AN: I have written and rewritten this chapter a dozen times. I literally have six different files on my computer devoted to this chapter. Twice, the file containing a large portion of the chapter had an error so odd that I had to manually retype much of the chapter again, because cut and paste just transferred the error right over to the new document.
I give up now. This is the result. It may not be the best of chapters but I feel that if I can get this one out, then I can get back into the swing of updating regularly.
This story is rated R(or M, as FFNet does it now) for a reason.
Isamu is an OC(because I wanted another Akimichi but couldn't find one in the manga) but Tonbo is not.
This jumps a lot between POVs. Timeline goes like this: At the beginning of the chapter(after the first section), it's just a couple of minutes after the end of the last chapter. At the end of the chapter, three hours have passed. So much seems happens so quickly in the beginning because the leaf ninjas already started moving to attack and intercept even before the Chuunin Exam's abrupt end.

---

For the Love of my Friends

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Fourth Wall

by Foxie

---

The original plan of invasion was to have all four walls of Konoha breached by a simultaneous attack from the outside. All of the walls were to be damaged, if not completely destroyed. This would allow the Oto nins outside of the walls to come in to slowly start securing parts of Konoha as Oto territory. Summons would pave a destruction ridden path through a vulnerable and thinly guarded Konoha, leaving nothing safe or untouched.

Through two walls, the neighborhoods would be invaded, through one wall, the training areas, and through the last, the one of the many industrial areas. Even if, through some miracle, the Oto nins were stopped, their legacy would live on, haunting the nightmares of Konoha residents for years to come as well as severely damaging what little bit of local economy Konoha did have.

While the ninjas under Orochimaru's command were told to cause as much damage and secure as much of Konoha as they could until the center of the city was reached(which, theoretically, would mean that they would have Konoha completely under their control by this time), Orochimaru really didn't expect to be able to capture Konoha. Not only did Konoha have vast resources of powerful ninjas, but also the village has vast resources of loyal ninjas, meaning that even if most of Konoha fell, many Konoha ninjas would fight to their death to recapture it.

But, in his typical way, Orochimaru didn't pass this information on to his underlings, letting them believe that total victory was possible where, in reality, it was not. Believing in this total victory led to many of his ninjas becoming overconfident in themselves, a confidence that should have faltered(and, largely, did end up faltering) when the ninjas outside of the walls came face to face with the reality of Konoha's defenses. The walls were only a mere surface of the defense.

The four “walls”(called as such by everyone) weren't really so much as walls as they were four gates connected by tall barriers. Standing tall and massive in size, the walls kept out most intruders. Even the most talented of ninjas had trouble scaling something of that size, unless they had some sort of power of flight.

The walls, however, were nearly always open, making such an attempt wasteful and not to mention impossible, as there were many different jutsus on the walls to prevent chakra from being applied to them in any way.

Ninjas, chuunins mostly, were usually stationed at its entrance in order to make sure that only the right sort of person entered. Foreign ninjas, people not native to the village, and people who did not have ready and approved paperwork on hand, were usually spotted, stopped, and made to fill out a ridiculous amount of paperwork that, while the person hurried away and went through it all, usually gave one of the officials enough time to get some sort of detailed background information on the person.

If the person refused to fill out paperwork or tried to force his or her way inside, the ANBU took over and “escorted” them out. The ninjas in charge of the gates were very serious about their job and didn't cut anyone any slack, be it a simple farmer or the Fire Lord himself.

All in all, it was an efficient system, one that had been in place since the walls had been put up in the first place and, because of its success, the doors nearly always remained opened. Unless, of course, Konoha was expecting some sort of attack or disaster. In such a rare case, the gates remained firmly closed.

This fact alone should have warned Orochimaru. Even though he had low expectations of the invasion(his only true objectives being to kill his sensei and to initiate communication with Sasuke), he would have instantly been alerted that something was wrong, simply by the fact that the walls were, as of the beginning of the Chuunin Final Exam, all shut save for one.

Such an action was only committed once in all the history of Konoha but, whereas any ninja over the age of twenty remembered the Fourth making the unprecedented move of closing the gates (a controversy that the Elder Council still grumbled about in the present day), Orochimaru hadn't been in Konoha at the time of Kyuubi's rise.

But if he had been, he might have recognized the sign that something was wrong. He might have told his troops to call off an attack on the walls. He would have known that attacking the walls would be a futile and fruitless effort. He might have even called off the invasion, knowing that what forces that were stationed in Konoha were of little opposition to the Konoha elite, not without the backup of the others outside.

As it was, he didn't know so his troops didn't know. They went on with the attack as they were ordered, surprised when what their leader had told them would be an easy task turned out to be an extremely difficult one.

How strange is it that one event, one that happened nearly a decade and a half in the past, could influence the outcome of an entire invasion? Had Orochimaru known the history behind the gates or even had remembered that the Fourth himself had closed them to ready Konoha for an attack, perhaps the invasion might not have had such a messy and bloody end, Oto nins being as outnumbered and as outsmarted as they were.

When Iruka would later realize the significance of this, he would happily tell his class, “And that's why you study history. The past will always effect the future.”

----

At the height of the invasion, only one wall had fallen. The other three, to the invasion force's horror, had unusually powerful protection, making any sort of advance towards the heart of Konoha completely impossible.

Who would have expected that the Hokage himself would have been defending a wall, especially when he was supposed to be sitting on his ass and watching some kiddy exam? No one, Sarutobi himself acknowledged. Not even Orochimaru. Sarutobi supposed he should be a little proud that he could still pull the wool over Orochimaru's eyes even now but somehow he just couldn't muster up the emotion.

War drained Sarutobi faster than the desert drained one of water. Though the Hokage was a master at most types of jutsus as well as being somewhat of a tactical genius, he felt deep sorrow when he had to witness international conflicts or widespread destruction. It wasn't in his nature to initiate or even desire conflicts. And no amount of exposure would desensitize him to it.

There was a reason why he was known to pursue diplomacy before violence, and that was it. He hated suffering and sadness. But sometimes, despite a person's best attempts to avoid it, one had to go against their own beliefs in order to make the world around them right again.

Sarutobi stood quietly on top of the wall, somber eyes taking in the destruction outside the wall. The Oto nins in his sight were dead or retreating as fast as they could. Instruments of war and what looked like crude machines meant to bring down the wall laid smoldering. Any summon that had appeared had been swiftly brought down, bursting into smoke just moments after their bodies had been torn asunder. The unlucky Oto ninjas had faced similar fates but their corpses lingered.

They were all children, in his eyes. Horribly misguided children swaying to the tune of the snake charmer, Orochimaru. Whether it was loyalty to Orochimaru or ambition for power that kept them by Orochimaru's side, it didn't matter. Children were children in Sarutobi's mind and he hated the thought of having to kill them.

But Sarutobi's children came before them always. Sarutobi would help an enemy's child if he could but not if it meant the life of one of his villagers. The lives of the people who wore the insignia of the leaf always weighed heavier than those who did not. They trusted him to protect them as he trusted them to nurture and protect the village. Logic told him that his ninjas should mean more to him than anyone else's ninjas.

Mercy could not be allowed to overshadow rationality. That was his mistake with Orochimaru. His student had made an enemy of all of humanity with his horrifying deeds, but silly sentimentality had stayed Sarutobi's hand.

And now look what has happened, Sarutobi mused quietly. All because of a little misplaced mercy. All because of my past mistakes. No more. He repeated it several times to himself, strengthening his resolve as he looked out on the destruction just outside of the wall. No more.

His hands tucked behind his back, he turned just as two ANBU appeared on the wall next to him. They automatically dropped to a knee, the masked faces dipping. Sarutobi's memory of their true identities wasn't hampered by their masks. He knew them well, just as he knew every ninja of his village. What he considered to be his family, after all, far extended the limitations of inherited blood.

It was this sense of empathy and belonging and community that he had and felt with the village... This was what decided for Sarutobi that Orochimaru wasn't the right person to become the Hokage. His student was far too ambitious and far too focused on the achievements of himself.

Orochimaru had never understood that to be Hokage is to belong to the village and its people, not to belong only to yourself. To be a Hokage, you had to drop everything that defined and labeled who you are, what you want, and how to get, especially if it didn't coincide with the village's identity, needs, and means to get them.

The Yondaime had portrayed that important understanding quite extraordinarily, from early on in his ninja career to his very last moments. On the other hand, Orochimaru held no sympathy for people who weaker than him.

Sarutobi dreaded what the Kyuubi's attack could have been like under Orochimaru's command. He would not be surprised if Orochimaru would have just ordered the ninjas to fend for themselves.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Sarutobi focused on the ANBU duo. “So?” he asked quietly, commanding their attention with a single spoken word. Sarutobi's chakra was still tingling powerfully around him, which probably explained some of their unusual anxiety. Sarutobi attempted to dampen the feel of it a little bit but manipulation of chakra proved to be harder in his old age than it had been when he was a more springy lad. “What do you report?”

The ANBU with the mask of a tiger answered. “This wall is free from attack, Hokage-sama.” he said submissively, stating the obvious. “Your appearance terrified the invasion force, as did your various techniques.” Sarutobi simply nodded, though he wasn't really interested in what he had just done compared to the things that he felt he must do. What he had to do, as Hokage.

The ninjas honored with the task of being in the Hokage's platoon hadn't even had the chance to move before Sarutobi singlehandedly took out and destroyed the spirit of the invasion force. It was a feat worthy of retelling and rehashing for at least a good three months.

The ANBU continued, still in awe of the Hokage. “The ones who survived retreated from the area, either running away or rejoining the other groups. The defense was a complete success.” he said quickly.

“And of the other walls?” Sarutobi turned his somber gaze towards the other ANBU. There was a bit of annoyed anticipation in his voice, which probably explained the sudden anxiety of the other ANBU, who was put on the spot. The ANBU tensed under the Hokage's gaze, looking down.

“The ANBU were dispatched to take care of the defense of the other walls, as you ordered,” the other ANBU, with the mask of an ox, said quickly. “The north and east walls are safe and the invasion forces in those areas have been significantly decreased. Those areas have also been completely evacuated.”

Sarutobi immediately picked up on what he didn't say. “What of the west wall?” he asked firmly, his eyes narrowing. The ANBU gulped, feeling like a bug pinned to the wall. The Hokage was the most grandfatherly man that the ANBU had ever known but when the old man got serious, it was almost scary. His chakra levels alone reminded the ninja exactly why Sarutobi was the Hokage.

“The ANBU platoons that were dispatched to the west wall were... intercepted,” the ox-masked ninja admitted slowly. Realizing quickly that the information was important, he surged on. “It seems like many Oto nins had entered Konoha long before the invasion started. Not only are they an obstacle but, no thanks to their efforts, there's also many of the enemy's summons on the move. We don't know why, exactly, but they're all snakes...”

“It's symbolic,” Sarutobi said flatly. He shook his head. “'A snake slithering amongst the leaves', or other such nonsense.” His voice suddenly pitched low and turned more introspective, though both ANBUs could still hear his mumbling quite well. “He's always had a bit of a flair for the dramatic.” The Hokage shook himself out of his thoughts, realizing the pressing need of time. “How many summon creatures are in Konoha right now?”

“At least one for every district,” the tiger-masked ninja answered without hesitation. Sarutobi turned to the burning buildings off in the distance, sighing softly to himself. The ANBU rushed to continue his report, being the type who thought that bad news was best taken all at once. “The forth wall only had a small group of chuunins as defense. Many died on both sides but the wall has completely fallen. I believe that the surviving chuunins are still fighting in that area.”

Sarutobi closed his eyes. “Has the neighborhood been evacuated?” he asked quietly. He knew that the fourth wall was practically right on top of a neighborhood. Many families lived in that area. Though the major ninja clans had entire districts closer to the center of the city, many of the civilians and city officials(as well as certain ninja clans, like the Naras) lived on the far outskirts of Konoha. Sarutobi knew of at least one member of the Elder Council who lived in that area.

“No, not yet,” the other ANBU said, speaking in a grave voice. “We can't get a group in there to lead them out. Like he said, there are many summons in Konoha at the moment and many of our ninjas, ANBU or otherwise, are being intercepted left and right.” Sarutobi turned away for a moment, looking out over the village again but was unable to see any summons from his point of view.

The ANBU continued boldly. “Our first priority should be to destroy the summons. Then we should attempt evacuation of the outer neighborhoods. If we send squads in there with only the intention of rescue, they will be killed. We must destroy, and then attempt to rescue.” The other ANBU nodded, in agreement with his plan.

Sarutobi, despite wanting rescue to be the first priority, saw the logic in that. “We will do that then,” he said with a final tone. When the ANBUs made a movement as if to leave, Sarutobi gestured for them to wait. “What of the inner city evacuation?”

The tiger-masked ANBU paused before he answered. “Only about forty-five percent completed, Hokage-sama,” he said quietly.

Sarutobi looked at him sharply. The ANBUs flinched in unison. Without meaning to, Sarutobi's chakra levels spiked with his agitation. This time, he didn't bother to quell it. “Only forty-five? What is taking so long?” he demanded.

“The Oto nins in that area are erratic and chaotic,” the first ANBU reported in a very precise manner. “They have no proper chain of command set up, since we've killed most of the higher ranking ninjas, so they're simply out to cause senseless violence. It's been... problematic, to say in the least.”

“Of course. The enemy with the plan can be thwarted. It's the enemy without a plan that is most dangerous,” Sarutobi murmured, wondering how Orochimaru himself was feeling at having his plans thwarted. He had never been a patient child, and that attitude hadn't changed as he had grown older.

Sarutobi turned to them with one last set of orders, his mind already quickly going over ways to quickly dispatch summons. “Inform the jonins that, upon fifty percent evacuation of the inner city, they have my permission to use any and all jutsus at their disposal.” he said with careful emphasis. “I myself will handle the summons. Send ANBU platoons seven and eleven to join me. Send ANBU platoons three, eight, and nine to make a sweep of the outside perimeter of Konoha. I want no Oto nin left alive.”

After making that point clear with a steady stare, Sarutobi paced, adding on more orders. “Send ANBU platoon two, four, and ten to the outer city, and have them aid the civilians if at all possible. Inform ANBU platoon five and six that they are to guard the walls from further attack. Send ANBU platoon one to the hospital. Have the staff informed to be on high alert and ready to administer emergency medical care. Inform them to also call every registered medic nin, even those who have retired, and have them tell them that they are ordered, by the Hokage, to lend their aid.”

He paused in his pacing, trying to think of something more to say. It was times like these where he wished he was as eloquent and as quick-witted as the Shodaime used to be. “The jonins already have their orders and the chuunins are to follow the jonins' command. Genins and Academy students are required to evacuate along with the civilians. That is all.”

At the obvious dismissal, both ANBUs briefly bowed their heads. “Hokage-sama,” they said in unison. Then they were gone in two dark flashes that, to an old man's tired eyes, looked as if they had simply dissolved into the ash darkened sky.

---

Hinata sat down heavily on the floor, her eyes downcast and her back to the wall. She felt absolutely miserable and useless, just staying in the infirmary with all of the other genins while Naruto was outside, where it sounded less like the village she knew so well and more like audio footage of a scene of war. She didn't dare to look out the window, knowing that her already frail grip on rationality would slip into hysteria if she saw what was really happening. And if she imagined Naruto being involved in that.

Hinata had never felt so grateful to her father for his attempts to shield her from the worst of a ninja's life, even if it had only been because he doubted she would succeed in such an environment. But now, she wished that he had just been a little harsher, so she could have been better prepared for what was happening. So maybe she could have been better prepared to help Naruto.

Hinata thought of Naruto's quick entrance and exit, just barely twenty minutes before. His tattered clothes had been covered in blood and dust. He had had bruises and burns growing on the exposed parts of his arms and legs, the burns themselves looking especially nasty. One side of his head had been no longer a shade of yellow but a brownish red from a wound that extended from under his eye to somewhere on the side of his head.

But he had smiled so easily and talked so engagingly that it was hard to point out the little things. That, and Hinata had been so glad to see him alive that she wouldn't have cared what condition he came back in, just as long as he came back. The fact that he still had all of his limbs was a miracle in itself, from what she had heard of Gaara, his opponent.

I should have... Her shoulders hunched slightly, her eyes clenched shut. I should have watched Naruto-kun. Suddenly, Sakura's earlier self-hate became her own. Maybe if she had been there on the sidelines, Naruto wouldn't have been so injured? But then she would have left Shino alone in the hospital, and Hinata knew all too well how the stoic boy hated hospitals, though he would never give voice to his complaints.

No... she realized slowly, logic winning out in the end. My presence wouldn't have changed anything. But I would have liked to be there anyway, if only to cheer him on. I wonder, do you have to be next to someone... for them to know that you like them and you wish them the best? Hinata liked to think that actions spoke just as loudly as words, especially since she wasn't the type to talk too much. But she wasn't sure if Naruto himself understood the extent of her feelings.

Maybe it was okay that I didn't watch his match. She thought slowly. But I should have said something. I should have talked to him about his leaving. I should have tried to talk him out of it.

Did he know how much she worried about him? Did he know how much she wished, for all she admired his determined spirit, that he would just step back and let other people handle things? Did he know that she never went through a week without having at least one nightmare where he, being as trouble-prone as he was, died in some horrific way?

She might have said something to Naruto. She might have even expressed her worries and begged for him to stay where she could keep an eye on him. But his smile was too distracting, that cocky and knowing smile that grabbed her attention completely and made her forget what she wanted to say. Hinata allowed herself to wallow in the feelings of unworthiness for a little while longer before she shook her head.

It really wasn't his fault that she worried about him so much or that he was so distracting. Well, yes, it actually was his fault. But it was her fault that she couldn't bear to try and curb his enthusiasm. And now Naruto was out there, somewhere in that god awful place that used to be so peaceful, and she hadn't even been able to muster up a 'good-bye'.

“You're just going to let him go out there?” Hinata looked up sharply, startled, but the question wasn't aimed at her. Ino stood in front of her but was facing Sakura. Hinata could not see the blonde's face but she could tell that the taller girl was mad. The anger seemed to flare out around her like an ominous wave. “Out there, in a war zone?”

Sakura laughed without humor. “Do you even know Naruto?” she countered snappishly. Almost immediately, her expression eased into weary exhaustion. It was obvious that she couldn't summon up enough spirit for an argument. “He's a stubborn idiot who won't take no for an answer. You know him, Ino. There's nothing I could do to stop him. There's nothing anyone could do to stop him.” Sakura shook her head, an affectionate smile on her face. Temari snorted and shook her head but otherwise kept her opinion to herself.

Kankurou wasn't as kind. “He'll be dead within the hour.” he predicted with a shake of his head. He crossed his arms over his chest and leveled a glare back at the genins who glared at him on Naruto's behalf. “Really, how much could a mere genin accomplish anyhow?”

His voice, though harsh, still pressed them to think rationally, to think logically. How much of an impact could a twelve year old make anyway? But of course, he forgot he was in a room filled with twelve and thirteen year olds, all of which were much happier thinking that one of their own would and could jump through the flaming hoop of war and emerge unscathed.

“He won't die.” Gaara said quietly, an edge to his voice. Kankurou twitched and suppressed his first three responses, probably remembering belatedly that his brother didn't take kindly to people telling him no. Gaara had a dangerous look on his face but Hinata couldn't tell if it was a glare or simply a deep frown of concentration. It was hard to tell with Gaara. “He can't die.”

Hinata agreed too easily with that sentiment. Naruto-kun can't die, right? He has yet to become Hokage... or make everyone acknowledge him! It's just not his time! But it would take an extremely ignorant or incurably dumb person to ignore that many died before their time, and Hinata was neither ignorant nor dumb.

While Hinata was hardly a weak ninja, she wasn't one of the strongest either. She was well aware of the existence of many ninjas well beyond her level, ninjas with powers she couldn't possibly imagine. While it was easy for her to imagine losing(since she did so on a regular basis), she worried for Naruto.
Though Naruto had been your typical 'bottom of the barrel' ninja in the Academy, he had proved to be extremely skilled while out on the field, easily finding victories where others would have accepted the loss, from his first accidental A rank mission to his victories in the Chuunin Exam. Such a winning streak was bound to pump an ego and boost one's confidence.

Hinata feared that Naruto's newfound confidence would lead him to bite off more than he could chew. In their current situation, attacking a stronger enemy with only confidence as a backup would be extremely dangerous and downright and Kankurou were still arguing. “Gaara, that kid just fought you. He's probably low on chakra, tired, and, not to mention, injured.” Kankurou said to his brother reasonably, ticking off the reasons on his hand. He was obviously ignoring the sullen look on Gaara's face. “The only thing that carried him out of that door was sheer stupidity. If the situation outside is as bad as it sounds, then that kid isn't going to last for very long unless some jonin decides to protect his ass.”

Gaara stared at him blankly. “He's not going to die because he's not going to die,” the boy said without hesitation. Kankurou twitched in annoyance. Logic had never been one of Gaara's strong points.

Kankurou sighed. “I give up...” he muttered, turning away. He missed the bright smile that Sakura sent to Gaara for that much needed bit of optimism, and the chair the girl offered as a peace offering, but Hinata did not. Gaara accepted the chair after a pause and sat down carefully as Sakura relocated to the edge of Sasuke's bed.

There was several moments of peace where everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Despite the peaceful silence, the only one who was remotely peaceful was Sasuke, who continued to sleep, completely oblivious to the thoughts of those around him. Some trains of thought were more morbid than others, which explained the sudden shattering of the silence.

“...What if one of those summon things swallows him up?” Ino hedged in after a moment's hesitation. Realizing that some of the people in the room didn't know what she was talking about, she elaborated. “There's summon snakes... huge snakes, the size of a building! They're everywhere! What if Naruto gets on the wrong side of one of those?”

“Forget about the snakes,” Kiba said with wide eyes. His hand rested over the Akamaru-lump in the front of his coat, where Akamaru was still shaking and shivering. “Did you feel those rising chakra levels? They're from at least three different people, and their chakras are huge! What if Naruto pisses off one of those guys?”

The 'what if's went on when Lee picked up the baton. “What if Naruto-kun gets caught in a genjutsu and can't get out?” Lee said with a moan. He despised genjutsus. They were the bane(or, at least, one of the many) of his existence. “He'd be lost in it and vulnerable to attack too!”

“What if Naruto steps on a trap?” Tenten worried, tugging on the material of her shirt with an uncharacteristic show of anxiety. “You're right, you know, puppet guy. He's probably really tired right now! He'll be easy prey for anyone with the most basic knowledge of traps...”

“Forget about snakes, a few strong ninjas, and a couple of traps...” Chouji said suddenly with a groan. “What if Ichiraku is destroyed?” The people in the room stared at him in confusion. “It would be a crisis!” Chouji exclaimed with a flap of his arms. At the continued silence, the boy scowled and looked away. “Well, at least Naruto would have understood...”

To everyone's surprise, Shikamaru laughed. “Buildings can be rebuilt, but humans are notorious for being hard to replace,” he explained to Chouji kindly. His light expression faded into a frown. “Naruto especially would be very hard to replace...” he said quietly. The room was quiet for a moment as everyone chewed over that last thought.

“Naruto-kun can summon,” Hinata murmured softly, her head lifting. “He has a contract with frogs.” Kiba and Shino nodded, having seen Naruto summon Gamakichi during their mission. “And Naruto-kun... he's smart enough to avoid traps and to evade stronger ninjas. And even if he did have to fight one of those stronger ninjas... I think he'd be okay. Especially since he's...” She trailed off, looking at Gaara with a faint frown.

“Since he's... what?” Sakura asked after a moment, when it became obvious that Hinata was reluctant to go on. The smaller girl looked down, avoiding everyone's gaze. With careful precision, Hinata stood up, her hands tangling together in front of her.

When Hinata finally looked up, she was smiling. “Since he's special,” she said, her final tone making it obvious that she was not going to explain any further. Very few people in the room knew what she was alluding to. Those who didn't assumed that the girl was just being overly sentimental, which wasn't very far from the truth.

Everything will be fine, Hinata told herself firmly. Naruto would save somebody's day, maybe get a couple of scratches in the process, then would come back. Probably dragged by his ear by an irate chuunin, but he'd be fine and with them.

Because he would come back. Because he had to. She didn't want to think of a situation where he wouldn't. And when he did come back, she wanted to make him proud so she had to do more than just sit around and worry about him.

Hinata refused to disappoint Naruto by acting like a helpless bystander. Maybe she couldn't go out and fight, as he was, but... there had to be something she could do. Every little bit counts.

---

In the many years between the present and his childhood, Jiraiya had forgotten what it had been like to feel like a third wheel. Living his own life under his own terms had banished his memories of feeling inadequate compared to his two powerful teammates.

Orochimaru, the genius who picked up jutsus with ease and wielded them with such finesse that he was often called the most promising prodigy of their generation. He was the favorite of veteran ninjas and politicians, even Sarutobi himself, with his shrewd intellect and charisma.

Tsunade, the most talented medic nin that Konoha had ever been graced with and who had perfect chakra control. She was the favorite of medic nins and researchers with her creative views and cleverness.

And then him, the occasionally surprising ninja whose best feature was always catching someone off guard with an eccentric deed or action. He was the least favorite of women who frequented the hot springs and he had the scars to prove it.

It had been a painful childhood, growing up with such powerhouses as teammates and being told that he was just as strong and could be stronger, only if 'he applied himself a little more'. On many occasions, Jiraiya would go home mad, punch out his pillow, and vow to beat Orochimaru into a bloody pulp even if it killed him.

Jiraiya expected to feel that anger and inadequacy again, decades later, while facing Orochimaru. Tsunade at his side, Orochimaru right in front of him... Jiraiya almost expected to think that he should get out of the way. But, oddly enough, he felt like he had the right to stand there, the right he had fought to earn endlessly as a child.

He wasn't sure if that right had come stemmed from the fact that he was much stronger than he had been back when Orochimaru left, or if the right had come because he was in the right and Orochimaru, the perfect prodigy and rival that Jiraiya always sought to impress, was in the wrong.

But one thing that he knew for certain was that Orochimaru had to be stopped, one way or another. His childish ambitions had been indulged for long enough. The way Orochimaru spoke sometimes, honestly! It was as if the man wanted to be a god!

To know the meaning behind everything, to know every jutsu in the world... You could live till you were a hundred, and still not know a damn thing! Jiraiya thought. Total knowledge is not meant for man.

Orochimaru had stopped exchanging blows with Jiraiya when Tsunade joined in the battle. Despite Jiraiya acknowledging his right, even he knew to back off when she was that angry. Even getting grazed with one of her fists would mean a week in the hospital. Jiraiya was just glad that she was on his side.

And very firmly on his side, if he judged her expression right. She had a fierce but determined look on her face, her brown eyes hard and her lips set in a thin line. It was an expression he hadn't seen on her face for years. He couldn't help but wonder what put that look on her face.

As if she could read his mind, Tsunade solved that mystery. “You know the world has gone to hell when a twelve year old decides that its up to him to sacrifice himself, simply because he thinks no one around him would have the balls to fight the enemy.” she spat at Orochimaru, her eyes narrowed. “Nawaki died because of that. If I have to fight you for the sake of a like minded brat, then so be it.”

Jiraiya was affronted for a second. What was he? A slab of meat? He was fighting too! He didn't know whether to feel offended or touched that Naruto had thought that he needed help; offended because the boy thought he couldn't beat Orochimaru on his own, touched because Naruto didn't want him to die. Go figure...

“Oh my.” Orochimaru boasted mockingly, his eyes narrowing. “I must be a Yamanaka because I saw that one coming.” His lips twisted into a smirk. “Nawaki this, Dan that. They're dead because they were weak. Get over it. There's not much a ninja can do if he's dead, besides making the ones he left behind even weaker than they were when he was alive.”

“It is not weak to put another before yourself,” Jiraiya snapped quickly, defending Tsunade. He knew by the way her back stiffened how much Dan and Nawaki's deaths still effected her. The emotional and psychological effects had all but handicapped her from medical jutsus. It had only been recently that she had started picking it up again, and she still steered far away from bleeding patients.

Jiraiya understood her completely. There was nothing worse than holding a dying teammate in your arms and knowing that there was nothing you could do to save them. For medic nins, who were taught the belief that they literally held their teammates' lives in their hands, that was difficult, especially when they were trying to save a loved one.

Orochimaru immediately rounded on Jiraiya. “This, of course, is coming from the man who is so sad about his student's untimely death that he just cannot bear staying in Konoha for more than a few weeks at a time,” he said mockingly. Jiraiya's eyes widened, surprised for several reasons. One was because of security issues(Who the hell does he does he have following me?) and another was personal. Not very many people had been able to link those two together.

The twisted smile on Orochimaru's face faded. “You both are pathetic.”he said, looking disappointed.

“That is not true,” Jiraiya said quietly, his eyes narrowed. It was all he could say. That barb about his student had cut a little too close to home. The Yondaime had practically been his son in all but blood.

“You're the one on this childish crusade. Revenge for not becoming Hokage, perhaps?” Tsunade picked up immediately. She smiled but there was no kindness in it. “My my, the pot calling the kettle black...”

“Whatever the reasons, the end result is the same,” Orochimaru said, sweeping his arm out towards Konoha. Buildings were on fire and summons were destroying everything in their path. The sound of cracking wood, occasional explosions, and screaming civilians made a haunting soundtrack for the scene. “Konoha will fall, even if Sarutobi-sensei does not have the courage to face me.”

“The old man is in the city right now,” Tsunade revealed. “Destroying your little pets and minions. The ANBU have already taken out most of your high ranking leaders, thanks to a little insight given to us by a Suna ninja.” Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly. “That odd ANBU character seems to have taken out quite a few ninjas on his own.”

“The Sound Four, was it?” Jiraiya questioned, taking the knife and twisting it in deeper. He took several steps forward as he talked. “More like the Sound Zero, if he is to be believed. Not much a ninja can do if he's dead, right?”

“The walls are up, your highest ranking ninjas have been killed, and even your precious spy Kabuto has met his end.” Tsunade added, disgust coloring her voice at the thought of a traitorous medic nin.

Examining Kabuto's body had brought forth evidence that supported the fact that he worked for Orochimaru. More specifically, he had residue of Orochimaru's chakra on his hands, meaning that he had healed the Oto leader at least once or twice recently. Kabuto's scheduled funeral was abruptly halted and his body confiscated.

“What are you going to do now, Orochimaru?” Tsunade asked, a frown on her face. “It's just you and a score of weak ninjas against all of Konoha, with a few allies on the side. This is not an invasion. This is a suicide mission.”

“How do you think you'll survive escaping from here?” Jiraiya added softly. “Because I'm not feeling merciful today.” He glanced at Tsunade, then back at Orochimaru. “You should have known that if Sarutobi-sensei didn't kill you, one of us would. You betrayed us... Konoha... Everyone who has ever trusted you. It ends here... and now.”

“Strong words from a loser, don't you think?” Orochimaru hissed, his eyes flashing. At that moment, any hope that Jiraiya might have foolishly had about Orochimaru eventually turning his life around... they all crumbled into dust. Because the other man's mouth suddenly fell open and out of it came a sword, rushing right at Jiraiya.

And for the life of him, Jiraiya couldn't even move, not even when the sword cut deep into his chest. The only reason why it hadn't pierced his lung was because Tsunade had lunged forward at the last possible second and grabbed the hilt in mid-flight.

Still, it hurt, both physically and mentally. Saying something and knowing it were two different things and it hurt Jiraiya to know that he really did have to kill the boy he had grown up with.

Orochimaru jumped back when Tsunade hurled the sword at him, jumping once to the side and then up the wall before taking off into the training area beyond it. Jiraiya knew that Orochimaru wasn't retreating or trying to escape. If he was, he'd hide his chakra better. Instead, his chakra was blazing like a bright beacon, taunting Jiraiya. He wanted them to follow. Smug bastard.

Jiraiya flinched when Tsunade suddenly touched his chest, her hand placed gently next to his bleeding wound. She looked at it then at him, a frown on her face. “You were hoping-” she started softly.

“Yeah.” Jiraiya said abruptly. He tried to smile but failed. “Silly, huh? After all these years?”

“You were close to him.” she said quietly, as if that forgave it all. He snorted because it didn't even start to.

“Close to him, yes. Did I know him? Hell no.” he scowled a little bit, annoyed at his younger self's inability to think clearly when it came to Orochimaru. Angered that he held that annoying quirk even in his old age. Then he frowned, realizing what he was looking at. “You... you're not flinching.”

And she wasn't. Her hand was held steady, glowing slightly as she healed gushing but mostly superficial wound. Her eyes were clear and as bright as he could ever remember them. Her chakra waves were more steady and calm than they had been since she had come back to the village, a fact that allowed her to heal his wound faster than she would have been able to a week ago. The wound healed but she didn't move her hand.

“I've been working up to this moment.” she admitted, a sort of tension on her face. Did she actually think he'd think bad of her for the admission of a weakness? “Working with blood... fighting Orochimaru. I had a feeling that we'd end up doing something like this. It was the only reason I could rationalize Sarutobi-sensei going so far as to bribe me with a way to stay away from this place forever.” She looked back at the wound. “But you... didn't know, did you?”

Jiraiya sighed. “Oh, I knew.” he admitted ruefully. “But I didn't want to know.”

They stared at each other for a long moment. So many years of antagonizing each other had lead them to a deep understanding of one another, even if they didn't always use it in the most noble of fashions. But at that moment, they could read the reluctance the other had at the thought of following Orochimaru, the knowledge of what they would have to do, and the acceptance that they would have to be the ones to do it.

Tsunade suddenly smiled. “Denial.” she said, her eyes lighting up.

Jiraiya smiled back. “And we're so good at it too.” he said, knowing what she meant.

“Too bad today's not the day for it.” she said, finally turning away towards the wall. Towards where Orochimaru's chakra had stopped and was waiting. Jiraiya turned as well, his eyes focused on the distant area. “Do me a favor, old man, and try not to get too injured. Your body doesn't bounce back as well as it used to.”

Jiraiya snorted. “Worry more about yourself, you flat-chested hag. Good looking men like me don't die in situations like these.” He grinned lecherously, flashing her a big thumbs up. “We always live to get the girl!”

“Ah, so how is it that you've never been married nor been in a committed relationship that's lasted for more than a couple of years?” Tsunade snarked back, shoving him lightly with her shoulder as they moved as one towards the wall.

“My love is something so great and so awe-inspiring that it's only fair that I share it with as many women as possible.” Jiraiya said with a casual shrug. “You know me, I aim to please.”

They bickered back and forth, growing quieter and quieter the closer they got to Orochimaru, but they still attempted to regain a sense of levity. Because they knew that the second that the joking stopped, reality began, and neither wanted the other to have to deal with the reality so they continued with the humor for as long as they dared.

They were met in a clearing by Orochimaru and a very large snake summon. With a couple of choice words and a couple of seals, the battle began anew.

----

Haku wasn't quite in the condition to be bouncing around from place to place. His leg froze up at the most inopportune times and, while he had managed to stifle the flow of blood from a wound on his side, he was dizzy and almost incoherent at times.

He was in no condition to fight Kimimaro. In hindsight, he realized that he should have made this connection a long time ago by their respective fighting styles alone.

Haku was trained to be a ninja and everything about him reflected this fact. He was fast, stealthy, and capable of pinpointing and landing lethal blows with his needles with deadly accuracy. His chakra control was extremely precise and, while he certainly didn't have as much chakra as certain genins of Konoha, his control made the disparity in levels almost unnoticeable because with every chunk of chakra that they would use for a jutsu, Haku could use a fourth of it and get the same, if not better, results. As an extra plus, his bloodline allowed for more element manipulation than the common ninja could boast of, even if it was mostly limited to ice and water.

His only weakness was, as a bit of a lightweight, Haku could only take so much close quarters combat. But even that was fine. He could usually end a battle before coming within ten feet of his opponent, thanks to his needles. Even if he did have to get a bit closer, his mirrors always made his opponent's defenses mostly obsolete. The speed he could achieve with the mirrors was hard even on stronger jonins. Or at least the ones without sharingans.

Kimimaro, on the other hand, didn't seem to have been trained as a ninja at all. While he was fast and quiet, he didn't seem to care much about stealth. After all, he had just walked right up to the fallen gate, even as enemy chuunins were still fighting his allies. Unlike Haku, Kimimaro seemed to have vast resources of chakra and about average control over it. With his own bloodline, Kimimaro could fight both in close quarters and also far away.

To Haku's apprehension, Kimimaro didn't seem to have any weaknesses. Any attempts to disable or cripple the boy with needles were sharply blocked. His heightened speed with his mirrors was only observed with cold teal eyes before abruptly halted when Haku's lightening fast offense was parried with frightening ease, his defense quickly shattering into thousands of tiny shards, just like his ice mirrors.

With all of his usual routes of attack sealed to him, there was nothing left for Haku to do but retreat. It was protocol, after all. It was better to live to tell the tale than die and leave your comrades wide open and oblivious to the dangers.

Haku decided that he would retreat to heal his wounds and to warn a more powerful ally (a still unfamiliar concept, having an ally other than Zabuza) that Kimimaro was coming. Someone else could handle the boy, a jonin or an ANBU perhaps. The best thing Haku could do was to retreat.

Only... Kimimaro wouldn't let him retreat. For every step back that Haku took, Kimimaro took three steps forward, doggedly following his steps with a deadly weapon in hand. Quickly, Haku's mind was shifted from 'retreat' to 'escape'. But it didn't seem likely that Kimimaro was going to let him do that either.

Haku didn't know what bothered him more, the burning reality that he could possibly die at Kimimaro's hands or the knowledge that, with each step back, he was drawing Kimimaro closer and closer to the heart of the village. Closer to the people that Haku wanted to protect.

Damn protocol. Damn Kimimaro. He didn't know which one was worse.

He couldn't fight Kimimaro, not if he wanted to stay alive. He couldn't drive him off for that same reason. He couldn't retreat because Kimimaro wouldn't let him go. It seemed like his only options were to stand and fight and die, letting Kimimaro move on forward to kill his friends, or to run and defend and still die, still dooming the people he cared about to die.

His heart thundered heavily in his ears as he darted through buildings and ducked through alleys. Despite evasive maneuvers, he knew Kimimaro was still following him. He knew Kimimaro was still going to kill him. A choking feeling arose in his chest. Haku realized after a moment that it was not a jutsu: it was genuine fear.

As if the almost foreign emotion had been the trigger, Haku's bad leg suddenly seized up. With a muffled curse, Haku threw himself sideways into an short alley with a dead end. He stumbled to the corner, placed his back to the wall, and crouched down as best as he could. He knew better than to cover himself with a mild genjutsu. The last time he tried that, he had gotten sliced across the ribs for his efforts.

As he tried to force feeling back into his leg, he realized that, as much as Zabuza had been heralded as a devil or a demon, Kimimaro was ten times that. It was more than ruthlessness or intention to kill; Zabuza had all of those things. It could have been the other boy's bloodline but Haku thought this demon aspect was more way that Kimimaro killed.

Zabuza killed for a number of reasons. Because he was paid to and because he wanted to were two reasons at the top of his list. But Zabuza rarely killed civilians and he never killed who he viewed to be his allies. Sure, Zabuza didn't kill civilians because he found them to be boring and yes, Haku was the only person Zabuza had viewed as an ally before Konoha but Haku had always thought that Zabuza maintained a certain honor of mercy and respect.

Haku knew well of Zabuza's mercy. Half of Zabuza's scare tactics in Wave Country were aimed solely at getting the genins to leave so that he didn't have to kill them. Hell, when Haku was a kid, Zabuza actually took him in off of the streets, feed him, and nurtured him to the best of his ability. Sure, Zabuza had an ulterior motive but Haku knew that there was genuine concern behind that.

Haku knew well of Zabuza's respect. Zabuza respected anyone with power. He respected Haku for his blood limit. He respected Kakashi for his sharingan ability. He even respected Naruto a bit to have the guts to face a jonin. It was just a coincidence that Zabuza happened to try to kill most of the people he respected. As far as Zabuza(and Haku as well) saw it, it was an honor if he tried to kill someone because it usually meant he respected them and their power and wanted the fight that would result from their powers clashing together.

A beautiful dance, most ninjas would agree. Beautiful, but deadly.

Haku didn't know much about Kimimaro but he picked up several things right away. Kimimaro didn't respect allies. He had killed one of his own right off the bat. He didn't respect enemies. The few people who had gotten in his way were killed while he wore a look that gave Haku a feeling of being part of a cattle at a slaughterhouse. He had no mercy for anyone, no respect, no... nothing.

And he had this intense look in his eyes. Like a zealous follower of some deity, one that would do anything in order to serve his master. A sort of self-righteousness and confidence in himself that seemed to stem solely from his faith in his master. The only sort of respect that Haku imagined that he had was solely for this master of his.

Right, masterHaku thought, his lips pressing together in a frown. That's why it looked familiar. He knew that level of loyalty was only matched by the single minded devotion that he had once had solely for Zabuza.

Of course, it was still there, underneath the surface. But Haku now had other people, other friends at which he could direct his considerable loyalty.

Kimimaro only had one, this master that he thought so highly of that he refused to see the significance of anything or anyone else. It was hard to imagine but Haku knew he had been just like that before Konoha.

Perking up when the tense feeling in his leg eased, Haku pushed himself to his feet again, wincing as the movement pulled on his wounds. The pain was distracting but in a good way. The fact that he was still feeling it meant he wasn't in shock.

If he went into shock, well... He might as well just lie in the middle of the street and wait for Kimimaro to finish the job for him.

So he gritted his teeth, walking to the end of the alleyway to look into a street. It was completely deserted. Unlike some of the other streets that Haku had chanced on, most of the buildings were relatively intact, looking as if their inhabitants were merely on vacation, not that they were trying to avoid the worst of an invasion.

Then, miraculously, Haku heard a voice. “...And everything in that sector has been blown to all hell, a pillar of flame, I tell ya... Fortunately no one was around.” Haku heard a noise not unlike metal being dragged across asphalt, and then the voice spoke up again. “Even worst than that, Hokage-sama is incommunicado, AWOL, MIA... whatever you wanna call it, we can't find him.”

Haku sighed a little sigh of relief. He was confident in the fact that he could lead Kimimaro around a little while longer but not in his ability to inform other ninjas(ones more equipped to fight one such as Kimimaro) of the Oto nin's progression through the village. If the ninja he heard wasn't strong enough to fight the bone wielding ninja, then he should at least be well enough to be able to pass the message on, unlike Haku.

Haku couldn't even outrun Kimimaro.

While making his way to the voices, he heard another voice address the first. “He's not AWOL, you idiot, he's just-” There was two sudden thumps but Haku didn't think too much about it, too focused on his pain and the effort of just making it to them.

He turned the corner and found the two ninjas. He was unable to keep in his involuntary gasp.

They were lying face down in their own blood, the slowly spreading puddle making it all too clear that they had been alive only seconds before. Both ninjas had been slashed across their backs with a sharp instrument, the cuts deep enough to sever their spines.

Haku felt a sort of choking horror build up in his chest, feeling as if his lungs had been encased in solid ice. It wasn't the fact that they were dead ninjas. He had seen dead ninjas before and it hadn't bothered him. It was the fact that they were dead Konoha ninjas, people who lived in the same village as he, people who had, up until that moment, breathed the same air, saw the same things, laughed at the same jokes-

No, stop. Dead ninjas, that's all. Face down, slashed across their backs with a sharp bladed object, attacked from behind... These are the important things. Killed instantly, nearly simultaneously. Most likely by a very powerful and a very quiet ninja, but most likely just one ninja. A strong and silent ninja who had probably been right over me on the roofs as I was- No, not important. Focus on the facts. Think like a ninja

Haku noted all the facts with a forcefully distant mind, ignoring the tiny voice that recognized the two chuunins as two of the few who had helped Haku feel welcome in Konoha. He focused on the fact that whoever had killed them had done it quickly and efficiently, not that those chuunins had families and friends that they were leaving behind. As much as he tried to ignore certain things, they still lingered in the back of his mind.

It was only because Haku was focusing so hard on thinking like a ninja that he even heard the whisper-soft sound of someone landing behind him. He twisted his body, anticipating the same sort of slash that had killed two of his friends. The movement saved him.

Instead of digging evenly into his back, the weapon dug deep into the shoulder closest to the enemy, merely scratching across the rest of his back. Still twisting, Haku hurriedly pushed out chakra, molding ice around the other ninja's feet, momentarily immobilizing the Oto nin as he hurriedly backed away, a hand on his bleeding shoulder.

Kimimaro merely tilted his head, his eyes drifting once to the blood on his bone blade and then back to Haku. The ice didn't hold for very long. Haku was suffering from mild chakra exhaustion and had barely managed to pull up some chakra. Haku was surprised that the ice even formed in the first place.

“You are tenacious.” Kimimaro said quietly. There was respect in his voice, for if you were a ninja and you were as wounded as Haku was, how long you could stay out of your enemy's grasp would depend completely on your skills as a ninja. Haku had evaded Kimimaro for a very long time, which said a lot about his skills as a ninja. “I wish I could let you live. But I'd rather kill you myself than have Orochimaru-sama have to.”

Orochimaru. Suddenly, everything started to make sense. Suddenly, the situation seemed a whole lot worse. If Kimimaro was one of Orochimaru's minions, then Haku simply could not let the boy get any closer to the center of the city, not where the whole chain of command was set up. Forget Konoha's protocol. Forget Zabuza's teachings. He had to kill Kimimaro himself or die trying.

Kimimaro wiped his blade clean on his pants, his eyes briefly drifting over Haku's torn shoulder and his wounded side. Lastly, he focused on the other boy's brown eyes. Yes, he recognized that look. Desperation was an emotion that he knew quite well. It suited Haku as well as it suited himself, which is to say, not at all.

“Why are you so focused on...” Haku bit back what he was going to ask. Kimimaro tilted his head to the side, considering Haku for a moment.

“On you?” Kimimaro finished. Something like a smile briefly twisted his lips before it disappeared. He pointed his weapon at Haku. “You are... a relic of my past, of what I once was before Orochimaru-sama took me under his wing. I have killed the weak person I was then, so that I might make him proud of me. Still...” Kimimaro pressed his free hand over his chest, a frown on his face. “Still... I am not good enough.”

Orochimaru was already looking for a different host. When Kimimaro's only meaning in life was to become his host, to be so useful to the person he cared about the most, the fact that Orochimaru was already moving on made Kimimaro feel as if he was already dead. Not dying as he actually was but dead. Completely useless and little better than the trash that came crawling to Orochimaru for power.

A pained expression passed over his face. “I will never be good enough.” Kimimaro said with a feeling of finality. “But... maybe...” When he was younger and more naive, he had convinced himself that with just one more, he could make his clan acknowledge him for who and what he was. Just one more jutsu, one more push up, one more kill... Just one more and then everything would be better.

That dim but futile hope had been tugging at him every since he had seen and recognized Haku's face. Just one more tie to his past... If he severed it, maybe he'd get past his illness. Just one more kill and he'd be useful to Orochimaru again.

Just one more. I can handle that.

----

Iruka peered out the window, his face pulled in a frown. He couldn't see anyone in the street but that didn't mean that they weren't there. Behind him, Suzume, with a practiced soothing tone, spoke to some of the civilian teachers, gently prying information from them.

They hadn't made it a half mile away from the Academy when they were suddenly accosted by a snake summon. It didn't take very long for Iruka and the others to destroy it but its appearance had done lasting damage to everyone's morale. Iruka had suggested that they stop at the next sturdy building and wait before they tried to reach the monument again.

The other chuunins jumped on the idea, giving Iruka a glimpse of just how much this invasion had rattled them. He also found himself fairly perplexed at the idea of how quickly the other teachers had fallen under his command. Iruka didn't have Mizuki's flair for leadership or even half of his charisma, but he did have something that the other chuunins were craving: a sense of calm.

How they ever got the idea that Iruka was calm was beyond him. Internally, he was a mess, alternating between recounting the number of students with him and worrying about the students he didn't have with him, students like Naruto and Chouji and other genins that had barely graduated. Were they okay? Were they safe? Was he missing another Academy student?

As he, once again, recounted the students, he overheard Suzume and the teacher's conversation. Lucky enough for the civilian teachers and their charges, Iruka's promised 'next sturdy building' had been the sister school to the Ninja Academy, the Academy of Learning. In other words, the school for all the children who weren't going to grow up to be ninjas.

Iruka couldn't decide if the kids were extremely lucky or supremely unlucky. Glancing at some of the blank uncomprehending faces of the civilian children, he was leaning towards the latter.

“And he said he was going to check on something and he never came back!” one of the adult civilians said tearfully. A dry eyed teacher at her elbow nodded earnestly. “Do you... Do you think he's...?” The woman suddenly covered her face in her hands, a muffled sob escaping. As Suzume and the other civilian comforted the woman, another civilian snorted in the corner.

“Next month's paycheck says he got his throat ripped out the second he stepped outside of the door. What an idiot.” the man said to the person next to him. While he said it quietly and far below the volume of the other conversations going on, Iruka heard him as clear as day.

The civilian man twitched as the scarred chuunin who had yet to say anything suddenly got in his face. He may have not consciously recognized the sudden spike in chakra but he reacted to it, trying to inch away from the very angry ninja that was suddenly all up in his face.

“That was not funny.” Iruka said quietly, his eyes blazing. Every ninja in the room, student or teacher, turned towards Iruka. Reacting to their reaction, the others turned that direction as well. Civilians who knew little to nothing about chakra sensing twitched, suddenly uncomfortable in their skin but pretty much clueless as to what was causing it. The ninjas only wondered what had set the teacher off this time.

“Hey, man-” the civilian said defensively, edging off to the side. “It was just a joke!”

“An hour ago, I went on the roof of the Ninja Academy and found the body of a chuunin.” Iruka's voice was very cold. Those who knew him knew his anger came in stages of intensity. When his voice became that cold, they knew to cover their vitals, not that it would help them much. “His throat was slashed. He had been dead for a while.” There were several gasps accompanying his statement so he turned to the others, raising his voice slightly so they could get the message as well. “This is not a joke. This is reality. We are in a very dangerous situation.” He shifted his gaze back to the man, his eyes narrowing slightly. “A situation that can get a lot worse if you keep on acting like this is playtime.”

The silence stretched on for a few minutes before it was broken. “Um...” one of the older civilian teachers coughed, wiping her glasses on her shirt so she could avoid looking at Iruka. “Protocol says we should be evacuating?” Her voice was soft and tentative.

Iruka suddenly smiled. “Yes.” he said with more warmth. “We should be moving. Please, come with us to the monument. You'll be much safer.” He waved his hand to accompany all of the civilians in this. “All of you.”

The woman put on her glasses with a faint smile. “We'd like that.”

---

Sakura hovered outside of the door, wringing her hands. Her attention was not on Sasuke, who was barely awake and groggily protesting the medic nin picking him up(Sakura could have sworn that Sasuke said, “Just five more minutes, Mom...”), but on another room entirely.

She had not finished her first level of medic nin training(she wasn't even close) but even she knew the purpose of the room that her sensei was practically carried into. The room(which went by several technical names but most commonly as the Seal Room) was only used for serious wounds, ones that usually meant death or a permanent handicap if they weren't healed quickly.

The seals, painted on the ceiling, walls, and ground, were specially designed to heighten the power of medical jutsus while diminishing the strength of the patient's chakra. Thus, it was the best environment to perform medical jutsus, especially ones that required a lot of chakra from the medic personnel.

Medical jutsus were rarely used in the capacity where the patient was harmed from it but, all the same, chakra, especially if it is large or powerful, tends to resist the entrance of foreign chakra into the body. It was the body's natural defense mechanism, it's effectiveness decided by the person's own chakra.

That was why some people, especially ninjas with a lot or particularly volatile chakra, were harder to place under a jutsu(medic jutsu or otherwise) than others. It was also why medic nins had to be very precise with their chakra. They had to manipulate their chakra in such a way that it was unobtrusive, harmless, and almost impossible to detect. People who could manage to do this well enough could perform most medical jutsus, some with a better ability than others.

The Seal Room only made it easier for a medic nin to work, but not only by suppressing the patient's chakra in such a way that they weren't fighting their own healing process, but also by allowing the medic nin to apply more chakra to the jutsu without the fear of wasting most of it in the process of trying to get past the patient's chakra defense.

The great sense of awe Sakura felt at being so close to an actual Seal Room was overshadowed by the sense of fear at the knowledge that her teacher would have a need to use one of them. Sakura might have been the type to ignore the harsher elements of life if they weren't right up in her face, but she knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that ninjas did die eventually.

Ninjas fight and ninjas kill. Occasionally, they fight and kill each other. Kakashi was a ninja but somehow it was hard for Sakura to make the correlation that, as a ninja, Kakashi would be killed one day by another ninja. The elite ninja seemed too far away from such mundane things as dying. He seemed to be the type to rise victoriously from any battle he was engaged in, as did many of the ninjas that Sakura had met.

But even strong ninjas could be killed, Sakura knew. She only had to look up at the monument or gaze at the memorial to confirm that.

Unconsciously sensing someone looking at her, she turned her head. She was surprised to see that Gaara, having had snuck out earlier without anyone noticing, was out in the hallway and looking at her. The genin had his gourd on the ground while he leaned up against the wall. His red hair was dusty, his green eyes were sharp, and his dark clothes were torn and bloody. He looked dangerous. Sakura gulped.

She still couldn't figure the Suna ninja out. While Naruto seemed to have great faith in his character, she wasn't so sure. After all, he had put Sasuke in a hospital bed, and looked very happy while doing it. In any rate, whatever Naruto had done to the boy seemed to have mellowed him out. Gaara no longer had that gleam of insanity in his eyes. If anything, the boy looked tired.

“You're in distress,” Gaara said, making a simple observation. He carefully glanced down each end of the hallway, his arms briefly tensing. After he deemed it to be all clear, he turned his head back to her, his expression tiredly troubled. “There is no danger.”

Sakura gazed at him before making a quick decision. She leaned up against the wall as well, on the opposite side of the door. It was almost poetic, she thought wryly. Divided they were by the gap of an open door but leaning against the same wall all the same.

She nodded her head towards the room she was watching. “That room is called a Seal Room. It's where people with serious injuries are taken...” Sakura trailed off, wondering if he'd care. Probably not but Sakura had to get her emotions off of her chest. The plant over in the corner would most likely be more sympathetic to her plight but she, like most people, preferred human interaction. Her next sentence came out in a rush. “My teacher was taken in there an hour or so ago.”

There was a long pause in which Sakura contemplated her sanity in thinking that the boy would even care, and in which Gaara struggled mentally in the task of trying to find something comforting to say. Gaara wasn't the type to give or receive comfort, but with all the changes that had come in the last few hours, he was willing to make changes in that area as well.

It wasn't as if he had come to some great epiphany about life and nature in general. He still believed that most people were scum and deserved to die. But since Naruto had done... whatever... to Shukaku, Gaara had been in a much better mood, without the demon staining and tainting whatever emotions that came to him.

Being in a fairly positive mood made him more willing to accept the irritating idiosyncrasies and negligent nuances of the world around him, at the very least.

And the girl, Sakura... She at least didn't have the inborn fear that other children his age had of him. She didn't even completely understand what he was, no one did. Well, no one but Naruto. And, perhaps, other demon hosts, whose existences were still a novel idea to him. In any case, Sakura would work well as a guinea pig for this thing called 'social interaction'.

His sister would be so proud of him. She had been on his case for years about 'friendliness' and 'diplomacy'.

“I'm... sorry.” Gaara said finally, unable to think of anything comforting to say in the end. Sakura tilted her head to the side in confusion, an action that Gaara saw in his peripheral vision.

“Why?” she asked rhetorically. “You didn't hurt him.” Gaara's hands twitched in spite of himself. How irritating.

“I was under the assumption that apologizing was what one does when they hear of someone else's sorrow,” Gaara said in an exasperated tone. “So I was not trying to express that I am sorry that I hurt your teacher but that I am sorry that your teacher has been harmed.” His words were sharper than he meant them to come out.

Sakura was silent for a moment. She bent slightly at the waist, turning to look at Gaara. Gaara's eyes, slightly narrowed, met hers. She suddenly smiled. “I know.” she said impishly. “I was just teasing you.” Her smile widened and her eyes became warm. Gaara felt something twist in his chest, an aching feeling that suddenly made him feel pleased and yet very annoyed at the same time.

Embarrassed for some reason, Gaara let out an offended noise but whatever he was about to say was cut off when the medic nin walked through the door, a once again unconscious Sasuke secure in her arms. The other genins, cowed by the medic nin's rather authoritarian ways of manning the infirmary, silently followed her out, crowding up the hallway.

The woman made sure she had everyone's attention before she spoke. Really, she had had it ensnared the entire time. The other genins(ranging from the rather strong minded Kiba to the more timid Hinata) in the room were scared of her temper and were trying to stay quiet. Gaara was worried that the appearance of Sasuke might set Sakura off against him again, so he kept his mouth shut. On the other hand, Sakura was trying hard not to laugh at the sight of Sasuke being carried like a baby, realizing that it wouldn't be appropriate to laugh. It was a strange situation.

“We will be leaving shortly.” the woman said sternly. “Our location is not secure. We shall move on to the hospital. It is not very far away but I cannot assure your safety if you do not pay attention to what is in front of you.” As if to emphasis her words, something exploded close by. Several of the windows a little farther down the hallway shattered inward, spraying glass fragments all over. Several people yelped in response, jumping back. The medic nin snorted.

“Calm down, ladies.” she said, closing her eyes. She mumbled something about the future of Konoha being in the hands of scaredy-cats. “It was just a stray explosive tagged kunai.” She said casually it like another person would say 'it was just a stray bird'. More than one person wondered what it would have to take to make the woman flinch.

The door of the Seal Room suddenly banged open. The medic nin's assistant, a small woman with mousy haphazard hair, came out, one of Kakashi's arms around her shoulders. “What was that, Tsubaki-san?” the girl asked, looking frightened.

The medic nin, Tsubaki, let out a low sigh of frustration. “Nothing, Emi.” she said shortly.

At the same time, Sakura stepped forward, a pleased look on her face. “Sensei!” she called out, her hands clasped in front of her chest. Kakashi smiled, an expression only seen as the curve of his exposed eye. While he needed help walking until he had shaken off the effects of the Seal Room, Kakashi seemed to be in good health, if one ignored the bloody bandage that peeked through the bottom of Kakashi's shirt and through his open flak jacket.

“Yo.” he said, waving his free hand, showing that he had back most, if not all, of the range of movement of his body. He seemed to grow serious at the sight of Sasuke. After a moment, Kakashi's eye widened. “Where's Naruto?”

It was not Sakura who answered but Shikamaru. “He's off to play hero.” the genin said lazily. He stuck his hands in his pockets, his eyes irresistibly drawn to the windows. For once, his gaze was fixed on the ground instead of the sky. “No one was well enough nor insane enough to try and stop him.”

“Oh.” Kakashi said, with a frown made only apparent by the tone of his voice. “This could be troubling...” And it could be, Kakashi thought. But he trusted Naruto to adapt to a dangerous situation better than he trusted Sakura or Sasuke to. It didn't mean that he liked it though...

“Stop chitchatting, and get moving!” Tsubaki's harsh bark instinctively made all of them(save for a few exceptions) flinch. She set a quick pace through the hallway and out of the building. Everyone hurried to follow after her. Even Gaara, who was never let anyone set his pace, had to hurry a little bit or be left behind.

----

When Kakashi had finally regained his mental and chakra footing, he thanked Emi and hurried up to speak with Tsubaki, nearly wading through the crowd of genins.

She spoke to him in a voice much gentler than the one she had used to the genins. Tsubaki had been one of Rin's contemporaries early on in Rin's studies. “I'm more worried about the whole herd than about a missing lamb. If you have taught him any sense, Hatake-san, then he will hide or evacuate without engaging the enemy. If not...” She trailed off meaningfully.

“That might be a problem.” Kakashi said with a sigh. “Naruto's definition of 'being sensible' is different than the average person, and not for the reason you might think.” A quick shift and narrow of his eye warned the medic nin that they needed to keep matters as vague as possible because they had genins in earshot. “He is a stubborn child who thinks that every situation that comes our way is a situation that he must get involved in.” Kakashi would have liked to say that he thought Naruto had innate personal vendettas against a lot of people but he didn't know how the other ninja would respond to that.

“Stubborn people get themselves killed three times as much as flexible people. We both know this.” Tsubaki pointed out, changing their course slightly when she felt a faint burst of chakra out a hundred meters ahead. The genins, like ducklings, followed on her heels, their watchful eyes moving back and forth, searching for an ambush or a trap.

“Not Naruto. He's more flexible than you might think.” Kakashi said firmly, dispelling a genjutsu that would have lead the group down the opposite way to the hospital. The Oto nin behind the jutsu, upon seeing Kakashi, fled. Barely three hours into the invasion and the tide was already turning in Konoha's favor. Of course, most of that was thanks to Sarutobi's preemptive orders. Kakashi was grimly pleased.

“For your sake, Hatake-san, I hope you're right.” Tsubaki said sincerely. So do I, Kakashi thought, suddenly feeling more worry for Naruto when they came across a mutilated corpse. He heard several of the genins behind him get sick. It was the first time that many of them had seen a dead body up close.

Naruto hadn't been blown up as much as he had been blown up. The first option was considerably messy and since Naruto could see he still had all ten of his fingers, he knew it was not the case. The second option was far more likely, considering the fact that he had slammed his head into the high ceiling of the building. And he hadn't even been up there in the first place. Ow...

The building that he crawled into(through a conveniently open second story window) had been a point on the escape route of an Oto nin that he was tracking. It was one of those older buildings on the edge of the residential areas. It had seen its uses as a school, a community center, and, back when the Uchihas were still around, a military police base. Now, it was just empty. The perfect place for a scared Oto nin to hide.

About three hours into the invasion(Naruto had to be told this; he couldn't believe so much time had passed), most of the Oto nins were dead, captured, or fled for their lives. While Naruto's clones were rapidly dwindling in number while spread out around the village, the real Naruto headed straight for the wall that he knew would fall first, picking up some chuunin allies on the way.

Well, if he were to be honest, they had done the picking up. During a rather long battle with one of the medium snake summon(Kyuubi gave the snake points for creativity and a rather interesting use of his tail; Naruto had never had rocks thrown at him by a summon before), two chuunins stepped in and finished the job.

From them, Naruto had learned that teams were being split up left and right. The Oto nins, though there had been a lot of them to start with, weren't nearly as dangerous as the summons moving about. About an hour into the invasion, their infestation problem only grew worse when a snake, apparently a special type of summon that Orochimaru probably had a hand in modifying, spewed out a whole slew of smaller snakes before abruptly blowing up.

These smaller snakes, unlike the regular summons, rapidly grew to the size of the original snake in under thirty minutes. The ANBU platoons were being sorely tested by this menace. The most that people could hope for was that the snake that was responsible was unique and one of a kind.

Naruto already had information from his clones about the state of chaos that was Konoha's chain of command. The Hokage had gone missing about an hour into the invasion. Most of the Elder Council was either in hiding or missing. Jiraiya and Tsunade had yet to come out of the training areas, where the fight with Orochimaru had eventually lead to, but even the weakest of ninjas could feel their chakras still clashing together.

More importantly, the confusion building up around the ANBUs, the jonins, and the chuunins meant that no one really knew what they, or anyone else for that matter, were supposed to be doing. While most of the ANBU platoons had had varying tasks from Sarutobi, when the amount of summons increased dramatically, they made a decision(which was enforced by the only Elder not hiding or missing) to make killing summons their first and only priority. While this strategy worked well in dwindling the summon population, this strategy also left a lot of tasks and duties that still needed to be done.

Now what happened in response to this is nothing short of what Naruto would call the chain of command going to hell in a hand basket. Because the ANBUs felt that they needed to focus on the summons, they counted on the jonins to carry out the other tasks. Because the jonins felt that they needed to focus on the ninjas, they counted on the chuunins to carry out the tasks that the jonins were supposed to. Because chuunins felt that they needed to focus on aiding evacuations, nothing else was getting done.

To make things worse, the places that really needed evacuations, like the neighborhoods by the fourth wall, were so infested with summons and ninjas that the chuunins who did go there ended up being driven off, injured, or even killed. Twenty Naruto clones had met their demise in that area alone.

Because it was the third hour of the invasion and most of the ninjas had already left, died, or were in the process of leaving or dying, Naruto had made a decision to go where he was most needed: the neighborhood by the forth wall. His clones weren't quite as strong as he was, even if he was running a little low on chakra by this point. His presence could make a difference in those areas, so off to those areas he went.

And got himself in a situation that he had avoided for three whole hours: getting caught by chuunins.

While he had worked side by side with some ninjas in varied tasks(including but not limited to putting out fires, ambushing Oto nins, and destroying summons), the two chuunins that he had run into had the proof that he actually existed. Other ninjas accepted his help simply because he had informed them that he was one of many shadow clones stationed throughout the city and there was no point in them trying to shuffle him off to some sort of safe house. Somehow, accepting help from a shadow clone of a genin was better than accepting help from the genin himself.

He would have used this tactic on the two chuunins but then that damn summon nearly squished him, giving away his all too obvious 'realness' when he didn't explode in a cloud of gas. Of course, like most ninjas tended to do, they were all for the bandwagon of 'Let's save this idiot before he hurts himself' until they ran into a bit of trouble that required his aid.

The Oto nin that had attacked them, upon discovering that the ninjas he had crossed paths with were far more capable warriors than he had expected, of course ran and sought a retreat in the old building, thinking to use it as a way to confuse and isolate Naruto from the two chuunins he had teamed up with. It was a tactic that worked rather well, seeing as Naruto was the only one who followed right after him while the other two tried to find a different entrance.

Admittedly, this was not a fine point in Naruto's ninja career, especially in the 'teamwork' category.

Just as the Oto nin had turned around, pleased to see that the weakest looking ninja had been the one to follow him, Naruto had heard a noise not unlike air being released from a pressurized container. And then, with frightening suddenness, the floor underneath his feet had jerked violently upward, sending both Naruto and the Oto nin flying up. Naruto hit the ceiling headfirst while the Oto nin managed to twist and grab onto a ceiling beam with his chakra.

Naruto's trained mind, honed from years of being a ninja, had recognized the sound of a complex explosive tagged trap somewhere underneath them in the story below even as he instinctively grabbed onto the ceiling with his chakra, hanging off of it like an overgrown spider.

Either the constructor of the building knew what he was doing when he put in the floors or the people who set off the explosion set it too low because the floor beneath Naruto's feet, despite the violent jerk, stayed in mostly one piece as it moved upward with him.

The walls were not so sturdy, as the floor was easily ripped from them in a shower of debris and wood splinters. The floor went up as quickly as Naruto and the Oto nin, Naruto just barely avoiding being squeezed into a pancake thanks to a beam on the ceiling keeping the floor just barely a foot from his nose. The Oto nin, trapped between the beam and the floor, was not so lucky.

And then, after just a span of six short seconds, the second floor abruptly became the first floor as gravity yanked it back down, crushing whatever was underneath it. The dust settled and all was quiet but for a steady dripping sound, almost inaudible under Naruto's heavy breathing and the low buzz ringing in his ears.

Natural human curiosity made him turn his head to see the source of the dripping. He wished he hadn't. Even after being a ninja for so long, there were certain sights that made even his stomach quiver with nausea.

The Oto nin didn't even look human any more, just a smashed up mass of bone, blood, and tissue. The bones of his body had been driven into the wood of the beam and had held, even against the force of gravity. They wouldn't hold forever, as Naruto peeked and groaned with realization, seeing a part of the fleshy mass slide off and fall to the ground with a bloody squelch.

For the first time in his life, Naruto realized that he was hoping that the Oto nin had died quickly. There were certain things that you wouldn't even wish on your worst enemy.

After several strengthening breaths, Naruto slowly pulled his chakra back into his body, letting himself drop to the floor. It wasn't a drop that was impressive compared to some of the heights he had leapt from before in his life, but, as he landed, he felt his knees give out on him. He braced himself on the ground with his hands, frowning when he saw how much his arms were shaking.

Maybe Kyuubi did know what he was saying. Maybe his body wasn't ready for the things he was trying to attempt. Maybe a piece of the child that Naruto had replaced lived on somewhere in the back of his mind because everything that he was experiencing now seemed too real and too raw for a veteran who was supposed to be used to these sorts of situations. If anyone could get used to these sorts of situations.

Of course, that meant Naruto would have to play the part of a good twelve year old and actually accept the help, aid, and protection of the adults until such times where Naruto's body finally caught up to his mind. And something inside of him, beyond his experience and beyond his emotional pain, revolted at that idea.

Just... get up! Naruto told his useless limbs. Most of the muffled buzz in his ears was fading away and he could hear and understand that, while the building was standing for now, it wouldn't be standing for long. The creaks and straining of the wood steadily grew louder and sharper in his hearing once he started shaking off the fogginess in his mind. And once he stopped hyper focusing on the blood.

It took several tries but finally Naruto got to his feet, carefully walking over to the half-buried door. He took a moment to shove debris out of the doorway before performing an awkward crawl/slide, managing to give himself several painful splinters in the process.

He told himself not to think too deeply about what had happened in there. Fortunately, a distraction provided itself fairly quickly. A little ways up the street, his chuunins were facing off against a lone ANBU. While no one was throwing any punches, he could tell even from his position that one of his chuunins was yelling at the top of her lungs.

You could tell when a ninja was a sibling or a parent, Naruto mused as he dusted himself off. Something in their manner of addressing people and situations always hinted at it. With some exceptions, it was usually a general rule that the personality revealed before family often appeared in doses as the personality revealed before teammates.

This helped teamwork as much as it hindered it, as ninjas were just as likely as normal people to show a variety of different emotions before families. Rivalry and jealousy as they happen between siblings could show up as often as concern and affection. Most often though, the sense of responsibility was transferred, as teams are like families in the respect that it's your responsibility to keep your teammate safe except in the most extreme of cases.

Naruto thought Team Seven got cheated out of that nice family-to-team transference. From Kakashi to Sakura, they weren't likely to find any common grounds or any way to soften the image of another teammate. Kakashi was an only child and his father died when he was young. Sakura was an only child as well, alienated from her civilian parents who didn't understand her desire to be a ninja. Naruto and Sasuke were orphans and... well, there was enough said about that. They both were cheated out of having a family.

Despite all that, Naruto thought that they had done well but, maybe if Team Seven had more of an understanding about how families worked, Sasuke wouldn't have left. They could have stopped him, somehow. Maybe that responsibility of caring for your other family members would have kicked in, making him realize that, while his ambition was important, his friends were even more so.

But that was the past. A screaming chuunin was the present.

“One of our teammates was in there!” Isamu ranted, advancing on an ANBU. The other chuunin didn't try to stop her. Fearless, she faced down the blank mask and poked the other ninja on the shoulder. Hard. Repeatedly. “What the hell were you thinking! If he's hurt... if he's dead... You'll regret the day you ever-”

Some people were just too easy to figure out. Isamu was a sibling, alright. An older sibling with a protective streak a mile wide. And a sibling who would get herself hurt if she attempted to take on an ANBU. Naruto came into the girl's line of sight, hoping to distract her.

“So much for the element of surprise.” Naruto said with forced laziness. He ran a hand through his hair, forced to yank it out when it got stuck. Ow, that was unpleasant... “You know, they can hear you all the way from Suna.”

“Naruto!” she said with heartfelt happiness. Within a second, Naruto was being squeezed hard. He winced. While he had liked her upon first glance(she was an Akimichi, what wasn't there to like about that?), he thought she had more strength than she knew what to do with.

“Spine... breaking.” he wheezed, gasping with relief when he was instantly released.

“Tonbo!” she said to the other chuunin excitedly. “It's Naruto!” She said it like the other chuunin wouldn't know who it was but Naruto knew that, despite the bandages over his eyes, Tobitake Tonbo knew damn well where Naruto was at all times, not to mention knowing what gesture that Naruto might have made at his back when Tonbo had made a comment about his competency earlier on.

Kyuubi suspected some sort of bat like sonar. Naruto thought that, with all of the weird bloodlines in that gave some people weird eyes, extra limbs, and strange abilities, Kyuubi's hypothesis could very well be true.

“Fascinating.” Tonbo drawled tonelessly. He tilted his head towards the ANBU. “Apologies for Isamu and the genin. She's overly emotional and the genin is an idiot.” Naruto knew that the chuunin didn't like him at all. It was overly apparent in the way that Tonbo never called him by name('the genin', 'the boy', and 'you' were the only ways he was addressed) and in the way that Tonbo constantly berated him.

Whereas Isamu was only a couple of years older than Naruto, Tonbo was just at the right age to know about Kyuubi as well as to have actually fought against him. Despite the fact that Tonbo had a distinct anti-Kyuubi attitude, Naruto respected the chuunin because not only did he not even once suggest leaving him to fend for himself, but he also endeavored to keep Naruto safe.

Naruto had felt Tonbo's hand on the back of his vest even before he jumped into the building but Naruto had been moving forward too fast for the chuunin to catch a hold of him. Naruto didn't blame Tonbo for being angry at him at all. Naruto was pretty angry at himself too, surprised at himself that he jumped right in like a green ninja on his first day of the job.

But the chase... it was hard to pull back from the chase when every youki heightened instinct in Naruto burned with the need to follow and corner his prey. The blood, the beat of his heart, the smell of sweat and apprehension and fear... For a second, Naruto had forgotten who he was, what he was doing, and why he was doing it.

It scared him a little, knowing how quickly his mind clouded under the power of relentless instinct.

“Ow!” Suddenly, his ear was grasped between two merciless fingers as Isamu's mood veered from joyful relief to angry rage. “I need that!”

“You could have been hurt. You could have died.” she said in an ominous voice before she paused and said with more emphasis, “You could have made me cry.” Then her face scrunched up, as if she was going to cry anyway. “And if you-”

Naruto managed to move his head out of the way so that, when Isamu threw herself at him once more, he didn't end up getting his face smashed in her chest. He pulled one trapped arm out, awkwardly patting the emotional chuunin on the shoulder.

“Yes, yes... I'm an idiot. Yes, I could have gotten killed. Yes, I'm not the best person to have as a teammate right now. Yes, I'm too impulsive.” he murmured quietly, trying to soothe Isamu. The girl(who, like everyone in the damn village, was much taller than him and had to kneel to hug him) glanced up at him where she had buried her face on his shoulder.

“And?” she said expectantly, her eyebrow raised. The challenging look in her eyes would allow for no argument. Shifting from foot to foot with a sigh, Naruto looked up briefly in the sky as if begging for divine aid before he looked back down at Isamu.

“And I'm sorry for making you worried.” he said, somewhat flatly. With an amused snort, Isamu stood, brushing dirt off of her knees. She pinched his cheek with a grin. Naruto scowled petulantly, rubbing his cheek.

“That's all I wanted to hear.” she said smugly, walking towards Tonbo and the ANBU. With a heavy sigh, Naruto followed after her. At something Tonbo said, the ANBU left in a dark flash. “So, what's up?”

Tonbo looked up at the casually drawled question. “The situation is far worse than we first calculated.” he said somberly. “Teams are being split up left and right. The chain of command has become blurry. Hokage-sama is missing. The ANBU are trying to focus on destroying the summons and want the jonins to handle the last bit of evacuation. Only the jonins are involved in fighting Oto nins and want the chuunins to handle the last bit of evacuations. Only the chuunins-”

“Are out gunned.” Naruto concluded with a sigh. He had come across this information hours ago. The fact that Tonbo was getting it just now made it even worse. Tonbo nodded at Naruto's response, a deep frown on his face.

“In a manner of speaking.” the chuunin replied. “To make matters worse, the chuunin population is thinly spread. Most of us were concentrated around the arena while this invasion began and not many have moved from that general area because of the heavy fighting. While that means that the areas of Konoha around that place are already evacuated...”

“The other places haven't.” Isamu said, looking horrified. “What about the neighborhoods? The schools?”

“I'm sure the chuunins at the Academy have taken care of the schools.” Naruto said, his faith in Iruka unshakable. After all, Iruka and the other chuunins had gotten the children out before without any deaths. What would be different about this time around? “But the neighborhoods... that's a problem. Haven't the walls fallen?” Playing oblivious would work well in this situation.

“Only one.” Tonbo corrected. “But, unfortunately, it is the wall right by the neighborhoods.” Isamu closed her eyes, her face scrunched up in emotional pain.

That area would, of course, be the absolute worst place for the invading party to enter. While that area had some patrols and guards, they didn't have nowhere near the amount of man power that they would need to both defend and evacuate the villagers. Even after a few hours of invasion, there still had to be some resistance there. The best thing to do, of course, was to weed them out, one by one if need be.

Apparently, Naruto wasn't the only one to think so. “The only thing we can do... the only thing we should do is to go to the neighborhoods and help out the people there!” Isamu said after a moment, expecting Tonbo and Naruto to immediately agree. After a moment of no answer, she took a step back. “...Right?”

“Out gunned, remember?” Naruto said hoarsely. He looked pained for more reasons than one. Gazing off in the direction of the fallen wall(hidden from his direct line of vision by several tall buildings and a tree), he started to shake his head. “I don't know about you but I don't feel like jumping in, all Rambo style.”

And, for once, he really didn't. They needed more manpower to do that. He wasn't sure if he could artificially create any more manpower. His last couple attempts at jutsus had only partial successes, almost as if his chakra was rebelling. He had the chakra, he just couldn't use it properly. He didn't have the best of chakra control, yes, but he usually did better than this.

“That knock to the head must have revived what little reason resides in your brain.” Tonbo said with a bit of dark humor. When Naruto only blinked at him, the chuunin gently touched the back of Naruto's head. When he pulled his hand back, his fingers were covered in blood. “You split your head open.”

Isamu was briefly distracted, hurrying behind Naruto to look at the wound for herself. Mumbling some nonsensical sentence that sounded like some meshed version of 'I can't believe I didn't notice!' and 'What have you done to yourself?', she dabbed at it with her sleeve. Only then, when a sudden flash of pain shocked him, did Naruto realize he was injured.

“Ah!” he pulled himself away from her. “That hurt!” When Isamu took a step towards him, mumbling something about needle and thread, he took several steps back, his hands covering his head protectively. “Stay back, woman. I'm warning you.”

“That aside...” Tonbo said. He realized that they weren't listening so he coughed to get their attention. Twice. Isamu and Naruto broke out of their staring contest to look at Tonbo. “That aside, Isamu is correct. We must do our part to protect those in the neighborhoods, even if we must do it without backup.” With that, Tonbo tilted his head and seemed to look at Naruto. “Naruto, I must apologize.”

Naruto's eyes widened, wondering what the chuunin felt he needed to apologize for. Paranoid, he looked quickly around his surrounding for some sort of trap or prank. It wasn't that he didn't trust Tonbo not to hurt him. It was that Naruto had been through too much to not be paranoid when someone said that out of the blue.

“I had planned to find you somewhere safe to hide.” Tonbo said after a moment. “You are a genin, and a young one at that. I had hoped to spare you of the worst that could happen in a situation such as this. Instead... I must ask for your aid.”

“My... aid?” Naruto murmured to himself, the words taking time to sink in. When they did, he started to nod his agreement, relieved that he didn't have to twist any arms or, god forbid, whine. “Alright, I'll help-”

At the same time, Isamu spoke up. “No no no, Tonbo!” she said, moving towards them quickly. “He's a kid, he's a genin, he's already injured-”

“A genin he may be but weak he is not.” Tonbo said firmly, already shaking his head. “We don't have the resources to refuse his aid. In fact, we have such a lack of resources right now that we must demand it.”

“But still-” she said, a hint of desperation in her voice. Tonbo started pacing.

“We don't even have time to be arguing, Isamu.” He said, his voice raising slightly. Isamu looked slightly chastised. “Is there a reason why you won't accept his help? Besides him being a genin.”

“A pretty damn good reason.” Isamu mumbled. She looked up, a frown creasing her forehead. “I don't want him to die.” There was a second where Naruto felt like someone had socked him in the stomach. Why did she care? He wasn't related to her. Then he remembered his whole thought process on 'sisterly-transference', feeling relieved at the easy answer but slightly disappointed as well.

“We don't even have the luxury of trying to protect him from that.” Tonbo said, his voice gentler. Isamu only frowned more, hugging herself silently.

Feeling bad for Isamu, Naruto hesitantly touched her shoulder. “I can't promise not to get hurt.” he said quietly. “I can't promise to stay in sight or by your side. But I can promise you that I won't die.”

Isamu was quiet for a moment, her eyes focused on his face. Finally, she spoke. “Don't break your promise.” she said flatly, but it was the sort of flatness that was forced so Naruto didn't take offense.

“I don't make a habit of doing that.” Naruto said with a smile. She nodded, still looking reluctant. Knowing that he had done all he could do, Naruto walked up to Tonbo, his hands absently making the seals for his shadow clones.

Again, the success was only partial. Where he meant to make thirty clones, he made only ten. Was it his body that was rebelling? Or was it Kyuubi, whose snarky voice he hadn't heard in over an hour? He poked at the demon but Kyuubi only seemed to curl tighter in on himself, refusing to address Naruto.

Fine, go ahead and pout. Naruto projected to the demon, on the verge of pouting himself. He didn't like being ignored.

“Let's go.” Naruto said, determined not to point out his problem to his chuunin babysitters. He had worked with far worse handicaps. He was fairly quick with adapting.

Besides, he was with two chuunins. What could possibly go wrong?
----

TBC

Funny thing is, I actually am having a much easier time writing the next chapter. It won't take as much time to update. It was just this chapter that was killing me.
And I know it's been long. I own a calendar.