I don't own Naruto

Hidden in Plain Sight Part 1, Act III: The Fires of Hell

With this final act, we close the first part of the journey of Noriko and the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Noriko appeared right in front of him, her entire body pressed tightly against his, and…

She kissed him.

The entire crowd went silent at the sight of the Ice King of Konoha being kissed by the blonde beauty. All of the young women that had been proposed to the Hyuuga in the past had been met with the same coldness that one would expect from an iceberg.

And yet…

There he was, slowly returning the kiss that the blonde Kunoichi was giving him. Clearly enjoying it.

Moments later, Noriko slowly pulled back, her eyes fluttering open, her mouth still slightly open from and she was breathing heavily. There was a slight pink blush running over her face as she gazed into Neji's now opening eyes.

Neji was speechless… No dumbfounded… Oh hell, he didn't know what he was; all he knew was that he really enjoyed that kiss.

With a sigh Noriko, pulled back from Neji's warmth.

Neji was still in shock, frozen in place, he had never kissed a girl that was not from his own family, and even then never on the lips like Noriko had just kissed him.

Noriko giggled, Neji was just standing there, staring with wide blank eyes. She shook her head, smiling softly.

"Men…" she sighed, walking around Neji in a tight circle. "When we finally get to the good part he freezes up."

She shook her head again as she stopped walking in front of him.

"Hokage-sama!" she called out suddenly.

"Hmm…?" was the sighed reply, though if Noriko had been looking at her, she would've seen the huge smile that was now splitting the face of the Hokage.

"It the test still on?"

Tsunade looked at the clock that was counting down the time until the end of the test. "Yes… why?"

"Oh… Nothing…" Noriko said airily, brushing some of her golden blonde hair out of her eyes.

The fox-girl knelt down at Neji's feet and with a few quick movements with her hands, tied his ankles together; then as she stood, she removed his kunai and shuriken. Upon standing at her full height tied his hands together.

The poor man was still too shocked to notice that he was in the process of being hog-tied.

And with the gentle pressure of one finger on his Neji's forehead, Noriko effectively ended the test, sending Neji to the ground in a heap.

And with the thud that Neji made as he hit the ground, the crowd that had gathered erupted into a tumultuous applause.

Noriko couldn't help but smile even wider, Neji had come to right as he hit the ground. He was bewildered, and had no idea how he had ended up in his current predicament, plus he didn't know why his head hurt.

"I may like you Neji-kun, but I am a kunoichi first." Noriko said to Neji, her voice almost consumed by the applause of the crowd, with a coy smile. She turned to the rest of the ANBU saying, "Thanks for the match guys, though I think that you should practice some more…"

With another smile and a flick of her fox-tail she walked over to Tsunade.

The Hokage smiled at the approaching fox girl, taking another package from a waiting attendant. This one was not as big as the previous nor as heavy, but just as special.

No words were spoken as Noriko got closer to Tsunade; the older woman just swept the Noriko up into a huge hug, the package momentarily forgotten, taken from the Hokage by an assistant before it was dropped.

Tsunade spun around, still holding Noriko in her arms, the two of them laughing.

It was times like these that were in short supply during the Leaf-Sound war, times of pure happiness and laughter that would soon become even rarer in times to come.

Putting Noriko down, Tsunade whispered in her ear. "I'm so proud of you No-chan."

Noriko smiled as she released her hold in the Hokage, smiling, the trace of a tear in her eye.

Louder, so that every one could hear, Tsunade announced; "You have done well Noriko, better perhaps, than those around you may have expected…" Tsunade paused for the small ripples of laughter that rolled through the crowd. The ANBU were still in the process of picking themselves off of the ground, several of them seeing the effects of the traps that Noriko had set fro the first time. "And by the power of my title, as your Godaime Hokage, I grant you, Noriko, the position of special Jounin."

The crowd exploded into applause as an ANBU, wearing his hawk, appeared out of no where holding a Jounin vest.

The Hokage took the vest and handed it to Noriko, who took it from the Hokage but didn't put it on.

The entire crowed waited, many holding their breath.

"You do know that there's no way in hell that I'm going to wear this thing right?" Noriko said, completely serious.

Tsunade just shook her head a wry smile on her face as the attendants sweat dropped.

"I figured that No-chan." Tsunade said, taking the vest from Noriko and handing the fox-girl the package. "In fact I planned on it, the vest isn't even your size."

A ripple of laughter flowed through the crowd, as the hawk ANBU took the vest from his leader.

Noriko didn't hear the laughter; her entire attention was now focused on the package in her arms.

I was smaller that the first one, and much lighter, soft to the touch.

Everyone in the audience had gone silent, not a single soul made any noise.

"You're father left it in Sandaime's care for when you became of age." Tsunade whispered so only she and Noriko could hear. "Even though you turned seventeen some time ago, I figured that I'd wait until the truth was revealed before I gave it to you… It would look rather odd for a young man to be wearing a this…"

Tsunade continued to ramble on, but Noriko had stopped listening to her after the first sentence.

Inside the package was a bundle of soft white material, extremely soft to the touch yet, she could tell that was tougher than it looked. And, with a twist of her wrists, Noriko unfurled the cloth.

It was a white cloak, simple, yet elegant. There were gold and crimson flames embroidered all along the bottom dancing up the cloak about to the mid-back, and running down the spine was the character for Kitsune on it in an archaic script and nine golden foxtail embroidered around the character.

Seeing the way that Noriko ran her finger over the character and the tails, the Hokage said, "I had the character and the tails put on there some years ago."

Without a word Noriko whipped the coat around her shoulders and her arms into the sleeves; some of the adults in the crowd gasped, she looked just like the Yondaime, though, minus the fox appendages and the obvious female anatomy.

It is unfortunate that even the most trained Shinobi of any village drops their guard during times of happiness, for no one noticed the two figures deep within the shadows, bearing the image of a boulder split in half on their uniforms, nor their muffled gasps at seeing the Hiraishin being performed once again before their eyes. The jutsu was legendary among the people of Iwagakure no Sato, and the original user, the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, infamous. The two Iwa-nins rushed back to their village to report to the Tsuchikage on the latest development, and most importantly, the return of the Konoha no Kīroi Senkō.

Tsunade, having missed the Iwa-nin like everyone else, turned to her ANBU, most of which were now just waking from the beating that had just been handed to them by a single Kunoichi.

"It seems…" sighed the Gondaime Hokage, her arms crossed under her massive bust. "That the ANBU, my personal guards and the elite warriors of our village have been slacking off in their training."

She looked to Shizune, the young woman had been standing in her shadow during the entire exam. "Do we know the condition of master sergeant Lion?"

The young woman, couldn't help but smile and shake her head, and instead of answering her mentor and teacher, she simply pointed to the edge of the forest.

Everyone followed her finger and watched as two medics emerged from the tree line, carrying a stretcher between them. In the stretcher was what was left of Lion. The man had had both of his arms dislocated and thoroughly broken, it seemed as though Noriko avoided breaking his elbows and fingers, all this including several very large bruises, cuts and other lesions.

Every man winced.

"If anyone tries what he did…" whispered Noriko, leaking enough killing intent to stop a raging bull.

"Now, now No-chan…" admonished Temari, who had gotten up to giver her friend a hug. "Let's play nice with the other children."

A low growl rumbled deep from within the younger woman in front of the Hokage who just laughed and patted her on the head.

And all was well.

A few hours later, sitting in a local restaurant, Noriko was eating a well-deserved meal with her friends, their male counterparts attempting to reverse the affects of Noriko's test. Unlike the other girls around her, Noriko wasn't talking, merely watching them and those in the restaurant.

It felt odd to her that there was no one sending her looks of hate or loathing, instead she was receiving appraising looks from both sexes, keeping a low blush on her cheeks. Unconsciously she kept her hand on her wakizashi as she slowly nibbled off of the grill in the middle of the table.

Temari, sitting to her right, was the only one that noticed her younger friend's withdrawn mood. She put her hand on Noriko's thigh, mouthing to the younger girl, "What's wrong?"

Noriko, shook her head, "Later."

Temari gently squeezed her thigh and continued as though nothing was wrong, ignoring the feeling in her gut that something was very wrong.

Conversation at the table was light, just a bunch of girls talking about trivial things and how those things were going to change with Noriko. The girl in question just sat there listening to them, wary of the watch that Temari was now keeping over her, and filed the conversation away under the numerous things that she had missed out on being disguised as a boy. Though she would never give up her time as "Naruto," there had always been that little something that she knew was missing from her life.

It was not long before they departed the restaurant, Noriko walking toward her apartment, not noticing that Temari was next to her, odd for the usually ever-vigilant Kunoichi.

"So…" said Temari, bringing her friend out of her thoughts and almost out of her battle kimono.

"DON'T DO THAT!" shrieked Noriko.

"I've been walking next to you ever since we left the restaurant, where you barely said anything to our friends." Said the dessert rose as she helped Noriko off of the ground. "Now, are you going to tell me what has been bothering you, or am I going to have to find out by force?"

Noriko didn't say anything at first, "Something bad is about to happen." She said, in a quiet, almost whisper.

Temari stopped at this, normally there was very little that could dim her young friend's outlook.

"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously, not knowing what to expect.

Noriko just shook her head, "I don't really know. Not yet. There's something in the air and Ni-chan agrees with me, something's not right."

Temari had no reply to say to that, she just pulled the younger girl into an embrace and laid her cheek on the top of Noriko's head, her own emotions in turmoil.

Slowly, the fox-girl returned the hug.

"Is there anything that we can do?"

"I… I don't think so."

The two of them stood there for a while, just holding each other.

NEJI

Neji sat in his room at the Hyuuga compound; looking back on Noriko's test and how easily she had defeated him and his fellows…

But his mind kept straying to Noriko herself and his feelings for the fox-girl. What were his feelings and, if he had any and this was not just the influence of hormones, what would he do about them.

It wasn't that hard of a decision to make as he had thought that it would be, he would wait and see what would happen in the coming days. There was no doubt that Noriko held a special place in his heart but what place had yet to be determined.

Heaving a sigh, he got up and went to find his uncle, maybe he would give him advice.

IWAGAKURE NO SATO

Rumors had been flying about the village, the yellow flash had returned to their greatest enemy, Konohagakure. It was the village's worst nightmare come true, after the infamous yellow flash had decimated their forces during the last war the village had come to fear the legend.

The Tsuchikage, sat in his office pouring over the report that his spies in Konohagakure had brought him. A new, or the return, of the Yellow Flash would spell the end of his credibility as a leader and the end of his reign as Kage.

"What am I going to do?" The man asked, looking out over his village the air thick with uncertainty. He knew that if he didn't act soon, the people would call for his removal in favor of someone more willing to combat their greatest enemy, and there was only one way out of the chair of the Tsuchikage…

With a great sigh, he signed the form: Iwagakure no Sato was at war with Konohagakure.

His ever-loyal aid, took the document reverently from his leader's hands with a smile on his face and rushed to deliver it to the Jounin commanders.

If only he knew if he had done the right thing.

KONOHAGAKURE NO SATO

The village was silent as Noriko sat on the head of her Father's image in the Hokage monument, thinking. She knew, somehow, that something was going terribly wrong and that there was nothing that she could do to stop it, the only problem was that she didn't know what it could be. Itachi was dead, as was Orochimaru, Otogakure had been demolished and its people scattered into the winds, who else could be out there that wished her village harm.

She sighed and stood, stretching as the moon began to set in the distance, it was time to go home. She couldn't help but smile, Temari was asleep on her couch and it would be a pain to get back inside without waking the older kunoichi up; there was just something in going home knowing that there was someone who would be waiting for you.

She had no doubt that Temari would awaken as soon as she opened the window to enter her room, but there was nothing that she could do about that. It would be good to spend more time with her first real friend.

Though Noriko would never admit it to anyone, not even herself, but Temari was the reason that she could love another woman, in more than just as a sister. The desert rose understood her better than anyone else ever had or would, something that she was always looking for and desired. Besides, Kyuubi liked the girl, who needed a better endorsement than that?

The only problem was her uncertainty of her feelings for the Hyuuga prodigy. Neji and Hinata had always bee there for her, Neji more so after their initial attempt at the Chuunin Exams, and the two of them had never shied away from being her friend. Neji was desirable, but could she, a free spirit, confine herself to a life beside a stoic Hyuuga, even if she loved him?

She didn't know.

Temari or Neji?

Only time would be able to tell.

She just missed the glint of moonlight off a rider's armor as she came down off of the monument nor the sound of a messenger being dispatched to the now sleeping Hokage.

OFFICE OF THE HOKAGE

It was every Kage's nightmare to receive what she had received: a messenger in the dead of night with a scroll of war. It had been long in coming, thought Tsunade in despair, Noriko had assumed the mantle of the "Konoha no Kīroi Senkō," the Yellow Flash of Konoha, that her father had left behind when he died. Even though they had never explicitly said anything about it, she and her predecessor knew that if another had learned the Hiraishin, Iwa would be sent into panic and eventually they would declare war. The Gondaime sighed, wishing that this hadn't come so soon after the war with sound, Konoha was not prepared with enough forces to hold off an invasion of an entire village right now, especially not one so militaristic as Iwagakure.

She had to admit, the Tsuchikage had been honorable enough to send his intentions, giving them some time to prepare. The current Tsuchikage was not an old war hawk like the last one had been, he was more level minded; Tsunade knew that if he hadn't signed the declaration of war, the Tsuchikage would have been assassinated and another war monger would have come into power and ambushed the unsuspecting Konoha shinobi.

With a movement she had never hoped to use, Tsunade activated the seal on her desk; the invasion alarm began to ring out, within the next hour, the civilians would be evacuated to a safe location in a neighboring village or such, leaving the shinobi to defend the home without worrying about collateral damage to the civilians themselves.

Tsunade pulled a map of the village and the surrounding lands from her bottom drawer and began to plan their defense as she waited for her tacticians to arrive.

NORIKO

As soon as the first sound of the alarm had gone off, Noriko and Temari were on their feet weapons in hand.

Noriko's eyes widened as she realized that the feeling in her gut was getting worse; it was right.

Temari looked at Noriko in confusion, there was no such system in Sunagakure.

"Invasion." Noriko answered the unasked question, getting dressed and grabbing her father's sword.

Temari's eyes widened as well had she realized what was happening, Konoha was in serious trouble and there was very little that she could do to help them. Sure she could fight for them, and she would, but if this were a full-scale invasion, then she would die fighting for this village.

Strangely, that did not disturb her as much as she thought it should. She would fight, and she would die to protect Konoha, Gaara would have done the same. Did she not love this village as her own? Would she not fight for the people of this village, her friends, her loved ones, for Noriko, as the girl had once fought and almost died for her and her village.

Steeling herself for what was to come, Temari grabbed her fan from the wall next to the door.

"Let's go." Was all she said.

Tsunade had not bothered to give them a speech, the look in her eyes said enough, and what had not been said was spoken for by the history of bad blood between Iwagakure and Konohagakure. There would be no prisoners, no mercy; it was an "us or them" moment. Thankfully the most powerful of Konoha's shinobi had been in the village for Noriko's test earlier that day and had ample time to recuperate their chakra.

So there they stood, on the ramparts of the wall, the "Rookie Nine" as they were sometimes still called, Lee, Gai, Tenten, Neji, Kakashi, several ANBU and Noriko with Temari by her side, overlooking the oncoming army.

Iwagakure was not know for their stealth, but their prowess in battle, there was no need, or way, to hide any army of this size, the early sun glinting off of their weapons and armor. In the center, on a great chariot, stood the mighty Tsuchikage, looking like a man who had already conquered the village in front of him.

There was no point in sending out a messenger to meet the oncoming force, is would simply be a waste of a good soldier.

Like there was an invisible wall, the Iwagakure pooled around the village leaving a great open field.

And before anyone could act, there was a great cry from several voices "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

With a great explosion of chakra smoke the open field was lined with an assortment of summoned creatures; dogs, frogs, slugs, weasels carrying scythes, and thousands of foxes of various sizes.

And, without warning, Iwa charged.

IN THE MIDST OF BATTLE

It was obvious that they, Konoha, was not going to win this war, from the very beginning, they were doomed, even the strength of the Kyuubi was not enough to turn the tide.

Soon the call to retreat to within the walls of the village was sounded, and even those would not hold out for long.

Noriko looked at her friends, they were all breathing hard, even the lazy Shikamaru, some were bleeding, Choji had been stabbed in the stomach by several Iwa katana, the medics doubted that he would live to see the next few hours. Lee was cradling a broken arm and Gai was missing.

The only who looked unscathed was Temari, and that was only because she had been fighting alongside Noriko, and the fox girl had taken care of anyone who had attempted to attack one of her blind spots.

They were all breathing hard, scared and broken shells of the shinobi that they had been, it hurt Noriko to see them like this, these people where her friends, whether they knew it or not, and it was supposed to be her job to protect them.

Noriko, sighed and rested her head against the wall to her back, closing her eyes waiting for the next wave of attacks.

Tsunade, who was wishing that she could be down at the walls, helping her village fight off the Iwa advance was stuck in a make-shift command post, listening to two, hysterical, yet pompous council members; both of whom were trying to control the Konoha forces.

"We must attack them!" shouted the one on the right, his squat face flushed with anger.

"They will not be expecting it!" shrieked the woman to the left. "If we attack we can finish off the Iwagakure vermin!"

It had been going on for the last half hour and Tsunade was growing tired of it.

"Will you shut up." Hissed the Hokage, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

The two council members, sputtered in indignation, they had never been spoken to like this before, not even the great Sandaime dared.

"I am in control of this army. The council has no power of the shinobi of the village, never has, I have been content to let you have your rope; now you have hung yourself."

With a wave of her hand, a two jounin appeared in the room.

"I ordered the evacuation of all civilians, these two have disobeyed. Arm them; in not evacuating they have expressed a desire to fight for their village. Ensure that they do not escape from their new duties."

The two jounin, smirked at the thought, and quickly dragged the two council members away, ignoring their screams of outrage and attempts at overruling the Hokage.

Iwa continued their attack the next dawn, continuously throwing themselves at the walls with grim efficiency and abandon and the great gate that locked the village from the outside would not hold much longer.

Noriko could only watch in horror as Lee fell, utterly destroyed by the Iwa jutsu; Ino rushed to the body of her beloved, slaughtering any and all Iwa shinobi standing in her way only to be cut down herself as she scooped Lee's body into her arms.

This is what she had feared, in the deepest part of her mind, her greatest strength was also her greatest weakness: her loved ones.

Sadly, Lee and Ino were not the last.

Tenten, in her grief in the passing of Choji earlier that night, threw herself into the battle only to be felled by an enemy ANBU.

Shikamaru never made it off of the wal; Iwa archers had killed him, along with dozens of others.

A loud crack split the air, the battle stopped and every shinobi, Iwa and Konoha alike stared.

The gate of Konohagakure had fallen.

Even though Iwa's forces were dwindling, they pushed on into the village.

THAT NIGHT

Somehow, the Konoha forces had pushed Iwa out, and were trying to recover their defenses. They were a small band of ragtag shinobi now, their former glory lost and the resolve gone.

Tsunade gazed over the last bits of her forces in agony, she had been forced to fight when Iwa had breached the walls and was paying for it in spades. A traitorous mixture of her jewel regeneration and being pierced by several Iwa spears had almost killed her; there was nothing that she could do.

Slowly, she called forth one of her loyal slugs.

"If I fall," the Gondaime said softly, so as not demoralize the remainder of her forces. "Initiate phoenix."

The eyes of the slug widened, phoenix was the standard Konoha operation should the village ever become compromised, when initiated, seals that had been created in the foundations of the village itself would destroy the Hokage Mountain and tower, the clan districts, and the library, forever preserving the secrets of the leaf.

Iwagakure knew what they were doing, a standard three day siege. Gauge the opponents, get in and demoralize, then finish the job.

Only after Iwa had retreated did they realize the scope of the damage left in the wake. Iwa had destroyed the makeshift hospitals and the actual one; Noriko had dug in the ruins only to find Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke dead, crushed when the building fell. Sasuke was only there bringing injured comrades back alive from the battle. Kiba, Kakashi, Shino and several other ANBU and the jounin sensei had vanished into the fray, in the direction of the Tsuchikage.

Noriko sat in between Neji and Temari, the last of her precious people to live, and even they were not without their wounds; Neji had lost one of his precious eyes and Temari was covered in burns.

Iruka had been with the civilians when they were evacuated, he had been deemed one of the few to protect the true heart of the village in a time of crisis, the one thing that Noriko had thought that the council had gotten right in their entire time of existing.

Some had thought it odd that they had not heard from Jiraiya during the entire invasion, but Noriko knew that he would not get there in time. In truth, she didn't want him to come, even though he was a sannin, even he couldn't turn the tide of this invasion.

'There's really not much that we can do about this kit…' came the haunting voice of the Kyuubi, intruding into her host's thought.

'I know that…' came the quiet reply from Noriko, 'but I have to help them. This is my home.'

'You know that I will have to take steps to ensure your happiness? Even if it means using for force.'

Without a reply to Kyuubi, Noriko stood, griping her sword and began walking to the destroyed gate.

"wha…?" came from all around her.

With a flourish, Noriko spun, drawing her sword and holding it above her head, the now rising sun glinting off of the polished blade, it looked like liquid fire.

"We make our stand, not as cowering rats, but like true Konoha shinobi, our will of fire burns greatly within our hearts." She said in a loud voice, booming over the village and into the Iwa camps, her friends watching her, awed, by her presence and conviction. "Though we may fall, we shall make them, and all the world remember us. To remember why we died, a hope for our loved ones; that they may live and be free. Let them quake and huddle, sheer terror gripping tight their hearts with icy fingers, knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered at the hands of Konoha. The enemy outnumber us a paltry ten to one; good odds for any shinobi. Give thanks my friends! To Konoha and her brave shinobi! TO VICTORY!"

With her last cry, she turned and raced toward the Iwa camp, the last bits of the Konoha shinobi right on her heals.

This was the end.

When stories would be told of this final battle, all around the world, Noriko's speech inspired and brought hope to the oppressed and broken. The Konohagakure shinobi had become what Orochimaru could not and what Iwagakure had hoped to prevent: immortal. For they, those precious few, would be remembered until the end of time in the hearts of all people, their sacrifice would be the end of the feuding between villages, and the safety of millions.

Whatever the Tsuchikage had been expecting from the Konoha shinobi, a final charge had not been amongst his speculations, and by gauging the reactions that his forces had, they were not either; the Konohan last stand was upon them before they had even had a chance to get ready. The guards were dead before they even had a chance to sound what little alarm was needed. Within a few seconds the odd had almost evened but the Iwa-nins had regained their advantage.

Shinobi, on both sides of the battle field, were dropping like flies. Temari was blasting her opponents with all of her strength, Neji struck with deadly accuracy closing the tenketsu that would cause an instant death, and Noriko was vanishing ad reappearing in flashes of gold, killing as many opponents as she could with the fewest strikes. Tsunade, though fading fast, was decimating the few who dared to challenger her; in the back of her mind, she didn't know how much longer she could keep her seal activated.

It was all for naught.

Soon, the last few Konoha shinobi were sounded; Noriko, Neji, Temari, as barely standing Tsunade, two mortally wounded jounin and a chuunin. Neji was suffering from extreme chakra exhaustion and he was bleeding all over his body. Temari, suffering from all of her burns, was failing as well, her arms could no longer swing her great battle fan with the gusto that she had once bee known for and had resolved herself to use everything else in her inventory.

Noriko could see the pain in their eyes, and could feel her own.

The Tsuchikage approached them, his eyes alight, gripping his own katana; thought he had lost most if not all of his men, those that remained formed this circle, he had won, done the impossible: he had razed Konoha.

"Give up." Was all that the Tsuchikage said. "You have lost, die with what little honor you have left."

With a snarl, Neji leapt at the kage, his Byakugan blazing and chakra erupting from his fingertips, the chuunin and jounin leaping at the shinobi making up the circle, intent on making a hole for their Hokage. Without changing his expression, the Tsuchikage removed Neji's head from his shoulders, the arterial gush ruining his formerly immaculate robes; Neji's head rolled to a stop before Noriko, his lifeless eyes staring up at her.

"No…" gasped Noriko, tear brimming in her eyes.

The Tsuchikage smiled at the apparent breaking of the kunoichi in front of him, everything had come together; though he doubted initially the viability of the plan, he knew that it was all for the best.

What he didn't count on was that he was facing a Jinchūriki nor that he had killed one of the people that this Jinchūriki loved.

Without warning, Noriko leapt that the Tsuchikage, her own sword flashing, Kyuubi's chakra bursting out of her.

It took everything that the Tsuchikage had to block the strike aimed at his neck and even then, he was forced back by the sheer ferocity of the attack.

The two of them fought with all of their might, ignoring last few sparks of fighting that was happening around them.

Attack.

Parry.

Block.

Counterattack.

Attack.

And such it continued without pause.

Noriko fighting for her love and the Tsuchikage fighting for dominance.

There was no clear better swordsman, just a need to win. The Tsuchikage's eyes mocked her in her grief, his smirk infuriated and his very existence insulted.

Kyuubi could only watch the battle from deep within Noriko's mind, her chakra healing the minor wounds that the Tsuchikage scored, racking her mind to find an escape for Noriko, ensuring her happiness.

With a final twanging, Noriko cut through the Tsuchikage's, rending the man in half, from his head to his groin, his expression set forever in a grim smirk. The two halves of a once proud man fell to the ground with a small 'thump.'

There was no more sound on that field of death.

No clashing of shinobi, no wind, no sun, nothing.

Though she knew that she would regret it, Noriko looked behind her back, with sadness she could see the now fallen Tsunade, her all-but mother, and the bodies of her fellow Konoha shinobi and their blood that colored the field.

She couldn't look at Neji's body, it was too painful, the very thought that he was dead did not compute in her mind.

From the silence, there was a gasp of pain.

Noriko whirled to see the dying Temari on her back only a few feet away. In an instant, Noriko was beside her friend, cradling her to her chest.

"… Did we… win…?" gasped Temari in pain, her life blood pooling on to Noriko.

Though tears were rolling out of her eyes, Noriko smiled and nodded, fighting back sobs.

Temari smiled, her hand reaching up to cup the fox-girl's cheek, Noriko grasping it in her own hands, nuzzling it with her cheek.

"I wish… I… wish… that we h-had… had more, t-t-time…"

"We do!" chocked out Noriko, holding on to Temari like a lifeline. "We have all the time in the world. I-I-I can help! I'll heal you!"

Temari shook her head. "No. I-I-I-I'm dying, an-and there's nothing… you can do."

"I-I can't loose you t-t-t-t-too."

"You'll never lose me, No-No-chan." Temari's voice was growing softer. "Y-y-you'll always have me i-i-in your heart."

This time, Noriko didn't hold back her sob.

A wry smile crossed Temari's face.

"I… I l-love you, No… Noriko."

Kyuubi could feel Noriko's heart breaking as she heard those words, her own along with it; it steeled her resolve and the fox demon began to gather her yokai, her demonic chakra; only it would do what she needed to do, an act against the very gods.

"I-I-I-I love y-y-you t-too Tem..ari-chan." Sobbed Noriko, holding Temari even closer to her chest, kissing the kunoichi's bloodied forehead.

With a beatific smile on her face, Temari died, her hand falling from the fox-girl's cheek into the dust.

It broke Noriko.

She looked to the heavens and howled in pain and despair.

A howl that was heard all over the world, sending shivers down the spines of men and women alike, no had heard such a mournful sound before, and hoped to never hear it again. In the time when all of enemies had been neutralized, Konohagakure had fallen.

With a heavy heart, Noriko stood, still holding Temari's broken body, as several summoned foxes appeared all around her.

Without a command, the Kitsune began to separate Konoha shinobi from the Iwa and began to bury the fallen leaves; the Hokage, the rookie nine, and Noriko's friends next to each other. The Iwa-nins were burned in a great pile some distance away from the remainder of Noriko's home, the black smoke pillar a testament to the atrocities that had occurred.

Noriko turned toward Sunagakure, intent on bringing Temari home; as she left, larger Kitsune, accompanied by toads, and slugs raised a new memorial stone one which was a likeness of Noriko and her blade, her speech boldly displayed for all time with the people that meant so much the fox-girl on the reverse.

SUNAGAKURE

Gaara was worried, when he had heard of the battle at Konoha, he had not heard anything from his sister. Sadly, by the time that he heard of the invasion, it was already too late and eh knew it. If Temari had gotten out of the village she would have made it back to Suna long ago, and if she had survived the siege, there would have been a message; even if she had fallen, something would have come to him by now.

For the first time since the death of the Akatsuki, Gaara worried.

He of course knew Noriko's secret, the two of them were so alike in many ways there was nothing that they hadn't shared with each other, Noriko's secret gender or Gaara's deep-seated fear of Namahage, boogey men. The two of them had spent many an evening in Suna and Konoha alone just talking, there were no boundaries between them, Gaara knew that Noriko would struggle over her love for both the stoic Hyuuga, whose name escaped him, and his sister. Temari would be safe with Noriko.

He hoped.

He was about to get up from his desk and look out his window, down upon his village, when his aid came bursting through his door.

"Kazekage-sama! You must come quick!"

Gaara didn't question, didn't say anything, he only followed the frantic aid to the gates that led to his village, wondering what could cause such a commotion. The entirety of his shinobi and kunoichi were here, his brother, Kankuro, included.

Upon his arrival, Kankuro raised one arm to point into the distant dessert.

Gaara followed, leveling his gaze into the distance,

A pillar of black smoke was rising on the horizon and through the haze was a figure.

As the figure drew closer, Gaara could tell that, whoever it was, they were carrying a body, wrapped in a white cloth of some kind. As the person drew closer, the sun glinted off the walker's blonde hair.

Gaara's heart sank.

Either it was his sister, bringing the news of Noriko's death and her body, or Noriko bringing Temari home to rest. And though he hated to admit it, Gaara knew, he knew that it was the latter. No Jinchūriki could ever dream to hold off an entire village on their own, even one as strong as Noriko and Kyuubi were.

Tears rolled down Gaara's face as Noriko enter the village, those who had crowed the entrance parting to allow her through, saying nothing. They followed Noriko as she passed them, Gaara and his brother the first among them, their faces solemn in their grief.

No one noticed the storm clouds gathering over the village as Noriko passed, the silent procession of Suna shinobi behind her.

Finding her way to just outside the village, Noriko watched as the rock and sand moved of its own accord, leaving a suitable grave for her the loved one in her arms.

Gently, Noriko laid Temari in the grave, placing one last kiss on her forehead and stood, watching in grim fascination as the rock closed over her fellow blonde.

Noriko could feel Kyuubi finishing her preparations as rain began to fall.

The Sunagakure shinobi watched, rain blurring their vision, as a tall tombstone rose from where Temari had been laid to rest, the rain water making the inscription all the easier to read.

With a wry, sad smile, Noriko read aloud the inscription:

Let all the world remember,

The greatest sacrifice of love,

Given from Wind and Sand to

Fire and leaf

Without warning, Noriko was encased in blue light, Kyuubi had defied the gods, and she vanished, her last words could be heard on whispering winds

"Good-bye Gaara… take care of your village for me."

END

Author's note:

There you have it, the end of Hidden in Plain Sight Part 1, after almost three years here it is.

I figured that it was time to get over the feelings that were left over when Noriko left and put forth the work that you see here. I'm not sorry if it doesn't live up to your expectations, but for the next part to make any sort of sense, it had to end this way, and Noriko (Naruto) had to loose everything and everyone. If you wonder about the yuri aspect of the end… it will make more sense in part 2.

Until next time readers:

Aengus