Dirty Little Secret

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters and I am making no profit by writing this fic.

The force of the explosion threw Sakura back against the rubble of what used to be the Hokage’s Tower and Kakashi could do nothing more than watch as her body collided with the stones with a sickening crunch and then slid down with a wet sound, leaving a bloody trail behind. Her eyes were wide open but already unseeing, glazed over in the serenity of death. Funny thing, to think about serenity in the midst of such carnage.

Next to him, Sasuke growled in rage and turned back to face their foes – the surprisingly powerful old man who had occupied the Hokage’s title for seven long years and the ROOT members of ANBU who had been his enforcers. That is, what was left of them at the moment.

After all these years of struggle, a guerrila war led by the jounins who had refused to bow before the tyrant, they had finally come to an end. A point in time when Konoha’s citizens, even those who had initially favoured Danzou’s coming to power, had realised that the man had brought nothing but ruin with his constant war-mongering that sapped the strength and finances out of the village. They had all turned against him. Surprisingly enough, all those reluctant allies had gathered under Naruto’s banner, the young man’s unrelenting vigor and energy inspiring even the biggest sceptic among them. They had, after all this time, come to view him not as the vessel of the monster that had destroyed their lives, but as the son of the man who had saved them, Minato’s true successor – not just in name and blood but in spirit as well.

Naruto’s howl of rage made foe and friend alike to drop on the ground covering their ears, Kyuubi’s roar clear through the human voice – powerful, undeniable, ruthless. Kakashi last heard that growl twenty-two years ago but it didn’t fail to make him want to find the deepest, darkest hole in the ground and crawl in there, as far away from its source. Steeling himself, he turned to aside to see the young man charging down at Danzo and his cronies, the black mist of Kyuubi’s and his own chakras mixed together trailing behind him like a deathshroud. Next to him Sasuke was running towards the men as well, body engulfed in the brilliance of lightning. Half-buried in rubble as he was, Kakashi could do nothing more but watch as what was left of his remaining Genin team cut through their enemies with terrifying precision until their reached their goal. Naruto’s clawed hand and Sasuke’s sword reached Danzo’s face at the same time.
Finally, pain, chakra exhaustion exhaustion and bloodloss proved to be too much for his tired organism and he lost consciousness, darkness mercifully blanketing his agonised mind and giving him long-craved respite.