'I hope we are not too late...' - Kimoko was running with all she got towards the arena while dragging her husband with her.

Calling it a bad day for her would be a huge understatement.

At first, when her husband stormed into the house with the news that Eiji was alive and came back, she couldn't describe how relieved she was.

But now the village is under attack, and the center of the fight seemed to be the arena where he was supposed to be.

If Eiji died on the same day he finally came back, it would be truly too laughable.

On her way, she saw many shinobis fighting, but she just ignored them and continued to run.

Of course, since she was a kunoichi of Konoha, it was her duty to fight and help.

Not doing their duty was sure to get her and her husband Satoshi to be punished.

But she couldn't care less at the moment.

"Please...wait..." - Satoshi looked like he couldn't keep up with the pace anymore, but instead of pausing, she silently picked him up and carried him piggyback.

When she finally entered the arena, the scene was unbelievable.

Complete chaos, so much destruction, but despite that, most spectators were asleep for some reason.

"EIJI!!!" - she shouted as loud as she could, but she didn't get a response.

Panicked she looked around, hoping to find him between the sleeping spectators, to no avail.

There were just way too many people!

But then she saw the battlefield on the roof, and her motherly instincts told her that Eiji was there.

She gritted her teeth and continued to run, while Satoshi tried his best to not vomit.

"SAKON!!!" - Ukon howled like a beaten dog, not caring about the dangerous situation he was in.

Orochimaru wasn't concerned with him, instead, he endured the pain in his arms as best as he could: 'My arms feel like they are on fire...I can't continue like that, I should retreat!'

But then his gaze landed on the unconscious Eiji.

'This damn brat, it's all his fault! At least before leaving, I should kill him...'

Actually, it wasn't Eiji's fault, Orochimaru would have ended up the same even without Eiji.

But Orochimaru was arrogant to a fault and thought that he would have killed Hiruzen easily if it weren't for Eiji.

"We are done for, we are retreating. But before that, kill this boy there!"

"YES, SIR!" - the rest of the Sound Four

"You are dreaming!" - the two Anbu who watched the whole battle outside of the barrier, wanted to protect Eiji.

In their eyes, he was a splendid youth, who risked his life to protect the Hokage, so they couldn't let him just die like that.

The Sound Four (now only 3) got ready to attack.

Their plan was to split up so that one could easily kill Eiji.

"EIJI!!!" - suddenly a middle-aged woman appeared with a middle-aged man on her back.

She let the man fall and rushed towards Eiji and embraced him while crying.

His heart was beating, so those were tears of joy: "Eiji...I'm so glad you are alive..."

He looked pretty different now since the last time she saw him, but she was his mother and she recognized him instantly.

Satoshi stood up and despite being scared and about to vomit from his "traveling" with a hangover, he tried his best to appear strong and intimidating.

'Keep your gaze straight and don't look away! Don't show them how much Sake you drank tonight! It's a father's duty!'

"Like those weak worms appearing will change anything!" - Tayuya rushed in for the kill.

But suddenly someone started to attack Orochimaru and the Sound Four from behind.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!! BROTHER!!! I WILL AVENGE YOU!!!" - it was Ukon who seemed to have lost his mind.

"Ukon, your brother sacrificed himself for me, which is his duty as one of the Sound Four...so is this your answer? I promise you, if you don't stop this nonsense, your death won't be painless..." - Orochimaru

Orochimaru saw that Ukon didn't respond, who seemed to have lost his mind completely, and glanced at the bottom, where Kakashi and Guy were.

Currently, they were facing Kabuto, but who knew if one of them suddenly decided to rush to the roof.

"Tsk, whatever. Leave this boy and Ukon behind, we are retreating!"

Obviously, some Anbu tried to stop them from leaving, but as in the original timeline, it wasn't a problem for them at all to leave.

CrusadeAgainstFurries

I'm back! Normally, the next week would be a pub-tour to celebrate the start of the semester, but because of Covid it will be canceled...well, at least I have time to write chapters next week because of that.

Anyway, with the next chapter, the last arc for part one will start and I have something big planned for it. The way I imagined it in my head, it should be the most interesting so far! I hope I can deliver it as amazing as I imagined though...

The arc probably won't be too long, but except for the big thing I have planned for it, there will be some slice of life as well, to give some characters who were a bit neglected some love.

I hope you are looking forward to the next arc as much as I do and thanks for waiting!