The Wind To His Fire

The Invasion

Sasuke knew that telling that telling the Sandaime about the invasion, wouldn't change anything. According to Orochimaru, he had known about it the first time and decided to spring the trap, instead of thinking of safety of Konoha's citizens. It was the last of the line of bad decisions the Sandaime had made as a Hokage. That was another reason he hadn't cared to inform anyone. The Sandaime had to go. At least Tsunade was a decent Hokage.

Sasuke hadn't the invasion, but he could mitigate the damage. He leapt into the arena, in front of Shukaku, despite Kakashi's indistinct shout. Activating his Mangekyou Sharingan he willed himself into Gaara's seal. This was much easier than the one time he had tried to take control of the Kyuubi. It made sense since Shukaku only had one tail.

In no time at all, he was able to subdue the Ichibi and returned back to the real world to find Gaara human and sleeping, who was quickly taken in custody by a jonin with senbon in his mouth.

"Go to your team captain and get further orders. Good job." he said to Sasuke.

Sasuke went back to the stands to find Kakashi and saw him fighting Sound ninja. Familiar with their fighting style, Sasuke was able to help Kakashi quickly dispose of them.

"Where are Naruto and Sakura?"

"They are helping in evacuating like other genin, like you should be." he said, pointedly.

"Would you have preferred if I had let the Ichibi rampage?" Sasuke asked.

"It doesn't matter now. Go towards the exits and find your team. Protect them." he ordered.

"Hai." Sasuke obeyed.

The invasion was over in no time. The sand and sound forces were nothing against leaf ninja in their home turf, who were apparently informed about the possibility of invasion before hand. He couldn't be sure, but the damage was less than the last time, especially the damage caused by Gaara. There was still a chunk of the village wall missing, from where Orochimaru's three headed snake had entered. The Sandaime was still dead, of which Naruto got to hear first hand, rather than after a night in the hospital.

Seeing his grief, Sasuke wondered if he had made the right decision. He tried to quell his grief and comfort Naruto at the same time, in he which wasn't very successful.

"I'm sure he is happier now. There isn't any paperwork in hell." he offered, which seemed to make Naruto cry even harder.