"The wise choose their battle. The foolish battle everything and everybody. The ignorant convince themselves there is no battle to be fought."

- Toni Payne

<>

Naruto linked his fingers together, stretching his palms outward and cracking the fingers. He sighed loudly, jumping restlessly on the balls of his feet. Sakura and Sasuke had both gotten their fights, and he was now about to fight one of them. The proctor pulled open an envelope, and read two names from it, the entire village sitting forward in their seats in anticipation.

"Sakura Haruno versus Naruto Uzumaki."

Sakura looked at Naruto for a moment, then back at Sasuke, who imperceptibly shook his head, telling her not to do it, to just fight Naruto and whoever won...

"I forfeit."

Sakura and Sasuke's heads whirled as Naruto said it at the same time as Sakura.

"Both of you can't forfeit..." Hayate said, the frown obvious in his voice. The three of them had their eyes locked on each other, and murmuring broke through the crowd. "One of you forfeits if you want to, decide amongst yourselves."

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto were now standing in a triangle in the middle of the auditorium, matching frowns on their faces.

Sakura-chan, let me do this.

No! Why the hell would I let you do that? You forfeit, you have no chance of being Chunin.

Sure, but you've got a nasty habit of letting us take advantage of you, Sakura-chan!

Naruto, it's something I do because I want to. I want to let you and Sasuke have your fight. You never got to last time.

But Sakura-chan, it's not fair! I wanna do something nice back for you and this is what I get?!

Someone has to keep an eye out for Orochimaru, Naruto, and I'm better at spotting genjutsu than you two. I can't be distracted by the fights. If Orochimaru's going to cast the Temple of Nirvana genjutsu, the one to spot it first would be me.

But I can see through genjutsu better now 'cause of Sage mode. You don't have to check for it, I can. Bastard, back me up here!

Sasuke said nothing for a good time, watching the two of them warily, hands crossed over his chest. Tension was running high in the arena, coming from the three of them. The place was silent, everyone straining to hear the obvious discussion that was being had, even though it wasn't through conventional means. The three of them were utterly silent, Hayate Gekko looked at them with his hands on his hips, quietly telling them to get a move on.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Tch." He said aloud, looking away. He knew Sakura had a point, that she could spot genjutsu easier than himself and Naruto, and he did want to fight Naruto, but he also wanted to fight Sakura. He wanted to see Sakura fight Naruto. He didn't want her to cut herself out of the spotlight to let them in anymore. "Shit," he breathed.

Naruto, she has a point. As irritating as it is, she's better at finding genjutsu than we are. But Sakura, the dobe's also right. You do usually let us do what we want to you, and to ourselves.

Sasuke, it's not up for discussion. There are lives at stake here.

And that's the only reason why I'm allowing you to forfeit.

The air in the room somehow dropped to where Sasuke felt icy fingers tracing down his back, and Naruto shivered. Sakura's stare was as cold as death, suddenly, and everyone else shifted uncomfortably.

I don't answer to you.

The words were thought as coldly as ice. Sakura was so dangerous, and Sasuke wanted to spar with her even more in that moment, because a pissed off Sakura was when she was the strongest. But then the fight would be toxic, and it would probably lead to bigger problems, and Sasuke didn't have the patience to deal with those for now. They had bigger things to worry about. Naruto was silent, looking between the two of them with a nervous look on his face. That was the only thing Sakura had to say, and Sasuke dipped his head respectfully, trying to get back on her good side.

No, you don't. I'm just saying, I want to fight you both. Both of you should have a fair chance at this, Sakura, we're only doing this because of the lives at stake. Understood?

At those words from Sasuke, Sakura turned on her heel. "Hayate, I'm the one quitting." She didn't reply to the words in her head any more. She stood with her tied back hair flying in the wind, green eyes flashing in determination, a smug smirk on her face. Sasuke felt his heart skip a tiny beat, then went back to staring at the ground, guilt festering beneath his calm facade.

What a waste.

Upset groans were heard from multiple people in the crowd, and it seemed that they had picked up on the energy the three powerhouses in the Chunin exams had. They knew Sakura fighting seriously would be an intense battle to watch. They'd just missed an incredible opportunity. Naruto scowled, looking down at his feet. He was pissed too, now. Damn Orochimaru, always picking the worst time to grace us with his goddamn presence.

"Alright." Naruto picked his face up from the floor. "Guess it's you against me, bastard."

Sasuke looked at Sakura, and then Naruto did too, and it was the triangle again. She looked around the stadium briefly, and the tension returned, before she just walked over to the boys and gestured for them to come closer. Thinking she was about to whisper strategy or point something out, they complied, and were thoroughly shocked when she wrapped both arms around their respective necks, bringing them in for a hug. Sasuke tensed briefly, before resting his chin on her left shoulder. Naruto did the same, wrapping around her, too.

"Don't die, please." She whispered to both of them, her head tilting slightly to the left, towards Sasuke. Sasuke would be flattered, if he didn't know she had a habit of leaning her head in that direction. Still, her low voice was closer to his ear, and gave him goosebumps. She started backing away and moving to stand with the other finalists, Temari and Deidara, who'd both come to watch. "No matter what happens, we're still a team." She said from where she was standing, nodding her head, just loud enough for everyone else to hear. Her jaw length bangs rocked forward with her head. Her male teammates were the only ones that knew that she meant both for the fight, and the war that was coming up. The crowd was cheering loudly, and it appeared that Kushina was in tears. Mikoto was patting the red haired woman's shoulder comfortingly, a soft smile on her face.

Naruto closed his eyes, extending his senses out into the village. He felt Orochimaru's presence, and looked at his teammates with a small dip of the head. Sasuke bit his lip to hide his irritation.

Well, looks like our fight's gonna get interrupted.

Sasuke and Naruto shook out of their momentary daze from Sakura's hug, and gave each other a nod. They'd put up a temporary show until Sakura pointed out the genjutsu.

They got into a battle stance, before Naruto summoned a clone and (even though he didn't need to anymore) used the clone to help him form the Rasengan. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and allowed his fingers to form the familiar handsigns, the Chidori highlighting his face in certain areas and casting shadows in others. Why the two of them were starting with their signature jutsu, their female teammate couldn't figure out. The pinkette sat down, crossing her legs and meditating. Temari noticed this, and frowned in Sakura's direction, but looked back on the fight when Naruto and Sasuke started charging each other.

If the two of them hit each other head on with the jutsu, there would be a problem, and probably a need for medical attention. Sakura practically felt Minato Namikaze's anxiety, because his jutsu was now being used against that of his student. The jutsu were equal and opposite in nature, and no one had seen them being used against each other before.

Sakura had, however, seen it. Far too much, as far as she was concerned. So she meditated even though she heard the telltale crash and loud sound, and Naruto growling. She didn't open her eyes when the chirping of the Chidori dissipated, and was replaced by the clanging of a kunai meeting a sword. She didn't allow herself to be swept into the memories these sounds brought back, instead extending her senses outward, looking desperately for what she knew would be happening soon.

Sure enough, the feathers fell. Sakura jumped up and ran to Naruto and Sasuke, who were stumbling a little bit, murmuring, "Kai." Her green eyes surveyed the scene. It mirrored that of the prior world, all of the civilians and the majority of the ninja fast asleep. Her eyes zeroed in on the arena, specifically, the pavilion where the Hokage and Kazekage were surveying the fights. Kakashi, Itachi and a couple more people were awake and helping other people, so Naruto and Sasuke's eyes followed her gaze, and narrowed, watching the situation play out. Minato was groggily watching the feathers fall, while the Kazekage appeared to be frowning distrustfully.

Luckily, Shikaku Nara figured out pretty quickly what was happening, and snapped himself out of the genjutsu. Seeing Shikaku do it, Minato and Rasa quickly followed suit, breaking themselves and Minato's guards out of the genjutsu.

But it was too late. Someone threw a smoke bomb. Orochimaru might not have killed Rasa, but he snuck up behind the two of them. Sakura opened her mouth to scream, but before she could do anything, Orochimaru grabbed Minato and pulled him out of the room with a kunai pressed to his throat, teleporting the two of them to the roof.

Already, the Sound Four appeared to be there. Sakura spat, pissed at herself for not noticing or thinking about them. It happened so quickly. The four of them pressed their palms together, and spoke in perfect unison. "Ninja Art: Four Flames Formation."

"Oh, fuck off!" Naruto growled, sounding pissed off. Orochimaru and Minato were now trapped inside of the dome.

Sakura and Sasuke turned to each other, speaking with their eyes. "You and Naruto, go help Lord Fourth. I'm going to be needed to help heal whoever gets hurt out here, and keep the casualty list to a minimum. And, someone has to take care of the giant snakes."

Sure enough, not long after that, someone summoned snakes. The Sound Village was attacking just like they did last time. Alone? Sakura couldn't tell, but something had to be done about it.

"What should we do?" Temari asked, running up to them, Deidara not far behind.

Sakura considered. "Wake as many of the Rookie Nine up as possible." She looked around at all the sleeping people. The Kazekage was taking control of the situation, scattering his guard, telling them to wake up as many ninja as they could and report to the battlefield. He threw off his hat, and disappeared in the direction of the giant snake that was destroying everything. Rasa's ANBU were waking people up, but not as quickly as would be needed. The Sound Ninja were perusing through the sleeping people, randomly throwing shuriken through their chests. Sakura grit her teeth, turning back to Temari. "Wake as many ninja up as possible, try to protect those people. Then, tell them the Sound is attacking. If you can," she pointed up at the giant prison. "Try going for those four people on the outside."

"Got it, un!" Deidara nodded, before disappearing to comply to Sakura's orders.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, catching her attention. No one was looking at the three genin, so he'd summoned a portal with his Rinnegan. Naruto was already there, staring through it. When one peered through, inside was a picture of Orochimaru and the Yondaime. Miraculously, neither seemed to notice Sasuke's portal.

The Fourth Hokage (who was no longer groggy) teleported himself out of Orochimaru's choke hold, and onto the tile of the roof, skidding to a stop far away. He narrowed his eyes at the snake-like man. "Orochimaru." He said simply, looking to the man.

"Minato," Orochimaru sneered, before stabbing himself in the hand with a kunai. Minato's eyes widened. Orochimaru yawned, before allowing his eyes to meet with Minato's blue ones. "I was falling asleep."

Minato looked like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Why are you attacking the village?" He asked, looking out at the giant snakes that were destroying it, a small amount of panic and anger entering his expression. "Didn't you want to be Hokage?"

Orochimaru smirked, before cackling. "What I can't have, no one can." He formed the hand seals, running towards Minato. "Striking Shadow Snake." He said, his tongue turning into a green snake that attacked Minato. Minato, of course, had teleported out of the way, and was now attacking Orochimaru.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other. "I think we should intervene when Orochimaru summons Lord First and Tobirama," Sasuke murmured to his blonde friend, who had tensed up entirely. "I think Lord Fourth has the situation handled for now, right?"

Naruto appeared to be taking calming breaths, his eyes closed.

Sakura winced. "Naruto, we'll protect him. But we also have to protect these people." She looked out at them. "We have to get your mom to safety, too." The three of them looked in the direction of Sasuke and Naruto's parents. Fugaku left to help with the giant snake, taking two Uchiha comrades and a couple of other ninja with him. Mikoto was breaking Kushina's genjutsu, and Itachi and Shisui had started waking up the other Uchiha clan members that they were sitting around. The Uchiha clan members were given strict instructions from their Heir that they were to go around and break the genjutsu on as many ninja as they could find, defending all of the civilians. They bowed, and complied.

Neji was already out of the genjutsu, and waking up the Rookie Nine members and Hinata, who was beside them. If Sakura remembered correctly, Hinata was kidnapped in her last life, but it appeared Neji wasn't going to leave her side. He killed a couple Sound ninja who were walking around killing civilians, before turning to the giant purple barrier on the roof of the Hokage's perch and activating his Byakugan, obviously scanning it for weaknesses.

There's an elevated amount of Otogakure Shinobi here right now...

Kakashi's voice rang through their heads, and looking around, all three couldn't help but agree.

They had help from Sand last time, but since Sand is an ally, they should have less people, right?

I dunno, but there sure seems to be a lot of them.

Are they getting people from somewhere else? I only see Otogakure Shinobi, no other headbands or anything that is an identifiable trait of another village.

So then why are there so many? There were more Sand people than Sound people last time- they're a small nation.

There's something very not right about this.

Gaara, Kankuro, Haku, Deidara and Temari had formed a sort of team, and went along killing or incapacitating Sound members and helping each other break the genjutsu. Eventually the Rookie Nine joined them, and they moved like a pack around the arena. They all appeared to be safe.

Naruto noticed all of this and nodded, eventually, standing up from his crouch. He obviously didn't feel much better, but wasn't going to act on it. Sasuke closed his portal, panting slightly, his Rinnegan fading to black.

Kakashi appeared before them out of nowhere, calling the attention of all the ninja in the room, looking around. All of the awake ninja, there must've been a couple hundred, gathered on the floor of the arena and nearby when they were certain the civilians were under no threat. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto stood behind their sensei, watching him rally the troops. Itachi, Shisui, Tenzo and Obito shouldered their way to the front, awaiting instructions.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do." Kakashi said, taking the role of commander, as he currently outranked everyone there. "We're going to have to split up into five groups. Group one- Lady Kushina is the leader." He drew her attention. She raised a concerned brow. "You're a seals master, so I need you to take a couple Hyuga and others as bodyguards, and stake out over there to see if we can't bring the shield down and get the Hokage out of there."

Kushina nodded, turning. "Alright." Her eyes met those of Neji and Hinata's fathers, and she nodded to them. "You two, bring two more, and we'll get going." Hiashi and Hizashi eyed their children, Neji and Hinata coming to stand next to them. Kushina's eyes wandered the crowd. She pointed out five other ninja, including Obito, Mikoto and a couple of others. "Right." She looked up at the roof, and the ten of them disappeared.

Kakashi proceeded to turn back to the people left. More were joining, so now they looked like they had a little over two hundred. "Cool. Four more groups. Group two- lead by Gaara." The other redhead looked over at Kakashi, shocked. "The giant snakes." He pointed up at them, and they then smashed into a large building near the arena, making a large boom. "The Kazekage is up there with a couple members of his ANBU fighting them, and Fugaku Uchiha led a little platoon to help. Now, you will be their backup. Join the fight, see if you can take down the snakes."

Gaara looked at the people, looking confused, still, but Temari, Deidara, and Haku joined the people moving to stand next to Gaara. That was sixty-three ninja. Gaara lead them over to the snake.

"Three more." Kakashi told the remaining ninja. "Now, there are going to be a lot of injured people out there, so how many of you are medics?" About twenty raised their hands. "Good. Now, you'll be forming a group. Stay together, but travel between the four battlefields when I finish describing what's going on. There won't be a leader for this group, work together."

The twenty or so ninja stood still at the side, waiting for Kakashi to finish.

Kakashi turned back to the other ninja. "Okay. Two more." He pointed to the arena. "The Sound ninja are trying to break into here to kill a bunch of ninja and civilians to remove the most resistance. I need about half of the assembled people to guard them or wake them up, whichever you prefer. When you wake some up, be sure to send some of them to the other battlefields to even it out a bit. Make rounds around the arena, never stop moving, kill any enemies you see, but use the buddy system." He pointed at Kankuro. "You're in charge of this group."

Kankuro nodded, before around fifty people gathered over by him. They dispersed around the arena, killing any Sound ninja they could see. Sakura frowned. There were decidedly more Sound ninja than there were last time. She didn't know why, but there wasn't time to think.

Kakashi turned to the last group. "Perfect. Fifty some." He pointed further into the village. "Gai's leading this one." The eccentric man in the green outfit and his students, Tenten and Lee joined the group. "The village is under attack, so there's going to be a bunch of Sound people in the civilian districts by now. This group is going to be arguably the more important one, and they'll be protecting the people, and helping the injured to the hospital." A platoon of ANBU appeared and immersed themselves into the group. "Break," Kakashi said, and the ninja sprinted away, the medics finally heading out now that they knew where to go.

There was now a tiny group of people left. Tenzo, Itachi, Shisui, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru Nara, and Kakashi.

"You're the hit squad." Kakashi said, turning his attention to the people gathered. "The people outside the barrier are what's keeping it together. Attack them."

The four disappeared. Only Team Seven was left.

Naruto released a haggard breath. "Damn, sensei, you should be Hokage."

"Bold of you to say when we aren't even sure the village is going to make it." Kakashi replied, turning to his three genin. He dropped his calm facade and looked back up at the barrier. "By now, Orochimaru would've definitely brought back the first two Hokage."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances. They looked at Sakura, who was watching the ninja in the room take care of the Sound ninja. She met their eyes when she felt their gaze on her, and then looked at Kakashi.

"I will be their backup, I'll go up there and summon Lady Katsuyu to assist me in healing everyone I can. If Naruto and Sasuke need me to help out, I'll get in there and help them. Sound good?"

Kakashi nodded at her. "I'll probably go help the giant snake team, and try to figure out why there are so many Oto ninja to begin with. Naruto and Sasuke, you can use your Sage given powers to fight Orochimaru, as long as Minato-sensei is incapacitated and unable to see the fight. Sakura, it will be trickier for you because there are already people on the roof."

Sakura smirked, nodding her head in the direction of the roof. "Who said I was going to be on the roof?" She said, before disappearing into a puff of smoke and reappearing on top of the barrier, sitting criss cross and meditating with her eyes closed. Her diamond seal that everyone had gone to great lengths to hide was now visible again, and black, almost purple lines appeared over her body.

"She's so reckless..." Kakashi shook his head, turning to his last students. Sasuke was already revving up a portal inside the barrier, and some more of the fight was visible now.

"Summoning: Reanimation!" Orochimaru's horrid, horrid voice shouted, making Minato take a step back to assess the situation. "First!" One coffin sprang up from the ground. "And Second!" A second coffin rose after that, and a third started coming up after it, but third coffin was pushed back into the Void it was coming from. Orochimaru frowned, but his confidence returned when the coffins dropped open, the First and Second Hokage appearing pale and lifeless. "How do you plan to stop me, Minato!?"

Sasuke and Naruto leapt through in that moment, taking positions in front of Minato. Sasuke drew his sword, and stifled his chakra so their arrival wouldn't draw the attention of their Hyūga comrades outside. Naruto pulled a kunai and did the same thing Sasuke did.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Minato shouted, sounding more surprised than angry, thankfully.

"Dad, don't worry, we got this." Naruto said without really looking back at his father, his eyes trained on Orochimaru.

"Naruto no-"

"Ah, I see." Orochimaru mused, licking his lips as his eyes went back and forth between the children. "That's why you looked so familiar." He said, addressing Naruto. "It appears your son is trying to protect you, Minato!" He shouted back at the Hokage, as if the blonde didn't already know.

Sasuke swiped the blade in the air, drawing Orochimaru's attention. "We're your opponents."

"How quaint." Orochimaru said, clearly struggling to keep the laugh out of his voice. "Your fights were marvelous, Sasuke-kun, but I'm afraid I'm stronger than you both."

Orochimaru proceeded to take two personality tagged kunai out of his pouch, and Sasuke remembered something Kakashi said a couple years ago about inspiring Kabuto to talk with Orochimaru about making personality tags for the Edo Tensei. He smirked, his eyes dropping. Good job, Kakashi.

Orochimaru stuck the tags in the men's heads, all three of his enemies watching silently, waiting.

Hashirama's head suddenly lifted. "Saru...?" He asked, before his eyes met those of Naruto, Sasuke, and Minato. His chocolate colored eyes widened exponentially. "Naruto? Sasuke? Minato?! What are you doing here? Where's Saru?!"

Sasuke and Naruto froze in shock. Tobirama, hearing his aniki speak those names, looked at their opponents as well. His own blue eyes widened at the sight of them.

Tobirama blinked slowly, eyes stopping on Minato. "It appears, ani-ja, that Sarutobi sealed the Nine Tails this time around."

Minato's eyes widened. "Sorry, this time around?! How do you both know my name?!"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other.

We'll have to wipe his memory of this.

Probably, yeah.

"Lord First, Senju," Sasuke addressed the two of them. "Hello."

"That's Lord Second to you, Uchiha brat." Tobirama replied, voice strong, but looking closer, Sasuke thought he saw playful affection in the eyes of the powerful man. Sasuke allowed a small smile to grace his lips. He'd hated Tobirama in his past life, but the more he thought about it, the Second was rather brilliant. That didn't mean he was going to call him formally, though.

"It's totally awesome to see you two again!" Naruto said excitedly. Orochimaru watched the scene with confusion, while Minato's jaw appeared to be dropped to the floor.

"You too!" The First Hokage replied with the same amount of enthusiasm. "You're looking good, for a bunch of kids!"

"Coming from you, that's funny, old man!"

Sasuke sighed heavily. "Naruto..." don't insult the founder of the Hidden Leaf please...

Then his brows furrowed. The founder that was killed.

"Ani-ja," Tobirama said, sounding exasperated. "Don't you remember last time with Saru? Orochimaru's about to use us to fight them. Don't get so familiar."

"Oh, nonsense, Tobi!" The brown haired man turned to face Orochimaru in a movement it appeared the Sannin had given him in his shock. Orochimaru hadn't moved an inch, mouth slightly ajar as he watched the boys interact with the previous Hokage. "These are our friends and allies, and we haven't seen them in years!"

"I'm sorry," Minato interrupted, catching the attention of everyone there. "I'm afraid I'm not sure what's going on..." Orochimaru didn't say anything, but he appeared to agree.

"Well, I suppose he wasn't taken back then." Tobirama turned to look at Naruto and Sasuke for confirmation. They dipped their heads in confirmation.

Hashirama nodded. "Right then." He turned to Minato. "Yondaime!" He said briskly, making Minato look flustered at being acknowledged by the First. "You'll have to seal Tobirama and me away. That's the only way to remove us from Orochimaru's control."

Orochimaru gasped, before resuming his control over the first two Hokage. It appeared he was regretting his decision to create personality tags. Hashirama and Tobirama charged the boys before Minato could teleport them out of the way. Naruto dodged Tobirama's fast taijutsu with his equally fast reflexes, while Sasuke leapt backwards to avoid a kick from the First Hokage.

"Dad!" Naruto shouted back to Minato, who was getting ready to intervene. He stopped briefly, looking at his son. "We have to talk to the Hokage! Go for Orochimaru for now, he can't control them both and defend against you for very long!"

Minato hesitated, looking at the boys. "They're the Hokage! You're no match for them!"

Sasuke's lips curled as he heard Naruto mutter something about a lack of faith. "Minato-jii, if you distract Orochimaru for us, they can't use as many jutsu, and we'll just use taijutsu."

Minato knew Naruto was fast, and Sasuke had the Sharingan, so it appeared he decided to trust them. He attacked Orochimaru.

"You guys were sent back in time too?" Sasuke asked Hashirama as he dodged the attacks the First made.

"Yeah, right when me 'n Madara died again for the last time." Hashirama said. "The Sage of the Six Paths was all like, 'Indra, Asura, I'm changing time and need you to go back' or some shit, so then me and Madara were shot back to the day of our birth, and so was Tobi."

Madara was a time traveler too... that meant... in the cave... He knew who I was the whole time, and didn't kill me. Sasuke felt like he was being kicked in the stomach, but it wasn't Hashirama who did it. The realization was making him feel ill.

"Who else?" Sasuke asked, because four were sent back from his time, so to keep it even, four were probably sent from Hashirama's.

"Mito Uzumaki, dunno if you know her, but she's my wife." Hashirama grinned proudly, blocking an offensive attack from Sasuke. "So the four of us worked together to avoid the majority of the bloodshed and get things ready for the next generation, although we did keep up everything we did in our first life. But we did do a few things to change certain outcomes. Madara betrayed the village to set things up for you guys, but I couldn't kill him again in this life. Especially not after we'd just made up, ya know?"

Sasuke thought about it, nodding. He'd probably do the same. Wow, this whole thing is matching up really well with the story Madara told. Except for he didn't mention he was also from the future. And that he'd sacrificed his family again so that Naruto and Sasuke could be born and fix everything. Sasuke felt a pang of sympathy for his old ancestor, wishing things could've been better for him. He didn't deserve the life he'd gotten. And he hadn't broken character til the end- he carried the time travel secret to his grave. Well... he was cremated, but the sentiment was the same.

"Anyway, Mito befriended a little girl named Kushina Uzumaki who was going to be the next Jinchuriki of the Kyūbi, and taught her seals and stuff. I don't know if you know her, I hope she's still alive."

Ah, so that was also on purpose. Sasuke had known Kushina's sudden ridiculously powerful sealing prowess in this life was from her. He smiled while ducking a kick that would've sent him flying back. "She's my aunt."

Hashirama grinned. "Yay! Can't wait to tell Mito she made it."

"Minato's her husband." Sasuke pointed at the blonde, who was now viciously attacking the Sannin. They appeared to be on par. "Naruto's her son."

"Eh?! So Naruto's been her kid since our last life?!" Hashirama frowned, ducking a blow from Sasuke's sword. "And she never told me?!"

Sasuke shrugged. "Sorry. She's right outside this barrier, if you want to complain to her, you'll just have to wait until it drops." Sasuke had a genjutsu up that made it seem like Minato was fighting both Hokage, and Orochimaru. He was certainly fast enough to do so. "So you got killed in this life, huh?"

Hashirama grinned sheepishly. "Guess so. Someone staged my death, huh? Mito told me it was an 'accident'." He stopped in the middle of their fight to make air quotes with his fingers, allowing Sasuke to hit the First in the head.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you knew who it was." Sasuke said, exhaling sharply as Hashirama punched him hard in the stomach.

"Ooh, sorry." Hashirama winced when he saw Sasuke back up a bit, taking a breath. "Anyway, no, I don't know who it was. I didn't see them. It was really quick. I was pretty much gone before I could see anything."

"Okay," Sasuke said, swallowing down his disappointment. "So do you remember how you died? Did you eat anything that smelled odd, or get hit really hard in the head or something?"

"Sorry," Hashirama puffed dodging a blow from Sasuke's sword and retaliating with one of his own. "I have no idea. One minute I was awake doing paperwork, the next I was waking up somewhere completely different."

Sasuke sighed. As usual, the Shodai Hokage was supremely helpful.

"Alright, my lord, thank you for answering my questions."

Hashirama bounded back, giving him a small smile, before forming hand signs. "Mokuton: Jukai Kōtan." Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence.

Sasuke's eyes widened as trees sprung from nowhere, filling the barrier and the whole area. "Oh, fuck me," He cursed, backing up and summoning the Susanoo ribcage to protect him. One fist closed around Naruto, defending him from the crazy trees, and the other one closed around Minato. Orochimaru and Minato watched in shock as the wood couldn't pierce Sasuke's purple armor. The only people to use this technique were Shisui, Itachi, and Madara himself. A thirteen year old boy shouldn't be anywhere near ready to do this jutsu. Sasuke smirked a bit. The wood stopped attacking temporarily, Orochimaru forcing Hashirama into moving into another jutsu to see if he could pierce the armor.

He couldn't, so Tobirama instead teleported inside the armor, attacking Naruto. Luckily, Naruto was prepared for it, and retaliated. The two of them were a blur, the speed they were going at matching that of lightning strikes.

Once the trees stopped moving, and everything appeared to be sort of safe, Sasuke allowed the Susanoo to fade. Minato didn't question anything, the brilliant shinobi he was, continuing his attack on Orochimaru. The boys handled the former Hokage.

Sasuke looked at Hashirama, who was waiting for him to attack. It appeared Orochimaru was diverting a lot of his attention to Tobirama's impressive fight with Naruto, which made sense, since the two of them were absolutely going at it.

Sasuke engaged in mild taijutsu with the Hokage so they could still talk. "Why can't you just be an average Shinobi?!" Sasuke complained, venting by aiming a punch to Hashirama's head.

Hashirama chuckled. "Someone's gotta be tough enough to put Madara's incarnate in his place!"

Sasuke smiled, his like for the Shodai only growing. It was no wonder Madara kept him around, even though he was annoying and admittedly dense.

Finally, it appeared Minato got tired of playing around. He started attacking Orochimaru to kill, deciding this fight had been drawn on long enough.

"Dad, no!" Naruto shouted. "If you kill him, the Edo Tensei don't leave!"

That gave Minato a momentary pause, and in that time, Orochimaru summoned his sword. His mouth opened, and a snake crawled out of it. The snake opened its mouth, and spat out a sword that Orochimaru caught and gripped. Sasuke grit his teeth, because Minato had paused his attack to listen to Naruto, and Orochimaru used that to his advantage.

The sword pierced through Minato's chest before anyone knew what was happening, and Naruto screamed.

Orochimaru cackled, sending fresh waves of rage down Sasuke's spine. He knew intimately how much Orochimaru enjoyed killing the man that got the position he wanted.

Sasuke stopped fighting Hashirama immediately, cursing his own inability to do anything. He should've switched places with Minato using the Amenotejikara. And he would've done it, too, if he hadn't been engrossed in distracting Hashirama.

Naruto was covered by his cloak, the Truth Seeking Orbs floating behind him. He looked a lot like he old self during the war, albeit a little shorter. He sent them to attack Tobirama (because wounds inflicted by those would not grow back, even for reanimations), while he lunged at Orochimaru.

Hashirama, watching everything happen, narrowed his eyes. Minato going down had affected him, too, because he'd liked the blonde before he knew he was Kushina's husband. "Alright. I'm quite done playing these games."

Hashirama closed his eyes and focused his chakra. Orochimaru had made a grave mistake in using the personality tag, because as Orochimaru said in the last life, Hashirama was capable of overpowering the jutsu. His Sage chakra made marks over his eyes, and when he opened them, they were yellow.

His body appeared rejuvenated. He was now in complete control over himself, looking a lot like Madara had when he broke out of his own Edo Tensei. He looked at Tobirama, then attacked his brother to keep him off of Naruto as he went for Orochimaru. "Sorry, Tobi, we gotta let Naruto do this."

Sasuke teleported himself to Minato, grabbing the injured man and pulling the sword out of him, before using his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan to light the sword on fire using Amaterasu so Orochimaru could no longer control it. He knelt beside Minato, tearing Minato's robe and pressing it to the wound.

Minato looked up at Sasuke, his eyes glazing over. "Ah, nephew." He murmured. Sasuke didn't think he knew what he was saying. A fresh wave of pain nearly knocked him off his feet. "Is Naruto okay?"

Sasuke nodded his head quickly. "Aa, ojii-sama." He murmured, pressing the wound tighter. The blood soaked through the white fabric. "Shit..." he murmured.

"Language," Minato grinned, before coughing. The blood dribbled down his chin and jaw, dripping down his neck. Sasuke shifted so he held Minato's head in his lap.

"Ojii-sama, you were stabbed in the liver. If you don't get immediate medical attention, you could die." Sasuke said bluntly, looking up. He saw Sakura meditating up there.

Sakura, it's Minato. He's hurt, bad.

I'll be right there.

Then she seemed to stand up. Her skin was tinted a purple hue from the inside of the barrier. Sasuke watched as she punched the barrier. At that exact moment, Itachi, Shisui, Shikamaru and Tenzo killed the Sound members. Sakura's punch let out a blast that knocked everyone down to the ground, nowhere near close to the roof, so they couldn't see her healing Minato.

She jumped down when the barrier beneath her feet disappeared, landing on the ground beside Sasuke and Minato, her pink hair fluttering in the wind from its ponytail. Hashirama looked up briefly and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Tsuna?" before going back to keeping his brother busy.

Sakura looked at Hashirama for a few seconds, before dropping to the ground next to Minato. "Hokage-sama, please don't worry, I'll see to it that you make it out of here."

Minato looked at Sakura through liddled eyes and smiled softly. "Sakura-chan," he slurred.

Sasuke rested a hand on Sakura's shoulder, feeling her shaking as her hands glowed green. She began healing Minato immediately, stitching him up as best as she could.

Naruto.

Yeah, Sakura-chan?

I'm healing your dad, is it okay if I stabilize him for now, but put him in a coma so we can get use him as an excuse to get Tsunade-sama back?

Sasuke looked to his blonde teammate, who paused in his assault on Orochimaru to look at Sakura, and a look of relief crossed his face.

Could he die?

No. I would be there. There are two options to convince Lady Tsunade to return. I could heal him to where it's still life threatening, but monitor him with Katsuyu to keep him alive. Just to the point where we need Tsunade-shishou, but if anything happens I would be there to take care of him. Or I could just keep him in a coma, and then there would be a need for a replacement Hokage. If Jiraiya-sama doesn't want to be Hokage, we can find Lady Tsunade.

I like the second one better, Sakura-chan, because there's less of a chance of him dying.

Naruto, if it's hurting you, I can definitely heal him all the way and we could just find out how to get Lady Tsunade back some other way.

No, Sakura-chan, we needed to get her back soon, and this is an opportunity. Just... don't let my dad die, okay?

I swear.

Sasuke listened to the exchange between his two teammates, looking at Minato. Even if the coma idea was more safe than keeping his injury life threatening, there was still a chance that Minato's sky blue eyes would never open again. He didn't like this at all, but he understood why it needed to be this way.

All of the sudden, Kakashi arrived with Itachi. The eighteen year old and the twenty-seven year old walked up to where Naruto was fighting the Sannin.

"Itachi-kun," Orochimaru said, backing away from Naruto to look over at Sasuke's brother. He licked his lips. Shivers ran down Sasuke's spine. "It's lovely to see you again. Have you reconsidered your stance on my offer?"

"No." Itachi said curtly, before putting the snake into a Tsukuyomi. Sasuke watched as his beady eyes glazed over. Soon after, Shisui arrived, cracking his knuckles and surveying the scene. He didn't see Minato, walking right over to the intimidating chakra that was Orochimaru, already activating his Sharingan. Kotoamatsukami. He was putting Orochimaru under his control. Tobirama and Hashirama had stopped battling, finally, the two of them coming over to where Minato lay.

"My lords, if you would back up just a bit, I'm stabilizing him." Sakura said, her voice respectful but serious. Tobirama bristled at taking orders from a girl, but Sasuke glared at him. Tobirama scowled, and backed up a bit.

Hashirama had no such reservations. He got to his knees beside Minato, looking at Sakura. "You remind me of my granddaughter."

Sakura looked up at Hashirama and that was all it took for tears to well up in her eyes. "I do?" Sakura hadn't mentioned it, but she'd missed her mentor more than life itself. Now, hearing that from the First Hokage had brought all of her memories of the blonde woman back.

Hashirama nodded. "I thought you were her for a moment. Her name's Tsunade."

Sakura smiled, biting her lip and blinking away her tears as she healed Minato. "She was my shishou."

Hashirama's own 100 watt smile graced his lips. "Well, you must be her pride and joy."

Sasuke's hand tightened on Sakura's shaking shoulders, and it looked like she was restraining herself from crying more. "It's an honor to be fighting on your side again, my lord." The black lines on her body began dissipating, as the diamond on her forehead glowed and at one word from her, disappeared from her forehead entirely. Hashirama watched in awe as she sealed her seal.

"Where is my granddaughter?" Hashirama asked quietly, looking down at Minato. It appeared Hashirama had missed her as well, making Sakura's heart squeeze.

"She's... not here." Her face fell. "She left the village a while ago." Minato appeared to be stabilized, so she dropped her hands. "I'm keeping him in a coma so we can use him as an excuse to get her back." She said, putting a hand over Minato's head to feel for a fever.

Based on Hashirama's knowing smile, he'd figured out Sakura was a time traveler too, looking up at Sasuke and pointing at her. He mouthed something that made Sasuke tense, but he just glared at Hashirama as Sakura finished up. He mouthed something back.

Sakura wiped her hands on her knees and stood up. "Right." She looked at Shisui, who'd taken control of Orochimaru using his technique. Orochimaru proceeded to make the handsigns that released the Edo Tensei, after he heard the specific trigger signs from Tobirama, who was there talking to him about how much he looked like his great grandfather, Uchiha Kagami, who was Tobirama's student. Shisui seemed stunned to interact with Tobirama so casually, but spoke with him politely. Tobirama complimented Shisui on his skill, before walking back to their group. Itachi gave Shisui an absolutely stunned look, and Shisui looked back with the same amount of confusion.

Hashirama had seen the end of the Edo Tensei coming, and Naruto had as well, stopping in front of the two Hokage. Sasuke stood with them and Sakura, giving them a nod.

"Hopefully we won't have to summon you any more, enjoy your rest in the afterlife." Sasuke bowed respectfully to Hashirama, before turning his playful expression to the Second Hokage. "Not you, old man." Tobirama glared at him, before shaking Naruto's hand. Hashirama grinned at Sasuke, before bowing at Naruto. Sakura rubbed her arms, keeping her eyes trained on her feet.

Hashirama walked forward and wrapped Sakura in his arms, smoothing her hair back. She sank into his warm embrace, looking drained. "See you soon, Sakura-chan." He told her. She nodded against him, and stepped back. Just as the men broke the Edo Tensei, she smiled at Hashirama. "Tell Tsuna I said hi." Hashirama told her, a grin on his face as he dissolved into the white paste-like thing. His soul, and Tobirama's briefly hovered above the scene. The white haired man smirked, and Hashirama beamed at them all one last time.

They were gone, and the bodies fell forward. They were Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi from the Sound, surrounded by the white. Sasuke sighed, before turning back to Minato, who was pale, and covered in blood.

Sasuke and Naruto picked Minato up, careful not to jostle his freshly healed wound. The men who were taking care of Orochimaru turned to face them now.

Kakashi's face went white. He strode forward, picked up his sensei, and disappeared, obviously heading straight for the hospital. Naruto ran down the roof, colliding into a hug with his mom, who was waiting on the floor with worried tears in her eyes. Mikoto stood next to her friend, watching Kakashi jump away from roof to roof. Sasuke wrapped an arm around Sakura's neck in a hug, the two of them walking to the edge of the roof and jumping off together. He could practically feel Itachi's tired smirk on his back, but he wisely chose to ignore it.

Sakura sighed as she walked up to Kushina, who swallowed Sakura in a hug as well. Sasuke was held tightly by his own mother, not far away. He could tell Sakura felt absolutely terrible about keeping Minato in a coma. Sasuke was getting ready to go home before Kakashi's voice invaded his head.

We should probably get ready to leave.

When are we going?

Right now.