Zabuza had left a few days ago, and was likely already back in Kiri, so Sasuke is on his own as he watches his girlfriend pace back and forth in front him. "Naruto," he sighs twenty minutes in when she shows no signs of stopping. "I think you need to put this aside for a moment, and focus."

"Put it aside?" she snaps, "Weren't you listening to me? What Danzo is doing to the Hyuuga is depraved, and disgusting, and unnatural."

"Must be a Wednesday," he says dryly. "Naruto, thanks to Hanabi he isn't getting his hands on any more Hyuuga."

"I should have known that Danzo wouldn't put those seals on the Hyuuga just to test himself," she mutters, "Nothing is ever that straight forward with that bastard."

Sasuke rolls his eyes and moves himself into her path. Naruto, still muttering to herself, walks smack into him, bouncing off of his chest. He holds her still by her upper arms and says, "One problem at a time. Let Hanabi and everyone deal with this in Konoha. We need to focus on the Akatsuki and, you know, their potentially world ending plan."

She steps out of his hands and crosses her arms. "Sasuke! This is important! Danzo just keeps getting worse, we can't leave everyone to deal with him on their own, that's not fair."

"Somehow, I'm sure someone in the entirely of Konoha will figure something out," he says. "Do you really think I wouldn't love to go and do something about Danzo personally? He gave the orders to exterminate my clan and exiled my brother. I would love nothing more than an excuse to deal out some revenge with my own hands. But we have to prioritize. Akatsuki first. Then we return to Konoha."

She flinches away from him, and something curdles in his stomach. She's never done that before. "Naruto?" She rubs her hands up and down her arms like she's cold, and he cautiously takes her hands in his own, lacing their fingers together. Her skin is unnaturally soft for a kunoichi thanks to the kyuubi's healing.

She sighs and lets her arms drop down at her sides, "You're right. I'm sorry, I just hate that man so much." That's not the problem and he knows it. She's still worried about returning to Konoha, and he can't think of a way to tell her that she doesn't have to worry without being patronizing. He has to say something, thought, can't let her just get lost in her own head. But she raises their tangled hands to press a kiss to his knuckles, so he decides to let it go. For now. "We still need to find a way to get in contact with Itachi without blowing his cover. I can get a message to him easily enough, but it will only take one pair of loose lips and he's dead. Or well, it's Senpai, so he probably won't die, but still. "

"Actually," Sasuke's eyes flare red, and the Mangekyo Sharingan spins to life, "I have an idea for that one. I'm pissed I didn't think of it sooner."

Itachi knows the instant the pretty young woman starts following him, but she's obviously not a shinobi so he doubts it's anything sinister. He doesn't move out of the way when she bumps into his shoulder and mutters a low, "Sorry, sir," as she hurries past him, her orange kimono glinting in the setting sun. He blinks down at the folded piece of paper she'd shoved into his palm.

Naruto hasn't tried to contact him once. Of course he'd heard the rumors of what she and his brother have been up to the past couple of years, but apart from Naruto sending Kabuto to heal him neither of them had made any attempt to contact him or find him. He still wasn't sure how to feel about the healing, there had been some poetic justice in the fact that using his Sharingan was slowly killing him, some sort of balance in that the more he used his clan's techniques the closer he got to death.

But now he's got a note in his hand from Naruto, who hasn't made any effort to contact him in years. As far as he's heard, his little brother hasn't even asked about him. Although, even if Sasuke now considered himself strong enough to avenge their clan and kill Itachi, they had spent the past three years fighting a war. However, setting up a death match between them doesn't exactly seem Naruto's style. He's far too controlled to show his nerves, so he opens the note with steady hands.

It's blank.

He turns the note over in his hands, and he's baffled as to why Naruto would risk sending him a blank piece of paper. Is this her way of telling him to go find her? Which is ludicrous, it's not like he'll be able to abandon Kisame to hop over to Water Country without the older ninja asking any questions. He runs his hands over it, and in the corner is a small indent in the shape of the Uchiha crest.

Itachi activates his Sharingan. Naruto's boxy penmanship is now clearly written across it.

Senpai,

There are moves in play that you're probably not fully aware of, so I need you to trust me.

Kill the Akatsuki.

Hidan and Deidara are already dead by the Saanin's hand. Don't leave Earth Country, I'm sending you help.

Natsu-chan

P.S. Sasuke says hi!

Itachi absently burns the note, flicking the ashes into the street. He's spent the better part of ten years undercover, and Naruto is asking him to throw that all away on nothing more than her word. She's also clearly lost her mind if she thinks Sasuke has anything to say to him but a string of expletives. He should ignore her note, and continue his work undercover until he receives word from the Hokage.

He sighs and turns back around to head to the hotel he and Kisame are staying in. Kisame is the one person in Akatsuki he actually likes, and the one person he'd consider his friend. Killing him won't hurt nearly as much as killing as his parents and clan, but it will still hurt. This is what he gets for growing attached to the giant idiot in the first place.

Naruto better have a good reason for this, otherwise he's going to be pissed that he's killed his only friend for nothing.

The rest of Akatsuki however? Killing them will be his pleasure.

He's already decided that drawing Kisame away from the center of town first is his best bet to avoid civilian casualties when he enters their room. Usually when left to his own devices Kisame reads those truly horribly trashy romance novels that he thinks Itachi doesn't know about it. Instead he's hurriedly shoving his belongings into a pack. "Are we going somewhere?" he asks, but something is off. In the past when they've gotten sudden orders to move Kisame has always packed both of their things, but Itachi's clothes lay untouched. Kisame whirls around, and he can't move his sword around too much in the small room but in an instant he has a short wakizashi pointed at him. It's then that he notices that Kisame isn't wearing the Akasuki robe, which maybe wouldn't be worth note if not for the new scrap of metal and cloth tied around his forehead. "Your headband."

Itachi doesn't know where he got it, or maybe he's just been carrying it around all this time, which is actually such a sad thought that he hopes it isn't true. The Kiri hitai-ate is polished and unblemished – there's no strike through the village symbol. "He won," Kisame says, something almost like joy buried in his voice. "I didn't think that bastard would actually win, you know? Figured any day I would hear about his head on a pike. But it's official. The new Water Daiymo, Masuyo, she's confirmed it."

"The new mizukage?" he asks, still not reacting to the sword in his face. Of course he'd been following the war, his little brother and best friend were on the frontlines.

"I never thought Zabuza would succeed," he admits, "he was always an idealistic little shit."

Zabuza of the Seven Swordsman. Just like Kisame. Itachi was an idiot. "Kisame, what are you doing?"

He swallows, "I'm going home, Itachi. Zabuza's a good man, he'll be a good kage, but the war had a lot of casualties. He won't turn me away when I show up at the border." He spins his sword in his hand, "If you try to stop me, I'll kill you."

Itachi doesn't move. "The Akatsuki –"

"Fuck the Akatsuki," he snarls, and Itachi almost wants to laugh. "These people crazy. You're the only decent one of the lot." He scowls, "I am and always have been a loyal ninja of my village."

Itachi does smile then. Naruto had told him to kill the Akatsuki. Kisame apparently no longer had any interest in being part of the Akatsuki. He holds ups his hands and steps away from the door and says with complete honesty, "Good luck."

Kisame pulls his pack shut and seals it away, the massive sword across his back leaving no room for it. After a moment of deliberation he puts his wakizashi in the sheath at his hip and strides across the room. He stops right in front of Itachi, glaring down at him. Itachi raises an eyebrow, and is completely unprepared for when Kisame settles a massive arm over his shoulder and gives him the closes thing he's had to a hug in a decade. "Stay strong, and stay safe," the former missing-nin whispers in his ear. Before Itachi has a chance to react to that one way or another, Kisame is gone.

Ren sits in front of her mirror, absently running a brush through her hair. Seeing Ino again had been nice, but it had also been surreal to be out having breakfast with them all, Shikamaru a mostly silent presence at her side but his hands a comforting weight on her thigh. She'd kissed him goodbye and watched him walk away, and this isn't what she'd wanted for herself. She wasn't the type to sit worrying at home, but by dating a shinobi that's what she's basically resigned herself too.

God, why did she have to like that kid so much? It makes everything so complicated.

There's a knock at her door, and she's only turned around when Madame Koi opens it and leans against her doorframe, a folded piece of paper in her hand. "There's a message from Natsu to Hanabi," she hold it out to her, "Deliver it for me?"

"Of course," Ren stands to accept it, and she doesn't know if this is a test or a game, but there's a reason Madame Koi is asking her to deliver this instead of doing it herself. Considering what she knows of Madame Koi, it's probably some sort of lesson. She just hopes it isn't a painful one.

Hinata wakes up slowly. First she's aware that she's not in pain, and she wasn't honestly expecting to wake up at all but she definitely thought that it would hurt if she did. But she's on something soft and she's warm and actually on second thought maybe she is dead.

"Your chakra levels have returned to normal," her sister's voice says, and Hinata snaps upright. She's in Natsu's apartment and Hanabi sits cross legged on the coffee table, reading a scroll that she recognizes from the Hyuuga libraries. "You should be back to normal, according to Sakura. It's normal to sleep for a day or so after a difficult healing, according to her."

"Are you hurt?" Hinata asks urgently, and everything about her sister's body language is telling her to back off, but she so desperately wants to look her over for wounds herself. "How did we get back home?"

Hanabi doesn't look away from the scroll. "Hinata, did you mean it when you swore your loyalty to me? When you promised to stand down as your position of heir so I could become clan head?"

"Of course I did!" she says, and curls her hands into fists to keep from grabbing at Hanabi.

"Are you sure?" she asks, voice as disinterested as if she was asking about the weather, "How can I be expected to lead our family if my own sister won't obey me?"

"I've always obeyed you!" Hinata argues, "I would never stand against you!"

Hanabi finally drops the scroll. "That's funny," she says, voice dripping acid, "because I don't remember ordering you to die for me, Hinata. I'm pretty fucking sure I would have remembered telling you to take a blow meant for me, almost certain I would have remembered asking you to bleed out in front of me!"

She doesn't give an inch. "You're my future clan head. It's my duty to die for you."

"You're my sister!" Hanabi hisses, standing so she can tower over Hinata. "You're not allowed to die."

She's trembling, and Hinata holds out her hand, because she can't take, with Hanabi she can never take. "I understand. I'll do my best to not die."

Hanabi almost laughs and grabs Hinata's hand, squeezing too tight. "Good. Because if you think you're up to it, I'm sending you on a mission."

Her sister is sending her on a mission, not that they've been assigned one. "What?"

"Naruto sent a message asking for my two best warriors," she says, "You and Neji leave at sunset."

Sakura feels bad about lying to Kiba about working extra shifts at the hospital, but considering Kabuto and Hana's standing dinner date he'll have found out she's lying by dusk. Of course, by then it will be too late to stop her.

She's riding Paru, using chakra to ensure they smoothly bound from rooftop to rooftop. "There," she whispers when she catches sight of a familiar woman walking down the street. She'd planned on asking Madame Koi for help, but this is probably better. Although she has no idea what Ren is doing on this side of the village.

"Hey," she says cheerfully when Paru lands in the middle of Ren's path. The older woman jumps nearly a foot in the air and then gives her a look that could curdle milk, so they're off to an excellent start. "I need a favor."

Kabuto isn't even surprised when Kakashi slides into their makeshift morgue through a loose window. Hana just sighs and continues the delicate process of extracting the black liquid from one of the nameless Hyuuga's bodies. "Sai?" she asks.

"Sai," he agrees, keeping a careful distance from them. For an S ranked former Anbu, he can be surprisingly squeamish at times. "Figure out anything?"

"Basically nothing," he mutters irritably, "The liquid is imbibed with chakra, and somehow connects to the brain. There's a seal on all their chests which seems to have been added post humorously, and it connected to the Curse Mark but I don't really understand how."

"What we need is a seal master," Hana adds, "but unfortunately I only know one, and she's a little busy right now."

"They won the war," Kabuto says, "They have to come back eventually."

"Hopefully soon," Kakashi rubs the back of his neck, "Things have started piling up around here. I feel like something big is happening."

"Even if we can figure out the how, I don't get the why," Hana says, "What's the point of sending Team Eight on a fake mission? What was so important that he sent a team of undead slave assassins to prevent them from coming back?"

Kakashi shrugs, "No clue, but until we figure it out Team Eight is laying low. They haven't officially returned from the mission yet, so hopefully Danzo is none the wiser."

"Screw this," Kabuto takes a vial of the black liquid and summons a snake. "Take this to Orochimaru," he tells the snake, who hisses at him but accepts the vial gently enough before dismissing itself. "We'll see what he makes of it," he adds to them both, "I may be the superior medic-nin, but when it comes to strange unidentifiable potions there's really no one better."

Kakashi twitches, and Kabuto knows the older man still hasn't gotten used to the idea of Orochimaru as one of the good guys. "Did Sai tell you guys where he was going? That's what I originally came here for. He's not at the main house."

"Sakura came by earlier," Hana lifts up petri dish of skin cells and squints at it disapprovingly, "Did you check our place?"

"First place I looked," he says slowly, "Your brother was there, but not Sakura."

They freeze. There's no reason to be concerned, really. Sakura and Sai were teammates and friends and the fact that they'd excluded Kiba, someone who Sakura is usually attached at the hip with and the only one with a sense of reason on their team, isn't necessarily cause for concern.

"She's doing something idiotic," Hana declares, putting the petri dish down so hard that it clatters dangerously.

Kakashi sighs, "Probably."

Kabuto rubs at the spot between his eyebrows. As if he didn't have enough on his plate.

There's a rustle of movement outside of her window, and she has her fan out before she's even turned around. Useless guards, what was the point of them if assassins could just swing through her window –

Her youngest brother stands there, now a man when he'd left a child. He's taller and broader, and his dark red hair could almost be described as shaggy. "Kazekage," he greets warmly.

"Gaara," she breathes, darting across the room to pull him into her arms, and the brat is taller than her now, it's so unfair.

He presses a kiss to her forehead, and when they break apart his eyes are watery. He pulls out a scroll and hands it to her, "Our official treaty with Kiri, signed and sealed."

She tosses it on her desk, and Gaara's eyebrows dip together. "We've missed you," she says, capturing his hands in hers. After three years away her brother is home.

"I've missed you too," he smiles, "every day."

"Come on," she drags him out of her office, "Kankuro is in-village right now, he'll be so happy to see you!"

Gaara lets her pull him away. He looks like he wants to say something, but whatever news he's brought can wait until she finally has what's left of her family all in the same place.

Orochimaru is seated at his desk, reading through another mission report. If he'd known how much paperwork was involved in being a kage, maybe he wouldn't have been so eager. There's a knock on his door, and he doesn't look up as he calls out, "Come in."

"You wanted to speak with me, Orochimaru-sama?" Suigetsu says, closing the door behind him.

Orochimaru looks up, and the boy has a wary look in his purple eyes. "Yes," he sets his pen down and opens the top drawer of his desk, "I'm going to have to ask you turn in your headband immediately."

"Otokage!" he steps forward, "What have I done?"

"Why, nothing at all," he tosses the object from his draw at Suigetsu, and when the boy catches it his face goes slack with surprise, "It's only that it will be difficult for you to fulfill your dream of being one of the Seven Swordsman if you are to remain in Oto."

"Sir?" he whispers, running his fingers over the Kiri symbol etched into the headband.

Orochimaru softens, "The war is over, and my allies have won. I could not allow you to go there before, but Kiri is in need of strong, competent ninja. They will take you gladly." He's completely unprepared for when Suigetsu vaults over his desk to hug him, and he doesn't have the chance to react at all before the boy is running out of his office. "Huh," he says, and he really does wish that Anko could come visit, and he it's been months since he's seen Kankuro.

This thoughtful musing is broken by Tsunade slamming his door open, ink stains on her face and her hair a disaster. "I figured it out!" she declares, "They're going to attack Konoha, we have to hurry."

Shikamaru doesn't know why Hanabi is so insistent that they don't go on the Suna mission, but it doesn't take much to convince him to listen. Considering the attacks on the village, he wouldn't be surprised if it was a trap just like she seemed to think it was. Besides, Temari would forgive them. If there was one ally they could afford to offend, it was Suna.

"Cards?" Ino sighs, morosely shuffling a deck.

That said, spending the next couple weeks hiding in Natsu's apartment was going to drive all three of them nuts.

Naruto and Sasuke run through the trees, pushing themselves to go harder and faster. "You're sure you can't use the Portal Seal?" Sasuke asks, flinging his body through a gap in the branches rather than going above it.

"Danzo would know the second I did it," he says, "It was a big enough risk sending Team Eight back using it, but I couldn't take them back to the palace and I couldn't just leave them there."

"Did you ever find out what the deal was with the Hyuuga bodies?" Sasuke does a cartwheel off of another branch.

Naruto glares and does a backflip off the next one. "Absolutely no clue. I didn't want to risk asking about it in the message I sent Hanabi, and I figure at this pace we'll be in Konoha by morning. We can ask her then."

"I really wish we knew what we were getting ourselves into," he grumbles, "Orochimaru's note was completely useless."

"One way to find out," Naruto grins before putting on a burst of speed that leaves his boyfriend scrambling to keep up.

Sasuke can't help but be grateful for that playfulness. There are still problems they're avoiding facing – how Naruto will return to Konoha and what Sasuke is supposed to do with Itachi once he gets him back. Never mind that they're one their way to face some of the most annoyingly powerful shinobi in existence.

Somehow, in spite of the looming threat of death and awkward family reunions, Sasuke is actually most worried about facing Aunt Kiyomi. He doesn't know what her opinion is on violent revolution, and he's just hoping she isn't angry at him. He's pretty sure he's a better swordsman than her now, but he's not exactly eager to test that theory.

Itachi remembers Hinata as a small, scared little girl and Neji as an angry, bitter brat. The two nearly adult warriors in front of him are very different than the children he last knew, and something in him aches to see his brother, to see the changes time has wrought.

Hinata beams and grabs him in a hug strong enough to strain his ribcage, and he's so surprised he lets her. "That's from Naruto," she says cheerfully, "He says hi."

"Ah," he says, "Right." He swallows, "How's – are they, uh."

"Naruto and Sasuke are fine," Neji reports, "There are two of the Akatsuki sixty miles west of here. We should hurry."

"What's the rush?" Hinata complains, but nudges Itachi into walking between them. "It's not like there's random attacks against Konoha that are probably linked to Danzo and there's some sort of giant plan to kill us all."

Itachi side eyes her. What the hell has been going on in Konoha?

"Just the one random attack," Neji corrects, and the concerned once over he gives his cousin tells Itachi more than anything that the relationship between them has changed. "Which I'm still not convinced you're completely recovered from. You almost died."

She raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. "We're shinobi, we almost die every day. And it's two attacks. There was that attack at the border, with Sakura and Kiba and Ino and Shikamaru? That was Danzo's handiwork too."

Neji stops walking, and it takes a moment for them to notice and turn around. There's a strange look on his face. "Why do you say that?"

"Unmarked ninja with no apparent village affiliation and who don't show up in any databases?" Hinata rolls her eyes, "That's got Root written all over it. It was same deal with the ninja who attacked Sakura a few years ago, remember?"

"You're being targeted," he says, and Itachi really does not have the context to follow this conversation. "Danzo is targeting everyone in your graduation year. Why?"

"You're a threat," Itachi says, and the two Hyuuga blink at him like they'd forgotten he was there. "Everyone in your year is a clan heir, except Sakura. He knows that he can't count on your support, or even that you'll mirror your parents' compliance. So he's attempting to take you all out."

"So he's trying to kill everyone but Sakura," Hinata snorts, "That's ironic."

Two sets of too-smart eyes are instantly fastened onto her. "Why?" Neji asks dangerously.

Hinata curls her hair around her finger and gives a weak smile, "Oh, we should really go kill those dangerous Akatsuki members. Who's eager to face some S ranked missing-nin?"

Neji takes a threatening step forward, "Hinata –"

She body flickers to a nearby roof then calls out "Priorities, boys!" She runs across the roofs, using chakra to propel her forward. Neji curses under his breath before going after her.

Itachi tries to hide his smile, but can't. Everywhere across the nations there are strong, loyal shinobi who bleed and die for their villages. But he's found it's only the Konoha ninja who laugh and smile so freely.

He's missed it.

"This is a terrible idea," Sai hisses, crouched besides her in the bushes outside Danzo's house.

Sakura slaps his shoulder, "Be quiet! It will work. Make sure your chakra stays cloaked."

"There's no way he'll fall for it," he insists stubbornly. "He hasn't survived this long by not being smart, Sakura. It'll never work!"

She turns to glare at him, but a candle appears in the window of a room at the back of the house, the small flickering flame the best thing she's seen in weeks.

"Holy shit," he breathes, "it worked."

"Come on," she tugs him up, "the clock's ticking."

He follows her to the entrance, body flickering in and out of the shadows. "I'd feel a lot better if Paru was here."

"You and me both," she mutters, "He'll come when it's time."

"What does that even mean?" Sai demands, but instead of answering she presses her hand to one of the guard's neck and severs her spine. She catches her and slowly lowers her body to the ground.

She catches his surprise and grins, "Hinata taught me that trick. A bit harder to pull off without the Byakugan, but advanced anatomical knowledge doesn't hurt."

"You terrify me," he says, impressed.

They make their way through the house, silently killing the stationed Root members as they go. "Are you sure this is going to work?" she whispers once they're right outside Danzo's bedroom door. She's pretty sure knowing what Danzo's moans sounded like was going to haunt her more than any kill she'd ever made.

"No," he says, "be prepared for dozens of Root members to come raining down on us, intent to kill."

She rolls her eyes and gives two soft taps against the door. A moment later there's a strangled yelp and they burst in. Sakura lets loose a barrage of kunai before the doors even fully open, trusting Ren to get out of the way in time.

They step inside. Ren is naked and pressed against the wall, a scattering of hickeys around her breasts that Sakura really hopes are from Shikamaru. Sai stands tense besides her, all his senses on high alert.

Danzo lies equally naked and pinned to the bed by Sakura's dozen kunai. The kunai are impaled from his spleen to his brain, and he's covered in blood from his wounds.

His remaining eye is sightless and open. Danzo is dead.

"That's disgusting," Ren sniffs, grabbing her robe from the floor and shaking it out before putting it back on.

Sakura winces, "Sorry about that, the whole – sex thing."

"Oh, that was fine," she pulls her hair up into a ponytail. "He bathes and didn't call me any names, a fairly pleasant client all things considered."

"Right," Sakura rubs the back of her neck, "Really though, thank you."

"Happy to help," she smooths the lines of her kimono, "We should probably leave soon."

"Sai?" Sakura asks.

His shoulders loosen and he almost smiles, "If they were coming, they'd be here by now."

"Thank god," she says, "Collecting the bodies is going to be a bitch though."

"Share with the class?" Ren asks, coming to stand beside them.

"Root members all of have this seal that connects us to Danzo," he explains, "I figured there was a good chance that the chakra surge caused by his death would activate the kill switch, as long as they were close enough to Danzo when it happened. Most of Root is in-village right now. I was going to tell Kakashi about it and let them handle it, but Sakura threatened to have me castrated."

She smirks and spreads out her hands, "Letting the adults handle it never ends well."

Ren pokes his shoulder, "You're still alive."

He shrugs, "Naruto removed my seal years ago. I was never in any danger."

Without warning, high vicious howling pierces the air. All three of them jump. "That sounds close," Ren whispers, eyes wide.

"Sakura?" Sai asks, hushed.

She shakes her head, "Those aren't Inuzuka dogs." She takes a shuriken and after a moment of consideration stabs herself in the upper arm.

"Sakura!" Sai hastily takes out a roll of cloth and quickly bandages the wound.

"Paru will come now," she says grimly, and she thinks she knows what those howls are coming from. She remembers the stories of their clan that Tsume had told her the night she'd tattooed her clan markings into her skin. "Ren, this is way above your paygrade. Hide, and don't come out until I come for you, okay? Go to the basement."

Ren nods and darts away, her sandals clutched in her fist.

Sai squeezes her shoulder, "What's going on?"

"I should have known," she says, pulling the kunai from Danzo's body and wiping them clean before putting them back on her belt. "There's clearly not one despicable thing this asshole hasn't dug his hands into."

"I don't get it," Sai says, "What are those? What are you talking about?"

"The bastard summoned inugami," she says, "evil dog spirits he's enslaved to do his bidding. And we've just killed their master, freeing them."

"I don't suppose they're coming to say thank you?" Sai sighs, taking out his brush.

She shakes her head, "Oh no. They're coming to kill him, and when they find out he's already dead they'll turn that rage onto anyone who gets in their way." Her voice goes flat and hard, "They can't be allowed to get into the main part of the village. If we die stopping them, so be it."

Sai knocks their shoulders together, "Sounds like fun."

She smiles at him, grateful. Every once in a while she gets what Ino sees in him.

Then the door busts down, a snarling, red eyed inugami growling at them, and they really don't have the time for anything but surviving after that.

Temari and her brothers are all geared up to help defend Konoha when a hawk circles twice above her and lands on her shoulder. She undoes the scroll, and adds the required burst of chakra and drop of blood. She has to read through it twice to be sure, but looks up and says, "Naruto says not to go to Konoha."

"What?" Kankuro rips the letter from her hands, "Is she insane? The Akatsuki are attacking! If they were coming to Suna I would stake our treaty on Konoha sending aid."

"She must have already divided them," Gaara says, "If they've divided their forces there's a chance Suna could be the focus of a direct attack. It would be irresponsible of us to leave Suna unprotected."

"Sasori is our missing-nin," Temari glares, "He's ours to kill!"

"We'll kill one of their missing-nin for free to make up for it," Kankuro says dryly. "Come on, if we're not charging off to a deadly battle, we should show Gaara the garden Baki designed."

Gaara blinks. "Baki designed a garden? Baki-sensei?"

"He gets bored in times of peace," Temari smirks, "Very, very bored."

Kiba's reading through a taijutsu scroll when Akamaru starts barking. "Buddy?" he looks up, "What's wrong?"

Then Paru howls, and the spirit touched dog only does that when Sakura is in danger. He's already thrown his scroll to the side and is out of the house when the other Inuzuka dogs join in, barking and snarling. The rest of the clan is pouring out of their homes, trying to calm their ninken and failing.

Neither his mom nor Hana are here, so this falls on him. "Ken," he snaps at a boy who's barely even a genin, "Go to Natsu's old apartment. Team Ten is there, tell them we need help." The boy nods and shunshins away. He faces the rest of his clan. "Follow Paru," he orders them, swinging onto Akamaru's back. "Be ready to fight. We don't know what we're going into."

He's only seventeen and not even the clan heir, but he's Tsume's son so his clan doesn't hesitate, men and women climbing onto their dogs and following him as he chases after Paru.

The spirit wolf leads them to Danzo's home at the edge of the village, where Sai and Sakura are in the middle battling close to two dozen inugami.

If they survive this, he's going to kill her.

None of the Inuzuka or their ninken hesitate, launching themselves into the fray. It may have been hundreds of years, but they've never forgotten their history. All around him his family is using techniques and moves that haven't been needed in generations, jutsu meant to subdue and wound inugami. They're not truly alive, and therefore can't be truly killed. But they can be driven back, hurt badly enough that they fade to the shadows to lick their wounds and wait to strike another day.

Kiba makes it to Sakura's side eventually. Her legs are trembling and she has a head wound that's dripping blood into her eyes. Paru's muzzle is dripping with black inugami blood, growling and snapping at any that come close to his reach. But his clansmen are doing a decent job of fighting them back, and Kiba throws a lazy salute to Chouji when Team Ten body flickers into the mess and instantly joins the fighting. "What the hell did you do?" he asks, trying to come off as stern but honestly he's so relieved that she's alive that he almost wants to cry. He's not sure he could have survived two dozen inugami long enough for help to come. She must have lost more blood than he thought, because she whirls around to face him and nearly falls over. "Woah there!" he grabs her upper arms to steady her, "You okay?"

"Kiba?" she blinks some of the blood from her eyes, and then throws her arms around his neck, "Oh my god, I'm so happy to see you!"

"I can see that," he says dryly, "Mind telling me what's going on?"

"Danzo was summoning inugami," she says into his shoulder, "I didn't know, I swear, otherwise I would have taken care of them before I killed him."

Kiba freezes. "Before you what now?"

She pulls back enough to look him in eye, but leaves her hands clasped around his neck. "Danzo is dead. I killed him."

Kiba has a lot to say about that, mostly asking if she's lost her mind, but they're interrupted by a chunin body flickering besides them. She takes one look at the battle taking place and then clearly decides it's not her concern. "Attacks at the border," she tells Kiba, "It's the Akatsuki. All jounin are being ordered to the frontlines." The chunin leaves, ducking under Ino's kick to tell her the same news.

"What the fuck," he says blankly. He glances over the battlefield, and most of the inugami are retreating into what's left of the shadows. He'd missed it, but the sun was already rising over the horizon. "Okay, I'm going to report to the border," he tells Sakura, "send the rest of the jounin there when they've finished."

"No way!" she glares. "I'm coming with you!"

He stares, "You can barely stand."

"Then give me one of those soldier pills that you always have on you," she says, "and let's go."

He could argue. He should. He's team leader, her superior in clan matters, and the one that hasn't already bled half to death. "Please be careful," he says instead, because there's basically nothing he can do to stop Sakura once she's gotten an idea into her head. He reaches into his pouch and hands her the soldier pill.

"You too," she says before pulling him closer and kissing him. For a moment there's only the salty bitter tang of her blood between them, but then it's perfect, Sakura strong in his arms and her lips soft and insistent on his. She breaks away, swallows the soldier pill, and kisses him on the cheek before swinging onto Paru and body flickering away.

He touches his lips, and the Akatsuki are here, so they're almost certainly headed into certain death, but – Sakura kissed him.

That's pretty great.

"You have no right to stop me from going out there!" Iruka glares.

Kakashi stands in front of their front door, arms crossed. "You're not a jounin."

"I'm A ranked," he hisses, "and this is my village, my friends and my comrades, and if you think I'm going to stand here waiting around for everyone I love to die you've got another thing coming."

"Please don't go," Kakashi says, his voice cracking in the middle, "I might die, and my friends might die, my students and – most of everyone I care about. And I just – just want one person to be safe, Iruka. Just the man I love, the reason I get up in the morning, please. Please."

All of the anger drains out of him, and Iruka reaches forward to wrap his arms around his boyfriend. "I love you," he says seriously, "I never knew I could love someone as much as I love you. But I can't stay behind. This is my village, Kakashi, and I'm an A ranked shinobi. It's my duty and my honor to die for Konoha."

Kakashi swallows and lowers his head to Iruka's shoulder. "Okay," he whispers, "I understand, just – don't, okay? Don't die for Konoha. Live for me instead."

That's not a promise any ninja can keep, and they both know it. "Of course," Iruka murmurs, "Always."

Kisame doesn't actually kill any of the patrolman, because assuming this works they'll be his comrades soon, but he does leave a trail of unconscious bodies all the way to the mizukage. "Hey," he says, swinging his sword over his shoulder.

Zabuza raises an eyebrow, arms crossed. "Hey."

A pretty woman who he thinks is Mei Terumi pokes Zabuza in the arm, "Hey? Really? That's all you've got?"

Kisame grins, "Aw, has seeing me after all these years left you speechless?"

The very pretty young man on Zabuza's other side slowly looks in between them. "Zabuza," he says with such scary amount of measured calm that even Kisame feels the urge to step back, "what was the exact nature of your relationship?"

Zabuza rubs the back of his head, "Ah, we uh, you know." The young man scowls, and Mei does a very poor attempt at turning a laugh into a cough. "Kisame, this is Haku, my – uh," his face scrunches up and Kisame is very tempted to laugh in relief. It's been nearly fifteen years, and Zabuza is exactly the same.

"They're basically married," Mei offers, "It's adorable and disgusting."

"Right," Zabuza nods, "And he won't hesitate to rip your head off, something I promise you he's fully capable of doing, if he considers you to be moving in on his territory."

"Uh huh," he tilts his head to the side, "His territory being you?"

Haku smiles, and it's not friendly at all. "Yes."

Kisame nods seriously, "Well, he's vicious and pretty. Just your type."

"No wonder you and I didn't work out," he shoots back instantly, "considering your ugly mug."

"Vicious and pretty?" Haku echoes, turning towards Zabuza.

He shrugs, stepping close enough to tip Haku's face up and rub his thumb over his bottom lip, "You are very much both those things." Haku's face softens, and he's even prettier when he's not trying to kill someone with his eyes.

A teenager walks in, head in a file, "Hey Zabuza, it looks like Itachi Uchiha is in Water Country. Should we do something about that, or?" He looks up, and blinks. "Did I miss something?"

"Suigetsu?" Kisame blinks, "Aren't you one of Orochimaru's?"

He snaps the file shut and gives him a look so prissy he had to have learned it from the Saanin. "Kisame of the Seven Swordsman. Aren't you part of the Akatsuki?"

"I retired," he shrugs, sliding his gaze back to his old friend. "I was hoping you'd have some use for me."

Zabuza cracks a grin, "How about head of Torture and Investigation? Right now your entire department consists of Suigetsu and thirty eight prostitutes."

Kisame barks out a laugh, "Perfect. Just like home."

"Yes," Haku says, and this time his smile is warm. "It is."

He could definitely get used to this.

The weird ass dog spirit things have been more or less taken care of, so he really needs to do his duty and report to the frontlines. Chouji and Ino are already there, and the thought of them fighting for even a second without him by their side makes him sick, but there's something he needs to take care of first.

Shikamaru knocks on the basement door, "Ren? It's me. You can come out now."

The door slams open and Ren throws herself into his arms, "Thank god," she chokes out, and she's shaking.

"Hey, it's okay," he holds her tight enough that it's probably uncomfortable, and he's bewildered. The dog spirits were weird, but Ren has seen combat before, participated in it even, and she'd spent the battle safely locked away. "It's okay, everything's fine."

"Everything is not fine," she spits, furious, but she doesn't let go of him. "Look!"

He looks. The basement door is wide open, and it's easy to see the large, illuminated tanks that line walls. Inside each one floats a Hyuuga corpse, and the smell of formaldehyde hits him so suddenly and completely that he nearly chokes on it. "Fuck," he breathes, and presses a kiss to the side of her head.

"They keep looking at me," she whispers, and Shikamaru wants to tell her she's being ridiculous, but there is something almost-alive in these bodies, enough that Danzo had been able to animate and control them. Besides, the Hyuuga's pupiless, thousand yard stare was creepy enough when they were alive. Those pale eyes looking at them from the tanks were terrifying, and Ren had been in there for almost two hours.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, reaching out to shut the door. "Babe, I'm so sorry. But enemies are approaching and all the jounin are being called to defend the border."

"I understand," she says, and pulls back. Her eyes are red and wet, and Shikamaru is not a violent person but everything inside of him wants to find the source of her pain and destroy it.

But Danzo is already dead and Sakura had only been trying to keep her safe, so he grabs her shoulders and kisses her forehead. "Go to the center of the city, the chunin are set up inside the wall if they get through, and the genin are moving civilians into their homes. Please stay safe."

She nods, and Shikamaru forces out a smile for her before heading to the border. He's standing with his friends and family to die, and somehow he's most worried about the one person he cares about who will actually be safest.

Love is terrifying.

Hidan and Kakuzu are dead on the ground, and Itachi can only feel satisfaction. He undoes his cloak and drops it on top of their cooling bodies.

"We need to leave. Now." Neji scowls, "What's left of Akatsuki is headed to Konoha, and I doubt Suna will get there in time to be of any use."

"We won't get there much sooner," Itachi feels compelled to point out, even though the thought of his village facing Tobi, Nagato, and Sasori makes his stomach churn.

"Better late than never," Hinata says cheerfully. "Itachi, close your eyes."

Both he and Neji stare are her. "Why?"

"Trust me," she says. Itachi closes his eyes. There's a rustle of cloth, then Hinata steps closer and undoes his headband. He grabs her wrist tight enough to break it, and he can sense Neji tense. "Trust me," she repeats, and he forces himself to let go and relax.

She wraps another around his forehead, double checking it's snug before she steps back. He opens his eyes, and her long hair tumbles around her face with nothing to hold it back.

She'd given him her headband.

"I think you've worn this one long enough," she says gently, tossing his old headband on top of the bodies with his cloak.

"I'm not," he reaches up a hand to trace the leaf symbol, whole and uncut. "I'm still a missing-nin."

"You are what you've always been," she says, "a loyal and honorable shinobi of Konohagakure."

Itachi looks to Neji, and he smiles and nods, "I agree with Hinata."

He traces the symbol one more time before saying, "Thank you."

"Thank you," she says seriously before breaking out in a grin. "Back to Konoha it is!"

She turns and starts running, her hair whipping around her. Neji rolls his eyes, and as one they move to catch up with her.

When Naruto and Sasuke finally make it to the border, it's already lined with jounin. "Kakashi-niichan!" Naruto launches himself at Kakashi, who doesn't hesitate to swing him around and grab him in a fierce hug. All the jounin not in the know have started whispering and staring, and there's one very confused "Natsu?" that no one's going to address.

Kiba and Sakura are quick to swarm Sasuke, tugging him into the middle of group hug. "We've missed you," Kiba says, rubbing his face along the Uchiha's just to watch him squirm.

"I've missed you too, for some inexplicable reason," he says, but he's smiling. Then he gets a better look at Sakura, "How are you already covered in blood!?"

She and Kiba share a look. "It's a long story," she says, "I'll tell it to you if we make it out of this alive."

He grins, "Fair."

Naruto's doing a handstand with a hand on each of Kakashi and Iruka's shoulders, which is extra impressive considering Iruka is a few inches shorter than Kakashi. "Naruto," Inoichi says firmly.

He flips off their shoulders to land neatly in front of the clan head. "Yes Sensei?"

"I'm glad you're back," he tugs on the end of his ponytail, and Naruto beams.

"Took you long enough," Chouji calls out, grinning. The rest of Team Eight waves at him.

It's at this point that the Hokage finally joins them, bodyflickering directly in front of Sasuke. "According to Tsunade's info and Jiraiya's scouts they're only about five minutes away," he says briskly, "we should be prepared for a full force attack." He then blinks, "Sasuke, when did you get here?"

"Just now," Naruto pipes up, and everyone watches in interest Sarutobi pales and slowly turns around. Naruto waves, "Hey Old Man. How have things been?"

"You're dead," he says blankly. Gai and Anko very carefully don't look at each other from fear of bursting out laughing.

"Not yet," he says. Sasuke rolls his eyes.

Hana and Kabuto choose that moment to shunshin in. "Sorry we're late," Hana says, "We just had to finish up a procedure, you understand –"

"Naruto!" Kabuto beams, and in the next moment both he and Hana are fussing over him and checking his resting heartbeat and asking him about his eating habits.

"Guys," he says, trying to escape their probing hands, "I'm a jinnchuriki! If it doesn't kill me I'm fine!"

Sarutobi opens his mouth, hesitates, then says, "Natsu?"

"Wow," Ino mutters, "he figured that out a lot faster than I expected." She tries to subtly hand Shikamaru the money she owes him from losing that bet, but her dad catches them and glares. Shikaku just looks resigned.

"It's a long story," Naruto pats the hokage's arm, "If we survive this I'll tell it to you." Sakura snorts.

Sarutobi glares, obviously struggling between wanting answers and the fact that Akatsuki are minutes away. "Fine," he says finally, "I'm assuming you and Sasuke are jounin level?"

He gets two very offended stares in response.

"Great," he mutters, and he can tell that most of his jounin want to laugh at him now, which is just great. "Everyone – try not to die."

"Troublesome," Shikaku and Shikamaru mutter at the same time. Before any of their teammates get a chance to mock them for it, three S ranked shinobi in red and black cloaks come barreling towards them.

Hanabi is a jounin, the youngest active jounin since Itachi Uchiha, and she has a duty. Her father is exempt from the frontline orders because he's expected to organize the Hyuuga into scouts along the border's edge and disperse them throughout the village in case the Akatsuki get through the jounin.

But he doesn't know the true strength of the branch family. Most of the active ninja are A rank, but Neji is the only branch member that's officially a jounin, and she's sent him out of the village with Hinata. She has a duty to her father, to her clan, to the branch family to keep their secret and keep her head down until she's clan head and can officially combine the two families But she also has a duty to her village, to protect it and its people to the best of their ability. Her father hasn't dispersed the branch family yet, always the last to be sent anywhere, and she still has time to do the right thing.

They keep watching her, waiting, because they are Hyuuga, the strongest clan in Konoha, and they know they're not fulfilling their duty by hiding. Her village is the one thing that's more important to her than her family, her honor, and her pride. She meets their gazes and raises an eyebrow.

As one, all of the branch family ninja nod at her.

"Hanabi," Hiashi snaps, "What are you doing here? Go to the frontlines."

"Right," she says, and her mouth is dry enough that she has to swallow twice before she can continue. "I just need a few people first."

"What are you talking about? All the jounin Hyuuga are already there!"

She's been disobeying her father for years, destroying facets of their family traditions, but standing against him to his face is so much harder. "Branch family!" she calls out "All those that are A ranked, follow me."

"Hanabi, don't be ridiculous," he says, "The branch family isn't strong enough to produce jounin, your cousin being the obvious exception."

Around twenty jounin step forward. They slide their headbands off of themselves; some leave them to dangle around their neck while others tie it around their arm or leg. All of them proudly display their clear, Curse Mark free foreheads. "I'm sorry," she whispers to her father's shocked gaze.

She pumps chakra into her legs and runs to the border, and those Hyuuga fall into formation, following her blindly into who knows what. She's only fourteen, but she's kept all her promises and honored all her oaths, so these Hyuuga who've never trusted a main family member in their lives follow her to battle.

If this is how she dies, there are worst ways to go.

Naruto's going to be totally honest, he hadn't expected Konan to be this much of bitch to kill. The woman had always seemed to be so quiet and almost meek that Naruto hadn't thought she'd be hard to kill. He was wrong.

"This is dragging on too long," Sasuke says, easily stepping into position as Naruto somersaults forward so he can use Sasuke as a springboard as he tries, and fails, to kick Konan in the face. Both iterations of Ino-Shika-Cho fight around them, trying and failing to get in any hits. Shikaku and Ino are both bleeding heavily, and Chouza is more focused on making sure Shikaku doesn't fall over than the fight. They've pushed her on the defensive, but they can't seem to get a single hit in.

"I wish Haku was here," Naruto sighs, "We could really use his ice mirrors."

"Hey," Sasuke beams, "Haku. Ice mirrors."

Naruto digs out a couple kunai and uses his nails to carve a seal that they perfected years ago. "CHOUJI! Shadows!"

"The battle field is too small," he grunts, "I'll just get in the way."

"Then get out of the battlefield," Sasuke says, and Chouji must know what he means because he shunshins away. "Shikaku, report to medical. You are just getting in the way."

The older man bares his teeth and looks like he's about to argue, but Shikamaru shakes his head. "Dad, they're right. Go."

He scowls, but begins a careful retreat to where Hana is manning the emergency medical tent. Almost a dozen jounin have already been sent there. The Akatsuki are annoyingly strong, and Naruto really wishes Itachi was here.

Chouji balloons up from his place in the trees, and briefly covers their corner of the battlefield in shadows. Shikamaru doesn't hesitate, using those shadows to swarm Konan. She's draining his chakra almost as fast as he can feed it into the jutsu, and Shikamaru has to grit his teeth to keep from passing out right then. It only holds her for a moment, but a moment is all Sasuke needs. He throws the sealed kunai at her, hitting her with one each in the thigh, and Naruto yells, "Get down!"

Ino and Inoichi pull up a wall of earth around them, and the fire element chakra Sasuke had fed into the kunai reacts. Naruto throws his body over Sasuke's. The explosion is large enough to shake the ground, and hot enough that Naruto's skin blisters and cracks. He's already healing by the time it dies down, but Sasuke gives him an irritated look anyway. "I hate when you do that," he grumbles, but uses gentle hands to pull them both to their feet.

Konan is now nothing more than a smoking pile of charred flesh. The earth walls come down, and Shikamaru sways on his feet, and would have fallen over without Ino to steady him. "Get to medical, the both of you," Inoichi says, "We'll go help the others."

Ino nods and hauls Shikamaru into her arms, bridal style, before running towards the border. Naruto squints towards the border. "Is that who I think it is?"

Everyone else turns to see Hanabi jumping over the wall and leading almost two dozen Hyuuga into a perfect choreographed attack against Sasori. It doesn't quite kill him, but even Sasuke winces. Kakashi, Iruka, Asuma, and Kurenai are all wounded and panting, and they take a moment to back off Sasori and let Hanabi and her clan handle him. Lee and Tenten are fairing a bit better, and maintain a perimeter around the area for when Sasori attempts to retreat. "Holy shit," Naruto says, "she's grown into such a badass."

Inoichi glares down at him, "She's a rule breaking, tradition destroying, secret keeping menace."

"I'm so proud," Naruto says seriously, "I might cry."

Sasuke snorts and Chouza rolls his eyes. "OI!" Kiba shouts from where almost a dozen jounin, the Hokage, Anko, Kabuto, and Sakura included, are doing their best to subdue an increasingly furious Tobi. "A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE, IF YOU'RE NOT TOO BUSY!"

Naruto and Sasuke don't waste any time in body flickering over. This close Naruto's almost immediately struck that there's something eerily familiar in the way Tobi movies. He only has to share a quick glance with Sasuke to know that his feelings are shared. Tobi isn't saying anything, and Konan hadn't either, but Sasori is cursing up a storm, and there is something very wrong about this situation.

Sasuke takes his sword out of its sheath, and Naruto gives everyone a signal to back up. Sasuke has been personally tutored by both Orochimaru and Zabuza, and he's not quite able to beat Zabuza in a fair swordfight yet, but he left the Saanin in the dust years ago. Sasuke gets close, dancing and twisting out of the way of every attack but never quite managing to land a hit. Naruto nods at Anko and Kabuto, and with a pop of chakra several long, thin mambas enter the fight, doing their best to trip Tobi up and distract him.

Seeing Tobi and Sasuke fighting each other, that's when it clicks. Tobi moves like Sasuke, like Itachi. Like an Uchiha. "The fuck," Naruto mutters, and says to the others, "Watch my back," before jumping into the fight. He lands with a hand on Sasuke's head and jumps onto Tobi. He only manages a moment balanced on his shoulder before he has to flip away to avoid getting his arm cut off, but that moment of contact was all he needed. Dark, oily chakra tangled and knotted in his chest, and Naruto has only felt that once before. "Sakura, Kabuto," he snaps, "how much chakra do you have left?"

She winces, "Not a lot. I can siphon some off of Paru and take another soldier pill if you really need me to though." Kiba scowls, but doesn't argue against it.

"Enough," Kabuto answers, raising an eyebrow, "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm going to do something really stupid," he says, "and I need you to trust me."

"Always," Kabuto answers instantly, and Kiba and Sakura nod.

Naruto allows himself a brief smile. "Okay, good. I'm going to remove a seal Tobi has on him, and then I want you to heal him."

This actually isn't even close to the strangest thing he's asked them to do, so they all give him a sharp nod of agreement. "What are you talking about?" Sarutobi demands, and Naruto has the thought that Hokage or not he's way too old to be on the battlefield. In his prime Sarutobi could have handled Tobi on his own, never mind with help. "That's ludicrous."

"Trust me," he says, "Now if you don't want to die, you have to all clear the field until I give the signal."

Sarutobi would probably have stayed and argued against it, but Anko chooses that moment to shout, "NARUTO IS DOING SOMETHING INSANE AND SAID EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET OFF THE BATTLEFIELD."

The alarming quickness that everyone who knows Naruto retreats to the border convinces everyone who might have disobeyed to follow. Naruto makes a note to be offended about that later.

For now though he allows Kurama's chakra to leak into his own because he's going to need all the help he can get, "Sasuke? Susanoo."

Tobi stutters over his movements, which only cements Naruto's theory in his mind. Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan flares to life, and in the next moment Susanoo's form erupts around him, and its massive hand pins Tobi to the ground. Sasuke can only maintain Susanoo for a handful of minutes, so that's how long Naruto has to undo the slavery seal carved into Tobi's chest.

It had taken him weeks to untangle Orochimaru's. But hey – he'd been younger then, less experienced, and they didn't call him a seal master for nothing. So he brings the chakra matrix to life, and lets Kurama's chakra burn away the seal as he unravels it.

Sarutobi had known that there were things his ninja were keeping from him, but the orange demon chakra swirling around Naruto coupled with the giant form of Susanoo that he's only read about shows him that he was clearly underestimating the amount. He slowly turns to Kakashi, who rubs the back of his head and says, "Huh, who would have known?"

Iruka elbows him and Gai turns away to hide that he's smiling. Sarutobi would love to take that moment to start yelling at them, but Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru jump up and land besides them on the wall's edge.

"Sorry we're late!" Jiraiya says cheerfully.

Tsunade cracks her neck on either side, "We had to fight our way through the chunin, who for some reason were surprised to see us. Can't imagine why."

"Surprised to see me," Orochimaru corrects tiredly, "I told you I should have just worn a genjutsu. There will be panic now and people will scream. I hate screaming."

"Does the snakey wakey have delicate ears?" Jiraiya teases, and Orochimaru sends him a flat glance which promises pain.

Tsunade smacks them both upside the head, "Boys, focus." She points to the swirl of multi-colored chakra, "I'd ask if we missed anything, but I think that's fairly obvious."

"What on earth are those brats doing?" Jiraiya squints, even though it's impossible to make anything out through the thick haze of chakra.

None of the jounin around them seem surprised at the most recent arrivals, but Sarutobi thinks he's about to have a heart attack. A teacher isn't supposed to have favorites, but Orochimaru had always been dear to him in a way that the others hadn't been. The boy's betrayal and madness had torn at him, and now he stands in front of him without any hint of the monster he'd been, and instead is the man Sarutobi had always hoped he'd be. "Orochimaru?" he whispers.

Curious yellow eyes land on him, and Orochimaru gives him a soft smile that he hasn't seen since his student was little more than a child. "Hello Sensei."

They are still in the middle of a major battle, even if the fighting part of it seems to have miraculously ended with minimal casualties and no deaths. So it would be completely inappropriate for Sarutobi to take his student in his arms and weep, but it is honestly the only thing he wants to do.

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto and Anko shunshin next the man, beaming. Orochimaru raises an eyebrow, but doesn't hesitate to draw Anko in for a hug. One of his most sadistic ninja snuggles close and lets out a happy sigh.

"Kabuto," he says, "I analyzed the sample you sent me. Do I want to know how you got your hands on inugami blood?"

"That explains so much," he says, stepping close enough that he's an inch away from draping himself all over the man, "and probably not."

"Holy shit," Jiraiya blinks and turns to Tsunade, "How did Orochimaru end up being the one with kids?"

"Maybe because I'm the only one who's not an alcoholic or a pervert?" he says dryly.

Jiraiya taps his chin, "You'd think the pervert thing would have helped in that area, actually."

Susanoo flickers and disappears. Kabuto taps Tsunade on the shoulder, "Come on, we could use the help," Sakura nods in agreement and all three of them run back onto the battlefield.

Sarutobi would like to take this moment to ask what the fuck is going on, but then Neji, Hinata, and Itachi body flicker next to them. Hinata and Neji immediately crowd around a bloody and exhausted Hanabi, who glares but seems almost happy to see them.

Itachi raises an eyebrow. Sarutobi waits for someone to scream or attack the younger man, but the only thing that happens is Kakashi waves and Gai claps him on the back in greeting.

He officially gives up. Clearly nothing is going to make sense ever again.

The Saanin, Kakashi, Obito, Sai, and Sasuke are taken straight to the hospital. As for everyone else, news of their victory has spread, so when the jounin return to the village the civilians have gathered at the city center awaiting their return. When Naruto sees the crowd he panics and tries to leave, but Itachi grabs his wrist. "Senpai?" Naruto whispers, eyes wide.

"Maybe," Itachi says gently, "We've both been hiding long enough."

Naruto looks behind him, and both Inoichi and Gai point ahead, urging him forward. He swallows before stepping to meet the crowd, and people are already whispering and craning forward to seem him, whispers of his father's name reaching his ears.

"I am not my father," he says and the crowd goes dead silent. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, the orphan who had the demon fox sealed inside of him, and I am Naruto Namikaze, the son of the Yondaime. But that is not all I am." He swallows and shifts so Natsu stares out at them. "I didn't die," she says clearly, "not as a five year old Naruto, nor as a sixteen year old Natsu Nami. I've spent the past four years fighting the Kiri civil war in order to solidify an alliance between our villages." She shifts back to Naruto, but stays a woman, because that's who she is too. "I'm sorry I lied to you," she says, and nobody is saying anything, none of the civilians and none of the ninja, and this is killing her. "I didn't want to deceive you, or hurt you, at first I just wanted a chance to be a ninja and protect this village, and then the only way I could protect you all from leaving, and," she licks her lips, "and if you don't want me to stay I understand. I have other places I can go, other – friends. But I love Konoha." She bites her lips to keep from crying, and she's bloody and exhausted, her boyfriend and teammates and brother are all at the hospital, and if wasn't for Itachi-senpai and Inoichi-sensei at her back she'd be running back to Kiri by now.

Still no one says anything, but then finally, finally old lady Kisa steps forward. Kisa who'd driven Naruto away from her meat stall, and Kisa who'd patiently taught Natsu how to judge a cut of meat, how to mix marinades and given her some of her best recipes. She keeps walking until she's right in front of Naruto, and lifts Naruto's wobbling chin to look her in the eyes. "Konoha is your home, Naruto," she says firmly, "This is where you belong."

Naruto lets out a laugh that's almost a sob, and the rest of the villagers press closer. There's a couple wary looks at Itachi, but they seem to understand that he's with them, so they all stand there while the villagers touch them and thank them, and at some point Naruto starts crying, because nothing in her life is ever this easy, this good.

Tsunade and Kabuto are still working to stabilize Obito, and Kakashi can't help but pace in front of his room. "It won't be easy," Orochimaru says quietly. "Danzo hadn't left me with a purpose, or any directions, and I was able to leave my physical body. Madara left much worse scars on Obito."

"He's still an Uchiha," Sasuke says stubbornly, "We'll take care of him."

"I wish I could kill the bastard all over again for this," Kakashi spits, "If he hadn't taught Madara the seal in the first place –"

"Obito would be dead," Sai interrupts. "If Madara hadn't had a use for him, he would have left Obito to die."

Iruka enters the hallway, freshly showered and bandaged. Sai and Sasuke make the decision to make themselves scarce after that.

Ren should have listened to Shikamaru and returned home, she was terrified and shaky and there was some sort of major battle happening outside the village walls. But she's never wanted to be the type of woman that just sits home and worries, so she reminds herself that she's twenty four years old, koi trained, and a reasonable adult before entering the basement again. She'd been too scared to do much more than huddle against the door before, but this time she goes over to the file cabinets bolted into wall. This is where Danzo kept all his worst secrets, and she intends to unearth as many of them as possible.

She doesn't know how many hours it's been since she started reading, but her legs have fallen asleep and she has stacks of files spread around here when she hears the front door bang open and Shikamaru shout, "REN! Ren!"

"In here!" she calls out, and Shikamaru turns the corner and runs to her. "Stop!" she says, and points to the stacks of files, "Don't mess these up, I'll never get them back into the right order."

"I went to Madame Koi's and you weren't there," he says tersely, carefully moving around the files. "You scared me."

She holds out her hand, and he squeezes it. "Sorry," she kisses the back of his hand, "but this is important."

"Danzo is dead," he says tiredly, "What could be so important that you had to give me a heart attack?"

She hands him a stack of files, "Danzo knew about the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and he knew that the Akatsuki would be attacking Konoha."

Shikamaru sits down besides her and flips through them, "How?"

"Because he knew that they'd need Uchiha eyes to activate it," she swallows, "Hyuuga bodies aren't the only things he's been stock piling. He has Shisui's eye, and he has about a dozen sets of Sharingan eyes down here."

"How – never mind, the Massacre," he shakes his head, "Don't tell me he orchestrated the whole Uchiha Massacre just to get some eyes."

"Well, not just," Ren hands him another file, "but it was certainly a motivator. But no, he'd already had an eye before that. He had one of Madara's eyes."

Shikamaru's head snaps up, "You're shitting me."

She shakes her head, "He always knew that Madara would come back for it, or at least one of the others. That's why he created Root, and the Hyuuga Curse seal, and enslaved the Inugami. Because he knew that Madara would be coming, and he wanted Konoha to be protected."

"Talk about doing the batshit insane wrong thing for the right reason," Shikamaru mutters. He stands and holds out a hand to pull Ren to her feet, "Come on, we have to take this to the hokage."

Hanabi walks with her head held high to her father's office. Neji and Hanabi had argued over their right to go with her, to take their share of the blame, but she hadn't allowed it. It was all her decision, and she'll take responsibility for it. Besides, she's almost certain that her father won't behead her in his office. Tradition dictates that level of shameful punishment has to be public.

She takes a deep breath and pushes the door open. Hiashi sits behind his desk, reading over reports. The door swings shut with an ominous thud. He slowly puts the report down and meets her eyes. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I'm not sorry," she says immediately, and both of his eyebrows lift in surprise. "Everything I did was the right thing to do. I'd do it all again."

"Is that what you think?" he asks acidly, "I knew about your deals with Neji, and that was one thing –"

"You knew?"

"Be quiet," he snaps, thunderous, and Hanabi is an accomplished jounin and leader, but she's also fourteen years old and all she's ever wanted was her father to be proud of her. She knew he wouldn't be, knew what she was sacrificing when she chose the wellbeing of her clansmen over her own goals. But like many other necessary things, it is painful. "That was one thing, but this? You've completely betrayed this family. Tradition is important, it's vital, and you've stomped on it like it means nothing to you. Like our clan means nothing to you. You are a disgrace to the name Hyuuga."

Tears well in her eyes, but she doesn't back down. She won't back down. "Our clan means everything to me! It is you who are the disgrace, treating our blood as if they are our slaves!"

"Insolent child," he hisses, towering above her, "Do you not have it in you to show any remorse? By clan laws I should kill you for your betrayals!"

"So kill me," she bites out, "Cut off my head, inject me with poison, burn me on a pyre. It doesn't matter," as she says it she realizes it's true, and it helps her stop crying. "It doesn't matter what you do to me, my actions are done. Killing me won't change what I've done."

He's staring at her like he doesn't recognize her, and Hanabi supposes that's only fair. Compared to the girl she used to be, she doesn't recognize herself either. "What have you done?"

"Our family is free," she says, "There are no more Curse Marks, and Hinata isn't the core anymore. There's only two seal masters who can undo what I've done, and neither of them will follow you. None of them follow you," she straightens her shoulders and meets her father's incredulous gaze, "Kill me. It doesn't matter. Let Hinata be the heir, she will continue the work I've started, and I dare you to try and kill Neji, he's the best of us all."

He's still staring at her, not saying anything at all. "Come with me," he orders finally, stalking outside. Maybe he really is planning to kill her.

Well, if she's to die, she won't do it a coward. She follows at her father's heels, but nearly bumps into him as they walk into the courtyard. She looks around him, and the whole branch family is standing there, with Hinata and Neji front and center. "If you've come out planning to kill her," Neji says firmly, "we won't let you."

"Hanabi is the rightful heir to our clan," Hinata says, standing tall and strong just like Hanabi taught her to, "She is the leader we choose." She slides into an opening stance, "I will not fight for my right to lead this clan, but I will fight for the right to follow my sister."

"We demand trial by combat," Neji says, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Hinata. "If you wish to punish Hanabi for her actions, you must fight all of us," he gestures to the accumulated branch family, who stare back with fierce glares, "She committed her actions in service of us, and we won't allow harm to come to her. She is the clan heir we wish to follow."

"All of you stop it!" she demands, pushing herself in front her father, placing herself between him and the rest of her family. "I made my own choices! You are all mine to protect, you will not stand and die for me. That is my duty as your leader!"

"You're wrong," Isamu says, standing with them even though he barely knows how to throw a kunai. "You are our future clan head. It is our honor and duty to die for you."

"Enough!" Hiashi roars, raising a hand to rub at his temples. "Everyone, be silent." He looks to Hinata, "Do you officially refuse your position as clan heir and swear to follow your sister?"

"Every day of my life," Hinata promises.

He looks to Neji, "Hanabi says you're stronger than her. If the branch family is dissolved, what's to stop you from challenging her to be made clan head?"

"Hanabi is stronger than me," he answers without hesitation, "It's just not all strength has to do with who comes out the victor on a battlefield."

Hiashi looks at all of them, and sighs out once in a harsh breath. Because of the way they're standing, Hanabi is the only one that can see he's smiling. "Father?"

He glances at her quickly. He doesn't look angry anymore. "Fine," he says.

Everyone blinks. "What?" Isamu asks.

"Fine," he repeats once. He turns on his heal and walks back into the compound. "Hanabi, with me. You get to explain your actions to the elders."

Hanabi exchanges a wide eyed glance with her sister and cousin before darting back inside. "Father?" she asks hesitantly.

He doesn't pause or look down at her. "I never could have united the branch family. Half of them would have slit my throat without the threat of the Curse Mark hanging over them."

"Well, clearly not," she says hotly, "Since they've all been without the Curse Mark for almost four years."

"That," he says, "has nothing to do with my incorrect judgement of character, and everything with them finding something to live for besides revenge."

She pauses, "What?"

He finally looks back at her, and she hasn't seen that look on his face since she was a little girl. "No one else could do what you've done. If I had simply removed the Curse Marks, it would have been a disaster. But you – you united this family in a way that I never could have. You've more than earned the title of clan heir." He hesitates, but adds, "I'm proud of you. I know that doesn't mean much, compared to what you've done, but."

Hanabi allows herself to do something that she hasn't don't since she was a small child, and runs over to her father and throws her arms around his waist. "I love you! I am proud to be your daughter!"

He doesn't say anything, but he does hug her back, and it's enough.

It's more than enough.

Itachi is standing in front of the entrance to the Uchiha compound, and news of his loyalty has spread with alarming quickness. On his way here he'd been stopped by no less than five civilians and eight shinobi who'd thanked him for his sacrifice and apologized for doubting him, even though that was the whole point. Honestly he thinks the worst was Kurenai grabbing his shoulder and telling him seriously, "Natsu never gave up on you, you know. She never doubted you for a moment."

He doesn't know if he should go inside, or even if wants to. He doesn't think he can ever look at his home again without seeing the bodies of everyone he killed across every surface.

"Itachi-senpai!" He sighs and turns towards the sound of Naruto's voice, but he's not expecting Sasuke to be at her side.

He feels like he's been punches when he sees his brother, and he opens mouth to say something, anything, but there's not enough air in his lungs for anything to come on. There's a moment of hesitation and wariness from Sasuke, but there's no screaming, no hatred, no kunai in his back like he deserves. Instead, there's solid, adult arms are around his neck and a mature and yet achingly familiar voice mutters, "Aniki"

He's thought about seeing his brother again a thousand times, but he's never imagined this. He hesitantly returns the embrace and whispers, "Outoto?"

"You're staying right?" Sasuke pulls back just far enough to glare at him, but it's not enough to hide the fear in his eyes. Itachi had thought that killing their entire family would be his worst sin against his brother, but it's possible that it was killing their entire family and then leaving. He thinks this might officially make him the worst person, but at least this is something he can hope to fix. "The Akatsuki are gone and everyone knows you're not a traitor, so you have no reason to leave."

Naruto jumps up and lands feet first on his head, thankfully cushioning the impact with chakra. "You better not go anywhere Senpai! I've got friends all across the nations, so you wouldn't get very far anyway."

Itachi tries to speak, but his throat is tight and he knows the second he starts crying. He hasn't cried in ten years. Sasuke doesn't say anything, just wraps him up in another strong hug. Naruto flips off of his shoulders and wraps her arms around the both of them.

Naruto and Sasuke are two of the only people who have ever really mattered to him, his brother and his best friend, and they don't hate him.

He's finally home.

Neji bursts into his teammates' apartment. Lee isn't there but Tenten is, and she's the one he was looking for. "Neji," she says, startled.

He strides forward and grabs her hands in his, and her cheeks flush. "Hanabi has officially been named clan heir, and the practice of the Curse Marks is being abolished and the knowledge of how they're made removed from the Hyuuga library and transferred to the hokage's library."

"That's amazing!" Tenten beams, "We should find Lee and celebrate, go out to –"

"Marry me." Tenten's mouth drops open, and Neji gets on one knee and doesn't let go of her hands. "Tenten, I love you. I have loved you. But I could not ask you to be with me when Hiashi could reapply the Curse Mark any day, when any children we have could one day be made slaves. But now I'm a free man, and the only thing I truly want to be is your husband."

Tenten is grinning so wide her cheeks hurt, "Don't you think we should go on a date first?"

"No," he squeezes her hands, "Marry me."

She throws herself into his arms, laughing, "Yes! You're insane, but yes, absolutely!"

Sakura had passed out at some point during healing Obito, and when she wakes up she's in the bed in her room with Tsume and Kiba on either side of her. "You kissed me," Kiba says, and Tsume hits him upside the head.

"I did," Sakura agrees, pushing herself up so she's sitting upright.

Kiba rubs the back of his head, and glances at his mom before hesitantly asking, "Do you plan on doing it again?"

"Lots," she says seriously, and bites her lip to keep from laughing when Kiba beams at her. She then sobers and addresses Tsume, "I'm really sorry about letting the Inugami loose. I had no idea that Danzo was controlling them."

"What's to be sorry for?" she tucks Sakura's hair behind her ear, "You did exactly as the spirits intended."

"Tsume?" she frowns.

The older woman jerks her head to the open window. Paru has his massive head resting on the windowsill since he's long past the point of being able to fit in her room. "Paru was the spirits way of reminding us of our bargain. Inugami are active once more, and it's our duty to weaken and eventually destroy them. Paru chose you as his partner and companion, so of course it was you who struck the first blow."

"Oh," Sakura says, and the deeply relived look that comes over her face betrays how worried she was, "That's good, right?"

"Right," Tsume says warmly, and flicks Kiba in the nose before standing to leave, "Don't do anything too strenuous. She's still recovering."

"Mom!" Kiba howls, beet red, and Sakura giggles until her aching ribs force her to stop.

Naruto has opened up all the windows in her old apartment and is in the middle of trying to make a grocery list that doesn't just of consist of the word 'everything' and calling it a day when there's a hesitant knock at her door. There's a very limited number of people who would knock, and an even smaller number who would use her door, so she's only a little surprised when she opens it to reveal Ren. "Hi!" she beams, stepping aside to let her in, "It's so good to see you! How have you been?"

"I want to call in my favor," she says, twisting the material of her dress in her hands.

Naruto blinks, because she owes Ren a lot, so there's not really a reason to be anxious about it. It's not like she's going to say no. "Shoot."

"So, I don't know if you know, but I – Shikamaru and I, I mean," she licks her lips.

Naruto decides to put her out of her misery, "You guys are dating," she says. It was the first thing Ino had told her once the world wasn't threatening to crash around them anymore.

"Right," she says, "and I love my job, Naruto, I do. I like my friends and my coworkers and being a Koi is just everything I hoped for, but I," she swallows, "I love Shikamaru too. And he's going to be the Nara Clan Head, and the Nara aren't very traditional, but they won't allow him to be with a whore, Naruto, they just won't, the risk to the line of succession is too great, and I don't know what to do."

"Actually," Naruto says, "I know just the solution to your problem."

"You do?" she blinks.

She puts her arms around Ren's shoulders and leads her out, "I do. Come with me."

Madame Koi looks from her nephew to Naruto. "You can't be serious," she says finally.

"Who else will take it?" Sasuke asks, "I'm not going to, I'm not even close to being ready to retire. Itachi would be great at it, but he won't do it either. Obito has months if not years of recovery ahead him, emotionally if not physically, and politically speaking having him do it would be a hilariously bad move. I'd put money on Sai being a Yamanaka within the year. Aunt Kiyomi, it has to be you."

"You seriously can't tell me you wouldn't get a kick out of it?" Naruto says, "Being a councilmember along the men and women who've sneered at you and mocked you."

"You are an Uchiha," Sasuke says, "and I think it's time you reminded everyone of that fact."

She rubs at her temples, "I can't just leave! I'd have to train someone to take my place as Madame Koi, and that usually at least a year long process."

"Unless there's a Koi who used to be a successful Madame," Naruto adds, "then that would be a very short training period, wouldn't it?"

Kiyomi narrows her eyes, "And if that certain Koi was also in love with a clan heir, she'd stand a much better chance of their relationship being approved of if she was no longer engaging in activities which threatened the line of succession."

Neither of them even have the decency to look abashed. "You like Ren, don't you?" Naruto cajoles, "Besides, the Uchiha council seat can't stay empty forever."

A gleam enters her dark eyes. "Fine," she says, "I'll do it. On one condition."

"Name it," Sasuke says without hesitation.

"Who's currently living in the Uchiha District?"

He blinks, "A few of us, but not for long. Itachi hasn't said anything, but I know he doesn't like living there. I'm moving in to Naruto's place, and there's an apartment below hers that's going on the market at the end of the month that Itachi's going to move in to. Obito doesn't want to live there for obvious reasons, I think he might be spending part of his recovery in Oto, actually. Kabuto's going to end up moving into the Inuzuka compound eventually, and I'm sure Sai will do the same to with the Yamanaka." He raises an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Give it to the Koi," she says, "It's safer and larger than the buildings we're in now, and nothing will give me more satisfaction than seeing my Koi in the houses my father built."

"That'll depreciate the value of that entire side of town," he grins, "Good. Done. If you take up the council seat as Kiyomi Uchiha and name Ren as the next Madame Koi, I'll sign over the deeds to the Uchiha properties for use of the Koi."

They shake on it. "My darling nephew, I do believe you have yourself a deal."

Naruto's so happy she does a backflip to show it.

It's three in morning, and Iruka has class in the morning, but Kakashi's been staring at the ceiling for hours. "Iruka?" he whispers, poking his boyfriend in the shoulder, "Iruka, are you awake?"

Iruka sighs and slowly opens his eyes, "Well, I am now." He shifts on the bed until he can lay his head on Kakashi's chest, and Kakashi feels himself relaxing as he puts his arms around him, which he's sure is the entire reason Iruka did it in the first place. "What's wrong?"

"I'm doing the right thing by letting Obito go back with Orochimaru, right?" he says, still not able to bring himself to speak above a whisper.

Iruka doesn't answer right away, instead tracing the leaf symbol above Kakashi's heart before replying, "I think there's only one person in the whole world who even has an inkling of what Obito went through, and that's Orochimaru. In Oto, he won't be surrounded by the reminders of who he used to be, and instead he can figure out who he is. And when he's ready to come home, there'll be a place and people waiting for him."

Kakashi nods and runs his hand through Iruka's hair, "Do you think he'll come home?"

Iruka pushes himself up enough to kiss him and says, "I think that if he doesn't want to return to Konoha, we can always go to Otogakure, and that will have to be enough."

"I love you," he says seriously.

Iruka sighs, but he's still smiling. "I love you too. Can we please go to sleep now?"

"Absolutely not," he reaches down to grab Iruka's ass. He gives a put upon sigh that's very at odds with the way his hand is moving in between Kakashi's thighs.

This time Inoichi watches the clock. It takes exactly seventeen minute of him drinking alone before his teammates settle in on his left side. "Truly," Chouza says, "what could you possibly have to complain about now?"

"We're all alive," Shikaku says, accepting the drinks the bartender sends their way, "Danzo is dead, the Akatsuki are gone, your students are finally all in-village again, and it looks like Ino intends to make an honest man out of Sai."

"Ino and Sai are getting married?" Hana gasps in delight, sliding into the seat next to Inoichi with Kabuto and Naruto following her.

Naruto waves down the bartender, "She hasn't asked his clan head's permission yet! She's living on the edge."

"I though Sai was the clan head?" Kabuto asks, accepting his drink and passing Naruto hers.

She shakes her head, "That was only until Sasuke got back. Now that the hokage has officially taken him off the missing-nin list, he's clan head again. I mean, technically it should go to Itachi, but he didn't want it."

"Can't say I blame him," Hana says sympathetically, "It must be hard for him to get used to being back in Konoha again."

"He's quiet," Naruto says, "But he and Sasuke spend a lot of time together, and he's moving into our building next week."

"Something I'm sure you're grateful for," Shikaku says, "Since rumor has it that he's been sleeping on your couch."

"I love having Senpai around always," Naruto declares, "That said, his extra sensitive hearing is definitely putting a dent in our sex life."

Inoichi winces, "Please don't talk about your sex life."

"The point being," Chouza gestures at Inoichi with his beer bottle, "What could you possibly be moping about now?"

Inoichi takes a slow sip of his drink. "Nothing."

They all blink. "Nothing?" Kabuto echoes.

"Nothing," he leans his chin on his hand and grins, "In fact, things are pretty great right now."

Hana laughs, "Well, I'll drink to that!"

As one, all six of them clink their glasses together and drink.

Lee is in the middle of doing ten thousand pushups when Hanabi walks into the training ground. She's got her hair down and her hitai-ate tied around her thigh, and Lee stops and jumps to his feet. "My sweet Konoha blossom!" he shouts, "How lovely you appear on this fine day!" She glares at him, then looks to the ground. Her avoiding his gaze is so unexpected that the smile slips right off his face. "Hanabi?"

"I'm going to the river," she says, too loud and still not looking at him. "Do you – do you want to walk with me?"

"Yes," he scrambles over to her side, and she nods shortly before turning and going in the direction of the river. They walk in silence for a bit, which would be fine but she's still not looking at him. "Is something wrong?"

She stops walking, and it takes him a moment to realize it and double back. She licks her lips, "Neji and Tenten's wedding is next month. I'm the maid of honor, and you're the best man, so we should go. To the wedding. Together, if you – you know, want."

A slow smile spreads over his face, "I would like that very much."

She lets out a breath he hadn't noticed she was holding, and finally looks at him. "Good," she says, and starts walking again. She doesn't say anything else, but a few minutes later she slips her hand into Lee's, and he beams and threads their fingers together.

They walk the rest of the way to the river holding hands.

Sarutobi leans his elbows on his desk and rubs at his temples. "Kakashi, I'm almost eighty years old. It's time for us to stop putting this off."

Kakashi snorts and crosses his arms, "We've been over this. I'm not going to be hokage."

"You are the strongest ninja in the village," he says with forced calm, "it is your duty to take up the mantle of hokage."

"I'm almost certain that Itachi is the strongest ninja in the village, actually. Why don't you go ask him?" Sarutobi glares, and he sighs. "I'm not right for the position, and you know it."

"Then who would you suggest?" he demands, "I'm old Kakashi. I can't do this much longer. The fact that all of you have managed to keep so many secrets from me is proof that I've worn this hat too long."

Kakashi slumps back in the chair and raises an eyebrow, "If only we had an S ranked, loyal shinobi in the village who was willing to die for its people. Someone with strong ties to all the major clans, and even better than that close personal ties to almost half of the major ninja villages. Someone who's on a first name basis with the Daiymo of our neighboring country, even."

"Don't be ridiculous," he snaps, "he's eighteen years old."

"Consider this, then," Kakashi stands, "He's the only one in this village who would do it out of love for the people rather than duty to his village."

He gives a short bow and leaves using the door for once. Sarutobi scowls at the empty seat for a long time before giving in and rising to his feet. It wouldn't kill him to talk to the kid.

He finds him on training ground four with the Uchiha brothers. "Naruto," he calls out, "Could I speak to you a moment?"

"Sure thing, old man!" he waves at Sasuke and Itachi before cartwheeling in front of him. "Do you have a mission for me?"

"No," he says, and Naruto really is the spitting image of his father, even though he's about the same height as Kushina. "Just – walk with me."

"Sure," he says agreeably, tucking his hands behind his head. "Something on your mind?"

Sarutobi lights his pipe, "You and the villagers seem to be getting along well."

He beams, "Yeah, everyone's being really nice! A couple of the merchants said they were really happy to have Natsu back, and the weapons shop is commissioning my sealing work again. I kind of missed that cranky old man."

"Naruto," he takes a deep puff from his pipe, "Aren't you – I mean, isn't it difficult for you? Considering how they treated you as a child."

The smile slides off his face and he bites his bottom lip. They walk in silence for a few minutes, and Sarutobi doesn't push him, gives him his time. "I think," Naruto says, wetting his lips, "that I would hate to be judged by my worst moments. Those times that I'm scared and angry, or exhausted and terrified. I don't think that's who I really am. I don't think I'm who I am in my best moments either, when everything's going right. It's easy to be kind when nothing's wrong, and – and the thing is, as Natsu they were kind to me."

"Five years is a long time to be experiencing their worst moments," he says mildly.

Naruto shakes his head, "No, it's not that. I know you were trying to protect me old man, but the villagers were scared. They were hurting and scared, and then you didn't tell them anything. Their home had just been torn apart, and all they had to blame it on was a kid. If – if you'd told them the truth, I think that would have been better."

Sarutobi freezes. "Naruto?"

"People are wary around jinchuuriki," he says, twisting the material of his shirt in his hands, "they don't usually have a lot friends. But they're not hated. Once Gaara stopped killing everyone, people in Suna were quick to forget that they used to be scared of him. But they didn't know I was a demon container, they just knew I was connected to the demon, they thought I was what was left of the demon, old man. Of course they hated me. But – but as Natsu, I was still a war orphan, and I was of Flower District, so people still had plenty of reasons to hate me, and they didn't. They were kind. When given the chance to better people usually take it." He meets Sarutobi's wide eyes and shrugs, "I don't think it's fair to judge people by their worst moments. This village took care of an orphan raised by prostitutes, and welcomed home a child they'd despised when that child turned out to be person, not a demon. They even accepted Itachi and Orochimaru, people who've committed terrible acts against them. Konoha is full of good, kind people who just – need opportunities to be their best selves."

Sarutobi stares at him for a long moment before sighing, "Damnit. Kakashi was right."

"Old man?" He asks, head tilted to the side in confusion.

"Come back to my office, Naruto," he places a hand on his back to push him forward, "We need to have a discussion about your future."

Five Years Later

"NARUTO!"

She startles awake, papers still clinging to her face. "I'm up, I'm up! What's wrong?"

Sasuke licks his thumb and attempts to clean the ink off of her face, "The first stage of the chunin exams are about to start, and since you had the bright idea to put group combat first –"

"I'm going to be late!" She bolts away, but Sasuke grabs her arm and points to her tunic. It's got a large ink stain along the bottom. "No, Sasuke I can't go like this!"

"I know," he goes over to her desk and takes a fresh lilac tunic out of the bottom drawer, "Here." She quickly gets changed, shaking out her hair because her bun has gone lopsided and loose. Sasuke helps her into her robe, and flips the hat onto her head. "They're waiting, Hokage-sama."

She pulls him in for a quick kiss, then leaves in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke sticks his head out of the office and asks the guard, "Are you coming? I think your boyfriend is going to be there."

Itachi raises an eyebrow, "I have no idea who you're talking about it."

Sasuke shrugs, "Suit yourself."

Itachi manages to restrain himself for a whole twenty seconds before body flickering after his brother.

"You fell asleep, didn't you?" Temari mocks even as she pulls Naruto in for a hug.

She waves at Gaara over Temari's shoulder, "Who me? No, definitely not."

"Liar," Orochimaru says lazily, Kimimaro at his side. "You almost missed your own chunin opening."

"What, did you bring your Jounin Commander because you couldn't decide between the husband or the wife?" Naruto shoots back.

"We're not married," he glares.

Kimimaro frowns, "The three of you are a little married, Otokage-sama." Orochimaru snarls at him, but doesn't attempt to further deny it.

"I want you to know I don't show up to the exams even when they're held in Kiri," Zabuza adds, "You should feel honored."

"Always," she says, and gives herself a gold star for not laughing when Itachi and Kisame wave at each other.

She turns to face the genin and their sensei. She leans out of the kage box to yell, "Sorry about the delay! Get to it, and don't kill each other!"

A bitchy chunin gives her look, but when she makes it clear that's really all she's going to say on the matter he gives a large sigh and obligingly rings the gong.

The chunin exams have begun.

Shikamaru would hide his face in his hands if he wasn't holding his son, and Ren can clearly tell because she's laughing at him. "Why did we elect her as hokage?"

"Could be worse," Ino says, leaning against Sai, "It could be Kakashi."

"Oi," Kakashi flicks the back of her head, "it could never have been Kakashi, thank you."

"I don't know," Obito says, "Hokage Kakashi Hatake has a nice ring to it, don't think so Iruka?"

The Academy teacher raises an eyebrow, "I refuse to get involved in any of your strange arguments. You guys have been keeping score, and I've been given strict orders not to interfere."

Sakura knocks her shoulder into Kakashi's , "Personally, I'm still of the opinion that if Kakashi becomes hokage we should all just defect to Kiri." Kiba snorts.

Hanabi, Hinata, and Shino all glare at her. "No Water country," Hanabi declares, "I can't stand the mud."

"Well you won't be doing any traveling for a while," Sakura pats Hanabi's stomach that's just begun to swell, and Hanabi glares. Lee beams and puts an arm around his wife's shoulders, which is really at that's saving Sakura from losing that hand.

"Can I pat?" Hako asks, the spitting image of Tenten at three years old. Neji raises an eyebrow at his cousin, who sighs and holds out her hands to settle her niece on her lap. Tenten passes their son to Neji, who's still so achingly small that Neji gets a faintly panicked look whenever he holds him.

"Chouji's team is up!" Ino says, excitedly slapping Shikamaru. They all settle down to watch, and then collectively wince when they get paired with Haku's team from Kiri.

Kiba jerks his head up to kage box, "How much money do you think they have riding on this?"

"Half a million ryo, three priceless tomes on sealing, a sword that Zabuza's been drooling after from Suna, and twenty three embarrassing childhood photos," Kabuto answers promptly. Hana slaps a hand over her face as everyone slowly turns to face the man. "What? Everyone needs a hobby."

Sarutobi picks his way alone the top of the seats, and there's an empty one on either side of a familiar face. "Lady Uchiha," he murmurs, "Is this seat empty?"

She glances at him from below her lashes, "Oh, for you Hiruzen? Of course."

"You did a very fine job with her," he says, and both their eyes settle on Naruto.

Kiyomi almost smiles, "I didn't do much."asuyo

"You did more than I ever could," he says.

She pats the back of his hands and smirks, "Don't beat yourself up over it too much. It does take a village, after all."

Naruto resigns herself to not making fun of Itachi for making googly eyes at Kisame considering Sasuke spends the entire match with his hand on the back of her neck. Orochimaru and Zabuza, however, are smirking at her and are definitely planning to mock her forever.

She loves Haku, but Chouji's team better win. She has to get her hands on those baby pictures!