Beta'd by The Megaevolved Pony

Well, we've officially hit 100 followers at the time of this note. Woohoo! Thanks guys.

The story is also rapidly closing in on two years of age (longer than any of my relationships) which is crazy to me. And yet my first and worst work still garners the most attention. Pain.

Anyway, I'll try to drop these next four chapters quickly to hit that 100k mark and get to my goal. After that, I'll probably need awhile to plan out the story. I know what these next four will contain, but after that is sort of a mystery to me. I'll figure it out for you all. Hey, if we're lucky, maybe I'll manage to get more chapters after that in a timely manner.

Takai could feel every muscle in his body demanding to run. To flee. To hide. They told him this was not a fight they could win.

And yet he didn't.

He couldn't.

All those defenseless people in the stands...he couldn't leave them to die. His couldn't leave his comrades to perish at the hands of this monster.

A white hot bolt of panic shot through his body as the sand beast rose one of its massive hands into the air and brought it down towards him. Takai barely scrambled out of the way in time, being launched from the mighty shock wave it caused from the blow.

He went flying into a side door, presumably one the med-nin would use. The steel hinges gave way without too much resistance if he was honest. Takai kicked up some dust as he landed, skidding down the hall, riding the door like a sled. How the hell was he alive?

This was supposed to be a genin, not some type of monster out of a fairy tale!

The boy sat up slowly, dust raining from the ceiling. He...he had to help. It was his job. Fear was irrelevant.

He got to his feet beginning to walk towards the door before a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Takai." Kakashi said, holding him in place.

Takai spun around, his eye wide. "Kakashi-sensei! They're attacking us! Suna and Oto! And- and- and some sort of sand demon!" He said quickly, his mind on rapid fire.

"Takai, listen to me." His sensei said, bending down a little to be eye level with his student. He took on a lower tone. His lone exposed eye met with Takai's. The younger one was filled with fear. A fear of loss. Dying. All of it. It was as wide as a dinner plate really. As much as it pained him to do it, Kakashi had to send his child to fight. "You're afraid. It's natural. But you cannot allow that fear to impede your service to the village and your comrades."

Takai's face twitched, holding in several emotions. "But...I-"

Kakashi held back his own disgust with himself for doing this but spoke. "You must. The defense of the village and its people is our priority." He could feel his skin crawl with every word. Sending children to fight was wrong yet it was the reality of their lives.

"I...yes Kakashi-sensei." Takai said, taking a deep, shuddering breath in. His stomach felt like an infinitely heavy lead weight.

His sensei nodded. "Good. Now, your fight is not here. This isn't something you can do. You must defend the civilians. The northern orphanage is defenseless. You know where that is, right?"

Takai would have let out a snort if things weren't so dire. How could he forget? "Yes, I remember."

"Then go. You have to protect them. I'll be sure to send whoever else I can to help you. Be safe, Takai." Kakashi said before disappearing in a body flicker.

Takai took another deep breath in before sprinting off through the building, navigating outside and making his way towards the orphanage.

Takai darted towards the outskirts of Konoha.

The orphanage was a cheap building. Just simple wood panels for walls and a blue metal sheet roof. It had a number of windows on it allowing plenty of natural lighting to make up for the fact that there wasn't electricity to the building for lighting. It sat on a cheap concrete foundation. There were marks on it from where other posts had been, showing that it had been re-constructed more than once. There was a small add-on at the back of the building that lacked any windows. If he remembered correctly from his time at the orphanage, it also had the stairs to the basement which was mostly just storage.

He landed in front of the door, barging his way in. The inside was just as simple as the outside. Bunks would normally be lined along the walls but currently they were being used as cover for the many children contained within. Several chairs and tables had been taken apart for items to throw. The inside was dim due to shutters on the windows being put on.

The instant he stepped inside, many objects were pelted at him from table and chair legs to different writing utensils and toys.

Of course, the majority of the projectiles missed and the rest didn't do a lick of damage to him.

"Calm yourselves." Takai said lowly. His lone eyes swept over the children. Many were crying softly while others held objects in their hands firmly. One child even had a practice kunai in his hand. "The back of the building, it has the stairs to the basement. Go." He commanded, taking control of the situation and leaving no room for argument. The many children, perhaps about one hundred or so rushed to the back of the building, other orphan matrons helping to organize the children to prevent anyone from getting trampled.

The orphan matron, a grizzled old woman with many wrinkles and liver spots bowed her head to him. Her old eyes regarded him with something he couldn't quite place. "We are counting on you, Takai."

Takai froze, looking at her strangely. "You...remember me? You recognize me?"

She nodded easily. "I remember all the orphans within my walls." The woman began to walk to the back of the building. She turned just before going downstairs. "I am proud of you for finding your place, Takai. Protect us well." She said before descending, closing the door behind her and locking it with a hard click.

He blinked for a moment. Had anyone ever outright said they were proud of him? He honestly couldn't remember.

'Not my biggest worry at the moment.' Takai thought, pulling down his mask to bite his thumb and performing a few hand signs. A moment later and his trusty lizard companion was in front of him with a poof of smoke.

"Ah, summoner. I trust this issue is pressing." Qask said, taking in his new environment.

Takai nodded quickly. "The village is under attack. I was assigned to protect this building and the people within. Currently they're in the basement for shelter. My sensei said he would send whoever else he could manage, but I think we're on our own for awhile."

"Understandable. What is this building?" Qask said, shaking out his hands to loosen them.

"An orphanage." Takai answered, mentally scrolling through every jutsu he knew. Depending on who came to attack, he would need to pull out all the stops. Speaking of, he pulled his weight vest off. Honestly, it was pretty dumb of him to continue to wear it when he got to the arena but whatever. Forgive and forget and all of that. He sealed it into a storage scroll in his pouch idly.

Without the extra weight, he felt like he could probably zip around the village fast enough to leave afterimages!

"I see. A reasonable target. Not so much for a tactical advantage but for an excellent distraction." His scaly companion said, cracking his knuckles. "Would you prefer me up here with you for more direct assistance or as a second line of defense for the children?"

Takai's eye scanned the room in thought. What would be better? The possibility of an enemy sneaking by him and massacring the children made him feel queasy.

"Its better you stay down there with them. You can stop someone from somehow bypassing me all-together. Or if I die here." Takai explained his decision.

His companion nodded. "Understood, summoner. Good luck." He said, forming some hand signs before sinking through the floor into the basement. He used the same jutsu Takai did earlier after talking to Iruka, Hiding Like A Mole Jutsu.

Now all there was to do was wait.

And unfortunately he would not have to wait for long.

"Fuckin' ridiculous sensei has us killing some worthless kids." A man's muffled voice said from outside. It sounded quite close to the front door. Takai crept forwards until he was about ten feet from the door.

"Yeah, I'd much rather be raiding a clan compound or something. Get some glory, y'know?" A second said.

A third met the second with a snort. "All three of us would get vaporized if we even looked at one of the clan compounds. Now the red light district? There's somethin'. Know how many hot chicks would be there?"

"And what makes you think they'd want anything to do with your stupid ass?" The first laughed at the third. This was followed by a scrape and a rattling at the doorknob. "Who said it was their choice?" The third voice replied with an exceptionally creepy tone.

Takai remained silent, flowing through hand signs like water before ending on the tiger hand sign. He took in a deep breath, kneading chakra in his lungs.

There was a smack outside the door, causing the rattling to stop.

"What if someone's inside?" The second voice said. Takai had to resist the urge to chuckle. Oh, if they knew.

There was a rustle followed by another smack as the first voice replied. "Get your meat-beaters off me. Who the hell would protect a bunch of worthless brats?"

"Just sayin'..." The second said. "Just don't get like...burned alive or something." There was a pounding on the door but it stood firm. Tough ass door.

Finally the third voice growled in annoyance. "Move, you skinny fuck." A moment later and the door crashed open, the deadbolt ripping free.

Takai saw an incredibly muscular and relatively old teen in front of him. He had a Suna uniform on with a chunin vest. He had dark skin and jet black hair with cruel eyes with a predatory gleam. Of course, at the sight of Takai, they widened with fear. His gaze then shifted to Takai's eye.

"SH-" The boy attempted to scream before Takai let his jutsu rip free from his mouth. A roaring jet of yellow flame washed over the entry way and blasted out the door. They easily enveloped the boy before he could even begin to flee.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The boy fell back, awash with ripping hot fire. His screams were quickly drowned out as Takai pumped more chakra into the jutsu, upping the intensity. The fire seemed to scream as it cooked him alive. His enemy's flesh melted on his bones, reducing him to a pile of molten meat. It shortly turned to ash after that, leaving but a blackened skeleton and molten metal that must have been his kunai and whatnot.

There was a beat of silence before Takai launched himself out of the door, spinning in the air like an arrow in flight. He whipped a kunai to both of his enemies' heads. The boy on the left who seemed to be a genin didn't even perceive him. The kunai cut through the air easily, planting itself firming in the boy's pale forehead. The other one, however, managed to deflect his kunai with one of his own.

"YOU BASTARD!" He screamed clumsily going through hand signs. It didn't seem like he was too good at it if Takai was honest. Takai's sharingan flashed as he applied a genjutsu to his opponent. It wasn't very good, and it wasn't meant to be. It was only to give him some cover. He altered the area, making his enemy see only fog in the area.

His enemy took a moment to dispel his genjutsu but it was more than enough time for Takai to sink into the ground and grasp the sand shinobi's ankles. He felt him struggle against Takai briefly before he yanked him into the ground, leaving nothing but his head exposed.

Takai rose from the ground menacingly, his face covered in shadows leaving only his glowing sharingan visible.

"Wait- WAIT!" His enemy screamed, shutting his eyes firmly as Takai approached him. He raised his foot up and brought it down on the boy's skull, caving in his skull with a crunch. Blood leaked steadily from his mouth and nose while his eyes rolled up into his head.

Takai looked around at the carnage for a moment. This world certainly was a brutal place to live. Oh well, didn't matter at the moment. He stepped around the molten pile of slag that was formerly a person to re-enter the building. Standing in the doorway probably wouldn't be a great idea. Takai glanced over the room for a second before leaping directly upwards, climbing into the rafters and getting comfortable.

What Kakashi had done left a bad taste in his mouth. It was wrong. 'Not like I had a choice.' He thought to himself as he propelled himself in a body flicker up to the Hokage. Normally he'd help with the civilians but currently the Hokage was the more important piece on the board. With his help, the entire invasion could be stopped as well as the bijuu currently tearing apart the arena. The Hokage was like a gold general in shogi. He alone could turn the tides which currently weren't very well in their favor.

The man in question was currently trapped, combating two kage at once on top of Orochimaru. Truly, the Third was a monster.

They were all on the roof of the Kage's viewing booth. In the center was a huge flaming purple barrier cube with the Hokage and Orochimaru along with the...dead hokage as his lackeys. The Hokage's personal guards were standing outside the barrier, forced to just watch. A pile of ash outside the barrier hinted to Kakashi what would happen if he tried to just walk through.

'A Four Violet Flames Formation, huh? Well, we can't have that.' The silver-haired jonin thought to himself idly as he reached into his pouch, retrieving some pretty high-powered explosive tags. He approached the ANBU squad with his usual relaxed posture, tags in hand. Time for some "improvised demolition". The barrier may be impenetrable but it can't exactly stay up if there's no surface to stand on.

"Hi there." Kakashi greeted simply with a quick wave. He then thrust the tags forwards. "Go put these inside the viewing booth in the corners. Come meet me back here when you're done please." He popped the "P" while carrying an overly nice tone.

The ANBU didn't hesitate to listen to their senior. While technically they weren't under his authority, he had plenty of sway within the ANBU from his time in still.

'Alright, time to get to work.' Kakashi popped his neck for a moment before lifting his headband. His three tomoe sharingan spun lazily in his socket as he watched Orochimaru, blissfully unaware of their scheme to interrupt his little assassination attempt.

A moment later and the ANBU returned in some body flickers.

"Tags planted." One said, their voice relatively high-pitched. Must be a woman.

"Then let's go. Activate them and kill the ones who formed the barriers. No prisoners. We can't risk them escaping or putting up more barriers. After that, we all need to focus Orochimaru. The Hokage is managing fine for now with whatever imposters are mimicking the First and Second." Kakashi distributed his orders easily before pulsing his chakra.

There was a rumbling before a massive-

KABOOM!

The entire top floor of the viewing building collapsed in a massive dust cloud. The ones forming the barrier didn't even have time to react before the ANBU beheaded them with clean motions. All four were dead in less than a fraction of a second.

Kakashi blitzed forwards using a body flicker, abusing his sharingan's enhanced perception. He landed a solid kick on Orochimaru's chest, launching him clean off the building and into the trees below. The man couldn't even blink before he was thrown off. ANBU leapt off the roof in a number of blurs.

He sped through some more hand signs, forming a chidori before he himself dived off the roof, sailing down towards Orochimaru who was locked in a five versus one deathmatch that was soon to be six versus one.

Orochimaru was struggling to keep up with the five elite ANBU. He had already used his odd regurgitation healing jutsu once, his first body in a pile of molten meat from a fire jutsu. A genius he may be, but the Hokage's personal guards are all minimum of jonin-level shinobi that excel in teamwork with each other. Quite honestly, they could probably give the Hokage himself a run for his ryo. They'd lose terribly of course, but it wouldn't be like swatting flies.

Kakashi darted forwards, shoving his chidori not through the man's chest, but his left knee, cleanly severing the appendage in a spray of blood. The man produced a sound of pain before an ANBU shoved a sword through his open mouth, pinning him to the ground and channeling lightning chakra through it, electrocuting the man. Burn marks appeared all over his body as he was shocked.

A moment later and the ANBU cut the chakra and withdrew his blade from the smoking corpse. They all watched it for a second before-

"Kukuku...did you really think-" The pale man's words were interrupted by Kakashi who planted another chidori firmly where his heart was. He quickly yanked his arm out, allowing the ANBU to follow up with various jutsu, utterly destroying the man's freshly regenerated body, apart from a pile of bone and shredded meat.

Once again, the body's barely-present jaw unhinged open, allowing yet another Orochimaru to emerge. However, this one looked far more taxed than before. Clearly that regeneration jutsu used a lot of chakra. A thick sheen of sweat was present on his skin and his breathing was labored.

"You know, getting interrupted constantly is getting irritating." Orochimaru finally got out as he replaced himself with a pile of snakes. His tone lost the antagonizing tone it had prior. It was just in time for him as well as the six launched yet another wave of jutsu at the man. Though, they only vaporized the snakes this time instead of the man himself.

The six turned their backs to each other, watching the foliage around them for the pale man.

He emerged from the trees above, his signature blade in hand. It took less than a second for him to be atop an ANBU. Orochimaru swung his blade at chest-level. The ANBU made to block it but couldn't retaliate as Orochimaru's blade easy sliced through his own. The legendary blade continued unimpeded, bisecting the ANBU at chest-level along with his arms. He fell apart in pieces.

Though Orochimaru couldn't manage to take down a second before the rest were upon him. An ANBU in a chameleon mask used a Water Whip Jutsu to restrain his right hand. Another ANBU, this time wearing an otter mask easily severed Orochimaru's hand. A third in a panda mask dived forwards, yanking up the sword and sealing it away in a scroll before pocketing it.

The whole interaction was so seamless it was like they trained specifically for it.

Orochimaru snarled at the ANBU, looking around desperately. Clearly he lacked the chakra to perform his regeneration jutsu another time.

The group wasted no time in rushing him all at once. In a singular moment, Kakashi's enhanced perception saw Orochimaru's eyes widen in legitimate fear before they all descended upon him.

Kakashi pelted six kunai at the man whom deflected four. The last two hit him in both knees, keeping him from fleeing. The panda-mask ANBU threw out a water whip around Orochimaru's neck, yanking him forwards just in time for the otter-masked ANBU to land a devastating haymaker on the man. After this, the entire group backed away apart from one. The chameleon-mask sped through hand signs before ending on tiger. He leapt high into the air before expelling a yellow flame onto Orochimaru. The fire formed a sphere around the man, incinerating anything within. It roared like a dragon before it burst in an explosion, knocking down trees and rendering the spot Orochimaru formerly was, a pool of molten slag.

They all looked around for a moment. That seemed...slightly too easy.

But they had also ganged up on him in a six on one by surprise. They were also all top-tier shinobi. So, it isn't too much of a stretch?

Or maybe it is.

Then again, the truth was in the smoking crater of molten material.

Or maybe he wasn't.

Technically he wasn't because he was (presumably and hopefully) vaporized.

'Kakashi, Slayer of Orochimaru.' The silver-haired jonin thought offhandedly. Hey, it had a ring to it! Though, that wasn't the important part.

Kakashi and the ANBU vanished in a body flicker, reappearing on the roof just in time to catch the two former Hokage disappear in a golden light while their forms crumbled to a fine black dust.

Hiruzen looked worse for wear. His left arm was hanging at an odd angle and his mouth was bleeding steadily. The man closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath to center himself. "Kakashi. I presume you managed to slay Orochimaru?" His voice held no room for jokes.

"Yes, me and your personal guard incinerated him." He gestured to the ANBU who were now standing in a protective formation, with the Hokage at the center...while two men down.

"I see. In that case, we need to take care of the next biggest threat." Hiruzen said lowly as he turned around on the roof and looking at the still relatively small Shukaku. What civilians had remained had escaped long ago. Only shinobi remained whom were constantly pelting the beast with countless jutsu. Hiruzen drew in a single long breath before scowling. "We need to somehow transport the beast outside the village."

Shukaku roared before flat out smashing a section of the stands, caving it in. He then began to climb out of the arena. Though, the motion caused the unconscious Gaara at the top to flop around uselessly.

"Preferably now." The Hokage said, gesturing to Kakashi. "I'm guessing this is merely an avatar. Yank the boy from the sand and the avatar will cease to operate until it can gather more material for its form. With that said, go extract him from the sand and transport him outside the village walls. We'll deal with him from there."

Kakashi nodded wordlessly before vanishing in a body flicker.

'Doesn't seem to have any sort of sensing capability. In that case...' Kakashi thought as he landed above Shukaku and leapt down. The avatar didn't notice him at all. Instead, it seemed too focused on the shinobi around it. Good luck for him then.

Kakashi landed on the head of the avatar and wrapped both his arms around the redhead boy before disappearing in yet another body flicker, kicking up a small cloud of sand. 'And for the crescendo-'

The silver-haired jonin appeared on the North Wall, stumbling to a halt. He felt his skin dissolving as if acid was poured over it. The boy was beginning to form a rather thick aura of toxic chakra around himself. Kakashi couldn't continue to hold him unless he wanted to get eaten alive by this evil chakra.

So, he threw him as hard as he could by the ankles. While he was in the air, Kakashi reached into his pouch before extracting an explosive tag attached to a kunai. Killing a jinchuuriki should "kill" the beast until it could reform. And it'd likely reappear in Suna where it would be their problem. So, he chucked the kunai into the falling Gaara's chest without a second thought.

Kakashi watched blankly as the tag exploded in a massive fireball. He then looked to his right arm. It wasn't pretty. Skin had quite literally flaked away leaving exposed muscle. Suffice it to say, it hurt. The man lowered down to a knee, clutching his arm. A shiver ran down his spine as he flexed his hand. Some of the muscle had began dissolving under the hunger of Shukaku's corrosive chakra. It honestly looked like he got dipped into acid. That would leave a nice scar for sure.

"ROOOOAAAARRR!" The now very clearly NOT dead Shukaku roared his challenge to Konoha, slowly growing bigger. What hair was left on his arms raised. An instinct rooted deep within him was screaming in his ear to as fast as he could across the continent and never return to this place.

"Ah." The silver-haired jonin coughed as Shukaku began trying to scale the wall. Well, he just royally messed up.

"COMIN' THROUGH BOY!" A deep, massive voice called out from above him. Following that, a truly gargantuan shadow descended over him as a HUGE toad in some sort of blue vest with sleeves. In his hand was a giant blade that looked like some sort of tanto to Kakashi. The newcomer was mostly red with a lighter head and underside. He also had a pretty fancy-looking pipe in his mouth. The toad slammed into Shukaku, scattering his sand in every direction before leaping away just in time to avoid the sand surging inwards, attempting to grab the toad.

And here came his warty savior!

Takai found that sitting still for a long time, in darkness, and completely silent isn't particularly entertaining. Though, a boring protection mission was better than an interesting one as they say. Did anyone say that?

Not like it mattered really.

Yet protecting these children is worth the boredom. Better this than coming across a bunch of dead kids.

"Aoh? Lei? Kato? Where-" A deep voice yelled before stopping short. Takai heard the skidding of a pair of sandals outside, then what sounded like someone falling to their knees. "Oh...oh my god. Y-you...FUCK!" The voice screamed, bearing incredible pain.

Hoh? Their sensei? This might be slightly more dangerous than before. He couldn't fight a jonin. Hopefully it was just a close friend of some sort. Fingers crossed.

"My kids..." The voice sobbed helplessly. Well, Takai couldn't tell if that was better or worse.

Suddenly, the sobbing stopped. Takai's eye stared intensely at the door as a man in a Suna chunin uniform walked in. He was roughly Kakashi's height, holding himself like a samurai would: stiff as a board. He had darker skin with jet black hair. He had the same cruel eyes as the boy he burned alive as well as similar cheekbones and the same nose as the boy he hit in the head with a kunai. He couldn't spot any relation to the boy he pulled into the ground.

As the man passed under Takai's hiding spot, he dropped down behind him, kunai raised. Despite not making a sound, the man spun around just in time to avoid Takai's attempt on his life. He countered with a turning kick, throwing Takai clean through one of the side walls and out into the daylight.

"You...you're the one who killed my boys." The man said, stalking out of the hole he had just created.

Takai didn't reply to the man, instead looking to his eyes and-

He instantly flicked them down. Fuck. There goes his easy win.

"I know that eye in your filthy fucking skull. I've fought against Uchiha before. Bunch of one-trick ponies. A good trick, granted, but only one." The man said, drawing a katana from his back. It had a blade made of a sort of blue metal with a few highlights in a lighter blue. Other than that, it was just a katana. Though, it shimmered gently in the light. "Now, I am going to kill you." He said, blitzing towards Takai.

'Nuh uh.' He thought, sinking into the ground with a few hand signs. Takai attempted to grab the man by his ankles but he leapt high into the air while throwing an explosive kunai at the place Takai's hands surfaced. He had no choice but to replace himself with a log in a replacement jutsu. The tag put a sizeable crater in the ground.

His enemy didn't let up on his assault, landing and rushing Takai in an instant. His eyes were fixated on his feet.

Takai flowed through hand signs like water for a moment before expelling a water bullet at the man. He easily dodged it, continuing on. Behind him, the jutsu burst, forming a large pool on the ground. The Konoha genin jumped up before letting out a fireball, instantly producing a huge cloud of steam. Takai then whipped three kunai out of his pouch at the man. Two directed at him and the third far above his head.

Just as the man was about to strike Takai, he performed a replacement jutsu, switching with that third kunai. Since the jutsu preserved momentum, Takai was thrown clean into the steam to hide while the kunai fell uselessly to the ground since he was originally still.

'Now for a little surprise. Water Release: Starch Syrup Capturing Field!' Takai thought as he performed the jutsu, spewing the syrup on the ground within the steam. Takai left a small spot that was devoid of the stuff for himself to stand.

"YOU FUCK!" The man shouted, darting towards the steam. How...predictable. Truthfully, he wasn't expecting that to work. He certainly wouldn't attempt it himself. Ah well, don't look a gift donkey in the mouth and stuff like that. That was the saying, right?

Takai listened as the man stormed into the steam only to get his feet caught by his jutsu. "What?! What is this shit?"

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!' Takai said in his mind, throwing the largest fireball he could reasonably manage at the man before immediately performing yet another replacement with the third kunai. Of course, the man also performed a replacement as well, his with a sizeable rock that exploded in molten material from Takai's jutsu.

The man emerged from the forest with a calculating gaze. "Maybe you have more than one trick."

Blah, blah, blah! Stuff happened. Orochimaru got gang-banged but of course he's like a cockroach so don't worry y'all. He'll be doing more another day.

As always, leave reviews and what not. I read all of them! I love y'all.

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