ooo000ooo

Chapter 20

Ware wo ai suru shura

A self-loving carnage

What is the son but an extension of the father. – Frank Herbert, Dune

ooo000ooo

Present Day

: :Hattori Clan Grounds, Konohagakure: :

Chidori was in Kakashi's hand before he realized what he was doing. He slipped into a fugue state, mind focused on one thing.

"One Uchiha down, five to go!" Orochimaru mocked from his position on the wall. He pulled Kusanagi from what was left of the wards.

Jiraya stared at his former teammate in disbelief. Despite everything that Orochimaru had done, Jiraya was still surprised to hear such callous cruelty from the boy he'd grown up with. Tsunade had always been wary of him, but Jiraya had been determined to see the best in his teammate, ever since they were children. He'd always held out hope that he'd find a way to return Orochimaru to the village, that he wouldn't just be another orphan gone mad because of his loss. It was yet another failure of Jiraya's that he'd never been able to save him.

"What's wrong now Jiraya?" Orochimaru hissed and swung Kusanagi. "Afraid?"

Jiraya stepped forward to fight, then stopped himself. In the blink of an eye he stepped aside as Kakashi body flickered and slammed Chidori straight into the chest of a stunned Orochimaru.

The Sharingan spun wildly as Orochimaru went down, already turning towards the battlefield to find the king of serpents. Lightning flashed as Kakashi launched into the battle, the Sharingan pinging off Manda and Naruto's sun-like chakra.

Jiraya watched Orochimaru collapse, a fist sized hole in his chest from Kakashi's attack. For the first time, he felt nothing at the sight of his former teammate.

Orochimaru choked on whatever he tried to say, blood leaking from his mouth, nose and ears. Beyond saving in every way Jiraya realized and didn't bother to summon the medic-nins. They would have refused to treat him anyway.

"I hope you found some kind of happiness old friend. Somewhere." Jiraya offered, then he turned away and headed for the battlefield to help Kakashi wreak vengeance.

ooo000ooo

Jiraya caught up with Kakashi as he reached Naruto and they both stumbled at the sight of the boy's tearstained face as he sobbed over Iruka's body.

Manda thrashed, still trying to dislodge Iruka's sword. His huge body causing immense amounts of damage to anything in its path as it twisted. Sasuke was nearby, working his way towards them.

Minato joined them, covered in blood and grime and an expression of rage on his face neither Jiraya or Kakashi had ever seen when he saw Naruto and Iruka.

Gamabunta, summoned earlier by Naruto, landed near them, broken sword in hand. "A great loss," he offered and looked honestly sad.

Lightning struck, the Chidori in Kakashi's hand growing to epic proportions fueled by the Sharingan. All four of them turned towards Manda as the serpent finally managed to dislodge the sword.

"What do you say we rip this bastard to pieces," Jiraya growled.

"It will be a pleasure," Gamabunta murmured and let out a battle cry.

"Please try," Manda purred, "I'll enjoy eating all of you and then the Uchiha's precious sun."

Before any of them could move, two figures blurred past them. Kakashi heart lodged in his throat as they stopped in front of them.

Uchiha Fugaku and Hatake Sakumo didn't bother to look back, their eyes pinned on Manda. Swords drawn, in the simple black uniforms of the Hanta. Fugaku's Mangekon Sharingan evolved into a three tomoe rinnegan. Lightning danced along Sakumo's blade.

"Take Iruka to the medics." Fugaku instructed.

They stared at them in stunned silence.

Sakumo smiled, but he still didn't look back. "Go. We can take care of Manda."

Jiraya, Minato and Kakashi were still too stunned to move but Gamabunta was not. "Done!" He boomed and his tongue swept out, catching Jiraya, Minato, Kakashi, Naruto and Iruka's body in one sweep and sent them flying through the air towards the triage area.

Gamabunta turned back to Manda and the two shinobi facing him. "I will assist you."

Fugaku and Sakumo nodded and then all three of them attacked.

ooo000ooo

"Holy shit!" Genma screamed when he saw first what was coming through the air, "CATCH THEM!"

By some miracle, and a dozen shinobi, they did and Raido and two chunin laid Iruka's body out in front of the newly returned Tsunade. Jiraya joined her, as Minato kept Kakashi and Naruto from interfering. "It's Manda's poison."

"He's gone," Tsunade realized, summoning Katsuyu. Nothing short of a resurrection would bring him back, but she didn't have the chakra anymore and Kabuto had used the last of his supplies to let her resurrect those in the coffins.

In a flash of smoke and leaves a young woman appeared. She wore a white yukata, an apron around her waist and recognition came through Kakashi's fogged mind. Ramen.

Naruto turned to her, "Ayame-chan?"

"Whoa." Genma muttered when he actually looked at her. She was covered in blood, not hers though, he couldn't see a single injury on her. Her hair was mused and she was breathing hard like she'd been in a fight. She had a knife in one hand and a still beating human heart in the other. "Is that?"

"For Iruka." She breathed.

Several pieces of Katsuyu inched forward and surrounded Iruka's body. "The poison must be removed first, or it will ruin the new heart. We will suck it out."

Tsunade's shoulders sagged, "Thank you Katsuyu."

They set to work and Ayame set the heart into Tsunade's hands. She had just enough chakra to keep it alive.

"Is it working?" Naruto demanded. Minato gently shushed him.

"I need-" Tsunade started and Kabuto appeared in a cloud of smoke opposite her. "Never mind. Do you have enough chakra?"

He nodded, pushed his glasses up his nose with blood stained hands. "Yes, just keep the heart alive." And then he used one of his chakra knives and cut open Iruka's chest.

Naruto flinched and Kakashi and Minato both moved to block his view. Battle hardened shinobi or not, Naruto didn't need to see his most precious person's heart taken out.

It was black with poison, rotted and dead and Kakashi had to force himself not to look away. Jiraya took the bad heart and ignited it with a katon, burning it until nothing was left but ash. The pieces of Katsuyu started to turn black and his stomach roiled at the thought of how much poison had been in Iruka's body.

Finally Katsuyu's pieces moved away. "It is done." They turned to Tsunade. "We must go now. To heal for as long as possible until you need us again, Tsunade-sama."

"Thank you Katsuyu." The slugs nodded and dissipated into smoke and faded away. Tsunade placed the beating heart into Iruka's chest, careful to keep two fingers pushing life chakra into it as Kabuto sewed it into place.

"Move back," Kabuto instructed, pushing to his feet. His hands moved with blurring speed through symbols as chakra gathered around him. Tsunade and Jiraya stepped back and watched with the rest as he pushed a pillar of chakra into Iruka's body and it started to knit itself back together.

The Hyuuga clan arrived, following Neji. The entire clan in battle dress. Kakashi had never seen that before.

Neji rushed forward when he saw Iruka's body. "What happened?" And Kakashi was sure he wasn't the only one who suddenly remembered that Neji had once been Iruka's student too.

"Manda's poison killed him, but do not fear MY DEAR STUDENT! Through the great efforts of our Hokage and her summons and Kabuto-san and this woman I do not know he will be saved!" Gai declared, a gentle hand on Neji's shoulder.

"What can we do?" Hiashi interrupted.

"Our medic-nin are getting bogged down trying to defend the triage area and treat the wounded. Take up guard positions and make sure none of those demons get through." Tsunade ordered.

Hiashi turned to his clan, "Make a wall!" They leapt to obey. He turned back to Tsunade, "Will he survive?"

"He's already dead," Tsunade admitted, "We're trying to bring him back."

A huge spider leapt towards the triage area. The Hyuuga rushed forward but Uchiha Mikoto, wielding two fuma shuriken larger then herself, reached the spider first and slammed into its back with her weaponry. The spider died in pieces, covering Mikoto in blood and gore.

She turned to the Hyuuga, seemingly unbothered by the blood dripping down her face, "Are you going to fight or not?"

Kakashi wasn't the only person staring at her in disbelief. She glanced briefly at Iruka, a flash of concern in her eyes before she returned to the battlefield, a giant shuriken in each hand.

"She's supposed to be dead!" One of the medi-nin shrieked in disbelief.

"Not now," Tsunade snarled.

There were more of them Kakashi realized. Dozens of Uchiha, Inuzuka and Aburame whose names were inscribed on the memorial stone or on mission reports locked away in the depths of the Hokage's Tower archive.

Koharu and Homura appeared, closing on Tsunade, their faces red with rage. "Do you realize what you've done?" Homura shrieked.

"What I needed too," Tsunade responded and two newly resurrected Uchiha appeared in a flash of smoke and leaves, blocking their path to Iruka and Kabuto. Kakashi shared a look with Jiraya. What had Tsunade done?

Unnoticed by the rest of them, Minto straightened suddenly, eyes turning towards the far edge of the Forest of Death. He slid away in a flash.

"They're going to save the village!" Naruto declared, stepping forward to Tsunade's side, "And they're going to stop whatever crazy plan you have to take over!"

Homura snarled, started forwards towards Naruto and Tsunade, but before he could Hiashi, Neji and Hanabi stepped in front of them. Hinata and Konohamaru arrived seconds later from the battlefield, having sensed the arrival of the Hyuuga at the battle.

"You will surrender now, or you will face the might of the Hyuuga clan." Hiashi declared. Every breathing Hyuuga no matter how old or young was ready to fight. "We will not show you mercy after what you have done. From this moment on," Hiashi pitched his voice high so everyone could hear, "The Uchiha, the Inuzuka, the Aburame, any member of the Rookie 11 and the Hanta and Uzumaki Naruto are under the protection of the Hyuuga Clan and anyone who tries to harm them will face the full might of the Byakugan."

Tears burned is Hinata's eyes. "Father!"

"Yes!" Konohamaru cheered, unbelievably relieved that Hinata's family had not abandoned her in the end.

"How dare you!" Homura roared.

"You monster!" Hanabi yelled back. "We'll destroy you for what you've done!"

"I'll wipe you out just like we did with the Uchiha!" Homaru cried and used his chakra to summon a wave of demons.

Before anyone could react Hinata leapt between the Hyuuga Clan and the demons.

"Hinata!" Naruto screamed, he leapt forward. Sasuke abandoned the battlefield to help. They both raced to help her but it wasn't needed.

Hinata's chakra roared to life, the twin skulls appeared around her fists as she formed the hand signals for her new shielding technique. A huge flaming skull appeared around her and spread, surrounding the Hyuuga and the triage area. The demons slammed into it and burst into flame, burning away into nothing. Naruto and Sasuke reached her, but instead of fighting, they each placed a hand on her shoulder and pumped their chakra into her, so she could amp up the shield even more. It grew and grew, the flames burning brighter and brighter. A beacon.

"Lady Hinata!" Ami, watching with the rest of the clan in amazement as Hinata's shield spread to cover the entire wall and the shinobi holding off the demons.

"Defense!" Shikimaru roared at the rest of the Rookie 11 and sprinted across the field from all directions to protect Hinata.

A huge serpent headed straight for Hinata, only to be cut into pieces by Temari's fan as she, Gaara and Kankuro teleported in front of Hinata. "We'll protect her!" Temari yelled to Shikimaru as the rest of the Rookie 11 rushed towards them. "Go fight!"

The Rookie 11 paused, turned to Shikimaru. The Hyuuga advanced beyond Hinata's shield and formed a wall on either side of the Sand Siblings. Temari met his eyes, nodded and smirked. "Go fight Shikimaru."

He nodded, message received. He was going to marry that woman someday, he thought. "Be safe!" And then he and the rest of the Rookie 11 disappeared into the fray.

"Okay," Kiba admitted to Shino as they rejoined the fight, "I like her now." The Aburame heir grinned behind his coat and released his insects in a wave.

Hiashi turned to Neji, Naruto and Sasuke. "Go." All three turned to him in disbelief. "We will give Hinata our chakra. You are needed on the battlefield."

"It's okay," Hinata added to reassure them.

"You're sure?" Naruto asked, just in case.

Hinata nodded and smiled, "They won't get passed us." She promised.

Naruto turned back to Iruka, watching as Kabuto continued to pour chakra into his still lifeless body. Even Naruto could feel Kabuto's impressive chakra reserves beginning to wane.

Tsunade stood by, helpless, her own chakra gone and Katsuyu still too weakened by Manda's poison. None of the other medi-nin were skilled or powerful enough to take over and if Kabuto's chakra ran out before the process was complete there wouldn't be a chance to try again.

Suddenly lightning filed the sky and began to strike all over the battlefield. Kakashi could just barely make out his father's figure, surrounded by demons and calling down the lighting. Each strike powerful enough to take out a handful at once.

Itachi, Obito and Fugaku arrived from different directions, immediately joining Kabuto over Iruka's body. They started to pour their own chakra into his healing jutsu. Their raw power was overwhelming, but focused. Kakashi used the sharingan and he could see their chakra narrowing down to pinpoints as it targeted the damage to Iruka's body and stitched the new heart into his chest.

It took an agonizing few seconds, Kakashi's heartbeat started to pick up as panic set in. It hadn't occurred to him that they wouldn't be able to bring Iruka back but now he was starting to worry.

The demons had noticed the immense chakra signature and were moving in mass towards the triage area. Hinata's shield could only hold for so long. A stray lightning strike suddenly hit the ground next to Fugaku. A second later, a second, smaller strike hit Iruka's body and it twitched violently. The four attempting to heal him stopped and Kakashi watched, heart lodged in his throat, as Iruka's eyes fluttered open.

Naruto and Sasuke both let out relieved sobs and rushed forward as Itachi and Obito pulled Iruka to his feet.

Sakumo arrived, lighting still dancing along his katana. He moved to Fugaku's side.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto wailed and hugged the teacher as hard as he could. Sasuke visibly struggled to get his own emotions under control, but he failed as all of them turned to Fugaku.

For a moment Kakashi forgot the battle and watched Fugaku and his sons set eyes on one another again for the first time in over a decade. Obito, Iruka, Itachi and Sasuke all looked heartbrokenly lost. Kabuto hovered at their side and Naruto stared openly at Fugaku, eyes wide.

For a second Kakashi thought he saw a flash of emotion across Fugaku's face but it quickly disappeared as Fugaku turned away from his sons. "The fight isn't over yet. Get back to the battlefield."

Kakashi had never seen his father make that expression before, torn halfway between annoyance and fondness as he shook his head at Fugaku.

Iruka and Obito both looked like they were about to argue, but Itachi pulled them both back towards the battle.

Naruto looked torn, he clearly wanted to say something but he also didn't want to leave Iruka's side. Kabuto had a definite air of disapproval but he followed as well, gently pulling Sasuke along.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Sakumo spoke. "You know it's alright to be happy to see them."

Fugaku glanced at him, "Now is not the time."

Sakumo sighed, "It's always the time, Fu."

There was some significance to the nickname, judging by the way Fugaku tensed at its use. "My feelings for my family belong to them and them alone. No one else, 'Mo."

Kakashi had never, ever heard someone call his father that, but it didn't seem to bother Konoha's White Fang, who simply smiled in response and gently touched Fugaku's shoulder. "You just don't want people to know you can smile."

Fugaku growled and teleported back to the battlefield.

Sakumo didn't look surprised at all as he turned to look at Kakashi. "Somethings never change."

Kakashi's mouth opened and closed but nothing came out. This was different than saying good-bye to his father's ghost. The man who'd shaped Kakashi's life was standing in front of him, heart beating, bleeding from several small wounds, and smiling at him the way he had every day when he'd picked Kakashi up from the Academy.

Sakumo's smile didn't waver when Kakashi couldn't speak and he teleported back to the battle and left Kakashi and the rest of the line staring at the place where he'd been.

Hiashi turned to the Hyuuga Elders, but before he could speak they had already stepped forward.

Ebi, the oldest, spoke. "We will power Hinata's shield. We are too old to be of much use in a fight like this." The other elders behind him nodded and Hiashi memorized who had come with Ebi and who hadn't. If they lost a single member in this battle, he would visit vengeance on those who had stayed behind. Better yet, he would give them to Tsume and let her nin-kin use them as chew toys.

He joined Hanabi on the line. He would not disappoint his children again.

"Fan out," Temari snapped, fan at the ready as Kankuro's puppets crushed a serious of small demons trying to sneak past them. Garra headed straight into the battle, his sand gathering around him. "No more than an arm's length between anyone. Don't let anything through!"

A resounding, unified response that Hiashi realized he'd never heard from his clan before, "Hai!"

ooo000ooo

Present Day

: :Hattori Clan Compound Gates, Konohagakure: :

The battle lasted for hours, through the night and well into the next morning. Konoha's first and second lines broke once in the middle of the night and managed to reform quickly, but by noon they'd been pushed back several blocks, towards the heart of the village. The Hokage's Tower had crumbled under an onslaught despite the best efforts of several Inuzuka and Aburame shinobi. Shibi had called it a lost cause and told them not to bother holding it. Buildings could be rebuilt he'd snapped and eventually the dead were going to stop coming back to life, so they might as well stop adding names to the Memorial Stone.

A squad of jounin were wiped out by a large, lightning fast salamander like creature and Kakashi had to send three squads of ANBU to track down the demons that made it through before they could fill the gap. Every civilian in the village had been evacuated to shelters and the Academy students and Genin ranked shinobi guarded the shelters. They were already suffering casualties and Kakashi knew at least two genin had earned promotions they wouldn't live to see.

The entirety of the Yamanaka were putting their clan's technique to use to keep everyone up to date and they'd managed a phenomenal response times because of it. It had saved more than a few lives, but even with it, chakra exhaustion had already struck half their force. The most effective way to fight the demons were heavily chakra based jutsus and Kakashi had caught glimpses of Kikyo and Tsume using what looked like concentrated blasts of pure chakra. The Uchiha shunko seemed to wrap the body in a skintight armor of chakra, making the simplest of blows deadly, but it was draining. The mass of Uchiha chakra was, admittedly very slowly, weakening.

The Uchiha had called on their Susanoo hours ago, when the demons had pushed them back another block. The deafening crack of chakra and the rise of the giant avatars over the battlefield had scared every shinobi on the first and second lines. There had never been so many summoned at one time before, but instead of using them offensively, the Uchiha had placed the Susanoo in strategic locations throughout the village, using them to prevent the demons from flanking either end of the line. Iruka's Susanoo, identical to Itachi's, was the only exception. He'd had to summon it back after Kabuto and the others resurrected him and it had folded itself back into the same position it had been in for the last twenty-years, kneeling over the Uchiha Compound. Kakashi had realized that it wasn't the wards that had kept intruders out, it had been Iruka's Susanoo, relying on its summoners feelings toward whoever was trying to gain access. Naruto and the Rookie 11 could come and go as they pleased, but the ANBU squad occasionally sent to test the wards was blasted in different directions all over the village.

Kakashi was dangerously close to chakra exhaustion and had switched to taijutsu around sunrise. So had every jounin that was decently confident in their skill and many who weren't. Gai, true to his word, had remained out of the fight, but his booming voice called out encouragement and guidance every few minutes. A jounin Kakashi had worked with once, years ago, had been blinded by a demon spider's web and Gai had talked him through to the killing blow before dragging him over to the medic nin.

They needed to find a way to close whatever was releasing the demons, but they hadn't been able to get the advantage enough to breath. The Uchiha, Inuzuka and Aburame hadn't left the main battlefield since they'd first arrived. Members of the Hanta occasionally darted out to give orders, carry out an injured comrade or give and receive intel updates. They were trying to press to the origin point of the demons, but the sheer number was holding them back.

"We need to find the summoner," Yamato broke in. "They'll just keep coming until he's been sealed away again." Kakashi's kohai looked exhausted to a level Kakashi had never seen before. His wood release had been moderately effective against the demons, but it was still nothing compared to Itachi's Amaterasu flames that still claimed more demons than any other force on the battle field. They almost seemed alive, at times moving like they had a mind of their own.

In the beginning it had terrified the majority of the first line, until two shinobi tangled up with a serpent demon had been engulfed in the flames and walked away completely unharmed while the demon turned to ash. Now, the Konohagakure shinobi lived up to their land's name, leaping through the flames with a fearlessness that startled the few foreign shinobi present for the battle.

Kakashi turned to Asuma, a good leader for the first line while he took a team after the summoner, but before he could get a word out the Yondaime appeared in a brilliant flash of light. Bloody and battered more than Kakashi had ever seen him, he had the summoning pot in one hand and Shinmoro by the neck in the other. He was exhausted, breathing hard and badly wounds, he snarled. "Seal him now!"

A stunned silence quickly gave way to desperation at their first chance to really end the battle.

"What should we use?" Kurenai said, she looked at Kakashi. "The seal you used on Sasuke?"

Kakashi frowned and shook his head, that seal had barely contained Orochimaru's seal, it would never be strong enough to contain the summoner.

"We'll do it." Fugaku, Sakumo, Shibi and Izumo appeared and quickly surrounded Minato. Izumo forced Minato to sit and unrolled a blank scroll across his lap.

Shinmoro struggled with all his might, squirming and biting but Minato's grip didn't waver. Kakashi could see him weakening with every breathe.

"What's wrong Minato-sensei?" Kakashi didn't dare get too close as they began the sealing.

"It's the pot," another Uchiha came forward. He had wild hair and eyes and wore a uniform from the time of the First Shinobi World War. "Shinmoro's immune to it, but it drains the life chakra out of anyone else who touches it until they're dead. How long have you been holding it?"

"Ten minutes, maybe." Minato wheezed.

"That's it? And he's already that bad?" Raido asked.

The Uchiha snorted, "It usually only takes seconds." He glanced at one of the other Uchiha, his brother based on his near identical looks. "Impressive." They shared a smirk.

Fugaku, Sakumo, Shibi and Izumo made deep cuts along their wrists, blood spilling out over their hands as they started to form the symbols.

"That's way too much blood," Kurenai murmured.

But then the seals started to flow, hundreds of lines of kanji made of blood started to wrap around Minato, the pot and Shinmoro.

"They're not going to seal him away with it are they?" Someone asked.

Panicked gossip started, until Jiraya roared, "Enough! Let them work!"

Sometimes sacrifices had to be made, but Kakashi refused to accept that until there truly was no other choice.

Their blood continued to fall, the seals wrapped around and around and around and Kakashi had never seen such a deep, layered seal. It was like watching a puzzle box, layer after layer after layer built over one another. It looked unbreakable, the key to each layer quickly squirreled away among dozens of false keys.

Slowly, the seals began the shrink, closing around the pot and Shinmoro and forcing both of them into the scroll. Then they started to drag Minato in with them.

"Jiraya, Kakashi, grab him!" Sakumo ordered and they both lunged forward to haul the Yondaime out of the seal's grip. It took some effort, the strength of the seal was impressive, but they managed to pull him free as Shinmoro and the pot disappeared into the scroll. The last of the seals wrapped around the scroll and slowly faded into the paper, leaving behind thousands of tiny, neat lines of kanji written in blood.

Shinmoro's chakra and the dark chakra from the pot faded from existence. Fugaku and the others quickly healed the cuts on their arms, though they all still looked a little pale from the blood loss.

"Is that it?" One of the Hyuuga asked.

"We still have to deal with them," Sakumo pointed out and turned towards the hundreds of demons still left to fight.

Kotetsu landed with a boom, Obito, Iruka and Itachi right behind him. "You guys coming back to the fight anytime soon?" He was covered in blood and had a deep gash across one cheek. "Or do you need to rest?" His grin was manic.

Fugaku's eyes narrowed, "Is that a challenge?"

"Uh oh," Sakumo laughed.

Iruka groaned and stumbled a couple of steps to Kakashi's side. The jounin reached out too steady him. Iruka reached out and grabbed Kakashi's wrist and Kakashi shifted his grip to interlace their fingers. It was foolish, childish and didn't belong on the battlefield but Kakashi didn't let go and Iruka tightened his grip.

A huge serpent like demon rose above the battlefield. Fangs bigger than a man and forked tongue strong enough to knock over a building.

"Fuck," Obito said and the Earth shook as Moro and Kuromaru bounded across the battlefield to take on the serpent.

Moro and Kuromaru dug their teeth in and started to drag down the serpent. They were almost enough, but Kakashi could see the serpent start to coil its long body around them.

"We need more," Asuma growled, but he didn't even have enough chakra left to summon his knives.

And it occurred to Kakashi like a lightning strike. Kurama. "Where's the demon fox?" More than a few shinobi looked at him like he was crazy, but Kakashi was sure of it now. They needed the demon fox.

They started looking and it was a chunin who spotted him first. "There!"

The little demon fox was already making his way towards them. Running as fast as his tiny legs could carrying him; tails trailing behind him, tongue lolling out. He was panting and Kakashi realized he was simply too small to cross the distance with any kind of speed.

Iruka turned to the battlefield, cupped his hands around his mouth and roared, "Naruto, release Kurama!"

A flash of chakra and Kurama started to grow with every leap. By the time he'd reached Kakashi and the others on the edge of battle he was the same size as Moro and Kuromaru and he cleared Kakashi's group in a single bound.

With a snarl he launched himself at the tangle of serpent and beast, latching onto its neck. They collapsed to the ground in a pile, the weight of it made the ground shake. Now the serpent was outmatched. Teeth dug in deeper, claws ripped at its flesh. The serpent's coil eased, its tail stilled. It twitched once more and stilled.

Moro, Kuromaru, and Kurama shook themselves free and climbed to their feet. Bloody, limping, the three beasts let out a victorious howl, then turned their attention to the next demon they could find.

ooo000ooo

Sakumo sought Fugaku out on the battlefield, arriving at his side only moments before Mikoto. They both paused to watch Tsume and Fugaku combine a fire jutsu with her claws and take down a large ant like demon.

Once they were sure it was dead Tsume and Fugaku turned and Sakumo spared a second for the frisson of pleasure that ran down his spin at the sight of Tsume's bloody smile.

"We need to end this," Mikoto stated.

Shibi arrived. "The Yondaime is out of the fight."

"Damn," Tsume growled. "Thought he was stronger than that."

"He held Shinmoro and the pot for almost fifteen minutes," Fugaku murmured. "He'll be lucky if he doesn't spend the next decade in a coma trying to recover."

Mikoto turned her piercing gaze from the battle and turned it on Fugaku. "The summoner has been contained, all that is left are the summoned."

"One blow," Sakumo agreed.

Fugaku's fists clenched, his knuckles white. "Very well, prepare the battlefield." And he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Immediately they leapt in different directions, roaring instructions to the Hanta, Uchiha, Inuzuka and Aburame on the field to clear out.

ooo000ooo

Iruka jerked suddenly, turning back to the battle, his eyes tracking something Kakashi couldn't see. A heartbeat later Naruto and the Rookie 11 arrived.

"Iruka-sensei! What's going on? Sasuke's mom told us to get off the battlefield! Are we not fighting anymore?" Naruto demanded.

"There's still hundreds of demons left!" Sakura exclaimed.

Iruka, Itachi and Obito snapped around again, their gazes turning to the Hokage's Monument. Seconds later Fugaku appeared at its top, balanced on the edge of the Forth's hiate.

Itachi turned to Iruka "Tatenbotan."

Iruka nodded and didn't look happy as he held out sword in one hand and formed hand symbols with the other.

"No way," Obito breathed. "He's not going to…"

"Not going to what? Kiba demanded.

"What's happening Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked.

The sword in Iruka's hand disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The rest of the Hanta arrived and the Three Clans were on their heels.

"Are they really?" Kotetsu turned to the Hokage's Monument with a snarl as Tsume, Mikoto, Shibi and Sakumo all appeared in a line next to Fugaku. Their chakra started to gather.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto inched closer to the teacher, wide eyes pinned on the monument.

"It's the Uchiha clan's final jutsu."

"Final?" Sasuke hissed and Itachi put a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Ultimate," Obito muttered, "It's why taten botan is a holy blade."

"The attack is too dangerous to use where there are friendly forces or civilians this close to the battlefield." Itachi murmured.

"Hinata," Iruka turned to the Hyuuga princess, "Your shield?"

"It will hold Iruka-sensei," Hinata tried to sound as confident as possible, but the chakra gathering at the monument was starting to feel smothering, like Tsume's when she was angry but hotter.

Itachi turned to his wall of flames and raised a hand.

Taten botan floated in front of Fugaku, its blade flashing in the sunlight.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Genma snapped.

"Kai," Itachi whispered and the flames roared and disappeared. The demons fell over one another to move into the village.

"Put it back up!" Shizune yelled.

"It can't be up during the jutsu," Iruka snapped in his brother's defense.

"What is that?" Tenten demanded, pointing to the monument.

Taten botan was multiplying, row upon row of hundreds of identical swords forming a wall in front of the stone faces of the village's Hokages. The swords continued to multiply until they became a wall floating in the air and blocking the entire mountain from sight. They began to glow with the same golden hue the Uchiha took on when they were using shunko.

"There must be a thousand," Sakura murmured.

"Senbonsakura no jutsu!" Fugaku. The blades solidified.

"Senkai!" Tsume, Mikoto, Sakumo and Shibi. Chakra exploded, concussive waves spreading in every direction.

"The slaughterscape," Obito whispered.

The blades of Tatenbotan shattered into thousands of shiny shards of steel and floated in the air like cherry blossoms in the breeze. Controlled with chakra they suddenly stilled. Then, following Fugaku as he leapt to the battlefield, they turned in the and shot through the battlefield in every direction. They cut through anything in their path, slaying everything and anything unlucky enough to be in range.

A random burst headed straight for the first line only to be intercepted by few couple dozen suriken from Itachi and Iruka.

In seconds hundreds of demons were dead and the majority of the battlefield was clear as the pieces of Taten botan circled around Fugaku like a tornado. He held out the blade's hilt and simply said, "Kai." Thousands of shards reformed to make the Uchiha's holy blade.

A heavy silence settled, waiting for something on the battlefield to twitch, but for minutes nothing moved. Was it really over? It was a hell of an ending that was for sure, but Kakashi's heart was still pounding, his nerves still on a hair trigger. You could end the battle in the space of a heartbeat but you couldn't turn off the body's trained response before it was ready.

He turned to Iruka and found the schoolteacher watching him from the corner of his eye. It was going to a be a while before they could be alone Kakashi realized, the implications of the resurrections slowly settling over his bones. Iruka wasn't just an academy teacher or Taichou of the Hanta now. Sasuke and Naruto weren't just his students. His father was alive. And Konohagakure was never going to be the same.

The silence was shattered by a loud cry. One of the newly resurrected Uchiha letting out the loud cry as one of the resurrected Inuzuka leapt on him and wrapped her arms and legs around him. It took Kakashi's brain a second to register that they were kissing. Another group of Inuzuka, Aburame and Uchiha fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and tears.

Hana practically climbed Shisui and to Kakashi's disbelief and horror, her mother wrapped her arms around Sakumo and proceeded to kiss him like she hadn't seen him in decades.

"Mai-sensei!" Raido's cry made Kakashi and Genma turn. Mai-sensei was apparently one of the newly returned Uchiha. A tall, busty, bouncy kunoichi who made Kakashi disturbingly think of an adult, female Naruto. She wrapped Raido in her arms and lifted him clear off the ground, swinging him left and right. Raido laughed, hugging the woman back tightly.

"Raido! Sweetie!" Mai set the jounin down, cradling his face in her hands. "Poor baby, who the fuck did this to your pretty face? I'll kill them!" Genma didn't look happy as she stroked Raido's scars, but the scared jounin looked close to tears.

Tenten caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. A flash of red and green. Gaara and Lee. Had he had the bouquet of flowers the entire time?

Gaara held out the now battered almost beyond recognition handful of flowers. That he'd even managed to keep it all was a testimate to his skill. "I've come to call on you Rock Lee."

Kankuro wheezed with the effort of keeping his laugh in. Temari pulled away from sucking Shikimaru's face to watch with the rest of the Rookie 11 as Lee took the bouquet. Oddly quiet long enough for the others Rookie's to start to worry. Then, suddenly, a giant smile bloomed on Lee's face. "My dear friend, I would be honored to accept your call!"

Tenten had a long-lost hope that Lee would stop there, but they'd been teammates long enough, that she knew it wouldn't. This was going to be something else and in front of the whole world because Ino's Mind Body Transmission Technique was still going strong, despite Shikimaru's desperate hand signals to Ino to shut it off. The blond was too enraptured in watching what was happening to notice.

"I too dream that we shall someday share a bond of such greatness that stories are written of it!" Flames started to appear, Lee's eyes gleamed like stars. "Our great love shall be carried out with Youthful Vigor, just as we carry out our duty as shinobi! Like our dear friends…" All of the Rookie 11 realized what was coming and no one was fast enough to clamp their hand over Lee's mouth in time. "Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun!"

After the level of noise that had come with the battle, the silence that followed was somehow louder as everyone within earshot, and it was Lee so that was a lot of people, turned to stare at Naruto and Sasuke. Slowly, the two young men started to turn redder and redder, as whispers of disbelief and denial started to spread throughout the ranks.

Sai and Yamato turned to Kakashi for confirmation and Kakashi began to step forward to protect his students, because no one was going to dare call them anything while he was there.

Sasuke's eye started to twitch, getting ready to run and calculating exit strategies. Naruto just sputtered and kept sputtering until he screamed out, "Kiba and Shino too!" Neatly dragging the two clan heirs under the bus with them.

Kiba and Shino instantly turned red as well, eyes wide as the audience now turned to them. "Shut up Naruto!" Kiba screamed back.

"Seriously?" Someone muttered in loud disbelief.

It was Itachi that stepped in to save them, calmly announcing to the world, with Kabuto grinning in the background, "Iruka and Kakashi too."

"Opposites attract I guess," Kabuto added in, just too make things worse. "Must be why they like arguing so much."

Kakashi was going to kill them both, slowly and painfully and over and over and over again. Crickets chirped, the silence even heavier than before. Iruka's eye started to twitch. Obito started to laugh and then he couldn't stop, leaning on a suspiciously straight-faced Inuzuka Kakashi didn't recognize.

Kikyo rolled her eyes and then rolled them again even harder when Tsume wrapped herself around Sakumo and proceeded to try and check his tonsils with her tongue, ignoring everything else that was happening.

"You've got to be kidding me," Genma muttered. "Did somebody cast a love jutsu or something?"

"Not now!" Tsunade snapped, "Start triage for the wounded and get the hospital ready!"

Amidst the nervous laughter that followed, Fugaku faced turned to his sons and Naruto broke the stare-down by throwing himself at Mikoto, both of them collapsing into a tear-filled embrace.

The rest of the Uchiha moved seamlessly in with the Aburame and Inuzuka. They were all battered and bruised, bleeding and swaying but they started to care for the wounded and destroy the bodies of the demons like they hadn't just fought a devastating battle with the village's survival on their shoulders.

And that, Tsunade thought, was why people feared the Uchiha. Because Fugaku could take out an army with a single jutsu, Itachi could ignite an eternal wall of fire around an entire village, Iruka could maintain a Susanoo for twenty-years, and the weakest member of the clan could fight non-stop for days. Shinobi who instead of going peacefully to the Pure Land, entombed their bodies and souls in an eternal limbo just in case they were needed again.

How the hell was she supposed to deal with them?

She reached out and pulled Kakashi away. He hesitated for only a second, realizing that it wasn't his place to witness what was about to take place as Fugaku faced his children. Obito, Iruka and Itachi were struggling to keep their faces blank, but Sasuke didn't bother to hide the confused desolation as he looked at his father.

Fugaku studied his now grown sons in silence. Despite the Uchiha's genetic memory sharing every second of their lives, it felt different to see them grown up in the flesh. The boys that used to trip over their feet following him around as he worked. Obito, who'd loved them all too much to stand by and let them fall. Iruka, who'd been so defiant and so loyal at the same time and carried the greatest burden of them all. Itachi, who's brilliance was only outmatched by his kindness, who'd held the world together by sheer willpower.

And Sasuke and Naruto, innocents in a war that had taken everything from both of them. Who were still standing tall, eyes bright and defiant to anyone who called them broken or lost.

"I wish that I could apologize to you and mean it, but I cannot. I left you and nothing will ever take that away. Remember that every choice I made was done with a purpose, whose value was weighed against my desire to be a good father to all of you. Everything that has happened, the choices you were forced to make, lay at my feet and if you never forgive me for the selfishness of my actions, I understand." He murmured, voice carrying on the afternoon breeze. "I have done many things in my life, some good, some bad but I have only done five great things in my life and those are the five of you. I have no greater achievement than finally seeing you home and together."

Kakashi turned away from the tears silently sliding down the cheeks of Fugaku and his sons. He let Tsunade pull him further away but neither of them could get far enough to drown out Fugaku's apology and the strangled sob as Sasuke launched himself at his father. The young man that had fought so valiantly to be hard and untouchable, was at heart, the little boy whose father had died far too soon.

They joined Minato, who wasn't afraid to watch, as Fugaku somehow managed to huge all his children and Naruto at once. He smiled.

"Why don't you join them?" Tsunade murmured.

Minato shook his head, "This is not my time with them. I may be Naruto's father, but Iruka raised him and Iruka needs him now." They deserved a quiet moment to hold one another. They weren't likely to get another for a while, Minato suspected. Not if Kikyo's still present frown was any indication. There were things to deal with now. Rebuilding the village and burying the dead. Kakashi was pointedly not looking at his father, though both Sakumo and Tsume's eyes tracked the Copy-nin as he made his way to the aid station to check on Yamato and Sai.

"He's not going to deal with this well," Tsunade mused. Kakashi was stubborn and hurt more than he would admit.

Minato smiled, "Are you?"

Tsunade cast a quick glance at the Yondaime. Even barely standing and covered in blood and gore, he looked like the sun. Just like Naruto. The shy, awkward boy Jiraya had trained was a man, the shinobi that terrified entire nations. His eyes were clear, bright and a crisp blue that waited patiently for her response, knowing full well if she gave one it would be a lie. Minato had always been too bright for his own good. It was easy to see why Danzo had hated him, why Fugaku had recommended him and the village had loved him. Why their enemies had feared him. And it occurred to her, suddenly clear, the startling similarities between Minato and Fugaku.

If it had come down to the village or the Uchiha. Which would he have saved? A dark pit in Tsunade's stomach said she wouldn't like the answer. As if he knew what she was thinking, Minato turned back to Naruto and the Uchiha. Tsunade followed his gaze and realized Mikoto was watching both of them, standing guard over her husband and sons, Tsunade realized and abruptly remembered the truth of Obito and Iruka's birth and Hiruzen's refusal to let Mikoto raise Naruto.

Tsunade's gaze returned to Minato. Was he aware of what had happened those moments after his death? Of what had been happening in shadows during his time as Hokage? He was as hard to read as Iruka, she realized, he held his own counsel and rarely revealed his inner thoughts. She looked for Kikyo and found the Uchiha matriarch burning the bodies of the demons. Her existence was almost as terrifying as the power she'd displayed and Tsunade's glance turned quickly to Tsume, still wrapped in Sakumo's arms. Tsume had already threatened war with the village and Tsunade had no doubt that she meant it. Would having Fugaku and the Uchiha back temper or ignite Tsume's desire to war with the village?

There were so many questions and so few answers, Tsunade realized. Konohagakure had again survived disaster, but they were still walking a dangerous road in the dark, with no idea what was in front of them.

ooo000ooo

Continued in Knock on Wood Konoha Part II, the first chapter is up!