Behind the Mask: Silver Blood Fox

Beginning of the End

Since I'm nice I decided to publish this before I go to sleep hehe (it's midnight here)

Anyway there have been slight changes to the pairings, sorry. So it'll be NaruTema, NaruIno and NaruHina, SasuHaku, NagaKonan and there'll be no SakuSai or KakaAnko. There will be KakaRin though. 

"We'll help in any way we can," Konan told Naruto. "Please... Be careful."

Naruto nodded. "I'll try my best, but no guarantees. I'll do everything within my power to bring Madara down."

He closed his eyes, focusing. Slowly but surely, the golden cloak engulfed his body. Kurama was gone, but some chakra still remained in his chakra coils. "Keep yourself and Nagato safe," he stated quietly. "Who is still in the Akatsuki?"

"Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Tobi and Zetsu," Konan said. "Tobi and Zetsu are loyal to Madara."

"Itachi?" Naruto said in interest. "Sasuke hasn't killed him?" The whole reason why he had been assigned on the mission was to watch over the kid.

Konan shook her head. "I think it might have been your death," she confessed. "He became stronger, and managed to run from Orochimaru, so he never did end up leaving the village."

"Itachi, Kisame, Deidara. Whose side are they on?" Naruto asked.

Konan shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I don't know. Deidara hates his former village, so possibly Madara's, but Itachi..."

"Alright. Wait -" Naruto hesitated. "There was this masked man, claiming that he was Madara. He fought me in a forest. Kurama-" Naruto paused again, swallowing. It still hurt to talk about the Kyuubi. "- Kurama said that the real Madara was a lot stronger."

Konan's calm brown eyes darkened. "Tobi," she murmured. "He's been working with Madara... He's tried to kill me and Nagato before, to take Nagato's Rinnegan."

Naruto's eyes swirled to the purplish-grey of the Rinnegan. "If he does, there'll still be one pair left in the world."

"Arigato," Konan thanked softly as she began dissolving into paper. "Our fate lies in your hands."

"Naruto?"

"So you know?" The man took off his fox mask and chuckled as his hair changed to a sunkissed golden colour.

The man in the dog mask nodded briefly. "You disappeared the same time Naruto did."

"Should have known that you would figure it out." Naruto shrugged. "Then again, everyone was in a panic when Kitsune disappeared, but no one cared that Naruto disappeared. No one even knew."

Kakashi winced.

"So, the war..." Naruto turned to face Kakashi, blue eyes meeting one impassive obsidian-coloured eye. "Are you ready for it?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Kakashi replied coolly, still no hint of emotion in his tone.

"Cut the crap, Kaka-sensei," Naruto said, noticing how Kakashi's head jerked up slightly with shock. "You've been in war before." 

Kakashi's fingers curled into a fist. 

Obito...

Rin...

"You miss them, don't you?" Naruto murmured, his eyes softening.

"Rin! Get out of the way!" Kakashi cried out, his Sharingan eye spinning.

"Ka - kashi," Rin spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. "Kill me."

Kakashi glanced at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. "No."

"Please!" Rin begged. "They sealed the Sanbi-"

"Shut up!" One of the shinobi kicked Rin and she let out a whimper of pain.

Kakashi growled upon seeing his teammate being abused like that. "Chidori!" he shouted, seeing the fear spark in the man's eyes.

He raced forward at a considerable speed, arm outstretched.

It made its mark, plunging straight into someone's body.

Only that...

He froze.

Rin's beautifully compassionate brown eyes stared into his own cold mismatched eyes. His arm shook, the Chidori dying as he realized that she had impaled herself on the Chidori. 

"Rin... Why?" he rasped.

He watched, his blood chilling, as she mouthed her last words to him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, pulling his arm out of her as they both collapsed to the ground.

"She sacrificed herself." Kakashi shook his head. "And I feel so stupid."

Naruto paused. "Why?" he asked tentatively.

"She mouthed a few words to me before she died." Kakashi let his eyes close.

Kakashi-kun... I love you, forever and always, even in the afterlife.

"They'll be watching over you now," Naruto stated. "They'll be proud that you're staying strong. Fight in this war like a proud ninja and bring them honour."

Kakashi smiled behind his two masks. "You're a great Commander, you know that?"

"Thanks," Naruto picked up his mask and went back to his disguise, "I try."

And just like that, he was gone, with a slight breeze being the only trace of his presence.

"Tou-chan, Kaa-chan, there's war." Naruto took a deep breath. "The Five Great Elemental Nations have allied themselves against Uchiha Madara."

Shock was written all over Kushina's features. "W - wha..." she stammered. "Just how strong is this Madara, to have all five nations combine their powers?"

"Do you think you're up for the challenge?" Naruto asked quietly.

"We'll do anything," Minato declared firmly, his gentle blue eyes dark with determination. "After all..." His mouth curved upwards in a small smirk. "What sort of Hokage am I if I care about myself more than my village?"

Naruto laughed lightly, spinning a familiar three-pronged kunai on his finger. "If you feel the tug..."

"We'll come," Kushina promised.

Naruto sat atop his father's head, staring up at the partially cloudy sky. He never did get to finish speaking to Ino, or even speak to Hinata.

He stood up, planning to find Ino. Where would she be?

At the Yamanaka flower shop, perhaps, or strolling around the park at night. He knew that both her and Sakura enjoyed the nighttime activity.

All of a sudden, he stilled uncertainly.

Is that -

It was definitely the signal.

He felt Konan's chakra. He might be a ways from her, but he was a sensor, with enhanced sensor abilities from the Kyuubi, and they shared the same bloodline, so he knew when she was using her paper, especially if it was to send out a message to him.

He held out his hand, forming a paper bird that fluttered up to the sky before splitting into pieces of white origami paper. Naruto simply allowed the paper to go wherever the wind took it.

Once more, he was enveloped by the golden cloak. It was getting easier and easier the more he used it. He supposed it was something like muscle memory.

His eyes spun, forming the Rinne Sharingan, and a wave of chakra was expelled, so strong that Kiri ninja could probably feel it.

"So it's begun." The words left his mouth softly. "The beginning of the end."

He leaped from the top of the Hokage monument, streaking across Konoha in nothing but a golden blur.