Burning Leaves Chapter 1: Leaves burning on the wind, a Naruto + Fairy Tail Crossover fanfic

Leaves Burning in the Wind

A pair of calculating blue eyes looked down at a passing group of four Suna shinobi from their perch within the leaf shrouded treetops. They quickly flicked to the side and sent a wordless message to their obsidian counterparts before both their owners tensed and readied for the attack.

With only a pair of smoldering leaves drifting to the ground signaling their movement two forms vanished from the trees and crashed into the group of shinobi, ramming kunai into the vertebrae of two of them before they had a chance to retaliate. Immediately the other two shinobi spun around with their own kunai already drawn and prepared to face their attackers. They were momentarily shocked however when they saw that crouched behind their now dead comrades were two children that looked to be no older than eleven, each wearing the recognizable and terrifying armor of leaf ANBUs complete with masks and travel cloaks.

On the left, just wrenching his blade from his prey's neck and bringing his gaze up to meet theirs, was a boy whose only distinguishing features were his bright blond hair and the faint glint of his electric blue eyes behind his terrifying mask. Rather than the traditional white animal masks of Konoha ANBU the child's mask was forest green and held no distinguishing features save a grill where the mouth was and flame patterns on the edges that resembled a burnt leaf. In fact, were it not for the bright blue eyes glinting in the sun light it would have been impossible to tell where the eye holes on the mask even were. Similar to the mask the cloaks that they both wore were colored a dark forest green that got progressively darker the farther down it went before ending in a cinder and flame pattern that looked so real it almost seemed as though the cloak was really smoldering.

The second of the two had already let his kill drop to the ground in a bloodied heap when he turned to face them and was revealed to be a carbon copy of the other child expect rather than blond hair and blue eyes this child had raven locks and his eyes held the telltale crimson glow of an Uchiha Sharingan.

In the half second it took for their comrade's bodies to fall the two shinobi knew who they were standing before and they immediately tried to flee, but faster than the seasoned killers could react the two in front of them began weaving seals at a blinding pace before finishing on the snake and tiger seals respectively.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

As the combined firestorm of an Uchiha fireball supercharged with hurricane force winds crashed into their forms and burned their flesh to a brittle crisp the two chunin were left with only a single fleeting thought before their lives ended.

Moeha no Konoha….

XxX

Naruto Uzumaki glanced at the blackened skeletons in front of him as he lowered his hands and turned towards his longtime partner and friend Sasuke Uchiha, who still had a faint trail of fire coming from the grill of his mask. "Oi teme, we should get moving. That was the fourth squad we've run into on this route and all of them were headed for the village. I'm worried something big is happening." Naruto said in a deep warbled voice, altered thanks to the seals on his mask.

Sasuke simply grunted an affirmation as his Sharingan faded away leaving his eyes their usual obsidian, before quickly ripping the kunai and shuriken pouches off of the two un-burned enemies and tossing half to Naruto. "I know dobe, I've got the same feeling, but we're only about half an hour away at top speed so we'll know soon enough. Next time we hit a squad we shouldn't circle ahead of them and set up an ambush though. It will be faster to run them down on the path from behind."

Naruto snorted at Sasuke's bravado while he sealed the ammo he had tossed him. "Fine but don't expect me to pull your ass out of the fire if the next group we run into is something tougher than four bed wetting Suna Chunin." With that the two of them vanished from sight leaving two burnt leaves in their wake as they blurred through the tree tops jumping from branch to branch.

Actions like the ones they had just performed were commonplace for Naruto and Sasuke and had been so for the last five years of their lives, ever since they had become active duty shinobi for Konohagakure no Sato almost every day of their lives had been filled with either combat missions or training of some kind. It didn't help that they were born into what was being hailed as the most violent chapter of shinobi history, and were currently part of the fourth and bloodiest Shinobi World War that had ever been seen.

For the last eight years the all of the known world had been engaged in a brutal conflict that had resulted from a failed power grab on the part of Iwa following the Kyuubi attack in Konoha and subsequent loss of the village's legendary Yondaime Hokage forcing the retired Sandaime back into action. Iwa repeated its initial strategy from the Third Shinobi World War and moved troops into the Land of Grass to begin staging hit and run raids against the northwestern border of the Land of Fire. For the two years that followed no actual casualties occurred on either side and so a formal declaration of war was not made however this changed when Iwa formally conquered and annexed the Land of Grass thus placing its border directly next to the Land of Fire. In response to the aggressive move and the tension that had been building up for years the Hokage of Konoha declared war on Iwa and opened the offensive up with a six month campaign that retook the Land of Grass back from Iwa. The war truly began when evidence was brought to international light about the use of Iwa prisoners as experimental test subjects by Orochimaru of the Sannin being approved by the normally soft hearted Sandaime Hokage. This sparked outrage among the lands of Kumo, Suna and Kiri which prompted Kumo to begin raiding the north eastern border of the Land of fire and caused Suna begin hitting Konoha from the west while Kiri started a coastal raiding campaign in the southeast. Suddenly Konoha's military had to be stretched across every inch of its border while trying to maintain an offensive into Iwa which quickly broke down once a four way alliance was formed and Iwa received reinforcements from Suna and Kumo, allowing them to reconquer the land of Grass.

The pattern of losses continued for the next year and a half until the nature of the war itself changed after Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin both returned to Konoha and began to help push back the enemy on all four fronts. As a result of this Iwa made a complete change to their combat doctrine which they debuted in a massive terrorist style bombing mission that leveled half of Konoha and caused the deaths of countless people. Among the dead was a huge chunk of the Uchiha clan including Sasuke's parents and a great number of civilian shopkeepers, most notable in Naruto's mind being Teuchi and Ayame Nazashi, the only two people in the village who were ever kind to the orphaned Naruto and the only ones he viewed as family.

Following the bombing both Naruto and Sasuke immediately joined the academy at age five and resolved to become the most powerful shinobi they could possibly be in order so stop anyone else they cared about from dying. Naruto and Sasuke poured themselves into their studies were able to graduate in a record shattering six months before each being placed under the direct tutelage of Jiraiya and Orochimaru of the Sannin respectively.

From there five more years of war molded the young boys from insignificant gennin into the most feared and brutal ANBU unit in Konoha's history and one that had even been considered worthy of being the next generation of Sannin, though that was before the incident just two years ago…

"Oi Naruto hold up for a second, do you smell something?" Naruto roused himself from his thoughts and saw his partner crouched down on a branch, glancing around and sniffing as though he might be able to smell something through his mask.

Naruto smirked for a moment before he tapped a tattoo on his left shoulder and the mask on his face vanished in a puff of smoke revealing his childish whisker mark clad face for all to see. "Smelling things works best without the mask on teme. I made the filter seal to keep shit out not let stuff in."

Sasuke hmphed in annoyance before sealing his own mask away and revealing his slightly narrow face "I know that dobe I asked because your nose is almost as good and an Inuzuka's. Now stop bitching and tell me what you smell."

Naruto ignored the jab a took a deep whiff of the surrounding air and was startled when his nostrils were assaulted with the stink of fires, ash, burnt earth, and the faintest hints of ozone, the telltale scents of a shinobi battle. "I smell a fight going on, at least lightning and fire involved but there may be earth manipulation too. From the strength of it we must be really close by, how far is it to the village?"

"We're only about eight clicks out now, something must be going on for there to be a battle like that happening so close to the village." Sasuke looked around them until he saw a particularly large tree to their left. "Hang on I'm going to go up there and get a better look."

Naruto nodded an affirmative as Sasuke dashed towards the tree and ran vertically up its trunk without slowing in the least while Naruto remained in the branch canopy of the shorter trees, eyes scanning for any potential dangers. Only a moment later however Naruto saw Sasuke shoot down the tree and rocket off towards the village at top speed leaving Naruto confused for a moment before he raced after him. "Oi Teme what the hell did you see? Give me a damm sitrep for Kami's sake!"

As soon as Naruto caught back up to him Sasuke turned his head away from him and barely whispered "You didn't smell a small battle nearby." He said as he abruptly came to a stop on a large tree branch that gave them a clear view of the landscape that stood just a hundred meters away "You were smelling a massive battle at home."

Before them stood Konohagakure no Sato the largest, and until this moment, single strongest shinobi village in the known world. It was a fairly active city, keeping the title village only for tradition and was built within the confines of a massive seventy meter high wall that went in a two kilometer radius circle originating from the edges of a cliff that overlooked the entire village and going right up against the great forest around the village. The Cliffside which held massive sculptures depicting the faces of the villages past and current Hokages and the massive forest that stretched on for hundreds of kilometers around Konoha, having been grown single handedly by the Shodaime Hokage himself using his legendary Mokuton Jutsus, were the crown jewels of Konoha and showed the world the village's strength and majesty. There was an issue however…

They were burning.

The mighty cliffs of Konoha were ablaze, the faces of the past Hokages weeping tears of red hot fire, and where once the forest would have almost touched the great walls of the village now there was a charred ashen wasteland stretching out from the walls for a good two kilometers in all directions. And filling every single inch of that new found space was a veritable ocean of tens of thousands of Shinobi appearing less as individuals and more as an undulating mass of bodies, each wearing marks from various villages and hurling jutsu after jutsu towards the slowly falling city. Peppered among the shinobi were massive siege engines from the second Shinobi World War that fired huge exploding balls filled with scraps of metal in order to eviscerate enemies along with gargantuan shuriken launchers that threw shuriken the size of houses for kilometers at a time.

Naruto felt his mind start to shut down more and more as every volley of enemy fire sailed into the city and no doubt earned cries of agony and pain from the rseidents. This was the kind of situation they could have never even dreamed of, the idea that after all of the counter espionage, anti-infiltration and detection seals the village had spent the whole war perfecting its final battle would come down a feudal style siege was completely unthinkable. This was the kind of situation they had absolutely no contingency for and that thought alone almost made Naruto's heart give out.

The feeling lasted for only a moment however and soon Naruto remembered that as an ANBU he had a duty to his village in these exact situations. Steeling himself for the fight ahead Naruto was pleased to see that the resigned aura Sasuke had when he brought him here had been replaced with the icy cold fury that ANBU operatives were known for. Locking eyes for only a moment the two nodded and in perfect harmony tapped the seals on their shoulders before their masks appeared in their hands. Without a word the two slid them over their faces and felt the familiar sensation of the various HUD and Filter seals taking effect as they readied themselves for what they had to do next. As ANBU operatives within a crisis 1 scenario their first priority was to find their CO which considering their rank and who they were left only the supreme ANBU commander, the Sannin or the Hokage. If they couldn't find them then protocol demanded that they take the field and lead the troops themselves in whatever capacity they were able.

Before all of that however the two of them had to carve a path through the two kilometer thick horde of soldiers that stood between them and their home. Luckily for the two of them they had retained element of surprise and as they tapped the tattoo seal on their shoulder once more they were each holding a pair of connected six inch wide three foot long cylinders that were marked on the outside with the Kanji for demolition which they fastened to their backs. The cylinders were all black and nondescript except for the bottom outside edge of each side of the cylinders which had a small piece of paper sticking out of it.

Seeing each other all set the two readied themselves before jumping off of the branch and falling towards to the last band of forest between them and their enemies. As soon as their feet touched the ground the two exploded forward in a burst of speed that caused the ground itself to crater and give way. With a single push the two had already cleared the last band of forest and entered the charred coverless wasteland that the enemy was using to stage their attack. In the second and a half it took to clear the open area only two enemies had the good, or rather bad, fortune to turn around and see the two black clad specters barreling towards them, but before they could even utter a word of warning Naruto hurled two kunai that impacted their temples and Sasuke's hands flashed to the paper tags on his left and right pack before pulling them out as more tags took its place. Before the men's bodies could even hit the floor the two passed them and Sasuke placed the tags on their chests before he began rapidly doing the same to every single enemy in arms reach while Naruto copied him.

It took a while for anyone to realize that the blurs racing past them were actually enemies given the fact that they weren't attacking but as soon as some of the enemies began to try and block their advance Naruto stopped placing tags for a split second and held his fingers in a cross shape.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu"!

There was a puff of smoke next to Naruto and all of the sudden an exact copy of him was running alongside him. Nodding towards the clone Naruto resumed placing tags on things as the clone held its hand in the snake seal and channeled a bit of chakra into it before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Back at the outer edge of the enemy formation in the midst of the confusion about the sudden attack and the two fatalities that resulted a mysterious hissing sound became audible to everyone in earshot. It only remained a mystery for a second however before one of the shinobi lifted up his arm and saw a sizzling explosive tag stuck to his ribs and had only enough time to think a single thought before his world went white.

'Fuck me…'

In a wide column from the western edge of the enemy formation and slowly working its way inwards was a series of explosions that was claiming the lives of anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck with or nearby the endless stream of explosive tags that were being laid by the two Konoha shinobi. Naruto had even began wrapping his kunai with the seals and hurling them to the left and right at a break neck pace as he ran, taking advantage of the fact the in their current siege formation the enemy had no room to avoid the explosions.

Soon enough the two of them were within two hundred meters of the village walls and so they removed their packs before priming the tags still in the dispensers and dropping them as they ran forward. Just as Naruto and Sasuke were about to enter the kill zone near the wall, and just as a female Kumo jonin looked at them and realized they were with Konoha a massive earth shattering explosion knocked everyone who didn't expect it off of their feet and left a hundred meter wide crate in the middle of the enemy formation. Naruto and Sasuke however simply kept running, past the confused and reeling attackers and right up to the base of the wall around Konoha.

The wall of Konoha itself was the last line of defense it had against an attacking force like this and it was ironically the only defensive measure the village had that was actually made for the kind of one army vs another combat they were experiencing right now. Like the forest around the village it too was built by the Shodaime Hogake using his wood style techniques, however unlike the forest it was also reinforced with a vast array of seals that had been developed by the Uzumaki clan, most notable being a complex strengthening array to make the wood of the walls harder than steel and a chakra dispersal seal that prevented enemies from running up the wall like a common tree.

Such things weren't an issue for Naruto and Sasuke however and as the two ran towards it a faint pulse was felt from the tattoo on their shoulders before they ran straight up the wall as they would have any other surface.

When they arrived at the top of the wall and landed on it in a crouch the two of them were greeted by the star stuck faces of various genin and chunin who were crouched behind the battlements as they watched the carnage wrought by the two before them who at that moment looked less like ANBU operatives and more like twin angels of war and death.

They were called out of their star struck fantasies however when the dark haired one spoke to them without turning around to face them, his voice coming out gravely and deep as it was warped by the seals on his mask. "Where is Hokage-sama?"

All of the shinobi seemed tongue tied for a moment before one woman managed to speak up. "U…Um excuse me ANBU-samas but are you two by chance the ANBU team Moeha?" she said before yelping and pulling herself and two men next to her to the floor as a fire ball sailed past her head and blew one of the other men into pieces.

The two children stood straight up completely ignoring the various fireballs and kunai that were flying by them as they turned and marched up to the battlements the Konoha shinobi were hiding behind. They then began weaving a flurry of hand sings before finishing on the dog seal and both barfing up streams of mud that they then slammed their hands into.

"Doton: Doryūheki!"

Instantly a rock wall grew out of the combined puddles of mud and continued growing until it was roughly ten meters high and over a meter thick completely shielding the group of shinobi and spreading along the wall for a good fifty meters to the left and right. The group looked on in awe and appreciation at their heroes as they turned away from the wall to face them and the blond spoke. "There, that oughta hold long enough for us to talk. Yes we are team Moeha and we need to report to Hokage-sama so if you could tell us where he is we would appreciate it."

The woman who had spoken up first, and who appeared to be the squad leader given her actions earlier, widened her eyes when she heard who they were and stood up and saluted the two, an action that the rest of her squad emulated. "Moeha-samas, Jonin Uroko Kuruma registration number 011362, my squad and all other soldiers along the wall have been ordered to inform you that Hokage-sama is leading the defense of the gate but the two of you are to report to Orochimaru- sama and Jiraiya-sama on the roof of the academy."

Naruto looked at her skeptically for a moment and turned towards Sasuke and received a nod of acceptance before he nodded himself and turned back to the squad. "Understood thanks for informing us, here" He held his hands in a cross seal and suddenly twenty more Narutos appeared on the wall. "these guys will help you and the rest of the defenders on the wall. They're yours to command, use them well Kurama-san, I'm sure you and your subordinates will make it throu..." before he could continue however a massive explosion from the south drew his attention and he saw the massive gate doors blown to pieces and felt a tremendous chakra signature fade away.

Naruto and Sasuke immediately made to head towards the rabidly ensuing bloodbath but they felt hands on their shoulders and saw Uroko and one of the other shinobi looking at them and shaking their heads. "You two have a job to do sirs. As the perimeter defense force our duty is to ensure no one get past these walls and it's a duty that we are more than ready to die for. Both of you need to get to the academy and find Orochimaru-sama and Jiraiya-sama before it's too late.

The two boys looked towards the former gates and saw the rapidly eroding defensive line now that the enemy's numbers came into play before shutting their eyes and turning away from it. They steeled their resolve and nodded back to the squad then jumped from the wall and headed for the academy

XxX

A man with a massive billowing mane of white hair stood atop the roof of the Konoha shinobi academy and stared at the intricate seal matrix on the arch front of him, his brows furrowed as he again checked for even the slightest error he might have made when writing it. The arch's frame was elegantly twisting and rolling white stone that formed shapes and swirls that seemed far more organic than mineral and dancing alongside each ridge and swirl was blood red ink. The man rubbed his slate grey eyes with his thumbs and subconsciously let them trail down the red tattoos he had that ran the length of his both sides of his face and wrapping around his wide chin before he went back to double checking his work, until something else drew his attention.

A chunin with a large scroll strapped to his back came through the stairway door and ran up to the man as more shinobi followed behind him. Each carrying armfuls of scrolls and papers. "Jiraiya-sama we have the last of the scrolls from the library and the forbidden sealing scroll. Where would you like them?"

Jiraiya let loose a sigh of relief and pointed behind him to the other side of the roof where a pale skinned man with long black hair and yellow snake like eyes was seen directing dozens of shinobi as they all sealed various items into scrolls laid all across the ground. "Ask Orochimaru he's the one organizing the scrolls. After you're done come back here all right I have a few special supplies I want to…" he was stopped however as an explosion to the south claimed his attention and he saw the gates to the village vanish in an explosion. He huffed in annoyance and ran to the south edge of the building and bit his thumb before immediately flashing through a set of hand seals, as the dark haired man did the same next to him.

"The rest of you all get everything sealed like I was showing you and prepare the defenses around this place. Under no circumstance are we to lose this rooftop understood?" The dark haired man commanded in a powerful and unnerving voice.

"HAI OROCHIMARU-SAMA!" the shinobi all yelled as they doubled their pace and frantically ran between the various scrolls laid out before them.

The dark haired man know known as Orochimaru simply huffed as he and jiraiya finished their seals and slammed both of their palms onto the roof as seal arrays spread from them.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu"

Where the seals had been a moment ago there were now two wizened looking humanoid toads wearing cloaks one purple the other green and two white cobras that were roughly three feet long.

The two toads jumped up onto Jiraiya's shoulders before seemingly fusing to them as the green one spoke up. "We won't waste time with semantics right now boy, we know the end game when we see it, so you worry about getting ready and we'll start soaking up natural energy for ya."

Likewise the cobras had already slithered up Orochimaru's leg and proceeded to wrapped themselves around his neck like a pair of scarfs with their head resting on each side. "Assssss will we Orochimaru-kun. Make sure you don't dishonor our people by dying too quickly would you. It would be a shame for the last Konoha snake summoner to be known as a worthless weakling" the left one hissed sarcastically before both their bodies seemingly melted into and fused with Orochimaru's leaving only their heads and a foot of their necks free.

Jiraiya nodded resolutely at his summons words while Orochimaru simply snickered and the two of them stood for another moment as their sage modes took effect.

Jiraiya was the first to see any noticeable change as his eyes gained prominent red pigment all around them in large triangles that went to the bottom of his face and his nose swelled up while also becoming extremely warty. His pupils then shifted from those of a normal human to the horizontal bars of a toad and a full goatee sprouted from his chin. Finally all of his skin took on the texture of a toads and his hands and feet shifted and morphed, becoming longer and webbed completing the toad form he had gained.

Orochimaru's transformation didn't show results as rapidly, mostly due to the fact that his eyes were already slits, but soon one could see the whites of his eyes give way to black and noticed the faint purple tattoos around his eyes becoming darker and more pronounced before spreading down either side of his nose and meeting at his chin. Within his mouth his canines began shifting and changing until they had transformed into monstrous fangs and his tongue forked itself. Then four bone white horns spouted from his head and jutted backwards, two long ones on top and two shorter ones beneath on each side. Finally claws grew on his hands and the entirety of his skin sloughed off in a wet heap to reveal glistening white scales beneath.

The various shniobi that had been running errands and preparing seal all had to fight the urge to stop and look at the living legends that stood before them in all of their glory.

Jiraiya the Toad Sage of Konoha, master of hundreds of jutsu, vanquisher of countless enemies and unparalleled expert in the arts of seals, wars, and melodrama. Had the moment been a little lighter they were almost all certain he would have don't some kind of dance to lighten the mood and lift their spirits but now wasn't the time nor would have such an action gone over well with the man at his side.

Orochimaru the Snake sage of Konoha, was everything Jiraiya was only with an added helping of viciousness and efficiency. The snake sage was the village's embodiment of its willingness to abandon everything if it meant protecting its citizens and no one had surrendered more of themselves for the village than the man before them.

Orochimaru looked towards the gate and scrutinized the advancing horde of enemies with a critical eye. "So what's the plan Jiraiya-kun do you want to take the field now or try and wait for our students a little longer? You should know that if we aren't here when they arrive they will undoubtedly enter the fray and from there they'd sooner die than retreat."

Jiraiya closed his eyes and sighed in exhaustion at the situation before he opened them and looked ahead. "Until we receive the last piece of this jutsu from Itachi and the boys get here there isn't really anything we can do to be honest. Hopefully they will all get here soon and we can send them off before focusing all of our attention on the" he gestured with his hand at the rapidly burning city "situation at hand. For now we can wait a bit more, given how they have been handling things so far I doubt they will go for a knockout blow, rather they will try and encircle this place and fill all of the city with their soldiers."

Orochimaru smiled as he listened to his longtime friend and watched as the enemy soldiers did exactly as Jiraiya had had said they would. "Well well Jiraiya-kun I must say, your tactical acumen has really improved. It's hard to believe even they would be so arrogant as to storm a shinobi village like it was a common hamlet."

Jiraiya turned his eyes low at that sentence. "They're arrogance was what we counted on. Sensei took the suicide position outside the gate specifically so they would get enough of a moral boost to run in here like children. By the way did you get everything you wanted to sealed away?"

Orochimaru nodded "Yes, I got the sword sealed away along with all of my personal effect and his. What about you? I see that you put that moronic headband of yours in there."

Jiraiya's eyebrow twitched slightly as he turned towards Orochimaru "Stow it mister 'I use my gullet as a sheath' my headband was amazing."

While the two of them were talking two dark green forms blurred into sight behind them, one with a spiky mop of blond hair and the other with a mess of black. They two boys promptly tapped their shoulder tattoos and with a puff of smoke the masks that had hid their faces from their masters vanished.

The blond one stood up and widened his eyes when he saw the state the two men were in and approached Jiraiya. "Sensei we just returned from our mission please give us a sitrep. The fact that you both look like that must mean you're planning something huge."

Jiraiya sighed put a hand on his apprentice's shoulder and looked down at the blue eyes of his, eyes that despite being known the world over for their cold calculating ferocity now held a heartbreaking amount of childlike fear and confusion. "I'm not going to dance around the issue with either of you two, you're too mature for that kind of bull shit and it would be disrespectful to you. In a nutshell, Konoha is currently in her endgame, that means our strategies are shifting from tide turning to casualty causing and it means no one is thinking about tomorrow anymore got it. The civilians had already been evacuated and defenses and traps were laid. The actual siege started last night but we had known it was coming for a week. Sadly though we didn't have the means to head it off or anywhere to go if we tried to flee and the enemy stopped keeping prisoners alive last year so it was decided that we would make this battle the swan song of Konoha. We managed to jury rig some old world toys in the village and once the enemy fills the village with their troops we'll detonate the entire place and hopefully land an irreparable blow to our enemies that they will feel for the rest of time."

Naruto and Sasuke digested the information slowly and looked at their two senseis for a moment while it all sank in. Yes things had been going south for a while and yes Konoha hadn't won a major battle in the last two years, but on most missions Naruto and Sasuke went on they hand managed to complete their objective and cause significant casualties for their enemies. So the fact that their foes could field such a force was simply unbelievable.

Orochimaru look at the two boys in thought and decided to speak up. "The enemy has had an exponentially larger pool of soldiers to pull from than we do. Not only that they brought siege equipment so they could conscript civilians to operate them. Like it or not shinobi wars are won by how many towns you can pull recruits from and how long you can last. Truthfully we lost the capacity to win this war the moment we lost the outer territories of the Land of Fire." Hearing this the two boys deflated even more until Jiraiya knelt down in front of them.

"None of that matters right now though because there is one last part of our plan that I didn't explain yet. In fact it's the only part of the plan that actually matters and it has to do with the scrolls on the ground, that archway over there and you two. You see, as soon and your brother arrives Sasuke we'll be able to activate a jutsu that will bore a hole in space-time to another land. Somewhere were the enemy will never be able to go and where the legacy of the hidden leaf can live on."

The two boys looked up at their senseis before a question pooped into their minds which Sasuke asked first. "What does that have to do with us?"

Orochimaru turned towards them and, in an act of familiarity and compassion that looked completely alien on him, knelt in front of Sasuke before putting a hand on his shoulder. "That much should be obvious my young apprentice…you two are the legacy of this village. You embody the village's will of fire better than any other shinobis and despite your youth both of you are immensely powerful. Not only that, each of you has a sharp and inquisitive mind that show tremendous promise to grow and learn in the future, which is why we and the rest of the village are willing to put our faith in you to carry on our memories." Orochimaru said before standing up and talking to some shinobi about a scroll or somesuch while Jiraiya went over to the arch he mentioned and began inspecting it leaving Sasuke and Naruto to stew in what they had just heard.

Their senseis and the entire village were about to sacrifice themselves just so the two of them could avoid dying in the battle that was raging on all around them. The guilt it filled them with was only overcome by the sheer powerlessness that came with this whole kami-dammed situation they were in. They really didn't have an option to act brave and let the village not die for them, since everyone was going to die anyway, and jumping down and fighting to the death would only cost them their lives and still change nothing. For the first time in two years their minds were filled with flashes of their own failures and weaknesses, moments that could have been changed and steps that could have been avoided. And all throughout their memories a head of pink hair was visible…

"What do you mean he's dead?!" Orochimaru screamed causing the boys halt their thoughts and look over at him only to see him shouting and an adult ANBU operative in a cat like mask with light purple hair while two other ANBUs carried a large mirror over to the archway which fit inside of it perfectly.

"It as I said Orochimaru-sama, Itachi-ku… I mean Itachi-taicho has perished." She said quietly enough that only she and Orochimaru could hear "We were being pursued by the Kazekage and his puppet corps and he stayed behind to hold the enemy off while I went ahead with the package. Normally I would be sure he was still there fighting, but he was adamant about… about ensuring his little brother receive an additional special gift from him." She said as she handed Orochimaru a scroll and a palm sized box that he opened before quickly closing it and sighing.

"I see. He died a hero then and his memory will never fade. Get the package to Jiraiya and start finishing the gate, I'm going to get the last of the sealing scrolls put away." Orochimaru said before grabbing the two boys and pulling them toward the now much smaller pile of scrolls, now only consisted of five. "Both of you hold out your left arms, I'm going give you each two more storage seal tattoos similar to your ANBU seals."

The boys complied and as Orochimaru grabbed their outer biceps and forearms a sizzling sound could be heard after which a pair of seals bearing the kanji for Konoha and storage could be seen. Orochimaru looked at the seals for a moment and nodded his head before he grabbed two of the larger meter tall seals and handed one to Naruto before opening the other one and placing the small box and scroll he got from the ANBU on a blank area not covered in storage seals and writing. He then placed his hands on the scroll and the two objects vanished as an array of symbols took their place before he rolled the scroll up and handed it to Sasuke. "These two scrolls contain personal effects that now belong to the both of you. Keep them in the storage seal on your fore arm, understand?" He said as the two quickly sealed the scrolls away and turned back to look at him.

He nodded before grabbing two small scrolls and opening them with one on top of the other in a cross pattern as he placed the final largest scroll on top, this one being composed of two roll cylinders as opposed to the normal one as well as being almost two meters tall and half a meter in diameter on both rolls. He then sealed the large scroll like he had all the rest however instead of only one of the two scrolls getting a seal mark both of them got half of one. "These two seals are duel layer storage seals meaning you need both of them to open and retrieve the contents, said contents being every single jutsu scroll, historical record, shred of valuable information or valuable artifact that the village has. You can un-seal it like you would anything else just make sure you have both of them and put one on top of the other. Now put those in the Konoha seal and we'll be all done with…" Orochimaru had to stop as the building to their left exploded and collapsed while a barrage of boulders and fireballs began flying towards their position.

Orochimaru bit his both thumbs before he slammed his palms on the ground and a seal array spread to cover the entire building and surrounding block.

"Kuchiyose: Gojū Rashōmon"

Suddenly five massive monolithic sealed gates rose from the ground around the academy and formed a protective barrier that easily blocked the incoming projectiles. "Hurry you two seal those scrolls and follow me. We're running out of time." Orochimaru said walking past the two as they did as they were told heading toward the archway where Jraiya was already waiting.

Jiraiya looked over at Orochimaru shook his head towards the opposite side of the arch where Orochimaru promptly began weaving a torrent of handseals in perfect synch with Jiraiya before both of them placed their hands on the sides of the gate and dumped every last droplet of chakra they had into it.

"Motsure Ban'yū no Sōdaina Gyōretsu"

Soon a silver spark of light formed within the reflection of the mirror and began to expand and grow until it encompassed the entire thing turning it from a reflective mirror into a slab of the purest silver. When it did both Jiraiya and Orochimaru fell to their knees as their sage modes faded from the lack of internal chakra to mix with the natural energy and their respective summons vanished in puffs of smoke.

"That took… a lot… more chakra than I… had expected it to Jiraiya. I was hoping… to have at least something left…to fight with." Orochimaru wheezed as he tried to catch his breath while Sasuke helped him up as they walked around to the front of the portal. "I'm sure if you hadn't convinced me not to finish my body replacement jutsu I wouldn't be feeling like I just circled the continent."

Jiraiya smirked as Naruto pulled him up by him arms and led him next to Orochimaru. "Yea and you wouldn't have been able to even enter sage mode let alone help me with this dam gate." He snickered as both of them regained their composer and stopped leaning on their students both of whom were looking at the portal with pained and guilt ridden eyes, something seemed foreign on the faces of ANBU team Moeha.

Naruto stared ahead at the portal and then back at his sensei before a desperate hopeful idea popped into his mind. "Sensei why don't both of you come with us. Now that the portal is stable it should work right?" Sasuke's eyes lit up upon hearing the idea and he looked up at his sensei as did Naruto only to see both of their teachers sigh sadly.

"I'm afraid that the portal doesn't have enough strength to carry more that the two of you without it destabilizing and killing it occupants in the most horrible fashion imaginable." Orochimaru said casually, smiling a little as the two boys went white at his antics before he turned towards Sasuke and put both hands on his shoulders. "I know that this is something that you don't want to do Sasuke, and I know that you aren't nearly as afraid as you are guilty. For some insane reason you and Naruto think it would make us happy or proud to watch the two of you die in battle with us rather than live on and survive and I want to tell you right now that of all the things you could ever do the only one that would make us hate you is dying before we do like some petulant fool. You are our legacies and the closest thing to sons we've ever had. More importantly you're the answer to my dream, my quest to learn all there is to know. Even if I never do it myself I'm confident that you will be able to carry on my dream. So I will be dammed a trillion times if you take that sacrifice and throw it away, understand." He said as Sasuke and Naruto began to tear up before both managed to nod causing him to smile gently before grabbing Sasuke and hugging him while Jiraiya knelt down and did the same to Naruto.

For one single moment the two boys almost forgot that they were in a warzone and about to leave everything they knew behind and instead simply accepted the warmth and affection that their pseudo-fathers were giving them.

The moment ended however when the five Rashamon gates surrounding the academy vanished into puffs of smoke and the entire sky was filled with projectiles.

Almost in slow motion Naruto and Sasuke watched and Jiraiya and Orochimaru stood up and threw the both of them into the open portal before turning towards the oncoming balls of fire and forming the snake seal as countless explosions erupted across the village bathing the entire horizon in crimson light.

"OROCHIMARU-SENSEI!"

"JIRAIYA-SENSEI!"

Before they could see any more however the shockwave from the explosion flew through the portal opening and slammed into them, rocketing them away from each other through the white abyss at speeds they had never felt before. A split second later the jutsu finished and twin portals of glistening white light opened up each spitting out a child.

XxX

Naruto and Sasuke spun around and raced towards the rapidly closing portals in front of them only to have them vanish just as they touched their hands. They both fell to their knees and felt tears welling up in their eyes as they realized everything that had just been taken from them, the people they had lost, the home they watched burn to the ground, the world they had been catapulted from.

And as Naruto raised his eyes and looked at the beach he was kneeling on while Sasuke raised his own and noticed that he was amidst a sea of sand the two of them realized that the other was nowhere to be seen...

A thousand miles apart two hands slammed into the ground at the same moment and echoed a pair of cries.

"KUSO!"

XxX

AN: Here's the second draft of chapter 1. Sorry this chapter only had a little actual crossover-ness in it but the next one will have far more. Also I'm going to put translations in these stories, not because I think most people need or even want them but rather because I want to try and make this something that can be read and enjoyed by someone even if they haven't read/watched the relevant source material while still giving it an immersive feeling. For that reason please let me know if any of the imagery was lacking or poorly developed. Also sorry if the end of this is confusing, I didn't mean for it to be so but I wanted to have both of them realize it at the same time. To clarify however they are in fact separated.

Translations:

Suna = Sand, In this case referring to one of the five great villages

Chunin = middle ninja, in this case being a ranking of skill and strength

Shinobi = another word for ninja

ANBU = Shinobi special ops force

Konoha = literal meaning is tree leaves, but often considered to just mean leaf, in this case referring to one of the five great villages

Sharingan = ocular ability of the uchiha clan

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu = Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Fūton: Daitoppa = Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Moeha no Konoha = Burning leaves of Konoha

Teme = Bastard

Dobe = Idiot/ dead last

Iwa = Rock, in this case referring to one of the five great villages

Kyuubi = Nine tails

Yondaime = Fourth

Hokage = Fire Shadow, leader of Konoha

Sandaime = Third

Kumo = cloud, in this case referring to one of the five great villages

Sannin = literally meaning three ninjas, it refers to a group of three extremely powerful and legendary Konoha shinobi

Kami = god

Shodaime = first

Mokuton = wood release

Kanji = type of Japanese lettering

Genin = lower ninja, usually a young academy graduate or very weak ninja.

Sama = a suffix attached to a name or title to denote extreme respect

Doton: Doryūheki = earth release: earth style wall

Chakra = an energy source that is produced when physical energy is blended with spiritual energy within the body.

Hai = yes

Kuchiyose no Jutsu = summoning technique

Kun = suffix often attached to the end of male friends, lovers, or people younger than someone

Jutsu = technique, with regards to the story it is similar to a spell

Taicho = captain

Kuchiyose: Gojū Rashōmon = Summoning: Quintuple Rashomon

Motsure Ban'yū no Sōdaina Gyōretsu = Grand Procession of Entangled Worlds

Kuso = shit

Thanks for reading everyone. Please review, and pm me if you want to discuss anything.