A/N: This semester took a lot out of me. Not because I had a lot of work to do - I did; but it made me feel like crap in my free time. Thankfully, I had memes with me to keep my sanity. The semester got over yesterday and this is the first thing I've done.

This chapter is a dark but has pockets of humor. It has Haku drinking coffee for the first time, there is a popular meme hidden, if you can find it. And yes, I am switching his/her use for Haku. It is intentional. Some people were not happy with Naruto's character buildup. I would ask them to wait. The team has gone through hardened Kakashi plus other reasons.

Anyways, Please enjoy and leave a review.

"3!" Orochimaru and Zabuza shouted while Deidara's "2" was lost in the explosion that followed. The sound died down and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when explosions sounded again, just around them.

"Dammit, Deidara!" Zabuza remarked as he looked up angrily.

"I said 2! I said THAT LOUD AND CLEAR!" Deidara shouted back but seeing he was so high up his voice didn't make it down. The rain had started to pour and winds were picking up.

"Let's figure something out when we reach the small outpost. DEIDARA! MOVE BACK AND WATCH OUR REAR!" Harry said as he applied a sonorous charm. The group was used to this now and no one complained that it attracted attention towards them. It was easy pickings for the group than to cautiously scan and neutralize the enemies that lay in wait. They had stopped caring when they started believing in themselves capable enough to handle any and all threats.

"We shall be picking up the pace for the next three hours after I expect strong resistance." Harry continued.

"Yes. The supposed Army General awaits us there." Orochimaru remarked with a smile. He was enjoying this as much as Itachi was. No one caught the small smile that Itachi had since they left Land of the Waves except Haku.

"Quiet now. I see movements ahead." Harry said. The group looked strangely at Hari for a moment before growing alert.

"It's just children catching fish," Orochimaru said as he narrowed his eyes at the sudden muteness activity. The children, sensing a presence close immediately abandoned the lake and disappeared in the mist.

The mist in the village had a purpose. It wanted to cover up the horrors that could be seen if one really looked. It was the nature's way of telling - don't come here; don't look through the fog. Just walk along till you reach your destination. The village was no different and the mist just covered the shame that the land generally felt.

"What is up here?" Deidara said out loud as he saw people rushing into their homes and peeking out quietly from the windows.

"Kid. Hey Kid!" Deidara gave a shout. "Here's your fish!" He said holding in his hands, in front of a hut. Minutes trickled by and village came to a complete stop. Itachi wondered if the past few minutes had been an illusion, seeing the village looking like it had been abandoned for a long time. The group noted something strange about the atmosphere in the village. All life felt drained and there was no life here, to begin with.

The words felt muffled in the silence. No one dared; dared to disturb the sound of silence. Lightning rolled above but the sound felt off - felt unneeded; unwanted. The village deathly quiet, trying very hard not to breathe or move.

"What is this?" Orochimaru said out loud, detesting the very nature of the village's weakness. As quick as it was possible, a door was broken down and so were walls. Orochimaru gingerly lifted up a boy to his eye-level.

Harry eyed to the side where the family stood, with bowed heads absence of any struggle, any feeling or fear. It took a moment for Harry to comprehend this and the meaning. It would just take a moment to really focus on them to understand what they have gone through but Harry pulled back. He didn't want to know what they must have gone through to condition them like this. The mist obscured large part of the village, especially where the houses ended.

What would he find if he walked over there? What lay down in the ground?

The child wasn't moving despite being held high and the grip on his throat. It wouldn't be good if he lost his mind here.

'I'm sorry. Its selfish of me to not look at the truth of your lives. And I'm sorry that I value my calmness of mind over your suffering.' Harry closed his eyes as he repeated one phrase over and over again. Some horrors were best left unknown.

The fish lay on the ground, gasping for the very last breath with its fins doing everything it could do dig a bit deeper into the ground where it might find water. Itachi looked at the fish struggling for its last breath before eying the boy and his eyes morphed into angry Mangekyo in one eye and violent violet in the other. The clouds parted and the bright moon shone above and Itachi did what he always did - question the moon, expecting not a word in return.

'What have you witnessed? What do you have to say?'

The fish had stilled - drawing its last breath and there was no difference left between it and the child. For the first time in Harry's life, he saw Haku-chan vibrating - holding Muremaru close to the chest and daring anyone to come near her. This was one life Haku would protect with his life.

"A failed state," Harry whispered quietly.

"A failed evolution. A failed generation!" Orochimaru said angrily. "Worthless!" He spat tossing the boy to the ground and looked away in distaste. For him, the only time where everything was still was in seeking the exact time of the attack. The time he struck at his prey. This naked defeat - fatal acceptance was unacceptable to him.

"Boy! BOY!" Deidara said in a raspy voice. "Get up! I know you are alive and can hear me! I said GET UP!" His hands stilled just before he touched the boy with his face down in the mud. They didn't know how to act here - what to say? How to provoke a reaction when they just didn't care. Neither mothers nor fathers cared about their child being tossed around.

Just do as you please, they whispered in silence. Just do as you please as you have always done.

What is that state of being that prevails here? This was so far removed from the places they had seen and believed the world to be. Deidara brushed his face into his sleeve and jumped on his bird and flew away towards the moon.

Harry turned to the group and murmured quietly, words flowing with determination.

"This is why we fight." The eyes shone with determination as Harry faced an evil he had not witnessed in a great while. "Any world that you can create that is not this -" he spread his hands, "Will be better, good and moral. And-" he turned to face Zabuza, "It shall be your responsibility. These people will be your responsibility when it is liberated." Harry said as he poked his finger at his heart.

Zabuza, who had his eyes closed till now felt a hurt that none of his foes had managed to inflict on him. Pain that was not accompanied with a rush of blood and a call to battle; pain that could not be fought or slashed away with his sword; pain not of body or despair but of his legacy- of facing what he had hidden from him to escape the truth.

'I hope you can, Zabuza. Because I don't want to.' Harry thought as he eyed a dying man outside the house.

The red moon above watched quietly as it ever did through all of the time.

Far away, a figured hovered in the sky looked down at the small village. The utter lack of emotion and stoic face could only be done by some trickery of living puppets. The difference between the known missing ninja of sand and this figure was of the eyes. Circular rings glowed purple in the darkness and he uttered a single phrase.

"Planetary Devastation!" The clap of the hands drowned in the gurgling of earth and gnashing of rocks as they rose up. There was no need for words to be spoken as a brief look of pure contempt appeared on his face.

Norimo - the devout follower of Hari-Sama opened his eyes from a power nap as he felt vibrations. He watched as a black shape formed above hiding the red rays of the moon.

Quietly he unfurled the scroll given and look at the options Hari-Sama had told to select based on the danger, finding it at the highest security level - Hogwarts. The village slept quietly - accustomed to loud noises and fights well along in the night. Norimo instead chose to quietly exit the headquarters and see the spectacle unfolding calmly. Few joined him as he was near the front gate watching the sphere become larger and larger.

Norimo watched with supreme smugness the nervous twitching of ninjas around him. They had no faith in the leader but he did. He knew that the glorious leader cared much for people living inside to not protect them in his absence.

Soon enough, the arena - considered as the righteous side of hell by ninjas and spectators alike transformed into a giant man. While ninjas gasped in awe of the spectacle, Norimo didn't even blink. Nothing was out of comprehension to him when it came to his great leader and lord.

The giant figure had a symbol of H on its chest and had a curious inscription.

"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus". Norimo murmured uncomprehendingly. The figure raised his hands and swung a huge bat ready behind its back. As the black ball came crashing down the figure swung the bat hard, hitting it straight out of pavilion - Earth into outer space.

The purple rings widened in surprise and exhaustion as he witnessed something he didn't quite comprehend. His most effective jutsu was beaten by what looked like a stone man. There was no outcry from the village; no formation to sound the battle cry to chase to him. Everything just went back to normal - even the huge figure that he had just seen quietly settled back down. Never in his life, he had witnessed something like this - to not even consider someone like him a threat. It disturbed him greatly that this was so. He shrugged his shoulders seeing no response forthcoming and so he turned and left.

"Fuck it, Madara. This is past insulting." To not even acknowledge that attack was the height of disrespect. Nagato didn't know how to act here.

Deep inside the bowels of ground, locked away since time immemorial were various trinkets that Harry had taken and set up to monitor the progress of Earth after he had done a master reboot. Harry didn't really like these systems and so he had shut down all warning signs until Earth was in imminent danger. And so for the past few years, the machine didn't inform about the two large meteors heading directly for planet Earth. It was only a matter of time when the meteors covered the vast distance from Jupiter to Mars and head quietly towards Earth. The early warning systems unexpectedly quiet downed as it factored in a large chunk of rock intercepting the trajectory - brushing with both just enough for them to deviate from their destination.

Unknowingly, the figure who called himself a god had saved the world.

The man on the ground, lying half-dead watched the group leave the village and slowly morphed back to normal. The white hair and red-linings were stark features of his face. But this man lacked the characteristic goofy outlook and the lecherous grin. For the first time, Jiraya-the-man questioned these village people.

Why were they still here, if not just to suffer. Every night they were subjected to most brutal punishments and enjoyments. He could still fill them, in the hollow space left by the family they were ripped apart. The act Jiraya had put up for passing by ninjas had not come about lightly. He had drank himself to not feel and to not move. After a while, the pain of existence made him too depressed to even move a muscle.

'No matter what they do, there cannot be a lower point - the most cruel point and existence of life anywhere than this.' He thought as he headed back. He had to report this back to the Hokage and he would be dammed if he stayed a moment longer in this place anymore than it needed to be.

There were no words that needed to be said out loud. All the problems that the group had working as a team disappeared. Deidara instinctively perceived the needs of the group down below and adjusted his targets according. The team worked silently with only one aim in mind.

Eliminate with extreme prejudice.

Numbers were spoken quietly with determination and as the night grew darker, Harry, for the first time, spoke out loud.

"2!" His wand crackled to life, transforming reality and rearranging it to his will. If Madara Uchiha were present at this battlefield he surely would have recognized a quasi-humanoid figure that this man had conjured up. Quite like Sussano but of mud and lava - a brute born made to wander aimlessly forward taking hits from the enemy.

The group turned to face Harry, breathing raggedly and a question on their face.

"Let's rest here for a while. This should exhaust enemies and then they'll be easy pickings". An uneasy silence hung between the large thumps that shook earth when the brutes walked forward.

"Why do you really need us, Hari-San?" Raiza questioned seeing the power this man held. "You could've done this from start and yet…" He waved his hand lazily over the horizon.

"I need you when we will reach the center of power - the place where Kage is," Harry said lazily opening one eye. There are several people there which may cause the person who controls this land to escape. I have just one chance to capture him before he disappears again. Let's rest now and be ready for things that will come ahead."

Itachi's eyes lost the red tinge and settled to a black orb. His one arm resting on the knee, fingers curled in a loose fist. The group soon settled down for a brief nap.

"Naruto." Kakashi's voice reverberated in the room.

"Hmm?" The boy's head quickly swirled and his eyes widened. "Sensei!"

"Shh!"

"Sensei. You're awake." Naruto whispered excitedly.

"Tell me what happened after…" Kakashi asked quietly. Naruto's eyes widened and he spoke quickly.

"We dropped you back to this house and then Sakura-Chan went to pick Sasuke up! She- She doesn't look good Sensei! - I mean she is pretty...er... but sad." Naruto stumbled as he scratched an imaginary itch on his face. "She just hasn't talked to anyone since days, you know?"

He looked up to Kakashi, with a question on his face.

"She doesn't even respond when I ask her to a date," Naruto said sadly and moved his feet in aimless figures.

Kakashi went through all that he could gather from the fight scene. He had to - considering he was going to be facing councils after councils after this mission. This was the second encounter with THAT village and boy did he not make heads or tails of this situation. Kakashi couldn't place this feeling - like there was going to be a tragedy on a massive scale but this time he didn't care for it. Like it didn't matter.

Was it because this was not happening in his own village?

"SENSEI!" Naruto gave a shout and Kakashi gave his full attention to him. "Err. What should we do, about Sakura-chan?"

"I find this morbid fascination with Sakura-chan quite disturbing, Naruto," Kakashi said quietly with predictable results.

"I don't know what morbid is but keep your mind out of the gutter! Sensei!" Naruto said waving his hands all around.

Harry woke up to find all members looking at the last crumbling of the giant golems. There was a faint cheer in the air that echoed through the dull numbness of the surrounding.

"Finally managed to bring them down, eh? It should've taken them an hour longer." Harry said as he yawned. He reached into his pockets and out came a mug of steaming beverage.

As the group's eyes turned on their leader, Harry took a sip and asked, "Coffee anyone?"

"Hari-San," Orochimaru said as his eyes glinted with curiosity. "If that is 2-" Orochimaru pointed at the heap of rock, what is 5?"

The group stilled as all eyes went to the brown mixture swirling in Harry's cup.

"There you are Haku-chan!" Harry brushed his hand on top of Haku's head. "You still have some sleep dust in your eyes! Here, have some coffee." Harry gave a cute bunny face mug to Haku who had Muremaru hanging out at her back.

"Well, what is yours, Orochimaru? What is the one jutsu that you consider yourself to be so damaging, that you wish you never have to use it?"

"Perhaps you'll see it, Hari-san. When I do use it."

"I hope you never have to see mine," Harry replied curtly as he got up.

"Okay. Time to burst their bubble." Harry emphasized with the smack of his fist to the palm. Nobody saw the hyper-alert state that Haku and Muremaru entered as they gulped down the elixir of wakefulness.

The group made their way casually, considering that rock goliath had done significant damage to the surrounding area leaving little cover for any person to act like a ninja.

"The creature did a lot of damage, Hari-San," Raiga mentioned. His eyes moved around trying to pick out signs of camouflage.

"Yes," Harry replied as he looked at the crushed trees and clear grassland. "Has anyone seen Haku?"

"He was just here…" Itachi trailed off not finding her.

"Now she isn't," Orochimaru replied.

"He's around," Zabuza replied knowingly.

"This is boring!" Deidara replied. He just wasn't getting any action here.

"Well, better be bored than dead, Deidara. This place needs some - Oh there you are, Haku." Harry changed his tone seeing the dried blood on Haku's shirt. "Did you find - " Harry paused seeing Haku speed off in a blink of an eye and kill off more shinobi who were lying unseen far ahead.

As the group watched Haku speed off with the boy behind her back, they all turned to Harry, questioning.

"I hope this coffee isn't some form of mind-altering substance, Hari-San. Haku is quite young to be tasting that." Zabuza said, frowning and a bit mad.

"Well, it just makes you more alert, you know," Harry replied, suddenly on the defensive. He wouldn't dream of giving some psychotropic substance to the little child.

"Hisssss." Orochimaru cleared his throat, directing attention to the army ahead.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Deidara replied flexing his muscles in precise tone to get the process of explosion ready.

"Let's just ask them if they'd surrender," Harry replied quickly. He knew once Deidara got into form there would be no turning back and the army was not looking that good, to begin with.

"Excuse me, Ninja-san," Harry said as he walked forward. "Would you please show the way to the city capital?"

The captain got up steadily as he assessed the team in front of them. None of the front sentries had raised an alert which would mean they were dead.

The captain gave a smile only to be betrayed by the sheer hate in his eyes. This team- they dared to come here and they thought they could casually brush them aside?

"You have some business in the city capital, civilian?" The captain asked roughly as he insulted the team's capability.

"Well yes. I want to meet the Mizukage." Harry put bluntly. The moon shone brightly all across the area illuminating clearly. Harry could see ninjas neatly lining in groups on their way ahead.

"It's right behind us." Captain took a stance.

"Look." Harry sighed. "I admire your strength but you are tired," Harry said.

"True." The admiral his eyes shining with resolve continued on, "but we have an army!"

"And we have Haku!" Harry replied back, equally forcefully.

"Who?" Admiral asked, confused.

"Exactly." It was then the ninjas fell by some mystic deity and Harry grimaced at the fearful expression on their faces.

The fight continued in earnest and the ninjas regrouped quickly under command of the war general. Harry was put on the defensive with ninjas covering general whenever Harry chose to attack.

True intentions are known when two opponents fight and Harry had nothing but respect for the general's indomitable will. That is until general spoke his mind when taking a breather.

"You come to my home. You kill my people." General had both his hands on his knees. He knew his labored breaths were numbered. "And you expect me to step aside? For what? For you to MURDER MORE PEOPLE!" The general quickly went through hand signs, preparing for a final volley.

Harry clicked his fingers, hard and the heads of opposition burst like a watermelon. A foul, oppressive intent spread over the general area and for the first time in a long, long time someone had managed to get into Harry's head.

The problem or the problem that occlumency did not address is that the senses had a direct connection to the mind. What you hear and see had an effect on you. Linger at a place that has you shaken, leaves you vulnerable. At the mercy of your own mind.

'He thought…' Harry struggling to contain the rage. 'He thought… I was the problem. He thought… He was the savior. That he was protecting people'

The war general's eyes had said it all. He really believed that he was and there was nothing Harry could say or do that would persuade him otherwise.

Harry had won the fight but lost the battle.

"I see the Misukage's tower from here," Orochimaru said out loud.

"We will wait here. For our allies to get here." Harry said blankly.

"But we can take it. We don't need anyone!" Raiza roared out loud. The battle had his blood singing. However, there was no response from their leader.

Harry, however, was going through a slight panic attack. The Patronus charm that he used at the flick of his wrist did not come into being. Logical, given that Patronus charm cannot work if you hate all of life which was what Harry felt at this very moment.

After two-three jerky wrist movements, he gave a sigh and closed his eyes. Haku came and sat quietly beside him.

"Haku-chan," Harry said quietly, acknowledging her presence. Harry looked at her and the small boy clinging to the back. Her face was covered in a spray of blood.

Harry took out a towel from his pocket and began cleaning Haku's face and as he did that, the love that he felt for people and life around came back. Drop by drop, bit by bit he felt the anger melting away leaving behind a calm and deep composure.

"Expecto Patronum." The silvery figure looked somewhat human as it sped through and vanished into thin air.

"Nothing outside the ordinary, leader-sama." A voice echoed through the intercom.

"Nothing except a lot of toads." Mei looked at the toads with suspicion. The toads seemed to look at the group with suspicion. "Why are there a lot of toads here?" She asked, not expecting an answer.

"We wait your arrival at the foothill of Kage's throne." The misty figure said and disappeared.

"Well then," Mei said, her eyes shining brightly.