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The Fall of the Dogs of War	By : dolphina23 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 927 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Author�s Note: Yes,
me again. Boy, these are becoming a habit. Anyway, I must give credit where
credit is due. A grand thank you, again, to Cupricanka for all her help and
that marvelous death scene in the last chapter. Sakura, for all her irksome
behavior, really did deserve no less.

Hypergraphian, I did not catch that
mistake until you mentioned it, thank you. I�ve since fixed it. By the way, if
you don�t finish your story Colors, I will be extremely upset. I mean it. I�ve
always wanted Naruto to be portrayed as strong, but intrinsically messed up and
the art descriptions leave me al tingly and inspired to paint, not that I can,
really. I must have more, more I tell you!

Also, I have borrowed, without express permission, the name of
a fictional inn from Neil Gaiman, a fantastic and fantasy-ridden author whom I
cherish. It now resides in the title of this chapter. But, then, the ending of
the World as we know it must always remain free to all or it would not be the
end, would it?

I�m enclosing here the URL to an amv on Youtube set to Pirates
of the Caribbean: At World�s End the track:
Drink Up Me Hearties. It is meant for this chapter,
well, for the battle anyway, like all the tracks I place here for your
enjoyment; at least, in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU_-3BG8VB4

Again, I thank you for reviews, both past and, hopefully,
future ones . . . hopefully. J More please, and bring many more friends. I need the
ego boost.

Please, don�t upset me with mundane complaints about there
being an original character. I am not so banal a writer that I would suffer you
all that punishment without good reason. He is necessary to the plot but also
minor in importance. Trust me; this is not one of those unbelievably juvenile
original character stories. You will enjoy this one, if your responses to my
previous chapters aren�t telling me cruel lies.

All you have to do is read.

Chapter�� 6
World�s End Inn, a Free Establishment

�� Staring out
at the wasted expanse of ground before him, Naruto pressed his lips together
and then blew out a breath. He was beyond annoyed, beyond angry. He wanted this
done because he was tired, tired and hungry and very possibly dying from all
the blood loss and overuse of chakra. He�d been pushing it at the end of his
battle with the Pain clones and now he was beyond his limits. Well, that was
what his body was saying. His thoughts were busy, plagued with images of lily
white skin and eyes that, in the right light, reminded him of precious stones
or the sea on a clear day.
�� Naruto closed
his eyes and groaned then rubbed at the lids a bit. He swayed slightly and, for
what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour, scanned the horizon for
signs of Kyuubi or Konan. He could search for Kyuubi�s signature, even obtain
glimpses of Kyuubi�s emotions or rough pictures of thought and motion but he
was too tired and he knew he would need all the energy he could scrape together
to put that bitch in her place.
�� Taking a
deep, cleansing breath, Naruto blew it out forcefully and along with it went
most of his anger and pain, at least, for now. He then concentrated on
remaining still, perfectly and utterly still, until he could feel the leaves of
the tree limb he was in� rustle against
his skin as if they were sandpaper and the pain of his injuries had receded
somewhat. He wasn�t healing any faster than slightly above human capacity now,
but the nature chakra he was forming and collecting into himself was helping to
ground his energy and conserve it; he would be relying on outside chakra for this
fight.
�� Feeling the
deep seated energy balance within him, Naruto opened his eyes to scan the
ground again, looking for the hint of Konan�s chakra he�d caught earlier. He
was able to see it better with the enhancement of natural energy. It was
fainter than before but definitely there. He followed it with his eyes to a
rough crag of rock not two hundred yards away. Leaping out of the tree branch
he�d been curled around, Naruto cleared most of the distance in a single bound
only having to make one more leap off the soft earth before coming to a stop
atop the rock. Looking down, he spotted Konan�s flower and the crown of her
head on the other side.
�� Steeling his
resolve and gritting his teeth he prepared a Rasengan and pooled a little wind
chakra into it to form a muted version of his Rasengan Shuriken. Leaping off
the rock and into the air above her head, Naruto came down fast, so fast, but
Konan must have sensed him because she moved off to the side and pivoted to
face him, lashing out with those infernal paper shurikens. Naruto flew through
a few hand seals and used one hand full of wind chakra and melded water chakra
into the other. The technique coalesced into freezing ice surrounding the paper
and they fell to the ground, harmless.
�She sneered, curling her
lip and whipping her hand into the sleeve of her cloak.
�� Four razor
sharp kunai came barreling out of the mist created by his technique, but Naruto
was ready for them. Jumping back onto the rock, the kunai clanging off the
surface harmlessly, he made several more hand signs while calling to Kyuubi to
check on his location. Finding him at the other end of the field dealing death
blows to a group of ninja from Kirigakure and with no time to find out more,
Naruto spun and dissolved into the wind to reappear behind Konan. He brought
his hand down in a chopping motion to the back of her neck only narrowly
missing when she stepped just out of reach and turned to face him again.
�� Well, little
boy, you seem to have grown,� she said to him.
�Funny, that�s almost exactly what your precious teammate said
. . . before my God-beast ripped the soul from his abominations. I took care of
all his heads, or, took them off, whatever,� he scoffed. The look on her face,
her lips thinning out and her jaw tightening and her eyes hardening told Naruto
he�d hit a soft spot. Good, he wanted her to hurt.
�� You killed
my friend,� he ground out then spit in her face.
�� Konan
screeched and jumped back as if she�d been burned, wiping at her cheek.
�� That little insect? She barely stung, I could hardly let
her filth touch me,� she cried.
�� Fuck you!�
was his only reply as energy swelled around him to create the cutting winds he
was now so comfortable with. Wrapping them around himself and using the
remainder to boost himself and Konan off their feet, he took them up into the
hazy, clouded sky. Judging that they had come far enough, Naruto slowed their
ascent and covered Konan with as much wind chakra as possible to keep her from
dissolving into paper and frittering away on the wind. Forming what he hoped to
be his last set of hand seals, he drew in a deep breath and blew it out
straight at her, spewing the famed toad oil of Mt. Myouboku
all over her robe. It had the added affect of helping to keep her there, just
where he wanted her.
�� That fat,
old oaf tried the same thing with me. You really think I won�t be able to get
out of it?�
�� Not without
your precious Nagato, you won�t.� Naruto watched as her face paled and twisted
into a mask of rage and he had a moment to realize that he could very well end
up like that if he wasn�t careful. But Sakura�s face, that cold, near-dead kiss
and her smiling face whenever he�d caught her watching his training . . . Would
he be able to see it again if he succumbed to that all consuming darkness that
gripped Sasuke so tightly, even now? He didn�t think so and the image of his
Sakura, his beautiful, strong and so smart Sakura, kept the anger from
engulfing him. This had to happen, Konan needed to die, for the sake of keeping
that pain from anyone else.�
�� Quickly
changing their positions so that Konan was spun clear to the opposite side of
him Naruto realized she was trying to form some kind of earth barrier to clear
away the oil, or, at least, trying to coat herself in it. He guessed she was
expecting a fire attack next. It made sense, considering how flammable the oil
was. Smiling thinly, Naruto turned strategies over in his mind. What he
wouldn�t give for Shikamaru to suddenly appear right now. Shaking the moisture
formed by sweat and the growing mist from his shoulders and blinking the
stinging water from his eyes, Naruto frowned. This wasn�t all mist and sweat.
Some of it was rain. A light spattering of it covered them from the clouds that
seemed so close yet he knew to be so far away.�
�� Risking a
glance up, Naruto could see the storm forming directly above them, but its
calming gift might not come fast enough. How to make it come faster? Naruto
darted his eyes back to Konan who�d succeeded in dousing herself in dust from
the surrounding soil. He needed rain; it would effectively keep her from using
the paper techniques as even her
chakra level wouldn�t be enough to keep the water from hedging her attacks to
almost nothing.
�� Closing his
eyes, he tried to remember something Sasuke had told him about rain and what
caused it. He�d been using his all favorite sarcasm and Naruto had been too
incensed at the time to pay him much attention. He would much rather have
beaten that stupid smirk right off his face. He�d said something about a cold
front meeting a warm updraft and enough moisture from evaporation needing to be
present. Well, he had a cold front, or cold air, anyway. And, he had moisture;
Naruto could feel it misting them at this very moment, chilling the sweat on
his arms and making his weapons slick to the touch.
�� Konan began
to form enough earth chakra to call a barrier she then tried to use to break
his wind technique and he growled frustratingly. She needs to stop that, it isn�t going to do any good, he thought.
He forced the wind chakra to sharpen a little more and cut right through her
barrier with little effort. Suddenly realizing he could get what he needed
without really trying, Naruto let out a cascade of laughter that melded with
the crack of nearby thunder. The clouds were trying to move off in the
direction of Kyuubi�s battle that Naruto could hear raging in the background.
Angry shouts, pained screams and low, throaty growls the like of which no human
could produce played a dull, haunting soundtrack in his ears.
�� Calling back
a little of his wind chakra but not enough for Konan to find a chink in her
prison, Naruto lifted a hand and forced nature chakra out through his palm and
used t to calm the raging swirls around them. Reaching out in the distance with
senses enhanced by all that was around him, he found a trickle of warm air to
the north near where Kyuubi had another swarm of enemy ninja pinned. He sounded
as if he was playing with them, mice that they had become. Grinning, Naruto
coaxed the warm air up and into the clouds above them. The water broke forth
and over them, soaking his clothes and the very core of his being in an icy
deluge.
�� Calmly,
breath leaving his body in vaporous wisps, Naruto reached that same palm toward
Konan. He had stopped smiling.
�� If you had
any morality left in you, I would not be doing this.�
�� Her only
answer was to smirk at him, twisting her features into something Naruto could
not see as human. Then, she did speak, finally.
�� I am beyond
morality. It was bled out of me by all your former comrades, the ones who will also leave you to empty your blood on
the ground if it means their mission is a success. Morality is only a matter of
opinion; the opinion of foolish idealists and cowardly monarchs, all of which
can sit in safety while someone else dies for them.�
�� Well then,
that�s just one more thing I�ll have to work on,� he answered quietly.
�Stupid boy, foolish boy, Nagato was the only one with that
much power and you�ve killed him.� The last part came out hitched, an almost
sob. Naruto did not feel sorry for her. The pain of Sakura�s last moments with
him still too fresh in his mind and heart. He shook his head.
�� Nagato had
power, but that isn�t all that can change things, surely not if you want them
to become something more than what they were before.�
�� Naruto
strengthened his hold on the biting blades of wind, using the natural power of
the rain and some water chakra. Splicing it all together, he sent them all into
Konan with the last of his waning strength and she gasped once. Speared through
in a multitude of areas by wind and ice and chakra, her eyes began to glaze
over and her breathing quickened before slowing to a crawl. Naruto let go of
all that had held her immobile as her eyes closed and her heart stopped. Her
body plummeted to the earth with an expression Naruto saw as something very
human. She had finally found some peace. He wondered if he had not just granted
his most hated enemy something special instead of something meant to punish,
hurt, and mutilate her despicable being.
�� Breathing a
sigh of relief and feeling the nature energy leave him, Naruto could barely
keep enough wind chakra up to keep him airborne. Suddenly, a loud explosion
ripped through the air to the right of him and Naruto turned his weeping eyes
to the ground, coughing and choking on the hot smoke. A Kiri ninja had gotten
under Kyuubi�s guard and aimed an explosive kunai at Naruto. Kyuubi had already
dealt a clean blow, severing his spine and the man crumpled limply forward.
But, the damage was done. Naruto could not correct his descent marred by the
chaotic, concussive force from the attack. His body listed to the left and he
felt utterly weightless as crushing winds rocked his chest downward and he
plummeted to the ground. Able to catch himself mere feet from the earth and add
just enough of an updraft so that he didn�t break all the bones in his body,
Naruto hit the earth with a reverberating crash that cracked the ground beneath
him. He had felt almost none of it, having passed out from chakra exhaustion
mere moments after trying to buffer the impact.

�� Hinata caught
a flash of gold hair and black and red cloth as it fell alarmingly fast to land
with a sickening crash on the earth. Her breath caught in her throat. There
were no ninja she knew with that particular feature save one; Naruto. Pulling
her chakra reserves to her feet, she sped off in the direction she�d seen
Naruto fall while aiming a honed and deadly accurate kunai over her shoulder at
the last enemy she�d been fighting. It thunked soundly when it hit flesh she
did not see but knew the hit to be mortal. She did not spare a glance back as
she quickened her steps to reach her fallen friend.
�� Oh, God,�
she whispered as she came upon Naruto�s body. His left arm was twisted at an
unnatural angle beneath him and his legs looked wrong too. His back was twisted
away from them and Hinata knew that to be a sign that his back was most
probably broken. No, not just broken but twisted out of alignment. It would
require a more skilled ninja at medical technique than she was to even hope to
fix it all, let alone for him to walk again. Blood stained the earth around his
head and Hinata stared hopelessly down at Naruto while trying to quiet her
breathing and calm her pounding heart. It hurt deep inside her chest and she
knew it was more than the strain of the battle and the exertion of having to
fight for a prolonged period of time.
�� Keeping in
mind all that she�d learned in the academy about moving an injured person,
Hinata crouched down at Naruto�s side, taking care to keep one hand near his
injured head and the other bracing his back. Curling his right arm around his
body and keeping his head level, straight and stable with her left hand, she
shifted Naruto onto his back and checked his airway and breathing. He was
rasping out air in quick, strained pants and there was blood trickling down
both sides of his mouth. That wasn�t good. He might have a punctured lung from
the fall, which would mean he also had broken ribs. His back didn�t seem as
injured as she had thought at first, though.
�� It appeared
as if his left hip, the one he must have landed on, was broken badly. Hinata
could feel the fragments of bone shifting under her questing fingers. There
were broken ribs, too, shards of which poked into his flesh though none
protruded through the skin. Suddenly, she stopped her assessment of his
injuries. Perhaps she was making everything worse? She wasn�t sure, didn�t know
enough about anatomy and deceleration injuries and little more about ones
caused by blades and fire. He had second or maybe third degree burns on the
left side of his face, the clothes on that side singed and still smoking. The
portion of his right arm and hand that was visible sported shiny red patches.
Hinata sucked in a breath and stood up. He needed help and if she could not
find Sakura nearby, she had memorized Kakashi�s last known location and knew
him to be a quick and efficient fighter who rarely had to use more than the
space he was currently in to ground enemy ninja permanently. Turning eastward
Hinata released her Byakugan to its widest range and caught the familiar aura
of Kakashi�s chakra tinged with lightning.
He must be using his Chidori.� A rasp
from the prone Naruto stopped her and the quiet whimper had her turning swiftly
to meet heavily lidded, but open, eyes.

�� Hinata? Iz .
. . at . . . you?� he choked out. Hinata was on her knees in an instant trying
to comfort him and hush his small movements. He couldn�t do that in his
condition or he risked damaging his vital organs and his spine further.
�� Hush,
Naruto. You�re injured and need to lie still. You�ll hurt yourself more if you
try to move.�
�� This? This
is nothing. You . . . should�ve . . . seen me . . . after Kabuto . . . ,� his
voice broke and he began to choke again, blood frothing and trailing down his
chin to coat his now shredded shirt. Naruto looked down cautiously at himself.
�� Damn. And I
just bought this shirt. Good thing I have a spare,� he half-laughed,
half-choked stopping suddenly when he caught sight of Hinata�s worried gaze.
The sun had started to filter through a break in the clouds and the surrounding
canopy to highlight her hair. In Naruto�s pain addled mind she looked more
beautiful than when he�d seen her stand firm against her cousin in the Chunin
exams, fire in her eyes and a firm set to her shoulders. He tried to speak
again but Hinata leaned down and pressed trembling fingers to his lips. They
were warm, everything was so warm.
�� He couldn�t
feel the light drizzle of rain that saturated his clothes further or the
already stiffening blood making them scratchy. He couldn�t feel his numb feet
and could barley make out through the pain of his arm and chest that his head
was splitting open in front of her. It had to be for all that it felt like it.
�� Taking off
her outer coat, Hinata did her best to cover Naruto with the thick weave. He
would be more visible this way since the coloring was lighter than his own
clothes and stood out from the green and brown of the foliage. Though, lilac
didn�t suit him and the thought of her beloved wearing her clothes, even if it
was only to protect him from shock, made her blush fiercely. She leaned over
some more and long strands of her hair caught and reflected the light in
shining waves. Naruto reached his right hand out, the one not on fire from
dislocated shoulder to wrist but burning all the same, and ran his fingers
clumsily through the locks he could see. His vision had begun to get hazy and
he had trouble finding her face. The tears streaming down it were a surprise to
him. He knew she was quiet and weird and determined but to be so emotional over
a few broken bones and scrapes . . . .
�� His hand
moved back up to cup her face and he caught a stray drop of moisture and then
rifled through her hair again.
�� Naruto,
please. You need help. I have to go,� she whimpered and her breath made the
same misty trails his own had up above them. Had it been moments ago? It seemed
like hours, he mused. What had he been doing up there anyway?
�� I like it
better . . . like this,� he whispered, not able to make his voice any louder
for all the pain. �Do you?�
�� Yes,� she
whispered back. She knew she needed to move, time was never enough when someone
was so injured, even if the rumors she�d heard about his advanced healing were
true. He couldn�t seem to use it now, anyway, and that scared her. Naruto being
this injured simply terrified her.
�� Cheh, you think this will get me? You tell . . . that ol� hag . . . I still gotta get
her job.� With that, Naruto passed out again and Hinata all but tore out of his
grip on her hair to speed off in the direction of Kakashi praying that she had
not waited too long.

�� Branches and
leaves rustled and shifted imperceptibly as the small group of Iwa ninja made
their way through the outer edges of the forest. The leader halted suddenly and
motioned for the other four ninja with him to do the same. Two of them took to
the trees to stand guard while another gathered wood to prepare a small fire
and the last began pulling rolls of bandages and medical supplies to address
any wounds incurred during their last fight. Finding only minor cuts and
bruises to tend to, the man settled against the trunk of a tree to relax. The
leader appeared restless as he readied and fixed a batch of tea for them all.
�� This man,
Tachibana Hiroku, had not set foot in this part of Fire Country for nearly
sixteen years. While the situation between the major ninja nations had changed
little, in his opinion, since the uneasy alliance their leaders had formed,
Hiroku could not deny that Konoha truly seemed to honor its allies. Why else
would the Suna ninja have come to help them? In the past, when a particular
ninja village, even one belonging to a Great Nation or perhaps especially one
of those, found itself mired in conflict or natural disaster, no one from
outside that country intervened. There was always some kind of excuse to allow
the other Great Nations to weasel out of helping anyone else, be it money or
resources or �internal stability�. That last one had made Hiroku laugh when
he�d heard it. Really, Kumogakure had to have been in dire straits or
incredibly opportunistic for them to admit such a thing to keep from having to
lend ninja to Rain country during the last great flood they�d had.
�� This
pre-emptive initiative of Konoha�s had stirred up murky images from his past he
would rather have eradicated completely. But, the sludge and oil of all that
anger and hatred had drifted to the surface and now he was stuck in a forbidden
realm filled with them. So toxic and noxious had it all become that his heart
and soul had wizened to a mere shade of what could be termed human. Hiroku did
not care. In fact, he much preferred it as it had helped push him over the edge
during his battles with the Suna and Konoha ninja earlier in the day. He and
his subordinates were all exhausted from their efforts but they had managed to
cut down quite a few powerful Jounin and even two complete Chunin teams. They
would return to Iwagakure heroes and bask in the afterglow and maybe the
company of a few women while their leader cooked up a new scheme to acquire
enough supremacy and influence to push their borders outward. None of that
really mattered to Hiroku; he doubted any ninja truly cared for anything
politic unless it had the potential to gain influence or status for them and
their families.
�� Frowning at
that last thought, Hiroku hunched down next to one of his comrades at the
fire�s edge. His hair had turned prematurely white years ago, around the same
time he�d left Fire Country to return to his ancestors� village of Iwa.
Lines along the corners of his mouth and his forehead belied an advanced age,
though he was only thirty-six. He supposed, for a ninja, it was an achievement
and a testament to his own strength to reach middle age without too many
serious repercussions, he wondered silently. Standing, he turned to put out
their meager fire and spread the ashes to minimize any sign or trail.
�� Captain
Tachibana?� the team medic questioned, pushing the muddy brown bangs from his
hazel eyes, the rest of his hair shortened to an almost buzz-cut. The two
guards had alighted from the trees to appear at his side as well.
�� Are we
leaving then, Hiroku?� one of them, the only one wearing shades of brown and
green and sporting a black Mohawk to match his black eyes, asked. The others of
the group had all elected to dress in solid black garments.
�� Obviously,�
Hiroku replied tersely. �We�ve got a lot of ground to cover before reaching Iwa
and I, for one, would like to make it in time for the festivities.�
�� The other
guard, this one a redhead, smirked. They all knew that even though Konoha had
been able to stop the army and its main leader, the village would not be fully
recovered from its losses for quite some time. Hopefully, the Tsuchikage could
monopolize on their plight for the benefit of the village.
�� Grunting,
Hiroku followed his team into the trees and began heading west toward the
border between Fire and Grass Countries. They would reach Earth Country, where
Iwa rested just forty miles south of the ocean, through Grass Country. Keeping
a well trained eye on their surroundings in case the Kazekage, who had
apparently joined the battle alongside his ninja or the Hokage, decided to comb
through the forest for any lingering enemies, Hiroku caught sight of blond hair
and what looked to be blood on the ground not far to their right. Deciding
that, if nothing else, they could always use a few more kunai and another
fallen ninja�s head, which was always good to capture whenever possible in case
it held any secret techniques, Hiroku ricocheted off several limbs and a tree trunk
to land beside the body.
�� What he was
able to catch from the sight of the young ninja�s face and hair and the Konoha
symbol on the forehead protector made his stomach curl in on itself. This . . .
this could not be. He was supposed to be dead. Then, Hiroku crouched down to
get a closer look and made out three whisker-like scars on each cheek.
Realizing his mistake but also the potential for finally seeing his son�s
murderer punished more soundly than in just killing a few of Konoha�s finest,
Hiroku began to laugh. The sound swelled until the wood in the trees hummed
with it. His teammates, who had circled back by then to discover what it was
that had their leader so intrigued, gaped at each other. They had never seen
such behavior from him before; it was unsettling, to say the least. In truth,
Hiroku was only going to visit suffering upon the spawn of the most hated and vile creature he had ever known. But,
it would be more than enough to satisfy him. Reaching down to encircle the
boy�s ankle with one large hand, he began to pull it out of the rubble it was
half buried under. Turning the body slightly and grasping the arm he could tell
was either broken or dislocated, he wrenched it up and over his head and the
rest of the body followed to sit across the broad expanse of Tachibana�s
shoulders. He snickered at the pained groan from the young one and made his way
to the tree branches again, with his team in close pursuit and still marveling
at his altered behavior. The only things remaining after their departure were a
pile of ashes strewn haphazardly about and a stained purple and white jacket
sitting almost forlornly to the side of the rubble the boy had been found in.
��

�� The battle
was dying away. Kakashi looked around. Now, when the number of enemies was
reduced to an amount Konoha�s lower class ninjas could take care of, he finally
had some time to assess the situation.
�� They had
withstood great losses, but not nearly as much as they would have if Naruto
hadn�t pulled all that he had out. All that had happened had left Kakashi
overwhelmed and even somewhat scared; dealing with the consequences, however,
might have more repercussions than any of them could handle at the moment. But,
he was also oddly proud of Naruto and a little sorry he hadn�t had time before
all that had happened to get the boy to confide in him a little.
�� Luckily,
Kakashi�s part in the battle had left him with a lot of chakra to spare; he had
required only a little of his special abilities. So now, at the very end,
Kakashi was grateful he had enough left in him to finish things up using
Chidori, as it was the most efficient way to deal with the remainder of the
enemies before him. A thought about sparing as much chakra as he could had
crossed his mind, in case reinforcements surged the enemy lines, but that event
was unlikely.� Besides, he had felt the
Kazekage�s distinctive presence. Suna was here to help Konoha and it was time
to finish this and begin to triage the injured.�
�� So, Kakashi
took care of what was left of the enemy on his side using Chidori, and then
started to roam the area, looking for those in need of assistance. The medic
teams were working all over the place; their first priority, Kakashi knew, was
to see that the seriously or critically wounded were taken care of first and
that took time. The others, who seemed to have only minor injuries, were placed
to the side, awaiting the medics or any fellow ninja with enough chakra to see
to them.
�� Kakashi gave
clipped instructions to a few Chunin to carry the bodies of people that he knew
Konoha�s scientists would want to examine to another area of the field they
were working in. Maybe the pathologists could take something valuable for the
further protection of Konoha and her allies from them.
�� Many had died, on both sides. Kakashi was thinking about
how many more might have fallen if it hadn�t been for Naruto. He had a sudden
and overwhelming urge to know for certain that all his teammates were all
right, Naruto especially. Ignoring any protests from the other ninja stationed
near him, Kakashi hunted out and began to follow a weak trail of his team
members� chakra, that skirted the edge of the field and disappeared into the
woods.

�� Kakashi
realized the pattern of movements on the trail below him was very familiar to
him after only a couple of steps. He also realized it was not Naruto that had
made them. Kneeling to examine them closer, Kakashi surmised that whoever had
left the footprints had to gain a lot of stability to try and land a single hit.
It left no doubt in his mind that they were created by either Tsunade or
Sakura, and he knew that Tsunade had been advised to stay within the boundaries
of the village for the preservation of Konoha. He knew, also, that he had
sensed Sakura�s chakra signature not far from this spot. He had not seen her
anywhere near the vicinity of the injured, which was odd, because no matter how
exhausted she became, Sakura would have found some way to help in caring for
the injured, even if it was just to bring water, blankets and bandages.
�� Kakashi�s
mind raced frantically with the only other possibilities left and he sped up.
�� He knew she
was dead as soon as he saw her and the angle that her body made while pinned to
the tree. The wound had been impossible to survive, but it was quite clear
Sakura had fought to try; if she had died quickly, as the injury to her abdomen
would suggest, there wouldn�t have been so much blood loss.
�� Kakashi stood
there for a few seconds, knowing he should move if only to help her down. He
needed a minute for himself; the first moments of grieving were always the
hardest for containing emotions. Though, anyone would feel real pain after the
loss had a chance to truly sink in.
�� The fast
approach of a foreign chakra alerted him. Kakashi identified the person coming
his way as Hinata Hyuuga.
�� He moved
quickly in the direction Hinata was coming from. Even if they weren�t close,
there was no reason for the girl to see Sakura in this state. They had gone to
school together, after all. Maybe Kakashi couldn�t spare all of them, but he
could certainly try.
�� Naruto is
hurt!� The girl cried out as she reached him. A shot of fear ran through
Kakashi�s veins.
�� Show me,� he
ordered.
It didn�t take long; Hinata was moving very fast, almost in a
panic. She must have left Naruto in pretty bad shape. But when she stopped, he
could see nothing, just some blood soaked into the ground where she was
staring.
�� Hinata looked
at him then, her eyes wide and horrified. �He was right here!�
Kakashi scanned the area quickly finding no sign of Naruto
having left under his own power.
�� Voice shaking
Hinata said, �His spine� and burns! He couldn�t move. I�m sure he couldn�t . .
.�
�� A sob broke
through the hysteria. She was losing it. Kakashi turned to regard her
sympathetically.
�Calm down,� he said sharply.

�� She nodded,
using one hand to wipe her wet cheek and turned away to help begin the search.
Kakashi watched her disappear and then made his way back to Sakura�s body.
Whether they would be in time to save Naruto or not, Kakashi would not
speculate, but he at least would send a clone to the assemblage of medic ninja
assessing the wounded and retrieving the dead.
�� Both of those
thoughts were just naive attempts to ease his own mind. Running with the help
of chakra, Kakashi tried to keep the picture of Team 7 talking about their
dreams and hopes from overtaking his mind. He remembered clearly his fear for
Sasuke before his departure from the village, his hope for Naruto and how
Sakura had amused him, and his throat began to close up painfully.
�� He feared he
had lost all three of them now.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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The Fall of the Dogs of War