blinding and deafening him, sent him flying back along with the rest of his group.
Sasuke looked to their direction along with Sakura and Tenten. "Did h–" He focused back on his clone, who was bouncing on heads with an equally evil smirk. "You!" The flash of him drawing the kunai from his thigh holster and throwing it straight into the clone's throat, making it leave behind only its clothes, impressed even the weapon specialist.
If he was naive enough to take victory in that, the explosions after would've rendered it short-lived. The gate and sides of the walls they weren't patrolling were blown apart. Civilians, putting two and two together, ran away from the palace. Many fell in their haste, dooming them to another death. None of the conflict would end soon.
"Dosu?!" Sakura looked to the remains of the gates, finding no sign of Guy. "Dammit!"
Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder before she could run off. "We need to focus on stragglers!"
"He's right!" Tenten attached herself to a battlement towards the palace. "You're the only one we have left that can deal with underground sappers!" She ran down the wall and brandished her blades at the few that still sought shelter.
Sakura drew her blade as she stomped toward her. "Just what the he–"
"Remember the mission!" Sasuke pulled her back.
Gritting her teeth, she glanced at his miserable face. "...Right." Her sword remained drawn, knowing being slow by a second was all it would take to worsen their situation.
The other half of their split group was anything but good. Guy appeared by them in a flash and dug them out of the debris. He lifted Dosu up for him to drop back down, still needing to recover. Kiba and Akamaru, transformed into Kiba, were already getting out when he came by them. Lee managed to stand and walk normally after he pulled him up thanks to the Gate of Healing. It would've been the perfect time for an embrace if they weren't in their situation.
Guy looked to the growling Kibas. "Can you smell Kakashi?!"
"Just blood and soot!" His growling only worsened.
"Steady your–" A figure struggling to rise from the aftermath of their explosion caught their attention. "Is that?" He zipped over and helped a scorched Kakashi up.
"...Guy." His normal and Sharingan eyes swept over the broken, scattered, and torched bodies of innocents around him.
"Yeah?"
He couldn't hear him, but he didn't need to. "I'm pissed." The First Gate gave way to the Second Gate in his brain, negating the stifling conditions of his wounds. "Haven't felt this way in a long time." He tore the half-burnt mask off his face to reveal an unreasonably handsome scowl.
Guy, realizing he couldn't hear him, strafed into his view. "The palace's defenses are beyond compromised."
"I figured." Turning to the palace itself, his Sharingan swept over the small number of shelter-seekers. "Take Lee with you to guard the daimyo. If anyone and I mean anyone approaches that isn't us or you're unsure is one of us, kill them: no half measures."
He would've protested if their objective and their enemy were anyone else. "Right!" He zipped to Lee, picked him up like a box, and zoomed through the palace.
"What the?" The Kibas looked from the brief afterimage of the two to the other approaching jonin. "Do…" They blinked at the man's actual face. "Why do you wear the mask?"
Dosu finally managed to pick himself up. "I take back what I said about being a real ninja." His good eye widened at his sensei. "...Don't take this the wrong way, but you're hot."
"I know," he deadpanned. "Follow me." Without turning quite to the other group, he kept his Sharingan on the ground as well as the gaps in what was left of their defenses. The bodies of men, women, and children he could recognize as such by the rubble only fed his tranquil fury.
Sakura felt a weight fall off her shoulders at the sight of them. "Kaka–" The perfect jawline on his face turned hers as pink as her hair.
Tenten's matched. "Damn!"
"Whatever plans of infiltration they had, if there were any to begin with, are minimal or gone now." Kakashi's Sharingan kept scanning. "A full-force assault would be the next move, maybe with more suicide bombers." He glanced at his other student's confused face.
"The one I took down was a normal shadow clone, but it left its clothes behind," Sasuke explained, eyes doing the same.
Recalling the hand sign and the damage his took, he almost scoffed. "If it's just Hidan, all we have to do is find him: he had a clone endure blowing itself up."
"Shouldn't that have knocked the others unconscious if they're all the same?" Sakura asked. "We're probably dealing with more than one monster."
Tenten raised an eyebrow at her. "Didn't you drive a kunai through your Naruto's spine?"
"As crippling as a wound that would've been if he actually took it, that's not an intense enough trauma to take the original down," Kakashi said. "It's best if we still keep an eye out." He hummed. "I am surprised there hasn't been anyone trying to come up from the ground though."
"Still hard for me to hear anything aside from the ringing with the backdrop of all the screaming and crying," Dosu said.
Kiba and Akamaru snarled. "All I can smell is blood and soot."
"Then you're both just able bodies." He glanced at his other student again. "We're staying here until further notice."
"I know," Sasuke said. He also knew he was saying that to himself more than him.
He looked to the small group of civilians, three shaking children among them, that hadn't gone into the palace itself. "You're better off testing your luck in the city than staying here." A frown formed on his lips. "We will kill you if you act suspicious, or you'll die in a crossfire with our enemy; we were hired to protect the daimyo, not you."
More than half of his group wanted to protest, but he was right. The palace contained Hidan's true target, and he just killed who knew how many civilians just creating openings its walls. If he were unconscious, attacking it was likely the first thing he'd do when he woke up. He, even if he may have been out of explosives, was someone on the level of a jonin at the very least. A burning capital city of a land with a ninja village stood as proof to that.
With those words, they shared looks and shambled away from the palace. The adults covered the children's eyes for a time before it became clear they couldn't explain the bodies they were stepping on. It wasn't like they didn't know already. No one at their age would ever forget, but everyone there would remember that night for the rest of their lives. Peace and innocence were lost.
The shinobi split once more. Kakashi manned the massive opening in their defenses with the Kibas, Dosu on the wall walkway. Sakura stayed on the ground by Sasuke while Tenten manned the wall. When one was attacked, they'd stay in position because their enemy already struck from multiple angles. Each would assist the other if one was having more difficulty though.
A few minutes passed. Then even more flew by. Only silence and the fires throughout the city grew. While they remained prepared, it was still off-putting. Smoke, fire, and the countless bodies made them feel like they were in hell. For many of the civilians still left, they may as well have been.
Naruto and Orochimaru left immediately after at the latter's behest. Tadanaga was somewhat disappointed, but he understood they couldn't linger. Anko and Hinata dropped out of sight, which made Torune and Sai come out of hiding to join them. No words needed to be exchanged. Returning to their normal selves, they followed their target into the wilderness close enough for the Byakugan to follow but far enough that the two couldn't hear them.
"What's the hurry?!" Naruto asked, jumping from tree branch to tree branch at break-neck speeds.
"Did you not feel it?!" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Someone was watching us!"
Hinata frowned behind her mask. "They know something is wrong!"
Naruto shot him a look. "I thought the daimyo were off limits!" He grimaced at his laugh.
"When one becomes too uppity, they are deposed with help from their heir or undermined in such a way they're seen as illegitimate, like the Wind Daimyo was after the Sand's attack on the Leaf!" Orochimaru hummed. "Most likely, we were the real targets!" He tilted his head, pondering if it was Danzo or a desperate Tsunade.
Lips thinning into a line, he looked ahead into the dark forest. "...How long are you going to act like you don't know?!"
Orochimaru kept his eyes toward their destination. "Know what?!" His student stopping on a branch drove him to.
"They've stopped," Hinata said, doing the same.
Anko clucked her tongue as she followed her lead, sticking to the trunk. "We really should just confront them now."
"Their headquarters must be located first as they may escape," Sai deadpanned from another.
"If they suspect something, what makes you think they'll risk it?"
"Following and waiting for an opening is the best option regardless."
"Fine," Anko spat. "Guess I owe you two for leaving you out."
Naruto rolled his eyes after staring for more than a few seconds. "Let's just rip the fucking band-aid off; is Hinata alive?" If he had Anko's memories, he had Kimimaro's as well as the flunkies', and he wasn't exactly making an effort to hide that knowledge.
The girl in question blinked. "What?"
"I don't know," Orochimaru admitted. "She's not important to me outside of her relationship with you." He almost pouted. "It's not as if I can have the Hyuga Compound itself infiltrated to check."
"Then why don't you just have…" Drifting off, he realized it wasn't a good idea to say Kabuto's name if they were being watched. "Whatever. I'll find out for myself sooner or later."
"Oh, you will," Hinata whispered to herself even as the others looked at her.
When they began moving again, they resumed following. Their path, not that their stalkers knew, was straight to the main hideout. It took some time for Naruto to realize that though. He was confused for a moment before realizing he was planning an ambush, which explained why he didn't have them hide their movements by digging through the earth. Fact that's what he'd been planning for a different target eluded him though.
It took a little over an hour to reach their destination. Naruto and Orochimaru went to The Land of Rice's capital by walking the roads, seeking to be as inconspicuous as possible and kill time. The forests were known bandit hovels and eliminating any that bothered following during daylight would've been a chore. Warning signs, figurative ones, were posted outside Mori Town for such nuisances. His help in making them were waiting in the central chamber.
"Naruto!" Jugo embraced him the second he walked in.
He hugged him back. "Hey! What are you guys doing up? Celebrating the new year?" Letting go as he did, he looked to the questioning faces of the other two before setting it on Orochimaru. "Do you want to or should I?"
"We're here!" Hinata could barely contain her excitement. "It's just up ahead!"
Sai and Torune took point. "We will survey the entrance and the surrounding area!" He looked back at them from behind his mask. "You must neutralize Tadanaga Akio!" Their continued movements told them what they thought.
"...There's no way in hell they're going to actually try taking them on their own!" Anko stopped on a branch, driving her student to while they kept going. "If we can't grab Naruto, we still need something out of this or Blowjob Slug Princess is going to fuck with all of us."
"But Anko-sensei!" Hinata froze and shivered. "I-I-I…" Nonexistent snakes coiled around her body. "I'm sorry." She collapsed on to the branch. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Anko hopped over, wrapped her arms around her, and picked her up. "I forgive you." The frown beneath her mask didn't do her displeasure justice. "I want him too, and we will take him back, even if he somehow manages to get away. That's a promise."
"Thank you, Anko-sensei." Hinata blushed as she got her bearings.
She turned back to where they came. "Let's go pay Tadanaga a visit. He's been long overdue for neutering."
A little less than the time it took to get to the Sound Village's did they take to get back to the palace. The sensor ninja were still ridden with Torune's insects and would likely be for the next day. Some of the elite shinobi were awake but lax. Lord of Nothing himself slept between two of his favorite concubines in his personal chambers. No one disturbed either of the servants they stowed away.
Like shadows, they dropped from the walls and stuck to the darkness. Guards would look at them yet see nearly nothing, the moonlight turning their dark colors pitch black. Their footsteps made no noise as they crept into the walkways of the palace proper. Neither needed hand seals to transform back into their disguises. A few actual servants they passed looked curious as to where they'd been but, disliking who they impersonated due to their overly gossiping ways, said nothing little more than teasing comments about the boy.
The two guards outside their lord's door were subject to an absolutely perfect use of the Optic Delusory Jutsu and a genjutsu meant to lessen a target's senses besides sight to pass unnoticed courtesy of Hinata. All the two kunoichi had to do was slide the door open, walk inside, and shut it behind them. Each shared a look before going to opposite sides of the bed. Lightning chakra streaming through the concubines' synapses ensured neither could wake up anytime soon. Some nudging stirred their target from his rest.
"Who dares…" He looked from one mask to the other. "Oh." Lifting his upper body up, he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Before one of you goes on some tirade about how I must do whatever you wish, you should know your only chances of getting out of this palace alive and well depend on my health."
Anko would've laughed if it didn't have a chance of alerting anyone. "Talking about your pathetic excuse for shinobi guards?" Her voice was her normal tone.
"Judging by your accent, you're from the Leaf." He stroked his chin before looking both of them up and down. "One threat about informing the other villages of this incident, and they'll give you to me." The women beside him were warm yet limp. "What more fitting fate for you who treated my concubines so roughly?" A smirk formed on his lips. "I'll take such good care of you that you'll never want to go back to your village. Bear me a son who can manipulate chakra, and I'll recognize him as my heir."
"I never understood why you didn't just pay a rogue kunoichi to give birth to one." She flinched. "On second thought, if they're willing to do that they're probably crazy enough to kill the kid, and that's just horrible."
He nodded. "You ge–" Recognition of her casual, harsh, and playful way of speaking made him freeze. "...Anko?"
She took off her mask to reveal her grinning face. "Long time no see, Tadanaga."
"You've grown, not that I'm complaining." He frowned. "The free hair is a good touch, but I liked your old outfit better."
"Walking around with my tits out all the time was pretty fun. Added a coat over the fishnets to be more teasing over sexy though."
"Just like a woman." He looked to the other's legs. "Speaking of." His gaze rose steadily, as if licking up her body. "Covered up yet still exposed. I understand Anko, but you have an air of dignity."
She twitched. "Hey." Climbing on to the end of his bed, she beckoned the girl to join her. "What does that mean when you wanted me so much?" Her arms wrapped around her body and held her close. "Besides, she's mine."
His eyes widened in surprise as well as interest. "How scandalous."
"Show him." Anko nuzzled the side of her hooded head while he ogled them. "Don't be shy."
"Oh yes, don't be." The excitement gave way to disappointment when her hand grabbed her own mask. "I appreciate a pretty face as much as…" Veiny blank eyes adorning a cute, red face with no seal to speak of on its forehead killed all feeling in them. "That's a Hyuga...of the main branch." His jaw dropped. "Have you gone mad without your master or has your village after his attack?"
She hummed. "A bit of both, to be honest." Looking down, her grin widened. "Now, come on."
"Yes, Anko-sensei." Hinata moved her body as if she were squirming in her embrace, focusing on aligning a tenketsu point perfectly with her target. "Naruto is the only man I will ever bear the children of."
He blinked. "Are you hi–" His body thumped on to the bed twitching.
"It's done." She returned her nuzzling.
"Good girl." With a pat of her head, she slid off the bed and on to her feet. "Let's go bring him back." The mask fit perfectly back on to her face as Hinata's did hers.
It would be anything but simple.
None of the Leaf ninja were sure what to think after over two hours of nothing. They had shadow clones assure the daimyo and the green beasts everything was alright every half hour. It meant their enemy was either working alone or gave up. On one hand, the former made their job easier. Latter, on the other hand, left them with neither comfort nor the opportunity for catharsis. While they could search the city for him, it was just two of them that recognized his chakra signature and would leave the rest open for an attack from below.
Civilians were either trying to put out the fires or rummaging through the mass pile of bodies around the palace looking for their loved ones. Thankfully, they saw few children looking for their parents or weeping by their corpses. Some thought it was because they were likely dead though, not that they wanted to. All were tempted to help and would've if not for their mission. Ninja native to the land being absent meant they were likely helping those in the city or somehow in on it.
Sasuke, eyes back to normal for the sake of conserving chakra, squinted at two distant people stepping over the bodies with blurs of red by their shoulders. "Is that?" His Sharingan activated and he clenched his hands into fists. "He's coming!"
Kakashi opened his at the sound of Sasuke's yell, seeing two familiar men with the same odd chakra. "There's two here."
"Are there two on your end?" Dosu asked far from his teammate.
"Yeah," Sasuke answered. "They're heading right for us. Can you hear them?"
With some concentration, he could differentiate them from the far more subdued choir of the burning city. "It's just the four clones from what I can tell."
"Just like with Naruto." Tenten grimaced as she pulled out a scroll containing an arsenal of kunai.
The Kibas growled. "This time, we're not going to fail." All of their training couldn't have been for nothing.
Sakura glared at the approaching figures. "Real one is either nearby or among them hoping to slip through."
"Think you can take them out before they reach us?" Dosu asked, massaging his sore spots. "I'm not in the mood for another explosion."
"Neither am I." Kakashi created two clones of his own and watched them sink into the ground.
"Tenten!?" Sakura called out.
She didn't look down at her. "Why don't you just do that Headhunter thing?!"
"Just because I can dig underground doesn't mean I can see what's up top!" Naruto's excited yelling about Choji's stunt let her know exactly where he was. "And there might be bodies in the way!"
"I can!" Sasuke created two clones. "Just let yours follow mine's directions."
Sakura nearly slapped herself. "Right." She dug her blade into the ground and made the Shadow Clone Jutsu sign, matching his with her own two pairs. "You know what to do."
The Sakuras refrained from their desires to fawn over the Sasukes in favor of fulfilling their duty. While they followed the orders of their fellow clone partners, the Kakashis zipped through the earth. Hidan or whoever he was had a greater than nothing chance of knowing the most convenient element. It'd be easier for them if he didn't, but that wouldn't mean much if he was as good outside wanton slaughter as he was with. Preventing potential explosives from reaching the palace was their true purpose anyway.
Kakashi's clones reach their targets first. Their hands shot out of the earth between corpses and grabbed the enemy clones' ankles. Neither exploded before they were pulled under, remains being forced aside to make space, or after. Each glared down at their respective victims, who could only blink in surprise. If it wasn't practically guaranteed they'd pop when struck, they'd do more than just hit them.
"Headhunter sensor ninja," the gray-haired clones said in unison. "Fuck." They bit their own tongues off, popping themselves, to relay the information.
"Dammit!" The Kakashis, seeing no clothes laced with explosive tags in the holes, dispelled themselves with hand signs.
The other two clones' eyes widened. "Oh shit." Jumping back, they narrowly avoided a pair of feminine hands. "Nice try." They streamed wind chakra through their triple-bladed cabled scythes before swiping through several bodies, the earth, and the clones. A disappointed sigh left both at the distinctive poof noise. "Forbidden Jutsu everyone and their mother knows." Eyeing the blood on the blades, they clucked their tongues.
Sasuke and Sakura frowned and snarled respectively. "Dammit."
"Their are no explosives on them," Kakashi said.
Dosu nodded. "According to our sensei, they're not carrying explosives."
"Can't shadow clones be explosive though?" Kiba asked.
"Explosive shadow clones?"
He scoffed. "How do you not know that while being on your team?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just try not to engage in melee." Kakashi wanted to sigh. "Tell the other group to go ahead from range."
"Sensei says to take them out without getting close," Dosu informed.
"It's a shadow clone fight then." Sakura picked her sword out of the ground in reverse grip, stuck out two fingers, and crossed them with her other hand's. "Please don't disobey."
Sasuke made the same sign. "They'll do it for me." Her blush would've made him want to smile if they were in a far less dire situation.
Tenten glanced at their copies before returning focus to their enemies. "I can work with this distance."
Onsen City was already consumed in violence and death.
AN: Might have been overthinking a few things for this. Seemed necessary to me though. The amount of stuff that could go wrong makes it odd for me not to. Last thing I want in my own plot are holes.
For those of you who know what Hinata did or guessed from the start, I congratulate you. Had that in mind for quite a bit. Neji even did a variant of it to distract his Naruto clone. Just he didn't intend to do major damage.
Anyone remember the flashback of Kakashi and Obito's generation? Orochimaru's team was going up against Hayate and Ibiki. Little Anko was not wearing anything to cover her. I know some people say it's armor, but when has it ever been shown to block anything? Mail on bare skin is pure chaffing too. I had no idea what Kishi was thinking, but a lot of things during the final arc and after Pain are like that.
We are now over 700 favorites and 300,000 words, which I now know for sure because of Ao3 not having author's notes. Love all of you. Thank you for sticking with me.
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of a review or PM.