Chapter 9

The sudden roar and immense chakra pulse made everyone in Konoha stop, the battles pausing as people saw the smoke cloud fading above the forest to reveal not one but two tailed beasts facing each other. The Ichibi facing Konoha while the Kyubi stood protectively before the village. This still did not last long however as the enemy forces restarted their assault. "Ignore it! Focus on driving out the enemy forces!" Jiraiya's voice cried amongst the Shinobi, and the battles began once more.

"The Kyubi?! But how in the world?!" Temari gasped as she stood beneath the two great beasts, her fan tightly gripped in one hand, her face slack and eyes wide in shock. Her hand trembled as her fear turned into adrenaline, composing herself and steeling her nerves she moved, using her fan and wind chakra fly up.

"Yah!" With a mighty cry she slashed her fan at the trio atop the Kyubi's head, sending a blade of wind hurtling towards them.

"Behind!" Sasuke moved forward, his hands flashing symbols for the Uchiha signature fire-type jutsu, expelling a large fire ball that engulfed the wind blade and blew Temari back.

"Naruto, you deal with the Jinchuuriki, Sakura and I will deal with the other two!"

Without a second glance Sakura and Sasuke jumped off the Kyubi's head, Sasuke going to engage the wind user and Sakura moving to intercept the puppet user.

"Yosh!" Naruto cried as he crouched forwards, hands tightly gripping the fur on the Kyubi's head. "Let's get this fucker, Kurama!"

"LET'S!" With a mighty roar the Kyubi sprang forth, the Ichibi not far behind as it madly leapt to engage the Fox.

'How DARE this mortal...' Iruka snarled in his head as he ran towards the battle sight of the Hokage and his student. Rather than going up to and smashing through the barrier Naruto would likely have done, Iruka instead used a skill he hadn't since entering this world, teleportation. Arriving just in time to block an attack on the Hokage from one of the two resurrected former Hokage.

"Iruka-kun, how are you here?" The old Hokage's eyes widened but Iruka ignored him in favour of looking at the two husks containing departed souls. Hashirama reeked of confusion at being pushed back by an outsider whilst Tobirama stood in place, his weapons lowered, his face relaxed in relief due to his recognition of Iruka. While the two resurrected Hokage couldn't feel it, due to the nature of the impure resurrection jutsu, their souls were ragged and in agony, almost torn due to being forcefully pulled from the realm of the dead. Behind them stood Orochimaru, his eyes wide and pupils trembling in terror, the sheer malice in the killing intent emitted by Iruka, his instincts screaming at him to run.

"How dare you desecrate the souls of the dead, mortal," Iruka's voice was powerful and deep, it was the voice of an Angry God. Bright green energy swirled Iruka's being, attacking and engulfing the resurrected Hokage, whereas Hashirama tried to uselessly to fight the green energy, Tobirama willingly stepped into it. The energy swirled and brightened, cocooning the two, as it pulsed waves of energy were released, forcing Orochimaru and the Third Hokage to retreat backwards. Iruka's eyes glowed and phantom wings unfurled behind him. He lifted a clenched fist towards the two cocoons and opened it. Almost simultaneously this caused a final pulse to emit from the cocoons and they imploded, leaving nothing in their place, the souls inside purified and sent back to the afterlife.

Orochimaru almost shook in terror, he recognised the shinobi from the forest, but this unimaginable power awakened a primal fear within him. "How are you... how can you?!" He cried out in horror, He limply held out the Kusanagi before him in defence. Eyes flashing between where the two resurrected Hokage had been and to the... entity that had destroyed them.

Similarly the Hokage stood in shock, mind not comprehending the sight before him, "How are you doing this Iruka, what are you doing?" He bit out, still stood in a defensive stance, but fresh sweat dotted his brow at the pressure emitted by the man before him, swallowing around a lump in his throat.

But Iruka ignored him, charging at the snake sannin and easily knocking aside his blade, his deathly green eyes peering into the man's very soul with a glare that could kill. "It is with luck that you still hold a purpose in this world mortal, else I would have destroyed your soul,"

A scream was pulled from Orochimaru's throat as Iruka pushed a hand into the man's body, his fingers weren't gentle as they clawed into his soul. Orochimaru's head arched back, his hands spasming uncontrollably as they began to show signs of decay. Only when the decay reached the Sannin's elbows did Iruka withdraw.

Turning slightly to face both men, Iruka spoke "Neither of you shall recall the truth of what occurred in this place," his voice held an unbreakable command, speaking directly to the souls of those present. And then he was gone and Orochimaru could do nothing but flee as quickly as possible, smashing through the barrier and taking his guards with him, the ANBU not following to instead rush towards their leader.

"I am fine, I-" He started but suddenly found himself tongue tied, "I managed to seal his arms so that he can no longer use them." The words told of a false story implanted in his mind and his ANBU nodded, instead the Hokage turned to look into the distance, at the ongoing battle between tailed beasts. "What do you suppose we do about that?" he added, his ANBU staying silent, also having no clue as to what actions to take.

Detour aside Iruka was now prepared to complete his original objective, and was not a minute too late, as he arrived just as Naruto and the Kyubi managed to dislodge Gaara from the Ichibi's head, causing the sand beast to dissolve, Gaara falling towards the ground. Seizing his chance Iruka sprung up to grab the falling Jinchuuriki and bound his body in chakra sealing and containing seals. Placing the wrapped boy on the ground Iruka gripped the child's head where the seal sat and pushed his power into it, reshaping it to be similar to Naruto's, allowing the merging of the demon beast and Jinchuuriki. This one would take less time, not only because the original unstable seal had caused a merge to some degree but also because the Ichibi had only one tail of power compared to the Kyubi's nine. It would take three years at most to be complete.

Iruka turned to look behind him and saw the members of team seven, Naruto atop the Kyubi mouthed stretched in a large grin, Sakura and Sasuke were on the ground alongside the unconscious and tied up bodies of two Suna nin, both looked happy and proud of themselves. Iruka couldn't help the fond smile on his face, his mood lightening at the sight of his students.

"We did it! We protected Konoha!" Sakura rejoiced as Naruto joined them on the ground as Kyubi dispelled himself. Naruto sprang at his teammates, pulling them into a celebratory hug. The trio laughed together but soon exhaustion caught up and they instead found themselves supporting each other. Iruka walked up to them carrying the unconscious Gaara as he did so. Only minutes later did the ANBU arrive. Of instead of transporting the three genin to the Hospital, the ANBU delivered team seven plus Iruka to the council to report.

Naruto was questioned first, mostly about how and why the Kyubi had turned up. Needless to say Jiraiya, Sarutobi and the council members were not all too amused about Naruto's ability to summon the Kyubi itself, especially considering the boy had known this fact but not informed anyone. However all good things must come to an end and now Iruka stood before the council to give his report. It was here however that Iruka realised that in his fury at Orochimaru's use of the resurrection jutsu he forgot to establish an alibi or reason for leaving the scene.

It was only due to his quick wit that he was able to come up the excuse of leaving to search for a seal able to contain the Ichibi or find Jiraiya to do it for him, luckily the seals he had placed on Gaara reinforced his story.

Hours later, a wizened old man sat alone in his office smoking a pipe, his eyes weary and exhaustion coating his entire being, Konoha would have a new Hokage by the end of the week, once Tsunade was convinced to take the hat.

Far away in Otogakure the painstaking cries of a man could be heard, screaming in agony as his arms failed him, unable to move or feel yet lashing out in a most painful punishment. "Orochimaru-sama..." Kabuto spoke softly, eyes wide in horror as he watched his powerful master almost crumble before him. "Kabuto... get me... a new... body... NOW!" The man cried out, startling his young follower, who quickly moved to obey. Two weeks later Orochimaru would be in a new body and his arms would regain their ability but the memory of the pain and it's association with the impure resurrection technique never left him.

Iruka was surprised, but not entirely, at the news of the Hokage's retirement, regardless of what he did to alter the timeline some things remained constants, Tsunade becoming Hokage was likely one of those focal points in time that could not be changed easily, like the Kyubi's attack. However now that the excitement had died down Iruka could seriously use some rest, the situation had been less enjoyable than originally hoped, especially when that snake bastard had used that disgusting jutsu and forced him to intervene.

Grimacing Iruka decided to instead focus on helping out with the repairs around Konoha, some damage having been sustained during the assault on Konoha.

Suna had surrendered as soon as Orochimaru, and in turn his shinobi, had left, and upon realising their Kazekage was dead quickly begged for forgiveness, those left alive were sent back to Suna, and as a show of grace the Hokage had allowed Gaara to return with them, mostly because he had become decisively less homicidal since Iruka's interference with the seal, as well as him and Naruto striking up a quick friendship when the latter visited him under Kurama's request.

A few days later Sarutobi would be officially appointing Tsunade as the fifth Hokage. The largest change in the timeline to occur other than Sarutobi's continued survival was Sasuke not fleeing from the village as a missing nin, Naruto however was still set to leave for a training trip with Jiraiya...

"What do you mean leave the village!" Naruto cried out in shock, after being informed by the new Hokage that he was to be sent out of the village to travel and train with Jiraiya.

"There are whispers of an organisation made up of missing-nin which is searching for and attacking Jinchuuriki, me and Tsunade concluded the best way to avoid them was to train you while in motion, keeping your location obscured while still ensuring your skills do not rust and keep the village safe, it's not like we won't be coming back to the village for three whole years, we can obviously visit every few months." The toad sannin explained, unfazed at the teen's reaction.

"But... but... what about Sakura and Sasuke and team seven? How can I just abandon them to go away on my own?!" The fox boy yelled in protest, Tsunade sighed at this, moving from her desk to stand before him, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You won't be abandoning them, they will also be training, I've already decided to take Sakura as my own apprentice and Itachi was planning on taking over Sasuke's training in light of the incident with Orochimaru." The woman told him calmly, confident that she could convince the younger boy of what to do. Naruto opened his mouth to protest further but stopped short, he could see her point, and with a sigh he conceded to the order, he would be leaving the village in two days.