Standing in the remains of his clan's shrine, with the four resurrected Hokage standing in front of him, Sasuke had no idea what to expect. The sight of the Third, the one whom ordered Itachi to slaughter everyone and become a pariah, sent a familiar strum of anger through his bones but he ignored it. Like he also tried to ignore the First's...eccentricities.

One look in the Fourth's direction had his eyes widening slightly. The resemblance was too canny: the spiked hair, the same exact coloring from the hair and skin, to the eyes, the same high cheekbones as her, there was no doubt in his mind that he was looking at Naruko's father. He wondered if Naruko knew her hero for practically her entire childhood, the one who sealed the demon inside her, was her father?

Trying to push thoughts of her away - they were always, always a distraction and one he could not afford right now - he focused on the Kage as a whole.

After a few minutes Sasuke was left watching the Second Hokage warily as his resurrected body went to the wall of the shrine and placed a hand on it. After experiencing the power he and the First Hokage had directed at him, he knew he was no match for them. The Nidaime, maybe, if he was alone, but he couldn't take on both. He was glad that the First seemed to be able to control his brother, he really didn't want to know what would have happened if the Second had lowered his finger - he had healthy self-preservation instincts, after all.

Once alerted of the war and the Kage sensing Naruko's chakra - powerful, warm, enhanced by the fox but not being controlled by it (did she gain complete control?) - fighting against two equally as powerful chakra's, things changed. They were miles away but could clearly be felt by even non-sensor types. There were still occasional explosions that shook the earth even where they were but nothing came near the village.

The Second's face as he stretched out his senses and the almost desperate way he pushed his body against the wall made curiosity rise again but he stayed quiet. The First and Second seemed to be especially hostile towards him personally. They were good at hiding it, but he was good at reading people.

"Tobirama, not yet," the First said, turning his body to face his brother.

The Second turned angry red eyes at his brother, his jaw clenched tight. "Nii-"

"She will be fine, you know this," the First said again, trying to reason with his brother. "You think I don't want to help her?"

Sasuke had no idea who the Second Hokage was so eager to go to, but Orochimaru's control over his body was the only reason he suspected the man was still here.

Orochimaru got the Kage's attention back and Sasuke listened as the First told his tale. All the while he was aware that both the First, Second, and Fourth Hokage's were itching to head to the battlefield, no matter how composed they seemed. And throughout listening to them, he couldn't help but feel something was being left out in their tale of the events of the past.

OooO

Naruko winced as she received the memories from the clones she had supporting Gaara's company and she took the time she had while she was running to meet the fake Madara as she processed the memories of the clone facing the real Madara.

The real Madara Uchiha had been resurrected and was practically annihilating the shinobi in the alliance single handedly and he was mostly using taijutsu! He managed to turn experienced shinobi's attacks and weapons against each other with ease and one of his ninjutsu took almost a dozen shinobi to counter. And bringing down freaking meteors! They were outclassed against him big time, so many of them died in that.

It was the look on the Uchiha's face when he first saw her clone that was sticking out in her mind. The slight widening of his eyes when he first saw her and then the creepy smile he gave after. Her clones had seen the knowing, almost fond smile he had given when she had held off the wood style and he had been talking with the resurrected Tsuchikage.

The way Madara had looked at her clone was pushed out of her mind as she made herself focus on fighting the resurrected jinchuriki. She had to trust Gaara and Tsunade knew what they were doing. Like Itachi said, she couldn't do everything on her own.

Even with all the revelations she was faced with during the fight against the biju and the now revealed Obito, she was grateful. She was grateful she had the chance to actually talk with other biju and their hosts, and learning Kurama's name, all of their names, made her happy. Her relationship with the fox practically turned on it's head within the span of a few minutes, but they were working together now, and she felt that this would give them more of a chance to turn the tide to their favor.

Madara quickly came back to her mind when he appeared on her battlefield. She was angry and worried at his arrival since it meant that he had defeated Tsunade-baa-chan, Gaara, and the other Kage. Worry for them on top of Kakashi-sensei, who was spacing out and torn up over Obito, was distracting her but she still kept a close eye on Madara, even as he pissed her off and goaded her with his comments.

When her clone attacked him with the Rasengan and it was absorbed by his gunbai, in that moment of stillness when he and her clone were inches apart before he redirected her attack back on her, he said something to her clone all the while his piercing Rinnegan was pinned on her real self under Octo-pops. When she received the memory after it was dispelled, she was angry again but also scared.

"I found you, Naruko."

Naruko had the uneasy feeling that he wasn't talking about her being a jinchuriki and accomplishing his goal. The way he said those few words seemed too personal, too...excited to just be about finding Kurama's jinchuriki.

In fact, every interaction she had with the Uchiha seemed too personal. He seemed to know exactly what to say to piss her off. He knew how to counter her moves, even seemed to expect them, never seemed surprised by what she threw at him. It made her wonder how he seemed to know her so well, especially since some of her moves she had just figured out only hours before when she and Kurama agreed to work together. She couldn't shake the feeling that he was toying with her, waiting for something specific before he actually made his move.

His gaze seared into her throughout her fight with him, even when he simply sat out when she defended Kakashi-sensei and focused on the Ten Tails. He never said anything to her like what he had said to her clone and she pushed her confusion aside at Kurama's urging to focus on the battle. Whatever happened in the next few hours, she knew she didn't want Madara to get his hands on her.

Of course, things didn't work out like she wanted.

When reinforcements arrived the other's closest to her noticed his attention and stayed near her while Madara and Obito did their best to destroy the shinobi and get her to join them

She wondered why they were trying to get her to join them when they knew she knew they had to kill her to get Kurama. Anyone with an instinct for self-preservation wouldn't take that deal, and while her's was debatable, she did have one.

With her ability to feel negative emotions now, she sensed nothing of the sort coming from the Uchiha Patriarch. There were no negative emotions coming from him other than occasional flares of annoyance. She could feel that she was getting under Obito's skin with every word and action she made, but Madara was almost eager and excited as he let Obito try to sway her.

Unfortunately for Madara, his way of trying to get her to join him involved killing Neji. While she had come close to breaking, thanks to Hinata she rallied herself and the army for another attack (something she noticed didn't surprise Madara in the least).

When Madara pulled out and she sensed a torrent of anger, hate, and excitement she extended her senses to try and feel what had him so excited. She felt four powerful sources of chakra and two she recognized as her father and after some digging in her memory, Sarutobi-jiji. She knew the other two strongest must be the other Hokage and she extended her search even more and recognized Sasuke's chakra with three others, one of which she immediately knew to be Orochimaru. Peeved at the Sanin's survival, but knowing the Kage would help once Sasuke got what he wanted, she focused on holding Madara and Obito off until they arrived.

Unfortunately, the other Kage's revival seemed to set something off in Madara and he turned his attention back on her tenfold. His eyes were burning into her, a major distraction even while he himself sat out of the fighting.

Once she felt the Kage, plus Sasuke, make their way to the battlefield, she knew they would finally get the help they needed. She enjoyed seeing her father in real life, not just a construct of chakra in her mind, and couldn't help but smile at his entrance, knowing where she got her dramatic flare from.

She was in awe at seeing the Shodiame and Nidaime but both of them stared at her with something too similar to joy and recognition for her to dismiss it, the Second Hokage especially. They seemed worried, almost, when they saw the state she was in - exhausted, arm limp and bleeding, and her clothes torn up beyond salvaging - but that didn't make any sense. They had never met before, both being long dead before she was even born.

Kurama took notice too and she could hear him muttering to himself as he tried to figure it out. Three important figures from the past seemed too excited to see her and three was enough for even him to realize something else had to be going on here.

She completely ignored Sasuke and his declaration, spitting a strand of hair out of her face angrily (all the getting tossed around her hair had fallen out of it's braid hours ago, it was a tangled mess around her but she couldn't take the time to put it up).

She did not have the time nor will to deal with him at the moment. She may have been trying to get him home for almost four years but that didn't mean she didn't hold a grudge against him for everything he had done. She considered him her brother and her best friend but he was a complete and total ass, for all that she was relieved he was back with them.

The fight took an unexpected turn once the Kage sealed the Ten Tails behind the barrier. Madara had somehow made a clone and it was the one facing off against Hashirama's clones. She had no knowledge of this until he had snuck through the Shinobi forces with lightning speed and snatched her into his arms before whipping her away to the area where his clone and Hashirama's dispelled after a final clash.

The other Hokage were stuck in one place due to the barrier and Madara had clones holding everyone else back while he held onto her. One arm wrapped like a band around her waist, pinning her arms down, while the other pressed tight across her chest and held her shoulders. He pulled her close, hands like iron holding her back against him, crushed against his armour. She was stretched across the front of his armor, feet dangling, so close that if she turned her head her lips would have brushed his ear. She tried to struggle loose but she had no leverage in this position and in terms of raw physical strength, he had her beat.

She noticed seals laid out in a pattern similar to her old seal with a spiral in the middle but had no idea what it would do. Kurama, able to see through her eyes, apparently did and he went silent and she could feel him focusing on gathering his chakra.

Confused and panicking, she used the chakra she had to try and fight her way out of his grip. He managed to bat away her resistance with no trouble. She was tired after hours of fighting and sharing her chakra and she couldn't get any leverage even after trying to use his body to push off of. She couldn't bring her legs far enough up with the way he had her waist and arms pinned. The most she could do was try and kick at his knees and shins.

She bit back a scream, her struggles stopping instantly, when she felt his chakra start flowing into her body from the points they were connected. It burned within her as it gathered at a point on the back of her shoulder and flared painfully before settling.

The hand by her throat grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it away and she felt his breath on her back as he looked down to where his chakra had settled. Apparently finding what he was looking for he pushed her in the seal.

It immediately started glowing and draining her chakra at a rapid pace. Kurama tried to help, using the chakra he had gathered and pushing it out to keep her from being drained dry. Within seconds she fell to her hands and knees as the seal started glowing and whatever was on her back burned along with it.

No one could get through Madara's clones and she could hear everyone yelling and fighting but all her senses focused on Madara as he kneeled outside the formation closest to where she was. She managed to ignore the growing exhaustion as the seal took her and Kurama's chakra to speak to him. "Wh..at...are you...doing?"

With his back turned to everyone but her his face changed, almost becoming soft but still holding the same eager light from earlier. "I'm following history."

Now too exhausted to hold herself up, she collapsed onto her stomach, face turned towards him. She was confused beyond belief and couldn't move as Madara started adding his chakra to the seal. She was too exhausted to scream as whatever was on her back synced with the seal, throbbing in steady waves.

Kurama was strangely silent and wasn't helping her but any thoughts of asking him what he was doing fled as the seal started glowing and morphing around her, flowing into a spiral centered around her, looking almost like Kakashi's Kamui. Naruko felt Kurama pull on her mind the way he had when she let him take over and she offered no resistance as she finally blacked out.

OooO

Tobirama and Hashirama knew what would happen the second they felt Naruko's chakra after they had been resurrected. Hashirama knew that Tobirama's strong desire to get to the battlefield stemmed from a lot more than defeating Madara and protecting the village.

His younger brother wanted to see her.

Once Tobirama had felt her chakra he had changed, but only Hashirama was able to tell. When Naruko had been pulled back to their now current time, the warmest part of Tobirama that the blonde spitfire had surfaced had been buried and his little brother had become cold and serious, only softening for his genin team, Tsunade, him, and Mito. Just feeling her chakra again had already softened his brother enough that Hashirama could stop him from killing Sasuke. He wanted to beat the boy's face in for what he did to Naruko too, but for once he was the one thinking logically.

They had all left Sasuke in the dust when the Ten Tails' chakra went crazy and the sound of mass destruction carried even to their ears. He had looked at his fellow Kage as they all raced forward and had shaken his head. Only Naruko could wrap so many powerful and historic figures around her little finger.

Minato had torn ahead, showing his impressive speed and improvements on his little brother's technique while Hashirama, Tobi, and Saru were at most five minutes behind. He didn't know what to think of Naruko's father, knowing events had been stacked against him at Naruko's birth but still a little mad at everything he had left her alone to deal with, though not on purpose. He decided to reserve judgement for now, knowing Naruko held no grudge against him.

When they arrived, Hashirama saw the longing and pain on his brother's face when Naruko looked at him with no recognition and he felt much the same. He also buried some guilt, knowing Naruko would be scared beyond all measure within the next few minutes.

Both Senju brothers and Madara had all shared one look when they had arrived on the field - a very hate filled look in the case of Tobi and Madara, but agreement none the same.

They would not stop what would happen, to let the past play out, and then they would settle everything when she was pulled back. That's why, under the guise of a pathetic fight, Hashirama's clones and Madara set up the seals so they would safely take Naruko and bring her back at the correct time. The shinobi alliance was too focused on Naruko and the Juubi to really pay attention to them so they were able to do it with no problems.

Hashirama was glad they were trapped holding the barrier, though. Once Madara had grabbed Naruko it had been a very close call in both Tobirama and Minato's case to not leave their positions and go to her.

Thinking on what was about to happen made him have to hide a smile as he remembered their time with Naruko. She had been one of his best friends and he had been one of the only ones she had told the truth to, about almost everything.

He couldn't predict anything anymore, though. He didn't know how much time would pass here before she came back but he at least knew Madara would, if not stop his plans, slow the pace of them until then.

The shinobi were panicking and giving in to fury and panic at the sight of Naruko vanishing and he knew they needed to be told what was happening before they tried to take on Madara.

He ran his eyes over the gathered shinobi and smiled again. He may have been the one to unite the clans to build Konoha and establish the framework for the Five Great Nations, but it was no surprise to him that Naruko could unite the entire shinobi world behind her.

Hashirama spared a thought on Madara's missing accomplice. He was the only wild card. There was no telling how much he knew and he seemed to be in a rush with the Ten Tails. He could count on Madara waiting for Naruko, but the other one may not. For now he was occupied somewhere else, but Hashirama would be prepared the second he revealed himself again. It was up to them to see if they could control him and the Ten Tails until she came back. He seriously hoped not too much time passed here but time-space seals were tricky.

Keeping an eye on Madara and the Ten Tails, he called the allied shinobi's attention, flaring his chakra in their direction, especially the teens, to get them to stop. The shinobi froze at the feel of his chakra and turned to him. "Hey! She's fine, I'll explain everything, do not attack, is that clear?"