"Hush little Kitling, don't say a word.

Kyuubi's earthquake will shake the whole wide world,

(Six Years Later)

The tall, thin form of a lone woman clad in a bloody-red battle kimono cut an imposing image against the raging sunset. Surrounding her, the bodies of countless ninja lay haphazardly across the scorched, muddied ground. The white-clad forms of medics – cast black by the dying sun - could be picked out through the horror, though instead of instilling a sense of hope they merely gave the impression that there wasn't nearly enough of anything to go around.

The woman's face – like that of a fairy doll, though much more realistic, a small child had thought once upon a time – grew a bitter smile. 'Not nearly enough' seemed to be the theme of the Fourth Shinobi War.

The reformed Oto had not been respected nearly enough. Their statements – and later, their threats – had been taken with not nearly enough caution. Konoha, as well those who had allied with the village, had not paid nearly enough attention.

They still didn't, not really. But their fear served just as well.

Turning her back to the carnage the infamous Kyuubi no Kitsune swiftly made her way back toward the capitol of the nation she had come to love almost as much as her own child, one of its founding leaders. The large, imposing gates swung open with a gentle push from her hand – their engrained chakra sensors having recognized her as a leader of the nation – and the guards standing promptly on either side of the entrance, garbed in the royal purple and dominating red of their nation, nodded her a respectful greeting punctuated with vaguely awed whispers of her name.

The bitter smile on her face became a pleased one as the image the guards made, combined with the general bustling life of her village, cleared away the reality of the horror show outside their doors for a few moments.

Unlike so many others, it seemed that Oto had bloomed in the wartime economy. The many dubious skills and morals of their inhabitants had paid off in ways none could imagine, their message of acceptance having turned many a strange and skilled ninja into their embrace. Even the jinchuriki, the prized weapons of so many nations, had turned on their tamers once the newly rendered Country of Shadows had offered them their deal.

It might have had something to do with the way Kyu, the Great Nine-Tailed-Fox, had whispered to their demons, coaxing and calling and sometimes intimidating the lesser beings into pants-wetting terror when they refused to agree; or the way Naruto had smiled, full of promise and hope, at their containers. Either way, it had worked. Those who were permanently bound to their villages had manipulated their homes into becoming allies with Sound whilst others had settled firmly within Shadow Country's borders. It was a good move on their parts, as was evidenced by the way those nations and ninja aligned with Otogakure – not just a Hidden Village now, but Shadow Country's capital city – managed to weather the war.

Kyu smirked to herself as she looked around the city, the beating heart of a country that had swallowed the six neutral ones around it and was steadily encroaching on the Country of Fire's territory, snuffing the flames with cool, steady darkness. Every time she stepped foot in her home she found herself slightly awed by its extraordinarily quick growth, her mind insisting that the little collection of camps they'd had before should not have grown into the metropolis around her so quickly.

She supposed it was partly due to the population being around ninety percent ninja; and powerful ones at that. Missing nin who'd agreed to follow some rules so long as they could be assured they wouldn't be hunted, remnants of clans long dismembered, daughters disillusioned with being treasured merely for what they might pass on to a powerful man's heir. If there were three things in someone's life (talent, desire, tragedy) you could bet they had somehow been added to Shadow Country's army.

And it had all started here, within the steel-bordered Village Hidden in the Sound, which had spread to include the entirety of the former Rice Country. The territory had been up for grabs after Rice's daimyo had been killed (assassinated), sparking a meager civil war amongst the people. One the tiny, but ambitious, fledging Hidden Village of Otogakure had shamelessly taken advantage of.

It hadn't been too much trouble to calm the rage in the civilians of Rice, honestly. They had been a starving, oppressed minority within the Elemental Lands; enslaved by their ruler and ignored by other countries, despite their hard work being what produced some sixty percent of the rice that fed the majority of citizens in those other countries. They'd been tired, aggravated, and fractured. Both sides of the 'civil war' had really wanted the same thing, but had been so hopped up about it they'd clashed and bickered until they were fighting each other. Otogakure had merely stepped in, acted as a mediator, and convinced the people it would be better their way.

There had been those who'd spoke against the idea, but they'd been silenced one way or another. Kyu had mentioned that Oto had 'shamelessly taken advantage of' rather than 'saved the country from' civil war, hadn't she?

Not that it had mattered in the end. Everyone (living) had been happy enough with the Country of Rice being redubbed the Country of Shadow, its capital taken from the daimyo's hometown to Otogakure. Especially when it had been made known that under the new ninja-principle-based leadership the country would soon be moving to consolidate their neighboring lands, giving them the option of willing annexation or full on war.

It turned out that formerly oppressed people rather liked the idea of becoming conquerors, specifically when the lands they were bringing to heel had ignored their pleas for help regularly. The ninja populace had gotten a high off it as well, for never before had a ninja village been the capital of a country, nor had their Kage functioned also as their daimyo.

To the countries they'd waged against it had been an easy choice. The choice becoming especially clear when it became certain that even when all six independent territories rallied their wealth together, they still didn't have enough to hire a large enough foreign ninja team to protect them.

Kyu had merely smirked as her boys had plotted it out. And to think that up until then some people had thought that having local ninja was more trouble than it was worth.

The Country of Fire's daimyo had used their takeover as an excuse to declare war on the newly united Shadow Country, of course. Some (most) thought (knew) that it had been Konoha ninja working under the Fire Country's daimyo who'd killed Rice's leader. According to rumor (commonsense), it had been a return gesture for how Otogakure had flat out refused to let the other ninja village monitor them as a "show of faith".

Konoha had thought the loss of Rice Country's daimyo would weaken Oto's resolve, would cow them into submission. When Otogakure had instead manipulated it to their advantage, war had been the only choice for Konoha if they wished to try and save face.

Oh, Kyu thought with vicious relish, how shocked Konoha must have been when they'd been informed that Suna would be siding against them, stating that fighting with them would break another alliance of theirs… a little something called the Exile Alliance.

Kyu's one regret would be that she hadn't been in the room when Konoha had received word of it. Her only let down that she hadn't been there to see just how shaken the enemy village had been from the social earthquakes her boys had released.

Gliding down the streets of Oto with a brisk pace Kyu shamelessly grinned at what she saw. It was a fortress city, the safest outside of Ame, and the most deadly to walk through if your chakra didn't mesh that of the sensors. The decimated ninja army outside Oto's gate had learnt that well when the chakra-wave nets, trigged by the negative confirmation of the sensors, had snared each ninja's own personal core and rent it from their worthless bodies, causing mass heartaches at the loss.

It was a gruesome, impersonal, bloody way to die. Personally, Kyu delighted in the splotches of red it painted across the nation, as well as the disbelieving looks they received from their political prisoners when they were shown the evidence of it.

Walking with quick elegance Kyu made her way to Otokage Compound with minimal interruption, occasionally nodding in the direction of someone she recognized and receiving the same back. The streets of Otogakure were orderly things and sparsely populated, with most of its people stationed amongst allies and outlying regions that needed more help. Those who were left were the bare minimum necessary for running the capital and mostly unable to fight, in any case. If you were at all able-bodied, you were either in the factories making weapons, in the fields growing food, or disposing of the bodies.

With a handful of exceptions, of course. It wouldn't do to have your generals and leaders doing war labor when there were still plans to be made, would it?

With one last poisonous smirk directed at the enemies she kept at the forefront of her mind, Kyu entered the Otokage Compound where the last stand of the war was being planned.

And boy, she thought, eyes glinting excitedly, was it going to be a doozy.

But if Konoha does not fall,

Fire will come at Kyuubi's call

And if Konoha does not burn,

Kyuubi will make the oceans churn,

And if Konoha does not drown,

Kyuubi's tornado will blow it down

And if Konoha stays as it has been,

(Three Weeks Later)

Fire, fire, fire, fire, FIRE! Flames and burning and the acrid stench of flesh and dreams, melting like fat off a roasting animal.

Konoha was an animal, the animal. Bound and blood-let, throat slashed, claws and fangs harvested as ornaments. Souvenirs. War trophies.

Tsunade gagged as she stumbled through the smoky, ashy streets of her village, hands grasping aimlessly, nails scraping along for a purchase she just couldn't find. Opening her eyes into slits the blonde felt tears carve rivulets into the soot on her face, the fires everywhere around her burning the broken remains of her heart.

In every place the Hokage looked Konoha lay in withering flame, her ninja roiling in agony as their skin boiled and flesh burnt. Over the village's walls the blonde could just spot the torched remains of their nation's proud forests, not a leaf left for the ninja village to remain hidden in. Despair swelled in Tsunade's chest.

How could she let this happen? Why hadn't she been able to stop it before it had gotten this far? She'd known they'd been losing the war – she had been fighting against the Fire Country daimyo and her own council to get them to do something to put an end to it – but it appeared that all of those struggles were in vain, that they had not been enough.

Falling to her knees in the village square Tsunade tried to remember how it had come to this.

The war had seemed like such a sure thing when they'd started it; like it was the only logical thing to do. All the hurt, all the betrayal she'd felt at seeing the boys alive, in power, and challenging their home village, working with demons and criminals, even after being warned of their transgressions with their daimyo's blood… it had all just melted away into rage and justification.

See, she hadn't been a bad Hokage to send the Uchiha on that mission. He was obviously able to handle himself. It was their fault Konoha had been forced to shun them, think them dead, not investigate further. Their fault, not hers. She was a good Hokage, dammit. She'd show them.

And now look at where that mentality had gotten her people, the blonde thought miserably.

This hadn't even been the first of the attacks, either. Supposedly freak wind storms, massive flooding in coastal Fire Country, earthquakes. It was like the very elements had been against them as well as their human enemies.

The blonde felt the hysterical urge to laugh, perhaps in hopes she'd drown in the ashes of her people. It seemed that ashes were all that was left of them now; all the memorial they were granted by the raging inferno that had consumed them, despite the countless water jutsu that must have been used against the flames. Flames that seemed impervious to their natural countermeasure.

Tsunade gasped as something struck the back of her head, hard. Pain lanced through her body and sent her flat to her stomach, panicking her senses. On instinct she grabbed onto the sensation and attempted to use it as a focus, to bring herself back to a state in which she could defend her prone body. For a moment she thought she was seeing things, as the fiery miasma disappeared briefly, leaving behind just her somewhat unharmed village and various black-clad forms, but she was dragged from that reprieve and back to her hellish reality soon enough.

The ashes of her heart scattering once again as the image of her fire-ravaged village became all the clearer, Tsunade wished for the first time in her life that it would just end. That it would just stop and let her go long enough to escape with her dignity.

Little did she know that the foolish had little dignity in the first place.

Harsh hands grabbed her shoulders, flipping her hard onto her back and letting her head smack against the interlocking stones of the burning square. A thin hand with talon-tipped fingers clasped around her throat, gagging her. She tried to cry out, to gather herself, to scream, to fight, to do anything; but she felt so weak, her body so heavy and hard to move. A deep voice rumbled around her, clawing its way in through her ears and engraving its words in her bones.

"I know I promised the kit he'd have the joy of this, but I think I'm allowed to break a promise once in a while, hm?"

Real, cold fear filled every vein in Tsunade's body as she stared into the human-esque eyes of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. No matter what the demon had started to call herself in her pretty, human form, she'd always been the Kyuubi when Tsunade had been forced to address her, both at that fateful chunin exam in Suna and at the few, strained peace talks afterwards.

Absently, the blonde wondered if perhaps that had been one of her mistakes.

Black hair flaring with her raging demonic power, ears present, pressed tight against her skull, and as viciously orange as the nine swishing tails behind her, the Kyuubi looked just as terrifying here as she did in her monster form. With her small, lady-like hands wrapped tightly around the blonde's throat - the nails blackened and sharpened to claws that dug painfully into Tsunade's flesh – she couldn't be anything but.

"D-DEMon…" Tsunade tried to scream, to warn the others, but part way through the call she achingly remembered that there were perhaps no others to warn. Tears flung listlessly from her eyes, down her face; a natural reaction to the burning air and her useless heartache.

The Kyuubi laughed at her; not the deep, rough sound Tsunade expected, but a higher, sharper sound. Like fine glass as it shattered against the floor.

"Poor little Tsunade!" The nine-tails cooed, "so tired of the hurt she's spread and been dealt! So tired of sending children off to battle…" The demon's hand tightened drastically and Tsunade's eyes widened in reaction. The blonde could feel her blood trickle along her skin from where the ancient woman's claws cut her.

"I think it's time for her to go to sleep." The demon murmured as she leant down close by the gasping woman's ear, "and tonight, there are no lullabies."

A sharp crack rent the air of the village.

Then Kyuubi will start all over again…"

Sasuke Uchiha sucked in a sharp breath as he watched as the woman he'd come to think of as a mother-in-law easily took the life of the woman he'd once looked up to, but had ultimately signed his death warrant all those years ago.

It was a beautiful, terrible thing to watch.

Kyu was completely in her element; her body language proud, controlled, and so, so deadly. The hem of her red battle kimono, something that had become almost as iconic as her demonic form, fluttered lightly about her sandal-clad feet, her nine orange tails twirling caustically around her petite body as her raw chakra played with her hair.

Konoha's formerly proud Hokage, on the ground and pulled into a ball as an instinctual reaction against injury, was almost lost in Kyu's presence.

From their vantage point up high on the roof of the Hokage's building, Sasuke, Naruto, Deidara, and Itachi had watched it all unfold. It had taken some convincing to get Naruto to stand down – the blonde having wanted desperately to be the one to end the hag's life - but Sasuke had managed to get the blond to agree to watching – just this once, Sasuke had sworn – alongside the other three.

Or, at least alongside Deidara and Sasuke. Itachi had been a little too preoccupied to be doing much more than what he already was, seeing as it was him who was holding the collective residents of Konoha under a village-sized genjutsu.

Sasuke smirked in what might have been considered an evil manner. Whereas the ninja aligned with Otogakure saw Konoha as it truly was – stable, if a little banged up from the attention of its government being shifted so far away from home for such a long time; the trees full, abundant and brilliant – the Konoha ninja and civilians saw it as a burning epicenter of violence. They saw their comrades struggling, fighting, dying; their families in tatters. They saw their lives falling apart around them and there was no one to tell them otherwise. They saw the most hopeless situation one could be in while at war.

And while they were incapacitated in their misery, a mixed crew of Suna, Oto, and Ame ninja quietly picked them off.

It was a despicable technique; one they, the Council of Exiles plus himself and Naruto, had found buried at the back of Orochimaru's private library. It was designed to effect entire battlefields, up to and including one's own army. It had taken them ages to tailor it to fit their needs. Between finding a way to keep it within the village's limits and to keep it from affecting their own people (something Deidara had helped tremendously with), it had been almost impossible. But once that was done… well, it proved effective, to say the least.

One of their biggest fears when preparing it for use had been that it would be found out, or worse, found out and then used against them. To someone who knew the plan, the preparation for the attack had seemed so obvious; and it had taken so long. Sasuke had honestly felt surprised when no one outside their allies had caught on.

To ensure the genjutsu would be active and all-consuming for as long as possible, significant measures had to be taken within Konoha. They'd had to kill or turn every member of the Hyuga and Aburame clans; the Hyuga because of their abilities to see through genjutsu with the Byakugan, and the Aburame because their bugs could not be affected by the illusions. Kurenai Yuhi, Konoha's resident Genjutsu Mistress, had also needed to be quieted, along with Kakashi Hatake, and Jiraiya of the Sanin if at all possible.

It had been a challenge, to say the least.

The Hyuga and Aburame had been large clans, powerful, and generally respected in Konoha. It had taken quite some time to get rid of them, especially seeing as they couldn't just wipe out both clans in one strike without it looking overly suspicious. Thankfully, many of the Hyuga hadn't been as loyal as Oto had suspected. Once rumors had spread of Oto's advances with seals, many Branch House Hyuga had come to them, bartering their loyalty to have their cursed seal removed.

The seal the Main House had used to keep their Byakugan safe and the Branch House subservient had been their undoing, in short. Once enough of the Branch House had turned loyalties, they'd risen up and offed the Main House and any loyal to them. The Main House had been too surprised, been killed off too quickly, for any of them to even think of doing the correct seals to kill off the Branch House.

Oh, the irony.

The Aburame 'massacre' had been slow going, on the other hand; with very, very few choosing to turn. They'd had to pick the many loyal ones off one by one, which had been amazingly tedious, dangerous, and bloody work. Yuhi had been assassinated by Sasuke himself. It hadn't been much of a fight once he'd nicked her with one of his fast-acting poison senbon.

They'd all thought Kakashi Hatake would pose an issue, but the hit team assigned to him had returned with merely a note, stating that he would cause no harm to them so long as they caused none to him. The same could be said for Jiraiya the Toad Sage, who had disappeared after the fall of the last loyal Aburame.

It appeared Konoha had pushed them both too far, though perhaps not to the point of fallout opposition. As far as anyone could tell, it seemed they'd kept their word and neither man had been seen since.

Sasuke had been privately happy about that. Truth be told he'd been dreading having to kill his old teacher (the man had tried to do his best, he really had) and Sasuke hadn't wanted to know the effect battling Jiraiya would have had on Naruto.

It was just better this way.

Smiling, Sasuke gently took the hand of his six-month boyfriend. It felt warm and strong in his, a nice reassurance with this warped version of the Konoha in his memories before them. Naruto returned the gesture with his own smile and a nervous blush, pulling Sasuke closer to his side so he could wrap an arm around the smaller man. To their left, standing promptly behind Itachi in case someone tried to attack him while he was distracted with the jutsu or something went wrong, Deidara gave them a little smile.

It was a relief to see it on the blonde's face, even all these years later. Itachi had been a big help with Deidara's recovery; doing a perfect job of not quite taking Sasori's place, but helping the younger ninja put his danna's ghost to a peaceful rest.

And if Kankuro felt somewhat put out by that then, well, so be it.

"This is an odd place to be snickering, eh, Sasuke?" Naruto murmured in his ear, his warm breath tickling the ravenette's sensitive skin.

Sasuke snorted. "Says the man who flat out giggled at that last squadron we took down."

Naruto shrugged, "What can I say? I like irony."

Meaning that he'd found it funny how Sakura Haruno (also known as "That Cherry Blossom Bitch", as well as "The Banshee"), Sasori's killer, had been taken out by exploding clay puppets. They'd walked right up to her team and, while the group of five had been trying to figure out what they were, detonated.

Deidara had laughed at random intervals for days, whereas Naruto had managed to keep it to just a few giggles. The rest of them had merely wondered why they let the notably more crazy members of their leadership handle all the really dangerous things.

That would drop to a minimum now, though, Sasuke thought with relief. With Konoha and most of the surrounding territory captured, the Fire Daimyo dead at his summer home, and pretty much every political faction otherwise calling for the end of this five-year-long bloodbath, the war would finally end.

It would be a welcome break, Sasuke thought.

"I can't wait to go home." The ravenette said quietly, eyes scanning over the surrounding area out of a mixture of boredom and a sense of it-can't-be-this-easy.

"Once upon a time this used to be our home." Naruto mused. "Do you ever regret what we did?"

In the distance there was a scream cut short, probably by a ninja of theirs. Back at his office there would be paperwork to do, people to pacify. He'd probably have nightmares when he slept, his conscience catching up to him.

He'd never really be able to wash the blood from his hands; not from what he'd done personally or from what he'd ordered. The scars he had would probably never fade past what they had, and he'd wince every time he saw Sakon, miserable and painfully dedicated to his new post at the record's library now that Ukon was dead after a raid gone bad.

"Not for a minute." Only for seconds, and only ever sometimes. It was childish to think otherwise.

Distantly he thought he heard Naruto humming something, similar to the tune of a lullaby, perhaps, but different from anything Sasuke could remember.

He found it oddly soothing, and let himself rest fully against his co-ruler. Below them Kyu was chatting with one of their officers, flirting obviously with him and watching with blatant glee as he stammered out answers for her. She was positively glowing at his reactions.

"I guess Kyuubi did start all over again," Sasuke heard Naruto mumble to himself, "just in a way no one guessed."

Not quite knowing what to say, Sasuke merely nodded his agreement and snuggled closer to the man he'd finally admitted to loving, strange little quirks and all.

After all, the saying went 'crazy like a fox' right? The meaning had to double when you grew up listening to their lullabies.

Fucking hell, it's finished! One impulse adoption, two years, a lot of procrastination, and an amazing beta later, it's done!

Thank you all who've read, reviewed, alerted, and favourited this! It wouldn't have happened if you didn't support it!

Also thank you to Daydreamer-74423, who let me adopt it!

The biggest thanks of all goes to TheVastEmptiness though, who is a wicked awesome beta and probably the reason this story looks half as good as it does. Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

BlackRoseGirl666